Arrogant, adj. having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one’s own importance or abilities.
1x03 / 3x01 / 3x07 / 6x04 / 7x01 / 7x08
King of what? King of ashes?
I don’t want to be that kind of king.
3x06 / 7x06 / 7x09
Will probably chuck something like this into a bigger speculative meta at one point about Xadia’s in-universe history, but from a “why would the story Choose to do it like this, as opposed from any other lens?” I want to reexamine the Mage Wars conflict. Specifically, in this case, that the Mage Wars were the result of (predominantly dark) mages being leaders/kings.
On the one hand, at first glance, it makes a lot of sense. We routinely see most of the series’ mages turn to magic, dark or otherwise, as a result of desperation and/or ambition, or both in an attempt to consolidate power.
KPP'AR: You made the same choice you’ve always made. The one that gives you power. (5x02)
VIREN: I am the High Mage of Katolis. I have power, purpose, and I intend to use them both. (6x06)
Even Claudia, despite being more driven by her personal loyalties to her family over political ambition like her father ultimately was, seeks the power to fix things. To un-paralyze her brother; to bring her father back from the dead (twice). To carry out Aaravos’ revenge not to bring down the Cosmic Order for ‘humanity’s greater good,’ but to avenge his wrongly executed daughter.
Because magic, at its core in TDP, is about having knowledge and power.
Or is it? Put a pin in that, for a second.
The main thing I’m meandering my way to is that the mage warlords… didn’t have to be warlords. Like, we could’ve had mage wars where mages were the top or chosen generals, sworn to their respective royal families and fighting to the end. It would’ve amped up the assassin-dark mage parallels as servants or pawns/perpetrators of the cycle, been an even darker version of Harrow and Viren’s fragmented bond of king and high mage, or even what Aanya seems to have going on with hers, etc.
But instead, the mages responsible for the mage wars were indeed kings and rulers, people who sought more political power void of any other checks and balances or relationships. They were in charge; they were not servants at all (at least, not to anyone but unknowingly Aaravos).
Which makes sense: it’s easier to manipulate people and get more of it with the more political power they have, especially because the Mage Wars possessed an unstable and rapidly changing political structure (“When one mage rose to power, another was quick to dethrone them”) built on competition and bloodthirstiness.
I’ve speculated in previous metas that Aaravos wanted the remaining warlords to go and wage war on Xadia pre-his imprisonment. If that’s true, then Viren being a mage turned warlord (king) is more than repeating history… and we see Karim as another mage grappling for the throne, even if he’s less directly manipulated by Aaravos.
So the show paints a pretty clear message through arc 1 Viren, Karim, and Kpp'Ar: mages who chase political power are more likely to go out of control, and mages who rescind political power are more likely to… end up being Better and with happier endings, at least in theory.
In my mind, the main reason to set the mage warlords up in “magic as a tool for political power” is to demonstrate the dangers of Viren and Karim’s ways of thinking, as well as for arc 3 with Aanya’s mages (brother?) potentially seeking her throne and war with Xadia.
The good news: while Callum is still part of the occupational high mage line of Kpp'Ar to Viren to him, and has acquired the literal embodiment of it through the Staff of Ziard now being his (more on that here), Callum has never wanted political power in his life!
Knowledge and power seeking are still things he has to contend with, the way any mage would, but since Callum is far more oriented around love than ego or anything else… while other mages have repeated the history of waging war at Aaravos’ behest, and others likely will in arc 3, it is less certain that Callum will be one of them.
He’s a mage, but not a warlord; he has no reason or desire to be. Because magic in TDP is about knowledge and power, yes, but it is also about Love, particularly for him.
Rayla’s note in Callum’s spellbook: That’s not cheesy at all Callum. Love is magic!
A simplification, perhaps, given that Claudia is also driven by love (as Terry spells out in 7x05, even if it’s becoming warped as part of revenge) and because Callum still has ambition… but unlike the bulk of the show’s other high mages or mages turn warlords, he is not ultimately More Ambitious than he is Loving, and that, I think, is what’s gonna Save him.
What are your favorite quotes from tdp season 7?
God there was So Much I adored, but in no particular order
hi
im a little upset on the title ;P
its not for babies :
People who hate on this are babies
byeee
It’s a Chris Fleming reference and TDP is for 9-13 year olds. It’s a very very Good kids’ show with plenty that appeals to a more adult audience (or I and many others wouldn’t be here) and darker tonally than 90% of kids shows… but it IS a kids show. If adult or teenaged fans dislike it, that’s their prerogative; there are plenty of kids shows I don’t like that are wildly popular (the owl house and she-ra chief among them).
Honestly I’m a lot more wary towards any adult who intertwines their ego or sense of self-worth into a kids’ tv show and its fandom because like… being right or wrong about what’s gonna happen in a children’s tv show, or liking/disliking any part of it, 90% of the time says nothing about you as a person or your intelligence (and if it does in the latter, it’s like. in this One Specific Niche Area of a singular tv show where maybe your specific media literacy for this singular show could be Better), and treating it otherwise is Weird, tbh
TLDR; tdp is for ‘babies’ and i need it. s'not that serious
Thinking about Callum and Runaan bonding over over Runaan’s apprehension about how to treat Rayla as his acknowledged daughter.
Maybe he’s kinda weird and awkward about stuff and it reminds Callum of Harrow and the unwanted distance that developed between them.
Initially, they’re both stumbling with navigating their relationship, but they both love Rayla and so they push through and eventually gain a better understanding of each other in the process.
eked out 2k of “wasteland baby” just in time for broyals feelings, i’m afraid:
The cracks made Aaravos’ skin turn white and flaky, like ice, spreading till his form ruptured entirely, light pouring out of his mouth like water from a flask. More followed from his eyes, Zym whining and soon crying pitifully in ways that Callum had never heard before; Ezran wrapped his arms snugly around Zym’s thick neck, holding him steady.
It filled Callum with a strange sense of peace, even if he and Ezran hadn’t yet made amends, and maybe never would. Ezran would understand everything, if he didn’t already. He and Ezran needed each other, yes, but… Ezran had Zym, and Callum had Rayla, and they all had each other. That was where he and Ezran belonged, and if Ezran knew that, then he knew why Callum had done what he’d done, too.
I know I talked about the Rex Igenous gift ceremony going into S7 as “symbolic foreshadowing of the kids giving up core parts of themselves, and that being rejected” but idk if I talked about it post-s7 wherein… that’s literally what happened but to an even Greater degree than I’d thought it would, since those Worthy Sacrifices are literally rejected BECAUSE of other Archdragons, but like…
There’s something about Rex Igneous and the gift exchange just quietly setting up soo much of the rest of the arc and S7 in particular. How Rayla sets the tone in 4x08 for what a sacrifice should be, and then watches as Ezran (with the Nova Blade she encouraged them to find in 5x01) and Callum (6x03 greater good exchange) likewise follow in her lead just as they did in 4x08 with the gift ceremony.
Rayla gives up her home, her swords, her hope of seeing her fathers. (In the end, she picks up Runaan’s bow). Callum gives up primal magic and Ibis’ staff. (In the end, he picks up Viren-Claudia-Aaravos’ and does dark magic). Ezran wrestles with his father’s legacy and the good parts he wants to remember over the bad, that strength isn’t always about war and weapons. (In the end, he seeks both of those things.)
But Rex Igneous rejects all of it. Powerful relics and weapons are useless to him; they fade, they loose their sheen, they offer no companionship. Objects and power and status do not last; they ultimately Mean nothing. Present connection, consideration of perspective, and generous human ingenuity… that’s what changes his mind. That’s what hits, what lands.
The trio are preserved, and are also encouraged to grow. There is a way forward without sacrifice. There is.
EZRAN: We offered gifts that meant a lot to us. But the truth is they don’t mean anything to you.
AARAVOS: And what will your sacrifices buy? Mere moments of peace before I return to world without you? Your deaths mean nothing.
EZRAN: They have given us a great gift. A chance to keep on living. Keep trying to do better.
ashes to ashes
3x03 / 7x09
ALTThis quote is my Roman Empire btw
okay the "people [...] who disappeared over the horizon and never returned" definitely rewrote my brain back when this came out but I totally forgot the "people [...] who closed doors in his face" until just now and
