#sunfire subplot

[miyanaxxi]

The Coyote Is A Wolf's Prey, After All - Opening

Hi there. I've not had the motivation to write this, but it's been an idea for a few months. Someone asked me for Corvus angst and this is purely Corvus angst. Eventually.

"The Six Horns have called them Shadowbeasts." Kazi translated, watching Amaya's hands carefully. "Creatures infected by the Sunforge, elves included." Their ears twitched down.

Amaya cast them a gentle glance. She knew they had lost a friend to the Corruption early on; Femi had been one of the first victims. Once she was sure they were okay enough to keep going, she continued signing.

"Most of them are deep within the heart of Lux Aurea, and their strength varies on how long they've been corrupted and their proximity to the Blackened Orb." Amaya's eyes roved over the people in the master tent, human soldier and Sunfire warrior alike.

"I will take a party at sundown to investigate the Shadowbeasts' habits." General Solar declared, looking at Kazi to translate to Amaya. She was of rather short stature - at least compared to Janai and Kazi - but made up for it in strength. Amaya and Gren had both observed the Six Horns Generals overtime, and came to learn that this albino Sunfire woman was all core muscle and speed. She had a certain arch to her back and her nose was slightly crooked, apparently from an incident when she was a trainee. "I would prefer three quarters of them to be human soldiers, if you can spare them to me?"

Kazi paused mid-sign, but quickly finished when Amaya nudged them. The general blinked in surprise. That was new. "You want human soldiers with you? Why?"

Solar cracked her neck and shrugged. "I want them to see what their filthy selfishness has led to." Amaya didn't need a translation; she could see Solar's bright blue eyes narrow and the way her teeth lingered over her bottom lip both times she hissed the letter "F".

Amaya closed her eyes, thought, then nodded. Solar bowed her head, a simple way to convey "thank you" commonly used in the army. Amaya may have been a human, but an ally military figure was to show respect despite race. Janai had made that clear.

"I volunteer."

Heads whipped around for the unfamiliar voice. Towards the back, Corvus stood next to a woman taller than him. Her black hair was done in tight braids save for her long fringe boasting four dreadlocks; two weaving around the sides of her head and two criss-crossing over her scalp to meet in a ponytail at the back. She had heavy eyeliner and sirenlike hazel eyes that complimented her full lips.

"My brother and I will go with you." She flicked her head up. Solar hesitated, but hummed in acceptance anyway.

Corvus shifted nervously beside her. "Can I-" he grabbed her wrist when everyone had turned their attention back to Amaya. "Come here." He pulled her out of the tent and into the sunlight. "I don't want you volunteering to go into a place of death!" He whispered urgently.

"Well, I volunteered you too." She tilted her head and raised a thick brow, the purple beads of her braids jangling as her hair fell over her shoulder.

"I don't care. I'm willing to go into Lux Aurea and reclaim it, but I don't want you to." Corvus sighed at her crestfallen expression. "I'm not saying you don't care or-or don't want to help, Coyote, I know you do. Just...you don't know Lux Aurea."

Coyote, for a second, mulled it over. Then she burst out laughing, catching the attention of a handful of Sunfire elves. "You're my little brother, Crow. I'm supposed to criticise your life decisions, not the other way around." She clapped him on the shoulder, her sharp nails digging into the thin pad he wore over it. She skipped off into the camp, throwing a toothy grin at him.

Corvus picked at his nails. He loved his sister, both of his older sisters, but Coyote just wasn't ready for this. She fought with a lance in the Crownguard, she wasn't in the Standing Battalion or any of the Six Sunfire Armies. He'd been into Lux Aurea three times before, just not under Solar. He'd have to try and talk the albino general out of letting Coyote come. If that was possible.

[fun-unless]

Exactly what I was thinking when we saw his setup like THE EMBROIDERY ON THE BANNERS who had the time or energy while preparing for a war 5 times their size???!!!! I know they were counting on Sol Regem to do his thing but the arrogance is insane 😭 like you ain’t gonna have a back up plan or nothing but the wine and embroidery on the pillows were just integral to the situation.

Where'd Karim get all that wine?

[sunfire-shield]

I do also love the reveal that they could have destroyed the corrupted sun orb at any point, and didn’t, because they were still holding out hope that it could be restored, and that one day they could return, have Lux Aurea back. Just, something about the way that seeking to return the past can haunt you in your present, like the way the corrupted sun orb was visible even as far away as the new Sunfire camp, a constant haunting and oppressive presence; something about how holding on too tightly to the past can risk denying you a future, like the way that Aaravos almost brought about the end of their world using the corrupted orb when Karim did not destroy it, just the way he has consistently been unable to let go of his desire to return them to exactly what they used to be, instead of embracing change. Janai didn’t want to lose Lux Aurea either, but ultimately recognised that it was necessary to try and give her people a future. It’s a pretty good summary of the theme they’ve been exploring this arc with Karim and Janai and the Sunfire elf subplot

[milevenstancyendgame]

Predictions/Possibles for Tdp s7

-Hunt for nova-blade and plan to use both nova-blade and cursed coin on Aaravos

-Re-building of Katolis castle with help from Sunfire elves, mirroring the help they received before - Janaya in charge

-The Orphan Queen revealed to be Ezran's ancestor, as part of his sub-plot

-Travelling through human kingdoms, possibly on the hunt for the nova-blade (Ezran + companion sub-plot, might be Aanya, Soren, or Corvus)

-Leola's last wish revealed

-Sorvus becomes canon

-Rayllum breaking their promises

-Callum deciding to sacrifice himself by using dark magic to trap or destroy Aaravos, but either is kept from it last minute, or brought back by Rayla

-Introduction of another Startouch elf or another character who has first-hand memories of Aaravos

-Callum understanding star arcanum/doing star magic

-Soren vs. Claudia Showdown (Soren telling her how Viren died, causing her to change lane and sacrifice herself too)

-Return of blood Moonshadow assassin (epic fight between her and Rayla)

-Rayla & Runaan subplot

-Zym speaking his first words

Feel free to add! :D

[knuffi516]

From arc 2, i found the Sunfire-Subplot better written than the main plot, then it was build up realistic and got in book six a suprising conclusion.

The main plot had going from a Journey to the Center of the Earth in book 4 to an pirate adventure in book 5 and a Rayllum focused journey in book 6.

Its became more straightforward in book 7, were all charakters having an equal focus.

[thebibliomancer]

Universe X #4!

Featuring… uhhhh… -consults Marvel wiki- okay so going clockwise. Sonfire son of Sunfire at 12 o’clock, Kendo, Chi, Tora, Old Man Wong, Banzai in the mask, Sai with the sais, Tao in the yin yang mask, White Tiger, Mantis no relation to the GotG one, and Sumo.

These are Xen, the superhero team for Generally Asia, the elite forces of Lord Sunfire of Asia.

I talked some time ago about how when all the craziness started, nations asked their superheroes to become their leaders. Hence why Captain Britain is King Britain and why Colossus rules Russia.

As a team of mostly new characters, wow, this feels like a bunch of first draft ideas just taking various Asian things and making a guy out of it. “Kendo is Japanese, there should be a guy whose whole thing is kendo and he’s called Kendo.”

Anyway, the cover happens to be relevant this time. A rarity with Universe X! Captain America and Lil Mar-Vell’s scavenger hunt takes them to Japan where some subplots are colliding.

But before that, some other stuff. The big opening exposition dump is about Asgard stuff.

Earth X revealed that the Asgardians were sufficiently advanced aliens who had been gaslit into believing they were the Norse gods because when you reach that level of evolution, you lose your own sense of identity.

Now Universe X reveals that Odin was a human skald who happened to be first contact for the sufficiently advanced aliens and they took the forms of Asgardians, the enemies of Asgard like Surtr, and even the whole golden realm itself.

And a lot of Weird Odin Stuff is recontextualized through this lens. As belief in Norse mythology faded, Odin couldn’t maintain it by himself so he needed to get people thinking about it again. He sent “Thor” to Earth not to learn humility but to make a big, heroic spectacle of himself. Then he set up Loki to be Thor’s nemesis to make a better narrative of it.

Even the formation of the Avengers is attributed to being for Odin’s goal of keeping his power as central character in his favorite mythology. Remember, Loki caused the Avengers. And Loki’s villainy was enforced on him by Odin.

This is a lot. I didn’t like the Asgard reveal in Earth X but I acknowledge it served the plot and Universe X is taking the ball and running with it.

I guess it’s not too different from the meta stuff later Thor and Loki material would do. I guess directly playing with the idea that they’re stories works better for me than the impressionable aliens middle man.

Now, what does this mean for this issue? Not a whole lot. Asgard stuff is not relevant. Which is one of the big differences between Earth X and Universe X. Earth X’s big opening exposition dumps were usually relevant to the focus of the issue. With Universe X, you’re lucky if it has anything to do with anything.

Although, since Unpersoned Loki shows up to tell Surtr that his whole mythological destiny is fake, made-up stakes

but he should consider doing it anyway…

Uh, well. It’s going to be relevant at some point?

Loki is definitely up to something. As Lokis tend to be. And he’s definitely scheming against Odin, as Lokis tend to. Although it’s hard not to say it’s unwarranted. As is sometimes the case.

Anyway, Cap and Mar-Vell cloakaport to Japan right in the middle of a huge brawl between Sunfire’s Xen and the Tong of Creel.

The Tong kills Johnny Blaze, who I guess was around? And makes off with a piece of Creel. Although the Creel fist nunchucks that Tao uses remain in his hands.

Cap takes the opportunity to ask hey what the fuck happened with the Absorbing Man, Washington DC, and the Avengers.

Nobody ever told him! They explicitly kept it from him! Because he was already super depressed at the time and his (living) hero friends didn’t want to pile on.

But now he’s asking point blank and Reed Richards explains over a video call.

Absorbing Man absorbed the computer intelligence of Ultron. And since Creel is one of those villains with a broken power who is mostly held back by being an idiot, this was a very bad thing.

Destroyed Washington and killed most of the Avengers bad.

(Hawkeye has extra arms because his terrigen bomb mutation was to become able to shoot more arrows at once.)

Absorbing Man killed every Avenger with a logical counter. He turned to rubber to bounce arrows back at Hawkeye. He turned to tar so Quicksilver couldn’t run and then drowned him in it. He… uh… something about math to cancel out Scarlet Witch’s probability manipulation!

The Vision was able to stop him by phasing through him and infecting Creel’s computer brain with a virus. Creel turned into stone to try to slow down the virus and Vision smashed him. Then, the other prominent heroes/world leaders divided up his pieces and spread them all around the world so Creel couldn’t be reassembled.

Except the Tong of Creel already has most of him. Wuh oh.

(Why don’t we just get Thor to throw the remaining pieces into space? Use your Thors!)

Anyway, Cap didn’t just come to Japan to hear exposition he could have heard anywhere with a phone.

He and Mar-Vell are here for the Orb of Agamotto, which Wong turns over to them. They also find Strange’s missing body. Turns out Wong moved him to Japan! Well, that wraps up that mystery!

Over in New York, the NYPD and Spider-Cop defends the Human Torch (building) from an attack by Pope Immortus’ mob.

Without Spiders Man’s illusions, the attack fails. Also, Peter is telling his bad Peter jokes and May is cringing like an embarrassed teenager.

I would have hoped their relationship would have shifted in some way from the cathartic, horrible experience they had in Peter’s Perfect Amazing Fantasy World. But she’s still going ‘uuuugh, don’t embarrass me in front of the NYPD, dad!’

Alas.

Pope Immortus tries to retreat to Limbo to ponder how to move forward with his plans but finds he’s been barred. Somehow some way by someone.

And the cast of the Micronauts watch him weep and beg to be let back in.

The Micronauts! Universe X just really wants to tie in the licensed toy comics into its grand plan. I wonder when the Transformers are going to show up.

Cap and Mar-Vell have one more stop to make in this issue. A secret lab in the Midwest where the Nega-Bands should be.

And what they find is Hydra, the squid alien hivemind that takes people over. And now Rick has been taken over too.

I thought they were killed by the Skull’s forces and that it was an anti-climactic end to that subplot but here they are again!

Lil Mar-Vell explains that the hosts are dead so they can’t really be killed.

And the lab seems to suggest that someone made the Hydra. But we’re not getting any answers today.

Mar-Vell notes that Rick only has one of the Nega-Bands and that it doesn’t seem to have the spark of the cosmic consciousness that he needs so this leg of the trip was completely unnecessary.

And then all of the grief and hate and self-loathing Cap had bottled up explodes all at once and he goes ham on the Hydra with ROM’s neutralizer, transporting all of the Hydra to Limbo while yelling at them.

And then after all the Hydra are gone (goodbye again subplot with no answers), Cap spots Death hovering above the proceedings as she has been for multiple issues now.

He turns the Neutralizer on her but it crumbles to dust when he tries to zap her to Limbo.

And it’s ambiguous whether Cap overtaxed it blasting all of the Hydra. Whether Death can’t enter Limbo, as was mentioned earlier, and trying to do it anyway overloaded the device. Or whether Death is too far beyond its power.

Unclear!

Either way, I thought ROM’s Neutralizer would be a Chekov’s Gun but it was taken off the shelf and fired one entire issue later.

Captain America is left with nothing more he can do but clutch Lil Mar-Vell and vow he won’t let Death take anyone else.

Setting yourself up to fail, Steve.

Maybe!

Each main series issue of Universe X ends with a text conversation between Aaron Stack, Machine Watchman, and Uatu the Former Watcher.

They always go deep in the weeds in a weird way, discussing something that happened in the issue. And this time they discuss death and Death.

Aaron wonders why Death is a person and theorizes that the Celestials introduced her to Earth and that made death a thing in the whole universe.

Uatu says that’s dumb but Aaron points out that stuff happened on Earth before Uatu started Watching. So how can he be absolutely sure??

Aaron doesn’t really have anything to back this up but it’s such a wild thing to bring up that I have to think that it’s going to turn out at least somewhat correct.

Universe X. It’s a weird time.

[thorne-antics]

This is probably an unpopular opinion because this whole subplot in season 4 was pretty annoying(mainly because of Karim), but honestly, I hope we see Lucia again.

If anyone doesn't remember who I'm talking about, I mean this woman. The one who was put on trial for extinguishing a spirit flame.

I want to see that she has changed. I want to see that she is a more understanding person because Janai gave her the chance to learn and grow. I want to see that she has not only made amends for what she did, but that she also is actively trying to better understand the sunfire elves, enough that maybe they could be allies or even friends. In fact, I want to see that she has become allies/friends with sunfire elves. I want to see the sunfire elves and humans fight alongside each other in the battle against Karim and his army (assuming there will be a battle) and I want Lucia to be there. I want Karim to see this woman, who once had no compassion for the sunfire elves, now willingly fighting alongside them, because she's changed, because Janai was right to show her mercy, and I want him to see that he was wrong, and he can't comprehend it.

[meret118]

The Dragon Prince’s second season — which dropped on Netflix in February — shows the strain of a lore-dense show operating under false time constraints. There are so many moving pieces that it feels like the audience doesn't get enough time with any one plot. The first three episodes of Season 2 feel well-paced, balancing plot with character development, but by the fourth episode, it's as if the show suddenly realized it only has a handful of episodes left to cram in the rest of the narrative, and so the sprint begins. That cool fight between General Amaya and the Sunfire elf? No time to expand, gotta go fast. Feel like Ezran (Sasha Rojen) needed more time to process his grief? No time, gotta go fast! Weirded out by how fast that paralysis subplot got resolved? No time ... you get the point.

Let me be clear: I do not blame the creators of The Dragon Prince for this Yakety-Sax pace. I blame Netflix. Back in ye olden days, animated shows for kids were ordered in bulk. Sure, this gave us a lot of cheap cartoons with recycled animation and filler episodes, but it also gave writers a large canvas upon which to do something deep and fulfilling. For example, Avatar: The Last Airbender seasons each ran for 20-21 episodes a piece. That's more than double the amount The Dragon Prince has to work with, which explains why the latter doesn't have the time to devote to anything that isn't driving the plot forward.

Other Netflix shows have suffered from uneven story pacing while trying to clock in on time for a 10-episode season, but for some reason the cracks in Netflix's system are more pronounced this time. Perhaps it's because The Dragon Prince inexplicably only received 9-episode orders per season. Maybe it's because the episodes are basically half-hour chunks instead of a full hour. Or it could have something to do with how dense the world of The Dragon Prince is. Honestly? It's all of the above.

Netflix's logic makes even less sense when you realize the strain this kind of turnaround puts on creators. Animation is labor intensive, with a single episode usually taking between one and three months to complete. And that doesn't count storyboarding, script-writing, or voice acting. You don't announce the second season of a cartoon one month after the first becomes a hit and then drop said second season four months later unless you want your creators to burn out. Which they will.

More at the link.

[luniviravosshipper]

I think what they did with Leola was single-handedly the best writing decision the creators have ever made for the show. So obviously, at the very top. (And yes, I’m also including all the other stuff that was said to be part of that plot like the Orphan Queen and such and ranking that as the very best too.)

Edit: Also, you didn’t list this for Aaravos’s Past plot line, but I think the storyline of Laurelion can be part of that too which is a character I’ve been speculating about and invested in for a long time.

The Magefam Plot is just… so fledged out and at the same time, there’s still so much we don’t know about what happened and it’s still continuing even as all the characters of the original Magefam have gone their separate ways. The way the storyline just had so many major indirect effects on the overall plot, so many ripple effects…

B tier is not at all plots I’m neutral on, I love these plots but they just don’t rank as highly as the two above. The Sunfire Elves plotline has been too harshly criticized, it is an incredibly essential subplot to the greater narrative of the story. (And I’m especially fond of it because its connections to Aaravos, and, even though I don’t talk about her on my blog often, because Janai is one of my favorite characters in the entire series.) Moonshadow Family, like the Magefam, has a lot of interesting underlying backstory and lore and there’s a lot of themes that specifically pertain to their family and the story of their family (like what’s the meaning of justice) that relates back to the main story and plot of the series. Team Aaravos honestly is on par with Team Viren from arc 1 and I would’ve ranked them the same if it were also included. I loveee arc 1 dragang, the relationship dynamics, individual character journeys, and lessons taught were so immersive and well handled. Same could be said about the Broyals.

Now C tier is where I’m truly neutral at. I don’t even know what exactly to comment on these, I just didn’t feel emotionally moved by these like I did for the other plots.

And then the True King of Katolis… I honestly just wouldn’t have included this one lol. I mean, not in the show, but on this list. It was such a small subplot that it felt kinda insignificant in comparison to other subplots that could have been chosen here instead (regardless of the larger effects other people can argue it had which I’m not necessarily disagreeing with). And I just personally am still figuring out my feelings on it even after it’s been so long since season 3 came out.

You know how The Dragon Prince has like a hundred different plot lines going on all at once and how everyone has a favorite one?

Well I wanted to make a tier list and thought I should share it!

I tried my best to keep it at just 10 even though every part of me wanted to break these down cause easily some of these can be divided into their own section!

Below is how I would classify each Plot Line

Arc 1 Dragang

-Arc 1 main adventures

-Rayla, Callum, Ezran, and Zym

-Battle of The Stormspire

Arc 2 Dragang

-Arc 2 main adventures

-Rayla, Callum, Ezran, Soren, and Zym

-Race to Aaravos's prison

The True King of Katolis

-Opeli taking charge of the council

-Ezran taking the crown and later getting imprisoned

-Kasef/Neolandia take over with Viren

-Corvus and Opeli protecting Ezran

Broyals

-Dreamers Nightmare

-Ezran and Callum's brotherly love and bond

-Their fight and reconciliation

Viren family/Magefam

-Viren's Relationship with his former family

-Doomed Siblings (Soren and Claudia)

-Lissa's History

-Kpp'ar and The Puzzle House

Sunfire Elves

-The Breach

-Corruption of The Sunforge

-Sunfire Civil War

-Ruins of Lux Aurea/The Great Bookery

-Janaya

-Queen Aditi (Bloodman Huntress)

Moonfam

-Bloodmoon Huntress

-Ruthari + Adopted Rayla

-Silvergrove Banishment/Ghosting

-Runaan Imprisonment and Torture

-Tadrin and Lain

Aaravos’s Past

-Leola

-The Cube

-Cosmic Council

-The Orphan Queen/The Jailer

-Elarion

Team Aaravos

-Terry, Claudia, Viren, and Sir Sparklepuff

-Clauderry

-Claudia's decent

-The race to Aaravos's prison

-The release of Aaravos

-Claudia and Aaravos bonding

The True King of Katolis

-Opeli taking charge of the council

-Ezran taking the crown and later getting imprisoned

-Kasef/Neolandia take over with Viren

-Corvus and Opeli protecting Ezran

Rayllum

-Rayla and Callum falling in love

-Their break up and getting back together

-Dark Magic Callum

[miyanaxxi]

This is a fandom. You can’t escape people. Being part of a fandom means respecting everyone’s opinions, scrolling past things you don’t want to see, making friends or mutuals, and being genuinely happy to be in the fandom.

I’m a very…interesting person when it comes to The Dragon Prince. I don’t like Rayla, Callum, or Rayllum, but I do like seeing people gush over them! It makes those people likeable because they’re able to have that emotional connection to fictitious characters and relationships! I prefer the Sunfire Subplot over the main plot, and yet I give the Dragang / Team Zym and the Magefam the time of day willingly. I don’t like Aaravos, but I do respect him. He was always walking the marathon while everyone else sped through it right from the beginning. I respect him, and I will defend him against people who say they feel no sympathy for his story (that was his child), but I do not dote on him or go crazy every time I see hate.

Respect is a major thing we’re currently missing in the TDP fandom. I want us to be better, and I’ll do what I can to make it happen. If it means making several of these posts, so be it, because I care about and value every opinion.

[raayllum]

i feel like people were expecting something as impactful as s3 felt, especially after the 3 year wait and just the hype in general for s4 – which, imo, it was more about the Saga returning and new plot points taking shape + ppl had a lot of personal opinions over the hiatus of how the story should go and which character should do what, so i guess this is making some reactions feel... biased, at least from my standpoint

I think what gets me is that structurally and pacing wise, the season isn't that different from basically any other in the show. A lot (not all of course, but some) of the S4 criticism just feels like people not giving S4 the slack and/or patience they gave every other season of the show. Which is a pet peeve of mine that I've talked about before specifically re: people's complaints at S3 Rayllum back in the day, when it was beat-for-beat very much the same amount of plot focus and importance they'd gotten in the previous seasons. If you're gonna complain about something show wise, I expect that complaint to be consistent (probably bc of my autism) not just when it occurs to someone that it is a Thing that is happening that they Suddenly don't like (as though again, it hadn't happened in every other season)

Eps 1-3 are typically set up (we see this in s1 and s2 first hand). The kiddos have a more specific goal than ever before (going to see someone somewhere specific, i.e. Rex Igneous at Umber Tor) and it's more detailed than just "seeing the Dragon Queen just somewhere in Xadia" and with very little reference in universe as to how close to the border the kids are at any given time up until 2x07, lmao.

Now that Claudia and Soren have been fully bumped up from side characters (S2, S3) to main cast members a lot of their previous screen time is allocated to Janai and Amaya's subplot. Viren's subplots were often disconnected entirely from the main plot (i.e. anything after 1x06 for Viren never affects the main characters in any significant way until approximately 3x04, and even then, only with Ezran) but nobody complained about that, because it was compelling and interesting to watch. And if the Sunfire elf stuff wasn't to someone, okay cool - but again, very subjective. Now Viren's plot line has been merged with Claudia's, so again, it's about the same amount of time allocation.

(And part of the reason I know that is because I once did the math to see literally how much screentime Rayla and Callum - and often including Ezran - get in previous seasons, averaging 50+ minutes in S1 and S3 and under half an hour in S2, due to the flashback episodes and no interaction in the first ep and minimal interaction in 2x08. I would expect S4 to be over half an hour simply because a scene like the end of 4x01 would count and once they're together, they're rarely apart / not talking about each other.)

Like 1x05 and 1x06 are some of my favourite eps in the whole show, and they are effectively filler, particularly 1x05. You could remove Viren and Amaya's plot line and remove very little (particularly because Gren's imprisonment didn't amount to anything in the first arc, and likely won't in the future since we already know Runaan is in the coin). 1x06 is plot relevant for Viren and Claudia but arguably only plot relevant for the trio at the very end. As expressed before, significantly more is established and discussed in 4x01 than almost any premiere except 1x01; very little substantially happens in 2x01 and 3x01 besides either 1) worldbuilding or 2) travelling. 2x04 is another one of my absolute favourite episodes, and it is entirely filler. The Amaya-Janai storyline doesn't come back all season and purely exists to set up their S3 storyline and Callum's struggles with magic. Of course all these filler eps do the work of furthering the trio's and particularly Callum and Rayla's bond, but outside of emotional stuff, they are filler in regards to the plot

But suddenly 4x05 and 4x06 are too filler-y? Episodes in which the kids determine their specific goal is to hunt down Claudia, go to Rex Igneous, stop Aaravos, the immediate fallout of the possession, starting to actually mend Callum and Rayla's relationship (they hadn't gotten a significant scene together since the beginning of 4x03, after all), demonstrate Soren's place in the group, etc etc? The purpose of these episodes and the plot beats are exceedingly similar to 1x05-1x07 smushed together (with 1x07 again being mostly filler, there to set up how Claudia does the tracking spell and how the kids find out about the 'miracle healer'). There is a shit ton going on amid setting the stage for emotional beats, giving room for some to happen, and getting the rest of the season's plot under way.

I've also seen some people saying that that indications we've gotten that Rayla has changed isn't enough bc it's only a couple of scenes, but 1) the girl who was once like "I don't have to explain anything to you" / "time for my least favourite course of action: reason" is now leaping up like "I love talking" because she wants to make things work and 2) her "We can't save everyone" scene in 4x05 hits so hard because it's her most basic core character trait that's been utterly decimated in a major way. Not completely, as we see in 4x09, but like, this is her Core Character Trait. Every season show us this. Forget a needle in a hay stack in terms of big flashing lights of This character has changed!! It's like smashing a sledge hammer into a wall. It does what it needs to because they know where to hit the hardest in the time they have

And once again, we see this pattern in earlier seasons. Rayla has one (1) scene expressing doubts regarding being an assassin in 2x06 before the immediate next episode is building on that to set the stage for the entire conflict of 2x07 and the rest of the season by extension. We get one (1) scene of Callum being interested in magic and Ezran sneaking around the castle before it's being utilized by the plot and Callum being a mage is his main drive for the first three seasons. If anything I like that we're give this sledge hammer moment, its immediate consequences, and a meta-narrative reflection that since the one person Rayla routinely opens up to doesn't want to talk to her, we're not privy to what she's going through either, and that it's given time to stew.

And I'd be more willing to take structural criticism of the season seriously if there was one that acknowledged the structural similarities 1) virtually at all and 2) so much of S4 criticism wasn't couched in very subjective opinions. Like for me, S2 is the season with the slowest pacing in some ways for the first half of bc 1) 2x01 isn't my fave although I have grown to appreciate, 2) Viren and Aaravos' plot line isn't that engaging to me personally up until like 2x08, and 3) 2x04-2x06 is virtually all filler that just reaffirms things we knew or gives more context to events prior, but the flashback eps are absolutely crucial theme wise. And again, S4 is doing some major thematic heavy lifting that I want to explore further, so like - for me it just doesn't compute why that has to be so dissimilar in public opinion?

Like yes, the search for Soren leading to the path to Rex Igneous and N'than's existence is convenient. But so is Ellis' existence (we see the path the kids take on the Caldera and a 9 yr old child carrying a heavy wolf pup in her arms somehow took the same path completely by herself?) and the fact that Claudia and Soren somehow reached the 2x07 town a day behind the trio (who travelled by boat and flight) while not being able to even use their horses because they had Corvus with them, thereby having to travel on foot? Or Opeli and Corvus' one line mention of going to Duren (not even Aanya by name) and relying on people listening for her name when Opeli lists off who's attacked and noticing who's not there leading to the event that allows the heroes to win the Final Battle in the first place? That Janai's forces just happened to go to the Storm Spire at all?

None of this makes the previous seasons bad by any means, but the writing is as consistent as it's always been. But no, season four is the breaking point, Apparently, of suspension of disbelief or a willingness to give slack / time for things to play out

Again, I don't want to dismiss anyone's feelings about season four. People are allowed to feel how they wanna feel! I waited like four years for "Blood of Olympus" to come out and it was the last PJO book I ever read and it was ultimately disappointing to me like, I know it can suck. But the book wasn't bad because I'd waited so long and then it didn't progress enough or anything like that. My experience reading the book would've been completely the same in terms of my enjoyment whether I'd waited four years or four weeks.

One of my big worries going into S4 was that during the hiatus, I'd gotten too attached to what I thought had to happen that I wouldn't be able to enjoy whatever did happen. Things like Callum had to go after Rayla because she'd never come back of her own accord. Aaravos was going to get out by the end of the season. Big stuff like that. I found the Rayllum reunion anti-climatic on my first viewing. Now it's one of my favourite scenes of the season and I love how much it parallels their first meeting (Rayla pursuing) while also inverting (lovers rather than enemies, Callum not wanting to talk vs talking to stall/convince her) and giving so many emotional layers at once

All of this being a very long winded way of saying

4x01 is my favourite premiere after 1x01. I think S4 did the best job at incorporating bouts of flashbacks without bringing the plot to a stand still in order to do so. 4x07 is probably my favourite ep7 after 2x07, and I adore 2x07. S4 does some of the most interesting thematic and character work in the whole show, mostly because we have three seasons of context to draw comparisons and correlations from, and it knows how to draw on those things exceedingly well. The most filler eps of the season is before Rayla even shows up, so how could time before her home coming be even effectively re-allocated to after?

Season Four is not what I expected in almost any way. It surprised me, did some of what I expected, plenty I didn't, and then so much more in a lot of ways.

I love(d) it, and I think my opinion and affection for the season is only going to grow as time goes on, tbh

[chronicvillainstan]

I hope this is the case.

The Sunfire Elf subplot has felt very disconnected from the overarching story, imo. If the writers find a clever way of connecting the plots (i.e., Pharos being Aaravos' puppet, and making that crucial to Aaravos' release), then Season 6 will shape up to be very impressive. Especially since it's more of a twist than "Callum gets possessed and frees Aaravos."

What are your thoughts on the prediction that Callum will release Aaravos? Or do you think it’ll be someone else?

I think it’ll either be Callum possessed by Aaravos or by someone else. I just can’t see Callum willingly releasing Aaravos.

For the “someone else” category, we have a worthy contender: remember Karin’s companion Pharos? Looks like he suffered a nasty bite.

And he’s still suffering from the after-effects:

So it’s also a pretty good bet that, if the gang decides to hide the prison with Amaya and Janai, and Karim invades with his army, Aaravos could take control of Pharos and release himself.

[nashthedecentartist]

To be completely honest, I did not care for the sunfire elf/human conflict subplot in this season.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Alright, finished all 3 seasons of “The Dragon Prince”. My overall thoughts:

What I liked

* Soren’s redemption arc and Claudia’s villain arc. I felt that Soren’s redemption arc, while obvious and predictable, was well done. But what was more impressive was Claudia’s arc. They could’ve easily redeemed her as well but I like how they went with the more interesting path in having her stay by her father’s side. 

* Ezran’s king arc. It was great to see him try to deal with this new role he was thrust into and, even though he was clearly out of his depth, I like that he stood his ground. 

* Opeli and Corvus. Probably my top two favorites of the supporting characters. 

* The flashback storyline where we got to see Viren and King Harrow past actions. Really well-done subplot and it added a lot to Viren’s character.

* Viren. He’s actually a really interesting main antagonist. You can easily call him pure evil but the show does give him a lot of nuance. I appreciate the effort in making him a bit of a complex character.

* Rayllum. It was nice to see their relationship progressing and them getting together felt like a natural development in the story. Typically, I’d say it would be a bit forced if the male and female lead got together but right from the start, I sensed chemistry between them. Maybe it was the voice actors’ performances or maybe it was the script but their relationship didn’t feel forced. It just made sense to me. 

* The humor is great. It reminded me of the quippy nature of the MCU. 

* I’m a weeb so I appreciate the anime references (Naruto running, Sailor Moon transformations, literal heart eyes). 

What I didn’t like

* The Sunfire Elves side story. No offense to Amaya but her story was kinda boring to me. I feel it’s mainly because she didn’t get as much attention in the story when compared to Rayla, Callum, Ezran, Soren, and Claudia. 

* Nyx. Just...annoying. 

* Aaravos. At the moment, he just seems like your typical all-powerful Big Bad. Nothing that special when compared to Star Wars’ Palpatine or Naruto’s Madara. 

* Season 1 and season 3′s finales were great but season 2′s finale...eh? Focusing on Callum’s relationship with dark magic was interesting but as a season finale, not as much. 

* Sol Regem got introduced and...they didn’t really do shit with his character.

* The political subtext regarding the tension between the humans and the elves needed some work. I got what they were going for but they needed to put more thought into the concept. 

Conclusion: I give the show an overall grade of B+. Really well-done, looking forward to season 4. 

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: The Dragon Prince (Season 3)

And we’re back! Since the last batch of episodes… my life has changed very little. Dog’s still adorable. D&D campaigns keep stalling due to lack of time or interest of others. Not producing any of my own epic projects.

Yup.

The third season continues its trends of subverting tropes with kind of a lackluster pay off, while playing other tropes benignly straight. We finally get into Xadia, which has some interesting fauna. But even the character writing is starting to wear a bit thin. Everyone’s been settled into their roles and personalities, and few characters get to interact with others they hadn’t previously.

So, same recommendation level as last time: watch it if you have time and/or have been following it, but it’s not a major tragedy if you don’t.

We open the season with backstory for the inventor of Dark Magic, Ziard, and a former Dragon King, Sol Regem. Sol Regem wants Ziard to stop with the dark magic. Ziard is like ‘we humans don’t have naturally occurring magic, this is literally our only way to defend ourselves from you magical folk.’ to which Sol Regem responds “Stop it or I’ll raze your home city.”

So Ziard sacrifices himself and a few birds to blind Sol Regem and saved the city.

Which means the founder of Dark Magic is a good guy, and Dark Magic may not be inherently bad, and this is what I wanted and I’m sure I’ll be deprived of the conclusion once the series actually ends.

So, what are the arcs for the various teams?

Well, Team Escort lost Ezran, so it’s just Callum and Rayla making googly eyes at one another and becoming an official couple about half way through the season. I appreciate them not dragging the romantic subplot any further than necessary, and even granting us half a season to watch them be love birds, but it also smoothed out their dynamic, cutting down on the banter they once had. I miss their quips.

Team King (Ezran, Opeli, Corvus) are dealing with Ezran’s new authority and Viren being Viren. It’s nice to watch Ehran’s morals being tested, and showing that doing the right thing can be more difficult than just going to war. There’s political maneuvering that, in a more complex show, would’ve had more grey areas, but it’s mostly just Team King versus Team Viren.

Speaking of Team Viren, he picked up Aaravos and Prince Kasef, so Viren in no longer alone! He is also no longer in charge, as without King Harrow to set goals, Viren lets Aaravos call the shots. Viren is remarkably easy to lead. Viren’s actual goals also seem murkier than previous seasons. He clearly wants power, but I no longer know to what end. Is he avenging Ziard? Does he want world domination? To bring Humanity to greater heights? Or is he just a more active Lord Ozai? Regardless, his moral ambiguity is out, and I miss it.

Finally, Team Dark (Claudia and Soren). Turns out, I got their meta roles backwards in the first season review! Claudia is the loyal Azula to Viren’s Ozai, while Soren is the Zuko. I am disappointed by this arrangement, because watching Claudia’s descent into evil means she gets less funny moments, and I don’t think Soren can shoulder the full Zuko arc. Also, fear of making big changes prevents the narrative from doing anything really interesting.

The third season has a heavy case of fast travel. What took Team Escort three seasons to cover is now done by full armies in three episodes. There’s a giant sea in the way, remember? And a lava flow? Characters travel back and forth with remarkable ease for people without Rheairds.

After Viren’s rather drastic actions last season lands him in a cell after sending out magically created assassins with only the voice of a mysterious Startouch Elf named Aaravos, who is such an obvious example of what Viren would be if he were totally self-motivated that I’m astounded that Viren hasn’t ditched him, Ezran has kind of a mess to handle upon assuming the throne. The other four human kingdoms want to avenge their murdered/injured rulers, but Ezra doesn’t want to continue the cycle of violence, which is good in theory, but Prince Kasef is pushy and is willing to wage war of Ezran’s kingdom if necessary.

Also, Ezran spares Claudia and Soren from sharing their father’s fate, because that would be a jerk move. Team Dark confronts Viren about his secret missions, and Viren elects to burn his relationship with Soren to maintain the loyalty of Claudia.[1]

All this ends with Viren taking the throne (again) and Ezran taking a bird to rejoin Team Escort.

Now in charge, Viren’s like ‘I’m in charge of all the human armies now!’ and all the human armies are like “Checks out.”

But first, he needs to keep his end of the trade he made with Ezran, and lets soldiers opt out if they’d like. But they have to wear a broken chain patch to mark their cowardice. You’d think this would lead to a subplot about those who abandon the mission being shunned, but that would require more than nine episodes worth of time, so it’ll pay off at the very end instead.

What about Team Escort? Well, Callum and Rayla are finally being forced to confront their unresolved romantic tension as they keep walking towards their goal.

Initially, Rayla’s trauma of being unpersoned by her hometown acts as a nice distraction. I mean, sure, you sent a literal child to kill another younger child, and used a vague sort of magic tracking to decide she abandoned the mission as opposed to unforeseen events transpiring, but, sure, Night Elf knock-offs, make her a ghost in her own home town. You jerks.

Rayla eventually gets to talk with her Uncle’s husband, who only offers to send an advance message to the Dragon Queen and not, you know, telling the rest of town Rayla’s on an even better and less murdery mission and maybe we should reperson her?

Does anyone think of ways to resolve more than one problem at a time? Or think laterally? Is… is that why this fictional history is the way it is? Literally only three kids are able to conceive of consequences of their actions? That should be the adults jobs!

Mirroring the inland sea from last season, Xadia has a giant black sand desert with deadly zombifying snakes and hot sand. So that’s fun.

Luckily, a Skywing elf named Nyx has a giant lumbering camel to transport them over two days. She’s here to kidnap Zym under the theory of a reward, but I love her design and character so she better come back!

Maybe throw her into the Teen Girl Rogue Squad I want. She’d play off Amaya well.

Anyways, the trip is enough for Callum and Rayla to finally decide to be an item. So they’re an item with half the season to go.

Which, cool, we get to actually watch a relationship develop beyond the ‘We’re dating now’ point, but there isn’t actually down time to dig into that, so instead Callum and Rayla bicker less and it’s lame.

But Ezran took a moon phoenix, so he’s caught up. Time to climb a mountain!

Oh, by the way, Amaya got taken prisoner by Sunfire elves, acquires an elf girlfriend abruptly, and escapes with her to join Team Escort. Whoo.[2]

Team Viren plus Dark lead their army to the Sunfire Capital so Viren can steal a staff to forcibly upgrade his forces, and Soren finally decides enough is enough, and flees to join Team Escort while Claudia converts fully to Team Viren. Now, Claudia doubling down on her loyalty to her father is disappointing for a number of reasons, but, again, a later thought.

Anyways, Team Escort has gotten to the Dragon Queen, but she’s in a despair coma, and they get information an army is coming, so guess it’s time to prepare for war?

War ensues. It looks bad for our heroes for a bit, but then reinforcements bearing the banner of the broken link appears to flip off Viren specifically.

Good guys win the battle. During clean up, Ezra stumbles upon Viren, who threatens to kill him, but Soren shows up to defend Ezra. Then Cluaida shows up to make this tragedy even more Shakespearan.

Soren stabs his father, but it’s just an illusion.

Which is the first major missed opportunity. Yes, Viren[3] has a confrontation to have with Rayla and Callum in the Dragon Queen’s lair, but I think this confrontation didn’t add much. Having Soren kill his own father and having to face the emotional consequences of that instead of disappointing Claudia…

Actually, what was the point of illusion Viren? Could it have killed Ezran? Why would Claudia be okay with killing Ezran? Why kill Ezran at this point?

Anyways, Soren should’ve killed Viren, and Claudia could’ve still necromancied him back to life.

Instead, Viren falls off a mountain. It’s meh.

With all that done, the Dragon Queen wakes up and is pleased to have her son back (reasonable) and there’s two human/elf couples present (weird). I mean, she’s the first dragon shown not to be deeply anti-human, and I’m not sure that tracks? Shouldn’t she be in favor of the separation, or were there a bunch of bedroom arguments between her and her husband about racial politics?

Anyways, if we didn’t have three more schools of magic to get through, this would be the point we get the ‘where are they now’ epilogue, as all conflicts are resolved.

Except Claudia resurrects her father, and…

Wait. Viren had an elf prisoner. He could’ve resurrected Harrow. What is his deal? What are his motivations.

Anyways, the grub that was acting as the speakerphone between Viren and Aaravos went to pupate and it’s scary to our dark mages.

Which finally brings me to what I really wanted to see happen: Aaravos should’ve traded puppets. What would’ve been a better power move than him setting Viren up for failure so he could use the more gullible (and powerful?) Claudia instead. They’ve been slow rolling his deal, but what better way to firmly plant Aaravos as the most Machevallian Jerk than to out ‘for the greater good’ Viren himself? There’s an inevitable conflict between the two, as Viren hates elves despite being too trusting of Aaravos, so why not have Aaravos shrug off Viren getting stabbed by Soren and send his grub to Claudia’s ear?

Heck, why not have him teach her the wrong spell and use Viren’s body as a vessel?

Come on, this is one of the few times I’m actually advocating killing someone off. I never do that. But the story potential we’re now missing is tremendous!

Anyways, despite my snark and notes, I did enjoy the season. Not as much as the second season, as it got too locked into the myth arc to have as much fun as the last season, but the show’s maintaining what strengths it does have. However, I can easily predict it falling from grace sooner than later. Story-heavy shows struggle to maintain momentum past three seasons, and research indicates there’s four more planned.

Still, I’m excited to see what happens now the main quest has been completed.

If you enjoyed this review and what more, please use the tags below to explore my other writings, as well supporting my patreon (for early access and regular support) or my ko-fi (for a quick tip). I want to do more fun things.

Kataal kataal.

-

[1] Which had the potential for a much, much better pay off than we got. [2] Just once, I want the person whose confident the other is too stubborn to admit their crush to be wrong. I would love that dynamic. [3] Wearing some nice pajamas.

[sir-sparklepuff]

AGREED I mean I love side adventures as much as the next guy but imo the pacing in this arc is really hurting the story overall. When this arc was first announced I assumed Aaravos was going to be released at the end of s4, rise to full power in s5, make the world suffer under his reign in s6, and finally be defeated in s7. And that’s not to say that the story would have to abide by that structure to be well told and well paced; I just have worries for s6 + s7 at this point since we’re halfway through the arc and have furthered the plot very little.

Ultimately I think the writers are just having a difficult time balancing all these characters and subplots in a way that both makes sense in the moment and sets up their actions in the future. Right now the show is sacrificing the present moments to instead show more detailed setup, and like, the Sunfire elf subplot is cool but we’re spending way too much time on it! It’s not important right now and the setup for Karim’s future coup or Sol Regem unblinding can be established in far fewer scenes. Like Kim’dael is super cool but she really Did Not need to be here! With a story this large and only four nine-episode installments to tell it, it’s vital to make the most of every minute—by advancing with the main plot and its accompanying main character arcs.

The Dragon Prince, S5

TW // Dragon Prince, S5 SPOILERS

short review on this season 5; I love this show but, especially with the last few seasons, I've noticed a certain…worsening. We're talking about 3 intertwined stories, with the same timeline, which will probably come together in the end and ok but I find the narrative a bit heavy and too long-winded. The development of the characters is very slow (except Callum and Rayla, I liked them) and there are often "time wasting" scenes. The only episode that REALLY got me excited was episode 9 for Aaravos (love him) and the creepy part of Claudia. In the end: I love this show and I will continue to follow it until the end but I hope that in the next season there will be a little more plot and the stories will not be like that.