The Dragon Prince Rewatch 3.5, "Heroes & Masterminds"

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This Sousa Day 2021 rewatch posting finds forces ready to march forth...

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3.5, "Heroes & Masterminds"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Pity more people aren't sad for real children of color in cages.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Ezran languishes in the dungeons of Katolis. Bait visits, bringing him a slew of jelly tarts and squeezing into the cell with him.

At the oasis in the Midnight Desert, Callum and Rayla make to pursue Nyx, who has abducted Zym; their mounts are gone, loosed by Nyx as she absconded with Zym, although they have not wandered far. One of them, however, is trapped by soulfang serpents, and Rayla is unable to save it; she is only narrowly able to save Callum, and they are obliged to wait for dawn to proceed.

Yeah, this will go well.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In Katolis, Viren crowns himself king, despite objections from Opeli and others. Those who oppose his accession are swiftly cast out, making to flee to a neighboring kingdom for aid. They are aided, surprisingly, by Soren, who also releases Ezran; he cites regard for the fallen Harrow as motivation for doing so. Somehow, Soren's efforts succeed in getting Ezran out of the castle and to Opeli, Corvus, and the cook; they spirit him and Bait to Lujanne en route to Xadia.

Yee haw, y'all.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

With the dawn, Rayla and Callum set off in pursuit of Nyx, some tension clear between them. The trail they must follow is clear, and they soon catch up to their quarry. Rayla and Callum ascend the towering ambler, confronting Nyx, who admits seeking reward before attempting to escape on the wing. Zym is not amused, however, and rebukes Nyx emphatically. In the fracas that follows, Rayla and Callum save Nyx from soulfang serpents at great peril--and the clear affection between Rayla and Callum emerges fully.

As Viren pores over documents, Claudia calls on him, beginning unknowingly to probe Aaravos. She asks after her father, comforting him; he avers his desire to rule in the best interest of his people and reaffirms their bond. Aaravos notes her utility, provoking a pointed rejection from Viren that seems to matter little to the spectral elf.

It is sometimes braver not to fight.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

That evening, Viren orates before an assembled army as Claudia and Kasef look on, releasing those few who do not wish to fight--but requiring them to bear a mark of shame and the opprobrium of their erstwhile fellows.

Discussion

It is difficult to watch the episode and not to consider the political situation contemporary to its release and presumed production. Nor should a work be studied without regard to its contexts of development and dissemination. But, while noting that there is a fair bit of commentary to be found within the episode--and that directed towards the presumed secondary audiences for the show, previously noted--the focus of discussion here has to be on how the series makes use of medieval/ist notions for its own storytelling.

Some of the earlier comments about medieval incarceration would seem still to apply to the present episode. The prison in which Ezran begins the episode is porous enough to let Bait squeeze in, and it is porous enough to allow an easy escape--with the right assistance. But this is not inconsistent with what is known about medieval jails and about the imprisonments of deposed monarchs--and Ezran, for all the trappings of abdication, is effectively deposed. That he is only imprisoned, rather than killed, speaks to some continued need for him (even within the context of a children's show; the series has had people die already, after all), bringing to mind the Wars of the Roses--a bit of late medieval English history that receives attention as prompting at least one major medievalist work.

Too, some of the Crusading mentality noted in the previous episode persists into the present one. The opprobrium heaped upon the "weakest links" as they take the offer of withdrawal--disingenuously presented as it is--hearkens back to matters Kostick discusses, for one thing. It must be noted, however, that the so-called cowardice for which Viren berates the "weakest links" is not regarded quite as dichotomously by the medievals from which the series borrows as might be thought--and the episode appears to take a similarly nuanced position. Lynch addresses the matter in Arthurian works, with particular resonance for the series, and Morillo notes that medieval battle-planners worked with expectations of cowardice and fear in mind, so Viren's comments regarding the "weakest links" as they leave make sense as a medievalism--even as they point to execrable behaviors and ideologies that are still all too commonly held and vociferously espoused.