#like at the very least rayla fighting a possessed callum next season is going to gut me

[raayllum]

me, having to constantly remind myself that S5 / 5x08 isn't a culmination, but is just more set up:

[hellosaltysaladcollectionstuff]

While The Dragon Prince Season 2 slowed down the pace of the overall story to focus on developing its secondary cast, with Season 3, things have really picked up speed. Battle lines are drawn, and it’s clear early on that we’re in for a dramatic and (at least for now) conclusive conflict. Although it feels rushed compared with Season 2, this season manages to stay true to the characters we know (some more than others), continues to impress with its beautiful art style, and ends the original story gracefully, while keeping the door open for more if the opportunity presents itself.

At the end of Season 2, the humans and elves were on the verge of war, while Ezran, Rayla, and Callum continued their journey to deliver Zym, the titular dragon prince, back to his mother in the Elven half of the continent, Xadia. However, when Ezran learned what had been happening back in Katolis without him on the throne, he chose to fulfill his obligation as king over his responsibility to Zym, entrusting Rayla and Callum to finish their journey. Season 3 picks up immediately after their departure, with Callum and Rayla finally entering Xadia, and Ezran taking the throne.

More than ever in The Dragon Prince, almost every character has a sense of urgency to their actions this season. Ezran most of all, who is confronted by the difficult choices a king must face when the nation he leads wants a war with the elves. As a child with no experience as a leader, he’s got a lot of ground to make up, and the writers do an effective job showing how his good heart informs his decisions. Yet just when this storyline is reaching its climax, when he goes up against up-and-comer Prince Kasef, things take a surprising turn. Given how significant his decision to go back home was at the end of Season 2, it's a letdown.

With the increased pace of the story, many characters jump around from place to place too often. The three heroes journey across the continent took two seasons of harrowing travel, so it comes across as a little too convenient that a bunch of winged creatures appear to transport characters to where they’re needed at that moment in the story. I had some real flashbacks to the last season of Game of Thrones and a certain Dragon Queen crossing the kingdom in record time. Maybe fast traveling is just a perk of being dragon-themed royalty adjacent.

While Ezran's story is going on, Callum and Rayla race against the clock in an unfamiliar land to deliver Zym back to his mother. There are a couple of scenes dedicated to showing off the beauty of the Elven kingdom, with some absolutely adorable creatures contrasted by some truly terrifying snakes, but overall, it was disappointing how little time was spent showcasing the magic of Xadia. The eastern half of the continent has been built up as this mystical wonderland, and I was excited to see how Callum would react to it being the curious Human he is, but we only spend a handful of episodes experiencing it from his eyes. Much of this season takes place in a singular location, and given how important it is to the story, I wish there was a little more time building up to the payoff of finally reaching it.

Last season, Rayla’s character development was sidelined so that supporting characters like Soren and Claudia had more time in the spotlight, leading to a stall in her story arc. This season, we’re given much more insight into what drives her to see this mission through, and how her clan of Moonshadow Elves played a part in the history of this world. Unfortunately, this focus on Rayla detracts from Callum, and he's given very little to do on this go-around, with most of his growth tied to helping Rayla further her own. It’s missed potential to not put a focus on Callum’s burgeoning magical pursuits, or how it feels for him to be a Human in a place where people despise you and look down upon your abilities. His flirtatious back and forths with Rayla are as entertaining as ever, but it’s nothing compared to hers, or even Soren’s personal agency this season.

Speaking of flirting, as it ages, The Dragon Prince continues to dance with darker moments and themes. There are some truly evil characters on this show that have no qualms with manipulating, plotting mutinies against, mutating, and even murdering children. Unlike other animated shows, you never get the feeling that any of your favorites possess that untouchable plot armor either, that can plague shows aimed toward younger audiences. There are still plenty of light and fun moments between characters in Season 3, but the humor isn’t quite on the level of the previous seasons (save for one incredible callback to Avatar: The Last Airbender, which this show's co-creator worked on previously). Some characters are presented as unbelievably unintelligent just for a single joke, and the show has a tendency to devolve into 'meme-like' humor a little too often (you’ll know it when you see it).

However, despite those grievances, the tone overall is one of maturity, and as tension increases, characters who have danced with the dark side before (or vice versa) seem to finally pick what side they’ll be fighting for once and for all. Thankfully, The Dragon Prince manages to make these decisions feel earned and genuine with each character.

One consistency throughout every season that deserves continuous praise is the show's incredible art direction. We're treated to the best showcases of this team's talent in terms of its creatures, world design, and the landscapes in particular. The animation seems to have reached a similar level of quality this season as well, with some beautifully choreographed fights between humans, elves, monsters, and mages alike. Season 1’s sometimes stilty, janky animations (even during a simple conversation with two characters) feels like a distant memory.

Season 1 of The Dragon Prince presented what I thought would be a long, magical journey, so it’s a little disappointing that we’ve already arrived at the destination. Season 3 does end on a high note, it just would have been better if it had taken a little longer to get there. As slow as Season 2 sometimes felt, Season 3 swings a bit too far in the other direction. Without spoiling anything, the story definitely isn’t over, despite conclusively ending its current arc, so, for now, it’s time to sit back and wait patiently for the next big adventure.

The Dragon Prince Season 3 hits Netflix November 22.

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[raayllum]

hello what are your thoughts on a rayllum situation a la percy and annabeth in which either or both give up a great power/opportunity to be with each other?

while I’m not really sure we’d ever see this in canon I love the idea of it

So Rayllum has had PJO / Percabeth energy to me for a long time

And I am deeply intrigued by what lengths Rayla and Callum will be willing to go to save each other, as keeping one another safe has always been one of their biggest priorities and brought out their most batshit sides. We already know what Test of Love Rayla is going to have (leaning towards next season but could also see S6) in terms of her being willing to risk the world when Callum is possessed again ("You let him live but you killed us all / You have two choices: you all die, or just the evil wretched human dies") in favour of fighting to break him free and save him. It's already been textually confirmed, symbolically, as well that she will successfully save him.

“Wow. So they look identical, but they might kill you or they might save you,” Callum said.

“Exactly. Just like me…” Rayla smiled. (Book One novelization)

This will of course play a big hand in restoring their relationship, as well as herself, to what they/she used to be. A complete inverse of her "We can't save everyone, there's too much at stake" dismissal in 4x05 that shows how jaded her time alone had made her, traumatizing her to a point nothing else she'd ever been through (almost losing her hand, losing her family, her village, etc) had pushed her to. But of course to Callum, "Rayla is a hero" and that's what makes her who she is, and it's the positive side of her self sacrificial / selfless nature (as the self sacrifice is still alive and kicking in S4 with going after Viren, being the first to give Rex a gift, etc etc as well as the self loathing). Her saving him is the perfect "wrap it up in a bow" of setup and pay off for all of it, and her arc in general from a S1-S5 type deal.

I think there's a lot of layers to Percy's choice to give up immortality in the books (not only for Annabeth, although yes, definitely for her) but also taking into account for what he asks for in its stead: for the gods to be accountable, to pay their dues, in the ways heroes and mortals too often have instead. It shows his maturity, his series long disgust at injustice and unfairness, his beloved impertinence to say what he thinks regardless of the consequences. To honour Luke and all the other fallen demigods, but also himself.

On that level TDP doesn't have quite the same set up (although we'll see about holding humans and Xadia more accountable for the deep history / the Startouch elves as gods) but if Rayla is going to risk the world to save him, then he also has to accordingly risk the world to save her. This is particularly true as Rayla's heroic nature ad deep love for Callum is emphasized in all prior seasons, as well as the latter majorly in S4. We'll have an easy time believing she'd made that kind of decision for him. With S4, it throws a little bit of a wrench into Callum's side of things, but that's all the more reason for him to do it; to reaffirm his massive, life altering, world changing love for her (she, who desperately needs to know she is loved, too, after all this time). After all on his side of things, her absence has to affect him more than shutting down and more than just being obsessed with magic; a "I lost her once, I won't lose her again" justification if he does something batshit for her would give retroactive narrative reasoning on his end, and it'd be very earned, I think (since we see how messed up he is over her absence in 4x01, even after all that time). And again, Rayla cannot only save him - she also has to mess up, to need to be bailed out - in order for her to actually learn her lesson about self worth and sacrifice and why she needs to fucking stay or at the very least, fully accept that Callum will always be coming with her.

After all, they both need the opportunity to choose each other, to save one another, and as always, I think Callum giving up the Key of Aaravos to the villains (whether the Key is just for the prison, or Aaravos' heart, or whatever) if Rayla had gotten captured and her life was on the line makes a lot of sense. Big tag about it here, & masterposts (pre s4 and post s4). So I'd say that's my big percabeth "giving something up majorly for the one you love" schtick.

Either way I can't wait for S5 to make me cry

[raayllum]

What are your biggest predictions for season 5 and onwards? Plus, I love your page and have been a follower from the start!

Aww thank you so much!! It has been a very long, enjoyable journey together then! (5 years and counting <3) I always love seeing you in my notes and ask box, so thank you so much for sending this in!

See what makes TDP tricky is that they love to store things in earlier seasons that may come back like, the next season, or may only come back literally seasons later, and it's hard to tell when that'll happen. Right now I'm hoping that we can some development on the possession plot line and Aaravos' release in S5, and while I do think it's more likely Aaravos will get out in S5 still, I could see the merit in pushing that and the possession stuff into S6 for thematic stuff (destiny and stars and all that).

So I'll break it down into S5 specific plot lines / stuff maybe, versus just general S5-S6 predictions in general? AKA things that have leeway for mileage or impact to carry over for later

S5:

S5 specific episode outline estimates

Janai losing her kingdom either to her brother or to dark forces (monsters, Aaravos, etc). Mostly because of Karim's short story, Kim'Dael entering in S5 and presumably being interwoven

Terry having some doubts and Claudia becoming more desperate

More answers on where and what was happening to Rayla while she was gone, although not everything (like reserving her backstory with Stella for book 6 stars, maybe)

Viren and Claudia splintering off, with Viren and Soren beginning to not like, reconcile, but they'll be working together to try and bring Claudia home

Rayla and Callum patching things up further, with Rayla hopefully making some head way on her self worth / leaving vs staying arc (but I could see that being in S6 too, especially if her parents are getting out this season)

Soren continuing to step into a primary protector position for Ezran

Rayllum getting to have some more big talks

Zym and/or Callum destroying the pirate ship with lightning, as depicted in the 2nd promo picture

Rayla looking into how to free her fam from the coins (and possibly doing so), even if I think it'll take a big sacrifice of some kind (either needing Viren's staff and a dark magic spell, or something else we haven't quite seen before)

Aaravos gets out for his hot girl summer

Theme wise: more light-dark, drowning-water-shame motif(s), Rayla becoming more like Runaan (derogatory) and Claudia and Callum becoming more like Viren (happily & derogatory), Viren continues to parallel Callum and Soren (affectionate)

S5 / S6

Callum's being re-possessed for a second / final time and Rayla breaking him free of it

Callum connecting to the moon arcanum and/or essence of magic

Ezran tying to rally the other human kingdoms to help fight against Aaravos, either as a preventative measure before he's out, or once he is released, bringing in the new rulers of the Pentarchy as well as old ones like Ahling and Aanya

We Finally learn what the freaking cube is used for (and CHET accordingly in some manner, whether it's to free Aaravos or some kind of power-up tradeoff or whatever) so my suffering can end

Proper Leola lore drop / Aaravos (+ Orphan Queen?) backstory

Callum playing into Aaravos' hands regardless of what he does to try and stop it (bc we love a Greek Tragedy king)

Most of the other specific S5 predictions I have (Rayllum going on a solo trip to the Sunfire elves + Callum doing startouch research; Claudia's hair going nearly full white; crimson orchids relating to Janai and Amaya) are either things that have already confirmed or we'll simply just have to flat out wait and see.

Like S5 could do a lot of interesting things if certain stuff is shuffled, i.e. moon fam getting out but not quite Aaravos could work (esp given Runaan's lotus is underwater, etc) leaving more stuff for S6 - or they could all get out, and it'd still work; if the possession plot line doesn't come back in S5 (or at least not to the point of being resolved, it could easily be a cliffhanger type of thing) and we learn Rayla did kill someone during the timeskip (hence her change in attitude) or she kills someone now, thus setting up that she could very well take Callum up on his request in S6? I think it'd all really, really work. Just depends on how much setup and pay off and dread / dramatic irony they wanna do with things before we get resolutions or to next stages, the ordering of stuff, etc.

Either way it's going to be an absolutely wild ride and I cannot wait to cry