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raayllum · 1 year

Note

I want you to elaborate, please 🥺

Re: this post regarding that it's thematically important for Xadia to have failed Rayla.

So TDP demonstrates by and large what is required for a 'both' (or triple pronged) sides conflict to work, if we have the dragons, the elves, and the humans loosely on their own sides, with 90% more collaboration between elves and dragons. You need a good reason for each side to have beef with each other, even if those things are also flawed in their own ways and perspectives (the assassins were wrong that Harrow was someone who would do only harm to the world, but that doesn't mean he hadn't done genuine harm and, as far as he knew, let an actual newborn baby be murdered for the exact same preventative measure).

But the other important thing is that all the sides also have to have ways that they fail their own people. Otherwise it's too heavily tilted in a "well this one side is Much Much Better than the other" and leaves everything lopsided, which is the exact opposite of what you want.

After all, genuine both sides conflicts do exist in real life. When it comes to TDP, I always think about xenophobia / antiblackness in Asian communities and anti-asian sentiment in Black communities. This intracommunity racism doesn't help anyone except structures of white supremacy, it ruins opportunities for solidarity, and it leaves interracial partnerships and Mixed race kids out in the cold in particular. Intracommunity racism is equally wrong on both sides, at the very least, and it's fucking complicated, for a variety of reasons. (I've also heard from a lot of Eastern European people that TDP's handling of issues resonates with them as well). Either way, you are failing your own people, as well as others.

This is why Xadia has the magical moral high ground - primal magic over dark magic - and why the Pentarchy as the well, moral, moral high ground: introducing breaking the cycle to their Xadia counterparts, wanting to solve issues together over hyper independence. The Pentarchy - Katolis specifically - embraces imperfection and asymmetry ("It's okay to be afraid of things" / the uneven towers of Katolis). Xadia maintains perfection and rejects anything less, covering it up in a variety of ways ("If she is not useful, get rid of her" / "Moonshadow elves aren't supposed to show fear, ever"). We see this carry wholeheartedly into S4 where the Orphan Queen was, most likely, the only one to criticize and question Aaravos, at least at first; "It was a human who saw through the Fallen Star's schemes" as he was "respected and beloved by all" previously.

The Pentarchy is flawed because it relies so heavily on having and letting kings solely make decisions (everything in S2 and S3 with Viren and Kasef; this is why it's actually a good thing that Ezran has the means and encouragement to leave in S4). A lack of magic means it is understandable why they turn to dark magic, because resource sharing has broken down across the kingdoms, never mind with Xadia, when it comes to things like famine. But Harrow heavily fails his children because of dark magic, his actions of revenge resulting in instigating a war, leaving his children as orphans, and susceptible to a world of grief, pain, and fear. Sending them away from the fray is already too late, no matter how much Callum posits "Can't you just make peace with them? It seems pretty simple to me!"

We see this in two of our primary antagonists, working against Callum and Ezran, being human. In order to write a conflict like this, you must have antagonists on all sides, and Viren and Claudia (and councilman guy / Kasef) primarily fill those roles. And they specifically have to go after other humans (Ezran, Callum, Aanya for Viren, as well) to show the flaws in the systems Viren is manifesting.

If humans don't fail other humans, all you have is humans failing elves - and that's precisely what the elves believe is going on. It means "this system fails only your enemies" which doesn't seem like a problem. Again, can't have one side be Too Good, or it doesn't work, and if a system works for you (dark magic) you will have no reason to reject it, even if you probably should.

But Rayla isn't sent away from the fray. She's sent right into it, and more than that, she's there because she wants to be. At the beginning of the series, Rayla has fully bought into the Cycle; not without good intentions, but disastrous consequences for both herself and others, even before she spares Marcos. And again, this is important: Rayla is a Believer. Until she isn't.

While certain individuals fail Callum and Ezran in particular, generally, we see that they were raised in a pretty happy, emotionally safe home. While both have their own issues of self esteem, neither have strong issues of persistent self loathing. It is the societal history of dark magic and lingering fear/paranoia getting in their way, bolstered by the military surrounding them being unable to consider a life without war.

Likewise, Rayla was also raised and surrounded by assassins who were heroic protectors, in a world at war. But what if you weren't at war? What if you didn't have to be at war? Runaan can't fathom this, just like her village can't fathom a world where Rayla was captured or injured or just delayed, or countless other reasons that would've meant she survived and nobody else did. Instead, they deem Rayla guilty and flawed by association; she isn't just banished for her survival - which, just Survival is worthy of a punishment, when you are supposed to act like you are "already dead" - but specifically because she's seen as her parents' daughter. "They thought I ran away. Just like my parents."

Likewise, without the botched assassination mission and Rayla to carry that weight, Xadia and the elves would seem much too perfect. Why should they care if their assassination mission was, in the human point of view that they've already disregarded (just as humans disregard elven viewpoints around dark magic), bad, when it doesn't harm their own people? Except that it does.

This is amplified by the fact Rayla is the only 'hero' who ends arc 1 like a villain. Everyone else can go home. Soren even asks why Claudia didn't try to, in 4x07. But Rayla can't - she doesn't have a home in the Silvergrove to go home too. Like Viren, Claudia, and Aaravos, she's branded as a Traitor. Like Aaravos, she was seen as a liar. "What good is an assassin who's too afraid to kill?" (TTM) A lot of good, if that's not your only expectation of her. If she's allowed to grow and make mistakes. But she never has been - at least not by her own people ("Even if her own people might misunderstand, and turn against her"). They took a 15 year old girl and made her think she had to stay behind and die for mistakes she didn't even make (3x08).

Xadia punishments have to be harsh and unfair, and they're unfair precisely because they expect perfection and rigidness from people who are inherently flexible and compassionate, because no one is Perfect. Rayla screwed up her mission and got Ghosted in series; in the novelization, her troupe wanted to kill her (per custom) for sparing Marcos. We see this in Moonshadow culture in particular, but also Sunfire elves (Lucia made a mistake, but it was never worth her death), and in Zubeia's quest for revenge after losing her family. It casts Janai's statement of "Gone are the days we shed blood for justice" in a new light because that or Banishment/exile (expelling humans) is what Xadia has always done, but no longer.

If you want to change a society / people / culture, you have to give them reasons to change. This is seen most through the ways those societies/cultures/structures fail their own people. The people who aren't in the 'in-group' or at least not properly. (Think how ATLA talked about indoctrination within the Fire Nation and how their own people were also suffering as a result of their imperialism; not more than the other nations, but not without their own pitfalls). This is also reminiscent of the way Ezran approaches the painting's vandalization in 4x03; rather than being angry over it, he acknowledges the way he's fallen short that paved the way for it.

TDP is very interested in a Mutual Discard (how both Viren and Harrow trash / throw out their own relationship) and mutuality in general. But for the bulk of the show (until S4 really) Rayla is our only main elf character; Janai and Terry only join those ranks later, and Aaravos is too shrouded in mystery to really be able to tell (although again, S4 starts shedding light). Thus, if we want the Pentarchy and Xadia to be flawed in how they treat their enemies and their own people, Rayla has to carry the brunt of that load in S1-S3; the narrative doesn't really have any other options.

So just as the Pentarchy and plenty of humans fail the two of our three protagonists, Xadia and the elves specifically have to fail our third protagonist, otherwise Xadia would come off culturally / socially as too perfect. It is thematically in the show's best interest to let the Silvergrove be as flawed as it is, as well as any other social / cultural aspects (Janai makes it so that soul candles can burn in a specific area that's safe, not just wherever; although dark magic is a slippery slope, we always understand precisely why humans are using it) be likewise flawed and sympathetic and understandable.

That's why Ezran's speech is so poignant. Just like Rayla (and everyone and everything else) it's not pure idealization or total demonization.

Humanity and Xadia can fail themselves and one another repeatedly, and each can still be worthy of growth and protection, because it's not about deserve. It's not about punishment. It's about rehabilitation and belief.

For Rayla and the Silvergrove, too.

#xadia #the pentarchy #the cycle #thanks for asking #requests #analysis series #analysis #shiramoonshadow #tdp #the dragon prince #tdp meta #this is why whenever dark magic stans are like 'xadia's portrayed too perfectly' i'm lke #wtf are you Talking about #theme: duality

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nothingmorethanageminiboar · 5 months

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I feel super-duper-duper mentally drained, so all of these lovely people can have a virtual hug!!

@blutopaz15 @zuppizup @jelzorz @jennazed @no-cinnamon-for-synonym @arnieb95 @ac0531 @shiramoonshadow @sapphofinch @heroesandmasterminds @iwillhaveamoonbase @acronymking4tdp @bleachfreak21 @imminent-danger-came @ripple-rapple

And anyone else who would like a hug, may have one as well~!!

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zuppizup · 3 years

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32... To wake yours up for the kiss prompts? 💕

Thanks for the prompt, @shiramoonshadow! Sleepy kisses are the best!

- - -

Rayla peered around the door, snorting softly at the piles of blankets in the dark room. She could just make out the mess of hair that was Callum’s head, facing away from her and inexplicably on her pillow.

Moving quietly, she lay down behind him, pressing her cheek against the back of his head and snickering as he mumbled softly.

“Rayla?” He yawned, his body pressing back against hers.

“Who else, dummy?” She snickered, her lips on soft skin behind his ear.

Callum jolted slightly, a sigh escaping his mouth. “Finished your run already?”

“Uh huh.” She moved backwards a little, intending on washing up in the bathroom. “And I thought you were ‘just about to jump up and finish that painting.’?”

Callum turned to face her, grabbing her around the waist and dragging her under the blankets.

Rayla chuckled as he pulled her flush against him, his face buried in the crook of her neck. “Five more minutes?”

Drop me an ask - Kiss Meme

#thanks for the ask #shiramoonshadow #ask meme #rayllum #rayllum fanfic #zuppi fanfic

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illustrator-dani · 3 years

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22?

22. …in a rush of adrenaline. This one got away and it doesn't feel like adrenaline but to Callum.... it was. Its early in the morning still so I hope you like this one anyway! Feel free to ask for another one!

Callum couldn't watch anymore. His heart aches at the television. Showing the crash happening every second of the day. Showing her walk into the ambulance by herself was the only thing that kept him from exploding into a mess of anxiety. They weren't kidding when they said that her helmet and fire suit saved her life.

He looks away from the television showing the wreckage. How her car swerved into that wall… he shakes his head, closing his eyes for a minute.

"Mr. King?" A voice calls him out of his head and he looks up. Were they looking for his father?

"Yes, I'm Mr. King." Callum murmurs feeling like he was about to be sick with nerves. "How is she? Can I see her?" There's desperation in his voice. Something that he normally often keeps for… he shakes his head.

"I came to inform you," oh no "that she woke up and is asking for you." Thank God, wait woke up?

Callum stands from his spot in the waiting room and turns his head to the doctor. "Woke up? Did she pass out?" He gasps the last sentence, feeling numb and weirdly excited. It's just nerves. They can do weird shit to you.

"She just fell asleep after she was given some medication to relax. She has a bit of bruising but nothing to be concerned about with her racing schedule." The doctor says and nods towards the rooms. "She's in room 12."

Callum gives the doctor a small thank you before literally darting for the room. He doesn't look at the cameras that begin rushing into the hall for a chance to speak with her. He doesn't think she wants to talk about the crash. She probably doesn't want to think about it.

"Callum?" Her voice stops him from slamming the door on the camera crews and instead he silently closes it. He locks the door for good measure and turns around. His breath hitches when he sees her.

Rayla sits upright from her bed and her burnt fire suit is sitting on the chair in the corner. She changed into a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt after her checkup. But her hair was tied into a loose bun and her cheeks were red.

His heart flutters when he walks to the chair next to her and drops into it with a sigh. His hand reaches out for hers and she interlocks it with hers. Her hands were warm and calloused due to hard work as a mechanic and as a driver.

"You're okay?" Callum asks after finding his breath again. He feels a sob threatening to escape from his throat and Rayla silently pulls him to her. "Oh gosh, Rayla never do that again." He says, relieved to feel her arms around him again and he pulls away to place his lips onto hers. His hands flew to her neck and then to her back so that he could pull her flush up against him.

Rayla doesn't pull her head away from his when they separate for air. She lays her head down on his shoulder after a few seconds and kisses his neck in apology. "I know, I won't hear the last of it from Runaan nor Ethari. How I'm reckless around those corners." She laughs when her boyfriend snorts at that. A sound that Callum loves more than anything in the world. "I'll make sure to be careful, babe." She says, closing her eyes.

A little while later, Callum unlocks the door and sees that the media weren't waiting for them. Instead, it was Runaan, arms crossed and looking very close to yelling at him.

"Uhh, hi." Callum says weakly at Runaan, while Rayla gets out of her bed to wrap her arms around his waist. She notices her uncle standing there and doesn't move. She only smiles innocently at him. "We can explain."

"That would be nice." Grumbles Runaan as he enters the room.

Kiss asks game!

#rayllum #the dragon prince #mechanic au #kiss ask game #ask games #thanks for asking me #runaan #tdp #shiramoonshadow

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heartsofcinder · 3 years

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3 and 14? 😊

send me a tdp ask!

3: which character do you relate to most?

hmm, this is a hard one. probably ezran because i just want my childhood back adkshsgags

14: who is a character or smaller role you'd like to see more of?

definitely marcos! i just like his character arc throughout the seasons :D

(pleasepleaseplease make him and that other sunfire elf canon they're so cute ksjsjsjdjsj)

#thanks for asking!#shiramoonshadow #the dragon prince

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blutopaz15 · 2 years

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For the hurt/comfort prompts, number 8 please!! :D

Took me a bit here because I couldn't for the life of me work out even these vague setting details...but have some Rayla POV but Callum-centric hurt/comfort!

@shiramoonshadow also requested this one and another! :)

"you don't have to pretend to be alright around me."

hurt/comfort prompts

More and more since they'd been back in Katolis, Rayla found herself alone in the evenings.

...which wasn't really that bad. Sometimes she'd visit with whoever wasn't stuck in the throne room with the boys, or see if the training grounds by the Crownguard barracks were empty, or just wait for Callum, especially if it was before moonrise.

She couldn't deny, though, how she wished they could go back to how they'd spent their evenings those very first couple of weeks she'd lived here with them: playing rolly-cubes with Ez winning and Soren making a mess of keeping score and Callum drawing between turns while she looked for a chance to sneak a second with her head on his shoulder, or that night that Ez had gotten Barius to bake a dozen different kinds of jelly tarts for her to try, or those times that she and Callum had managed to slip away all alone before the sun had even set...

They'd been too young, then, for all the responsibilities they had now.

The more of those responsibilities—duties, really—that teenaged Ezran took on, the more obligations Callum ended up with too, which lately had meant evening meetings she seldom belonged at. All that responsibility was weighing on them, too, Rayla could tell. Callum kept coming back home to her so much sharper than usual—no doubt having spent the whole time advocating for Ez and mediating discontent—once he finally turned up back in their shared quarters an hour—or sometimes two—after dark.

He was never this late, though...and she hadn't even had to go all the way to the throne room to figure out why.

Even from across the courtyard, she could see how on edge he was—his jaw set and stiff, grumbling at a volume too low to hear, his eyebrows knit together across a tense forehead. Even the way Callum scratched away at his sketchbook was harsh, each line made with heavy, sudden pressure.

"Did something happen?" she asked, unsurprised that he hadn't noticed her approach in the dark with how preoccupied he was with the messy sketch.

Predictably—he'd startled. "Oh," he said, seeing her and immediately melting back down into that sulky, slack posture to continue drawing. "Uh...no. Well, yes, but...it's nothing new. I'm—I'll be fine."

He shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal either...which was a load of fart-flowers.

She let her hip bump against his shoulder on her way down to the step beside him.

"Then why are you sitting here trying to scribble a hole into your book?"

His sigh was short as he bookmarked his page with his charcoal.

"It's just...Ez is counting on me, and I'm hurting more than helping with these negotiations." Callum looked down—his cheeks highlighting red with distress—and fidgeted with the seam of his sketchbook. "We...we had a fight after the meeting tonight. I got upset—angry, really—and it was stupid. I'm just...overwhelmed, and I have been for a while. I've been trying to keep it together because I don't want him to feel like he can't ask me for help. I'm supposed to help him, and I want to help him. I just...don't know how."

She'd suspected the gist of those feelings—even though he'd been trying to keep them down—but fighting with Ez...

These were bigger than she'd thought—bigger than stress.

"Did you tell him that?" she asked, her arm slipping around his tense shoulders.

"I was trying to...but it came out all wrong." Callum winced, his mouth staying tilted into a half-hearted smile, his eyes misted over...so heartbreakingly handsome. "You know me."

She did, and she loved what she knew—overactive temper and all.

"I do," she nodded, leaning close to press her lips to his cheek, and she felt his smile widen just a bit as she lingered there, making her wish that he would've told her all this sooner, that she would've pushed him to talk about the pressure. "You don't have to pretend to be alright around me, you know. I get why you'd want to around Ez—he's your little brother—but...I can take it."

"I know," Callum said, tucking his head down against her shoulder. "I just...didn't want you to worry."

"Yeah, cause I've never made you worry before," she teased. Her lips brushed his forehead before she jostled him off her shoulder, squeezing him tight enough to be silly. "Now then, what do you need? More big feelings time? Real big fulminus out here? Tea? Jelly tart?"

Rayla stiffened, realizing that Callum had nuzzled his way against her neck rather than taking her up on any of her suggestions.

"I think I just need to blow off some steam, honestly," he said, adding a ticklish hum against her ear, then kissing the seam of her collar...

"Blow off some steam, huh?" She lifted her chin, and Callum knew to continue. "And you need my help with that, mage?"

"Well, yeah." Callum's lips squished against her cheek as he chuckled in response, kissing his way closer to her lips. "You're the most important part."

#rayllum #rayllum fanfic #hurt/comfort prompts #ficlet #wip #fanfic #the dragon prince

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learties · 3 years

Note

🏳‍🌈 Rayla with a demi flag for the art ask meme?

there she is! thank you @shiramoonshadow 💜

art ask meme

#art ask meme #rayla #tdp #the dragon prince #tdp art #tdp fanart #rayla tdp #demisexual rayla #pride

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cerinelle-stellarium · 3 years

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New tag game just dropped! List off your top 5 (or 10) comfort anime/manga and/or animated series then tag as many peeps as you want!

1. ArtisWitch

2. Poco's Udon World

3. Tokyo Mew Mew

4. We Are Magical Boys

5. Powerpuff Girls Z

6. Hanayome wa Motodanshi

7. Classicaloid

8. Giant Spider & Me: A Post Apocalyptic Tale

9. Restaurant to Another World

10. How to Keep a Mummy

Tagging:

@shiramoonshadow

@nail-bat-butch

@yogabigabba123

@industrial-tools-and-screaming

@portalcartoon

@pix-pres-wuz-here

@amphibialove

@ninjacattail

@strakkin-0

@marcyhasaswordthroughherchest

@crazydisneynerd123

@multifandoms13

@marcywoot

@wormautopsy

@ohyoumeanher

@galaxina-the-pyro

@ama-kitkat123

@thechaoticgoddess

@keiko-kat

@kennycantdecide

@candydos

#centaurworld #the dragon prince #the ghost and molly mcgee #gravity falls #ceri rambles about stuff

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lettersfromxadia · 3 years

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Favorite TDP blogs!

Starting to be more active on here and joining the community again, I thought I would share some of my favorite TDP blogs you should absolutely go give a follow

- @rayllurn

- @jellyjay

- @theredhairedmonkey

- @skywing-mage

- @shiramoonshadow

- @learties

- @blutopaz15

- @aaravosanswers

These blogs are absolutely fantastic and I highly recommend giving them a follow! Share your favorite blogs down below in the reblogs/ comments down below, and let’s spread the love.

#the dragon prince #dragon prince #tdp #netflix #netflix series #the dragon prince fandom #tdp fandom #letters from xadia

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raayllum · 2 years

Note

Kanej for the ship bingo

Not enough applicable squares given that they’re my favourite literature couple ever (and had to beat both Percy/Annabeth from PJO and Patroclus/Achilles to have that spot). They are my Everything. The stubbornness, the loyalty, the emotional and physical repression, the capacity for healing, cynical faith vs religious piety, a matched set, the growth. Never had a bad bar in their life. Some of my particular favourite parallels / lines down below:

Matthias suspected that Brekker would drag the girl back from hell himself if he had to [....] Her voice, low and steady, the voice that had once led [Kaz] back from hell.

One minute he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder.

She’d laughed and if he could have bottled the sound and got drunk on it every night, he would have. It terrified him.

Nina glanced from Inej to Kaz and saw they both wore the same expression. Nina knew that look. It came after the shipwreck, when the tide moved against you and the sky had gone dark. It was the first sight of land, the hope of shelter and even salvation that might await you on a distant shore.

He needed to tell her…what? That she was lovely and brave and better than anything he deserved. That he was twisted, crooked, wrong, but not so broken that he couldn’t pull himself together into some semblance of a man for her. That without meaning to, he’d begun to lean on her, to look for her, to need her near. He needed to thank her for his new hat.

His gaze found hers. He’d known she was there all along. Of course he had. He always knew how to find her.

“I would come for you,” he said, and when he saw the wary look she shot him, he said it again. “I would come for you. And if I couldn’t walk, I’d crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we’d fight our way out together—knives drawn, pistol blazing. Because that’s what we do. We never stop fighting.”

#kanej #thanks for asking #six of crows #shiramoonshadow #also faithful acrobat with knives + incredibly smart ruthless boy??#truly have rayllum vibes just even More Traumatized #shipping #non tdp

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