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raayllum · 1 year

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TDP and Water Symbolism

With Book 5 all but being confirmed as Ocean, it made me want to take a look back at what water represents in the series in general. Most prominently, of course, for Rayla for obvious reasons, but also where and how water symbolism pops up for some other characters, such as Ezran and Callum, scattered throughout the show.

Water often symbolizes healing and rebirth, rivers with pathways, destiny and drowning (particularly for women, such as Ophelia from Hamlet and the Lady of Shalott) and the Ocean unpredictability, power, chaos, and the depths. The Ocean is also often the site of obsession (Ahab and Moby Dick) as well as desire (siren myths) and the struggle to find your way home (Odysseus). There are some tenets of all of this throughout TDP, but we’ll work our way through as well as discuss the limited specifics of what we know of the Ocean primal from Tales of Xadia and additional information from Callum’s Spellbook.

Water as Reflection

Lujanne: This is the Moon Nexus. It reflects the moon perfectly. When the moon is full, its light completely fills the lake.

This is the one that’s most overtly related to Aaravos, perhaps, as well as in line with Ocean and Moon’s direct connection in show. Water/ice reflects, mirrors reflect, and tether the two together. The characters who are most heavily associated with reflection in this manner are Viren and Callum, of course, with Rayla as well, although Claudia, Soren (with his sword), and Ezran (with his father’s sword and eventual crown) have their moments as well.

Moreover, all of this moments of reflection for Rayla are moments where she feels like she’s failing, or has failed. “I guess I was just afraid of being afraid” / “But you didn’t run. They have it all wrong” “Does it matter?” / “I’m not good enough and I never will be.” While many other characters are tied to reflection as noted above, Rayla (and Ethari and Callum with her) are the only characters we see be reflected by water in this way.

However, there are even more ways water is woven into Rayla’s arc, so let’s talk about it

Water as Fear, Bravery, and Shame

Rayla’s first test as an assassin takes place in the rain, but she is unable to go through with it. This is a ‘failure’ that haunts her even into season four, perhaps best summed up in how she mirrors Runaan in these conversations from 1x01 and 1x08 respectively.

Rayla: The human looked up at me and I saw the fear in his eyes. Runaan: Of course he was afraid! But you had a job to do!

Ezran: Yeah, but then you saw he was scared, and you knew he was a person, just like you. Rayla: That shouldn’t have mattered. I had a job to do.

Rayla’s relationship to fear reaffirms the idea that recognizing personhood - her own or anyone else’s - is also a signifier of weakness (laid out more directly, perhaps, in the S1 novelization), and is incredibly Moonshadow of her: “Moonshadow elves aren’t supposed to show fear, ever.” Which is why Rayla is typically confronted with the water-shame duality when she is trying to either ignore someone else’s personhood, or is having her own erased, best seen with her crossing the river in 1x02 on her way to try and be a proper assassin.

Which is why 1x05 is when the shift between what she’s supposed to be - an assassin - and who she truly is - a hero starts to transform water as only a weakness to a showcasing of bravery.

C: That was brave, Rayla. R: No, I already told you, I’m afraid of water. C: I know. That’s why doing what you did was so heroic. R: Oh... Thanks.

And why the assassin pool bearing the literal symbol of shame - the symbol of her just surviving when it was dictated that she shouldn’t have - is what justifies literally erasing her, and turning her into a Ghost. Which, we’ll return to the pond more later, don’t you worry.

If you’d like more thoughts on Rayla with water in this specific trifecta (+ bonus Callum feels), I’d recommend checking out this old but very worthwhile meta I wrote on the subject a couple months after S3 came out and back before I had a water motif tag (like a fool). Through the Moon adds some layers to this, with Rayla being driven into the portal out of fear, primarily, that Viren is still out there, as well as out of love for her family and Callum. But again more on TTM as well later, because I want to talk about the real kicker, I think, which is

The River As A Symbol of Destiny

This is something that ATLA actually used beforehand (mostly purely as a metaphor) that was then brought more directly to TDP as both a metaphorical and now literal/motif thing.

Destiny? What would a boy know of destiny? If a fish lives its whole life in a river, does it know the river’s destiny? No! Only that it flows on and on, out of his control. He may follow where it flows, but he cannot see the end. He cannot imagine the ocean.

—Avatar: The Last Airbender, 1x15, the Deserter

V: Life is like a river. R: Oh great. That’s exactly what I was afraid of. V: You can’t see too far ahead. I can’t see at all, as I might’ve mentioned before. You don’t know where the river of life will bend and turn. You don’t know where it will go at all. R: How is that supposed to helpful? V: Don’t try to control where the river goes. There’s one thing you can know and control: yourself. Look at yourself. Who are you, Rayla? What do you stand for? Once you know that, then wherever the river takes you, you’ll be right where you were always meant to be.

We see Rayla seemingly answer this question for herself by using something Callum told her as a basis for a new worldview: breaking the cycle. “Saving that dragon doesn’t just feel like the right thing to do, it feels like the right thing for me to do. It’s where I’m meant to be.” However, this is precisely the choice we see her walk back in 4x05.

So the River is tied to Destiny as a concept and having choice and self actualization for what you can control. This is tied, then, to Callum helping to give her a path forward for the choices she wants to make, tethering this to their relationship in general and the importance of giving each other agency.

But this specific connection to the River of Destiny, per se, is imo solidified in Bloodmoon Huntress with these panels.

There’s a few in-universe reasons for this panel/callback, of course. The first is show that Rayla wasn’t always afraid of water and that nearly drowning in BH is what likely created that fear. It’s the first instance in the graphic novel of Rayla’s heroism and loyalty, her desire to protect/save other people before Suroh, a Skywing boy in big trouble, comes barrelling into her life - even if it’s just a tiny Adoraburr who is basically her best friend in an increasingly peerless childhood.

And, of course, at the time of BH’s release, we all assumed this was largely a reference and setup to Rayla’s choice to leave at the end of Through the Moon in order to, in her eyes, ultimately protect him (even at great cost to herself and their happiness together). This is because, of course, Callum is famously her best friend with a big speech in 3x01 all about it: “He’s my friend... My best friend.”

This has taken on an even deeper meaning thanks to season four, though, following Aaravos taking control of Callum, his worry over a path of darkness, and Rayla’s associations with light. Because, of course, there is every implication that Aaravos’ prison is 1) under the water in the Sea of the Castout and 2) that Callum already tends to get swept up in things unintentionally / without thinking.

All of this to say, of course, that Aaravos and his prison are the river that Callum has already been swept up by, symbolized by all of the above as well as the Ocean rune on the Key of Aaravos being displayed at particularly opportune times.

So Rayla, here, is not just speaking of her future desire to protect him in Through the Moon, but not even necessarily to keep from playing into Aaravos’ hands (which is what killing him would do) but to guide him and keep him safe, no matter what it takes. Which reflects the framing of the shots when she arrives: “Then take another path, dummy!” The River of Destiny is fast, but she won’t let him get swept away.

Even if choosing Rayla (and subsequently breaking out of the brainwashing) may not be enough to fully stop Aaravos’ plan (as he still has to get out, after all — this is one river that’s inevitable).

Drowning

Of course, alongside destiny and shame, etc. there is also the dark side to water, re: drowning. We see this most prominently featured for each of the trio, with Ezran almost dying in 1x06, Callum’s dark magic dreams in 2x08, as well as Rayla nearly drowning in both BH and TTM, anchoring her childhood and much of her subsequent present day trauma tied together with a neat little bow, ready to unravel at a moment’s notice.

The fact that Callum’s use of dark magic also ties itself to drowning, directly, when it could’ve been anything (something choking him, perhaps, to hammer home / foreshadow Aaravos’ future grip over him) is also interesting to me, precisely because it ties the two so together. And that, thus far, we haven’t seen this drowning motif extended to anyone outside of the main trio, either.

The fact that both in and outside of the dream scape, Callum smashing the primal stone is what causes him to at first metaphorically, and then literally begin drowning, is particularly apt, symbolism wise. Down to Berto, a winged creature, lifting Villads from the wreckage only for Callum to realize that he is the wing once he has a guiding presence in Sarai. This is a lovely parallel between the boys as well, with Sarai guiding Ezran under the ice in the book one novelization, and makes me think about love as a guiding force through the storm; Sarai for her sons, Rayla on either side of the storm for Callum, and Callum for her in TTM, and how this may be repeated in Book 5, whether it’s Rayla’s parents saving her somehow, Callum, both, or something else entirely.

(It should also be noted that Callum and Rayla mutually save each other in TTM as well. Callum goes in after her when she’s in danger, but loses the phoenix feather to guide them back on the way down. He manages to help Rayla grab it, and then she goes back for him, and they swim out together, toward the light.)

The Ocean Arcanum

(Almost) last but not least I want to talk about the associations given canonically to the Ocean arcanum in the series’ extended material from both the Primal Source quiz, Callum’s Sketchbook, and Tales of Xadia.

Like all rivers flow to the sea, you know everything and everyone is connected. A peaceful soul, you value friendship, love, and family above all else in life. Empathetic and outgoing, you make friends easily, and people are drawn to your personality. In life, you’re willing to go with the flow, and you can adapt to pretty much anything and keep a cool head. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and with love so easily given, betrayal and lies strike you deeply — you are icy and unforgiving only to those who dare strike at your big heart.

Flexibility, Transformation, Flow, Awareness, Navigation, Surface Level V.S. Depth

This is reflected in the magic that Ocean mages wield: dynamic, forceful, reaching everywhere and anywhere, within and without. It can also become surprisingly powerful in rain, giving this primal a powerful synergy with the Sky primal. Ocean magic also includes ice magic, giving mages another powerful offensive and defensive tool.

All of these were released years apart (the primal quiz shortly after S1 in 2018, Callum’s Spellbook after S3 in 2020, and Tales of Xadia in 2021) but they all have similar common threads. There is an emphasis on connection, ice magic, flexibility (change), as well as tantalizing teases regarding the Sky arcanum. And of course as previously touched upon, the Moon famously affects real life tides.

But like, how do we know that this stuff is going to be consistently carried into the show, and it’s not just padding for supplementary material? Well, that’s because It Already Has.

Navigation and Transformation

Are perhaps the most direct ones we’ll see in S5, building upon prior associations with water the show has displayed, particularly in S2. The Ocean is tied to Callum’s journey of discovering sky magic, as he learns the winds from Villads on the ship of the Ruthless, and then later is directed into his own consciousness by a similar manner. He’s learning how to navigate and Villads’ advice to Callum mirrors the exact advice he gives to Rayla about the river, too.

Don’t try to control where the river winds go. There’s one thing you can know and control, yourself your sail.

This is jointly reflected by a con skit performed in 2019 to hype up S3 by Callum and Rayla’s VAs. While again this would be easy to write off, I hesitate to for three reasons: 1) we know thanks to TDP’s production schedule they were already working on S4 at this time, 2) the skit is called Written in the Stars and although silly, some of what is discussed matches up thematically and helped me call the Rayllum “light and darkness” motif months in advance, and 3) there are things from the S4 star chart referenced in the skit, such as Garlaf and his bandolier of skulls, the mama / baby banther, etc and most notably, the South Star, which Callum says:

What about that? Brightest star in the sky. A single point of light. We call it the South Star. Humans used it to navigate, you know, to find their way in the endless darkness of the night.

So it seems pretty clear that Season Five, with Callum and Rayla now getting to navigate their relationship, in addition to water’s ties to Rayla’s emotional state (the surface vs depths reflecting both her and Aaravos’ possible pasts, his watery prison, etc) all being compounded together. Either Aaravos or Rayla (or maybe both of them) will be his South Star in S5. And, in addition to Callum’s Spellbook, this is the only real time navigation is brought up in series, so I’m gonna take it.

Now that that’s ‘settled’, let’s look at Ocean / water as Transformation. This is of course seen in how Callum goes into the water in his dreams in 2x08, but then resurfaces with help from his mother and is reborn in a sense, literally filled with new breath, as he comes to understand the Sky arcanum. We also see this idea of Transformation being tied to the Ocean and Moon arcanums an equal amount in something like Phoe-Phoe, and as well as in TTM in general.

The Moon Arcanum is all about change.

Phoe-Phoe is reborn on the water. The water transforms Rayla’s fear to bravery. Rayla’s talk with Villads helps give her direction as much as he gives it to Callum, each unlocking how they are going to break the cycle; for Rayla, it’s being a protector and defender (even if still at cost to herself, but that’s a meta for another day). For Callum, he becomes a sky primal mage.

Which is to say, if you’ve been keeping track, Sky and Moon are uniquely tethered in series to the Ocean in ways none of the other primals currently seem to be. Sky and Ocean share overlap in spells and associations (drowning, navigation, breath, travel). Ocean and Moon likewise share overlap in association (transformation, reflections, depths, etc). So it would be exceedingly fitting if S5 is when Rayla and Callum end up fully reconciling, given that Ocean seems to, magically, be where Sky and Moon meet halfway. The water and experiences at the Nexus is what broke them apart, so of course water will also be what brings them together.

Water as the Cycle

More generally, due to its varied associations, Water is tied to Life ad Death throughout the series. In some ways, it is probably associated with the Cycle directly as much as Moon is, both tied to inherently cyclical things that may change, but always come back to themselves. TTM makes this connection overt

But it is there in other places as well. An assassin’s flower, placed in a circular pond of water, floats so long as they live and breathe. Rayla leaves and returns, consistently, like the tide, leaving over and over again, but also returning whenever she can (or whenever Callum chases after her to bring her back from the brink).

In a lot of ways, Callum and Rayla both do this to each other, leaving and then returning, always circling back to one another or moving in patterns.

Every time they walk away (die) they also return (live). This element of perpetual ebb and and flow and rebirth is also seen in other characters like Sol Regem, and even indeed the longstanding associations of boats and the underworld in Greek and Egyptian myth in particular, ferrying people to the afterlife (Greek myth a cited inspiration for the series, with the Egyptian mythos more sneakily woven in).

Seen perhaps most prominently in Callum reckoning with his stepfather’s death and reading Harrow’s letter in the belly of Villads’ boat.

Conclusion

Book 5: Ocean is gonna Slap, and I cannot wait, thank you goodnight.

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp rayla #rayllum #tdp callum #water motif #tdp meta #analysis series #analysis #multi #the cycle #parallels #might honestly be some of the most fun i've had working on a meta #bc they surprisingly/unsurprisingly worked their way in #personal fave #every separation is a link #devil and the lovers

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nerdasaurus1200 · 5 months

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For the Character Ask Bingo:

TTS:

Varian

Cassandra

Lady Caine

Brock

Hector

Adira

Edmund

TDP:

Rayla

Callum

Claudia

Aravos

Finnegrin

Yaaaassss multiple characters!!

Varian:

Cassandra:

Lady Caine:

Brock Thunderstrike:

Hector:

Adira:

Edmund:

And now for Dragon Prince!

Rayla:

Callum:

Claudia:

#tts #rta #tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tdp #the dragon prince #nerd answers #ask meme #cassandra #varian #lady caine #hector #adira

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sir-phineas-lost · 11 months

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TDP Book 5: Water

So this apparently dropped almost a week earlier than what was announced and I binged all of it at once as usual. Since I only just finished it I can’t quite tell if I like it better or worse than previous seasons (for summary: I loved the first 2 because it looked like they were heading somewhere really interesting, I hated season 3 because it completely dropped the ball and season 4 was starting to head back in the right direction). I feel like I should write a few things down to sort them out. Lots of spoilers below.

I think it was the right decision to split the party up more than they were last season because it no longer feels like Ezran is just hanging around for the sake of it and gives Rayla and Callum more time to interact and rebuild their relationship. I still don’t care one iota about said relationship because they are boring MC-shipping, but at least it doesn’t feel like it is actively eating up others’ screen-time.

The detour to Lux Aurea feel superfluous. It is very disconnected from the other subplot involving Karim and Kim’dael and the one lasting consequence (Zubeia’s wound) is apparently healed by the end of the season with absolutely no input from the main cast. Obviously this is setup for next season and this mysterious mushroom-mage but I can’t help but feel that there had to be a more convenient way to get there.

As usual, Claudia remains the very best part of the show and I will not hear a bad word about her. Her worry for Viren is so absolutely palpable it hurts and for once I think they dodged all the pitfalls of framing it as a sin. Having Terry around proves to be the best change to the show as a whole since the timeskip and he keeps being a positive influence on Claudia without being judgemental about it.

This also makes it pretty jarring when we get to Claudia’s final confrontation with the gang and after a full season of humanizing her and proving that she will listen to reason instead of going for the kill, she goes into full villain-mode from the start with crazy ranting and “I will destroy you all” speeches. All so that the gang can feel uncomplicated in dealing out the most graphic violence in the show so far. I used to joke that I would be ok with Claudia reducing elven cities to ash, I now think I would be fine with her ripping out Ezran’s spine while making Callum watch. As a treat.

Side-note: I am very ok with the trend of Claudia transforming into monster-ladies for big fights.

Please keep that up.

Viren also continues his positive development from last season, but unfortunately it is the exact kind of “redemption” I didn’t want for him and Claudia. The kind where it is all about him agreeing with everyone else that everything he ever does sucks and that dark magic is unambiguously evil. Sorry to people who like this development but I don’t see a lot of moral complexity in doing a 180.

Callum actually has a pretty interesting arc this season. After being convinced last season that it was his curiosity that would make him susceptible to Aaravos’ influence it instead draws direct parallells between him and Claudia by having love for his friends and especially Rayla be the reason he breaks his own moral code. It still relies heavily on the show’s nonsensical policy on dark magic for his guilt to make sense but it is something.

Unfortunately the show seems committed to its policy of character-centric morality. Ezran can make a speech to Callum about how they should focus on containing Aaravos instead of killing him because violence should be a last resort, and yet make no attempt at anything but violence when stopping Claudia.

Overall I just find it ironic how a book called “Ocean” manages to drive home how shallow this whole show is. It paints its main thesis on its forehead but has absolutely nothing of interest to say about it. “It is bad to do bad things for good reasons”. No shit Sherlock. Come back when you actually have something to say about what makes something bad in the first place or how to deal with the things that made someone think the bad thing was necessary.

#the dragon prince #tdp #tdp meta #meta #tdp critical #book 5: water #book 5 spoilers #tdp spoilers

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darkspellmaster · 6 years

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Dragon Prince Theory: The show is influenced by Shakespeare’s plays....

So I was just thinking about the Dragon Prince and how much the relationship between King Harrow and Viren reminds me of Othello and Iago, and I know that’s weird but hear me out here. I think a lot of this story is going to be influenced by Shakepeare’s work, or at least inspired by his works.

Let me start at the beginning.

So the plot of Othello goes thus. Somewhat awesome general named Othello is married to an amazing woman named Desdemona. They live a happy life, for the most part, and he has several friends among them Michael Cassio and Iago. So Mike is a young guy, a bit air headed at times, but his heart is in the right place and he’s devoted to Othello. Iago has known Othello longer, and has been by his side through a lot of things, so he thinks he’s special. So as it is, Othello promotes the younger Cassio over Iago and Iago gets major jealous. This leads Iago to work with a less then cool guy named Rodrigo who wants Desi as his own, and the two nearly kill Mike. Iago also leads Othello to think Desi is unfaithful, and he ends up killing her, not realizing it was all Iago’s doing making him go a bit crazy. This leads the remaining people to confront Othello and discovering that Iago is a bad guy, he kills his wife who pretty much points out that he’s the one that was doing all of this, and Othello kills himself leaving Mike to decide what sentence he should have.

(This is a very simplified version of events.)

So the more I was rewatching the show the more I felt that Harrow is a lot like Othello was. A man that probably wanted to do good and may have had a bit of an ego and allied himself with Viren who, like Iago, started off as a friend and grew to enjoy his post of power. Clearly you have a case where trust has been demolished over and over due to the consequences of shortcuts being taken. This gets me to think that maybe Viren is more like Iago then people would like to think.

While Iago is a manipulator he starts out not wanting Cassio to take the command because the boy is far younger than he is and also Iago sees him as a weaker solider. We see that here in The Dragon Prince in the form of Callum and Viren.

Callum taking on the role of Cassio, becoming someone that Othello listens to and trusts in regard to advice, and Harrow seems to be taking what Callum says to heart, feeling he has to make up for his crimes. We also see a similar confrontation between Viren and Callum coming to a head much like Iago and Cassio’s did, where Cassio is wounded by Iago and Rodrigo.

Furthermore you also have Callum (and Ezra) being hunted down by Viren in order to secure his place, and Cassio was also hunted down by Rodrigo, only to make it out alive thanks to his quick wits.

It also feels like we have some MacBeth thrown in there.

Sons of a murdered king running away (two of them I might add) to find allies. –check

A friend of the Dead king questioning the person that killed him, and who later is attacked by the main baddie –check check.

A person who is seen as a threat is killed –Triple check

Said persons son teams up with the sons of the murdered king to fix the problem – yup…

Villain has to deal with the fall out of everything that he caused because of his own ego and greed…more than likely going to happen.

So what’s the story here.

If we go with Viren as MacBeth we can see another pattern come up. Someone who uses dark magic as a short cut to get what he desires and is pushed into making a bad choice that ultimately he has to deal with because of his short sighted nature. Viren, for his part, more than likely wasn’t thinking of the fallout from his actions, and, much like MacBeth, tries to consolidate his powers, but is cut off by the fact that one of his allies MacDuff, is suspect of what happened to Banquo and the king. Which leads MacBeth to killing MacDuff’s family. Macbeth also foolishly kills his friend Banquo based on some bad Intel, which later causes said bad info to come true due to his actions.

The thing about Viren is that if you go by the idea that he’s playing the role of MacBeth here as well, it falls into line that Runaan then becomes Banquo, who is killed because his son may become a future king. With that in mind you can go well that makes Rayla the child of Runaan, and thus the third player in the story,

and puts Amaya as MacDuff since Gren is now captured; and you can throw into this the additional armies of the kingdoms rallying around these three with the elves (England) who would be happy to take Viren down for the death of the Dragon King.

Then on top of all of this we have some hints of Richard the III given that Viren is sending out people to kill the two boys, and possibly some of Hamlet (with Callum possibly dealing with the fall out of his father’s death).

Soren and Claudia possibly being very much Oberon and Titana from Midsummer’s nights dream (only in this case Soren is Titania possibly being tricked by Claudia’s Oberon), but I also get a bit of a King Lear feel and that unlike in King Lear Claudia is going to choose her brother over Zym.

There’s also maybe a hint of a Winter’s tale going on, and several other bit parts in the plays, and it’s a lot to list.

Over all I have the feeling that by the end of this Viren will be outed and, both like Iago and MacBeth, be forced to deal with the consequences of his actions, losing not only his son but also his daughter for choosing to do what he did.

That’s my guess on things.

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thcdragonprince · 2 years

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bag

#the dragon prince #tdp #aarvaos #rayla #soren #ezran #claudia #the owl house #the owl lady #luz noceda #disney #toh

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inamindfarfaraway · 3 years

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Azula’s backstory, dynamics with her father and brother and motivations + Mai’s ladylike but gothic aesthetic + Ty Lee’s bubbly, sweet, eccentric outward disposition = Claudia.

We’ve found her. The ultimate Dangerous Lady. Here’s hoping she ends up like Mai and Ty Lee rather than Azula.

#the dragon prince #the dragon prince claudia #tdp claudia #dangerous ladies #atla dangerous ladies #azula #mai #ty lee #random observations #random thoughts #more like fandom thoughts am i right?#fandom thoughts #tdp thoughts

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arcadialedger · 3 years

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Animated Ladies in STEM Who I Love

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bylaudelekha · 3 years

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💖+ the dragon prince :D

oooo thanks!!

fave is either soren or claudia. i really shouldn't love claudia damn my biromantic ass is terrible

special mentions to rayla and callum! they are my children and i protecc them <3

#ah yes. me simping for the villain lady. how predictable.#thanks for the ask!#soren's genius is too large to forget #the bread sandwich scene my beloved #sooubway answers #ask games #tdp #tdp soren #tdp claudia #tdp rayla #tdp callum #heartsofcinder

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fireheartwraith · 4 years

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Sooo...

I just watched all of Dragon Prince in a weekend

#no regrets #when is s4 dropping??#the dragon prince #tdp #at the beginning i didn't like soren but now he's my little baby #but ezran is way to young to be king amaya please let him play!!#and callum and rilla!!#they actually talked about their issues i'm so proud of them!!#and bait is my animal spirit #zim is baby #and super cute #claudia babe i have hopes for you but you had to go and ruin it #but back to business #the gay is starting to show #amaya and that fire lady are otp though #shipped them since the first fight #callum x rayla #amaya x janai #wow i really don't know how to write their names

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raayllum · 8 months

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yk i was going to ask what your takes/predictions are for the rayla/sarai parallels but then i realized they sure weren't gonna be good and would ruin me but then i realized i do not like myself anyways so you have the floor

So I have a lot of feelings about Sarai and Rayla (and Claudia) being women who are doomed by the narrative and I will try to express them eloquently

Post with Sarai and Rayla parallels (pre-S4)

Post with Harrai and Rayllum parallels (pre-S3) featuring all the potential parallel pairs

The Viren-Avizandum theory that Viren paralleling Avizandum in the intro was to also parallel how the dragon queen caused Harrow's loss of Sarai by having Viren cause Callum to almost lose Rayla (pre-S4, largely defunct but still interesting)

Bonus Claudia and Sarai parallels (being used for dark magic, etc.)

With that out of the way:

Rayla and Sarai do have their similarities, given that they see their enemies as people even when it would be far more convenient not to and everyone else around them is telling them not to ("The human looked up at me, and I saw the fear in his eyes" / "You keep calling it a monster!"). And they see these people as well, people, even when ultimately taking the act of dealing the final blow upon themselves (Sarai being the one to kill the Magma Titan, Rayla killing/tackling Viren off the Pinnacle). There is, of course, the very obvious framing parallel between Harrow watching Sarai ride away in 2x06 and between Callum watching Rayla leap away an episode later in 2x07 that makes my heart do a little pitter-patter every time

We know from Callum's Spellbook and from Sarai's argument in 2x05 that she is staunchly against dark magic - just as Rayla is - but they are both willing to stand by Harrow and Callum anyway even when they choose to engage with it: "I disagree, but I stand by you anyway" / "It doesn't matter what you did before, I just want you to be okay again". (This bodes well for S6 Rayllum in particular.)

There is, of course, that Sarai dies saving Viren, and Rayla almost dies killing Viren / wrecks her relationship with Callum by leaving to hunt him down, causing mother and son to both assume, "Without Viren to perform the spell, the heart is worthless and this was all for nothing" / "I didn't find him..." "Oh, so you disappeared for two years for no reason at all?"

While Harrow and Callum parallel each other more framing and devotion wise (Harrow never moved on from Sarai just as Callum never moved on from Rayla, while Sarai must've moved on fairly quickly after Callum's father's death for Callum to be able to remember the man and only have a 5 year age gap with Ezran. More thoughts on that in this oneshot here <3)... I think Harrow and Rayla are more similar personality wise and that Callum also has a great deal of similarities with his mother. (This is also why Rayla-Harrow and Callum-Viren dynamics tend to parallel each other as well, tbh.)

Basically I don't think there's a clear cut-ness to it - almost everyone in TDP parallels each other at least a little with a generational breakdown of

Personality:

Harrow-Rayla

Viren-Callum

Sarai-Ezran

VS Generational roles

Ezran-Harrow

Rayla-Sarai

Callum-Viren

if that distinction makes any sense? There may be more to the Sarai-Rayla parallels (certainly I can see the "Tell me she wasn't your world" + making a choice said woman doesn't want you to make on her behalf involving dark/star magic and shit, which Callum arguably already has) in S6/7 in the way I thought might be happening pre-S4, but I lean more away from it now. There could always be interesting (or sad) stuff I missed though between the two ladies, so anyone feel free to leave your thoughts in the reblogs/replies!

And like yourself anyway, you deserve a seat

#thanks for asking #requests #queen sarai #tdp rayla #m4rs-ex3 #tdp #the dragon prince #there's also stuff in the book 1 novelization of when callum realizes the egg won't make it #it reminds him of how helpless he felt about his mother's death #and like. that coming back with the prison's comparisons to the egg /#callum always just wanting to Save the People he Loves no matter what??#his mother being that Initial loss in a lot of ways for him? yeah. yeah. i could see it

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