Callum and an unknown girl discussing how assassins don’t decide right and wrong only life and death and what constitutes a provoked and unprovoked attack and how revenge is a cycle that doesn’t end
Ezran, apparently: yeah sounds like the kind of conversation my brother would have with someone he’s likely to date
POV: You just found out that when I asked you if you wanted to come over and “watch Netflix and have a good time” all I meant was “watch The Dragon Prince.”
Rewatching tdp again from the start! I really liked the scene in S1EPO4 when Callum tries to scare Amaya into letting them go by calling Rayla a monster, only to have it completely backfire on them with Amaya nearly killing Rayla.
Really hammers in the main theme, that fear mongering and hatred won't solve anything. Only leads to more violence and misunderstanding each other.
Ezran's unconvincing "ow" still lives in my head rent free. Also, weapons-grade bread. Gotta love that weapons-grade bread.
Suddenly I find it interesting that Ezran made arrangements for Zubeia to visit without telling literally anyone that it was happening beforehand. Ez, buddy . . . you really gotta talk to people as a king.
I'm glad Rayla at least acknowledged that she hurt him. As much as a part of me wishes it had come with an apology, I also get why it didn't. She's not sorry. She was protecting him.
Something that's interesting to me is that Opeli is expressing kind of the same concerns as Karim and Amaya were. She's concerned that Ezran honoring the dragons in the Valley of Graves is moving too fast given the bloody history between their people. People are scared that Ezran is welcoming these Xadians into their home too much, just like Karim's followers are concerned Janai is welcoming the humans into their home too much. It just comes across different because Opeli is more diplomatic about how she says it, and it's about a brotherly relationship rather than a romantic one.
It does consistently bother me that Zubeia's posture is constantly mantling her wings. That's a threatening/defensive posture in most winged animals. Pyrrah does it too to a lesser degree. But all of the dragons should be holding their wings more like Zym, folded completely at their sides, not making them particularly bigger, unless they're agitated. Unless this is some kind of cultural thing that they're just not explaining to us as viewers, since they are an intelligent species here.
I know Soren's comedy routine was Meant To Be Cringe, but still, oof.
Also Callum my dude sleeping fully in his clothes hits painfully.
Hey so what was goin on with these two guards alone in a tent that straighten up and stop touching real quick after the jelly tart explodes?
"In the name of the dragons and the first elves . . ." is an interesting oath.
Where tf has Ibis been this whole time exactly? Claudia's been in the den an awfully long time without any interference whatsoever.
I love Ibis' character arc. He drops his whole life somewhere else because he's such a powerful mage he genuinely believes he can be of help to a sick Archdragon of his element. He remains there to help her raise her hatchling with her mate gone. He takes on a human apprentice and long-distance teaches him for two years. He's openly affectionate with the dragonling, scared enough of the Queen to try and dodge consequences for not getting her kid to eat his vegetables, but not enough to be concerned At All about the consequences if she finds out he did that. He serves faithfully for two years but the SECOND the staff is at risk of falling into the hands of a dark mage again he's like well I guess the solution is treason, I'm going to immediately try to destroy this thing in direct contradiction to what the queen wanted. I also am absolutely willing to murder over it.
Soren getting Threatening over the destroyed painting hits, too. In that moment you can see a flash of the same thing that had Claudia slap Viren last episode. It's that violence that he and Claudia were both raised around. Except unlike Claudia and Viren, when Ezran restrains him, he looks guilty. He steps back.
There have been plenty of posts talking about the cinematography of putting Ezran's speech about peace over the top of the mage fight at the storm spire, I won't go over it again, but I do appreciate Ibis being the most powerful sky mage in Xadia but also stepping forward to just straight up grapple a bitch when the magic is taking too long. Also something about him going for strangling Claudia, taking her breath, when air is his element. The sky is his thing.
I appreciate the thematic inclusion of the Song of Love And Loss from Corvus, but I do have to call it out as yet another one of those things that Corvus just suddenly does now with no leadup whatsoever, after having an established character already. It would make more sense if he played literally any instrument that traveled better than a cello, too, or if in one of his little flavor moments with Soren he mentioned enjoying being able to play again after so many years on the road where taking one along wasn't practical, but it really just comes out of nowhere. You can rationalize it, you can headcanon things in, but we don't know how this fits into who he was in Arc 1. Honestly, randomly playing an expensive, sedantary instrument fits better with the obviously noble-born Commander Gren or even Soren himself than it does with what we already know of Corvus.
Ibis wouldn't be bleeding from the mouth that quickly from a stab wound that low. Because he's already injured at this point we'll let how quickly he passed out go, it makes sense if the pain just is too much and the brain had to do a reset before he could wake up in a little bit to drag himself to the Pinnacle. That said it's also so funny to imagine he was faking the collapse to buy himself time to send the message and he has to just lay there face down listening to this boy cry about how he "had to" stab him.
Something about how we ended the third episode of season 1 with Runaan stumbling out of a tower and sending off a message of death with his last bit of strength, and we also end the third episode of season 4 with Ibis stumbling out of a tower and sending off a message of warning with his last breath.
I know a lot of people are mad that Rayla apologized to Ezran but not to Callum but once again no yeah that makes perfect sense for who she is. She's not sorry for how she left Callum, because she did it to protect him. She is sorry for how she left Ezran, because he was just caught in the crossfire of what she was doing for Callum. I'm not saying she's right, it was still hurtful and she needs the character development she gets later of learning NOT to just go it alone, but it makes perfect sense for where she is in her character arc right now.
I get that Harrow's statue was meant to mirror Sarai's but I do wish he'd gotten something that's more meaningful to his moment, rather than hers. Sarai is reaching down off a horse because that's how she died, reaching from a horse to rescue Viren. That pose isn't meaningful for Harrow.
Still mad about how Ibis died tbh. You're telling me this man had enough strength left to drag himself up to the top of the pillar and enough mental clarity to send that message, hours and hours after his wounds, but then died immediately afterward. We got like, six episodes with this man, only two or three of which he was a major character in, but the implication is that he shaped Callum so much in the two years we missed . . . and we just don't get to know anything else about him.
I've been rewatching tdp and with every S4 episode I like Terry more
"Dark magic leaves you with a tingling feeling, they don't tell you about it"
"Claudia really knows her shit"
"I fell from this mountain" "Only once!"
"Are we really moving forward on this shortcut?" "Probably... Oh yeah, yes, of course"
Yas my boy go on go on. At first I was mad at him being just thrown into the plot but now as I'm watching it all again it's just hell yeah Terry, innocent heart my ass
If we assume Moonshadow elves see painting each other's markings as a bonding activity, something done with family or other people important to them...
...especially if spouses paint each other...
... Then in S5 E9, when Callum is drawing mage gills on everyone, I can see Rayla trying not to blush and thinking over and over It's not the same to him it's not the same to him.
Edited to add: Bonus if Callum knows it's kinda personal and is also awkward about it.
