Harrow - Tumblr Posts - Page 2
Please who gave harrow my phone number
We’ve moved too quickly from Harrow’s line to Callum “I see myself in you.”
My headcanon is that Harrow was once also awkward and clumsy as a kid, but also headstrong and strived to do the right thing.
Family portraits - part one
harrow is an incredible character. no not because he's perfect. it's because he's not!!!!
the way that he managed to be an amazing father and have a deeply flawed character in such unison should be a gold standard for writing. he's not "too pure to be a ruler" or whatever; no goofy joke he makes will make up for the fact that he killed avizandum. that he took down the monarch of xadia, a mate and a father, when he hadn't posed as an active threat for years--or ever, really. plus he fully committed to killing zym.
"he had a good reason" did he really? like bro there are a lot of fucking dragons in xadia in the long run killing one won't do shit. he may have made the decision with an angsty smolder but it was still a stupid, impulsive one. and as for the former act, yes, thunder thighs killed sarai (and everyone's favorite lesbians :(), he orphaned three precious innocent babies without a care in the world. avizandum was a ruthless, ignorant motherfucker, on that much i agree (which leads to the discussion of how the humans are humans but xadians are just as prejudiced and pretentious but that's a worship post for another day.) and no, i won't sit here and say that in harrow's position i would be perfectly fucking civil (ronan lynch ref go brr), i'm just stating the facts. ok my interpretation of the facts. tldr he did a shitty thing, but were his intentions good? no. was his heart in the right place? nada. was his hateful homicidal mindset fueled by a reasonable inciting incident? yes yes it was!
(also worthy to mention how much his rule benefited from dark magic. he ultimately made the noble decision to deny it but yk. still)
now believe you me, i recognize that a character who is seemingly perfect turning out to have a dark past isn't exactly revolutionary. but the artistry is in the execution + closure.
from a trope perspective, it really isn't a dark "past." this barbarity occurred literal months before the start of the series, where we see father of the year himself. i just feel that in other shows, the grotesque details of his crimes would use the characters, or at least the framing of the story, to imply that it's so shocking that he would do such a thing and o woe i'll never look at him the same, but it doesn't. which is really what makes his death so impactful.
he's not just a wholesome dad type who is this innocent pure-hearted king. the narrative isn't that his death is such a colossal tragedy cause he was just such a good guy. he's emotional, profound, and righteous, and all of it ends up being a double edged sword!!! because that's how human traits work!!! the narrative doesn't do anything to frame him in any way, it just presents him in full truth. and lo and behold, i don't think there's a single viewer who thinks he is terrible person.
the beauty in his story is that he warranted his own death, and he was willing to acknowledge and accept it more than anyone. he subjected himself to the consequences of his own actions, and the people he influenced most are the ones who see that.
ezran says it all himself: his father, ultimately, was a great king, and an incredible person. but he is strong enough to point out harrow's weaknesses and commit to learning from them.
harrow isn't this shining example of everything a king should be. his death isn't just this unfortunate, harrowing (haa.ha.ahaha) circumstance used to dump a truckload of character-building trauma onto our mcs. it's the first step in the entire journey of the mf show. change. it's the moment where ezran, through all his grief, sees exactly where his path needs to lead to.
harrow fucked up, he knows this, and that's all she wrote. he meant just as much in death as in life, and if that isn't friggin beautiful then i don't know what is.
aagagghh. WRITING ⬆️⬆️⬆️!!!!!!
only just realized that I'd accidentally posted this to the wrong blog 😭 I hate it here
version w/out skull paint under the cut
