What if Rayllum baby was the crying child in the trailer, but it was also a returned Aaravos! I know this isn’t mind blowing but my favorite manhwas are isakai esque ones and my favorite thing is when a character is reborn as their sworn enemy’s child and slowly regain memories that conflict with their knowledge of the enemy they learned as the beloved child of their enemies.
Okay so, this is a messy sketch of Aaravos in my AU of The Light of Dawn. The AU is a prequel taking place at least a thousand years ago, so long ago that Aaravos is a child- an eleven-year-old at that. His past is revealed that he’s actually a halfling elf, born of a human mother and a Startouch father. His father was a revered archmage and his mother was a concubine in the court of the Starmages. When she was found to be pregnant his father cast her out. Years later he and his mother lived with her grandmother- she was a dark mage. She taught both her daughter and his grandson to learn dark magic, Aaravos wanted revenge on the elves that treated his mom and the humans so poorly and himself for being looked down upon because of his human origin.
Aaravos’s mother is killed by the elves and Aaravos’s plans to exact revenge all over Xadia.
Theory time! Finally! I have postponed this since the trailer came out.
Okay so! I just want to give my own thoughts about the crying baby.
Just wanna clarifu‚ I'm a Rayllum blog but I will try to be as objective as possible. At the same time my rayllum bias and some points may come as a big stretch but I hope you stick with me anyways.
Let's talk about the possibilities and what I think it's from less likely to most likely:
Random not important baby
Aaravos as rayllum baby
Leola flashback
Janaya baby
Babyvos
Rayllum baby
Random not important baby:
Okay so like‚ they are trying to hide this infant's baby identity as much as possible. If it was a random non important baby then they wouldn't be in the trailer at all. Next
Aaravos as rayllum baby
This theory is just bonkers. Why would Aaravos reincarnate as the child of the people who want to kill him? What sense would this even make? The only reason I can come with something is like‚ would Callum choose to take care of his son or to kill his nemesis to protect their future? Other than that it doesn't make sense to me. Also how would this even work? I don't have much to add with this one.
It's never implied startouch elves can come back as someone's baby‚ they are powerful but not that level of powerful!
Janaya baby
I think janaya will have children‚ maybe. An original idea was to have Miyana die in childbirth and give her twins to janaya so I wouldn't be surprised if they get kids in the timeskip but I don't think they will right before Aaravos shows up.
Janaya can't conceive children the natural way‚ they couldn't have an accident. They would need magic or an sperm donor (or both.) So if they planned to have bio kids I doubt it would be right before Aaravos' return‚ it would be way before or after and considering they may be in their 40s (?) by arc 3 I'm leaning towards before.
Other point is‚ Janai and Amaya are main characters yes but they aren't the protagonists and I don't know how a baby of theirs would be super important; an adopted baby would probably be just human or elf‚ something that wouldn't bring conflict at all. They would just be janaya's full human or elf baby and I don't know what juicy potential this could have for the plot unless we are talking about heir stuff problems but I doubt that would be important enough to tie with Aaravos' return.
Janaya also had the wedding arc so I doubt they would also take the baby arc‚ more so when it wouldn't be super relevant like their wedding was.
Babyvos
Ok so Babyvos and Rayllum baby are the most common theories.
In the trailer‚ right after it says Aaravos will come back in seven years and 19 days‚ the baby cries. Your brain logically will go "Is Aaravos coming back as a baby!?" (Which wasn't my case because I inmediatly asumed it was rayllum's but I understand thinking it could be Aaravos.)
The crying baby in the trailer could indeed indicate he's coming back as a baby but it could also be a red herring‚ and they love red herrings! Don't they? The trailers tend to do this‚ they are very trolling. It makes you get into work and make our brains make up theories and stuff.
I think overall Babyvos doesn't have many pros history/sense wise.
Pros:
-Claudia dealing with her mommy issues by taking care of a baby who also happens to be her father figure. That would definitely be juicy and very symbolic‚ would also mean a lot to Claudia's development I think. I suppose maybe Babyvos could use telekinesis to talk to her?
-Callum and co having to decide if they want to get rid of their mortal enemy by killing a baby or let the baby live.
-In the watch party Aaron commented the baby had "sparkly poop" as a joke. Aaravos is an sparkly man and had a child with the name of Sparklepuff. This may simple just be a joke or just related and he's hinting it.
Cons:
-It has been stated Startouchies are immortal. They can then create a new mortal vessel after their stars align which could be a baby but how would that makes sense? They aren't even dead in the literal sense‚ they just lose the mortal vessel‚ why would they choose to come back as a baby? How could that be practical? Maybe it's the only option and maybe they can't choose but how will Aaravos even manage to reunite with Claudia as a baby then? See the other points:
-Aaravos is supposed to be an scheming dangerous man. He suddenly coming back as a baby would kind of ruin all the high stakes. Could he go thru a fast development? Yes! But then‚ why making him a baby?
You could say‚ so it takes him a while to attack and the heroes get a fake sense of security. Sure but you could that with him being a grown up‚ it took him weeks in S7 to actually move his plan forward. After Seven years I'm sure the dude would need time to make a new plan‚ more so with Callum and co having some kind of advantage on him. He could even get Luna Tenebris' heir on his side and I doubt that would take a single day.
-Coming back as a baby is super inconventional‚ imagine a defenseless baby alone. He has Claudia but imagine if he didn't!
-I don't see many commenting this but Aaravos would be a giant baby. A literal giant baby. Aaravos is a giant himself, he can eat people, the only reason he was normal sized in S7 is because he made a vessel for himself but startouch eleves are enormous! So a baby would be this big:
Now imagine a giant baby crawling around crying. I'm sure people would find him easily. And how will Claudia take care of a giant baby? Are we seeing Claudia and googoootata walking alone together while communicating by telekinesis??
Aaravos could make a normal sized vessel but then again what's the point of this? Just make a grown up vessel then!
Another theory is a flashback featuring baby Leola.
I overall can't see Aaravos coming back as a baby making sense. I trust the writers tho so if this ends up becoming real I'm sure they will manage to make it make sense even if right now it's nonsensical to me.
Leola flashback
TDK will be an "independent" sequel so having Leola context might be nice but if this is the case I don't see why it would be a flashback of her as a baby when you have the whole execution fiasco thing. Specifically tied with him coming back in the trailer. The crying baby in teaser being a flashback of Leola crying as a baby doesn't make much sense to me.
Rayllum baby
Overall the rayllum baby makes the most sense to me. A lot of theories against it are "Rayla and Callum wouldn't be so selfish to have children in in the time skip knowing the world is doomed" and yeah that makes sense but consider this:
1) They allow themselves to be selfish because after almost dying and losing each other over trying to save the world they deserve it. I don't think this will be the case because they are self-sacrificial people so moving to point
2) oopsie baby. Xadia is a magic world and it probably has contraconceptives but just as the real world‚ Xadia isn't perfect and neither is Rayllum. They (unlike janaya) could have an accidental pregnancy
3) TDK being an adult series means they will be able to explore this topic more freely. I'm not saying they will talk about having unprotected sex but rather being more clear about it being an oopsie pregnancy.
Pros:
-Rayllum is the main relationship of the series. If someone is getting a baby arc‚ it makes all the sense to be them.
- Juicy parallels: Aaravos coming back as the same time Callum's first child is born just like Vire resurecting the same day as Callum's birthday. Aaravos representing potential doom‚ a halfling representing peace and union. Callum having a lot of conflicting feelings about this
-TDP is a lot about how differences can make us stronger- how elves and humans separating in the first place was absurd because peace is pretty much possible. The main couple having a elf/human mix would be beautiful because it would show elves and humans are the same.
-Imagine if the cosmic order plays an important role and they find out an human who can do primal magic also had a baby with an elf? And Aaravos uses this someway.
- The rayllum baby would make Callum and Rayla weaker to Aaravos. Rayla not wanting to kill not only the love of his life but also the father of her child (in case he gets possessed) and Callum having even more reasons to get rid of Aaravos. Tho you could say a future with his wife would be reason enough‚ Rayla and Callum are a set but they would both want their child having a happy future even without them on it.
-Rayla would also be weaker and more inmune to danger‚ maybe making Callum more protective and also giving us a sense of danger for her (unless moonshadows are like super strong and recover quickly after labour but I doubt.)
There's also more read my pregnancy theory here if you wannaaaa
Cons:
-In the watch party when someone asked if the baby was theirs Aaron said "you think they would go all the way?" (About having sex) This was a joke obviously‚ while they not having a physical relationship right now makes sense I doubt they won't do anything in seven years. I think this is not important just in case.
-The baby plot line is always risky and I don't know if they would want to but once again‚ if they feel like it will work that's their decission.
I honestly can't think about many cons... The baby being rayllum's just makes sense to me.
Hints:
-They have been posting about the kickstarter countdown. Two rayllum videos were posted in a row with the next questions:
Yeah sure‚ it could be a coincidence or they are playing with us but they also could be signals you know?
-In the most recent hot brown morning potion podcast (summary here). Justin says Runaan will be a "hot grandaddy" then he corrects himself saying because "he will be older" but like- Runaan will be around... 45? That's not old less so for moonshadows who live at least a bit more than humans. He also gets a bit scolded by Aaron so it could be that he slipped an spoiler.
-They have been very secretive with Rayla's Arc. Surely having a baby/being pregnant won't be everything about her but it could affect her a lot. Very different from how it can affect Callum since he doesn't have to carry the baby you know.
A lot of challenges come with motherhood now imagine them in this mess plus girlfail Rayla.
That's pretty much it. I'm a loyal believer of the rayllum baby‚ I could be proved wrong in two days or in one month or in two years‚ who knows! Hope you have enjoyed my babbling.
-The baby's identity is labeled as very big spoiler so maybe for a future trailer it will be revealed or when the series come out. If they want to hide it till the end I doubt they would show Rayla pregnant in official art (unless she has the bairn in the first episode). Rayllum's baby will be important enough for their identity being an spoiler.
