Rich in Magic and Wonder: Aaravos and Primal Magic
Long ago, Xadia was one land, rich in magic and wonder. In the old days, there was only the deep magic, which came from the six primal sources: The Sun. The Moon. The Stars. The Earth. The Sky. The Ocean. — Book One: Moon novelization
So. Aaravos. Aaravos of the Key of Aaravos, the primal source rune cube. The rune cube that Callum immediately thinks of when Rayla draws the primal source symbols for him. The rune cube Harrow introduces as the Key of Aaravos, because it belonged to Archmage Aaravos, master of all six primal sources. That Aaravos.
All of that, incidentally, comes before Viren ever hears his mysterious mirror elf's name. The one with the bug. Yeah, Aaravos.
... okay, I'll stop. What I'm getting at is this: we spend a lot of time thinking about Aaravos as the dark magic guy. The Fallen Star, Elarion's Midnight Star, the manipulator who plunged Xadia into chaos on multiple occasions, and also he ate ate a person (at least) once. But he's also built up at several points (the introduction of the Key and puppeteering Viren in magical battle during s2, the pre-release run-up and ultimate conclusion of s6) as a powerful and versatile primal mage. This would be one thing if it was only the s2 references, but to return and reinforce the point in s6 makes some... suggestions.
So let's examine: why is it notable—important, even—that Aaravos is a primal mage? What is the takeaway of that fact, through the conclusion of s7 and the setup for Arc 3?
Primal Magic: The Magic of Dragons
First, we have to take a minute to step back and look at primal magic itself. There are two (or three) kinds of primal "magic": innate abilities of elves and other magical creatures granted by their arcana, and primal rune spells. I was going to do a whole post outlining the difference with detailed examples, but let's skip that thousand-word tangent and you can just trust me on this: Janai's heat being mode operates on a (slightly) different channel from Karim's primal fire spells. Moonshadow form, heat being mode, and... whatever it is that Terry has going on are all in the same realm as Stella's portals or Bait's glow flash. (Why every elf can't automatically use their primal ability is stuff for another post. It doesn't matter right now.)
Primal rune spells like the one Callum and other primal mages use, on the other hand, are cast through two specific tools: a spell rune, and draconic words. They still require something described as an arcanum, which we know can be learned by humans (Callum) and, at minimum, Startouch elves (Aaravos). (Jury's still out on what the exact distinction is between that arcanum and the one that grants innate primal abilities, if one even exists.) We have not seen any other elf mages who can cast spells from primals other than their own, but we're never told that they can't, and things like Rayla's fairly blasé reaction to Callum learning a second arcanum suggest that it's not unheard of. Additionally, the only non-human, non-elf person we have seen cast something like a primal rune spell is an archdragon:
Presumably Zubeia doesn't need a rune, because she's... well, an archdragon. As Tales of Xadia tells us:
An archdragon’s bond to their primal source is so powerful that they act as the complete embodiment of each primal’s power.
Notable other cases where a primal magic spell is cast using draconic words and no rune include both Runaan and Rayla casting the Mystica illusion spells, crushing a Moon opal to do so—i.e., getting a big boost of primal power.
The theory I'm getting at here is that the runes of primal rune magic bridge some kind of gap and allow access to dragon, or even specifically archdragon magic. We don't know if the dragons themselves developed the runes that formed the first spells as a way of sharing their magic with elves, or if elves developed them to gain access to draconic magic and the dragons were just kind of chill about it. Either way, dragons were the first/only ones with the ability to harness the primal sources through their language, and everyone else later acquired that power as primal rune magic.
That "everyone else" includes the Startouch elves—Aaravos doesn't inherently know primal magic, he had to learn it. With our vague knowledge that there were not originally elf subgroups for each primal source, and that First Elves= Great Ones = Startouch elves, it's not clear whether Aaravos would have to learn individual primal arcana, but I lean toward yes. With the weird tension between the Startouch Elves and the archdragons as if they're opposing, or at least separate forces—Laurelion and Shiruakh, Rex Igneous's contempt for Avizandum as "the puppet of a Great One," that one interview where they describe one of the earliest concepts for the story as "dragons vs. unicorns"—but also largely equal, it makes more sense to me that the Startouch elves would not have automatic access to all primal sources, when the deep and powerful connection to a single primal source is what makes the archdragons unique. (Insert crack theory about how the unseen Star archdragon is the Startouch elves collectively and/or the Cosmic Order.)
So Aaravos's use of primal rune magic (at minimum) is something he had to sit down and learn, not something every Startouch elf has automatically. We don't know if some/all of the others may have done the same thing, but I'd bet Aaravos is unique (or at least rare) even among his own kind as a master of all six primal sources.
The Primal Book: Aaravos's Involvement
In the run-up to the s6 release, we got a promo art series featuring Aaravos attuned to each of the six primal sources in turn, along with our good friend the key (the first time we ever saw it actually in Aaravos's possession) and a newcomer, the book.
I'll get to the key and book in a minute, but first just look at these:
Now, this is admittedly entirely vibes-based, but like... come on. The Aaravos we see here loves primal magic, for its own sake. While we don't see any specific runes, I wouldn't be surprised if his glowing fingertips are meant to represent casting rune spells.
It may even be why he's is in Xadia in the first place, because the primal magic, the dragons' magic, is there. Not in the heavens. In a land rich in magic and wonder. More than humans or elves or anything else native to Xadia, that Aaravos loves primal magic.
So the first takeaway of the art series is that Aaravos, at one point loved, primal magic. The second is that the key and book were instrumental parts of his love and exploration of it.
We know only a little about the Key of Aaravos: it responds when in proximity to primal arcana (consistency dictated by plot) by the primal symbol on the appropriate side glowing, it is drawn in some way toward the location of Elarion, and it was connected in some way to the events of Aaravos's imprisonment and has been passed down the Orphan Queen's royal bloodline ever since. Oh, and it's used to somehow attune the book to individual primal sources.
As for the book, we know even less: basically that a) it responds to the key and b) whatever Aaravos is doing with it, he was already doing it before Leola's death.
Is this a magical tome that has been given to him to learn about primal magic? Is it similar to Callum's sketch/spellbook, where he records what he has learned? Is he even learning primal rune magic, or is he, perhaps...in the process of creating it?
Whether Aaravos is reading or writing the book, it works in concert with a magical key. It's not clear whether using the key is purely a matter of indicating what "section" of the book you want to access, or if there's an intended security element to it. Is it meant to keep the knowledge inside secure from humans, given the prohibition on them accessing magic? Or is it meant to keep what Aaravos is doing hidden from the eyes of his peers and the archdragons?
Given the link between the two, there's a solid chance that the book is what the key is being drawn to in Elarion, which is especially interesting because...
The Unicorns' Gift: It Was Never Primal Magic
Up until s6, as it became increasingly clear that Leola was not, in fact, a literal unicorn (and had some connection with Aaravos), there wasn't really any reason to doubt that the magic she gave humans was primal magic. Even the Ripples short story—our first indication that magic was specifically forbidden to humans, and giving it to them was not just a possibly foolish whim but a punishable offense—refers to the "precious primal flames" of human magic. The flashback that represents Aaravos's narration of the events doesn't even explicitly challenge the notion that the magic humans learned was primal magic—you have to read between the lines and dig into external sources to realize that the magic Leola shared with humans was not as described in the later stories of her gift.
We have two accounts of humans receiving magic (other than the one Aaravos tells Claudia, Terry, and us in s6): one from Tales of Xadia, and one in the Book One: Moon novelization, where it is specifically attributed to Aaravos. These two stories are largely the same, and also (we now know) almost entirely false:
Humans had no magic because "if humans were supposed to use magic, they would have been born with it." This was a warning from the elves ("First Elves" in Aaravos's version), but no prohibition is mentioned.
Unicorns (Aaravos's version)/a single unicorn named Leola (ToX version) felt compassion for the humans and gave them magic.
The magic was in the form of spell runes and draconic words. (Only Aaravos's version mentions primal stones.)
Humans were not content with what they were given, and dark magic came to be. (In Aaravos's version, a human mage "discovered" dark magic, in the ToX version "Elarion became the birthplace" of dark magic.)
Dark magic was the cause of humanity's expulsion from Xadia and the continent being split. (Only Aaravos's version mentions the extinction of the unicorns, a more direct consequence for their compassionate folly in offering magic to those not meant to have it.)
It's interesting that Aaravos even has a version of this story, since he, y'know, actually knows what happened. Furthermore, while the Tales of Xadia version has no clear author and is presented with a more neutral viewpoint, Aaravos's version reads like a fable told in Xadia as a warning of human greed and corruption. This makes it even more interesting what the discrepancies imply he's hiding:
Attributing the gift to "the unicorns" instead of Leola-as-unicorn distances/erases Leola from the story, completely concealing Aaravos's personal connection with it.
Specifying the magic as primal rune magic is already hiding the truth that there is an entire other type of magic at play, but adding primal stones as part of the gift further conceals that humans can learn primal arcana.
Obviously, Aaravos saying dark magic originated with a human mage conceals his involvement in that, but the ToX version is also very coy about it.
Finally, Aaravos does add a couple details that could be nods to the true story: the involvement of specifically the First Elves, and that the unicorns who gave humans magic were lost forever as a result.
Am I reading too much into this, given the other discrepancies throughout the novelization? Absolutely. Am I going to stop? Absolutely not.
Anyway, this means the real question is: if Leola didn't teach humans primal magic, who did?
We know that it's a thousand years or more between Leola's death and humans receiving dark magic, based on how long Elarion stood. During that time, they explicitly thrive, founding Elarion and growing in power to the point of a golden age. That success is attributed directly to the gift of magic—primal magic. Primal rune magic. So, given that humans being given magic resulted in an execution and geologic/ecologic calamity, who then taught them even more?
Well, I think there's a pretty solid chance it was Aaravos, archmage and master of all six primal sources, possibly using the book of primal magic secrets that he apparently left in Elarion, the city made possible by human magic.
So Why is None of this Mentioned Directly?
Well, probably partly because there's barely any direct mention of Aaravos giving humans dark magic. Like, without the "Midnight Star" poem, we'd probably still be arguing about that. Even Callum's Spellbook, one of the very few places where we see that modern humans even know that dark magic is the reason their ancestors were banished from Xadia, states that dark magic was discovered by a human mage.
(You could say that Callum's Spellbook has a third version of the story of how humans received magic—the one modern humans know. It doesn't mention Leola, unicorns, runes, primal stones, or even humanity's suffering pre-magic at all. Just that humans had no magic, then discovered dark magic and were punished for it by banishment.)
There are really only two specific points where Aaravos giving dark magic to humans is actually referenced:
In the first, dark magic is not specified, but it's Claudia... "magic" and "dark magic" are synonymous for her, especially when it comes to humans. It's notable that every single thing Claudia says, including the part about ancient human suffering, is news to Soren—like I said, no one actually knows about Aaravos's involvement in any of this, at least on the human end. Probably not on the elf end, either, and I'm not convinced that even the archdragons who imprisoned Aaravos knew the full extent of it.
Three seasons later, at the second point Aaravos's gift of dark magic is referenced, he has just explicitly told Ezran that he "carried on [Leola's] work" in empowering humans with magic. Ezran calls him out, accusing him of obscuring the truth that his gift did not help humanity the way Leola's did, but was destructive and self-serving. However, that isn't the only half-truth in this scene: Aaravos goes on to tell Ezran about the Orphan Queen and the Novablade. Ezran figures out the concealed truth in that story, which is that the blade is hidden at the Orphan Queen's grave, and believes that because that truth is concealed, Aaravos doesn't want him to know it. Of course, Aaravos does want Ezran to find the Novablade, so it's a double-layer trick: offer up a half-truth, let Ezran figure out part of what's being concealed, and keep the true secret hidden by the assumption that his trickery has been defeated and the full truth revealed.
How do we know he's not doing the same earlier in the conversation? Like Ezran, we assume that the only truth below "I carried on her work" is that Aaravos gave humans dark magic. Aaravos concedes the point, suggesting that all has been revealed.... but has it?
Of course, that raises the question of why Aaravos would even bother hiding having taught primal magic to humans. This is a realm of solely and entirely speculation, but: we see in his version of the unicorn story that he not only distances Leola (and himself) from humans receiving primal magic, but also conceals that humans ever had unassisted primal magic at all. If his plan for vengeance hinges on the conflict between humans and elves/dragons over dark magic, then once dark magic has entered the picture it's in his interests that humans not know there ever was an alternative.
Additionally, we have to accept that whatever his interest in primal magic before, that part of Aaravos died with Leola—whether immediately, or slowly over years and centuries. If that's the case, why teach humans primal magic in the first place? Why not skip directly to dark magic, if destruction is his long-term goal? Again, entirely speculation, but a few ideas:
Aaravos may not have gone from zero to total annihilation right away. A more subtle vengeance (and one that better honors Leola) might be to prove the Cosmic Order wrong by building up a better world with human magic, instead of proving them right by ending it. This would explain some of his very specific resentment toward the "arrogance" of elves and dragons, if he intended for them to embrace the uplifted humans. (Since they obviously didn't.) Eventually embittered (possibly by the events involving Elarion hinted at in the Midnight Star poem?), he pivoted to tearing it all down with dark magic.
Alternately, maybe Aaravos did go straight to "destroy everything my daughter loved" without passing Go, and and spent the intervening thousand years building humans up with primal magic specifically to make their eventual collapse when expelled from Xadia all the more brutal. If they're already reliant on magic, then they will continue to reach for the easier and more powerful dark magic during the centuries-long crisis of post-exile survival.
Or a third option (that I personally consider unlikely): Aaravos may have genuinely thought that giving humans more magic would in and of itself bring the "great unraveling," just as foreseen... and then kind of wound up having to take matters into his own hands when it didn't.
In any of these cases, Aaravos having first taught humans primal magic also gives him a lot of credibility when he later offers them dark magic. In that case, it's less a story of him coming out of nowhere to offer humans a "cheat" and tempt them away from primal magic, and more like a case of: "Hey, remember how I showed you that really cool thing? Here's something even cooler."
Going Into Arc 3
So, all evidence (or lack thereof) aside, why do I personally like this theory so much?
The answer is two-fold. First, Aaravos having a genuine love of primal magic—of learning primal magic, since he didn't have it innately—is just way too strong of a parallel with Callum to ignore. Second, it makes Aaravos's involvement in dark magic—his direct corruption of primal magic—all the more tragic. This is a show that deals in the very fine line between sacrificing what you love for a greater cause and destroying it for no reason. It's so pervasive I'm not even sure it counts as a theme, anymore. Of course Aaravos should be included in it personally, not just as destroying something Leola loved and he had no personal investment in.
The key is also one of the primary plot leads toward Arc 3, since in the absence of any other information about Aaravos, investigating the key is probably the best place to start. There is some reason for all of Aaravos's association with primal magic, and the intent is for it to be found out.
I could still be completely wrong about all of this! Maybe the book is in Elarion because that's where dark magic began, and is somehow related to that. Maybe Aaravos only mastered rune magic for all six primal sources in order to co-opt the tools of his (dragon) enemies! Maybe he was already looking for a way to leverage/corrupt primal magic before Leola died, and the book is that research. Maybe the Orphan Queen kept the Key of Aaravos in Katolis because the "something of great power in Xadia" that it unlocks is actually some kind of terrible cataclysm, a part of the plan that was thwarted by his imprisonment.
I wouldn't be surprised if the trip to Elarion and physical recovery of the book has already happened by the time of the primary Arc 3 story, because otherwise they'd have to come up with a reason that Callum put it off for seven entire years. I don't think even he could agonize for that long over whether Aaravos knows and means for him to have the Key (similar to Ezran and the Novablade). I also don't think us potentially not getting to see that part is necessarily a bad thing—after all, we didn't see the full impact of Soren finding out Viren is still alive in s4, because they made Strangers hit like a fucking train, instead.
I do think, however, that the book and key plotline will not have been fully resolved. There will still be some reason that the (retrieved) book and key are relevant. It won't be a one-and-done "oh yeah we went to Elarion, there was this book, Callum popped the key in and now he's ass-deep in primal arcana." My bet would be that, if Aaravos has been diminished or lost some of his previous power in his return, the book and key are his path to regaining it—if only as another bit of foresight from the king of contingency planning.
Whatever their purpose may be, whatever Aaravos's involvement in primal magic... if the series continues with The Dragon King, we are going to find out.