Hi I'm Christa! Gonna update my profile soon. Not super active anymore but I like to chill here from time to time. Header made by @lancemcclains Icon by @elliesdoodles
One of my favorite choices of s7 actually comes from a single sentence.
"I can't be your high mage anymore, but I'll always be your brother"
The decision for Callum to step down from his position as high mage originally made me kind of upset but I realized that it actually makes a lot of sense. And Callum's decision to step down was actually a very mature choice, and not a rash one made in haste like I originally mistook it for. And I think that for both ez and callum's sake, he shouldn't be high mage.
Something that I noticed in episode 2, is that when Callum and ez are talking ez says "I didn't ask for this, I'm just a kid." The part about this sentence that strikes me is that ezran says that he is a kid, he had every right to say "I was just a kid" but he used present tense because he is very much a child, and he still wants to be a child. Before he was king, Callum was just his brother. It's hard for ez and Callum to see each other as brothers when they also have such official titles as children. Soren and Corvus can have loyalty to king Ezran, but Callum should have loyalty to Ez. Ez wants Callum to be his brother.
Callum being high mage causes a lot of problems. When Callum tries to follow Rayla after her fight with Ezran, Ezran tells him to stop and stay at the council meeting. He calls Callum "high mage" and because Callum has such an official position and title he has to listen, he has to stay. If Callum was just his brother then Ezran's commands as king honestly hold less weight and consequence to Callum, and that's how it should be, Ezran should be his baby brother, not king.
Siblings are always in a situation in which they could hurt each other, with their titles they are in even more position to hurt each other. If Ezran is king then he has the power to throw Callum and Rayla in jail and have them followed and tracked. If Callum is high mage then he has the power to stop Ezran and his soldiers with force.
It's also easier for Callum and Ezran to give each other advice as brothers.
I also think that being high mage kind of takes the fun out of magic for Callum. Which is understandable, if writing was my official job instead of my passion I don't know how much I'd enjoy it either. It's clear that Callum doesn't enjoy being in council meetings that much, episode 2 is the second time we see him not paying attention and drawing instead. He also describes his title as 'stuffy' he wants to be mage who does magic, not a high mage.
Callum giving up his title is a good way for both him and Ez to be what they want to be. Mage and child. Brother and brother. I hope that if Callum is high mage again in arc three then it'll be after he's lived some more life with Rayla and he actually wants it
This is a strong parallel for the struggle that Janai and Karim have, being siblings and holding royal positions while at odds with each other.
The way both Janai and Callum fell in love and became invested in someone's happiness who lay outside the scope of the realm, the way that tug of war on their heart did not sit well with their royal sibling... The civil war that Janai had to fight could've happened in Katolis eventually, if Callum had tried to serve his heart and his duty at the same time.
For yet another example, look what trying to serve heart and duty at the same time did to Runaan and his family. What refusing to choose at all has done to Claudia and her family. Neither human nor elf can serve two masters. Sooner or later there must be a choice, and the longer that final choice is delayed, the more everyone around them is hurt.
Janai and Karim had a blood duel and then went to war. Ethari lost his husband and daughter for two years and thought it was forever. Claudia tried to cling to her mom, her brother, her dad, and Terry without acknowledging anyone's dark choices including her own, and now she's unable to see Aaravos' dark choices either. Callum was keeping Rayla's secrets from his brother the king, and it blew up in all their faces. It would only have gotten worse if he'd tried to stay.
It'll be interesting to see what Callum chooses to do in Evrkynd, now that he and Ezran are going to be living in the same city again.
queer people of all kinds. i am looking you in the eyes. do not fucking kill yourself. are you listening to me it will be okay. it will get better. i am shaking you by the shoulders do. not. fucking. do. it. you have so much to keep going for and so many people who love you. the cost of the present will not outweigh the life ahead of you. i love you. chin up or down keep walking you'll get there. we will pull you back up onto your feet should you fall. i love you
this is about villains/antagonists/general horrible people who finally face up to what they've done. especially if they try to pull the good ole "Dramatically Does One Good Thing To Redeem Themselves And Dies," but despite their best efforts they DON'T die. like yes motherfucker there's no easy way out for you, there's only the slow, awkward and painful process of learning to live with yourself. of learning to live with the weight of your mistakes. you get a second chance regardless of if you think you deserve it. you get to try to make amends and do good. you get to live.
this is also about every self-sacrificial bastard of a protagonist who puts themselves in harm's way again and again and again to a wildly unhealthy and unnecessary degree. see, there's something so compelling to me in the unspoken suicidality of repeated heroic self-sacrifice, and the thing about implicitly suicidal characters is that i want them to live. and that can be used to make a death so much more tragic and impactful - noble sacrifices and last stands certainly can and have been done beautifully - but there's also something special to me in seeing such a character make it. because you'd die for the people you love, yes, but would you live for them?
Terry comforting Claudia by giving her a sack of smooth rocks and a fluffy creature to touch like he really said hey Claudia I know you're autistic and upset so here's some nice textures for you, hope that helps
If you told me that Rayla would be bound and gagged by pirates (after being tortured in front of Callum, who decked her tormenter square in the nose for it) and lowered into the ocean to be ripped apart by sea monsters, only for a desperate Callum to break free of his own restraints with dark magic, then save her life and connect to the ocean arcanum out of his love for her, I’d say that came from a self-indulgent fanfic I’d never publish and not an actual scene in the show.
dededos
kianamaiart
stormborns
pixelskylines
baratheonpilled
romaincrisis
annaxmalina
janainaart
blakekathryn
discoholicmusic
