#tdp 1x01

[lunanightriderofthecove]

Soren, you're a lousy teacher.

You're supposed to show the movement in slomo, then in real time and then have the one you're training repeat it.

At least, that's how it's done in PJO.

[raayllum]

1x01 / 6x01

[its-leethee]

I've been reminiscing about my first watch through of The Dragon Prince. And, well, I love everything in the bakery scene in 1x01. For such a brief scene, it reveals a lot about Ezran and the culture in Katolis.

The scene opens with Ezran sneaking into the bakery through a grate in the floor, so now we know that the castle has passages in the walls (an important and plot-relevant secret we'll appreciate later) and that Ezran is free and adventurous enough to explore and exploit them.

The triangular-shaped jelly tarts that Ezran covets are recognizable as hamantashen, a traditional Jewish pastry. There are other examples of Jewish cultural practices revealed in the show later, but this is the first, and I admit I was pretty excited to see them.

We've already met King Harrow at this point, so we know that the royal family is Black and wears red clothing. Our suspicions about Ezran are confirmed when Barius greets him: "Prince Ezran," at which Ez immediately flinches. Barius' tone is not deferential in the least. Barius goes on to admonish Ezran for his attempted jelly tart heist, and with this exchange we're shown that while Ezran might enjoy a great measure of privilege and freedom, he's not spoiled. The baker's demeanor signals that the other castle inhabitants don't feel obligated to grovel to Ezran, or even humor his mischief.

Extra:

...as I was re-watching the scene to capture my favorite little exchange (the suffering parent in me laughed out loud here):

I remembered that we got an instance of the eye motif:

"...they're not for you! Or your little monster, Bait."

Personhood, and who deserves to be recognized as a person, is one of the principal themes explored in this show and here it is, presented in this scene as comic relief.

All of this packed into less than three minutes. I just love how this entire show scene's construction and execution are so clever and succinct.

[thethiefandtheairbender]

as a lifelong ATLA fan who narrowly had ATLA dethroned as my top show by The Dragon Prince steadily over the past 5 years, the similarities between the two have very little to do with the surface level parallels that get regularly drawn between them.

Like ATLA, TDP has Books for seasons and chapters for episodes, but unlike ATLA, which only touched on storytelling sparingly as a theme, TDP is obsessed with interrogating storytelling and history and the presence of unreliable, biased narrators throughout many of its episodes (most notably 2x05, 2x06, 3x06, 4x04, and 4x07 among them). Half of what you learn in the 1x01 intro ends up being a lie once you reach S3, with more being steadily deciphered.

Yes, TDP has different magics with people living under those umbrella terms... for the elves. Humans are coming culturally at things from a completely different angle, and the elves' connection to their primal sources are discussed philosophically in detail, informing their practices and their culture first hand, including the way they chafe against humans, who are arcanum-less. Many animals in the world are also connected to magic, which influences both their design and which ones get hunted for humans' more 'clever' solution in dark magic, including each other.

The core issue of the Puppetmaster, down to being a coercive magic formed by someone deeply resentful of their imprisonment? Said puppetmaster is the main endgame antagonist of the entire show with all of S4 onwards being exploring the ethics of controlling people against their will in various methods, and the entire show itself being a thematic battleground of fate (imprisonment) vs free will for virtually every single character.

Where ATLA mostly concerns itself timeline wise with ending the war, very little thought is shown by any of the characters as to what they'll do after the war. This isn't a problem (as it reflects the sheer domineering scope of the conflict) but even Zuko being firelord is only ever really addressed with 2.5 episodes left till the finale. TDP, meanwhile, ends its 'war' in s3 and s4 opens up with dealing with the old wounds festering between people with centuries of history, the struggles that come when people aren't able to let go and believe they're safe or mourn in a healthy manner, and the religious/cultural clashes that may occur when trying to integrate different groups of people.

TDP also has an evil father with a devoted daughter and a brother who eventually defects, but it explores the reality of an abusive parent who loves/will sacrifice for you and your right to leave regardless, even if that means leaving the sibling you truly deeply love and who loves you in turn. Which means that when you and your sibling are on opposite sides of a deep ideological conflict, it actually really fucking hurts bc we've seen first hand just how much they love each other and also how and why everything fell apart not in spite of that love necessarily, but also because of it.

Is this to say that TDP is a 1:1 with ATLA or that it's better? No, not at all, and the latter is subjective. I prefer TDP, but I think they're about on equal ground when you look at each show currently as a whole (although TDP has two seasons left to go).

But TDP takes a lot of what ATLA was doing thematically with some of its most interesting beats and then builds or expands upon them further. It talks further and more consistently about the cycles of violence; in many ways, Jack De Sena's character, Callum, begins the series largely where Sokka had ended (and he's not the most like Sokka anyway; very much his own thing); we get Faustian bargains and centuries' long grief and fucked up people who are trying both succeeding and failing at not doing fucked up things. There are antagonists, but it is very hard to actually label anyone at this point a straight up villain. Moral greyness is where the show starts, and it just continues from there.

That's not to say the show is nothing but dark and depressing - like ATLA, there's a steady thread of hope and humour even as the show gets steadily closer and closer to its 11th hour point - but the show is usually emotionally heavier. There's more blood and potentially disturbing imagery with body horror and on screen death. There's so much foreshadowing you basically can't go more than 5 minutes into any episode without having something that's going to come back around or be referenced again like 3-5 seasons later.

Just to be clear - TDP is like ATLA, but it's like ATLA in interesting ways beyond the more shallow surface level that usually gets attributed to it, while still very much being its own show and its own thing. And that is why I tend to recommend it to people who like ATLA.

Thank you and goodnight

(Also, the fandom doesn't have any ship wars, and the show is queer as fuck)

[ok12857]

let’s unite in a time of darkness

I was thinking we all rewatch the entire show together, in a controlled timespan and post about it and discuss the episodes and talk about what we love just to help us through the lack of tdp news

plus it would be fun

so something like

1 Jan 1x01

2 Jan 1x02

[imminent-danger-came]

i am so glad theres someone else who also thinks lmk executes its ideas and themes much better than toh. rip belos you will never be lady bone demon

TOH wasn't that strong in the themeing department in general (though I'm not well-versed in that show). I remember finishing the finale and being like....damn. What was the overall message of this show? ("Weirdos stick together" maybe?) Does toh have any consistent motifs or symbolism? If memory serves, not really?

Like, you rewatch episode 1x01 of LMK and MK goes "Well...I am invincible. *sigh* Anytime I try to do anything, I just gunk everything up!", and you're like. Woah. The Sun Wukong parallels are that strong from episode 1x01? Invincibility/Immortality and hurting the people you care about? No matter what you do, it leading to pain? Holy shit.

Contrast that with TOH where it's like, in episode 1x02 Luz learns she's not "the chosen one" and that the boiling isles are very different from the magical realms she imagined...which is kinda undone by the reveal that the Titan chose to show Luz the Glyphs. And while Titan Luz is very fun, it's not thematically sound—which is just kinda that whole show, you know? If you're not thinking about it that deep, then it's like "holy shit cool concept!" (which is totally valid of people), but if you do it's pretty empty. (Hi Hunter getting flapjack-based teleportation powers. What was the point of this.)

Which, I think this becomes super apparent with the Luz and Belos foil. Luz and Belos had a lot of interesting parallels (both of them being humans in the isles, each coming there wanting to fulfill a certain "role", for Luz being the "Great Witch Azura" and for Belos/Philip being a "Witch Hunter General", the whole "protecting the things you love" deal). And then, where does this all go?

It leads to Luz being told "no. You're the good guy and Belos is the bad guy! You could never be the same! Belos is motivated by his own 'need to be the hero'" (which was definitely what Luz was motivated by over the course of the show, even if it was more innocent, but whatever), and riding off of tdp s4's "In the name of love, you will do things so dangerous and vile—you will never be able to forgive yourself" and the lmk s3's "to pain" scene, it fell really flat for me—like it's not bad, it's just really mid.

(Post where I go on a rant about Luz's s3 arc being kinda lame)

And then, you have the LBD & MK foil. You have MK's s4 arc. The "to pain" scene is such a unique "you and I are not so different" moment—but it's also relevant to the whole show. And LBD is right, doing what you think is right does lead to pain. Like, even looking at MK's journey over the seasons, every action has had it's consequences.

Saving Pigsy and Tang in 1x04? Spider Queen snagged MK's hair and that let her dominate the city later. Stopping DBK in 1x10? That freed LBD. Stopping SQ in ROTSQ? That gave LBD access to the trigram furnace. MK trying to gain more power in s2? Well, "Now do you understand? From the start you never had what it took to defeat me. All your power could do was make me stronger." SWK leaving in s2? "You're the one always running off, trying to get more power or more sources of immortality." Trying to get the Samadhi fire in s3? Opps, now Mei has this uncontrollable flame within her. Monkey King running off to fight LBD alone so MK doesn't have to? He get's possessed. Freeing SWK from possession? Now LBD has the power to fulfill destiny. Attempting to free your friends from the scroll? Now Peng and Azure are also free. Trying to get SWK back? His scroll piece has been split in half. Stopping Azure from destroying all of reality? Now the Jade Emperor's power is without a host, flower fruit mountain is destroyed, and you can't help but feel they played into the puppet master's hands.

It's thematically consistent and banging. Like....anytime they try to do anything, they just gunk everything up. Like....sometimes you hurt the people who care about you the most. Like....whether you want to help people or not, everything you do can just make things worse.

AND MAYBE. Just maybe, you can also leave the world a little better than you found it. The pain that's been caused doesn't undo the good that's been done. And I guess I think that's more interesting that just like..."no! you're intent was good and theirs was bad!", you know?

[the-dragon-prince-backgrounds]

Season 1 : MOON

Episode 1 : Echoes of Thunder

House interior.

[mimosaeyes]

TDP timeline

aka I skimmed the (first) three TDP seasons, counting the days, so you don’t have to. Not that you would.

Here’s the TLDR:

Season 1 takes place over 5 days

2 days pass offscreen, between 1x09 and 2x01

Season 2 takes place over 8 days

3x01 picks up right after 2x09

Season 3 takes place over 7 days

So from 1x01 to 3x09, it’s been just 22 days

‘But the moon looks full in 1x01 and in 3x09!’ I hear you protest. ‘Shouldn’t it be a full month?’

Explanation, details, evidence, ambiguities, and milestone events under the cut. My count is based on the colour of the sky, specific time references (thanks Callum), and phases of the moon.

Harrow was King of Katolis for 9 years. Viren gives us the exact time reference in 2x05.

That checks out, because look how small Ezran and Callum are when posing for the official portrait, a few days after Harrow’s coronation.

It’s unclear exactly how long Harrow serves as King before Sarai is killed by Thunder. We know it’s not very long, though, because kid Callum’s character model is the same. (I focus on that, because young adults Harrow and Amaya will look the same for longer than a child who’s still growing.) 

Yes, this could be a budget thing. But I still wouldn’t put the period between Harrow’s coronation and Sarai’s death beyond, off the top of my head, two years. It may be even shorter than that.

Harrow doesn’t take revenge for Sarai’s death until years pass. He and Viren kill Thunder just four months before 1x01.

And now, to count the days.

Day 1 spans 1x01, 1x02, and 1x03. From dawn to night. Note the full moon on Day 1, in 1x03. It’ll become important later when I scrutinise lunar phases.

1x04 is Day 2. And 1x05 is Day 3.

Now, 1x05 ends in the evening of Day 3, and when 1x06 opens, it’s morning. Since there’s no time skip in the rest of season 1, it’s probably just one night’s difference. 

That’s a bit weird, though, since Rayla’s wrist ribbon tightens a lot in that time.

I’ll come back to this question of whether 1x06 starts the day after 1x05, in a moment.

1x06 spans Day 4.

Day 4, at nighttime, carries on in 1x07, then Day 5 starts.

1x08 continues Day 5, into the night. That same night continues into 1x09.

So: season 1 takes place over just 5 days, assuming the time between 1x05 and 1x06 is just one night.

Where do we get confirmation that this is the case? In 2x01, Callum says that they’ve spent 2 days with Lujanne, and that it’s been a week (7 days) since they left home.

We also know it’s been a week because it’s a full moon in 1x03, and a half moon in 2x02.

2x01 spans Day 8.

The night of Day 8 goes on into 2x02, and then Day 9 begins in that episode.

2x03 is the night of Day 9, into Day 10.

2x04 spans Day 11, and begins Day 12.

Day 12 continues into 2x05. A lot of 2x05 and 2x06 is flashbacks, so Day 12 actually lasts through both episodes.

Then we have our first significant time skip within a season! 2x06 ends with a dragon sighting while it’s still light out on Day 12. Then 2x07 opens at night in a cave, and Callum says:

So we know that the rest of Day 12, and all the sunlit hours of Day 13, pass offscreen between 2x06 and 2x07.

2x07 therefore opens on the night of Day 13. Then it goes on to Day 14.

The nighttime of Day 14, continues in 2x08. Day 15 begins in that episode.

Day 15 continues into 2x09. And finally, the sun rises on Day 16 while Callum, Rayla, and Zym are crossing into Xadia.

(I’ve made sure not to double-count Day 16. I count it as part of the season 3 time span, since most of it is in 3x01, not 2x09.)

3x01 picks up right where 2x09 left off. We know this because they still have to get past Sol Regem. So 3x01 takes place on Day 16.

Day 17 begins in 3x02, and continues into 3x03 for evening and nighttime.

3x04 opens on Day 18. This is explicitly timestamped, as Callum refers to the events of 3x03 as happening yesterday.

Day 18 spans the whole of 3x04, and then some of 3x05. Then Day 19 starts during 3x05, and goes into nighttime within that same episode. Thus we end 3x05 on a moon shot:

That’s a waxing crescent moon in 3x05, on Day 19, which checks out. I’m pretty sure. I stared at charts for a while.

3x06 opens on the morning of Day 20. And Day 20 continues into 3x07, going into the night.

3x08 continues the night of Day 20, and goes on to Day 21.

3x09 spans the entirety of Day 22, into night.

Now for the thing I anticipated above the cut: doesn’t season 3 end on a full moon, like how season 1 begins on a full moon? 

Well, no.

Here is the moon on Day 20:

...on Day 21:

...and on Day 22:

They look deceptively full, don’t they? But they aren’t. They’re waxing gibbous moons. That basically means they’re getting fuller, but aren’t quite there yet.

Gibbous moons can look full. My source is Neil deGrasse Tyson himself:

That’s page 28 of his book, Merlin’s Tour of the Universe: A Skywatcher’s Guide to Everything from Mars and Quasars to Comets, Planets, Blue Moons, and Werewolves.

So, final bit of evidence to the contrary refuted, and now I can rest easy knowing I have no life.

[lunanightriderofthecove]

The room divider standing in Callum's office in arc2? The one with pictures of Sarai and Rayla on it? It's standing in Callum's bedroom in 1x01 👍🏻

[lunanightriderofthecove]

That shot of Sol Regem flying in front of the sun in the intro is still so beautiful 😍

[lunanightriderofthecove]

Soren's obsession with calling Callum step[blank] is annoying in arc 1 and endearing in arc 2.

[lunanightriderofthecove]

"A thousand years ago a human discovered new magic."

I rather think it was you, actually 🤔

[lunanightriderofthecove]

I never noticed the blurry background characters were static. They do not move at all.

[lunanightriderofthecove]

Thinking about the people already missing at the beginning of the show (most being dead or coined) and how much Viren has to do with that.

[lunanightriderofthecove]

That's a lot of poison, Runaan.

[lunanightriderofthecove]

That's definitely mud Callum falls into. I've seen and heard people commenting it's horse poop but that stuff looks decidedly different from mud.