caliban in this panel is so funny to me. his face. the near-boneless flopping. the only reaction to dainix turning momentarily into a flamethrower and then grabbing him being mild annoyance (although to be fair it's not like dainix could actually injure caliban (probably))
Aurora is a fantasy webcomic written by Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions. It’s a) REALLY GOOD and b) updates at three pages a week (which is entirely fair, given the quality of the art). But these two factors combine to give the fandom a lot of time to analyze and theorize as we gnaw at the bars of our enclosure waiting for the next update. And one of the big topics for theory is figuring out what the heck the Light Dragon’s deal is.
For the unfamiliar, one of our protagonists in Aurora, Erin Ruunaser, is possessed by the Void Dragon, a primordial, absolute Evil (nicknamed Walter by the fandom), as part of said dragon’s plan to free himself from his eternal imprisonment so he can destroy the world and consume all the stars. He is fortunately (?) opposed in this by his counterpart the Light Dragon (who has not been given a humorous nickname by the fandom) and her Paladins.
Its made clear in the comic that each dragon is tied to a corresponding abstract “element” that exists over the top of the setting’s core elemental system of Fire, Water, Lightning, Stone, Air, and Life. But while figuring out the Void Dragon’s element isn’t too difficult, the Light Dragon’s element is much more mysterious. And it’s clear that it isn’t just because Walter’s had more screen-time, but that the Light Dragon’s element is more abstract and intangible than his. That’s why Erin, approaching the matter empirically, doesn’t even believe she exists.
(There’s also some great cynicism from Erin to saying it’s easier to believe in the existence of an all-powerful malevolent entity than an all-powerful benevolent one, but that’s neither here nor there)
Some fans have theorized that the Light Dragon’s element is “mind” or “soul” or something similar, but I don’t think that’s quite it. So I’m going to throw my hat in the ring to analyze what I think her deal is instead.
So, this analysis is working from the assumption that Erin is in fact wrong (shocker, I know) and that the Light Dragon is the Void Dragon’s equal and opposite, the yin to his yang. So one place to start in figuring out her deal is figuring out his. Fortunately, he’s a much more present character in the comic, so while he doesn’t directly talk about his own nature, we have a lot more resources to work with. Probably the best summary of what he represents is given to us by Erin while fighting a slime-monster that has been consumed by void influences.
Most important here is that last section, that it’s hunger “sustain no form and serves no purpose.” It isn’t just hunger, it’s senseless hunger. Similarly, while the Void Dragon has a hunger that seeks to devour the stars, its clear that he doesn’t need to eat, as a millennia-long imprisonment hasn’t left him any worse for wear. This isn’t a Galactus situation: his hunger isn’t a need, it’s a want. This comparison is made even more explicit in a scene at the start of Act II, where the cast talks about Kendal.
Kendal, by virtue of his unique creation, doesn’t have any influence of the Void Dragon in him, which naturally means that he doesn’t need to eat, or consume. But the wording here is very specific: “Kendal seems totally self sufficient… except when he’s… hurt?” He isn’t wholly self-sufficient, consumption isn’t entirely the domain of the Void Dragon, only consumption without purpose is. The Void Dragon isn’t hunger, he is gluttony, waste, entropy, he is taking more than you need and more than you give.
So with that definition of the Void Dragon, we can look at what is probably the best piece of evidence as to what the Light Dragon embodies. It comes in Act II Chapter III, where Tam, one of the Light Dragon’s most powerful devotees, catching up to the protagonists and tries to kill Erin so that the Void Dragon won’t be able to use him to escape. The moment I’m looking at doesn’t actually have anything to do with him, however. It’s about Dainix, our resident fire-boy, who has become infected with the void, and needs to be talked through how to transmute it out of himself so that it doesn’t consume him.
Firstly, it’s pretty clear here that we aren’t just talking about physical hunger anymore. The Void Dragon’s domain is expanded and abstracted to contain selfishness and the ambition that comes from it. From that definition, Dainix is then given the recipe to change Void into Light.
(This is what I meant by the quality of the artwork, btw. I mean, just look at it!)
So here we get confirmation about the whole “not all consumption is Void” thing, but we also finally get a description of what the Light Dragon’s deal is. Dainix is told to imagine “the essence of hunger, stripped of pretense and pride.” In other words, while the Void Dragon is all about consuming and destroying, taking without even knowing what you’re trying to achieve, the Light Dragon is about a hunger that does not destroy, that is not focused inward on selfishness and pride, but instead focuses outward. And given that he is able to transmute the Void into Light immediately after, it’s clearly an effective description.
And it kills me that the description ends with “I wonder if you’ll recognize the feeling,” and stops just short of actually naming that feeling. Because yes, I do understand what’s being said he, I can grasp the concept, but I do not know what to call it. Is it Will? Determination? Hope? So far the best I can come up with is just calling it Selfless Ambition, to contrast the Void Dragon’s Selfish Ambition, but there’s gotta be a simpler term for it. Anyway, whatever the best word for it is, that’s what the Light Dragon is. A hunger that doesn't destroy, that does not consume for its own sake, and in fact is not focused on itself at all.
"Alinua, similarly, fits very well into the Dark Fairytale angle already. She’d arguably work as both the innocent child and the scary incomprehensible Thing In The Woods."
