The Dragon Prince Rewatch 1.3, "Moonrise"

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

Vengeance is served; justice is not.

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1.3, "Moonrise"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Giancarlo Volpe, Villads Spangsberg, and Lih Liau

Synopsis

Seems ominous, this foreshadowing.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

As the sun sets on the castle of Katolis, its inhabitants prepare for the attack of the Moonshadow Elves. The mood is somber, as might be expected, with King Harrow and his defenders resigned to their fates. Guards take up their stations as Harrow retires to his chambers, and their vigil begins against the encroaching nightfall. Claudia asks Viren why Harrow would refuse the aid of magic; he voices doubts about his king as they discuss his history with Harrow. Viren moves forward with a terrible purpose, and Claudia stumbles onto the signs of the princes' movements and begins to follow them.

Ooh. Shiny.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The princes and Rayla look upon the egg of the Dragon Prince and realize the implications of its presence. Ezran avers that there is life within the egg, and Callum asks why it survived--with Claudia, arriving suddenly, answering as she braces to defend them against Rayla. The princes side with Rayla in favor of returning the egg to its mother; Ezran leads the princes away, and Callum restrains Claudia to secure their escape, taking a magical artifact from her. She sends magical pursuit, and the chase begins. Callum begins working magic of his own to assist them--to his surprise and delight.

The face of a happy man, this ain't.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren returns to Harrow to propose his plan again. The king once again refuses, more vehemently.

Atop the castle, Rayla confronts her fellows, trying to explain that the need for their mission is moot. The explanation is refused, despite the presence of the egg of the Dragon Prince, but the magical binding is absolute. The attack of the Moonshadow Elves ensues, Rayla standing against her kin as it does.

Callum and Ezran strive to escape, with Callum detouring to see his king one last time. He is not admitted, and he is caught up in the onslaught of the assassins as he confronts Viren for the theft of the egg. It does not go well for him, though he manages to flee--one of few survivors, as he sees in detail. He purposes to return the egg to its mother in Xadia along with Ezran, Rayla, and Bait, their sentient pet.

No, it's not a good sign.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In the end, Harrow falls. His killer survives to send off the message of his fall--and to be captured at Claudia's insistence.

Discussion

There is, I think, a conception of such justice as existed in "the medieval" as being decidedly retributive, following the "eye for an eye" model. There is some sense to that, admittedly. The orientation of medieval society, broadly conceived, around Christian teaching, and such teachings include such passages as Exodus 21. Too, lasting feuds were not uncommon, and they tend/ed to be framed in terms of answering one injury with another--retributive justice in brief. Certainly, such a model is that which seems to be at work in the present episode, in which Runaan reiterates the assertion that, because Harrow killed the Dragon King and Prince, he and his own son must both die. And, lest it be argued that the idea is one-sided (following essentialized Orientalism carried over from the previous episode), Harrow appears to accept that the attempt on his life will be made, even that it should be made; that is, he appears to accede to the idea that his life is forfeit for the life he took. He accepts the justice of retribution, even at the cost of his life.

That said, there is no small amount of attestation that such medieval justice as existed worked at least as much on a restorative model as a retributive one. That is, it was more concerned with returning people to normal order and repairing wrongs done than with avenging them--or, in terms of the present episode, it was more concerned with getting the egg home than with punishing who took it. The concept of weregild, in which fines could be paid as atonement for transgressions against people, is a restorative notion (if problematic in commodifying people's lives). Confession and penance served a similar function (if problematic because of the tendency toward corruption). Even such "barbaric" practices as putting people in stocks and subjecting them to public shame comes off as less retributive, the civic humbling being a reassertion of order and one often met with civic charity rather than ongoing censure or deprivation of goods or limbs or lives, per Helen Mary Carrel.

That the present episode focuses far more on retribution than restoration may well be in line with prevailing notions of the medieval. But that 1) the retribution is not wholly successful (Ezran lives, after all) and 2) the episode sets efforts at restoration on their way seems to suggest that the latter model, one far from discordant with the medieval from which the series borrows heavily, is one to be followed. And that is a message worth attention.