The Dragon Prince Rewatch 3.3, "Ghost"

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Punishment looms large as the third season presses ahead.

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3.3, "Ghost"

Written by Devon Giehl, Iain Hendry, Aaron Ehasz, and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Ta-daa!
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Callum, Rayla, and Azymondias continue towards Rayla's home village, the elf growing concerned about her return. Callum tries to comfort her, and she brings up the issue of his human presence among the elves; he adopts a disguise, much as Rayla previously had. It is unconvincing, though it amuses.

In Katolis, King Ezran summons the Neolandian price, Kasef. Ezran tries to persuade Kasef to leave off war in favor of the survival of Azymondias; not all are pleased at the news, and Kasef refuses the call for peace, storming out--and finding sympathy among Ezran's courtiers.

Looks like a hot time.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Among the Sunfire Elves, in the city of Lux Aurea, Amaya is held captive; her captor, Janai, begins to question her, employing an interpreter to translate between speech and sign language. Her replies are decidedly impolite, and she is dragged before the local queen--Janai's sister, Khessa. There, she is examined and, after being found pure-hearted, allowed to remain in Janai's custody.

Steel never lies, some say...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

When Callum, Rayla, and Azymondias arrive at Rayla's home, she leads them through a ritual dance that dispels for them the illusion under which Rayla's home village is hidden. Callum is taken by the revelation, and Rayla makes to show him about; he notes the lack of faces on the others present in the village, and Rayla realizes that she has been made a "ghost"--magically outcast for her failure to complete her assassin's mission. They try to work around the issue by going to Rayla's adoptive father, Ethari, who had been Runaan's husband. Callum works to pierce the spell with regards to Ethari, and there is some success. Rayla realizes she is the only survivor of her mission, a magical indicator denoting it, as Rayla explains. Ethari works a brief pause in the ghosting ritual to confer with Rayla; she explains the change in mission, introducing Callum and Azymondias. Ethari notes the new urgency of their mission, remarking that the Queen of Dragons is ill, and offers logistical support before the pause ends. The mission to return the Dragon Prince to his mother resumes in earnest.

It's an interesting cage...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren languishes in the dungeons of Katolis, advised by Aaravos, and is visited by his children. They press him regarding his imprisonment, and he rails against them when he learns of Azymondias's survival. He attempts to reinforce to them the dire circumstances under which they operate, and Claudia challenges him regarding the ordered deaths of the princes. Viren, prompted by Aaravos, deflects the question, claiming to have been misunderstood; it works, and Soren and Claudia depart. They are replaced by a courtier and Kasef.

Discussion

Concerns of differing ability are prominent in the episode, and my own understanding of how what is currently called disability was addressed in the Middle Ages is limited. At present, the best thing I can think to do is to point to such resources as Prof. Kisha Tracy's work (including her commentary here) and some others readily available. I am sure I am missing some excellent work; I would welcome additions (and corrections!) in comments.

Something else that emerges in the episode is the porousness of Katolis's dungeon, which might also strike the mind oddly. Yet it is quite medieval in its thrust. My own dissertation research treats the issue as applicable to Malory; not only does incarceration factor heavily into Le Morte d'Arthur, Malory was himself a prisoner (69n11 and elsewhere), and his composition "is thus dependent for its existence upon the passage of materials from outside prison into it--it is indelibly marked by the permeability of prison confines" (72). At the end of the English-language medieval, things and people pass into and out of prison remarkably easily, something that continues into the neomedievalist early modern English period (Elizabethan and Jacobean, for reference); that the prison in Katolis is as open as it is is therefore in accord with the medievalism of which the series makes much.