History is a narrative forged upon strength, which inadvertently gives birth to the perpetual cycle of violence, enmity, and hatred. To break the cycle, the foundation of history needs to be moulded with more sympathetic traits, with love—at least that’s the revelation which King Harrow had during his final moments, which he had shared with his stepson Prince Callum in a letter addressed to him. The Dragon Prince has dissected this realization through a number of plotpoints, story arcs, and character interactions, but nowhere has the impact felt as strong as it did in the recently released sixth and penultimate season of the acclaimed animated series. Picking up directly from the ending of the previous season, the latest chapter of The Dragon Prince: Mystery of Aaravos follows Callum and Rayla trying to find a way to stop the malevolent Startouch elf Aaravos from freeing himself in order to avert a world-ending crisis, while Xadia veers towards an inevitable conflict that could once again undo the hard-earned peace in an instant.Â
Spoilers Ahead
Claudia’s Tragic Fate
The sixth season begins on a tragic note as the narrative focus shifts to Claudia, her father Viren, and Terry, but not in the way viewers might have expected. After being resurrected two years after the battle of Stone Spire, Viren, the dark mage, was given a limited span of time to make his second chance at life a permanent one, and in order to grant him this boon, Aaravos needed a blood sacrifice. However, Viren had finally realized how his adherence to Aaravos and dark magic had not only corrupted his own soul but also led his daughter down a darker path as well—and decided to simply accept his fate by not partaking in the blood sacrifice. Claudia had failed to get to Aaravos’ prison as well, which almost sealed the fate of her father, and the opening of the first episode also hints at Viren having passed away as Terry discovers his body in the wilderness. However, much to their surprise, Viren turns out to be alive, and considering him to be free from the dark machinations of the heinous arcane discipline, Viren celebrates this new chance at life. Unfortunately, he soon realizes that his freedom has taken a hefty toll, as Claudia has butchered their companion, the chimera homunculus, who had gradually become a close associate of the team through the previous season, in order to complete the blood sacrifice. Claudia is remorseless; she has learned from her father that everything done for one’s family, no matter how vile, unethical, or cruel, is automatically justified, which is why she doesn’t understand why Viren sounds so concerned and disappointed in her. After going through a change of heart, Viren realizes how much of a bad influence he has been on his children and leaves Claudia to venture to Katolis to make amends for his past actions.
One by one, her brother, and now her father, have turned their backs on her, which causes Claudia to go through a mental breakdown, and she decides to leave Terry, despite her boyfriend’s repeated pleas for her to stay. Eventually, Claudia returns to him, and an extremely supportive Terry takes care of her, conveying firmly that no matter what Claudia chooses to do next in her life, he will stand by her side.
Callum and Rayla Travel To Star Scraper, Viren and Soren Never Reconcile
At Katolis, Callum is going through a tough time as he believes the pearl prison of Aaravos they had recovered from the Sea of the Castout might affect his mind, and Aaravos might use the opportunity to control him like he did with Viren. He requests his friends to let him venture to the celestial elves in the north polar region of Xadia, Star Scraper, to get the mythical Nova Blade, which can destroy a Startouch elf like Aaravos. On the other hand, Zym is missing his mother, Zubeia, who has gone missing after sustaining an injury in the library of Lux Aurea. King Ezran sends Rayla and Callum to Star Scraper, and Soren sets off with Zym to search for Zubeia. At this point it should be mentioned that Callum had left a fake pearl prison in Katolis while taking the real one with himself in order to avoid suspicion, and at the same time keep it from falling into the wrong hands. Callum also brings up the possibility of obtaining the rare quasar diamonds from Sky Scraper to Rayla, which will allow her to free the trapped souls of her parents and Runaan through magical rituals and bring them back, but Rayla is too selfless to be motivated by her personal goals.
Soren recruits the tracker, Corvus, to the mission, and following clues from Zubeia’s lair in Storm Spire, they stumble upon a mushroom trail and meet Mushroom Mage, who shares the fact that they have been taking care of Zubeia. Zym finally meets with his mother, and Zubeia is relieved to see her son as well, but she asks Zym to assist Ezran for the time being as her injury requires time to heal, and having dark magic as its source, the injury can corrupt others as well if not treated first. Zym, Corvus, and Soren happily return to Katolis. In the meantime, Viren has returned and surrendered himself to Ezran, and Soren finds himself in a precarious situation after realizing the influence he has worked so hard to get away from has returned to his life once again. A repentant Viren tries to make amends with his son, only to get cold-shouldered in return, and he realizes that he is beyond forgiveness. Aggrieved by Soren’s rejection, Viren writes a confession where he recounts his first footstep into the diabolical journey through the dark magic, when he had stolen the Staff of Ziard from his former mentor Kpp’Ar (trapped his soul in a coin as well) in order to save a young Soren’s life. However, dark magic corrupted Viren to such an extent that he forced his wife Lissa while extracting her tears to be used as a component of the healing ritual, resulting in their eventual separation. Viren laments blaming his son for the incident back then and distancing him from that point onwards, and prepares to give this apology letter to Soren. At the same time, Viren realizes some truths are better left unsaid and finally decides to burn the letter.
The Chosen Duo And A Much-Awaited ReconciliationÂ
After going through a bad break, Callum and Rayala oscillated between getting close and distancing each other, as even though both of them wished to be together, the pain of separation left a lasting mark in their bond. While traveling to Sky Scraper, the duo ventures through the frozen sea and comes across a dilapidated ship stuck in the ice. As Rayla ventures into the ship to check for supplies, she gets absorbed into reading the captain’s diary as she laments in the final days of life—the agony of not being together with her beloved—which moves Rayla. Later, as Rayla and Callum decide to spend the night inside the ship, Callum recites poetry written by his father, a poet named Damien, while marveling at the starry night, and the duo grows closer than ever. Amidst all the world-ending threats and calamities, this episode stood as the most endearing and possibly will become a fan favorite one in the season. However, the tender moments come to an abrupt end as Callum confesses using dark magic once again to save Rayla, who becomes concerned about him. Rayla insists Callum promise her that in the future, if he needs to choose between saving her life and doing the right thing, he will always choose the latter. In the meantime, an accidental fire burns down the ship, and somehow Callum and Rayla manage to escape with the pearl prison with them. Callum in turn asks Rayla to promise to kill him if he ever gets possessed by Aaravos ever again.
The duo reach Sky Scraper and meet the blindfold-wearing order of Skywing elves known as Celestial elves, who are awaiting the arrival of the mythical chosen two, who will help them through one of their tribulations. The sibling duo Kosmo and Astrid consider Callum and Rayla to be the chosen two and bring them to their leader, the Elder. Before learning of their problem, Callum shares his own—by asking for the Novablade to kill Aaravos, the Startouch elf—but gets discouraged upon learning that the godly Startouch elves never die; their mortal selves get annihilated by the Novablade but they reincarnate when stars align in a favorable position. The Elder shares the tribulation of the Celestial elves with Callum, mentioning how the presence of a behemoth has engulfed the vicinity in blizzard, which hinders their stargazing rituals on moonless nights. Rayla successfully handles the situation by identifying the beast as the former moon archdragon, Luna Tenebris’ companion, Esmeray, who is lamenting the death of her friend. Rayla comforts the beast, which results in the end of the blizzard, and gazing into the stars on moonless nights, Kosmo ascends to become a timeblind, a transcendental being who can simultaneously access and communicate with the past, present, and future. Kosmo helps Callum to suppress the dark magic susceptible side of himself by making him participate in the Star-Truth ritual, which allows Callum to connect with his truest inner self, and later he rekindles his relationship with Rayala. Callum requests Kosmo and other celestial elves to protect the pearl prison, as its distance from Katolis will also lend additional security. As a gesture to express their gratitude, the celestial elves gift Rayala and Callum with three quasar diamonds, using which Rayala can bring back her loved ones. However, unbeknownst to any of them, Kosmo had decided to keep one truth concealed from Callum and Rayla, the fact that they had brought the fake pearl with them while the real pearl-prison of Aaravos remained in Katolis.
Family Feud And A Horrible Treachery
Meanwhile, Karim and Pharos bring the Sun Seed to Sol Regem, as they seek to heal his lost sight and request the mighty Sun King’s assistance to usurp the throne of the Sunfire elves by defeating Queen Janai, Karim’s sister. However, Sol Regem asks the duo to use the Sun Seed to heal his wings instead, and this one decision proves to be very costly later on. On the other hand, Janai was frustrated ever since the Sun Seed was stolen and became engulfed with a sense of failure. However, her would-be wife, General Amaya, assured her of her trust in her judgment, allowing Janai to fully shoulder her responsibility as a leader. On General Anaya and Janai’s wedding day, Karim prepares to rally his troops for battle, prompting Janai to bring her army to the battlefront. However, Ezran, who was attending his aunt Amaya’s wedding, requests Janai to let him make an attempt to negotiate peace, only to realize that Karim has laid a trap for Janai’s troops as he is going to summon Sol Regem as soon as they attack. Ezran desperately rushes back to warn Janai, but the battle has already commenced by then. Surprisingly, the call to Sol Regem remains unanswered; instead, tragedy strikes at the heart of Katolis.
Pharos, the mage who was riding the blind Sol Regem and had the responsibility of directing him in battle, was being manipulated by Aaravos’ mind-controlling powers, and he brings the Sun King to Katolis to wreak havoc. Soren, who was present at the royal palace, prioritized saving lives instead of taking on the dragon, and having no viable option to protect the people of the capital, turned to his father, Viren, by asking him to use dark magic. Despite being unwilling to do so initially, Viren decides to embrace the dark side one last time and sacrifices his life to protect the surviving people of Katolis. Sol Regem dies and kills Pharos as well, as Aaravos gloats in front of the Sun King.
Was Rayla Able to Save Her Loved Ones?
On the other hand, Rayla and Callum travel to the Moon Nexus to complete the summoning ritual to bring Rayla’s parents and Runaan back to life—but much to Rayla’s dismay, one of the quasar diamonds turns out to be fake. This presents her with a terrible dilemma, as Rayla needs to choose between them and abandon one of her close ones. She enters the Moonshadow spirit realm to find the spirit of her parents spending time together happily. An emotional reunion follows as Rayla accepts their passing and finds out Runaan has become a tortured, aggrieved soul in his loneliness. Rayla eventually manages to convince Runaan of his second chance at life, and Callum uses his mage abilities to complete the summoning ritual that brings Runaan back to life.
On the other hand, Claudia wanted to choose her oath of life after a final approval from her father and gets devastated after seeing Viren lying lifeless in the ruins of Katolis. Claudia finds Aaravos’ pearl prison, and being manipulated by the Startouch elf’s words, she prepares to break him free—going against Terry’s advice. Aaravos shares an account of his troubled past, as cosmic justice led to the death of his daughter, which had sent him to this horrible path in the first place. Feeling a sense of shared grief, Claudia becomes confident in her decision of performing the ritual to release Aaravos and ends up freeing him. Callum and Ezran are devastated after learning the fate of Katolis, and the final season will focus on the severe aftermath of this fateful incident.
