The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.9, "Breathe"

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As the second season of the series ends, things look like they might be looking up for some...

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2.9, "Breathe"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Oh, yes, hi, Ezran.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran, astride a banther (a bear-panther), confronts a fearful Claudia. She begins to plead her case with him and marvels at his ability with animals. They start to confer as they walk through the damaged town, Claudia asking about Ezran's motives. He notes having learned of Harrow's death, and Claudia remarks about her parents' divorce and its effects on her; Ezran offers some comfort before receiving some in return. They discuss their brothers, and Claudia asks for Ezran's help to find something to aid Soren.

Is it obvious yet?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

At the castle of Katolis, Viren rages at Aaravos, who calmly acknowledges the situation and Viren's need. Aaravos offers him assistance, and Viren begins to be persuaded to admit his desires. 

I do not want what he's having.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Callum continues to struggle through the effects of having worked dark magic, proceeding along his internal journey. Rayla continues to tend him, frantically, as he encounters a mental image of his mother, Sarai, and confers with her. The image bids him focus on his breath, her actions and words paralleling those Rayla speaks in the physical world. He wakes with a connection to an elemental magic, the Sky arcanum. He attempts to wax eloquent about it, but he cannot explain well; instead, he demonstrates his new power, decisively, and to the amazement of those near him.

A quote from Hank Hill might fit here:
"Bwaaaaaaaah!"
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran accompanies Claudia into the forest near the damaged town, using his abilities to find a particular bush. Claudia sends Ezran back to Callum; after he leaves, she turns her attention not to the bush, but to the deer nearby. Soon after, she arrives in Soren's hospital room and performs magic upon him; the spell leaves him able to move again, although it has cost Claudia much. They begin to return to the castle of Katolis.

Ezran returns to Callum with Corvus. The group confers, somewhat sadly. As they purpose to depart, Ezran announces that he will return to Katolis to take up the throne that is his birthright and work to pacify matters among the human kingdoms. He sends Callum and Rayla on to Xadia with Zym, parting from them with loving words. They proceed across a dangerous path, Zym assisting in the revelation thereof as he is urged via a psychic bond with Ezran and propelled by Callum's magic. But a guardian bars their way further forward.

After he casts a spell to foment fear among the other human kingdoms, Viren finds himself pursued through the castle of Katolis. He resists capture for a time, brutally, but is eventually taken; he rages against Aaravos but is counseled to patience as Aaravos withdraws his influence but penetrates more deeply into the mage...

Discussion

The comments about dream visions that attach to the previous episode continue to apply to the present one. In addition, the episode completes an instantiation of what TVTropes usefully calls "Traumatic Superpower Awakening." The idea is that passing through a traumatic experience leads to the kind of revelation that admits of access to abilities that defy "normal" physics. The series has played with the idea previously; the dark magic seen worked by Viren and Claudia consumes the lives of others, arguably displacing the caster's own experience of trauma onto the sacrificial victim (though the present episode affirms that the working is itself traumatic to the caster, not least in the evident aging and physical alterations the casters undergo; note the last image here). And there is some antecedent in medieval literature for the phenomenon; writing in The Lancet, Corinne Saunders cites a number of examples that "can illuminate, and are illuminated by, contemporary theories of trauma and dissociation" and which present connection with the otherworldly--in the medieval cases, circumscribed by Christian understanding, but still outside "normal" reality--as emerging from trauma. While it is the case that there are other antecedents for the series's depictions, there are some, and some prominent, that hail from the medieval; the use of the trope therefore does work to accentuate the medievalism already clearly at work in the series.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.8, "The Book of Destiny"

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In the penultimate episode of the season, many characters are left in dark places.

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2.8, "The Book of Destiny"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Nobody's singing...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following the fight at the dragon, the three princes, Rayla, and Bait proceed through the rain towards Xadia, Callum suffering from his exertions. Claudia begins to tend to the injured Soren without success; he has been rendered quadripeligic, and Claudia makes to take him to a physician.

As the princes, Rayla, and Bait reach shelter, Rayla upbraids Callum for his use of dark magic. He slips into delirium, beginning a strange internal journey that forces him to confront his background and himself. Rayla tends him throughout, if somewhat grudgingly.

How the problem with this is unclear...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Katolis, the high council receives reports that Viren is in hiding and must be pursued. Viren continues investigating the mirror and the figure within it: Aaravos. Viren cuts contact with Aaravos and departs stealthily, trying to conduct research. Every mention of Aaravos he encounters clears itself in front of him before he can glean any information. He confronts Aaravos about this.

As Rayla and Ezran tend Callum, Corvus appears. Recognizing Ezran, Corvus identifies himself and lays down his arms, saluting the new king. Ezran realizes his father has died and rages at Rayla before he takes a walk to clear his head. At length, Corvus pursues Ezran, despairing of his life in the woods; Rayla, laughing, dispels his fears.

In a nearby town, Claudia frets as Soren is examined. The prognosis is poor; the physician expects no recovery. Claudia proposes to inform Soren; it does not go well for either of them, with Soren sullenly musing on his failure as a hero and his injuries, as well as his mission to kill the princes. Claudia, for her part, reacts adversely to his words and ransacks the physician's office looking for a remedy until she is ejected.

"Hi, Claudia."
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Walking the streets, Claudia encounters Ezran.

Discussion

Callum's experiences in the episode smack of the medieval dream vision, which Mary Wellesley notes "was as popular in the Middle Ages as the novel is in our own time"; prominent English-language examples include Dream of the Rood, Pearl, and Hoccleve's Regiment of Princes. In them, there is typically a frame in which the narrator falls asleep, with the dream itself--and its psychologically dense malleability--allowing for sustained involvement of otherwise impossible things and deeply symbolic figures that can then be explicated, either within the narrative didactically or by audiences. While the constraints of media change specifics of form, the general pattern appears to bear out in the present episode.

Not just dark, but dark and teenaged.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

For example, Callum is confronted with a dark version of himself that attempts to persuade him to take up dark magic more fully. He is also greeted by his deceased mother and stepfather, as well as dragged through a suddenly appearing ocean and confronted by Villads. He moves from scene to scene with no real transition, evidently at random and with little seeming sense, though with occasional bits of overt silliness--until the end of the episode, which stops before resolution.

Exhibit A.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Exhibit B.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Notably, too, the library at Katolis appears to be well stocked with texts in multiple languages. One evokes the Orientalism already identified as at work in the series, presenting script reminiscent of if not actually in Arabic. (I do not read the language and so cannot tell for sure; the fault is mine and not the episode's.) Another reads in Danish (and offers a lovely bit of insight into the character of Aaravos and his potential significance). Although common concepts of the medieval depict the period as being illiterate--and it is true that literacy among the people of medieval Europe was far more restricted than it has since become, or than it was in Roman Europe, due in part to limited access to paper--it is far from the case. Indeed, the dream visions of which Callum's experiences in the episode partake are themselves attested in medieval writing. Further, as Jocelyn Wogan-Browne notes, medieval English was deeply multicultural, pulling from many languages and peoples; as Katolis and the human kingdoms evoke medieval England in many respects (the Pentarchy comes to mind as but one example), it is not to be wondered at that it, too, would exhibit a multilingual repository--the more so because of the presence of scriptoria across Europe, about which much has been written, and eloquently, by other scholars.

The episode and its series are fantasy, yes, but they are rooted in what has been and can be observed of the medieval from which they draw so much.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.7, "Fire and Fury"

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The lyric "Break on through to the other side" comes to mind...

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2.7, "Fire and Fury"

Written by Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Yahtzee!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

While overnighting in a cave, Callum considers the Key of Aaravos. Its purpose and powers elude him, but he avers feeling close to a breakthrough in his magical powers. The looming threat of dragons and the difficult passage into and through Xadia encourages Callum to seek more magical knowledge, and Rayla notes the presence of a secret, easy passage into Xadia.

This does seem to capture the moment, doesn't it?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Soren and Claudia drag Corvus to a nearby town, fretting about their diverted mission to track Ezran and Callum. Corvus tries to effect escape, to no avail, and the town is found to be under threat of dragon attack. Soren purposes to take command and eliminate the threatening dragon. Siege weapons are deployed, angering the threatening dragon.

Rayla is wakened from sleep by the sounds of the nascent melee; she and the princes move to investigate as the fracas ensues, proceeding much as might be expected. Soren orders continued fire on the dragon, to little avail, and he releases Corvus to evacuate the local populace. Soren also enlists Claudia's magical help to ensorcel a ballista bolt to take down the dragon. The bolt strikes true, felling the dragon--near where Rayla and the princes look on, aghast. Ezran moves to aid the dragon; Rayla and Callum follow, finding the dragon injured but alive.

This is not the face of victory.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren returns to Katolis after the summit of the Pentarchy. Opeli, the religious leader of Katolis, upbraids him sharply for it, and he, stunned, does not refute her claims against him. He withdraws to his sanctum and considers the mirror again, relenting at last in his opposition to the bloodletting from the ritual proposed by the in-mirror figure. He connects with the figure more fully through the portal formed via the ritual, taking a parasite upon himself that allows them to speak together.

Ezran works to ease the dragon, finding the ballista bolt in its side; the princes and Rayla work to remove it. An armed party from the town approaches, and Rayla moves to defend the dragon; the princes persuade her to move off, but only just. Soren, leading the armed party, has the dragon secured as the princes and Rayla return to their camp. Rayla frets over her decision to flee as the dissection of the dragon is considered. Callum agrees to help Rayla, at least in principle, though he notes his incapacity; Rayla avers her own place, and she makes to help the dragon, moving off in haste.

This is a Bad Sign.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

She arrives and attacks the armed party alone. She makes some headway towards releasing the dragon before she is beset, fighting Soren again. Callum muses on Rayla and finds himself obliged to assist her--with dark magic. He moves off to do so, taking Claudia's book and working a foul spell against the armed party. It is frighteningly effective, freeing the dragon--which reveals to Soren that it yet lives. Rayla extracts Callum as Soren faces the dragon again--to his catastrophic, paralyzing injury.

Ezran, who had been left alone with Bait and Zym, loses the dragon in the woods. He finds Zym at the scene of the fight, and the injured dragon departs. Soren's injury distracts Claudia from capturing the princes.

Discussion

https://i.gifer.com/7Ca3.gifhttps://i.gifer.com/7Ca3.gif

But it isn't Mordor, is it?
Image taken from Gifer, used for commentary.

There is another of the interesting medievalists nods that punctuates the series early in the episode. When considering passage into Xadia, Callum notes the difficulty of crossing the lava-river at its border; Rayla notes that it is not as much a problem as might be thought. The exchange references the meme-tastic line from Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring in which Bean's Boromir proclaims in exasperation that "One does not simply walk into Mordor." It is another reference to the Lord of the Rings films from the turn of the twenty-first century, a common reference point for "the medieval" and medievalism in the way Paul Sturtevant discusses (or here), as well as more broadly for the culture of the series's anticipated secondary audience--the parents whose children might well be watching The Dragon Prince and who might themselves have been watching Jackson's films when they came out in days that seem so long ago, now.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.6, "Heart of a Titan"

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As the rewatch moves into a new year, its backward look comes to a close. At least for now...

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2.6, "Heart of a Titan"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

She's a fine ship, truly.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The Ruthless continues towards Xadia. Rayla confides in her captain, who offers wisdom. Callum reads Harrow's last letter to him; it confesses much to him and offers no small amount of advice as "a lie, a wish, and a secret." The lie is that of history, which will aggrandize unduly. The wish is that Callum and Ezran will be free from pasts that are not their own. The secret is supposed to be in the winter quarters; the cube that Callum had had Rayla retrieve therefrom had belonged to the elven archmage Aaravos, and Harrow had intended Callum to have it, thinking it--the Key of Aaravos--might be of use to him. Callum reaffirms his brotherly love, and the Ruthless approaches the shore under the shadow of a dragon.

Sad, yes, but resolute--and not wrong.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Meanwhile, the Pentarchy summit continues, as does Viren's story to Aanya. The problem encountered by the combined Duren / Katolis expedition into Xadia erupts into melee as the human party begins to fight the magma titan, seeking to kill it to harvest its heart so as to power the dark magic they need to feed the two kingdoms. They succeed in the battle and flee from Xadia; the King of Dragons interdicts them, and the three queens--Sarai, Annika, and Neha--fall to secure the others' retreat. The ritual that follows is similarly successful, allowing Duren and Katolis to survive the winter. Even so, Aanya refuses to send her kingdom to war on the say-so of Katolis. Viren erupts into anger again, upbraiding the monarchs for what he perceives as their cowardice.

Discussion

Someone failed a final saving throw...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The fight with the dragon depicted in the episode seems to borrow somewhat from Dungeons & Dragons, although correspondences are not exact. (I remark with some joy, though, that the titan's heart looks very much like a d20.) The dragon attacks with a distinct breath weapon (only a few times) and by lashing with its tail; I very nearly expected to see a claw / claw / bite sequence. This is not unexpected, of course; for all its flaws (and it continues to have them, although progress is being made), D&D is a common enough entry point into medievalism, something decidedly engaging and easily accessible, so references to it are able to stand in for the medieval, as such, for a great many.

Such is perilous, of course; post-medieval work necessarily fails to fully capture the medieval from which it borrows and which it may purport to depict, and the constraints of media and genre necessitate selection of concepts to push forward. It is a markedly incomplete portrait that forms when such paints are the only ones used. It remains incumbent upon those who have worked to produce better pigments in more shades to ensure that they are available for use, for those who have done the work to understand (better) what the medieval actually was to point out what is right and what is less so--as the Society has long held, witnessed here, here, and elsewhere.

In the wake of events at the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021, it becomes clearer that the work of medievalists to better understand the medieval and to work against the deployment of wrong-headed, wrong-hearted ideas about it and its significance is far from done. The repugnant ideology espoused by such people as acted against democratic processes while cloaking themselves in trappings of the ostensible medieval, as well as by many others who have done the same as they have acted against peaceful protests and against people who had done no wrong, must be opposed, and those who continue to espouse it must be held in opprobrium. Even in looking at something as seemingly innocuous as a children's cartoon, it must be so--because even in something as seemingly innocuous, wrong-headed, wrong-hearted ideas can be planted, their pernicious seeds taking root and choking out the good lives that others might lead.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.5, "Breaking the Seal"

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As the rewatch closes out a year, and what a year, the series itself conducts some retrospection and introspection.

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2.5, "Breaking the Seal"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Gracious, indeed.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren, accompanied by an honor guard, arrives at the summit of the Pentarchy he summoned. Upon entering, he confers with the already-arrived rulers of the other humans nations; the young Queen Aanya of Duren joins them shortly after. Following a brief, awkward interlude, Viren presents his case for war against the elves in Xadia.

The facepalm transcends time and media.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The summit of the Pentarchy continues, with most of the rules dither. Aanya rejects the call to war, occasioning anger from Viren. He centers himself and renews his attempts to persuade the summit to his cause of levying war; he recounts to her a story from several years past. Her kingdom, Duren, had suffered famine and her predecessors, Queens Annika and Neha, had pled for help from Katolis. Harrow proclaims that Katolis will aid them, but the only way for that help to arrive is via the machinations of dark magic. Harrow initially balks at the idea--and his wife, Sarai, does so more vehemently--but given the needs of the kingdoms, he accedes. The plan to retrieve materials to enact the necessary dark magic ritual proceeds reasonably well for a time, but only for a time.

Poor little guy...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

All the while, Ezran, Rayla, Callum, Azymondias, and Bait continue their voyage towards Xadia aboard the Ruthless. The continued trip proceeds smoothly enough, occasioning boredom in several of the passengers. Callum sadly considers Harrow's final message to him, and Ezran and Azymondias grow closer, to Bait's jealousy. Bait joins Callum, and Callum finally brings himself to open the last letter Harrow left him.

Discussion

In addition to focusing on the already-noted correspondence between the Pentarchy and the early English Heptarchy, the episode reinforces the series' medievalism by presenting imagery from a variety of "medieval" venues. One of the kings of the Pentarchy evokes Viking imagery, for example, and one of the queens evokes traditional depictions of the Celts. The King of Neolandia, Ahling, visually evokes the Middle Eastern sultans that often figure into medievalist narratives as exoticized Others (including the involved problems of Orientalism associated therewith). The gestures are perhaps more subtle than others the series makes, but they are present, and they do serve to enhance (sometimes unfortunately) the medievalist grounding of the series as a whole.

Notably, too, the episode features an extended (for the genre; it is a serial children's cartoon) rumination by Harrow about the natures of kingship and justice. Interestingly, he relates being told that "justice was more than fair decisions and fair consequences; true justice was a fair system" before musing on many of the ways in which he might be in a position to suffer due to the circumstances of his birth, rather than any of his own deeds. While the specific rumination is one very much in line with the likely inclinations of the series's presumed secondary audience (noted in previous episodes' discussions), the fact of the rumination itself is one very much in line with the medieval from which the series borrows. There are many, many works of medieval literature that purport to treat upright and correct governance, ranging from Malory (as presented in Caxton's preface) to Hoccleve and his Regiment of Princes and even to Machiavelli--as well as many others that do not necessarily spring quickly to my mind. Even in the medieval mind, insofar as such a thing can be said to exist as a single unit, there was question as to what made a ruler good, and the series does well to highlight that particular burden of governance.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.4, "Voyage of the Ruthless"

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Intrigues deepen, both political and mystical.

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2.4, "Voyage of the Ruthless"

Written by Neil Mukhopadbyay
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Honestly, I'm impressed by the bird.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following their escape from Soren and Claudia, Ezran, Callum, and Rayla continue eastward, carried by a phoenix. Callum attempts to commune with nature en route; Rayla chides him for it. The phoenix begins to falter from flying for so long with such weight, and it falls to earth.

Elsewhere, Amaya surveils the separation of Xadia from the western, human lands. She suspects that a forward position has been compromised, and she orders a sortie to determine the truth of it.

Ginsu, it ain't.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Katolis, Viren continues to investigate the mirror. The figure within communicates with him via pantomime. Viren follows along with what seems to be a magical ritual, although not without his suspicions.

"Hello, again, fellow humans, human fellas!"
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran, Callum, and Rayla send the phoenix back to Lujanne and continue their journey. They purpose to take a boat across the bay that lies in their path, and they enter a port town to secure passage. Rayla resumes her "human disguise," entertaining Ezran immensely; Callum leaves Rayla behind as he and Ezran seek a captain. They find one in the blind Villads, and they arrange passage aboard his ship, the Ruthless. Despite the oncoming heavy weather, they proceed across the bay.

Villads proves an adept sailor, explaining seacraft to Callum in a way that suggests the possibility of his own connection to the skies and their magic. The coming storm approaches, and the Ruthless is obliged to put in on the lee side of an island by the wind and rain.

Viren follows the mirror-figure through the beginning of the ritual, mimicking its motions and channeling power between the pair of them. He hesitates at bloodletting, however, disappointing the mirror figure, whose identity remains unclear to him.

Quite the entrance.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Amaya leads her sortie to the forward outpost. She finds that it has been compromised, and a fracas ensues. Her forces are beset, and her earlier opponent returns. Amaya acquits herself well and secures her troops' escape, retreating with them back to a more fortified location.

Aboard the Ruthless, Callum purposes to connect to the skies. He remains out in the storm in an attempt to activate his message; Azymondias accompanies him, and the two leave the ship for the shore. Callum's efforts do not go well for him; his folly in enacting them does not help matters, though he does recognize his error.

Message for you, sir!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren considers the ritual as he sees messages return. He finds that they are from the other human kingdoms, agreeing to a summit. The news pleases him. When he returns to his sanctum, he covers the mirror.

Callum returns to the Ruthless, abashed. Rayla welcomes him back.

Discussion

The episode engages in some anachronism (in addition to the repeated reference to Martin via crow-messenging), which is not uncommon in medievalist works. For one, the Ruthless and her captain partake greatly of stereotypical pirate trappings, common enough in otherwise medieval-styled milieux (as noted here and here, among others). For another, Callum makes note of lightning rods, using the term, and while it might well be thought that a medieval person would see lightning striking tall objects more frequently than short ones, it is not until the eighteenth century that the term and the device came into use; the lightning rod is at least as post-medieval as the "typical" pirate. As in other examples, though, the anachronism serves to make the episode more accessible to audiences that typically compress all but the most recent past into a single, monolithic concept, as well as to allow for some narrative motions that would otherwise be difficult to carry out.

Too, the anachronism serves a useful purpose in reinforcing the fiction of the series. Because things are not in it as they were in the audience's world, although they are similar in many ways, the series is insulated from a number of concerns with which its presumed secondary audience--parents of the children likely to be watching, that is, or people like me--would be familiar. I am not alone in remembering the Satanic panic of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the protestations of Pat Pulling and those who heeded her; among the "concerns" was that "the things in fantasy are too real." While such things are erroneous, clearly, worries about similar reactions persist--and they are, in some senses, allayed by introducing eminently inaccurate elements into the narrative. Such elements provide some cover--an unfortunately still-needed thing.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.3, "Smoke and Mirrors"

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Magic done with mirrors is more real than that done without as the season progresses.

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2.3, "Smoke and Mirrors"

Written by Devon Giehl and Iain Hendry
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Not a bad view.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren scries through the mirror whose magic he has begun to unravel, seeing a well-appointed study therein. He settles in to observe more intently.

At Cursed Caldera, Callum and Rayla confer regarding the death of Harrow. She tries to apologize to him, and he frets about how to break the news to Ezran; Callum cannot bring himself to do so swiftly. Claudia returns to her accommodations, weeping; Soren moves to comfort her, ineptly, and reminds her of their mission.

Try as he might, it doesn't work yet.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The next day sees Callum still trying to muster the courage to tell Ezran of their father. He still cannot do so, and their conversation wanders strangely instead of moving to its initial goal. At length, Callum returns to Rayla, commiserating with her about their common inability to broach the topic of Harrow's death. Callum allows himself to begin to grieve.

In Katolis, Viren falters in his vigil, only to be awakened by action within the mirror-shown chamber. He sees a strange figure stalk through it, one spangled with stars; it selects a book and withdraws whence Viren cannot see.

And the seal seems intact, too!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Rayla and Callum confer about their path forward. Soren and Claudia join them, and they announce their intent to continue into Xadia. Claudia returns to Callum the letter from Harrow he had dropped in his escape from Katolis. Callum demurs opening it and thanks Claudia for returning the letter to him. She conveys an offer to assist them that Rayla perceives as a trap; Callum considers the matter, and Rayla consults with Lujanne regarding how to determine Soren and Claudia's intent.

Admittedly, escape takes some doing.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The group makes to set out, departing Cursed Caldera and heading east. Soren and Claudia trail behind, the two conferring about their plans to take the princes by force. As they act upon it, melee ensues, with Soren assailing Rayla and Claudia seeking to capture Azymondias. The deception enacted by the group on Soren and Claudia is revealed, and Ezran, Callum, and Rayla effect escape on the back of a phoenix--aided by the hunter General Amaya had sent after the boys, Corvis. Soren and Claudia restrain him.

Meanwhile, Viren's observations continue. The figure in the mirror-shown chamber becomes aware of Viren, to the latter's surprise.

Discussion

There is less new medievalism in the present episode than in previous ones, which is to be expected; as has been noted before (here and here, for example), a series cannot always be bringing in new things, but has to spend some time with what it has already introduced if it is going to do well. Something might be made of the figure Viren observes in the mirror, perhaps; a seeming captive associated with stars brings to mind the kind of devils upon which other evocations of the medieval have frequently fixated, but I am not up enough on visual culture (anymore, if I ever was) to be able to follow those implications further at present. Too, the perspective of rewatching may be affecting how I am parsing the image, which is not necessarily fair...

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.2, "Half Moon Lies"

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It is an episode of revelations, things showing up under the pale moonlight...

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2.2, "Half Moon Lies"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

The best part of waking up...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Soren makes to attacks the seemingly ensorcelled Rayla, though he hesitates to assail a sleeping opponent. She is not as entranced as might be thought, however, and defends herself ably. Callum intercedes, halting hostilities and explaining some of the situation and ushering everyone off to rest.

Who's the fairest?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Katolis, Viren again considers the plundered mirror. He plies his magical skills, at some risk and pain to himself, and only in his extravagance does he uncover information; there is a chamber on the other side of the mirror.

The next morning, Callum and Ezran confer about Claudia, while Soren and Claudia confer about the princes and Rayla. They purpose to persuade them back to Katolis, and the princes reveal that the egg has hatched into Azymondias. Claudia is immediately enamored, although she is still held in suspicion; Soren's lie about Harrow does not help matters.

The two groups--Soren and Claudia; Ezran, Callum, and Rayla--confer internally about how to proceed until Claudia intervenes and takes Callum on a walk. He reveals more than he ought, and Claudia offers him a tome of dark magic, which he refuses. Soren watches the younger ones play and purposes to set up an "accident" to eliminate Ezran; Rayla interdicts his plans.

Such nuggets of insight...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Rayla consults with Lujanne about the current situation. What she offers is not of much help to Rayla, and the erstwhile assassin makes to confess to Callum and Ezran. She happens upon Callum after he is with Claudia and learns of Harrow's death.

Discussion

Soren's complaint early in the episode that attacking a sleeping opponent "doesn't seem...sporting" may appear to be a caricature of chivalry as commonly understood to apply to medieval knighthood; the parsing that follows certainly pushes it in that direction. That said, there is a decided sense in such chivalric romances as Malory's or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that chivalry is a game, or at least a gamification of combat. Indeed, a number of scholars have attested to such ideas already--JJ Anderson's 1990 "The Three Judgments and the Ethos of Chivalry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," Victoria L. Weiss's 1993 "The Play World and the Real World: Chivalry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," René Moelker and Gerhard Kümmel's 2007 "Chivalry and Codes of Conduct: Can the Virtue of Chivalry Epitomize Guidelines for Interpersonal Conduct?" and Joshua David Maldonado's 2020 "The Game at the Green Chapel: A Game-Oriented Perspective on Chivalry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," among many others, speak thereto. (Some are even outside paywalls.) Even a causal reading of such works shows the knights commonly approaching fighting as much akin to a sport, both in tournaments (where such might be expected) and in open conflict (where it generally should not). There are rules, don't you know, and concepts of parity between combatants--which are sometimes abusive and sometimes abused; Lancelot's fight with Maleagant in Malory comes to mind as a prominent example. If it is a caricature, it is a knowing one, and more accurate than many such pieces are, even if perhaps unintentionally.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 2.1, "A Secret and a Spark"

Read the previous entry here.
Read the next entry here.

As the second season of the series starts, it becomes clear that war is coming.

---

2.1, "A Secret and a Spark"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Hospitable, yes?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

General Amaya scouts across the Breach, a dangerous passage through the boundary between Xadia and the human kingdoms. She encounters a small party of Sunfire Elves, and a melee ensues; she repels them at some material cost, making an enemy of their leader and withdrawing.

Callum briefly recapitulates the events of the first season, as if in a letter to Harrow. He, Ezran, Rayla, Bait, Ellis, and Ava are at the magical nexus at the top of Cursed Caldera with Lujanne.

Fancy people saying fancy things.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In council at the castle of Katolis, Viren warns of draconic encroachments as presaging war. He presses for a retaliatory strike, one involving all the human kingdoms; the council resists the idea, partly on procedural grounds, calling for retrieval of Ezran and Callum.

There are worse things, though the time is not opportune.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The group at the magical nexus confers regarding next steps to take. Rayla exults in her restored dexterity before pressing to depart in haste; Lujanne confirms that they are pursued. Some delay is approved, and Rayla makes to reconnoiter the area. Lujanne takes the opportunity to teasingly instruct Callum in some arcane information--although not practice, given his disconnectedness from prevailing magical forces. Ezran works with Azymondias to develop the latter's ability to fly; it does not go well.

Viren muses over the death of Harrow as he returns to the royal suite. It remains in disarray, and Viren retrieves the royal seal, illicitly. He uses it to forge messages which he sends to the other kingdoms.

Danger, Will Robinson...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Rayla frets as she patrols. She encounters one of Lujanne's illusions on her first patrol; on her second, she runs into Soren and Claudia.

Discussion

For example...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The Orientalism identified earlier as at work in the series's depictions of elves remains at work in the present episode; the exoticized Sunfire Elf leader whom Amaya fights wears armor and bears weapons with markings reminiscent of Arabic and Chinese styles and ideograms. As in earlier instances, there seem to be some essentialization and reduction at work, even as the motion to be more inclusive is more commendable. (That it speaks to concerns eloquently addressed in a piece on The Public Medievalist, Christina Warmbrunn's "Dear Tolkien Fans: Black People Exist," also helps.) At present, though, the issue is and remains problematic, particularly given the orientation of the series at children--for reasons Paul Sturtevant discusses (attested here and here, among others)--even as there is overt movement towards the idea of stereotypes being wrong.

Such Orientalism is not wholly out of keeping with ideas typically attributed to the people of the European Middle Ages, however. Nor is the reference to the Pentarchy Viren makes, the explicit naming of the construct foreshadowed in the second episode of the series. As before, the name evokes the Early English Heptarchy, calling back once again to the medieval/ist underpinnings of the series. And the Pentarchy seems quite concerned with matters of precedence and protocol--quite in line with common medievalist understandings, although perhaps less so in practice.

A river doesn't run through it, though...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

And, as is perhaps unavoidable, there is a fairly open visual reference to Peter Jackson's Middle-earth movies. The warding statues at the magical nexus clearly call to mind Tolkien's Argonath. Given the prevalence of Tolkienian reference in fantasy fiction and medieval/ist work, more generally, it is not to be wondered at--nor yet because of the series's presumed primary audience of children whose parents grew up around Jackson's films and reading their literary antecedents. But it does mark the series, once again, as being more medievalist than medieval, as does the crow-messaging introduced in the episode, which rings of Martin. The series's underpinnings are more in what is built upon the medieval than in the medieval itself, as such, though the foundations remain in place.

The Dragon Prince Rewatch 1.9, "Wonderstorm"

Read the previous entry here.
Read the next entry here.

As the first season of the series closes, some problems are solved--but others emerge to take their place.

---

1.9, "Wonderstorm"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Look closely, and you can just see them,
small creatures against the size of the world.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

On the mountainside approach to the cursed caldera, Ezran reiterates that there is no miracle healer to be found. Callum presses for an explanation that stretches credulity. Ezran notes an ability to speak with animals, and Callum reacts badly. The group presses on, beginning to encounter strange sounds and sights.

Claudia and Soren press on, as well, approaching the tallest mountain of the kingdom so that Claudia can cast a spell to track Rayla and the princes. Their trip appears to go reasonably easily and well.

Spooky.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Along the way, Rayla is persuaded to scout for people in need. She goes alone, leaving the rest to defend the egg, and finds what appears to be a spiderwebbed body. Investigation reveals that the form is but dust, despite it having moved and spoken; Rayla returns uneasy to the group and reports on her disturbing findings. Ezran begins to wander off on his own and encounters a spectral face no others see; Ellis notes a feeling of being watched, but Callum demands they press on in the interest of the egg. The group is hindered by spiderwebs stretching across their path, and they soon find themselves beset by monstrous spiders. They flee to little effect.

That, there, is quite the apology.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran realizes, however, that something else is amiss. Citing a mismatch between the spiders' utterances and what he knows from other spiders, he reports that the spider facing them is not real and presses ahead. Callum realizes that Ezran is correct in his assertion, and he apologizes for his earlier bad behavior; the form attracts no small attention, allowing the group to pass easily, continuing its ascent to the tree Ellis notes was the site of the healing miracle.

Cue up Manfred Mann...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

They are soon joined by a luminous presence that descends to them upon the back of a large bird. Said presence is another Moonshadow Elf, whom Rayla recognizes as an illusionist. She introduces herself as Lujanne, guardian of a magical nexus. Ellis voices confusion about Ava's healing; Lujanne explains. When Ezran presents the egg to her, and Rayla explains its presence, Lujanne notes that the only way to save the egg is to hatch it--which will take a storm, although the night is clear.

After a short period of despair, Callum realizes that a magical object he carries will avail, and he smashes it. A storm swells overhead, and the egg is hatched, if with some peril and after some doubt. The young dragon, Azymondias, releases Rayla from her bonds and gives hope to the group.

An ill omen, indeed.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Atop the highest peak in Katolis, Claudia casts the spell to locate Rayla and the princes. The manifestation of the spell appears to the group around Azymondias, and Lujanne recognizes it as an ill omen. Back at the castle of Katolis, Viren also recognizes what is happening, and he is far happier to see it than she.

Discussion

It is of some interest that the (illusory) creatures that bar Ezran, Cayla, Callum, Bait, Ellis, and Ava's path are monstrous spiders. It seems to be a nod to the expected secondary audience of the series, one that watched Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies and / or read Tolkien's books from which they are adapted; it is, as might have been mentioned before, not a stretch to think that parents who number among that group (myself included) would recommend the present series to their own children. Others, of course, have written at great length and with great eloquence about Tolkien's relationship with and literary depiction of spiders; I need not rehearse the work here, though the Society's own Luke Shelton would be an excellent point of contact about such things.

I am put in mind, also, of the recent guest post from Kristine Larsen, discussing comets and their manifestations in medieval and medievalist work. And I find it interesting that the comet-like manifestation of the Claudia's spell at the end of the present episode occasions delight in beauty from Azymondias, Ezran, Callum, Rayla, Ellis, and Ava--who, being young and inexperienced, can be assumed not to know better; fear and apprehension from Lujanne; and a smirking satisfaction from Viren. Lujanne alone holds to the typical reaction to comets--although Viren's enjoyment of the manifestation connotes his approval of tumult and upheaval, the "death of princes" to which Larsen, following Shakespeare, attests. It is an effective use and reappropriation of the medieval, deliberate or not, and another point that makes the continuation of the series more happily anticipated.

Please note that next Thursday, 26 November 2020, is Thanksgiving in the US. I live in the US, and I will be taking the time to spend with the people in my home. Be safe, be well, and be back in two weeks as I get into the second season of The Dragon Prince on 3 December 2020!