The Dragon Prince Rewatch 3.6, "Thunderfall"

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

Some of the background of the current conflicts becomes clear.

---

3.6, "Thunderfall"

Written by Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond
Directed by Villads Spangsberg

Synopsis

Such drama. Much force. Wow.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren--accompanied by Soren, Claudia, Kasef, and a council member--rides at the head of a substantial army composed of forces from several nations. Soren contemplates the insectoid form of Aaravos on Viren's ear, with Viren attempting to deflect attention. The spectral form of Aaravos consults with Viren, asking how the former King of Dragons--"the Thunderer," Avizandum--died at Viren's hand.

Rare and wondrous and suggestive...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Viren begins to relate to Aaravos the story of Avizandum's death. After the death of Queen Sarai, King Harrow had been bitter, desirous of revenge against the dragon that slew her. Viren's research allowed for the creation of a spell to enchant a weapon to enact that revenge; he had captured her last breath, and he had recently acquired a unicorn's horn, thanks to Claudia. Harrow has some misgivings, but he is persuaded to contribute an emblem of his hatred to the work, and the spell is enacted.

Dealt he the death-blow, felling the dragon...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Kasef confers with Soren and Claudia along the way. The siblings confuse him somewhat, and the attention they call to Aaravos leaves him unsettled; he withdraws as Viren's story continues. Viren notes that he and Harrow rode out to find Avizandum, traveling for days to confront the dragon at the Stormspire, his lair and that of the Queen of Dragons. The dragon appears and bids them leave; Harrow refuses and slays Avizandum, Viren aiding him. The mage takes the chance to pilfer the dragons' lair--ostensibly to thwart a blood feud, gaining Harrow's reluctant agreement. Aaravos delights in the report of the dragon's death, glorying in the end of his captor, and more preparations to enter Xadia are begun.

Something of a deus ex machina, but...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Callum, Rayla, and Zym approach the edge of the Midnight Desert, Nyx waking them and giving them directions to the Stormspire. She remarks on the thinness of the air at altitude before she departs. Phoe-phoe carries Ezran and Bait towards the same destination, growing exhausted by the effort but persisting in it, nevertheless. The lot are reunited at the stone corpse of Avizandum, and Phoe-phoe dies and resurrects there. Callum wrestles with his emotions as he looks upon the stone dragon and the evidence of Harrow's involvement; Rayla offers some comfort and points out the nascent hope Zym and Ezran represent.

Discussion

Rewatching the episode brought to mind an earlier modernization of unicorns with which I've had some experience. It also brought to mind some of the medieval lore associated with unicorns, which receives some discussion, here, and which has come up in this webspace, here. In traditional European medieval depictions and those that follow after them, unicorns are associated with metaphors of sexual and other physical purities, such as the elimination of poisons. With that association in place and long-standing connections between celibacy and otherworldly power--whether priestly or sorcerous--there is a strong implication that Claudia is, herself, virginal, which would not normally be an issue except that 1) it aligns her to romantic interest tropes and 2) it juxtaposes powerfully with her involvement in dark magics with the tropes typically associated with the romantic-interest-virgin figure. So that much medievalism, both acting from the forms observed and pivoting away from them, is at work in the present episode.

The earlier-noted Crusading motif remains in place in the episode, as well, reinforced by the overt image of a multinational army marching on what seems unfortunately to fit the rubric of a holy war (although it is notable that there seems to be no baggage train, nor yet packs carried by the soldiers marching; it is a children's show, but even a child might wonder what they will eat on the move). So, too, does the earlier-noted commentary on incarceration, although Aaravos's prison is not so porous as that of Katolis. And there might be echoes of the pursuit of the Questing Beast in the ride against Avizandum--but those parallels are not as strong as others that might be found, adding only a little to the episode's medievalist bent.

Too, the episode confronts the emotionally fraught nature of vengeance openly and overtly. Harrow has to be persuaded to enact it, but he is persuaded. Callum laments its enactment, but he cannot decry it, nor yet can he deny that the tragedy has resulted in a hope for resolution of a longer-standing feud. Throop and Hyams's edited volume speaks to the issue more fully than I can here, of course, but it does even on a cursory investigation point towards the many-fold nature of vengeance; there is justification for it, even as its ends and means do not always or even often work well. Nor need it always be carried out, even when justified; Dream of the Rood makes much of the titular Rood yearning to crush those who had bidden it be lifted up, only to hold fast at the command of the one it would avenge. Yet it is often pursued and carried out, in medieval literature as elsewhere, so the episode confronting the complexity is a good thing to see and in keeping with its antecedents.

If only more medievalist work would confront complexity instead of trying to reduce it to simplistic pap...