#let him kill aaravos as a little reward

[tategaminu]

#callum would make a better assassin than rayla #let him kill aaravos as a little reward #you wouldnt think hes the most okay with murder out of the three but he is lmao #killing people is bad meme #tdp #the dragon prince #the mystery of aaravos #tdp ezran #tdp callum #tdp rayla #shitpost #tdp s5 #tdp s4

[comicaurora]

If you've finished The Dragon Prince, S5, what's your opinion? Personally I'm still processing everything and there were a few things I was kind of "ehhhhh" about, but those were just one-off moments and overall I'm satisfied, even though it ended up playing out very differently from how I was expecting (for one, I was certain Aaravos would be getting out by the end of the season).

I liked it a lot!

SPOILERS AND STUFF:

Because I liked it a lot, most of my more specific thoughts are about the few things that sort of jarred me a little bit and felt a little rough or strange. But before I get to that I wanna list some of the stuff I loved:

Soren! My sweet boi has finally gotten the acknowledgement the previous seasons denied him. Soren locking eyes with Deadwood and going "yo same issues" was incredible, and after the last season treated his abduction by and confrontation with his abusive father as 90% comedy funtime hijinks in a nightgown, it was really refreshing to see him get a chance to actually shine in a serious, heartwarming context and be narratively rewarded for it.

In fact, that whole sequence with the pirates was incredible. I knew there was no way they were gonna cleanly outrun the bad guys, but I was not expecting how exactly they would catch up.

They did a lot of elegant work this season setting up Claudia as going from being family-motivated to being anger-motivated, and I like that, because at the rate things are going she's gonna run out of family to be motivated by in T-minus one episode, and if she's going to continue being the main boots-on-the-ground antagonist she's going to need some new motivation to swap out for her dad. Showing her actively reveling in having power over creatures that used to frighten her is a clever way to ease into that.

Viren's arc this season of being forced to confront his own coping mechanism, "I had no choice", was damn elegant. He had to realize he did have a choice the whole time, even if it was a choice between two bad options - he took every step along the path of his own free will, and he can choose to stop walking at any time. I'm not anticipating a redemption arc - my guess is Aaravos is going to let him die and just keep his soul imprisoned with him, "your soul is my treasure" and all that - but it was a very cool way to confront the audience and Viren with his humanity, which is easy to lose sight of when he spends all his time being a horrible dick.

The stuff with the Nova Blade screams "sneaky poetic double meaning" and there's absolutely no way it can actually kill Aaravos. The fact that the novablade and the three quasar diamonds they need to let Ruunan out of his coin after four goddamn seasons are all in the same place called the Starscraper that is so most definitely a boss arena makes me absolutely certain that they won't get there until some sort of final battle or immediately-pre-final-battle confrontation, but it's also almost guaranteed that the novablade is not going to cleanly resolve everything because the characters were realistically sus about that poem but quickly dismissed their entirely reasonable concerns. My guess is the novablade has already stabbed Aaravos once and he's the dude from the poem who was somehow both immortal and "no more," which feeds into the other thing they're 100% setting up, which is that Callum is one thousand percent going to be the one who lets him out in an ill-fated attempt to save his loved ones, which would cleanly make Callum three for three. Which segues into my "things that bothered me a little bit" zone-

Every time there's a story where the heroes are like "we're going to make our way through the incredibly circuitous and hard-to-navigate traps and secrets to finally find our way to the closely-guarded and ludicrously dangerous macguffin so we can take it with us and put it somewhere much less guarded" I feel my investment slip just a little, because how can anybody be surprised when the bad guys then get ahold of it with a tenth of the effort it would've taken them to get through the circuitous treasure hunt themselves? Claudia was not on track to figuring out the secret in time, and Aaravos didn't seem to have a way to tell her directly, and once the deadline ran out she'd have almost no reason to want to release Aaravos anymore. I worry this plotline could've solved itself if the heroes hadn't inexplicably concluded that they could guard a magical prison better than a centuries-deep conspiracy of archmages and archdragons.

The Dragon Prince character writing is usually rock-solid and very good at showing slow growth and development, while occasionally being vulnerable to characters seemingly losing their braincells to facilitate plot points that they would reasonably be too smart to let happen. That happened a few times this season, most notably with Zubeia getting very clearly bit by a shadowbeast - something we know everyone riding on her back saw, because Corvus intervened to get it off her and nearly died in the process, and we later see Soren talking to her about it - which means Amaya at minimum, and probably Callum and Rayla as well, should reasonably be expected to have both the information "a wound from a shadowbeast magically festers and turns the infected victim into a shadowbeast" and "zubeia was injured by a shadowbeast." So it's a bit weird that this doesn't come up and they just leave her alone about it, and only Soren - who doesn't know about shadowbeast stuff - even asks her about it.

I have this theory that there was a draft of the season's plot where the main characters had access to a different space of information - for instance, knowing about Zubeia's wound and its implications instead of her inexplicably brushing it off, hiding its true severity and then nearly dying. The most notable instance of this feeling struck me in the same episode, when right after Amaya's incredibly dramatic "go!" moment and the gang are about to fly away, Callum pointedly looks down one last time, then sees her shove Corvus and herself into the book drop, and he says "they made it into the book drop! they'll be totally fine!" and then they fly away. It feels a little jarring because it seemed like the natural flow of the episode would've been to let Amaya and Corvus's sacrifice play out as expected, with Chekov's Book Drop at their backs to save them as soon as the heroes were out of sight. Then Amaya and Corvus could show back up later in a big heroic moment, possibly even keeping the camera off them until Amaya rides to Janai's rescue a few episodes later - a classic "aragorn goes over the cliff jk he's fine" style reveal.

The reason they didn't do this, I think, is because it would've been hard for the kid heroes to be quippy-fun-time jokey-joking mere hours after losing their last living relative to presumed horrible zombie death. And I get that! But I think that was a notable factor in the way some of the episodes were structured around making sure that the heroes mostly got to spend their time being light-hearted and funny, which meant troubling information was artificially kept from them and encouraging information was shoehorned into their eyeline in slightly contrived ways so they could stay safely partitioned away from the actually heavy emotional implications of their situation. That's why I think the pirate episodes hit the audience as hard as they did, because suddenly the story dipped really seriously into the extremely painful and scary side of this otherwise fun and exciting fantasy adventure, and the characters shone in the unusually serious environment.

I kinda feel the same about Viren, but in the opposite direction. He spent the entire season comatose and safely partitioned away from the other characters, and while his highly symbolic coma dreams were extremely cool and revelatory to see, it feels like a squandering of his character potential to keep him from interacting with anyone but Aaravos - which is why I think they're gonna keep his ghost around at minimum. Hell, maybe Claudia will take a page out of his book and store him in a coin for safekeeping. Either way, they've had no problems sticking Viren on the proverbial shelf for seasons at a time and it seems like it's just too convenient for them to stop now. Viren's inner life is very cool, but I want to see him actually interact with the real world, because he's so bad at it.

I don't really know why the sunfire civil war thing is still happening, and my only theory is that Aaravos is still influencing the bald elf guy he possessed to kill the Queen back in season 3, meaning that these guys will be bolstering the ranks of General Problems in season 6 onward. I don't mind that concept, but I kind of feel like the problem they're running into is they killed their actually interesting Dickhead Royal back in season 3, and without Prince Kasef they have to make do with We Have Kasef At Home, aka Karim, who's not good enough at machiavellian scheming to be interesting and not enough of a dickhead to be fun to watch. They didn't even let Amaya take one of his eyes and make him look cooler, so I can only assume he'll be usurped as the primary threat next season and replaced with someone actually threatening, aka Aaravos. It seems plausible that Aaravos is going to sell both the poison and the cure, promising a way to fix Lux Aurea's corruption, but it's just a weirdly disconnected plot thread at present.

The thing with the ocean archmage felt like a very transparent Yoda homage, which started out cute and then went on about three times longer than I wanted it to, and it kind of highlighted the running theme of how every new character in this story is introduced saying "I absolutely cannot let you do this thing you need to do to progress the plot, no way no how." and then after some arguing and quips and ten minutes of wasted time and optional sidequests they're like "you may now proceed with the story." The ocean archdragon had the exact same gimmick in the opening scene, even the pirates were introduced that way. I think part of the reason the pirate episode felt so different and cool is that it broke the episodic formula in almost every way and highlighted some character tropes that the lighthearted tone doesn't normally allow for, which is why people keep describing it as "like a fanfic, but in a good way!" It took the characters we were at this point very familiar with and put them in a Situation, and fans love it when characters get put in Situations.

Kinda feels like the show only remembers Ezran has geopolitical kingly responsibilities when it's most inconvenient for the gang, and while I find his presence in this season refreshing, it is a little weird that he can just run around adventuring and getting kidnapped by pirates without anyone bringing up how the throne and the crown are burdens like they've been banging on about for the previous four seasons. I assume that'll come back into focus later, but it ties into the same thing I've observed where it feels like the characters are very carefully contextualized to only have to consider serious responsibility things in very specific contexts, usually when it will facilitate actively frustrating character arcs and decisions, so they can just loosely quip and react to things the rest of the time.

Anyway I had a dang good time, excited for more! Harrow is one thousand percent in that bird.

#asks #not aurora #media recs

[raayllum]

Irony and The Dragon Prince

So, TDP really likes irony as a story telling tool to craft both characters, foil relationships, and general arc stuff. There can be irony purely in someone going against an intended expectation (i.e. subversion can fall under irony sometimes) as well as more general dramatic irony. Think Oedipus Rex in which the further Oedipus pushes for the truth, the closer he comes to destroying himself and everyone around him - the audience knows this, even if he doesn’t. Or 1x08′s beloved little bit of verbal and situational irony sometimes. It’s also where we get most character inversions and foils from, for example:

Rayla, an assassin who has never killed anyone, becomes the protector of the princes she was sworn to kill. Meanwhile Soren, a proven captain of the crownguard, is tasked with killing the princes instead. The fact that Viren ordered Soren to do something so terrible is precisely what leads Soren to end up stabbing his father in the first place. Bait is grumpy (a negative trait) yet can glow with light (a positive association) whenever he needs to; also his name, for that matter. Claudia is extremely goofy and also a sinister dark mage. Callum spends most of season two stuck in his head until he is literally stuck in his own head in 2x08. A hero (Callum) and a villain (Aaravos) both seek the exact same thing: magic, and freedom from the chains (metaphorical or literal) that bind them.

King Harrow states that a child is freer than a king, so then the show explores the weight of being a child king in Ezran. Then, right when Ezran gives up the crown (thus ‘freeing’ himself of that weight) he is literally put in chains. This is also the main reason why I haven’t let go of the “Harrow in Pip” theory, either, because a king trapped in a bird (the symbol of freedom) is simply too much up the show’s alley to deny. 

TDP also really really likes to have things come back in horrifying, roundabout ways. Claudia mentions turning chains into snakes in 1x03 and we see that spell twice in S2 from both her and Callum. She and Soren are tricked using illusions of the princes, Soren states he hates the moon, and then Claudia uses the same trick on him a season and a half later. Avizandum blocks out the sun and then kills multiple humans crossing back into Xadia, only for his son to block out the sun by the end of the season in order to save Callum and Rayla’s lives. 

Perhaps the most obvious examples are Rayla and Claudia’s mindsets from the first few episodes. “My heart for Xadia” is something that follows Rayla throughout the series and the way she prioritizes what she feels her duty is over love and family time and time again, even over Runaan and then over Callum in TTM. Her arc also ends with her actually succeeding in her mission as she kills a human and a king of Katolis no less, just not the one she was supposed to. 

Then you have Claudia not understanding why Harrow would have reservations about the switching spell, even when Viren does, embodied by the way Claudia has still (seemingly) killed a man (or many things) in order to bring her father back to life. 

TDP loves irony and bringing things back in unforeseen ways, even episodes or seasons later. It’s one of the reasons rewatching the show is so rewarding, whether to pick up on things you missed the first time, or to speculate about other things in the future, and I love / appreciate it very much.

#tdp #tdp meta #the dragon prince #analysis series #analysis #arc 1 #rayla being a Dual wielder even when she often insists on doing everything alone lmao

[beautifulterriblequeen]

The Thief and the Tinker, Part 4: Circles and Cycles

part 3

Part 4

Viren: *smirks and plinks Runaan's coin to Ethari*

Ethari, furious: You throw another Moonshadow at me and I'm gonna lose it.

Circles and Cycles

Angst rating: 8/10

Back to Ethari, because we're not done with him yet. Ethari is soft, but he isn't weak. He won't be a willing pawn for Viren. He loves Runaan to the point of invention, and his devotion is more constant than the moon itself. He'll agree to do what Viren says, and he'll be Very Sad. But his spirit is in no way broken. Viren bribing him with the coins containing his family will only have the opposite effect. It'll give Ethari something to fight for.

We could get Focused Chaos Ethari. We could get Angery Trickster Ethari. We could get Rules, What Rules? Ethari. Let him try to steal the coins, try to break them, try to kill Viren, and be stymied at every turn, until he settles and seems cowed. And then all he does is craft his way out of the problem.

What if we are gifted with Iron Man Elf Ethari, who pretends to build a fake Key for Viren, but meanwhile he's really building a coinbuster with whatever he can get his hands on - primal stones, magically imbued gemstones, stolen artifacts, his own arcanum, his own reputation as the Master Craftsman of the Silvergrove. He'll use almost - almost - anything, to stop Viren and free his family.

Ethari may have to choose between those two things, though. And he's a hero, deep down, just like his family, just like his daughter. If he has to choose, he'll choose to stop Viren and save Xadia. He'll pay the same price as his family has if he must.

He'd let Viren think he was motivated purely by wanting his family back, but Ethari is far too steeped in the illusion and sacrifice for that to be all there is to his motives. It's a so-close-and-yet-so-far thing, how he and Viren almost embody the same ideals. Almost. Ethari would take one look at Viren, who just burnt down his whole Forest, he'd see the biggest threat in Xadia, and he'd say anything to get a chance to stop this juggernaut of destruction from getting his hands on whatever that ultimate power really is, locked behind that missing key. If he has to abandon his people and bawl his eyes out to convince Viren he's in, then he will.

And Viren wouldn't make it easy for him. He knows clever when he sees it. He went through all this trouble to persuade Ethari to work with him. He would need to keep Ethari as off-balance as possible to ensure that he keeps working as he should.

Angsty jewelry, anyone?

Viren giving Ethari his husband in pendant form to remind him what he's working for, when Viren and Ethari both know full well that only dark magic can open the hellcoins. Ethari wearing another pendant of his love, except it's not a metaphor this time. It's literally his love, in a coin around his neck.

Viren would love making Ethari stay close to him of his own free will if he ever hoped to free Runaan. Making people bind themselves to you is a big power flex. Remember that TDP stream future-season teaser note about Bait being in a creepy restraint in a future season?

This card is written on in all-caps, so that really could be "Bait" or "bait," or--knowing this show--both. Viren's been using Runaan as bait for Ethari all along. Putting his coin in a dark magic pendant casing for Ethari to wear would be a great parallel for that. Oh god. Oh man.

Maybe he'll stab the coin's scary casing right through that circle on Ethari's chest, right over his heart, make that Iron Man reference really obvious. Ethari also losing his shirt at some point, for angsty Viren-related reasons? It's more likely than you think. I mean... Ethari is literally involved in both forms of forging at this point. Shirt's gotta come off for uhhhh work reasons. And because he's hot. Because of all the forging. Mmhmm. I mean how else are we finally going to discover what his markings look like this is research I swear

I mentioned that I liked god-tier villains, right? Yeah, this is amazing. I haven't wanted to die and ascend over an idea for quite a while, but Ethari vs Viren in a drawn-out battle of wills would kill me in the best way. Especially since, while it looks like they're essentially fighting for who gets Runaan, they're truly fighting a much larger battle with much higher stakes. They're fighting for the future itself. It's an epic struggle between the Narrative of Strength and the Narrative of Love. And we've seen what happens, over and over, when the Narrative of Strength gets to call the shots.

On a meta note: If Ruthari's story arc isn't a love letter from one trauma survivor to another, and on a broader scope to all survivors who see it, I don't know what is. Sometimes life just chews us up and spits us out and we can't stop it and it breaks us. But sometimes we can reach out and grasp the chance to help each other, even after that, even when it hurts a lot, because we know what it means to be loved, and to love, and to want a safer future for each other and for people we'll never meet. The future is worth standing together for, helping each other back up for, fighting side by side for, even if you can't see how it'll end, or even how to begin. We are stronger together, and sometimes we need to fight for our "together" before we can fight for anything else. And that's worth it, every time.

This is glorious, it's beautiful, it's tragic, it's amazing, it makes me want to dance, it makes me want to scream into the void, it makes me want to slap someone with a semi truck. No, someone specific, don't worry, and he super deserves it.

Because Ethari is going to win. He was always going to win. He's soft, and he's clever, and he hasn't forgotten what love means. It's what he's fighting for. Not power, not control. Love. He doesn't want to dictate Runaan's future or anyone else's. He just wants his husband--and everyone else--to have one at all.

So he's going to win.

What thwarting Viren looks like, I couldn't possibly guess. TDP is no stranger to angst, so there will probably be a high cost involved in outwitting the dark mage. Maybe not everyone can be rescued from the coins. Maybe Ethari will lose his life, or his soul, or his vision, or something else really angsty. Viren could even kill him and resurrect him as a smoky craftsman, or a zombie craftsman, or something equally biddable but horrible. The only thing I'm sure of is that Ethari would never willingly make a working Key of Aaravos Ethari as long as there's a chance Viren could possess it. But I do believe that if he gets the right opportunity while he's busy saving the world from Viren's dark intentions, he'll break his husband's hellcoin open somehow and set him free, even if he has to smile at the devil to do it.

Ethari understands the difference between "you can" and "therefore you should." He might sacrifice his own world to save his husband, but he'd never sacrifice someone else's world. That's one of the Moonshadow cultural limits I've noticed: they accept boundaries when it comes to other people's autonomous rights, especially regarding life and death.

These limits could get pushed. Ethari will be under great duress and emotional strain if he goes through this kind of interaction with Viren. And maybe he will choose some dark things. Everyone else has. But I'm placing all my eggs in the basket labeled "Saved By Love." Either I'm right, or I'll get the best angst omelets in the universe. And I do love omelets. A villain invented them, you know. ;)

Another support for Ethari not making the key for Viren: the real Key exists!

Callum has it right now. The plot doesn't need Ethari's key (yet? ever?), but it does need Ethari to learn what he's made of, to stand up for something, or against something, or both at once. And once he learns what he will and won't do and the universe has rewarded his discovery with the return of his beloved husband then Ethari will be ready to take on whatever else the plot has in mind for him.

Depending on the plan, all of these events could happen in S4, as a setup for even bigger things to follow. Viren's wishes can be thwarted here and the show's overall tension will only continue to rise. It would let Ethari flex yes pls his skills so we know who he is, it would show how driven Viren can be for a long-term goal, it would let Claudia saunter further downwards, it would reveal some human/Moonshadow history, and it would resolve the seasons-long tension regarding Runaan's fate, allowing for the cycle of speculation, feels, angst, and Ruthari fanart to begin again. ;) Viren would need to find another way to pursue his long-term goal. And Callum's Key will get a little more clarity on just how important it is to the fate of the world - which will make everything he does, and everyone he talks to, and anyone who knows what he's carrying, intensely important.

Nyx is gonna steal it isn't she, omg chaos birb

To Viren, Ethari was a main course, meant to be devoured and consumed in his lifelong quest for something that will finally satisfy. But to Ethari, Viren was just empty calories to be passed over in favor of ordering his perennial favorite dish, one more time.

Once Ethari escapes Viren's clutches with as much of his family as he can rescue, Viren may turn back to looking for the real Key, especially if someone's seen it recently. Hunting a kid probably seems easier than hunting a full-grown Moonshadow craftsman who just outsmarted him. okay so maybe Nyx stealing it would be a good thing and save Callum's life

Ethari could go on to help repair the Sunforge, or rebuild the Moonhenge, or work on constructing Moonshadow villages in Katolis if he hasn't been ghosted for abandoning everyone after the forest fire. He might build magical devices for any number of reasons, to help all kinds of characters. Hopefully, wherever he goes, he'll have Runaan with him, in some way, for at least a little while. Cycles be like, and I feel like Runaan will not want to remain still for long, for whatever reason. Does he need revenge, atonement, justice, a new body, to find Rayla, to find Ezran? He'll be back in action as soon as he can, I think.

Okay, but, I'm so soft at the thought of a scene where Runaan and Ethari come before King Ezran. The husbands tried to save their people Runaan's way, the old way, and it only continued to endanger them. Following the cycle, as Moonshadows do, was the wrong move. But the son of the last human Runaan killed reached out with mercy and broke a thousand years of suffering and sorrow and hatred. Ezran did what Runaan couldn't: he saved the Moonshadow elves from total destruction. And that, more than anything else in the world, could soften one very broody assassin's heart toward humans again.

What would Runaan do, if his heart truly changed toward humans? What would he say to Ezran? I could see him struggling for a long moment before dropping to one knee to pledge his heart as he once had to do before the Dragon Throne. He doesn't know any other way but to serve. Ezran, reading the whole room and everyone's feelings before he tells Runaan that No, we don't do that here. That he's free, and free means free. No chains, no oaths. Just trust and friendship. He should get to make his own decisions for a change, even though that can be hard and scary sometimes. Runaan being genuinely scared, because that's too much freedom. But he's not alone. He has Ethari, and Ezran, and Rayla, and Callum, and their people, and their allies. And no matter what else happens, the people of Katolis - elven and human - will find a way forward. Together.

part 5

#tdp #tdp theory #tdp speculation #tdp parallels #tdp angst #heavy angst #viren #ethari #runaan #moonshadow elves #hopepunk #ezran #runaan's super getting a tart of jelly tm

[sir-phineas-lost]

Continued

I’m moving my discussion with @theredhairedmonkey​ so as to not bother other people with constant notes.

Well, you’re the one who wants this exchange so badly. And look at the result, the number of notes you got for this post is in the high-80s now! Is that a new record for you? 

Is that supposed to be an attempt at sass? Dude, it wasn’t even my post. All the notes went to the original OP.

And I don’t “want” this discussion. I just refuse to let cowards who won’t debate in good faith win just because they think they can force the burden of proof onto everyone else.

Anyway, your criticism seems to boil down to “they could have made it better” and “they should have made it more obvious.” That’s just moving the goalpost. The way they did Ezran’s scene (which was remorse, not sadness, of the fact that he enabled Viren to make others do horrible things) was sufficient to get the point across. If you’re really going to argue that you’re too dense to pick up on that, fine. But that’s not really all too convincing of an argument. 

Again, you really don’t seem to understand what “moving the goalpost” means. And remorse doesn’t look like that. We have seen what faces other people in this series makes when they are remorseful.

And it looks nothing like Ezran’s face during Soren’s speech, and it is always accompanied by vocal admission of guilt. That really is what it boils down to. I don’t buy that this was just supposed to be “subtle” because this series has never been subtle about these things before. You making a huge leap from “Ezran looks sad” to “Ezran regrets his choices as king” doesn’t make you smart unless you can actually prove that this interpretation is consistant with the storytelling until this point.

The whole point of storytelling isn’t lights and design, but character arcs. Do Viren’s motivations become corrupted over time? Yes. Does this make him a villain? Absolutely. And that’s not a comment on his moral complexity, any more than Runaan’s status as a villain suggests he’s pure evil. Anti-villains have a place in this story too, to contrast with the motivations of the heroes. 

And in a visual medium, those arcs are communicated through lights and design. And again, you keep harping on Viren’s “corruption” even though I have repeatedly made a case for why that isn’t the point of his arc without ever addressing any of my arguments. Why does Soren make the point about “who his dad really is” if it is supposed to be about him being “corrupted”? If you are so ignorant about the language of visual storytelling that you think this...

...or this...

...is communicating that the person in the middle is an “morally complex” and not pure evil, then that is your problem. Like, the second picture doesn’t even require interpreting the visuals. He is just straight up admitting that he has no problem with throwing his best friend’s kid in jail. You would think that would be hard for him if he is supposed to be morally complex.

And here we see Viren’s motivations are complex too. He still wants to create a bright future for humankind, eschewing conquest until he’s convinced it’s necessary. He willingly risks his life at Lux Auera to reduce potential casualties on his side. And even though his status as the main villain is over, his arc will still continue. 

Yeah, except we have no reason to believe he really didn’t want to conquer Xadia from the beginning. He was raising an army long before he met Aaravos and Aaravos didn’t have to make any kind of argument for why conquest was “necessary”. He literally just went:

...and Viren relented. Again, no analysis of the “lights and design” necessary here. This is clearly portrayed as a man who wants power and conquest looking for any excuse he can find. And I remind you, this is explicitly confirmed by Soren to be Viren’s true character, not a corruption.

I have no doubt that Viren’s arc will continue. And it will continue to make him the only one responsible for everything that goes wrong in the world. Mark my words. When King Ahling is upset because Aanya murdered his son the solution will no doubt be to prove that Viren “killed him” first by turning him into a monster.

...yea, making Ezran’s arc simplistic and having enough time to flesh everything out are *totally* incompatible concerns! Seriously, all your edit of the exchange between Callum and Ezran demonstrates is that you’re angry the story shows rather than tells. That line you made up is campy, anvillicious, and unnecessary, because Ezran’s actions explain everything that line does. Maybe *you* didn’t pick up on that, but that’s a different problem. 

I wouldn’t say that they are incompatible, just that “simplicity” only seems to be concern for you in this specific case because you sure don’t seem to have a problem with Callum telling rather than showing his feelings.

And I really don’t see how the exchange I made up is in any way more campy than Soren’s monologue or Ezran’s pitch for peace to Kasef. Like I said, I just don’t buy that this show suddenly thought they could be “subtle” with Ezran making a complete heel-turn when they have always worn their intentions on their sleeve previously.

And no, this change needed more connective tissue to make Ezran’s choice of “no fighting” to his choice of “burn them all” to make any sense and not just come off as him always putting cute magical creatures over his own people, which is something of a pattern with him I might remind you.

This is part of what makes it difficult for me to see his “actions” as an indicator of anything but a preference for dragons.

Really? Corvus says Ezran is noble and wise? I seem to have missed that part. He doesn’t tell him he did the right thing, only that at the end of it, he’s shown great strength and courage. Ezran didn’t have to have made the right decision to be those things, and this was certainly the encouragement he needed to hear. If you paid attention to the rest of his arc as much as you do to this one line, maybe you would have picked up on that. 

Fair is fair, I kind of extrapolated the “wise” part but “noble” and “graceful” are synonyms (and isn’t it interesting that you did apparently miss that part?).

Ezran’s arc of not running from his problems came to a head at the end of last season when he went back to be king. This could have worked as a continuation of it if they hadn’t insisted on praising his every decision so darn much. Whatever you may think of Corvus little pep-talk it sure as fuck doesn’t express any indicatiion that Ezran just wanted to avoid the problem. And I think what Ezran (and his “arc) needed was something more along the lines of “you may not have thought everything through but you still have all the qualities of a great king”. You know, something to actually encourage him to work on these flaws.

When I look at Ezran’s entire arc, I see a kid who repeatedly claims to have empathy for everyone but abandons it when it is convenient for the people he cares about the most. It will always be “right” to help the dragon who burned his people alive before even checking to see who made it out of the blaze. It will always be “necessary” to fight a bloody battle and kill soldiers who have famillies at home when it is to defend his little dragon friend. And the story will helpfully make that even easier for him by dehumanizing the soldiers for him first. That is the pattern I see when I look at Ezran’s actions as a whole.

By long term consequences to Ezran’s actions, you mean “how people acted and reacted to his choices,” which...doesn’t change whether his choice was a good or bad one. Viren’s defeat was not a reasonably foreseeable outcome of Ezran’s abdication. I should not need to tell you.

Have you been listening to anything I have said? This is exactly why I have a problem with this whole thing and why I keep coming back to framing. Ezran couldn’t predict that this would save everyone so he shouldn’t have made that choice, but this is a story and by having the soldiers he saved come back to save the day again the narrative is telling us that this is something Ezran is responsible for and giving him credit for the victory. Combine that with the constant praise and the lack of any criticism and you have a story that says “Ezran always makes the right choice, even when all logic tells us that it shouldn’t work”.

How people act and react to his choices absolutely changes whether the choice was good or bad, because it is a story. This is how storytelling works. The way the characters react and the consequences of what happens is what tells us, the audience, how we are supposed to feel about it.

This dissonance between what we as real people can tell is bad leadership and what the story rewards as good behavior is literally the core issue I have been talking about since the beginning.

#the dragon prince #tdp #tdp meta #fullmetal alchemsit brotherhood #tdp critical

[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.

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[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.

#CanvasWatches #the dragon prince #CanvasReviews #netflix

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I have a question, how do feel about Viren? Like, as a character? A majority of the fandom seem strongly dislike him (with reason), but I personally find him to be interesting, and I’m actually as invested in his storyline as I am in Callum, Ezran, and Rayla’s. I just really wanna know your thoughts on him

Ooh, Viren. *rubs hands gleefully* This is gonna be a long post.

Viren is complicated, and all my favorite characters are complicated. He’s powerful, morally gray, sympathetic (at times), highly intelligent, and proactive toward his goals. He’s also kinda hot when he embraces his evil badassery and stops stuttering for niceties to say. He’s comfortable with his thirst for power because he believes in the Narrative of Strength, that might is right.

And that is what makes him so dangerous.

i am wary of Viren. I don’t trust him to make what I consider to be good choices. Viren’s heart tries its best to be in the right place. He’s motivated by good things: family, friendship, loyalty. He acts to protect his kingdom, which contains untold thousands of human lives–an entire civilization–and which is part of a network of kingdoms that rely on each other to stand together against their enemies. This is absolutely a good thing to do for someone in his job position. But the methods he employs, and the tactics he uses, reflect a fatal flaw in his character.

Viren considers himself worthless without the power he wields, and he only values others for the things they can do for him (broadly speaking–Harrow running a good and safe kingdom does benefit Viren). Human (and elven?) life means nothing. Only results matter. 

This probably started when he was a child. My Viren Origin Story Headcanon is that he was a literal servant in Katolis Castle (or somewhere that allowed him to meet Harrow) and they became friends as kids. Viren’s very clever and dedicated. Harrow would’ve seen his usefulness and raised him to High Mage for the sake of his kingdom. But I also think Harrow’s “You–are–a–servant” was too specific to be a random insult. I think Harrow used it as a callback to a time when Viren felt worthless except for his use to the prince of the realm. Ironically, Viren’s friendship with Harrow could be a big part of why Viren feels worthless as a human being unless he’s pushing himself all-out to be useful. Harrow inadvertently (or advertently?) trained Viren to be this way. Or perhaps a toxic parent had already trained Viren to devalue himself. Or both. This makes Viren sympathetic. But it doesn’t excuse his choices.

However it came about, Viren’s gotten through life by focusing entirely on results. That’s pragmatism for you: the end always justifies the means. And much of the time, this will work just fine. But there’s a war on, and when push comes to shove, there are some lines that many–elven or human–won’t cross. But Viren doesn’t see the lines at all.

Viren offers the soulfang option to Harrow because having Harrow remain on the throne is more important than the life of a soldier with less to offer Katolis. Harrow lets Viren be High Mage. Harrow bestows rank and privilege on Viren, which Viren can use to be more useful, and thus feel more valuable as a person. If someone else runs Katolis, Viren might be devalued, and that scares him. He’s been devalued, and it’s driven him to claw his way up. He never wants to go back down.

Viren offers food to Runaan as a tactic, hoping to elicit cooperation. He treats him politely, even though Runaan’s an elf, an enemy combatant, and very possibly the person who murdered Harrow. That’s because Viren sees massive potential usefulness in Runaan, and he respects usefulness, even above loyalty to a fallen king and friend. If Runaan is willing to help Viren unlock the mirror’s magical secrets, then Viren can use the mirror to be useful to Katolis even without Harrow. But when politeness doesn’t work on Runaan, he tries the much harsher coin threat–switching the carrot for the stick. But Moonshadows are stubborn, and when he realizes he’ll never get the result he wants, then Runaan is entirely expendable, and Viren immediately stops wasting his time on him.

However, I always love the part where Runaan says, “You have succeeded,” and Viren goes entirely soft and eager: “Oh? Have I?” He’s like a little boy. “Did I do good? Did I? Please tell me I did good.” And it kind of breaks my heart that he’s so easily led by the opinions of others. If Runaan had been less honorable, he could’ve lied to Viren’s face all day long about that mirror, and Viren would’ve eaten it all up.

After sticking Runaan in that coin, Viren throws himself into research mode on his own, filling the dungeon cell with books and scrolls, even eating down there. And when he fails yet again to get the mirror to reveal its secrets, he loses his temper with himself and has a breakdown. Because the only thing that matters is results, and he isn’t getting any. He’s failing. Failing himself, failing Katolis. Failing to be useful.

But the instant the mirror turns on, Viren’s mood shifts. He’s successful. He’s calm, curious, eager again. Success is so valuable to him. And when he sees Aaravos, the archmage is like a walking reward for Viren’s persistence as well as a promise of even more power to come. Viren’s enchanted. Aaravos is everything Viren has ever wanted to be. He finally thinks he’s found what he’s been searching for all his life. At the end of the fight in S2E9, he says “I have all the power I need,” and that’s probably not something Viren ever really expected to say.

I honestly can’t see Viren being even remotely pleased to see his children come back from their mission in utter failure–and with Ezran alive and ready to take the throne, no less! “But they’re his kids, surely he loves them!” Except no. He only loves what they can do for him. Otherwise, they’re just bad employees.

The only way Viren’s kids will get back into his good graces will be by proving their usefulness to him. And I’m not sure they’ll both decide that’s worth doing. Viren can’t see any value in himself as a person, so he doesn’t value his kids, either–he really doesn’t–unless they’re capable and competent and successful. Claudia got comfortable killing things and harvesting their bits to please her dad. Soren doesn’t like dark magic, so he threw himself into swordsmanship and became the youngest head of the Crownguard in history. 

Viren is an antagonist. He makes choices that hurt and kill others. He’s certain that’s the only way. But he’s not looking outside the Narrative of Strength for ideas. If Viren is going to find redemption in this show–and that’s a big if but I’d honestly love to see it play out–he will need to learn to love himself. Because he does not love himself even the tiniest bit. He never has. And that makes me very sad. He can’t love anyone else if he doesn’t love himself first, if he doesn’t know what that feels like and why it’s important to people. Viren will never stop hurting and killing others in the name of progress and success until he learns to love himself. Then, by extension, he can love others and make better choices with the power he wields.

I don’t know if the show intends to offer Viren a chance at redemption. I think it will, but then, I don’t know if Viren will accept such a chance. I worry that he may see it as weakness instead of growth, since it will necessarily entail giving up some of the power he currently values so highly. I really don’t know what his fate will be. While I am very invested in the power he has to shake all the other characters up and drive the plot, I really cringe every time he hurts one of the other characters through his choices. I’m not sure there’s any named character that Viren hasn’t hurt or killed, directly or indirectly, at this point, and we’re only two seasons in. He really has a lot to answer for, and I’m honestly not sure whether he’ll survive that process.

Thank you, anon. Your ask is a gift.

#asks #viren #tdp