Tdp S2 - Tumblr Posts

Ask not for whom the pussy pops for it pops for thee

Sorry, Runaan fans

After he sees Viren put him in a coin

aaravos when he saw runaan half naked and chained up in front of his mirror

This is so cute!! I’m gonna cry😭😭💙💙💙

Credit to thedrawingbirb on Twitter

@ask-runaan-anything

TDP spoilers, I guess?

Ellis: Goodbye! I'll miss you guys! Don't you forget about me! Don't, don't, don't, don't!

My Dumb Ass, Two Days Later: ...Was that a goddamn Simple Minds reference?

Assorted Thoughts on The Dragon Prince Season Two

Hey, guys. Spaceman here, and… *sigh* …fine.

Since I reviewed season one of Netflix’s The Dragon Prince last week, I suppose I should talk about season two, which premiered last Friday. But I thought I already told you guys, The Dragon Prince… just doesn’t do much do much for me. Don’t get me wrong; season one wasn’t bad or anything, but it just kind of felt standard and a bit meh, so it was hard to get too excited for the second season, and I’m not going in expecting much—

HOLY SH—okay, wow, um… so, The Dragon Prince season two is actually kind of awesome, so… just… completely disregard everything I said in that last paragraph, because jeezus, I was wrong as hell. Seriously, this season is legit! Nearly every problem I had with season one is rectified in season two, all while still remaining subversive to my expectations. Let’s get into it!

The Animation

Okay, the first big, kind of obvious thing I have to talk about is the animation. That was one of the most criticized aspects of season one, the CGI, semi-2D look that just felt choppy in a lot of places, and I was super critical of it myself. Well, I have to hand it to Wonderstorm, because they really pull through on season two. It looks much smoother and more professional and doesn’t pull me out of the moment as it did in season one. Series creator Aaron Ehasz said in interviews that the animation would be more smoothed out, and I’m glad to hear that those words weren’t just hollow. It seems that the crew behind this show are willing to listen to criticism.

The Characters

I already talked about the main characters in my review of season one, so I don’t feel the need to talk much about them, since I don’t want to go into major spoiler territory just yet. With maybe one exception: Ezran. I criticized his character as feeling flat in season one, but he actually improves quite a great deal in season two. It’s nice seeing him form a bond with the baby dragon, Azymondias, and how it takes a toll on Bait, his animal companion from season one, who feels neglected. Also, his reaction when he discovers that his father had died seems… very believable. With little time dedicated to it and few words spoken, he goes through the entire spectrum of emotions upon discovering this: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and then acceptance. His acceptance ties in with a very important decision he makes in the last episode of the series, though I’ll get to that in the spoiler section.

Among the characters from season one I neglected to talk about are Ellis and her pet wolf, Ava. They only appear for the first three episodes of season two, but I liked them well enough and they do help out our main characters a great deal. I also like Lujanne, the Guardian of the Moon Nexus. It’s nice to see other elf characters, since we have yet to actually arrive in Xadia, and she’s funny in the kooky kind of way; it’s pretty clear that spending years alone protecting the Moon Nexus has made her go a bit off the deep end.

Some of the more notable characters include Gren, who always seems to maintain a cheerful attitude even when things are going wrong—I remember him saying, “Why see myself as chained down, when I can see my self as chained up?” which was a pretty funny moment—and Captain Villads, the blind narcoleptic pirate who Rayla and the princes hitch a ride with.

Hey, I just realized, I’ve been talking about the characters in The Dragon Prince and somehow neglected to mention the dragon prince himself! Azymondias, nicknamed Zym, is the hatchling from the dragon egg last season and he is adorable. Even Claudia seems to think so!

But okay, time for a full review of the plot. It goes without saying that there will be spoilers, so unless you have seen the new season, read at your own risk.

Spoiler Discussion

I was a little shocked, first off, that this show only takes place a day or so after the first season’s finale. I figured there would be a time skip or something, but no. That said, the story in season two is executed amazingly. First off, the big question from last season was how Ezran and Callum would react when finding out that the elves offed King Harrow. Well, surprisingly, neither one went with the reaction I was expecting. I was afraid that we would go through the clichéd path of “Oh no, what if Callum and Ezran got angry at Rayla because of what the other elves did?” which we all knew would end with them forgiving her, of course. But no, they avoided that trope altogether. Callum’s big struggle was how he was going to tell Ezran the truth without breaking him. Similarly, Ezran’s first thought was whether Callum knew, which was followed by him going on a long walk by himself and talking to Claudia about it. This is when he makes the decision to leave Ezran, Callum, and Zym—yes, leave the Dragon Prince whom he has developed a connection with—and return to Katolis to take over the throne for his late father. This is a major twist and something that nobody was expecting, but I honestly quite enjoy how it was handled.

It was great seeing all the new locations and characters. Possibly the most interesting one was Duren, led by its young ruler, Queen Aanya. This girl delivers some serious verbal blows to Viren and it’s just amazing to see. But also, finding out about her kingdom was really damn cool. We learn about her parents, the Queens of Duren—you heard right—and how Katolis assisted them in a quest to bring food for both kingdoms when they were starving during the winter.

I’m glad to see more LGBT+ characters in animated shows, and while a lot of people criticized it for the Queens’ death, it doesn’t seem too bad to me. They’re treated like heroes, and we knew of their fate beforehand, so it’s not like it was playing their deaths for shock value—hell, they died in the same battle that took the life of Queen Sarai, Callum and Ezran’s mother. Besides, the creators promised before that there would be more LGBT+ characters as the series progresses… and hey, they promised that season two would have better animation, which it did, so I don’t see any reason not to trust them.

Viren was also a nice touch. Like the first season, he comes off as an antagonist but still has his human moments, where he doesn’t seem like he was simply manipulating people for his own benefit. One of the best moments in the show is when Viren tells Aanya the story of her parents’ heroism; this is contrasted with a scene of Callum reading a letter from Harrow telling about his mother. In many of the flashbacks, we see Viren helping Katolis and standing by Harrow’s side, and it shows that he and Harrow truly were friends before Viren’s love of dark magic took over. It’s also revealed later that Viren had a wife, the mother of Soren and Claudia, but she left him. That was another interesting tidbit. You don’t often see divorce in a fantasy environment.

Speaking of baddies, let’s talk about Aaravos, the elf in the mirror. Now, I was immediately impressed with this character for his cool design, mysterious ways, and booming voice, and it seems that a lot of the Internet shares my enthusiasm! Maybe a little too much, in fact… Yes, Tumblr in particular has taken a… ahem… liking to this character, and I’ll be honest, I don’t get it. He’s cool, sure, but come on, guys. Don’t you think you’re letting your love of this fictional character go too far?

Oh, Amaya, you can crush my head between your thighs any day… what were we talking about again?

Yes, we do actually find out some stuff about Sarai here! She and Harrow had a really beautiful relationship. For one thing, it seemed like while she was alive, they ruled together, not that Harrow was the ruler and Sarai just sat around. She was a friend and top consultant to him as much as she was his wife, one half of his whole. I distinctly remember a scene where she basically tells him off, that an idea he and Viren had was a bad one, and both verbally and physically kicks his ass in the process. That was really telling of their relationship and made it all the more heart-wrenching when it shows how she died.

Another major part of this season is Callum’s quest for magic. In season one, he was using sky magic with the primal stone, but he destroyed it in an act of selflessness to hatch Zym. Here, he has once again found himself lost without any clear role in the group: he had noted before that he wasn’t a capable swordfighter and that when he was doing magic, it felt like his true calling more than anything else. He tries multiple times to connect to the primal source, even though he wasn’t born with it. However, possibly the biggest shocker was this moment:

…Oh my god. Callum, what are you doing? Callum, no! Don’t use dark magic! That’s not the way! Oh god, he’s using dark magic. We’re all screwed.

Nearly as much of a shocker moment as this is when, during a battle, Soren gets flung and lands in such a way that we hear a cracking sound. You may not think too much of this, until it becomes increasingly clear that he’s not getting back up again. However, the saddest part is when he reveals that he is actually relieved that he was injured, because it means that he wouldn’t have to go through with Viren’s order for him to kill the young princes.

This scene, man. This damn scene was hard to watch. It really shows the humanity that every character has, exposed as they go through the story and have to be put through so much.

And then… well, no more beating around the bush. Callum and Rayla: It’s gonna happen. Like, as usual, I won’t know for certain until/unless it does actually happen, but it’s looking more and more like it. But so far, it’s been handled really well. Rayla is first angry at Callum for using dark magic in the earlier scene, but it took a physical toll on him and he becomes very ill from it. While she first tries to hide it, over the scene it looks more and more like he won’t make it and she becomes seriously concerned for him and shows that she really does care about him. It looks as though she’s about to say something to him—a confession, maybe?—right before he recovers. To be honest, the way they’re building it up, it could either turn out to be a romance or a great friendship, but it feels very natural and I’m all for it either way. And if it is the former, I’m glad they aren’t pulling the typical romance clichés in cartoons, like having Callum crush heavily on Rayla (hell, he was crushing on Claudia up until she betrayed him this season) or having Rayla act in the tsundere, “I don’t like you, idiot” kind of way. But yeah, I’d love to see where this goes.

(Don’t worry about Callum, by the way. He’s not in danger, he’s just going through a really trippy fever dream that allows him access to sky magic.)

Other Stuff

As much as I’ve talked about everything else, the humor in this season is also really on-point, much more so than the last season! I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of points. That said, some of the more reference-based humor… doesn’t exactly hold up. Like, there’s a scene where Rayla pulls an extended Sailor Moon gag, and another where Callum literally says, “One does not simply walk into Xadia,” and… this Simple Minds reference:

Because in a medieval fantasy environment, everybody has seen The Breakfast Club, right? Perhaps the only one I can get behind is this credits gag with Aaravos imitating the Gatsby pose:

Which seems much more fitting there than in the show itself, since the credits are just filled with little gags like that.

As for questions about season three, most of my questions in my last post have been answered, but it did open up a few new questions. Who is Aaravos and what is his motivation? I’m assuming he’s an antagonist, but he could easily subvert our expectations. Will returning Zym back to the dragon queen really bring an end to the war? We’re only two seasons in out of a presumed six or seven, and I figured it would take a lot longer to get to Xadia than it did, but they’re already there, so it’s going to have to be stretched out a lot further, I figure. Finally, there’s a fan theory going around that King Harrow swapped bodies with Pip, Harrow’s bird. Is there any truth to that? We saw Pip escape in this season, so it could have been, but I don’t know.

Conclusion

Season two of The Dragon Prince was an improvement on season one in every way. The show really came into its own with this season, much more so than with the first one. I loved the characters, the animation, the worldbuilding, the soundtrack, and unlike the first season, which just left me feeling meh, this one actually makes me want to see a lot more, and… yeah, I’m a fan now. Congratulations, show. As Leonardo DiCaprio put it, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.

Once again, I implore you: don’t screw it up. But this time, I trust that you won’t.

~Spaceman

I’m a little disappointed that there isn’t more TDP fanfic. I mean it’s been over a week since season 2 and there isn’t much more. However, keep in mind that I mostly use AO3 and fanfiction.net so I might be wrong.

I have a theory that I would also like to share with you. So, while I do support the at least part-elf Callum theory, the idea that I like most is that Callum is completely human. I saw a post awhile back that described humans as a sort of “blank slate” or an “empty vessel”(I give minami-the-door-lord the credit) that can connect to any primal source if they try. Cause they aren’t born with a specific arcanum. But once again I support both theories but I secretly hope that Callum is maybe the first human to figure this out. They also said that Callum just figured out how to channel the power of the sky through his body and expel it into a spell. I also remember the person who originally posted this calling Callum the “Magic Avatar” and that he’s going to “save the world” which was funny lol.

TDP: Callum x Elven Heritage (?)

*mild TDP S2 spoilers*

Okay so I’m all for Half Elf!Callum but after giving it a lot of thought, it seems kind of unrealistic to me. HOWEVER, I think there is a very strong possibility that he has at least some Elvish blood/heritage. A few reasons why:

Consider his physical traits.

The elves we have seen are all tall, and lean but VERY strong. Their features are pointed and their skin reflects their Primal Source. Callum, however, is very human in that he was very little strength (he is canonically not athletic at all) and is relatively short. Sure he will grow and can gain strength through training, but I don’t believe it will be to the extent of an elf or even a half elf.

Also, his skin tone is distinctly human. The Moonshadow elves have pale skin, but it is tinted with certain hues that are unique to them. Other elves (pictured in the intro scene, assuming they are the Sunfire Elves, Moonshadow Elves, and Skywing elf that I think they are) similarly have skin tones that are unique to their “clan” (for lack of better term. Callum’s skin while very pale, is very human compared to the pale skinned elves. Finally (for physical traits) the SHAPE of his features. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most (if not all) of the elves have very pointed and sharp features, with the exception of the round-eyed moments. Callum’s features, while on the sharper side for a human, are MUCH more rounded than an elf’s. And even though some will say “oh well maybe his human blood is dominant” I will have to respond: have you sEEN the elves??? As bad as this may sound, the Elves’ internal powers and their blood, as it contains these Primal Magic’s and such, would probably prove to be dominant in most situations, and any half-elven child would most likely be more elven than human.

However, I do think that, despite all I have said against it, Callum does have some elvish heritage (as mentioned earlier), because he CAN access the Sky arcanum and perform Primal Magic, even though humans aren’t supposed to be able to without a Primal Stone, and he does have some features that, while they could mean nothing, might point to some elvish blood.

The second part of my theory, which serves to prove rather than disprove, is that it is on his father’s side that Callum has Elvish blood. My theory, is that Callum’s biological father is a half-elf (or something of the sort).

Consider his Backstory.

We know nothing of his father and only a little bit of his mother in S2. We know that his father is gone. We don’t know how much Callum knows (though we assume he knows very little, if anything) and we don’t know if King Harrow even knows (though we assume he does, because he and Sarai kept no secrets from each other). If he were a normal human then his identity shouldn’t be an issue but as of right now, no one really talks about him, so we can assume that there’s something going on there.

(Now we’re going to skip the rest of this because I fell asleep after that last bit and lost my train of thought)

My final point-

As a human, Callum shouldn’t be able to use Primal Magic without a Stone, but he is able to unlock the Sky Arcanum and can now use sky magic. This leads one to believe that he must have some magical blood because it most likely wouldn’t be possible otherwise. However, he has to go through a LOT to figure this out, which I don’t think he would have had to if he was half-elven, because that’s still like 50% and it shouldn’t be that hard. Therefore, he has SOME magical blood (which allows him to unlock the Sky Arcanum) but not a LOT (which is why it is so difficult).

I love it when people do stuff like this. Gotta say I admire their dedication!

I translated Aaravos’s passage!

Arabic is a complex language with a lot of rules so it’s not 100% accurate but here:

The third paragraph is actually also an old tweet from @thedragonprinceofficial 

GUYS I HAVE A THEORY ABOUT TDP

so I was rewatching the show and got to the 4th ep where callum and Rayla are talking about the primal stone and I started thinking

The primal stones all have the pure essence of primal magic right but we have only seen 1 and it had a storm in it and I thought

Wow it kinda looks like Aaravos’s prison a bit

What if Aaravos is trapped inside a primal stone???

Sorry but I think I can finally say it

“But that’s just a theory,A FLIM THEORY” ok I’ll go now lmao

There is this Game of Thrones meme...

Any Dragon Prince fans here? I made Janai golden lips 👀