How far can a person bend before they break and how long can the broken be wielded before they turn double edged?
This season was so devastatingly beautiful, but ironically, the metaphorical crown wouldn't be heavy if the gemstones didn't dig into the head of the wearer.
Sometimes, the line between mercy and cruelty can be thin.
The reason WHY Claudia resonates so deeply with Aaravos' story is because it's a mirror that she finds herself in. She IS the daughter in the story but not the one who pays the price. No, that was paid by her father... her father, who was brave enough to do what Aaravos couldn't. What's heartbreaking is that she doesn't even realize what she's discarding is the same thing Viren chose to embrace in death; his humanity.
One father who chose to bear the brunt, and another who chose to sacrifice his child.
I absolutely loved the parallel between Callum and Rayla having a do-over of their reunion, getting what could've been, but Viren refusing to reveal the truth to Soren, knowing one is a blessing and the other, a curse. Forever losing the opportunity to know what could've been.
The loss portrayed was so unsettling...
To even the loss we felt as the audience, seeing what made Viren who he was... his own son, to seeing what he made himself and the loss of what could've been and how his death proved the one thing we didn't want him to show... him having a human heart. And that's what this show did magnificently... it made this audience root for people against our will.
From the unfinished story of the lovers forever frozen in time to the mournful ballad rayla sang to console the stormbringer.
The only thing left to see is how these weapons charecters are to be utilized.
How callum will embrace his darkness and if Rayla will be able to kill him if need be. Or if promises will not be the only things to be broken next time.
Listen I'll have no way to prove or disprove this for years but I'm convinced that Dark Mage Callum in the woods was Aaravos. I suspected it on a first watch but now I feel more certain
Between the "However dangerous, however vile" and the hands behind his back posture and the specific half smirk as Callum left I just.
And then Aaravos talking to Ezran about Callum in the episode after.
So in The Dragon Prince, we see a fair share of death. But the ways in which the Archdragons die has always caught my eye. Just look at Sol Regem and Rex Igneous as an example
Sol Regem, a sun dragon, turns into fire and motes of light. Rex Igneous, an earth dragon, crumbles into molten rock. Both return to the primal source they are bonded to
You could also extend this to the other god-like beings of Xadia: Startouch elves. When they die (with similar flair I might add), they “return to the heavens,” ie., their primal source
There seem to be rites in elven culture that embody this concept too, like the Sunfire elves soul flame ceremony, but it’s pretty clear a physical return to the source only happens with the most powerful beings in Xadia. After all, we see plenty of dead/dying humans and elves, but none of them spontaneously combust!
The only exceptions that comes to mind are Ibis and Khessa. In Ibis’ case, Zubeia specifically requests that Callum perform a ritual that turns the body into a flock of birds, and affirming that he was her friend. Perhaps it is considered the greatest honour in Xadian culture to have your physical body rejoin your primal source like the Archdragons? Conversely, Aaravos flicks Khessa on the chin and turns her to ash - but it is unclear if this is a twisted way of giving her a ‘death fit for a queen’, or if it’s something else entirely
I guess the point I’m trying to make is if the natural end for Archdragons/Startouch elves (and the honoured tradition for regular elves) is for their essence to rejoin their respective source in death - then to be denied that would be deeply unnatural and disrespectful
Perhaps that is an additional element to the tragedy of Leola and Avizandum’s deaths? Leola, who should have been laid to rest among the stars, was cast down and denied that right. And Avizandum, who should have returned to the sky, had his body and soul imprisoned in stone
the celestial council killed Leola because she gave the humans magic (primal magic) and in all their celestialness and future seeing they only saw what would come of it (dark magic/end of the world/no more balance bla bla) but didn’t realise that the act of punishing her would drive Aaravos to look for a way to avenge her (by killing the other star touch elves on the council) and how would he do that?? By inventing a magic that takes power from squishing it out of a creature. And what are startouch elves made of?
*smokes bubble pipe* I suppose you're wondering why I've gathered you all here today. It is simple, mes amis. We've waited six years to find out what really happened inside King Harrow's chamber the night the assassins attacked. And with the release of S7, all these long years later, I finally have the last pieces of information I need to find the full truth.
We all thought there was a murder to solve in the king's chamber. But I'm here to tell you now, that is not the case.
Let us begin at the beginning and assemble our evidence:
The night Harrow died, Runaan tried to convince Rayla to give up the egg, tried to scare her off from returning it.
He couldn't sway her from her journey of redemption, though. They came to blows.
But he chose his mission over killing her. He wasn't even out of breath when they stopped fighting - if he'd truly wanted her dead, she'd be dead.
He left her behind and led four assassins up the front steps of the tower. There, he executed a frontal assault on the king's chamber, when they're built and trained for stealth.
The fight dragged on loudly. It drew extra soldiers from around the entire castle, who left their posts unguarded. But it had a purpose.
Delaying his own victory would cost lives on both sides, but clearing a path for Rayla to escape with two soft human princes in tow would ensure her survival. Runaan had already committed himself to this course when he refused to force her to complete the mission. He couldn't back out now.
Alright, that's the catch-up. For years, we had no idea what actually happened inside Harrow's chamber. But in S7, we finally got a peek. And I'm afraid it's told me everything I need to know. *more bubble pipe noises*
Let's consider these newer clues from S7:
When Runaan finally breached Harrow's door, two other assassins rushed in with him: Andromeda and Skor. Only Callisto, it seems, had fallen alongside Ram out in the hall.
Runaan drew his bow and killed Harrow - or so his binding ribbon believed -
- but the next we see -only moments later as the reinforcements have not yet arrived from below - only one assassin staggered out of that chamber and onto the balcony.
The other four members of the squad died in this battle, and their bodies were recovered by Viren, along with their weapons.
Which means, no one else survived that room. Only Runaan.
The assassins weren't attacked by human troops, either. Runaan had time to stagger out to the balcony at his hobbled pace. No guards caught up to him until he'd already shot the shadowhawk arrow.
When he burst into Harrow's chamber, this is what he was wearing.
When he left it, this was all he had.
Moonshadow assassins are some of the deadliest fighters in all of greater Xadia. No one survives them. No one.
No one... except Runaan of the Silvergrove.
Remember when I said we were not here to solve a murder in the king's chamber? That is because we are here to solve several murders in the king's chamber.
He turned on them.
Runaan turned on what remained of his own squad - Skor and Andromeda. He killed them. For Rayla.
They wanted Rayla dead. In the show, they believed she should die alongside them. In the novelization Book One: Moon, they specifically wanted Runaan to kill her for failing to do her duty. Either way, if any one of Runaan's squad survived and returned to the Silvergrove to report what Runaan had done - and had not done - when his mission went pear-shaped, he would've had to kill Rayla then and there. Right in front of Ethari.
And that, mes amis, he could not abide. He could not bear to be the monster he feared he had always been, right where his husband could see him.
And so, his only remaining option was for his surviving assassins to perish in battle, with their own honor intact and his in tatters. But they went down hard.
They broke Runaan's horn. They stripped off his tunic. They nearly cut his throat. They messed up his hair. Oui, the most unforgivable.
They wanted to live. Runaan did not allow them to.
He trained them all. He loved them.
And he killed them, to save Rayla's life.
For love of Rayla, his precious daughter, Runaan of the Silvergrove killed his own assassins.
It is no wonder he could not look Keeper Lyrennus in the eye when the man asked Runaan about his son.
He's drowning in guilt. He knows what he did. Even though Ram died from another's strike, Runaan knows he would have killed him himself if he'd had to.
This image of Runaan's fear at the sight of the red spirit Lyrennus cast, it lands differently now, no?
He hasn't told them. Perhaps he never will. But he has committed this sin nonetheless, and he must carry it with him for the rest of his life.
Runaan's last and darkest secret. No wonder he accepted Callum the moment he turned against Ezran and fought his own soldiers for Rayla's sake. He knows exactly what that feels like.
