Aaravos: *sees a curious, determined, desperate human mage on the other side of his mirror and immediately prepares to defy dragon and elven-kind all over again* Stars help me, I’m back on my bullshit.
(part 1) There’s probably only four people on this site who want to see my oddly specific headcanons about Elarion and Aaravos being either lovers or really, really, REALLY, weird dumb magic nerd friends and that’s enough for me
I like the idea of Elarion being like Claudia but older, and … more enthusiastic about elves!!! and worms!!! I don’t expect any of my ideas to make it to canon but any indication that Aaravos had any positive relationship with a human in the past would make me so happy. part 2 here
I’m crying over the bonus to my tarot commissions by @dyalavellan for Aaravos; if you haven’t seen it already Aaravos cards here and Elarion’s card here!
This is so cute, my heart is so full! ;v;
I didn’t ask for this but this was such a wonderful surprise! <3
Elarion’s Depiction (An Aaravos Arabic Poem + Book 3 Analysis)
This is a take debunking most common interpretations of Elarion’s poem. Most commonly, the fandom perceives Elarion as a human girl. Which, to be honest, I thought was the case, but was not. So, I will clear it all up.
For those of you who have seen Season 3, you already know. But either way, I wanted to show the relation between what had been expressed in the poem, and how it relates to what we saw in the third season. [Link to the original translated Midnight Star poem]
Right away at the beginning, the setting had already been established from the first stanza throughout. It uses words such as “seeds,” “roots,” and “flower,” among many. This earthly diction signifies that the setting is in earth. The setting is also established through the imagery from the grimlike diction with the words “night,” “deadly,” “death,” and more.
The poem has a main striking feature: its emphasis on Elarion’s struggle. We notice right away that Elarion is referred to as a person with she/her pronouns. Alongside that earthly diction, it would be speculated that “Elarion” could be a human mage, particularly connected with the Arcanum of Earth. The tone written on “Elarion” and her relation to Earth is shown as nurturing and protective, as seen in the first stanza:
Elarion, seeds trembling
Lying on the ground on an icy night.
And in the cold
[She] withdrew her roots
Challenging the sting of the deadly winter.
Also from line 6 of the poem implies this theme of nurturing:
Elarion, and her blooming flower,
I believe that the idea of “nurturing” the Earth would be greatly connected to the Earth Arcanum, since it is a source of Primal Magic, which is why this initially gave me the impression of Elarion having been the first human mage. But there is more.
In addition, the poem declaring Elarion’s connection to Aaravos easily leads to the speculation that “she” could possibly be Aaravos’ former lover. But, that is not the case in line 11:
Elarion, the frightened foundling
Elarion is referred to as a foundling, meaning “an infant that has been abandoned by its parents and is discovered and cared for by others.” And it fits perfectly, as that “carer” would then be Aaravos.
Now, this would imply that Elarion was orphaned. To clarify, this is not to be mixed with the Orphan Queen, since Elarion emerged 2,000 years prior to the events of the series, while the Orphan Queen emerged 300 years before. [x]
So this is where it gets interesting. Going back to the first stanza again, we note the diction pertaining to the cold via the words “icy,” “trembling,” and “winter.” And in the second stanza, the phrase “her blooming flower, afraid of wilting, darkness and death,” heavily implied that the cold caused Elarion’s life to slowly deteriorate.
Starting to sound familiar? If not, think of the reason why Ziard and his followers came to practice dark magic. His home was falling into starvation. What could possibly the reason for it? A dark, grueling, winter. Crops and food sources were barely surviving under the dangerously low temperatures.
To put it simply, Elarion was a city. This means that the author of the poem decided to use personification to refer to Elarion. Think of how throughout history, countries and places have been referred to as a male or a female figure. And Elarion was personified as a “motherland,” hence the use of she/her pronouns as identifiers. Now, I know the term motherland is defined as “one’s native country,” whilst Elarion was not. But you get the idea of the personification aspect.
Returning to the poem, the diction of earth, alongside the indication of suffering under the winter was a metaphor for a famine, synonymous with starvation. The people of Elarion were dying of hunger. Ziard, within any means necessary, searched for a way to save his people. The “spark” on line 9 alludes to his newfound use of dark magic.
The mood on the second stanza exudes a feeling of shock, especially on line 10 that states, “And so the eyes of the hungry dragon flared,” indicating Sol Regem’s anger due to the human use of dark magic.
...But why refer to Elarion as a “foundling?” was the author pitying Elarion due to its weak and fragile state, or that it had been a relatively new city? But then it wouldn’t really have made sense since Elarion rose a thousand years before humans began using dark magic. So we’re not so sure as of now.
Stanzas 3 and 4 are self-explanatory. Elarion sought help from the Startouch Elves, but had ignored their pleas. The reason for that might not only be because of the Elves’ alliance with the dragons, but the fact that Startouch Elves have a “detached, big picture of the world,” meaning they had an objective view of what was happening and cared less of what occurred on Earth. This also possibly meant that the Startouch Elves didn’t save Elarion because the deemed it as insignificant in the eye of history, or “the big picture.” [x]
And as we all know, all but one turned back on Elarion, which was Aaravos, who donned Ziard his staff and the art of dark magic. The concept of dark magic is notably referred to with fire-like imagery with the words “spark,” “fire,” “light,” and “black flame.”
Also on the following two lines, note the words “light” and “night” juxtapose each other. As if saying that Elarion, once a kind and flourishing city, skewed their morals by accepting dark magic.
Elarion, and her blinding light,
Embraced the great black flame of night.
...And what would Elarion’s “blinding light” possibly mean? It is a metaphor for something for sure, but what it means isn’t clear (I’d appreciate comments if you have theories on this one!).
Recall the pattern with the use of diction pertaining to darkness. Some irony can be noted especially on where Elarion was written to wither and suffer “in the dark” (Stanza 5, line 23), but then was written that the city “embraced the great black flame of night” (Stanza 6, line 28). As if saying Elarion suffered “in the dark” against its will, but now embraces dark magic by accepting Aaravos’ gift.
Right after Elarion pledges loyalty to Aaravos in the last stanza, notice lines 32 and 33:
Elarion, black-eyed child,
her twisted roots spread deep and far,
See “black-eyed child” on line 32. Again, the author of the poem vividly personifies Elarion, giving “her” physical attributes. But since Elarion was a city, that couldn’t be literally possible at all. Or is it? ...Well, the phrase is most likely a strong metaphor for when one uses dark magic. A prime example:
Of course, this “black-eyed child” isn’t only referring to Ziard, who, is presumably from Elarion himself. Sol Regem did briefly mention that Ziard had followers (see Book 3, Episode 1). So instead, Elarion being referred to as a “black-eyed child” could collectively refer to all those who practiced dark magic— presumably all of which came from the city, which was the birthplace of dark magic.
Moving on to line 33, we see the earthlike diction appearing again through the phrase “twisted roots.” Toward the end of the poem, those roots have been twisted. The word twisted is a connotation not just referring to “twisted roots” in a literal sense, but really refer to Elarion corrupting its own values for dark magic, hence the term.
A quick note: remember how I mentioned in the beginning of the post about Elarion and the theme of nurturing, and how the text implied that “she” was the “first human mage?” Because it is true. Elarion was the birthplace of where humans were able to use [dark] magic.
In addition, Elarion’s “roots” were first introduced in the beginning stanza. The roots may be a metaphor for Elarion’s capability to live and withhold itself. As though saying, “the city was once weak; but with its roots ‘spreading deep and far’ through dark magic, Elarion’s strength had increased tenfold.” As such expressed in the last three lines of the poem:
