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The third season of the series begins with a new set of challenges.
3.1, "Sol Regem"
Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg
Synopsis
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That's a lot of dragon.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.
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In an expository scene from long before the main events of the series, the dragon Sol Regem flies to where a single human stands. The dragon confronts the human regarding dark magic; the human refuses to relinquish the power it offers, noting that surrendering the "gift" it provides would be rude. Sol Regem moves to waste the nearby city from which the human comes to compel his compliance, and the human works a ritual against him, blinding him even as he himself is slain in fire. The dragon flees.
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The result of the meeting, long after...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.
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Rayla, Callum, and Zym consider the maimed Sol Regem as they plot how to proceed into Xadia. Rayla relates the dragon's history and advances the idea of sneaking past him. Zym is fearful, and initial attempts to pass Sol Regem fail as the young dragon flees in panic.
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Looks like she'll be having a blast.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.
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Elsewhere, Amaya takes stock of her strategic situation; it is not good, as her position is understaffed and an attack from nearby Sunfire Elves is expected. A visitor arrives: Amaya's adjutant,
Gren, whom she had left at the castle of Katolis and whom Viren had imprisoned. He reports on the lack of reinforcements and Viren's perfidy; Amaya proposes destroying the nearby access to Xadia and leads a party to place blasting charges to that end. The initial blasting attempt fails, interdicted by the Sunfire Elves, and Amaya personally ensures its success. After, she helps her defeated opponent, her mission completed.
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Sol Regem is a bit caught up in the moment.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.
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Rayla, Callum, and Zym consider how to make another attempt to penetrate into Xadia. Rayla approaches openly and pleads for passage; Sol Regem, after questioning the elf, allows her and Zym into Xadia, but he demands the death of Callum. They flee as the dragon rages and take stock of how they might proceed. Callum stumbles onto a plan to misdirect Sol Regem; Rayla adjusts it somewhat, and they proceed. Although done at great peril, their ingress into Xadia is successful.
Back at the castle of Katolis, Viren languishes, imprisoned. Aaravos offers him some small comfort and counsels patience. The council of Katolis considers executing Viren, their conference interrupted by the return of Ezran. The young king returns to what had been his father's throne.
Discussion
It is of interest at the beginning of the episode that the staff wielded by the human Sol Regem confronts is implied to be the focus of dark magical power--and the same staff wielded by Viren. There is a long-standing trope in medievalist fantasy of objects wrought by power of old having strange endurance and great might, one echoing the comments about "the work of giants" in early English verse (such as here). As with several other things, it is hardly unique, but it does help to reaffirm the medievalism of the series.
It is also of interest that the Katolis military appears to have access to gunpowder. Normally, such things are excluded from medievalist works; the introduction of explosives is generally seen as removing a work from the medievalist and placing it into mimicking the early modern, despite the existence of gunpowder in medieval Europe (note
here and
here, among others). Of course, Peter Jackson's
Lord of the Rings films, which are a medievalist touchstone for a great many,
do make use of the substance, although it admittedly takes a Wizard to get it started, and it is regarded as an unnatural evil. That Katolis uses it, then, is somewhat fraught within the contexts of the medievalism likely to be perceived by the presumed primary and secondary audiences of the series--pre-teen children and their parents who grew up with Jackson's films, as this rewatch series has asserted previously--but it still helps link the series to at least some understandings of the medieval.
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