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What is Zym's Purpose?

Zym is one of both the most and least interesting characters in The Dragon Prince.

While he is the titular character, in the first three seasons he is mostly a frightened, occasionally helpful plot device, if not outright macguffin for the heroes to escort and protect. In arc 2, he's more along for the ride and his relationship with his mother gets more development, with him playing more of a role in season 4 and season 7, but beyond that Zym doesn't impact the plot too much more, and usually serves as a support / way to develop Ezran further.

This is understandable for a few reasons. In arc 1, Zym was barely a few weeks old, and in arc 2, he's often times facing problems that require different skills than the ones he has on hand. The fact that he couldn't communicate directly with anyone outside of Ezran and Zubeia also hampered his ability to develop. The fact he can now talk (and is voiced by Dante Basco) as of the end of S7, in addition to being the Last Archdragon and new King of the Dragons, have all greatly subsequently elevated his role and importance. It seems likely that arc 3 will be "The Dragon King: The Return of Aaravos" after all.

But... what exactly is Zym's role in TDP, from both an in-universe perspective (i.e. what Aaravos and/or others) expects of him, and from an overarching narrative lens?

Well... let's get into it.

Weird Narrative Setup Shenanigans

To begin, I'm going to start with what Aaravos thinks, or seems to think, of Zym, because there's weird narrative setup in arc 1 compared to arc 2 that I think retroactively make sense. What do I mean by weird? Well...

As Aaravos lays out in 3x07, Zym is of the utmost importance to 'their' plans:

VIREN: So what is the plan? AARAVOS: To fulfil your wishes, of course. [...] And this bright future will require us to conquer Xadia? VIREN: Yes. Yes, perhaps. AARAVOS: The key to achieving your noble aims for humanity is simple.

AARAVOS: Yes. You must take down the Dragon Queen, and capture the baby dragon. Then you will have the attention of all the world, and the power to do what you want.

It's... a little vague, but we know the draconic royal family at this point is Important, and that Zym is accordingly the hope of healing the rift between humans and Xadia, as Rayla says "it could change the world" in 1x06. So Aaravos and Viren assigning similar importance — whatever happens, or is done to Zym, having an impact on The World — isn't out of line.

(It does, however, represent how Aaravos has framed things to validation seeking Viren — "Then we will have to get [the Pentarchy's] 'attention'" in 2x09 with the smoke assassination scheme — but also Aaravos in 7x08 to the stars: "Are you watching?" Do I have your attention?)

Aaravos gets a little more specific in 3x09:

AARAVOS: When you capture the dragonling, I will show you how to take his power, how to imbue yourself with all his magic and potential, so that you will transcend the limits of your human form. Then none will dare stand against you.

Viren asks disturbingly few questions about this, and given that we don't get to see the spell come to fruition, we don't exactly know what he means. However, there are some things we can pull from:

In 3x07 (and again in 6x08) Aaravos is able to possess, control, and tether his energy to Pharos' body, speaking freely through and entirely controlling him. (He does the same with Sir Sparklepuff in 5x09 and with a smaller version of himself in S7, stating "this body is a Vessel".) While these possessions seem temporary, he implies that he can control Callum indefinitely post re-corruption in 7x09.

The spell he uses to consume Zym is channelled through the Staff of Ziard (which was also required to free Sir Sparklepuff, and has a quasar diamond in it) and has some interesting incantations, to say the least: "I swallow your heart, I swallow your mind, I swallow your power" (sometimes with one of these, such as in TOX, being switched out for "I swallow your soul").

We also see a similar idea of imbuing take place in 3x07 with the 'gift' hearts of cinder spell: Viren says he will inoculate his armies with great power, so that the dragons cannot strike them down with fire. So we have one spell already on hand, that Viren purposefully passed on, in making himself (temporarily) immune to enemy dragon fire. So whatever the endgame plan for Zym was, it'd make Viren even more powerful than that.

Moreover, given that Aaravos' first goal in the series was to get out of the prison, it is possible that the intention was to use Zym to combine with Viren, and make himself a new body. However, this runs into two potential problems:

If Aaravos' spirit could be distilled in that manner, Sir Sparklepuff + the quasar diamond could've been used from the start to give him a new body. The prison and locating his specific soul was therefore a necessary step still not covered in S3.

Regardless of the manner the quasar diamond is used for, and how much that person may want it to work (Claudia in 6x08), love is still a necessary ingredient for the spell with the diamond to function (as are the other physical properties).

Now, it is possible that Zym being an archdragon could override certain things (their bite can destroy a Startouch elf's mortal vessel after all, which is undeniably OP) and that Zym in particular is a Weird Archdragon (more on that later). "Transcending the limits of your human form" could very well mean becoming a suitable permanent body host for Aaravos in ways that possession just wouldn't suffice for.

But "then none will stand against you" makes me think otherwise, precisely because who is included in those 'none'? Aaravos has already heard the story of how Viren took down Avizandum, "the most powerful creature in the world" (even if Aaravos is definitely stroking Viren's ego with some of that one). Zubeia is in a coma and the other Archdragons are MIA; the Sunfire stronghold just fell; who is left to seriously stand against? Well...

But how does Zym + Viren (or Staff) = power to stand against the Cosmic Council? Well, it comes down to what I think Aaravos' endgame is with Zym, in some ways, which is:

A Weapon of Vengeance (In Theory)

Zym being a weapon is one of the first things we see the series refer to him as, and his duality—partially shared with dragons as a whole—between a weapon vs a child/baby, or a god vs a person, is present throughout.

AARAVOS: Avizandum was no person. Avizandum was the great King of all the dragons. (3x06)

HARROW: Thunder is the most powerful beast the world has ever seen. How can we hope to kill such a godly creature? (3x06)

This is brought home, of course, in 3x06. Viren and Harrow make a weapon of vengeance to kill an archdragon... and then create one anyway (in their heads) in orphaning his child. Viren then decides to go clean things up, of course, by destroying it... But this just leads to Xadia's revenge on Katolis, nor does Viren actually go through with it either.

But this dichotomy of weapon vs child continues. Claudia and Rayla remind us of it in 2x02, stating:

RAYLA: Whoa, what happened to 'it's not an egg, it's a powerful weapon?' CLAUDIA: Still true. One day it could bring death and destruction raining down on all of us. But for now, he's so widdle!

Now, this makes a lot of sense. Most TDP characters are informed by their respective dualities, and a good chunk of those dualities have to do with whether they will be dehumanized (Ezran as a child vs a king; Rayla as a person vs a monstrous elf) or dehumanize (Soren as a crownguard vs Viren's tool; dark magic use, etc) themselves or others. Zym's slots neatly into the first one, which is why I — admittedly — hadn't thought too much of it before. Zym might be the titular character, but he's hardly one of the more developed main characters and holds less plot importance in arc 2 than he did in arc 1, as Aaravos' prison replaces him as the prime macguffin.

But to be fair, this is TDP, where everything is on purpose, and oft more literally than we first expect. And, as of arc 3, we are going to see Zym be decidedly grown up, given how much bigger he'd gotten in just two years. How big is he going to be after another seven?

With the previous two sections in mind, I want to posit that Zym's primary narrative question in arc 3—and indeed, quietly building throughout the series—is whether or not he'll be a Weapon (of Vengeance).

Specifically, of Aaravos' vengeance.

This would explain the focus on Zym's duality, S7 continuing to highlight it further, re-contextualize Aaravos' plans for his pawns + what he was going to do to Zym, and why he believes the Dragon Prince was the Key to Something, if not something still.

So, what's up with that?

Soft Rewind: The Snags in the Plan

In season 6 and a little bit in season 7, we get an idea of how being timeblind works. It's still not exactly precise, and it seems that Kosmo's prophecy fills in the other blank. When in proximity, Aaravos can see how certain choices may turn out (i.e. "If you tell [Claudia] the truth, you will lose her"). When far away, much like the prophecy, he can 'see' certain fixed points: they will need Claudia soon; Callum will turn to dark magic again; and Ezran getting the Nova Blade is ultimately a win, even if it's not entirely clear why yet (more on that here).

We also know that these fixed points are not quite so fixed as Aaravos or others believe. Aaravos seemed very confident that Rayla would never bring herself to kill, but she very much proved otherwise; he wasn't prepared for Callum asking Runaan — another Moonshadow assassin — to kill him; Callum assumed the prophecy in S7 was about himself, but it was actually about Avizandum, a betrayal that Aaravos never saw coming either.

With all these things in mind, this is the following argument:

1) Aaravos knew ahead of time that he needed a Dragon Prince — heir to the Draconic Monarchy — to bring down the Cosmic Council and dismantle the Cosmic Order. Could be prophecy, could be timeblindness, but it was something he was waiting for (and we know storm dragons — possibly all Archdragons — only lay an egg every thousand years).

This will either end with A) Zym helping to bring down the unjust Cosmic Council, but not in the way Aaravos expected; B) Zym subverting his supposed destiny (also see point A); or C) referred to Sol Regem, whose actions incited Aaravos' anger and led him to "deliver their fear" of chaos and destruction.

2) Aaravos assumes, therefore, that Zym was that Dragon Prince when he was born, since he knows things he shouldn't even from trapped within his mirror (Rayla sparing Marcos; the Orphan Queen taking the Nova Blade to her grave post-imprisonment).

3) Aaravos believes accordingly that Zym is meant to be / will be forged into a Weapon of Vengeance. Whether this was grafting his essence/power onto Viren's body and/or staff of Ziard to make one to literally wield (just the tooth of an archdragon can kill a Startouch elf's mortal vessel, after all). We've seen the Staff of Ziard be directly compared to a weapon (sword) elsewhere, for example, with the staff taking the place of Harrow's sword in Viren's nightmares.

But of course, Aaravos planning to "torch Zym and Viren and/or Staff of Ziard to make a weapon" doesn't make complete sense (he'd still need the quasar diamond to get out) and might be unnecessary, given that a full grown Archdragon Zym on his own would function perfectly fine as a weapon.

Alternatively, Aaraovs might've seen in the future that Avizandum would die, leaving his son ripe to perpetuate the cycle ("you have set the wheels of history in motion and one day, my child will avenge me"), both are tangible.

And in many ways, that is what could've happened in 3x06. If Harrow and Viren had left the egg, Zym would've grown up mourning his father even more deeply than he already does. It is unlikely that Zubiea would've fallen into a deep slumber (Zym is enough to drag her out of it, literally and emotionally) and it is unknown whether she still would've sent assassins. Her child's murder, it seems, was the insult to injury she could not bear; however, given that Harrow and Viren sought out Avizandum just over Sarai, it's still possible. Regardless, Zym would've had every tangible reason to hate humans with very little reason to think otherwise (this is true of the princes, too, with Xadia, yet they don't... but bear with me).

So far, then, it seems our hypothesized "Aaravos' plans for Zym" are going off without a hitch. Even from the pearl and without his direct influence, Aaravos' Staff of Ziard dark magic wielding human favourite(s) are doing exactly what he'd want them to do. Or are they?

VIREN: His destiny will be the destruction of humanity. [...] Now, you may witness history as I end a dynasty by destroying that dragon's egg.

Let's call this Potential Snag #1, then, wherein Viren decides to go one step further than perhaps seen ahead of time, and wants to destroy/kill Zym outright before he can even hatch. It's very quasi-Cosmic Council of him — the belief in absolute destiny, the assumption of inclination towards others' being violent without question, wanting to / being willing to kill a child, period — and, through our current lens, would completely halt Aaravos' plans in its tracks.

But Viren, of course, doesn't.

In comes Potential Snag #2 with a steel chair, emphasis on potential, as well as whether it counts as Viren or Tiadrin or Viren-and-Tiadrin's snag.

After all, if Aaravos' plans need Zym to live, this checks off that requirement. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's eventually indicated Aaravos saw this moment ahead of his first meeting with Viren, and therefore knew how to entice him — not all mages (Claudia, Callum) can be drawn in by a thirst for outright political power the way that Viren — "too curious, hungry for knowledge and power" — was hook line and sinker. The fact it doubles as "You won't hesitate to use an innocent creature/child to further your own ends and desire for agency/power" neatly bookends Aaravos' expectations and surprise when Viren rejects the blood of child ritual.

Either way, Viren decidedly doesn't kill Zym, puts the elves in coins for unknown personal reasons (perhaps to maintain as a threat, or soul fragments can be useful for future spells), and spirits him secretly back to Katolis. This, still, persists in not being an entirely a snag. Viren blatantly hoped to use the egg, hatched or otherwise, to be a weapon.

Then we get near-definitive Snag #3:

While it's plausible that the kids finding Zym was something Aaravos wanted — or canonically is something he's willing to work with — there's no doubt it would've been simpler if the egg had stayed in Katolis, ready for his mage-turned-warlord king Viren to utilize now that Harrow had been disposed of. If Aaravos' plans depend on the perpetuation of the cycle ("[the Mage Wars were] a violent, terrible cycle"), given how he uses dark magic and weaponizes grief to sometimes literal degrees as well as his various pawns, returning Zym does more harm than good to his plans and ideals. Viren (2x04), Rayla (3x09), and Callum (7x08) are thus far the only people to fundamentally surprise him: who's to the say the trio didn't do so from the start?

There's also one more major snag in mind but before we can talk about that, we have to talk about:

More of Zym's Weirdness (power-ups)

Zym is a weird little guy. Some of this, of course, is because Ezran is also a weird little guy (and more on Ezran and Zym in the next section), specifically when it comes to their telepathic link with one another. They can mutually see through each other's eyes, taste things (4x06), and communicate feelings/words. This is less weird, of course, because Ezran can do the latter with animals of all sorts, not just Zym. But the elevation of their bond is definitely weird, and deus ex machina's (not in a bad way) Zym's flight problem in 2x09.

Of Zym's abilities, we see a few that are typically normal. He can fly, the way thus far any dragon with wings can. He can generate lightning like his parents, with accordingly zappy kisses. But there are some things that have been odd about Zym from the beginning, such as:

The aforementioned psychic bond with Ezran since it's not just Ezran's weirdness.

His rainbow electricity, which neither of his parents seemingly have and we have not see any other dragon have anything similar towards.

This one is extra weird to me because often times the electricity he generates or channels will start off (or sometimes remain) blue, but then it switches to the rainbow lightning.

And last but not least, whatever the ever loving fuck THIS was??

Like, sure, sky magic could have something to do with sound and being able to travel fast as fuck... But like, even when we see Avizandum's comparative 'power up' in 2x06 when he was in his prime as the Dragon King, the closest we get is the eye glow, and even then it's pretty radically different.

I can't fathom personally why Zym would have powers his parents don't have, but it seems like beyond being the Dragon Prince turned Dragon King, and now the last Archdragon period, Zym is an outlier. Maybe it's because he was hatched with a primal stone or out of love or something, maybe it's some kind of prophecy or other special circumstances, but there is something Weird about Zym from both a Narrative standpoint (weirdness #1) and an Abilities standpoint (weirdness #2) that we probably only going to fully understand by the time we get to arc 3.

Maybe weirdness #2 is the reason for weirdness #1 if, as in the proposed theory, Aaravos had to wait around for Zym, and for Zym o be a weird little guy specifically, in order to be a proper Weapon.

Now let's talk about why Zym in arc 3 ultimately won't be.

The Last Snag: Ezran

Outside of season 3, the majority of Zym's screentime is devoted to his bond with Ezran. Callum and Rayla have their moments with him in S3 and a couple in S4, as does Soren in S6 (and Zym by proxy through Zubeia in S4/S5) but, while Zubeia might've been Zym's most important relationship emotionally, his relationship with Ezran is the most important for him in the show overall.

It is interesting, therefore, that S7 sets up a thread of conflict for them, specifically in Ezran growing to understand dragons as 1) weapons, if only in the vein of something he needs to defend against and 2) worth building weapons to combat.

AANYA: With these, we can build weapons to protect the human kingdoms, even from dragons. EZRAN: Thank you, Queen Aanya. This may be exactly what we need.

He's convinced, of course, that they won't have to use them... until they do indeed use them against Aaravos a few episodes later. Whether Ezran will ever use them personally against dragons remains to be seen (especially after the Archdragon sacrifice), but it seems inevitable that someone will in the future, whether it's a character we already know or a new antagonist of some kind. Ezran's actions will come back to hurt him and Zym and barring that, Zym's people — the other dragons of Xadia, many of whom are not nearly as powerful as the Archdragon(s) that torched Katolis in the first place.

The creation of the ruby fire weapons also cuts to the core of dragons within TDP: if they can inherently destroy, should they be treated inherently as weapons? Does their unique capacity for destruction mean other regulations or precautions be put in place? Or should we sit and hope on the grace of goodness that — thus far Sol Regem being the primary 'unprovoked' exception — dragons won't attack just because they can?

There's not yet a straight forward answer in general, but when it comes to Zym specifically, I think TDP has already given it to us:

Zym is not a weapon, or even primarily a king, because he is first and foremost Ezran's brother.

CALLUM: But I couldn't let the bad feelings stick, cause we were going to need each other. Because we're brothers. I still need you, Ezran.

DOMINA PROFUNDIS: Hold onto each other.

Ezran is the one who found Zym in the dungeons, and believed he should fetch his brother and decide what to do together; he's the one who dived after him in the water and taught him how to fly; Ez is instrumental in teaching Zym to become the dragon and person he was meant to be; and will continue to be.

Ezran is Zym's biggest remaining link to his family and his true self. While the two will likely have conflict, and even temporarily at odds, their connection is too strong to be entirely broken. They are twin souls, and Zym's bond with Ezran is, I think, ultimately what will mean not playing into Aaravos' hands, and choosing his own destiny... the same way that Ezran's other brother, Callum, will ultimately not be a weapon of Aaravos and forge his own path.

Zym may be a kind of chosen one, but he still has a choice so long as he has Ezran.

King of Kings / Closing Thoughts

Zym's full name — Azymondias — has always been of interest to me. It's a reference, after all, to one of my favourite poems in general and quite a well-known / famous one I got to study in undergrad: Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias:

I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desart. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" No thing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

It's a beautiful poem, inspired/written about Ramses II, about how nothing lasts forever and that the pursuit of immortal power is ultimately futile. Time chips away at everything till nothing more remains, and memory likewise does not last forever.

It was always something I was curious about in relation to TDP in terms of... why, and why use it for Zym in particular, and not another character? It could, like Finnegrin's Wake, be a reference to literary work in little more than name (and I do not miss reading James Joyce).

But the A-Ozymandias connection always felt more purposeful to me. Even in S1 or arc 1, it was so close to being involved in TDP's theming, since the show had multiple monarchs running around.

Arc 2, I think, then steadily paved the way forward towards creating a place for the poem to be more relevant. We see a greater emphasis on lost history; we see characters play out that chasing royal power / glory is futile (Viren, Karim) or that immortality (Viren, Kpp'Ar) is not worth the price; that the burden of near immortality is not necessarily one you should want; and I expect we'll see even more of those things in arc 3, particularly that pursuing power/knowledge > love is wrong.

But I don't believe Zym is Ozymandias, at least directly. I think it's the Cosmic Council and their unending time and unbending rigour. Presumably, their Cosmic Order was meant to last forever and did the opposite, collapsing in on itself within a few thousand years.

Because — as foretold or forged striving against the stars — Zym will be instrumental in upending the Cosmic Council. He is set to take a bigger role in arc 3 as the Dragon King, particularly now he can talk and make his own arguments, and in having conflict with his brother Ezran. Zym is set up to be a weapon — like a corrupted Callum; like an increasingly dangerous Claudia, who's become more of a dragon like him than ever — and instead to choose to be a symbol and bringer of hope and peace for all of Xadia, the stars included. Perhaps the Cosmic Council feared him, and they will again, but not for the reasons they expect. He'll be part of their downfall, but not in violence — in justice. Because he's not a weapon.

Instead, he will always be Azymondias, king of kings.

[Image of Zym in the intro's starry clouds, with his head in the bottom right curve of the circle.]

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