Well, don't know about the rest of you, but I am still reeling from SDCC and the bits and pieces we've learned since thing.
I must say, this is my favourite time in fandom, when people are going off with all kinds of theories and speculation. Honestly, it's the best and I think everyone should just go wild. Don't let anyone think your ideas are too wild, too out there, too self-indulgent. Wonderstorm loves to throw curve ball at us and who knows what they've planned for this arc.
I thoroughly expect pretty much everything below to be inaccurate, but I'm theorying and no-one can stop me.
So, aside from the general theme of the next arc, we don't really have much to go off in terms of what's going to be happening. I'm excited for more dragons, and I can't wait to see Zym's character explored in a more in depth manner.
I initially wanted to explore a whole bunch of thoughts in this post, but ran long (shocking for me, I know) so I've moth balled some other stuff for another time.
Anyway, what else did we get from the teaser... well, I guess the whole baby crying and what on earth that means or might mean.
At this stage, it seems like there are three main possibilities for the identity of this baby.
Rayllum Baby
Aaravos Baby
Random Baby
What I'm thinking with these possibilities is as follows:
Random Baby
Sure, possible. There are a number of couples in the show, or just, people of child bearing age, so I can see the possibility of Official throwing a red herring, and they do like subverting expectations.
All the same, the whole thing feels just a little too loaded for the teaser baby to not play a very significant role. Again, it’s possible we’ll get thrown a curve ball, but I do feel this is the least likely scenario.
Rayllum Baby
Currently the leading theory, I think?
I honestly don’t think there’s any point in rationalising a potential Rayllum baby. Age, financial status, etc are all meaningless because it’s not real life. It’s fiction with dragons and magic.
And, crucially, people who control the plot.
If the plot calls for a Rayllum baby, there will be a Rayllum baby. That’s how canon works. You either buy it or you don’t and that’s not what I’m looking to examine here.
With that in mind, why would the plot call for a Rayllum baby? How would that baby affect the plot?
When it comes to a Rayllum baby, I think it’s worth considering the whole planned versus unplanned aspect.
In a world with Aaravos' return is so soon (seven years is damn soon when you're talking about the potential end of the world), would Rayllum plan to start a family?
It’s possible, though considering their natures, I feel like it’s unlikely. Rayla left the Moon Nexus to hunt down Viren due to her anxiety and paranoia. Callum has repeatedly been shaken by the threat Aarvos' possesses to him in particular. In light of these factors, would they really elect to knowingly bring a child into a world that might end soon? Or even one where they might not both be there to raise said child?
Even if they are incredibly confident that they can defeat Aaravos, it still seems like an incredibly overconfident move for them. Especially considering how much of a blow the whole false pearl kerffule dealt them.
So, if there's is a Rayllum baby in arc 3, I'm banking on it being an unplanned baby.
All right then, an unplanned Rayllum baby?
This seems more likely to me than a planned baby. As I’ve mused before, I do think a case can be made for their universe of The Dragon Price having reliable birth control, however, no birth control is infallible.
Accidents do happen.
If we were to see a Rayllum baby, the fact it was unplanned and coming at the worst possible time would very much add to the sense of urgency surrounding defeating Aravos, as well as add to the personal angst of Rayllum.
It's a bit cliche, but well, people like cliches.
But what else has been going around?
Aaravos Baby
Ah, the BabyVos theory.
Or theories. I’ve seen multiple.
The argument in favour of the baby cries being Aaravos/Aaravos related is the teaser itself.
That's some very loaded timing of the cries in the teaser. It certainly could be implying that the baby is indeed Aaravos but that then leaves us with the issue of the threat posed by BabyVos.
Listen, I could be wrong, but I’m not envisaging some kind of Boss Baby scenario with this. If Aaravos is reincarnated as a baby, I think it's going to be damn hard to present him as a serious threat while still being a baby.
So, if the baby is Aaravos, he's either going to have an accelerated growth cycle (which kinda defeats the purpose of him being a baby at all, I suppose, but could still be done) or the Aaravos baby is going to present a different dilemma for the Dragang.
Is it morally right to kill a baby if you think he might end the world?
Probably not.
No-one is going to cheer for the "heroes" who kill babies. But then where do we go? Wait until he is a threat?
Or enough of a threat?
And that's not touching on, who's going to bring up this baby... which is actually where I think this theory could get quite juicy.
Rayllum baby versus Aaravos Baby...?
Hear me out!
Aaravos reborn and Rayllum baby to compare and contrast.
An Aaravos baby forcing Claudia to confront her Mommy Issues, while Rayllum baby makes Callum think about his own beliefs surround controlling his own destiny, while also believing that Aaravos poses an unacceptable threat, even as a harmless child.
What about Claudia, with an elf child?
Is it okay to use the baby's hair and spit for dark magic?
What about in dire circumstances... would it be acceptable to use the child's blood?
My angsty brain likes to go all manner of places, that I realise. I think it would be interesting to see Claudia confront her issues with family and abandonment, how she might relate to a baby with a purpose, while still caring for him in such a helpless fashion.
This could also present a path to redemption for not only Claudia but also Aaravos.
At the same time, Callum and Rayal grappling with the reality of warring against a child the same age as there would present a huge moral dilemma. I like how the show deals with the difference between Rayllum, and it certainly would be interesting to see how they'd deal with this issue both individually as well as as a couple.
I'd love if the promised trailer sheds some more light on this, but I fully expect to be strung along for as long as possible.
In the meantime, I'm super excited to see what fandom cooks up!
Rayla helping Esmeray find peace, only for her to become Claudia's weapon parallels so hard with Ezran showing Claudia mercy by refusing to execute her, only for her to become their greatest enemy
The people voted for Corvus and Soren to be the next of my Arc 3 redesigns, and so it was done! I apologise for taking so long, things irl have picked up so I didn’t have as much time to spend on our guys.
Check out the more in-depth story and design choices below
Corvus
Story Choices
Following the events of Arc 2, Corvus, Soren, and Terry travelled with Pyrrah to find King Harrow but were unsuccessful for several months. Returning to Evrkynd empty-handed, King Ezran and Queen Amaya summoned Corvus, informing him that Amaya was stepping down as General of the Standing Battalion and wanted to name Corvus as her replacement. He was deeply honoured to be trusted with the responsibility and accepted the position, believing that he’d still have enough freedom to spend time how he wished. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple, and while Terry continued the search for Harrow with his new ally (who I’m keeping secret for now), and Soren returned to his Head Crownguard duties, Corvus was thrown into the proverbial deep end. Stuck coordinating recruitment and training, patrolling the borders, and going on aid missions, Corvus could only return to Katolis once a month for a few days. And while the distance had left his relationship with Soren…awkward, the Crownguard’s schedule was always suspiciously free during his visits (“Well, I have nothing on right now, so I guess we can go for that hike…”).
Design Choices
Designing Corvus was a fun challenge! I tried to communicate his promotion in the Standing Battalion without making him completely unrecognisable. However, because his Arc 1 and 2 designs outfits look like he cobbled together the most practical pieces of armour, they lack the cohesiveness one would expect from a leader – which meant I had to depart from his usual style. To bridge the gap between Tracker-Corvus, Crownguard-Corvus, and General-Corvus, I decided to take inspiration from his initial concept art and blended that with elements of the Standing Battalion uniform and Corvus’ old designs. His scarf, of course, had to stay – but you may notice it’s been stitched up, a strip of the scarf being a gift from Corvus to Soren before he left the Crownguard.
Soren
Story Choices
Soren’s been through quite a lot in Arc 2, dealing with the reopening, mending, and re-reopening of old wounds. He, Terry, and Corvus were sent to look for Harrow, but after a few months, they returned to Katolis defeated. When Corvus privately confessed he’d been transferred back to the Standing Battalion, Soren was happy and supported him through the adjustment period. Though Soren can’t quite explain why, he grew more bitter as the years went by – though he’s done very well to not show it. During the daytime, Soren trained King Ezran in swordplay, improved his poetry, and did his best to keep everyone safe and happy. In the dead of night, however, Soren would slip through the city streets and secretly meet the spies he’d sent to look for Claudia. No one else was allowed to know he was seeking her out alone, not until Soren himself could decide what he would do with Claudia when she was found.
Design Choices
It wasn’t easy to develop an Arc 3 design for Soren! His silhouette was fine, but I went through about 5-6 different colour schemes and 3-4 different cape designs, and I spent so long toggling layers to see which combination worked best. Soren’s armour is a blend of Arcs, but the cape design has completely changed to reflect his elevated rank. His hair is longer and tied back with braided cloth from both Corvus’ scarf and Soren’s cape, and he’s clean-shaven again. I wanted to show that while he’s matured a lot – Soren’s regressed a little since S7. Post-Arc 1 and post-Arc 2 share a lot of similar traumas (Viren dying, Claudia escaping) – but this time, he lacked the same support system. On a more upbeat note, that scar across his face? Hat had grown too big for Soren’s head and dug in to avoid falling. Now Soren only lets Hat rest up there when he has the downtime for it.
ok. look. it was very fun to clown about rayllum proposal like omg imagine and yeah, there was a definite possibility, certainly more than i ever would've admitted before a couple months ago, but it was not at all surprising that it didn't happen. the fact that people were genuinely upset that it didn't, adding that to their list of s7 complaints, was absurd to me (it was absolutely the minority opinion but still). and now, seeing people who 100% no question believe we will get rayllum babies/pregnant rayla and like please guys do NOT be getting your hopes up so much that if WHEN (< manifesting) we do get arc 3, it'll immediately fall flat because of what was assumed to be a given plot point. this show never fails to surprise me with what it does (*shudders* miyana.......)(and i'm just saying that a lot of shows wouldn't make the fact that their main characters are fucking a primary focus)(like obviously lok did it but that's different ok it's different in an epilogue/distant past context)(anyway) but i still don't see it Happening Happening (it could 100% be an epilogue thing, and i have no doubt it'll get addressed to some extent because it basically already was). peace and love
