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#map of xadia
brianedner · 6 months
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Callum's Map by 1228248
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kradogsrats · 1 year
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I was looking at both the map of Xadia and the Aaravos history clips from S4 because of @raayllum's excellent catch regarding the giant shell and wanting to see if it appeared anywhere else, and... in case there was any doubt that the entire Sea of the Castout was created specifically to be Aaravos's prison:
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Comparison of the human war table map and the modern map of Xadia, with the following marked:
Red: war table map markers (unclear atm what they are meant to indicate, but presumably strategic points of interest or enemy forces locations)
Blue: rivers that exist in both pre- and post-imprisonment Xadia
Green: rivers and inland sea that did not exist in pre-imprisonment Xadia
Magenta: site of Elarion
Couple things of note from this:
there are five new rivers that form the Sea of the Castout, and, probably not coincidentally, there are also five primal sources excluding Star
the new southwest river very deliberately goes around the ruins of Elarion, leaving them undisturbed
now that I think about it, it's possible given the position of Elarion that Ziard's confrontation with Sol Regem took place at the same site as Aaravos's prison, which would be *chef's kiss*
the far south war map marker reinforces my belief that Ocean Point is called out on the map with a little star/sparkle marker for a reason
put F in the chat for whoever was living in that area when they filled it with water jail
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The Journey
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According to Callum this is the path of the journey they took to return Zym to his mother at the Storm Spire
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raayllum · 2 months
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So what's the Mirrored Trio Theory?
The Mirrored Trio theory is, for lack of a better explanation, a two pronged theory regarding the way the main trio will parallel both the generation that led to / immediately received Aaravos upon his fall (himself, Leola, and a speculative human who may or may not have been a mage / helped to found Elarion) and how they may also parallel the Orphan Queen, Jailer, and Aaravos yet again. So put your tinfoil hats on and strap in because it's going to be a speculation heavy one, lads! We're going to get deep in the weeds.
Fallen Trio
So the first trio we want to talk about is what I'm going to, for lack of a better term / meta simplicity, refer to as the Fallen Trio, consisting of Aaravos, Leola, and 'Elarion' — our stand-in for a potential human Aaravos had a close dynamic with that may be intertwined with the human city of Elarion.
First, I want to talk about Aaravos and Leola. We get our first mention of Leola in S5, specifically with Leola's Last wish being a star for both Xadians and for humans, who use it to navigate and "to find their way in the endless darkness of the night." This is fitting given that what we know of unicorns from the book one novelization — that they gave primal magic and stones to humanity out of mercy and compassion — and that Tales of Xadia singles her out further as the specific unicorn to do so, although it omits primal stones from the equation:
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This is, of course, a big parallel between Leola and some details we know from Aaravos as well, who also gave gifts to humanity: the relic staff that Ibis identifies as truly belonging to Aaravos ("It was a gift from one of the Great ones" / "If you seek to return that staff to its true owner...") and, as Claudia says, dark magic:
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However, there's also been indications that Leola might've been a Startouch elf (tweet from Aaron Ehasz identifying her as the Startouch child + the star on the star chart map, although it's not entirely clear), that star magic can be reality altering, that Startouch elf designs had unicorn like horns protruding from their foreheads, and that history can change and shape things differently than they necessarily were.
Either way, unicorns are one of the few creatures we know to also possess the Star arcanum and, seemingly like the Startouch elves, are all but gone from Xadia (+ the Pentarchy)'s physical plain. And that she, like Aaravos, were two Star(touch) beings who both wanted to help humanity and help them develop magic, but did so in very different ways. Whether they are literally related or the same species, I think this parallel between them means they're set up to have an almost sibling-esque bond — one that existed, and one that accordingly fell apart under the brunt of dark magic and other disagreements, as TDP is prone to do.
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(Put a pin in Callum and Ezran for now, cause we're going to circle back to them shortly.)
Bare minimum, Leola and Aaravos will have to be foils if not contemporaries of each other, given the closeness of their original goals in manifestation, regardless of motivation. This is particularly true given that Aaravos preys on mages in particular and that dark magic (plus a little Star magic, maybe?) allows him to literally possess people who have done dark magic, which can be no happy accident.
Given that Leola seemed dead set on giving humans primal magic, it seems unlikely she might've been too keen on a dark magic, alternative development either, which we know came after, thanks to Ripples.
It happened long ago, when humans had only just learned to hold fire in their hands without burning. They nurtured their precious primal flames secretly—in the dark of night, beneath shadows and shrouds—as cultivating its glow drew the eyes and ire of monsters. Eventually, for the audacity of their fire, they were hunted, and—though they looked to the stars for salvation—the stars, too, looked down upon them with disdain. Humanity had been given something it was never meant to have.
So again, you have two characters with very similar goals/desires, but very different ideas of how to achieve said goals. This one of the reasons why, I think, that TDP loves to have siblings disagree, as it's an effective way of having more worldviews on display with some hope for reconciliation or the tragedy of deterioration, or both. Callum and Ezran stand alone as the one sibling pair that hasn't been terribly wrenched apart by political or ideological disagreements thus far, save for Sarai and Amaya, who were torn apart by Sarai's death.
Which brings me to my next point: if Aaravos and Leola had a sibling like bond, did he lose her to their potential ideological disagreements, or did those disagreements actually cost her life?
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Whether Leola just walked away and likewise abandoned him (like Soren), became too distant in disagreement to continue having some sort of bond (like Harrow and Viren, and Janai and Karim), flat out died (like Khessa, Harrow, and Sarai), or all three, that could be one of the many cogs motivating Aaravos to keep turning the wheel of the cycle, as grief has often been the primary motivator throughout history, even amongst the 'villains'. A "song of love that loss" that Aaravos has chosen handpicked "instruments" for, after all (4x03, 4x04).
And like I said, Callum and Ezran are long over due to have a disagreement, given that they haven't had a substantial one since season one, and given that Ezran has grown to only be more assertive than he was since then, not less. This could easily be over Runaan (Callum, having already sworn himself to helping Rayla free her parents, and Ezran, understandably holding onto anger and grief concerning Harrow's death). I'm sure there are also plenty of other things they could heavily disagree over in the future, like military aid or action or how to approach trying to defeat Aaravos, etc.
The point to all of this is that I think Ezran could be a very good stand in for Leola — at least in terms of being selfless, deeply compassionate, uncomplicated, and adamant about giving people their freedom even at the cost of themselves and even if that gift can be misused or discarded (3x04) — which means Aaravos could offer a potential parallel to Callum in the sibling split. Aaravos, who turned to dark magic as an option regardless of or precisely because of the potential violence, and Callum, who argues for the Nova Blade whereas his brother still always champions a non-violent route thus far.
After all, TDP loves to have their "person A is estranged from their sibling and is determined not to lose their lover" parallel, given that it's happened four times (Harrow, Viren, Sarai; Viren, Harrow, Lissa; Claudia, Soren, Terry; Janai, Karim, Amaya) already.
Now, this could be wildly off base as we know very little about Leola and even less about her potential dynamic with Aaravos, but if we follow along with the idea that Ezran could parallel her and Callum could parallel Aaravos, I think now maybe we can talk about Elarion and Rayla.
Years ago we learned that there was a place on Xadia's map (both sides) that was named after someone who had a deep connection to him, and that many of his choices are based around this relationship. Given the Midnight Star poem, people defaulted to Elarion ("Elarion, black-eyed child / her twisted roots spread deep and far / The humans’ might sparked by the light / of Aaravos, her midnight star") although I've also considered Kalik.
And while I'm still not unconvinced that Elarion isn't just a name like Elara and Laurelion, before Aaravos changed his name, combined, I do think Elarion has to be important in Aaravos' backstory, and that it's more than likely that a founder of Elarion / a human involved with Elarion for a variety of reasons.
For starters, while we can be told that Aaravos had a soft spot for humans at one point, giving us a specific person or dynamic to think of is helpful in regards to emotional investment, and in helping to explain why he may have developed said soft spot. We also know, thanks to a birthday post years ago, that a human once gave him a gift:
He thinks that if he cared for the idea [of birthdays], he’d like to remember the taste of a smooth red fruit a human had plucked from a tree for him, once. It had been so crisp, and so sweet.
While this could've been the Orphan Queen (we do know, thanks to 1x01, that there's a tree planted in the castle courtyards 300 years ago, but we don't know it was an apple tree), an apple transfer like this one feels far more "Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and knowledge isn't always a Good thing" type schtick. Not only does it seem to indicate a more intimate bond, it also might foreshadow the reason Aaravos Fell.
One of the most interesting, but perhaps more discreet, reasons I think there's a connection between 'Elarion' as a person and Aaravos is because of the nature motif running between what little we know of Elarion and to do with Aaravos' mirror and appearance motifs. The Midnight Star is riddled with flower and nature symbolism, referring to it as a "trembling seed" and "fading bloom," that "her roots took hold" and later became "twisted," and that before the gift of Aaravos, she was "wilting" with "bone-white branches". And Aaravos' mirror and the box that held his matching key have blooming flowers on it.
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See the flowers along the bottom on the actual frame of the mirror, then sculpted along the sides, and the top? Yeah. We also know that flowers themselves, thanks to Tales of Xadia, are featured in a story told both in Katolis and amongst the Moonshadow elves in particular, featuring an elven thief who steals what you value most, leaving only flowers in their wake. This is the only story in all of Tales of Xadia that we see two cultures share, even if they interpret it wildly differently.
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Flowers that were always gone by morning, and gifts that couldn't be accepted or understood ("I’ve got one more gift for you, Callum: I'm going to keep you safe. I have to. I love you too much not too [...] Taking on hard choices and going to dark places is an act of love. It’s a gift. So, please let me give you this gift, Callum. Stay safe, and stay in the light").
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We also know that whoever Aaravos loved, he inevitably lost whether due to time or tragedy. While this form of grief is one the show has explored, it was previously largely only through Harrow, who mourned Sarai for 9 years upon losing her, and who avenged her by slaying Avizandum, and more briefly through Ethari believing Runaan was dead.
That was, until season four, where Callum grieving Rayla and dealing with the fallout of that grief and distance turned it into more of an accentuated plot point, both before and even after her return.
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Before, losing your partner in this manner would've been something Callum had witnessed, but not experienced. Now, whether the show wants Callum to sympathize with Aaravos or not, it is an experience that they could both understand, particularly if it is going to be one of Aaravos' main motivators.
Thus, we have a disagreement set up between 'siblings' (Leola, Aaravos; Ezran, Callum) as well as lost love (Elarion, Aaravos; Rayla, Callum) as a big motivator for choices, grief, and what possibly led to the fall. That Aaravos, at least in practice / thematic lineups, being a Callum who lost his Rayla and his Ezran*, and then lost himself.
Therefore:
Aaravos — Callum
Leola — Ezran
Elarion — Rayla
[ * This is not to say that Callum would pull an Aaravos and go on a hellbent 1000+ year revenge scheme, because he's not like that, but I do think it could be a very poignant and apt parallel of giving him and Aaravos more in common than they currently have, which is about nothing but magical curiosity and connection. ]
However, 90% of this is all speculation of things that have been kept supremely under wraps. For something a little more tangible simply because we have slightly more information, let's talk about the
Imprisonment Trio
The Imprisonment Trio, as the name implies, refers to the two humans who seemed to directly (the Jailer) and potentially indirectly (the Orphan Queen) be involved in imprisoning Aaravos (the third in this trio). This time, however, I'm going to argue that Aaravos — in terms of his imprisonment — is going to parallel someone other than Callum, but we shall see.
To start, I want to look at the Jailer and the Orphan Queen, since their parallels to Callum and Ezran respectively are the most obvious.
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We don't know for sure whether the Jailer came from Katolis, but we know that the Orphan Queen did, eventually taking on the throne from the previous royal family and starting Harrow and Ezran's royal line, first hinted at in 3x05 with "Only orphans can ascend to the throne". Ezran has been directly compared to her in both role and appearance by the show's framing and by characters like Rex Igneous in 4x08: "I should have seen it before. Long ago, it was a human who saw through the Fallen Star's schemes and helped Xadia put an end to them. You look so much like her." This plays well into Ezran's tendency to discover or unearth long lost things, most notably Zym's egg, just as the Orphan Queen became the Truthteller of Aaravos' treachery.
Callum, for his part, is a human mage, just like the Jailer. He's clever, very talented with magic, and despite being Aaravos' preferred prey as a mage will ultimately — like the Jailer — play a role in his defeat. He will also work with and for the archdragons and their wills, but has no problem being disobedient either, in the name of concern or mercy, much like how the Jailer kept Akiyu alive rather than tell the archdragons the truth. And like the Jailer, he understands the potential danger of knowledge: "The entire world would be in danger if she let him live with this knowledge" / "I need you to kill me."
Like the brothers, they were a (future) royal and mage working together, starting off what perhaps was a long tradition of Katolian monarchs having high mages. If, as often theorized due to having an Aaravos-y twin box (S2 novelization) and his love of puzzles, Kpp'Ar is indeed descended from the Jailer, that adds another layer onto Kpp'Ar being one of Callum's predecessors as High Mage. While Ezran has the job and the bloodline of the Orphan Queen, Callum would've more directly inherited the position of (high) mage from the Jailer's thematic and occupational line.
Granted, there are differences. Most notably, the Key of Aaravos was given to Callum, not to Ezran, although there could be potential future parallels between the brothers and the Sunfire siblings, with Karim unable to undo Kim'Dael's chains because his sister is still queen, and the brothers needing to work together to fully use the cube. I wouldn't be surprised if Ezran learns more about the cube and the Orphan Queen in S6 while Callum still has some unknowns to its true meaning, leading to some delicious dread and dramatic irony. But I digress.
The point is that the Jailer and the Orphan Queen both had their roles to play in imprisoning Aaravos, and that Callum and Ezran, respectively, will both have their roles to play in trying to keep Aaravos contained, only to inevitably somehow fail in a way that allows him to escape, if by another's hand. We do know the brothers will be going to weird ruins in a future season thanks to some out-of-context spoilers that have yet to pass, and the Ruins of Elarion would certainly fit:
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Which, just like the out-of-context spoiler card, you might've noticed that I haven't mentioned Rayla and who she's going to be paralleling yet. Well, that's because this time / generational pass around, I think she's going to be the primary foil to Aaravos.
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Now, this train of thought isn't new by any means. I've thought Rayla paralleled Aaravos reasonably well since S3 aired largely due to their status as ghosted/banished elves, a compassion for humans (at least implied for Aaravos) that other elves disapproved of, and their dynamics with Callum and Viren, respectively.
Both Rayla and Aaravos have to work to earn their high mage's trust ("And should we trust you? Have you told us the truth about everything?" / "And why should I trust you?") over the course of season one for Rayla and season two for Aaravos, ending in promises of allegiance and togetherness: "You've got to stay with me" / "I will stay with you" (2x09). Aaravos leads Viren to his doom in being tackled off the Pinnacle, and Callum throws himself off the Pinnacle after Rayla.
You can imagine my delighted surprise, then, when S4 simply cranked it up even further: Rayla was hunting Aaravos' mage ("I spent two years hunting"), and Aaravos was hunting Rayla's mage ("Yes, mages were his prey"). Rayla wants to protect Callum and kill Viren, and Aaravos had promised to save Viren and use Callum. Even for Callum himself, 4x04 and 4x07 seemed like clear set up for Rayla symbolizing agency in Callum breaking free from Aaravos' control someday, putting the two in literal opposition to each other. Two potential paths (although picking Rayla, at least at first, may not be mutually exclusive from picking Aaravos).
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Rayla, who was also harshly punished by Xadia with no trial.
This isn't to say that Aaravos didn't do anything wrong and is being unjustly punished — far from it — or that Aaravos' imprisonment and subsequent freedom won't have parallels to anyone else like say, Callum, who will likely be imprisoned by Aaravos through possession in S6 and ultimately freed by Rayla. More so that imprisonment of different sorts has been a running theme throughout Rayla's arc, and that Callum — who is primed to be Aaravos' chain breaker, whether through possession or not — could also be hers (if not just her parents') the way he has routinely been in the past, whether it was from instigating the events that eventually led to her binding (chain) coming off or saving her from being emotionally stuck (3x08) or from doing anything for her freedom (5x01, 5x08). He's primarily been someone who is tethered to freedom when it comes to recognizing and breaking cycles (chains of history) or literal restraints, and it's only in season four and season five that he's shifted to being both tied to freedom and having himself restrained.
I've speculated in the past this may result in Callum (and Ezran) leading to Aaravos' release in order to save/free Rayla; however, the show may not want as much of a repeat from 5x08, and freeing the Moon fam from the coins also resulting in Aaravos' freedom through an escalation of events would also keep that ironic thread, so it could really go anywhere.
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Two humans, one elf, and endless tragedy, repeating and breaking cycles all at the same time. Ezran, discovering important info about his ancestor and possibly the Key; Callum, following in the Jailer's footsteps and unravelling the final puzzles of the prison and figuring out how to undo it; and Rayla, ghosted, banished, vying against Aaravos for the control and agency of his latest pawn who also happens to be the love of her life.
So for the Imprisonment Trio:
The Orphan Queen — Ezran
The Jailer — Callum
Aaravos — Rayla
In Conclusion
Is any of this something? I don't know, honestly. I think it's plausible, at least partially. I think it'd be neat. We know TDP likes varying intergenerational parallels and looking at how history repeats, whether that's directly through family (blood or not) lines, or by having repeating plot points (the dragon quartet, or Rayla being immobilized) and trials (Rayllum facing Sol Regem, much like Ziard, etc). We know there was someone Aaravos loved and lost, we know he's not above using what people want against them, and the connections between Ezran and the Orphan Queen are just Text at this point, although how they may manifest further, we don't know.
This is just one particular stab at it, and an examination of three of the series' most interesting (potential) trios. We'll simply have to see if anything here hit the nail on the head.
As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
—Dragons Out
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zuppizup · 11 months
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Was not expecting lore drop before I even had my coffee this morning, so was pleasantly surprised to see a new Reflections story awaited me. Ripples was wonderful, as I’ve come to expect of that series (more please!!!) and it’s been great reading all the new speculation due to some of the info drops.
One thing I immediately noticed was the passage about the star falling to earth and causing a wound. I have seen people take this as confirmation it has to do with Aaravos and the Sea of the Castout.
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So perhaps I’m geologising a little too close to the sun, but looking at the map of Xadia, the Sea of the Castout does not look to me like an impact crater. It’s a flat area, with pretty ill defined edges.
If the cater caused by Aaravos falling to earth behaves like a typical crater (and considering this is a magical land with dragons and elves, it absolutely may not), you’d expect a central impact zone, with roughly equal energy radiating from it, creating a roughly circular impact crater (when viewed from above). The Sea of the Castout very much does not look like this… but not to far from that is The Spinning Sea
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The Spinning Sea seems to have a central zone, with a ring of mountains surrounding it. This looks far more like a typical impact crater, though obviously the scale is much more vast (again, magic?) There’s also reference to the land bleeding, a metaphor for volcanism, perhaps?
And maybe the rift we see at the Border was chosen to take advantage of this pre-existing wound in the earth?
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Perhaps even more interesting is how the ripples in the image above also remember an impact crater. Ripples that appears to be distorting an image of the moon.
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If we take Zubeia’s story as truth (or near enough) Luna Tenebris disappeared suddenly, resulting in the succession crisis. Obviously this happened long after Aaravos’ arrival in Xadia, so perhaps it’s just concidence that the Gulf of Tenebris located by the Spinning Sea, but then again, perhaps not.
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Which is to say, I still think the Sea of the Castout is likely to be where Aaravos is imprisoned and the Spinning Sea is where he “landed” in Xadia.
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its-leethee · 4 months
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What kind of magic does the Jailer use, and what is her connection to the Key of Aaravos?
I have thought for a while that perhaps the Jailer is neither a primal nor a dark magic user, and that she utilized the Key of Aaravos to serve an important role in his imprisonment. Now, there isn't a lot of overt evidence for my hypothesis here; this is a ramble of pure speculation. I'm going to do my best to present the dialogue and canon-consistent logic to support my thoughts. Here goes:
The prevailing opinion in Xadia is that "human magic" is akin to trickery and sleight of hand. When confronted with Callum's claim of being a primal mage in 5x07, Nyx dismisses his boast reflexively: “I’ve seen ‘human magic.’ Fake ropes, false doors, birds and rabbits stuffed into clothing.” To her, it's common knowledge that humans can't use real primal magic, and her derisive attitude shows she doesn't have much respect for human magic either. As for dark magic, Nyx doesn't even mention it at all; as Lujanne said in 2x01, "we do not call that practice magic. It's an atrocity."
But human magic has one more specialty: creating and solving puzzles. The mechanical devices and riddles guarding the secrets in Kpp'ar's labyrinthine house and the rock-stone puzzle hiding the staircase to Viren's dungeon are story-significant examples of the types of innovations created by human magic. In 1x03, Ezran solves the rock-stone puzzle to reveal the staircase hiding Viren's dungeon. Callum answers the riddle posed by Rex Igneous in 4x08, "having knowledge isn't knowing knowledge…. He has a map!"
So neither a primal mage nor a dark mage would resort to puzzles and riddles, the gimmicks used by magic-less humans. So let's now consider the Jailer.
During the post-season four Discord Q&A, Aaron Ehasz states that the Jailer is a "mastermind of prisons and puzzles."
In episode 5x05, Archmage Akiyu tells the story of how she met the Jailer and introduces her as "a human mage." Akiyu goes on to explain:
"The archdragons had given the Jailer a daunting task, to design a magical prison that could hold a Startouch Elf. She needed my powers to craft the prison itself." (emphasis mine).
It stands to reason that a competent dark mage, with the notoreity to catch the attention of the archdragons, could bring that kind of power into her grasp on her own. So why would the Jailer seek out the powers of primal archmage, unless she couldn't wield that power herself? Furthermore, knowing the prejudice that the archdragons hold against dark magic--all of humanity was driven out of Xadia for refusing to forswear its use--I don't believe the archdragons would ever condone cooperating with a dark mage, even to quell an existential crisis like a demi-god bent on world destruction.
Akiyu tells us one more intriguing thing that the Jailer said:
"'The puzzle is the real prison,' she told me with a proud smile," (again, emphasis mine)
There's another word besides "magic" that we can use to describe the practice of creating and solving puzzles: cryptography; the art and science of creating and breaking codes and ciphers. The terms code and cipher are often used interchangeably, but their meanings are technically different. Basically, a code uses arbitrary substitutions while a cipher uses an algorithm.
Now, if you wish to solve a puzzle, you're going to need all the pieces - and if you wish to solve a cipher or code, you're going to need a key.
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More than one use has been hinted at for the Key of Aaravos. We've heard Rayla refer to it several times as a toy and a game piece (1x04, 2x07). In the book two novelization, Callum notices that the Key left marks on the ground that appeared to point toward Xadia (we get a glimpse of those lines in early episode 2x07). In 4x07, we get suspiciously up-close framing of the Key when Callum asks, "is there no primal gem for star magic?"
And a few months back, one of the TDP creators shared on Twitter about a season 6 scene that was eventually cut. In the scene, Callum holds the Key up to a symbol on a wall and says, "I'm gleaming the cube!" (if anyone remembers this twitter convo and can provide me a link to this, I would be so grateful)
This is the Key feature we're all most familiar with: its glow. When exposed to a source of magic, the corresponding primal magic symbol on the Key lights up. This is why I think one of the potential functions of the Key of Aaravos is as a cryptographic key. If it were held up to a magic-infused symbol, the glow effect would reveal the primal magic source - and in this way it could be used to decode a secret message.
In cryptography, a key is the series of words, symbols or phrases that contain all of the basic information you need to decode or understand a specific coded message. Both the sender and receiver of the coded message need to know the key in order to create the coded message or decode it into plaintext - to lock or unlock the meaning behind a cipher or code.
I can't speculate on the exact nature of the secrets that she encrypted with it, but the Key can literally shed light on the solution! It was a toy that was repurposed by a the Jailer, magicless human mage and mastermind of ciphers and codes, to protect the secrets of Aaravos and his prison.
Exactly what secrets it will be used to reveal remains part of the Mystery.
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if you're interested in learning more about cryptography, this page has links to a lot of my favorite resources
Recommended reading for more Key of Aaravos and the Jailer theories:
the post that initially enabled my crazy train of thoughts, thank you @beautifulterriblequeen
super rad analysis of the Jailer's unique character design by @kradogsrats, who also authored one of my favorite alternative hypothesis for the real function of the Key of Aaravos
an amazing thorough and detailed Key analysis, by @raayllum and another very interesting conversation about the Key here
Special thanks to @raayllum for answering my random Akiyu and Jailer questions, and to @self-spaghettification for giving me the push I needed to bring this essay together!
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AARAVOS EX HUSBAND
THEORY TIME
i’m thinking about how
the creators said in TDP season 5, there’s gonna be an emotional scene involving aaravos
that there’s a location on the map indicating someone very important to aaravos.
we’re also gonna get a flashback to how aaravos got captured this season,…
like dude… did aaravos get betrayed by his lover?
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bc for 1. aaravos is not gonna have a reason to emotionally vulnerable around anyone else he covers everything up with charm and bullshit. so clearly an emotional scene would involve Someone very close to him
2. aaravos was betrayed and imprisoned by a coalition of powerful elves and arch dragons by sneak attacking him in a situation where he would have his guard down
3. aaravos is the only startouch elf known to take an interest in humanity and xadia so it’s probably not blood family of any sort
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4. shots of past aaravos have him with horn cuffs on, which are akin to rings on human hands- both for jewelry purposes and, more importantly, said to signify meaningful relationship-status gifts. sure, it could just be jewelry, but, there’s a location on the map important to aaravos. 2+2= aaravos’s ex-husband? (or wife or spouse who knows but idk im thinking man)
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i say ex because
aaravos has horn cuffs on. in the shot of the leaders of elves.
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but he doesn’t. in the shot of his being betrayed.
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or in prison. he likely threw them off in a fit of anger at betrayal by Someone Very Close To Him. basically, divorce?
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if so dude must be pissed and ready for revenge fr 🙏
ofc
alternatively
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besides losing his horn cuffs, he also got unadorned with the tiara and other jewelry on his arms and legs
so maybe it was just stripping him of his gifts of status and adoration?? and he doesn’t have an ex lover?
although those could also be gifts from his lover idk man
hennceee just because it would just make things a little more exciting i think aaravos probably has an ex husband who maybe he had to lie to while secretly manipulating xadia, who helped trapped him in the mirror, and who he’s been pissed at for 300 years
aaand i think yeah yeah yeah jack conte pairs really well with this idea herjfjdnfmsmsk
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Okay so wait.... is this....
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AARAVOS?
The horns! They're just like him... even the freaking hair!!!!
Hold on... the sea of the castput having his statue? It's not even subtle xadia!? You kept the castout in well....this very sea!? Seriously! Ms Jailer the puzzle could be solved by anyone now if they know who aaravos is... they can just scour this ocean... I mean they won't know what the prison looks like but still... it's location would be so easy to figure out if they just see a map...
(Credit to @zuppizup for the image)
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if it’s not you, it’s not anyone
Summary: Their Tidebound elf guide is a little too friendly towards Rayla. Callum doesn’t know how to feel about it, never mind what to do about it. Written with @raayllum
Callum thought the whole thing would go swimmingly if every Tidebound elf was as nice as Aalto.
The elf was a couple years older, with light blue skin, green frilly ears, a rough burr of an accent and a big smile as he led them onto his ship. He wore clothes almost made of seaweed with glittery shells scattered throughout and was as eager to ask Callum questions about humans as he was to answer questions about his kind, typically reclusive to Xadia’s shorelines and one of the few willing to speak to humans by the sea that marked their exile.
It had taken a week for Zubeia to wrestle the location of the map from Rex Igneous (and Callum still didn’t know how literally that had been) but he was glad to be here. This was their path forward in stopping Aaravos, and hopefully not dying, and—
“Ugh, I hate the water,” Rayla muttered, clutching the railing next to Ezran, the sea breeze rustling their hair.
“Oh come on,” trilled Soren. “It’s refreshing!”
“Right.” The faint green tint in her face made her look anything but refreshed.
“We’re still just a few hours out from shore,” Aalto chimed, stepping away from the ship’s steering wheel. It was a tiny vessel so that with his arcanum he could basically run it himself, although Callum had offered to help with the sails if they needed some extra speed. “Give it a bit and you’ll get your sea legs.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I have those,” she said. “I’m a mainland elf through and through.”
read the rest on AO3
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xadian-daydreams · 6 months
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Aaravos' Key to What?
I did an earlier theory about what the Key of Aaravos might function as - a means by which Aaravos can access artificial arcanum from a source/nexus that holds a version of all six primals - basically a Deep nexus.
So going to expand on a theory as to what and where this is.
There's an odd connection between Deep magic, blood magic and dark magic. (Bear with me). Deep magic is the ancient precursor to Primal magic. According to an interview one of the spells in S5 was a deep magic spell - with the most likely candidate being Finnegrin's blood freezing spell Veinus Frigardis. Then there's the ancient Infantis Sanguine ritual, Kpp'Ar using ancient and unsavoury practices with a bloody arm and Kim'dael being able to overcome the moon cycle's effect on her powers using blood. (There's also the bloodbinding ritual Aaravos conducts - but we don't know how old that is and it definitely used a Stars rune). And it's been pointed out by kardogsrats here that one of the early concepts when designing the symbol for dark magic was blood... and you'll also note, dragons.
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Deep magic symbol on the left, early concepts for dark magic symbol on the right.
So, my theory is that the Deep nexus/source that Aaravos has his Key linked to is actually related to the remains of the most powerful dragon mentioned in Tales of Xadia - a Void Dragon. There's hints that there's remains of a Void dragon around;
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But how could you hide something that powerful? Well, Aaravos is bound by a prison made of Ocean magic within a sea, and in ToX there's reference to The Epic of the Void, a poem about Startouch, with this relic being protected by an Ocean rune. That Ocean has been used twice to contain Stars powers is unlikely to be a coincidence.
So, keeping in mind star dragon blood and Stars related thing being contained by Ocean magic, there's one point on the map which stands out;
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Ocean Point has the Stars symbol (minus the circle) in red, with a dotted line heading down below it. This could be the location the Key of Aaravos is being pulled towards, the "source of great power" in Xadia.
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Bonus note, when Aaravos thinks Avizandum is keeping watch on him he makes the effort to wear his cloak with the Deep magic symbols on it. - possibly as a reminder of his role regarding the Deep nexus. Possibly, he its guardian, like Lujanne is to the Moon nexus, and the only one (currently) who can access it using his Key.
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gqueercatboy · 8 months
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So...
I have a lot of theories about what's going on with Aaravos, and the dragons, and everything. I'm ALWAYS going to have more than one theory going, until we get a solid answer from canon. But I think I have my formal, main theory finally nailed down.
We've heard that Aaravos is Prometheus or Lucifer depending on how you look at him. Is he evil? Benevolent? Either way, he's a trickster. Tricksters are often associated with shapeshifting, and with the knowledge now that:
Leola is a unicorn, but also appears to be some type of elf.
Aaravos, in Janai's dreams, says he somehow "swallowed" Aditi.
We've gotten various hints of "someone not being what they seem" (see: Crow Lord's shadow in the end credits)...
@darkmagicmirror pointed out that the Midnight Star poem says the stars "donned their masks" when they left Elarion to die.
Aaravos is strongly tied to shapeshifting/metamorphosis imagery, a Titan associated with fire, and a mythological being often associated with dragons and serpents... and there have been some references made to LOTR, with Aaravos being a bit Sauron-esque...
I strongly suspect that the people who theorized Aaravos is a dragon might be on to something. Now, I'm not ready to say he is a dragon. I very much think that Startouch elves are capable of shapeshifting, and I think that Aaravos is a shapeshifter. Could he be a dragon? I do think, as of today, there's a strong chance.
Especially after @darkmagicmirror also pointed out the reference to Love Amongst The Dragons in this excellent post about the Lucifer and apple imagery.
We also know right now that:
Primal stones can only be created by archmages. Aaravos is an archmage who mastered all arcanums.
Humans were given primal stones by Leola, a unicorn who was "unique". Humans were hunted for it.
Leola was said to have had a "last wish".
Leola's the elf on the star map, and seems to be holding Aaravos' chest symbol in her hands.
A star fell, causing a cataclysm, and likely the Sea of the Castout to form.
The two statues at the SotC are one unknown elf suspected to be Aaravos, kneeling, without his crown or anything else, and seemingly distraught... and another elf, called the Merciful One, holding out their hand. The statues follow the creation of the SotC, but it's unknown at what EXACT point they were made or what the statues are depicting.
Aaravos wanted the other stars to fall, and is very bitter towards them. He ended up giving humans dark magic at some point, though it's unknown if he CREATED dark magic.
Humans eventually founded a city, likely named Elarion.
Sol Regem threatened to burn the city down if humans didn't give up dark magic. Ziard told him to buzz off. Sol Regem went to burn the city, but Ziard fought him-- dying, but blinding Sol Regem in the process.
The city was still burned. Allegedly, Aaravos helped the surviving humans escape.
Luna Tenebris took over from Sol Regem.
Humans were going to be murdered, wholly. A "daughter of an Elven leader" begged for humans to be spared, and Tenebris compromised: humans were exiled to the west instead.
We see Aaravos present at the division of Xadia, with his crown and in full regalia. Still with his heart piece, still fairly glowy.
Tenebris ruled for some 700 years. At some point in that time, she had an heir.
Tenebris was mysteriously killed. In Zubeia's retelling, we see a blood moon hanging overhead.
ZUBEIA'S VERSION: A civil war broke out among dragons, and the kind, wise Queen Aditi offered to select a new ruler as Tenebris' heir was "unsuitable". Just before Aditi made her choice, she vanished, never to be seen again.
ZARIM'S VERSION: After Tenebris' death, Avizandum seized power and began to hunt down Kim'dael and her followers. Kim'dael sought mercy at the hands of Aditi, who collared her and forced her to serve Aditi's lineage in exchange for protection, as the dragons wouldn't "dare" to incite Aditi's wrath. At some point after, Aditi vanished.
The Orphan Queen comes forth accusing Aaravos of having been behind these events, and "whispering" in the ears of humans, especially mages, to some nefarious end.
Aaravos is ambushed when "his guard was down". (At this point, he's also not wearing his crown or regalia, which could just be because he was in casual wear, disarmed, and vulnerable. But I note this for a reason.)
He is captured, and placed in the mirror prison. Somewhere between the ambush and him being imprisoned, the heart piece on his chest goes missing.
The Orphan Queen has in her possession the Key of Aaravos, and passes it along to her descendants. The key, Callum notes once he has it in his possession, is continuously dragged in the same direction every time he rolls it, leaving scuff marks on the ground as if it's being drawn elsewhere.
In everything that happens since then, here are some things we learn about Aaravos:
He says he was "perhaps" important to Avizandum. He also calls him a monster, and seems to have some conflicting emotions about him-- in the scene where he asks Viren about Avizandum's death, he seems almost sad for a moment, but then quickly shifts into anger at being imprisoned.
He says that Zubeia betrayed him.
He keeps mentioning people "ascending" or growing beyond a mortal form.
He is SURROUNDED by solar eclipse imagery, and the entire series just has a lot of circles-within-circles/ripples, light-and-dark, and duality imagery.
It is said he is incapable of lying, but that he does speak in word games and doesn't always mean exactly what people think he means.
The bones in the Sea of the Castout are somehow connected to what happened to Aditi.
The Key isn't the key to the prison.
A location on the map is related to a person who was important to Aaravos, though it might not be their name.
His birthday wish, if he celebrated such a thing, would be an apple like the one a human picked from a tree and gifted to him. It's clearly a precious memory of his.
And this is where I actually start to build my theory, LOL.
I think it's possible that Leola and Aaravos worked together on the primal stones, and distributing them to humans. At the very least, Leola started it-- maybe Aaravos was wary, but went along with her in time.
I'm not going to speculate on who Leola was to Aaravos, only that she was likely a shapeshifter, too. And that I do think they were close. (And she does indeed show up on a map-- the star map.)
The star that fell, I think, could have been Leola OR Aaravos. Was she killed in the impact? Were those her bones in the Sea of the Castout? Maybe. But I'm not so sure. I think regardless of who first fell, Aaravos eventually came down to Xadia. Either against his will (the star falling) or by his own choice, as an act of spite and rebellion.
I think he fell in love with humanity. Perhaps begrudgingly, perhaps not. I like to think, with the Lucifer hints, that it was perhaps a Reverse Lucifer: instead of the serpent tempting Eve in the garden with fruit, instead, Aaravos was tempted by a human. And he fell for it.
At this point, I don't think he was fully fallen. I think he was given a chance to repent, distance himself from humans, stop interfering. And so... he kind of did. Except he gave humans dark magic, and guided them along the path to salvation. Humanity had TRIED the right way. They had, at some point, primal magic. Primal stones at the least. It got taken away again. (Humans were "hunted" for their "primal flames".) So this time, likely with some spite in him against the other Startouch elves, he gave humans a magic that couldn't just be smashed to pieces and taken from them.
He gifts Ziard the staff.
All's well and good until humans get too strong, and the dragons have to come knock them back down. Sol Regem threatens to burn the city. Ziard reveals the staff came from one of the Great Ones. I don't doubt that Sol Regem had an inkling of which one Ziard meant, but given that Sol Regem then turned Ziard into ashes, who could say?
The city burned. Countless people died. Aaravos lost it.
Sol Regem was removed from power-- perhaps because he burned the city, perhaps because he got blinded and stepped down. Regardless, Luna Tenebris stepped in. And here's where I suspect things take a turn.
We know Tenebris had an heir before she was killed, who was "unsuitable". Why were they unsuitable... ? It's my theory that either Tenebris is the one important to Aaravos (the Sea of Tenebris is on the map), or it was her heir. Some have theorized that Leola is Aaravos' child. I don't think I believe that (I think she's more likely to be his mother, if anyone) but if Aaravos did have a child in general... what if the heir was between Aaravos and Tenebris?
After all, Tenebris does mean dark or night, and well, stars...
Tenebris wasn't shown to have a mate. No mate was mentioned, at all, unless Sol Regem was and we just haven't been told that yet. And if it's true that Startouch elves are shapeshifters-- or that Aaravos himself is a dragon, actually-- then it isn't impossible. Same, if Aaravos isn't a shapeshifter or is an elf, but archdragons can shapeshift. (How else would an archdragon like Zubeia get down to the vault beneath the Storm Spire?) We already know, either way, that Aaravos doesn't have an issue with unconventional child-rearing. :P
Or, perhaps, it was the heir who was important to Aaravos.
Either way, it wouldn't shock me if the other dragons declared Tenebris' heir unsuitable: either because she was a half-dragon, a child of a disgraced god-like figure, or because she was in love with an elf and wouldn't produce a pure dragon child, who knows. But I find it more and more likely that perhaps Aaravos had been a dragon originally, and had been royalty of some sort, but was forced into elven form and stripped of his titles as punishment until he earned it all back.
Except...
Either he lost his chance when they found out Aaravos gave humans dark magic, or
2. Luna Tenebris died.
The heir hasn't been mentioned since.
I strongly suspect at this point that, on top of the bitterness and hatred towards the Startouch elves that Aaravos already felt, this event was what pushed him to the edge: against Aditi's family, and against the other dragons.
I suspect Kim'dael, for whatever reason, killed Luna Tenebris. Perhaps for her blood, but whatever the reason, I think Karim's account of what happened next is accurate. I think Avizandum seized power. I think he began to hunt down Kim'dael, and her followers. I think Kim'dael went to Aditi and entered her protection, easily enough with Aditi already unfond of the dragons. I think Avizandum learned of this. And I think Aaravos went out after Kim'dael, hungry for revenge.
And Aditi got in the way.
I think Aaravos did, in fact, kill Aditi. Perhaps thinking that it would kill Kim'dael, too, if he was aware of the binding magic. Regardless, I think she bit it at his hands, since he couldn't get to Kim'dael.
I think the Orphan Queen saw, overheard, or otherwise found out what Aaravos did. I think she took it to Avizandum and Zubeia, who didn't actually care-- or perhaps encouraged or sought out Aaravos' actions, not wanting to get their own claws dirty. And I think Avizandum and Zubeia, knowing that the elves were now furious, put 100% of the blame on Aaravos.
So they ambushed him, cut out his heart piece, and trapped him inside the prison. I suspect they buried Tenebris in the sea, and Aaravos' prison with her. (Or if we want to get VERY dark, perhaps the heir drowned themself, and the prison was placed there.) Idk, it would be tragic if Aaravos' prison was placed in the heart of someone who'd loved him.
Either way... They put the heart piece inside the cube, and the Orphan Queen somehow ended up with it. Maybe because she, too, had been important to Aaravos, and stole it out of guilt in the hopes of someone restoring him someday. Maybe because, well, who'd expect a human girl to have it.
But now, here we are.
Callum has the cube-- Aaravos' heart and/or power. Viren and Claudia were supposed to get the pearl-- Aaravos' actual body. All pretty much seems lost for our sparkly friend, except things are never that simple. Aaravos said that they would need the Sun staff. And they did use it for the heart of cinder spell! But I think, always, Aaravos is playing the long game.
Everything's falling apart. But Claudia still has the staff. The little solar eclipse, right there in primal stone form, with solar eclipse imagery practically dripping off everything Aaravos touches: including the implications that he "swallowed" Aditi, who was referred to as the sun incarnate, daughter of the sun, and likened to the sun itself a third time, in the Queen's Mercy short.
In Aaravos' short, Ripples:
"Like all the oldest tales, time has bent its shape and blurred its color. It is a fable whispered on some tongues and shouted on others. While one may say it ends with a sunrise, another will insist it ends at nightfall."
"With its impact came a long and terrible night: The earth bled! The seas churned! The sun and moon hid for weeks behind the sky’s screaming storm! And in that endless dark the humans despaired."
"And when the long, dark night had finally passed—for the sun must always rise, mustn’t it?—they gazed out upon an unfamiliar landscape."
"What power could fell mountains? Turn all the world dark..."
I suspect that we are going to see someone-- Claudia, Viren, Aaravos, or some combo-- literally stop the sun from rising in order to give Viren more time. (We were promised this series would be darker after all.)
And furthermore, I think we're going to see Aaravos freed. Both from the sea, his jailer, since his short story echoes Finnegrin's shanty too well:
"For ripples grow: They collide, they churn, they drown. They rise like waves or drag into the darkest depths below."
And quite possibly from whatever they did to dampen his true form, if he is in fact a dragon. Or at least, get his heart piece/power restored.
I am really rooting for the outcome that Aaravos isn't actually so evil, and that he just... simply needs his own "festering wound", literally or metaphorically speaking, healed. I think it's a situation that got brought on by centuries of injustice: towards humanity, towards people he loved, and towards him. I think they will try to frame what they did as a mercy, but it will ultimately be something that was lacking compassion, and truly a betrayal against him rather than him being the traitor. I do think he did terrible things, but that he did them out of grief and anger, and/or because he was asked by someone he trusted to do them, and then was turned against.
And I am hoping that both sides-- dragang and magefam-- can band together to help him. Convince him to stand down from whatever revenge he's after. Maybe as a response to Sol Regem's threat. (He is the Sun King, but the sun is still only a star, in the end.)
... Bonus points if Viren lives, possesses the Star arcanum, and gets to be Aaravos' own personal Dragon Empress hehe. >>;; Or Claudia, or both, I'm not picky. Look I just want a happily ever after for these bastards, and I think we can get there if Aaravos is a potential-dragon-forced-to-suffer-and-see-his-loved-ones-murdered-and-then-get-framed-for-it. TDP is ultimately, IMO, a story of love, loss, sacrifice, forgiveness, and healing. That means for Aaravos, too, I hope.
BUT
I COULD BE TOTALLY WRONG
And that's okay, too, I can always write fanfic. :P
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brianedner · 6 months
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Map of the Dragon Prince's journey by 1228248
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kradogsrats · 1 month
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So I just wanna talk about this and the Sea of the Castout for a sec:
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Here's the Sea of the Castout and its surroundings on the map:
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We have the Sparklepuff Squad coming from the north down one of the rivers (red arrows), and the Dragang coming from either the east... or there is a slight possibility that Finnegrin, not having any particular urgency about getting there, chose to go all the way around the Far Reaches to give Callum some time to think things over.
(Could he have taken it even slower and gone all the way around to enter past the ruins of Elarion, thereby putting the statues of Aaravos and the Merciful One there? My opinion is that at that point Sea Legs would have to be going fast enough that the speed would be hard to ignore. The Ruthless is similar to a sloop and so would probably have a normal cruising speed of around 6-8 mph. Sea Legs can supposedly go faster than that, but sailing around to approach the Sea of the Castout from the southwest would add like... rough estimate 100 miles or more to the trip, so either they take an entire day or more doing only that or Sea Legs is going at constant top speed and that speed is really fucking fast.)
As the Dragang make their way into the Sea, we can still see the rocky horizon behind them, but not ahead:
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Claudia and Terry, however, can see the shoreline in at least three directions from the center:
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We also cannot see the opposite shore when Claudia enters the water:
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Assuming you can see the same distance in Xadia as you can here on earth (which is a big assumption, but also a reasonable one to make), that's about 3 miles—as in, the furthest away you can see something as tall as you are before the curvature of the earth obscures it is about 3 miles. However, the rocky sides of the Sea of the Castout are a lot taller than any of the characters, so they can be seen from further away. Based on extremely unscientific googling, the Sea of the Castout is probably in the range of 20-30 miles-ish across, which is consistent with the fact that it's around the same size on the map as the distance between Katolis castle and the Moon Nexus, and that's a reasonable distance for the trio to have gone in the time it takes them to get there.
We also have a shore that looks like this oh god don't look too closely at it, that's a horrible render:
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Now, you may consider how much of the edges of the Sea of the Castout appears to be mountainous, then look at the map again and wonder what the hell is going on. Well, first of all, those aren't mountains.
The basin of the Sea of the Castout was presumably created by a catastrophic impact. If it's based visually on a real place, I'd bet it's somewhere like Crater Lake in Oregon:
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Crater Lake is a volcanic crater, not an impact crater, but same concept applies: instead of being a natural point of low elevation in the landscape, it's a reservoir that was violently punched out of the ground. That elevated rocky horizon isn't mountains, it's the edge of the hole. Crater Lake is quite a bit smaller than the Sea of the Castout probably is (only 5-6 miles across), but the elevation between its surface and the caldera rim is about 1,000 feet, which looks plenty high.
Impact crater lakes do exist, of course, but they tend to be either a lot smaller or a lot older. On earth, all the impact craters the size of the Sea of the Castout are hundreds of millions of years old. Lakes formed in older craters are also more likely to have connected with the surrounding water features, similar to the Sea of the Castout. Crater Lake is less than 10,000 years old and not connected to any rivers or other lakes (unsurprising, given that it used to be the top of a mountain).
So yeah, it's absolutely possible that Aaravos is at the Sea of the Castout. But let's take a look at the opening:
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Yes, that's definitely the same place as Aaravos. Is it literally the Sea of the Castout? Well, the thing is that every other time we see this place, it's in a very... metaphorical or symbolic context. Like the opening. Or here:
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Or here:
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We also have that Aaravos is kneeling practically on the surface:
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Which suggests that either the "OG Aaravos was gigantic" theory is correct, or this is not a normal place where water and lakes behave normally. I'm not a huge (ha) fan of the giant Aaravos theory, but as I've said before... if I had a nickel for every Aaravos-related thing we all assumed was metaphorical but turned out to be literal, I'd have etc.
Basically, this is definitely a place that is connected to the Sea of the Castout thematically and possibly magically, but I don't think Aaravos is literally kneeling in the literal Sea of the Castout on the mortal plane of Xadia.
After all, where do the fabled Great Ones hide?
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Map of Xadia, inside cover art
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raayllum · 1 year
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The Orphan Queen and Mystery Figure both featured in the backstory of Aaravos’ specific imprisonment. We know the Orphan Queen became queen of Katolis seemingly shortly after revealing Aaravos as a deceiver, and we can’t see Mystery Figure’s ears / full head, but I’m going to guess they were an elven inventor who helped craft the mirror itself, Orphan Queen was given the key, and we know from Rex Igneous’ map that the prison is in the Sea of the Castout, right by Elarion, hence (our first real look at!!) a Tidebound elf. I think given Aaravos’ animosity towards Xadia and his indifference towards humans, it makes the most sense that all three groups (elves, dragons, humans) had a hand in imprisoning him. 
Also: girlfriends??
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zuppizup · 17 days
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Six Sentence Sunday - A Dark Alternative
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More than anything, she wanted to see him smile again. “So, you seem to be doing well translating all these Moonshadow runes-”
Callum chuckled, narrowing his eyes at her. “I can see a ‘but’ coming here,”
“Oh, pardon me, I didn’t realise my ‘but’ would offend you so.” Rayla grinned cheekily at him, struggling not to laugh at his sudden bright blush or how his eyes seemed to dart involuntarily to her rear.
“Eh, no, that’s not what-”
“Relax, dummy,” she snorted, rolling her eyes at his adorable fumbling. “You’ll panic your poor horse.”
Callum sighed, shaking his head at her clear amusement. “You were saying?”
“Ah yes, buts,” Rayla laughed again at his exasperated grumble
- Excerpt from my dark magic AU. First arc almost complete but, as usual, it’s grown far beyond that. I’m currently projecting ~50 chapters. Featuring childhood friends to strangers to confused pining, contemplating how a world more accepting of dark magic would affect the economy of the Pentarchy and Xadia, mapping and hydrology… you know, typical fanfic stuff.
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