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

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

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

---

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.