#theredhairedmonkey

[theredhairedmonkey]

Like Aunt, Like Nephew

Lol, one of the songs from the s5 soundtrack is literally called “Like Aunt, Like Nephew.” Gee, I wonder what that might be about?

[kazisgirlfriend]

Callum - Surrendering Control

Something I'm positively giddy about with this image below is that it plays into the consistent theme I mentioned here about Callum learning to "surrender" control in order to learn and reach new heights with magic.

The fact that Callum is wearing a blindfold and retracted his wings (something that mages can do on command) shows that he is intentionally placing himself in a vulnerable position. And so it echoes other moments when Callum has had to "let go" and open himself to previously unattainable wisdom.

In many ways, he's pulling a reverse-Icarus here. TDP always had a pretty unique take on the Icarus tale (the opening to the s2 novel has an "Icarus" who doesn't fall by flying too close to the sun), but here it's Callum's willingness to not grasp for control, to remove his restraints and preconditions, that lets him reach new heights. To let, as Sarai told him, his spirit and body catch up with his mind and help out.

And it's this willingness to forgo control and power that separates him from the other human mages we've seen like Viren, Ziard, and Claudia. Dark mages pursue magic through force of will and domineering control over magical creatures and forces. The logic of dark magic is centered around dominance, on using coercion to attain power.

But in contrast, Callum's approach confounds this logic. It's Callum's receptiveness and open-mindedness, not his knowledge or research, that best help him attain new forms of magic. It's what separate him not only from Viren and Claudia, but even fellow primal mages like Finnegrin and Aaravos.

In many ways, this evokes the Taoist idea of wu-wei or effortless action - he accomplishes powerful magic by surrendering to natural forces rather than imposing his will. By relinquishing control, he accomplishes what other mages cannot through force of will alone.

I don't know what will end up happening here, but knowing Callum, it's going to be good :)

[raayllum]

i'm not gonna say i've never made a post or even a proper meta that's a light rebuttal to shit i've seen floating around (usually nothing more than someone bringing an opinion in my askbox or a response on a post i made that i disagree with, and even then those are minor) but it is always fascinating when people do spend all their time online / on their blogs making posts trying to argue against my meta. maybe you'd have more success and more fun if you focused or actually developed your own ideas, cause with 300+ metas to my name i've certainly never needed to borrow any of yours

[self-spaghettification]

aaactually the blindfold has this symbol on it:

which doesn’t have the deep magic symbol on it, the middle is blank, but it does mirror the diamond shape

and maybe therefore it symbolizes deep magic in a different sense so that theory does still hold merit

perhaps the symbol is only given to the blindfolds/masks of those who have truly mastered deep magic…

All sightings of this symbol so far

Aaravos’s hood (season 2)

both end credits from s5. left appears to be a celestial elf. (5x04) right is 5x09

the book with the infantis sanguine spells. “It’s one of the old spells.” (5x09)

mirror breaking in the same pattern. (4x04)

back side of the coins (5x01) (thank you @its-leethee !!)

this is the symbol for deep magic actually!

thank you! @ok12857

[cocoacatnip]

Okay..giving my thoughts on Callum’s “one truth”.

In the episode “moment of truth” Callum is told to find the star inside him, the one truth that will fill the darkness. This of course healing the dark corrupted hole in his soul.

This star manifests as Rayla and Callum is successfully able to purify himself. This star manifesting as Rayla makes sense, and not just because he’s in love with her. She was the first to call him a mage, because of her he learned that everything he knew about elves was wrong. She’s a catalyst for his growth as a person. Rayla is also one of his biggest heartbreaks. One that he still wasn’t over even after two years, leaving an emptiness where she left. Rayla being this bright star that heals his darkness can also symbolize him finally healing from the hurt, and being ready to fully love again.

At SDCC it was reported that Callum’s deepest truth was love, this causing some to interpret the moment in season 6 slightly differently. Some say his “one truth” is love in general, others say it’s Rayla and only Rayla. I personally don’t really see why it can’t be both? The show runners also said in a recent interview,

���Callum comes to the realization that Rayla is his center and guiding star”.

So his one truth has been said to be “love” and it’s also said that “Rayla is his center and guiding star”. Does this mean that his one truth is only Rayla? I personally think things have a little room for interpretation. I think it’s totally okay to be like “Hey maybe Rayla is his guiding light that leads him to realize his deeper truth, his love for her and also his love for family life, magic etc.” I personally don’t see how that interpretation takes away from anything. I think @theredhairedmonkey has some really good metas on this very idea as well. Obviously there are gonna be people who try to act like Rayla has no significance at all in this, and those people clearly weren’t paying attention and should just be ignored.

At the end of the day people are allowed to interpret things differently, and if you disagree that’s okay. I really think this fandom as a whole needs to be more open to people having differing opinions though. Some people get really nasty about it..and then people are scared to share their takes that might go against what’s popular. Anyway those are just my thoughts…

[kilfeur]

Enfin je sais ce qu'il y a sous la tenue grise de Rayla, je vais pour l'utiliser pour des futures références ! Et ouais Rayla qui dit au début que c'est un cauchemar pour calmer Callum. Je veux dire Callum débarque en plein milieu de la nuit et du coup il lui raconte tout ça. Moi perso, je saurai pas quoi dire ! Mais du coup on a l'idée de Callum qui est de créer une couverture anti sort et Barius qui a crée un leurre @theredhairedmonkey t'avais raison pour le leurre. Reste à savoir si il marche vraiment pour la suite

Finally I know what's under Rayla's gray outfit, I'm going to use it for future references! And yeah, Rayla saying at the beginning that it's a nightmare to calm Callum down. I mean, Callum shows up in the middle of the night and tells her all about it. Personally, I wouldn't know what to say! But then we have Callum's idea of creating an anti-spell blanket and Barius' creation of a decoy. Red ! you were right about the decoy. It remains to be seen whether it really works for the next step

[kuno-chan]

Hopefully One Time Vent about the Morally Dubious Callum Discourse Thing

I've been seeing a lot of weird discourse in the main TDP tags since I posted my thing yesterday and...

@theredhairedmonkey I'm not talking about you even if you are one of the people against morally dubious Callum. And I see you vagueblogging me. I know you're going to deny it, but you've been posting and commenting on this since yesterday and putting your little rants and pointed posts in the tags since I made that post yeesterday. (And tumblr's for you tag keeps showing me your posts)

I see the argument sometimes in the main tdp discord because I mod there and get to see a lot of the takes. It isn't always about you. If you wanna hash it out you can just message me.

I don't normally call out people, but I'm also not afraid to if you wanna be sneaky about it. If you wanna come and directly tell me "Hey, I think you're wrong and and you're an idiot and Rayla is your wish fulfillment character (which she's not because she does nothing I actually aspire to tbh)" do it. I can Respect that, at least.

Call me out.

Say my name publicly.

Or come into my dms and we can talk about it privately. Don't be a coward who keeps vagueblogging me because I said it feels like a lot of incels project onto Callum then hypocritically directly right after that start complaining people use Rayla as a wish fulfillment character because you automatically think I was talking Specifically only about you and not a wider group that maybe has the same take.

I don't wanna make the tags toxic and I am sure you'll take this post and break it down paragraph by paragraph with your response instead of responding like a cordial person but you're being a jerk and I don't appreciate it. Like, I barely talk in this fandom anymore.

So, call me out, talk to me or leave me alone.

Okay I'm done and I'll try not to do this again

[kilfeur]

Clara ! I will have fun with her and her family !

@sophieoflhant @konmaao3 @starry-skies-writes @theredhairedmonkey

last fictional character in ur camera roll just adopted u

(Yes I did do this only because I want him to adopt me. Fuck off)

tags: @cryptidwithaninternetconnection @reggie-the-inferi @gingerbreadeel24 @pickupstyx

and whoever the fuck sees this

[chimpukampu]

Rayla blowing on Callum in the show would just give away the game because there’s no way that’s NOT flirting XD

But it's funnier if they actually put this in the show that by S3 when Ez found out their relationship, everything will just click and he'll be like "You've been flirting all this time?! And you've been doing it in front of the minors?"

Imagine the horror when he realized that Zym, a baby who doesn't know anything in this world even the concept of goodbye, will first learn the basic etiquette between humans and elves from them

[raayllum]

under a read more bc it's salty as hell

ah yes telling an afab person with a degree in english that they don't know what a foil is isn't misogynistic at all, taking screencaps of my parallel posts to then make your own disproving them, repeatedly answering asks or making posts diminishing or being flat out mean regarding my specific theories by name, side-eying me having a "predictions achieved" tag (which has existed since before you joined the fandom), having leanings into casual anti-asian racism on multiple occasions, ignoring numerous people when they spoke out about a fandom troll / harasser and dismissing them all, accusing me baselessly of harassing you on anonymous (which considering i've been harassed twice in the fandom and have documented it is particularly rich), saying that myself and people who enjoyed my theories were "gimmicky hacks" and that if those theories came true it would ruin the show, and more but no - i'm the bad guy for making *checks notes* these two posts (X, X) and saying maybe don't put shit in ezran's tag that isn't related to ezran when it wasn't even about you, but sure. pop off king

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Who do you think the Moon Druids were/are? I had my own theory, but I wanted to hear what you thought! :)

Oooo, I haven't refined this theory in a while, but it's a favorite! *rubs hands gleefully*

We’ve recently learned that the humans were spared by a combination of two things: The Merciful Compromise suggested by the daughter of the Moonshadow leader, and the Judgment Under the Half Moon, enacted by Queen Luna Tenebris, which did spare them but also booted them all to the western half of the continent, where the Moon Nexus (and possibly other nexuses) lay.

The Moon Druids were shown living at the Moonhenge, which seems to interact with the Moon Nexus and power or control it. When they tore down the henge, it disabled the magical abilities of the nexus to some large degree, but there is still enough there to protect that a Guardian has remained there ever since. 

But is that all the druids did? Just run the Nexus?

In a conservative culture like the Moonshadows have, power is often tightly protected at the top, and authority is very hard to disobey without severe consequences (as we’ve seen with Rayla’s failure on Runaan’s mission). So it’s likely that the Moon Druids held quite a bit of power in the old days and were the leaders of their culture, guiding it with the knowledge and power that the nexus gave them. Alternately, they could have advised the leaders and been a separate source of authority, but it’s a little simpler to let them be in charge for story purposes.

What I’m really curious about is the evolution of the druids when the Moonshadows had to leave Katolis. I’m currently embracing a fun headcanon that the Moonshadow assassins didn’t exist before the land was divided, and that policing the humans’ future was the Moonshadow elves’ burden to bear for asking to spare them from genocide. Luna Tenebris, in all her moonly wisdom, could have said, “Okay, sure, the humans can live, but not with anyone they can turn into spell fuel. And since this is your idea, you get to give up your homeland to them. Oh, I’m not done yet. Every time they mess around with dark magic and break the border treaty, that’s on you, and I expect you to make an example of them, swiftly and permanently. By my royal decree, Moonshadow assassins are now a thing. You’re bound to the ruler of the dragons, since we oversee all of Right Xadia now, so you jump when I say so.”

Yay, angsty fun, amirite? Ahahaa, yeesh.

Who were these first assassins? These takers of lives, these punishers of men? If the druids were leading the Moonshadows, then the daughter of the leader would most likely have been a druid as well. Her deep connection to life and death would’ve prompted her to speak out against killing an entire people. That’s a disaster and a tragedy, and should never be the answer to anything. Good for her. But Moonshadows are also deeply connected to death. If anyone knows how to take a life efficiently, it’s them. And yet, even now, after a thousand years of division and killing, Runaan teaches Rayla that hesitation is torture. Speed is a mercy, and there is no purpose to suffering and pain. Because life is precious, even unto its very last moment, and its loss is never a reason to gloat or celebrate.

That sounds like the deep kind of philosophy a druid holds dear, right? I think the Moon Druids are still very active in Moonshadow culture, serving as rulers and possibly mages. And some of them have trained to act as its assassins. That was the pact they made, and it has become their dark and sacred duty, to which they have held ever since.

If the Moonshadow leader is a Moon Druid

even after all this time

then Runaan probably is, too.

Also:

It’s a very distinctive pose. yes that was an Eliot Spencer reference

If assassins and mages are both (at least partly made up of) Moon Druids, it would also explain Lujanne’s and Runaan’s accents matching each other’s and no one else’s, as well as the handful of other things they have in common.

tl;dr: 

[kilfeur]

@konmaao3 @kisilinramblings @flightfoot @sunder-the-gold @cocoacatnip @arcadianmoonshadowjedi @theredhairedmonkey @tumblezwei @shana340artblog @lady-de-mon-coeur @lc-holy @madou-dilou @thethiefndthecobbler @sophieoflhant @dio-icarticaae @re-unknown @sunlit-mess @raincandy-u

Better be safe even it's true or not

Hello dear!

Sorry for bothering you, but it's important to remind you to turn off your asks for a few days! Bad things are going to happen on Tumblr soon...

Don t know anything about this but BETTER BE SAFE EVERYBODY!!!!!!

[cocoacatnip]

Okay soooo.. @theredhairedmonkey pointed this out, (and I’ve seen a few others notice as well at this point) but the dark callum image from the new trailer is definitely taking place on Finnegrin’s ship. The same room Callum was chained up in and did dark magic a second time. So this is pretty clearly some sort of dream sequence. I’m thinking it could be some sort of moment where Callum is confronted with that moment, and truly comes face to face with his potential for darkness. (Obviously that doesn’t mean he has to give in) It looks like there’s blood on his hand, and while I’ve seen people say it’s from the thing used for the dark magic snake chain spell. Ummm the item he squashed for that spell is an embalmed snake rattle…so there wouldn’t be blood. It’s a dream so the blood could just be symbolic of his guilt over doing dark magic again. We’ve seen a clip of him flying blindfolded and free falling so this could be some sort of vision he has in that moment to reach some form of enlightenment? Cause I do think the flying free fall is some sort of test.

Another thought is this is Aaravos getting into his head and taunting him over that moment. I mean it’s pretty obvious Aaravos will try to use Callum as a puppet again. I even think he’ll possibly succeed to an extent..but I’m obv of the callum overcomes it mindset…eventually anyway. 😂 Callum is gonna have lots of “fun” this season I can tell.

[kilfeur]

L'amour d'une famille (The love of a family)

Alors cette analyse n'était pas du tout prévu mais plus j'y pense, plus je me dis qu'il y a pas mal de choses à dire. On peut voir que la famille a une place importante dans TDP. Mais je pense que ceux qui incarnent le mieux cette amour envers leur famille sont Claudia et Rayla. Avant qu'on en parle j'aimerai aborder ces deux là durant la saison 4. Car justement elles s'opposent, Claudia qui refuse d'écouter son père quand celui ci souhaite passer ses derniers jours auprès d'elle. Imposant ses propres désirs sur lui et voulant continuer sa quête de le garder auprès d'elle. Alors que Rayla était justement parti pour traquer Viren afin d'avoir des réponses sur sa famille. Et bien qu'elle semble dire que son départ a blessé Callum malgré qu'elle le voyait comme un acte d'amour. Mais elle se rendait pas compte justement à quel point ça l'a marqué. Toutefois elle n'impose pas sa présence quand Ezran lui propose de venir ou bien quand elle propose à Callum de partir en éclaireurs dans la forêt. Elle se montre assez patiente et voit bien que ce dernier n'est pas réceptif à cette dernière pour l'instant. C'est aussi pour ça qu'elle n'ose pas faire le premier pas vers lui par crainte d'amener plus de tensions dans leur relation.

L'amour que Claudia porte envers son père est destructeur, obsessionnel et malsain. On peut voir dans la saison 5, qu'elle se focalise tellement à partir qu'elle néglige sa santé refusant d'écouter les réticences de Terry. Pour elle, la survie de son père est une priorité qui passe avant tout, mettant son bien être en second plan. Quand à l'amour de Rayla envers sa famille, lorsqu'elle récupère l'arc de Runaan, elle revoit sa famille et leur dit clairement qu'elle ne les a pas oublié, qu'elle pense à eux et qu'elle les aime toujours. Mais qu'elle ne peut pas passer ses besoins en priorité par rapport à la menace d'Aaravos. Et c'est là que justement leurs amours s'opposent, car Claudia mettra toujours son père en priorité avant tout le reste. Tandis que Rayla garde une certaine distance assez saine par rapport à sa famille.

J'en avais parlé avec @theredhairedmonkey sur le fait qu'il est possible qu'elle mette de côté sa famille, comme une solution pragmatique. Dans le sens que même si ça la chagrine de les voir coincés dans des pièces. Elle souhaite avant tout se concentrer sur la mission principale ! Et d'une certaine manière, je peux le voir. Ça ne veut pas dire que Rayla est cruelle mais juste qu'elle refuse de prioriser ses besoins ce qui l'oppose justement à Claudia, qui justement impose ses propres besoins par rapport aux autres. J'avais bien aimé la scène où Amaya lui explique ce qu'est la vraie force et qu'elle peut dépendre ou demander de l'aide à quelqu'un. Car c'est justement ce qui la pousse à se confier à Callum au sujet de sa famille. En contraste, Claudia, à part la scène où il l'aide à se détendre, ne l'écoute pas vraiment. Comme je l'ai dit plus haut, elle se néglige que ce soit physiquement ou émotionnellement. Se pressant pour sauver son père et ce n'est qu'une fois que Terry trouve une solution à leur problème, qu'elle peut enfin se reposer.

La scène où justement Claudia manipule Ezran et Callum est intéressante. Parce qu'encore une fois, elle parle de son amour envers son père mais aussi utilise l'amour que les deux frères avaient pour Harrow contre eux pour justifier ses actes. Et quand justement Rayla sauve Ezran des griffes de Claudia. C'est pas seulement protéger ses amis qui est en jeu mais leurs amours envers leurs familles qui se confrontent justement. Et c'est justement pas un hasard que ce soit Rayla qui coupe la jambe de Claudia avec l'arme de son père. Car encore une fois bien que leurs amours envers leur famille se confrontent, c'est justement l'amour de Rayla qui a prit le dessus cette fois ci ! Et d'une certaine manière la perte de sa jambe est justement une conséquence de l'amour malsain qu'a Claudia envers son père. Montrant justement ce qui lui arrivera si elle continue dans ce chemin auto destructeur !

Pour ma part, j'ai pas mal aimé comment leurs amours envers leurs familles s'opposent l'un à l'autre durant cet acte 2. Et je me demande si justement son amour envers sa famille ne sera pas à nouveau mis à l'épreuve lors de la saison 6. Imaginons dans la tour céleste, Callum est en danger et Rayla veut le sauver. Mais l'elfe céleste lui dit justement que si elle le sauve, elle ne pourra pas sauver sa famille. Ce serait un dilemme intéressant pour elle bien que je penche qu'elle choisira plus Callum. Mais si ce cas de figure arrive, je pense qu'il y a un moyen pour que la série lui montre que justement, elle peut les sauver tout les deux ! Mais comment ça va se dérouler ? Pour l'instant je l'ignore.

So this analysis wasn't planned at all, but the more I think about it, the more I realize there's a lot to say. You can see that family has an important place in TDP. But I think the ones who best embody that family love are Claudia and Rayla. Before we get into that, I'd like to talk about these two in season 4. Claudia refuses to listen to her father when he wants to spend his last days with her. Imposing her own desires on him and wanting to continue her quest to keep him with her. And yet Rayla was out to track Viren down and get answers about her family. And although she seems to say that her departure hurt Callum, she saw it as an act of love. But she didn't realize just how much it affected him. However, she doesn't impose her presence when Ezran asks her to come along, or when she suggests that Callum go scouting in the forest. She's patient enough to see that he's not receptive to her at the moment. That's also why she doesn't dare make the first move towards him, fearing it might bring more tension into their relationship.

Claudia's love for her father is destructive, obsessive and unhealthy. We see in season 5 that she is so focused on leaving that she neglects her health, refusing to listen to Terry's concerns. For her, her father's survival is the priority, putting her own well- being on secondary position. As for Rayla's love for her family, when she recovers Runaan's bow, she sees her family again and tells them clearly that she hasn't forgotten them, that she thinks of them and still loves them. But she can't put her needs above the threat of Aaravos. And that's precisely where their loves diverge, because Claudia will always put her father before everything else. While Rayla maintains a healthy distance to her family.

I'd talked to theredhairedmonkey about the possibility of her putting her family aside, as a pragmatic solution. In the sense that while it saddens her to see them stuck in coins. But she wants to concentrate on the main mission! And in a way, I can see that. This doesn't mean that Rayla is cruel, just that she refuses to prioritize her needs, which is precisely what opposes her to Claudia, who imposes her own needs on others. I liked the scene where Amaya explains to her what real strength is, and that she can depend on or ask someone for help. This is precisely what drives her to confide in Callum about her family. In contrast, Claudia, apart from the scene where he helps her relax, doesn't really listen to him. As I said above, she neglects herself both physically and emotionally. Rushing to save her father, it's only when Terry finds a solution to their problem that she can finally rest.

The scene in which Claudia manipulates Ezran and Callum is interesting. Once again, she speaks of her love for her father, but also uses the two brothers' love for Harrow against them to justify her actions. And when Rayla saves Ezran from Claudia's clutches. It's not just protecting her friends that's at stake, but also their love for each other's families that clashes. And it's no coincidence that it's Rayla who cuts Claudia's leg off with her father's weapon. Because, once again, although their love for their families confronts each other, it's Rayla's love that has the edge this time! And in a way, the loss of her leg is a consequence of Claudia's unhealthy love for her father. Showing exactly what will happen to her if she continues down this self-destructive path!

Personally, I liked the way their love for their families contrasted with each other in Act 2, and I wonder whether Rayla's love for her family will be put to the test again in season 6. Imagine in the tower, Callum is in danger and Rayla wants to save him. But the celestial elf tells her that if she saves him, she won't be able to save her family. This would be an interesting dilemma for her, although I think she'd choose Callum over her family. But if that happens, I think there's a way for the show to show her that she can save them both! But how will it play out? I don't know yet.

[uneryx]

I wonder if Runaan’s binding stops growing tighter while in the coin, or if his arm is basically already gone by now.

I’m sure either way it is an incredibly humbling and awful experience for him! I mean the real reason he doesn’t remove it even though he totally could is because he’s stubborn and honor/pride-bound and removing it would be dishonorable but y’know.

[kilfeur]

Aw thank you !

@konmaao3 @theredhairedmonkey @sophieoflhant @crazy-hanji

this post will be seen by someone who is so cool