#map of xadia

[brianedner]

Callum's Map by 1228248

[kradogsrats]

The Frozen Sea, or possibly Skall's Hook, let's gooooooooo

[tales-and-creatures-of-xadia]

The Journey

According to Callum this is the path of the journey they took to return Zym to his mother at the Storm Spire

[raayllum]

So what's the Mirrored Trio Theory?

The Mirrored Trio theory is, for lack of a better explanation, a two pronged theory regarding the way the main trio will parallel both the generation that led to / immediately received Aaravos upon his fall (himself, Leola, and a speculative human who may or may not have been a mage / helped to found Elarion) and how they may also parallel the Orphan Queen, Jailer, and Aaravos yet again. So put your tinfoil hats on and strap in because it's going to be a speculation heavy one, lads! We're going to get deep in the weeds.

Fallen Trio

So the first trio we want to talk about is what I'm going to, for lack of a better term / meta simplicity, refer to as the Fallen Trio, consisting of Aaravos, Leola, and 'Elarion' — our stand-in for a potential human Aaravos had a close dynamic with that may be intertwined with the human city of Elarion.

First, I want to talk about Aaravos and Leola. We get our first mention of Leola in S5, specifically with Leola's Last wish being a star for both Xadians and for humans, who use it to navigate and "to find their way in the endless darkness of the night." This is fitting given that what we know of unicorns from the book one novelization — that they gave primal magic and stones to humanity out of mercy and compassion — and that Tales of Xadia singles her out further as the specific unicorn to do so, although it omits primal stones from the equation:

This is, of course, a big parallel between Leola and some details we know from Aaravos as well, who also gave gifts to humanity: the relic staff that Ibis identifies as truly belonging to Aaravos ("It was a gift from one of the Great ones" / "If you seek to return that staff to its true owner...") and, as Claudia says, dark magic:

However, there's also been indications that Leola might've been a Startouch elf (tweet from Aaron Ehasz identifying her as the Startouch child + the star on the star chart map, although it's not entirely clear), that star magic can be reality altering, that Startouch elf designs had unicorn like horns protruding from their foreheads, and that history can change and shape things differently than they necessarily were.

Either way, unicorns are one of the few creatures we know to also possess the Star arcanum and, seemingly like the Startouch elves, are all but gone from Xadia (+ the Pentarchy)'s physical plain. And that she, like Aaravos, were two Star(touch) beings who both wanted to help humanity and help them develop magic, but did so in very different ways. Whether they are literally related or the same species, I think this parallel between them means they're set up to have an almost sibling-esque bond — one that existed, and one that accordingly fell apart under the brunt of dark magic and other disagreements, as TDP is prone to do.

(Put a pin in Callum and Ezran for now, cause we're going to circle back to them shortly.)

Bare minimum, Leola and Aaravos will have to be foils if not contemporaries of each other, given the closeness of their original goals in manifestation, regardless of motivation. This is particularly true given that Aaravos preys on mages in particular and that dark magic (plus a little Star magic, maybe?) allows him to literally possess people who have done dark magic, which can be no happy accident.

Given that Leola seemed dead set on giving humans primal magic, it seems unlikely she might've been too keen on a dark magic, alternative development either, which we know came after, thanks to Ripples.

It happened long ago, when humans had only just learned to hold fire in their hands without burning. They nurtured their precious primal flames secretly—in the dark of night, beneath shadows and shrouds—as cultivating its glow drew the eyes and ire of monsters. Eventually, for the audacity of their fire, they were hunted, and—though they looked to the stars for salvation—the stars, too, looked down upon them with disdain. Humanity had been given something it was never meant to have.

So again, you have two characters with very similar goals/desires, but very different ideas of how to achieve said goals. This one of the reasons why, I think, that TDP loves to have siblings disagree, as it's an effective way of having more worldviews on display with some hope for reconciliation or the tragedy of deterioration, or both. Callum and Ezran stand alone as the one sibling pair that hasn't been terribly wrenched apart by political or ideological disagreements thus far, save for Sarai and Amaya, who were torn apart by Sarai's death.

Which brings me to my next point: if Aaravos and Leola had a sibling like bond, did he lose her to their potential ideological disagreements, or did those disagreements actually cost her life?

Whether Leola just walked away and likewise abandoned him (like Soren), became too distant in disagreement to continue having some sort of bond (like Harrow and Viren, and Janai and Karim), flat out died (like Khessa, Harrow, and Sarai), or all three, that could be one of the many cogs motivating Aaravos to keep turning the wheel of the cycle, as grief has often been the primary motivator throughout history, even amongst the 'villains'. A "song of love that loss" that Aaravos has chosen handpicked "instruments" for, after all (4x03, 4x04).

And like I said, Callum and Ezran are long over due to have a disagreement, given that they haven't had a substantial one since season one, and given that Ezran has grown to only be more assertive than he was since then, not less. This could easily be over Runaan (Callum, having already sworn himself to helping Rayla free her parents, and Ezran, understandably holding onto anger and grief concerning Harrow's death). I'm sure there are also plenty of other things they could heavily disagree over in the future, like military aid or action or how to approach trying to defeat Aaravos, etc.

The point to all of this is that I think Ezran could be a very good stand in for Leola — at least in terms of being selfless, deeply compassionate, uncomplicated, and adamant about giving people their freedom even at the cost of themselves and even if that gift can be misused or discarded (3x04) — which means Aaravos could offer a potential parallel to Callum in the sibling split. Aaravos, who turned to dark magic as an option regardless of or precisely because of the potential violence, and Callum, who argues for the Nova Blade whereas his brother still always champions a non-violent route thus far.

After all, TDP loves to have their "person A is estranged from their sibling and is determined not to lose their lover" parallel, given that it's happened four times (Harrow, Viren, Sarai; Viren, Harrow, Lissa; Claudia, Soren, Terry; Janai, Karim, Amaya) already.

Now, this could be wildly off base as we know very little about Leola and even less about her potential dynamic with Aaravos, but if we follow along with the idea that Ezran could parallel her and Callum could parallel Aaravos, I think now maybe we can talk about Elarion and Rayla.

Years ago we learned that there was a place on Xadia's map (both sides) that was named after someone who had a deep connection to him, and that many of his choices are based around this relationship. Given the Midnight Star poem, people defaulted to Elarion ("Elarion, black-eyed child / her twisted roots spread deep and far / The humans’ might sparked by the light / of Aaravos, her midnight star") although I've also considered Kalik.

And while I'm still not unconvinced that Elarion isn't just a name like Elara and Laurelion, before Aaravos changed his name, combined, I do think Elarion has to be important in Aaravos' backstory, and that it's more than likely that a founder of Elarion / a human involved with Elarion for a variety of reasons.

For starters, while we can be told that Aaravos had a soft spot for humans at one point, giving us a specific person or dynamic to think of is helpful in regards to emotional investment, and in helping to explain why he may have developed said soft spot. We also know, thanks to a birthday post years ago, that a human once gave him a gift:

He thinks that if he cared for the idea [of birthdays], he’d like to remember the taste of a smooth red fruit a human had plucked from a tree for him, once. It had been so crisp, and so sweet.

While this could've been the Orphan Queen (we do know, thanks to 1x01, that there's a tree planted in the castle courtyards 300 years ago, but we don't know it was an apple tree), an apple transfer like this one feels far more "Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and knowledge isn't always a Good thing" type schtick. Not only does it seem to indicate a more intimate bond, it also might foreshadow the reason Aaravos Fell.

One of the most interesting, but perhaps more discreet, reasons I think there's a connection between 'Elarion' as a person and Aaravos is because of the nature motif running between what little we know of Elarion and to do with Aaravos' mirror and appearance motifs. The Midnight Star is riddled with flower and nature symbolism, referring to it as a "trembling seed" and "fading bloom," that "her roots took hold" and later became "twisted," and that before the gift of Aaravos, she was "wilting" with "bone-white branches". And Aaravos' mirror and the box that held his matching key have blooming flowers on it.

See the flowers along the bottom on the actual frame of the mirror, then sculpted along the sides, and the top? Yeah. We also know that flowers themselves, thanks to Tales of Xadia, are featured in a story told both in Katolis and amongst the Moonshadow elves in particular, featuring an elven thief who steals what you value most, leaving only flowers in their wake. This is the only story in all of Tales of Xadia that we see two cultures share, even if they interpret it wildly differently.

Flowers that were always gone by morning, and gifts that couldn't be accepted or understood ("I’ve got one more gift for you, Callum: I'm going to keep you safe. I have to. I love you too much not too [...] Taking on hard choices and going to dark places is an act of love. It’s a gift. So, please let me give you this gift, Callum. Stay safe, and stay in the light").

We also know that whoever Aaravos loved, he inevitably lost whether due to time or tragedy. While this form of grief is one the show has explored, it was previously largely only through Harrow, who mourned Sarai for 9 years upon losing her, and who avenged her by slaying Avizandum, and more briefly through Ethari believing Runaan was dead.

That was, until season four, where Callum grieving Rayla and dealing with the fallout of that grief and distance turned it into more of an accentuated plot point, both before and even after her return.

Before, losing your partner in this manner would've been something Callum had witnessed, but not experienced. Now, whether the show wants Callum to sympathize with Aaravos or not, it is an experience that they could both understand, particularly if it is going to be one of Aaravos' main motivators.

Thus, we have a disagreement set up between 'siblings' (Leola, Aaravos; Ezran, Callum) as well as lost love (Elarion, Aaravos; Rayla, Callum) as a big motivator for choices, grief, and what possibly led to the fall. That Aaravos, at least in practice / thematic lineups, being a Callum who lost his Rayla and his Ezran*, and then lost himself.

Therefore:

Aaravos — Callum

Leola — Ezran

Elarion — Rayla

[ * This is not to say that Callum would pull an Aaravos and go on a hellbent 1000+ year revenge scheme, because he's not like that, but I do think it could be a very poignant and apt parallel of giving him and Aaravos more in common than they currently have, which is about nothing but magical curiosity and connection. ]

However, 90% of this is all speculation of things that have been kept supremely under wraps. For something a little more tangible simply because we have slightly more information, let's talk about the

Imprisonment Trio

The Imprisonment Trio, as the name implies, refers to the two humans who seemed to directly (the Jailer) and potentially indirectly (the Orphan Queen) be involved in imprisoning Aaravos (the third in this trio). This time, however, I'm going to argue that Aaravos — in terms of his imprisonment — is going to parallel someone other than Callum, but we shall see.

To start, I want to look at the Jailer and the Orphan Queen, since their parallels to Callum and Ezran respectively are the most obvious.

We don't know for sure whether the Jailer came from Katolis, but we know that the Orphan Queen did, eventually taking on the throne from the previous royal family and starting Harrow and Ezran's royal line, first hinted at in 3x05 with "Only orphans can ascend to the throne". Ezran has been directly compared to her in both role and appearance by the show's framing and by characters like Rex Igneous in 4x08: "I should have seen it before. Long ago, it was a human who saw through the Fallen Star's schemes and helped Xadia put an end to them. You look so much like her." This plays well into Ezran's tendency to discover or unearth long lost things, most notably Zym's egg, just as the Orphan Queen became the Truthteller of Aaravos' treachery.

Callum, for his part, is a human mage, just like the Jailer. He's clever, very talented with magic, and despite being Aaravos' preferred prey as a mage will ultimately — like the Jailer — play a role in his defeat. He will also work with and for the archdragons and their wills, but has no problem being disobedient either, in the name of concern or mercy, much like how the Jailer kept Akiyu alive rather than tell the archdragons the truth. And like the Jailer, he understands the potential danger of knowledge: "The entire world would be in danger if she let him live with this knowledge" / "I need you to kill me."

Like the brothers, they were a (future) royal and mage working together, starting off what perhaps was a long tradition of Katolian monarchs having high mages. If, as often theorized due to having an Aaravos-y twin box (S2 novelization) and his love of puzzles, Kpp'Ar is indeed descended from the Jailer, that adds another layer onto Kpp'Ar being one of Callum's predecessors as High Mage. While Ezran has the job and the bloodline of the Orphan Queen, Callum would've more directly inherited the position of (high) mage from the Jailer's thematic and occupational line.

Granted, there are differences. Most notably, the Key of Aaravos was given to Callum, not to Ezran, although there could be potential future parallels between the brothers and the Sunfire siblings, with Karim unable to undo Kim'Dael's chains because his sister is still queen, and the brothers needing to work together to fully use the cube. I wouldn't be surprised if Ezran learns more about the cube and the Orphan Queen in S6 while Callum still has some unknowns to its true meaning, leading to some delicious dread and dramatic irony. But I digress.

The point is that the Jailer and the Orphan Queen both had their roles to play in imprisoning Aaravos, and that Callum and Ezran, respectively, will both have their roles to play in trying to keep Aaravos contained, only to inevitably somehow fail in a way that allows him to escape, if by another's hand. We do know the brothers will be going to weird ruins in a future season thanks to some out-of-context spoilers that have yet to pass, and the Ruins of Elarion would certainly fit:

Which, just like the out-of-context spoiler card, you might've noticed that I haven't mentioned Rayla and who she's going to be paralleling yet. Well, that's because this time / generational pass around, I think she's going to be the primary foil to Aaravos.

Now, this train of thought isn't new by any means. I've thought Rayla paralleled Aaravos reasonably well since S3 aired largely due to their status as ghosted/banished elves, a compassion for humans (at least implied for Aaravos) that other elves disapproved of, and their dynamics with Callum and Viren, respectively.

Both Rayla and Aaravos have to work to earn their high mage's trust ("And should we trust you? Have you told us the truth about everything?" / "And why should I trust you?") over the course of season one for Rayla and season two for Aaravos, ending in promises of allegiance and togetherness: "You've got to stay with me" / "I will stay with you" (2x09). Aaravos leads Viren to his doom in being tackled off the Pinnacle, and Callum throws himself off the Pinnacle after Rayla.

You can imagine my delighted surprise, then, when S4 simply cranked it up even further: Rayla was hunting Aaravos' mage ("I spent two years hunting"), and Aaravos was hunting Rayla's mage ("Yes, mages were his prey"). Rayla wants to protect Callum and kill Viren, and Aaravos had promised to save Viren and use Callum. Even for Callum himself, 4x04 and 4x07 seemed like clear set up for Rayla symbolizing agency in Callum breaking free from Aaravos' control someday, putting the two in literal opposition to each other. Two potential paths (although picking Rayla, at least at first, may not be mutually exclusive from picking Aaravos).

Rayla, who was also harshly punished by Xadia with no trial.

This isn't to say that Aaravos didn't do anything wrong and is being unjustly punished — far from it — or that Aaravos' imprisonment and subsequent freedom won't have parallels to anyone else like say, Callum, who will likely be imprisoned by Aaravos through possession in S6 and ultimately freed by Rayla. More so that imprisonment of different sorts has been a running theme throughout Rayla's arc, and that Callum — who is primed to be Aaravos' chain breaker, whether through possession or not — could also be hers (if not just her parents') the way he has routinely been in the past, whether it was from instigating the events that eventually led to her binding (chain) coming off or saving her from being emotionally stuck (3x08) or from doing anything for her freedom (5x01, 5x08). He's primarily been someone who is tethered to freedom when it comes to recognizing and breaking cycles (chains of history) or literal restraints, and it's only in season four and season five that he's shifted to being both tied to freedom and having himself restrained.

I've speculated in the past this may result in Callum (and Ezran) leading to Aaravos' release in order to save/free Rayla; however, the show may not want as much of a repeat from 5x08, and freeing the Moon fam from the coins also resulting in Aaravos' freedom through an escalation of events would also keep that ironic thread, so it could really go anywhere.

Two humans, one elf, and endless tragedy, repeating and breaking cycles all at the same time. Ezran, discovering important info about his ancestor and possibly the Key; Callum, following in the Jailer's footsteps and unravelling the final puzzles of the prison and figuring out how to undo it; and Rayla, ghosted, banished, vying against Aaravos for the control and agency of his latest pawn who also happens to be the love of her life.

So for the Imprisonment Trio:

The Orphan Queen — Ezran

The Jailer — Callum

Aaravos — Rayla

In Conclusion

Is any of this something? I don't know, honestly. I think it's plausible, at least partially. I think it'd be neat. We know TDP likes varying intergenerational parallels and looking at how history repeats, whether that's directly through family (blood or not) lines, or by having repeating plot points (the dragon quartet, or Rayla being immobilized) and trials (Rayllum facing Sol Regem, much like Ziard, etc). We know there was someone Aaravos loved and lost, we know he's not above using what people want against them, and the connections between Ezran and the Orphan Queen are just Text at this point, although how they may manifest further, we don't know.

This is just one particular stab at it, and an examination of three of the series' most interesting (potential) trios. We'll simply have to see if anything here hit the nail on the head.

As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

—Dragons Out

[zuppizup]

Was not expecting lore drop before I even had my coffee this morning, so was pleasantly surprised to see a new Reflections story awaited me. Ripples was wonderful, as I’ve come to expect of that series (more please!!!) and it’s been great reading all the new speculation due to some of the info drops.

One thing I immediately noticed was the passage about the star falling to earth and causing a wound. I have seen people take this as confirmation it has to do with Aaravos and the Sea of the Castout.

So perhaps I’m geologising a little too close to the sun, but looking at the map of Xadia, the Sea of the Castout does not look to me like an impact crater. It’s a flat area, with pretty ill defined edges.

If the cater caused by Aaravos falling to earth behaves like a typical crater (and considering this is a magical land with dragons and elves, it absolutely may not), you’d expect a central impact zone, with roughly equal energy radiating from it, creating a roughly circular impact crater (when viewed from above). The Sea of the Castout very much does not look like this… but not to far from that is The Spinning Sea

The Spinning Sea seems to have a central zone, with a ring of mountains surrounding it. This looks far more like a typical impact crater, though obviously the scale is much more vast (again, magic?) There’s also reference to the land bleeding, a metaphor for volcanism, perhaps?

And maybe the rift we see at the Border was chosen to take advantage of this pre-existing wound in the earth?

Perhaps even more interesting is how the ripples in the image above also remember an impact crater. Ripples that appears to be distorting an image of the moon.

If we take Zubeia’s story as truth (or near enough) Luna Tenebris disappeared suddenly, resulting in the succession crisis. Obviously this happened long after Aaravos’ arrival in Xadia, so perhaps it’s just concidence that the Gulf of Tenebris located by the Spinning Sea, but then again, perhaps not.

Which is to say, I still think the Sea of the Castout is likely to be where Aaravos is imprisoned and the Spinning Sea is where he “landed” in Xadia.

[its-leethee]

What kind of magic does the Jailer use, and what is her connection to the Key of Aaravos?

I have thought for a while that perhaps the Jailer is neither a primal nor a dark magic user, and that she utilized the Key of Aaravos to serve an important role in his imprisonment. Now, there isn't a lot of overt evidence for my hypothesis here; this is a ramble of pure speculation. I'm going to do my best to present the dialogue and canon-consistent logic to support my thoughts. Here goes:

The prevailing opinion in Xadia is that "human magic" is akin to trickery and sleight of hand. When confronted with Callum's claim of being a primal mage in 5x07, Nyx dismisses his boast reflexively: “I’ve seen ‘human magic.’ Fake ropes, false doors, birds and rabbits stuffed into clothing.” To her, it's common knowledge that humans can't use real primal magic, and her derisive attitude shows she doesn't have much respect for human magic either. As for dark magic, Nyx doesn't even mention it at all; as Lujanne said in 2x01, "we do not call that practice magic. It's an atrocity."

But human magic has one more specialty: creating and solving puzzles. The mechanical devices and riddles guarding the secrets in Kpp'ar's labyrinthine house and the rock-stone puzzle hiding the staircase to Viren's dungeon are story-significant examples of the types of innovations created by human magic. In 1x03, Ezran solves the rock-stone puzzle to reveal the staircase hiding Viren's dungeon. Callum answers the riddle posed by Rex Igneous in 4x08, "having knowledge isn't knowing knowledge…. He has a map!"

So neither a primal mage nor a dark mage would resort to puzzles and riddles, the gimmicks used by magic-less humans. So let's now consider the Jailer.

During the post-season four Discord Q&A, Aaron Ehasz states that the Jailer is a "mastermind of prisons and puzzles."

In episode 5x05, Archmage Akiyu tells the story of how she met the Jailer and introduces her as "a human mage." Akiyu goes on to explain:

"The archdragons had given the Jailer a daunting task, to design a magical prison that could hold a Startouch Elf. She needed my powers to craft the prison itself." (emphasis mine).

It stands to reason that a competent dark mage, with the notoreity to catch the attention of the archdragons, could bring that kind of power into her grasp on her own. So why would the Jailer seek out the powers of primal archmage, unless she couldn't wield that power herself? Furthermore, knowing the prejudice that the archdragons hold against dark magic--all of humanity was driven out of Xadia for refusing to forswear its use--I don't believe the archdragons would ever condone cooperating with a dark mage, even to quell an existential crisis like a demi-god bent on world destruction.

Akiyu tells us one more intriguing thing that the Jailer said:

"'The puzzle is the real prison,' she told me with a proud smile," (again, emphasis mine)

There's another word besides "magic" that we can use to describe the practice of creating and solving puzzles: cryptography; the art and science of creating and breaking codes and ciphers. The terms code and cipher are often used interchangeably, but their meanings are technically different. Basically, a code uses arbitrary substitutions while a cipher uses an algorithm.

Now, if you wish to solve a puzzle, you're going to need all the pieces - and if you wish to solve a cipher or code, you're going to need a key.

More than one use has been hinted at for the Key of Aaravos. We've heard Rayla refer to it several times as a toy and a game piece (1x04, 2x07). In the book two novelization, Callum notices that the Key left marks on the ground that appeared to point toward Xadia (we get a glimpse of those lines in early episode 2x07). In 4x07, we get suspiciously up-close framing of the Key when Callum asks, "is there no primal gem for star magic?"

And a few months back, one of the TDP creators shared on Twitter about a season 6 scene that was eventually cut. In the scene, Callum holds the Key up to a symbol on a wall and says, "I'm gleaming the cube!" (if anyone remembers this twitter convo and can provide me a link to this, I would be so grateful)

This is the Key feature we're all most familiar with: its glow. When exposed to a source of magic, the corresponding primal magic symbol on the Key lights up. This is why I think one of the potential functions of the Key of Aaravos is as a cryptographic key. If it were held up to a magic-infused symbol, the glow effect would reveal the primal magic source - and in this way it could be used to decode a secret message.

In cryptography, a key is the series of words, symbols or phrases that contain all of the basic information you need to decode or understand a specific coded message. Both the sender and receiver of the coded message need to know the key in order to create the coded message or decode it into plaintext - to lock or unlock the meaning behind a cipher or code.

I can't speculate on the exact nature of the secrets that she encrypted with it, but the Key can literally shed light on the solution! It was a toy that was repurposed by a the Jailer, magicless human mage and mastermind of ciphers and codes, to protect the secrets of Aaravos and his prison.

Exactly what secrets it will be used to reveal remains part of the Mystery.

if you're interested in learning more about cryptography, this page has links to a lot of my favorite resources

Recommended reading for more Key of Aaravos and the Jailer theories:

the post that initially enabled my crazy train of thoughts, thank you @beautifulterriblequeen

super rad analysis of the Jailer's unique character design by @kradogsrats, who also authored one of my favorite alternative hypothesis for the real function of the Key of Aaravos

an amazing thorough and detailed Key analysis, by @raayllum and another very interesting conversation about the Key here

Special thanks to @raayllum for answering my random Akiyu and Jailer questions, and to @self-spaghettification for giving me the push I needed to bring this essay together!

[self-spaghettification]

AARAVOS EX HUSBAND

THEORY TIME

i’m thinking about how

the creators said in TDP season 5, there’s gonna be an emotional scene involving aaravos

that there’s a location on the map indicating someone very important to aaravos.

we’re also gonna get a flashback to how aaravos got captured this season,…

like dude… did aaravos get betrayed by his lover?

bc for 1. aaravos is not gonna have a reason to emotionally vulnerable around anyone else he covers everything up with charm and bullshit. so clearly an emotional scene would involve Someone very close to him

2. aaravos was betrayed and imprisoned by a coalition of powerful elves and arch dragons by sneak attacking him in a situation where he would have his guard down

3. aaravos is the only startouch elf known to take an interest in humanity and xadia so it’s probably not blood family of any sort

4. shots of past aaravos have him with horn cuffs on, which are akin to rings on human hands- both for jewelry purposes and, more importantly, said to signify meaningful relationship-status gifts. sure, it could just be jewelry, but, there’s a location on the map important to aaravos. 2+2= aaravos’s ex-husband? (or wife or spouse who knows but idk im thinking man)

i say ex because

aaravos has horn cuffs on. in the shot of the leaders of elves.

but he doesn’t. in the shot of his being betrayed.

or in prison. he likely threw them off in a fit of anger at betrayal by Someone Very Close To Him. basically, divorce?

if so dude must be pissed and ready for revenge fr 🙏

ofc

alternatively

besides losing his horn cuffs, he also got unadorned with the tiara and other jewelry on his arms and legs

so maybe it was just stripping him of his gifts of status and adoration?? and he doesn’t have an ex lover?

although those could also be gifts from his lover idk man

hennceee just because it would just make things a little more exciting i think aaravos probably has an ex husband who maybe he had to lie to while secretly manipulating xadia, who helped trapped him in the mirror, and who he’s been pissed at for 300 years

aaand i think yeah yeah yeah jack conte pairs really well with this idea herjfjdnfmsmsk

[rainwalker-dragonblade29]

Okay so wait.... is this....

AARAVOS?

The horns! They're just like him... even the freaking hair!!!!

Hold on... the sea of the castput having his statue? It's not even subtle xadia!? You kept the castout in well....this very sea!? Seriously! Ms Jailer the puzzle could be solved by anyone now if they know who aaravos is... they can just scour this ocean... I mean they won't know what the prison looks like but still... it's location would be so easy to figure out if they just see a map...

(Credit to @zuppizup for the image)

[thosefiveadoraburrs]

if it’s not you, it’s not anyone

Summary: Their Tidebound elf guide is a little too friendly towards Rayla. Callum doesn’t know how to feel about it, never mind what to do about it. Written with @raayllum

Callum thought the whole thing would go swimmingly if every Tidebound elf was as nice as Aalto.

The elf was a couple years older, with light blue skin, green frilly ears, a rough burr of an accent and a big smile as he led them onto his ship. He wore clothes almost made of seaweed with glittery shells scattered throughout and was as eager to ask Callum questions about humans as he was to answer questions about his kind, typically reclusive to Xadia’s shorelines and one of the few willing to speak to humans by the sea that marked their exile.

It had taken a week for Zubeia to wrestle the location of the map from Rex Igneous (and Callum still didn’t know how literally that had been) but he was glad to be here. This was their path forward in stopping Aaravos, and hopefully not dying, and—

“Ugh, I hate the water,” Rayla muttered, clutching the railing next to Ezran, the sea breeze rustling their hair.

“Oh come on,” trilled Soren. “It’s refreshing!”

“Right.” The faint green tint in her face made her look anything but refreshed.

“We’re still just a few hours out from shore,” Aalto chimed, stepping away from the ship’s steering wheel. It was a tiny vessel so that with his arcanum he could basically run it himself, although Callum had offered to help with the sails if they needed some extra speed. “Give it a bit and you’ll get your sea legs.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I have those,” she said. “I’m a mainland elf through and through.”

read the rest on AO3

[xadian-daydreams]

Aaravos' Key to What?

I did an earlier theory about what the Key of Aaravos might function as - a means by which Aaravos can access artificial arcanum from a source/nexus that holds a version of all six primals - basically a Deep nexus.

So going to expand on a theory as to what and where this is.

There's an odd connection between Deep magic, blood magic and dark magic. (Bear with me). Deep magic is the ancient precursor to Primal magic. According to an interview one of the spells in S5 was a deep magic spell - with the most likely candidate being Finnegrin's blood freezing spell Veinus Frigardis. Then there's the ancient Infantis Sanguine ritual, Kpp'Ar using ancient and unsavoury practices with a bloody arm and Kim'dael being able to overcome the moon cycle's effect on her powers using blood. (There's also the bloodbinding ritual Aaravos conducts - but we don't know how old that is and it definitely used a Stars rune). And it's been pointed out by kardogsrats here that one of the early concepts when designing the symbol for dark magic was blood... and you'll also note, dragons.

Deep magic symbol on the left, early concepts for dark magic symbol on the right.

So, my theory is that the Deep nexus/source that Aaravos has his Key linked to is actually related to the remains of the most powerful dragon mentioned in Tales of Xadia - a Void Dragon. There's hints that there's remains of a Void dragon around;

But how could you hide something that powerful? Well, Aaravos is bound by a prison made of Ocean magic within a sea, and in ToX there's reference to The Epic of the Void, a poem about Startouch, with this relic being protected by an Ocean rune. That Ocean has been used twice to contain Stars powers is unlikely to be a coincidence.

So, keeping in mind star dragon blood and Stars related thing being contained by Ocean magic, there's one point on the map which stands out;

Ocean Point has the Stars symbol (minus the circle) in red, with a dotted line heading down below it. This could be the location the Key of Aaravos is being pulled towards, the "source of great power" in Xadia.

Bonus note, when Aaravos thinks Avizandum is keeping watch on him he makes the effort to wear his cloak with the Deep magic symbols on it. - possibly as a reminder of his role regarding the Deep nexus. Possibly, he its guardian, like Lujanne is to the Moon nexus, and the only one (currently) who can access it using his Key.

[an-actual-attack-helicopter]

We got our clue for episode three‼️ It’s a poem about the journey of a new seafaring character.

Okay so this isn’t the first I’ve heard of this “Cap’n Skall” as she has her own place on the map of Xadia.

I’m less inclined to speculate on the name of the episode because it could be a lot of things (Captain Skall, Skall’s Home, The Frozen Sea, etc.). I think the story of this character will be brought up through Callum and Rayla visiting Skall’s Home on their way to the Starscraper. Or her home IS the Starscraper. Can never be sure.

The way Skall forgoes her lover reminds me of how Rayla left Callum. If that is brought up it might be an opportunity for them both to process that trauma. So I’m for sure thinking it’s a Rayllum episode. I’m also sure that Skall’s story will be more important than just being the plot device I have made it sound like lol.

Thoughts?

[brianedner]

Map of the Dragon Prince's journey by 1228248

[kradogsrats]

I was looking at both the map of Xadia and the Aaravos history clips from S4 because of @raayllum's excellent catch regarding the giant shell and wanting to see if it appeared anywhere else, and... in case there was any doubt that the entire Sea of the Castout was created specifically to be Aaravos's prison:

Comparison of the human war table map and the modern map of Xadia, with the following marked:

Red: war table map markers (unclear atm what they are meant to indicate, but presumably strategic points of interest or enemy forces locations)

Blue: rivers that exist in both pre- and post-imprisonment Xadia

Green: rivers and inland sea that did not exist in pre-imprisonment Xadia

Magenta: site of Elarion

Couple things of note from this:

there are five new rivers that form the Sea of the Castout, and, probably not coincidentally, there are also five primal sources excluding Star

the new southwest river very deliberately goes around the ruins of Elarion, leaving them undisturbed

now that I think about it, it's possible given the position of Elarion that Ziard's confrontation with Sol Regem took place at the same site as Aaravos's prison, which would be *chef's kiss*

the far south war map marker reinforces my belief that Ocean Point is called out on the map with a little star/sparkle marker for a reason

put F in the chat for whoever was living in that area when they filled it with water jail

[tales-and-creatures-of-xadia]

Map of Xadia, inside cover art

[raayllum]

The Orphan Queen and Mystery Figure both featured in the backstory of Aaravos’ specific imprisonment. We know the Orphan Queen became queen of Katolis seemingly shortly after revealing Aaravos as a deceiver, and we can’t see Mystery Figure’s ears / full head, but I’m going to guess they were an elven inventor who helped craft the mirror itself, Orphan Queen was given the key, and we know from Rex Igneous’ map that the prison is in the Sea of the Castout, right by Elarion, hence (our first real look at!!) a Tidebound elf. I think given Aaravos’ animosity towards Xadia and his indifference towards humans, it makes the most sense that all three groups (elves, dragons, humans) had a hand in imprisoning him. 

Also: girlfriends??

[zuppizup]

Six Sentence Sunday - A Dark Alternative

More than anything, she wanted to see him smile again. “So, you seem to be doing well translating all these Moonshadow runes-”

Callum chuckled, narrowing his eyes at her. “I can see a ‘but’ coming here,”

“Oh, pardon me, I didn’t realise my ‘but’ would offend you so.” Rayla grinned cheekily at him, struggling not to laugh at his sudden bright blush or how his eyes seemed to dart involuntarily to her rear.

“Eh, no, that’s not what-”

“Relax, dummy,” she snorted, rolling her eyes at his adorable fumbling. “You’ll panic your poor horse.”

Callum sighed, shaking his head at her clear amusement. “You were saying?”

“Ah yes, buts,” Rayla laughed again at his exasperated grumble

- Excerpt from my dark magic AU. First arc almost complete but, as usual, it’s grown far beyond that. I’m currently projecting ~50 chapters. Featuring childhood friends to strangers to confused pining, contemplating how a world more accepting of dark magic would affect the economy of the Pentarchy and Xadia, mapping and hydrology… you know, typical fanfic stuff.