Absolutely Incredible

Lost July ☆

Glaze is out!

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you know that star-themed character of a somewhat ambiguous gender and the powers of a god who was trapped in a mirror prison by an ancient, large, and very powerful being who is worshipped like a god in their world, who makes a deal with the main villain of their series, an powerful old white man corrupted by magic trying to commit a genocide of the magic population in the name of protecting humanity, whose powers are minuscule in comparison to said star character, who also has a son figure who ends up having a redemption and fighting alongside the main characters once he realizes what said villain is doing, and whose being freed is related to the appearance of the son of said ancient being, who is currently just a small child but will one day grow into an equally powerful being, and ultimately sees people as his playthings, whose lack of remorse could spell disaster for all life upon being freed,

you know?

We’re All For Autism Acceptance Until…

Neurodivergent_lou

July 16, 2024:

Yes.

Thank you all. It’s been an honor.

figured out a way you can search for posts that are tagged TWO things on a blog!!! feeling clever

for anyone else who didn’t know, this is the format!:

https://[blogURL].tumblr.com/search/%23[tag1]%2C%20%23[tag2]

remove the [brackets] when using it!

WHAT!!!!

we hope that you choke.

where the hell do i start learning about all this aaravos, child queen (??? the kid who locked him away? am i mistaking her for someone else?), elarion, deep tdp lore and timeline type stuff? it seems like there's so much and i have not kept track of any of it, and now im curious

So a lot of it has come from either 1) interviews over the years, 2) fans obsessively analyzing info from the show itself, and 3) Tales of Xadia (TDP's RRPG game) or the season novelizations (just one and two out now) providing extra information and lore hints. But here's the like, brief run-down?

Disclaimer: I may misremember some things and/or the show hasn't been Super clear on some of these things, exactly, on purpose, so the timeline (especially of very early events) is subject to change.

Startouch elves, humans, dragons, etc. all lived together in Xadia as one land. Humans weren't born with magic; the Startouch elves (also called First Elves, which seems distinct from Primal elves, although we don't know why) especially disapproved of the idea of giving them magic. A unicorn - one of the few creatures also connected to the Star arcanum - gave some humans primal stones and taught them draconic. It is implied that some people(s), although we don't know who, didn't like that very much.

We don't know why or when, precisely, but Aaravos was cast down to earth. He may have already been helping humans or 'overly sympathetic' to them, or perhaps working with the unicorns to help them. We don't know.

Presumably after all this, the human settlement of Elarion was growing as a city. We actually see it mentioned by name in the flashback from 3x01 between Sol Regem (king of the Dragons at the time, it seems) and Ziard, who appears to be the first real human dark mage (but that's just speculation). His staff is a gift from one of the Great Ones, another name for the Startouch elves, and we know this gift giver to be Aaravos.

We know that Aaravos is also entwined with Elarion further because of the poem revealed in 2x08, written in Arabic that fans translated back in like, 2019ish? TDP Official later fully released the translated poem, called The Midnight Star. It seems to recount some sort of exchange of Aaravos giving the city of Elarion - or a person - what seems to be dark magic, but the language is too poetic to be fully clear.

We know that dark magic is probably what made humans turn away from becoming primal mages (as Ezran confirms that Callum is the first primal human mage in centuries, not ever, in S4). It may have been Aaravos' influence or their own inclinations. We don't know.

Dark mages accordingly later hunted down basically all the unicorns; this is one of the reasons humans were exiled to the West and the continent was split in two. We also know, thanks to some promo art released in the lead-up to S4, that Ziard was very much a pawn to Aaravos, same as the other human mages he's used. Originally humans were going to be murdered, but a daughter of a Moonshadow leader argued for an exile; this was a 'Merciful Compromise' under the leadership of the Dragon Monarch at the time, Luna Tenebris, who took over after Sol Regem was blinded by Ziard or otherwise seen as unfit to rule. (We see her mentioned in the S4 flashbacks regarding the draconic succession crisis, so I won't go into too much there! We also just know very little about her.)

But finally, we're at the turning point for the narrative, marked definitively 1,000 years ago when Xadia was split in two and the Breach was formed. About 700 years later (or 300 before the start of the show) we get the Orphan Queen. She is Harrow and Ezran's ancestor and the start of their royal line. In the events that likely led to her becoming queen of Katolis, she travelled to Xadia and revealed Aaravos' schemes to the Arch-dragons.

She also kept Aaravos' rune cube, also known as the Key of Aaravos, safe and passed it down to her descendants (Harrow and now Callum) although information has been lost on what it precisely unlocks and how it works. We know the human she's depicted with in the flashback was also a mage known only as the Jailor.

Here's where it gets Messy:

Specifically: when did Aaravos' chest piece get taken, if it is a physical piece he lost and then had, rather than something that flickers in and out per magical usage? (After all, it glows fully when channelling magic through Viren in 2x09, but there is every implication that Star gems called Quasar Diamonds do come from Star touch elves directly thanks to past concept art. Diamonds in real life ancient mythological times were also often seen as Fallen stars and tears of the gods, which would also line up.)

In the textbook's depiction here, he doesn't have it, and this seems to predate the Fall of Elarion and exile, although that's still speculative. (After all, he could've been 'helping' humans in their eyes after the fall, and this is where the art comes from; if he was planning on letting humans strike a blow against Xadia, that'd easily constitute the treachery Zubeia describes in 4x04, in her eyes at least).

However, in the flashback we get to the actual Exile, and in 1x01 no less, Aaravos has his crown (whose diamond pattern matches the ones often found on Katolis' clothing, including the princes) and his chest piece fully.

So like - which Is it?

We don't know.

So as you can see, there's a lot of lore, a lot we don't know, and a shit ton of speculation. Other places to start if you are interested:

Aaravos' short stories including: Birthday story, Patience, Ripples

Tales of Xadia tag

Deep Lore Dive tag

Orphan Queen tag

Elarion tag

Worldbuilding tag

Quasar Diamonds tag + more about the diamond pattern & repeated heraldry

Hope this helps & feel free to send in any more questions! <3 If you're really interested in all the lore and stuff I'd recommend Tales of Xadia for sure - the stuff about Star dragons is worth the price alone imo, they're so freaking cool (and one of them is even on S4's star chart map for the intros!)

wish list for people who don’t want anything

aka possessions which are just possessions, but which have noticeably improved my quality of life: for when people ask you “what do you want for your birthday/Christmas/graduation” and you instantly transform into St Francis and pledge fealty to Lady Poverty because your mind went blank

nice. new. sheets. I cannot emphasize this one enough. if you’re still using the same sheets you had in college, you should probably get new ones. get yourself some 100% bamboo rayon sheets—they’re silky and perfect for summer and great for sensitive skin! or, if you’re cold all the time, flannel sheets!

kitchen knives. or even just one really good kitchen knife.

new curtains—blackout if you are a creature of the night like I am

fleece lined anything, but especially sweatpants and hoodies. wool lined socks are also good. if you don’t have the option of coming home after work and putting on an entire outfit that is loose and fuzzy, you should change that, because you deserve that option.

cookie sheets with a layer of air between the top and the bottom. the bottoms of your cookies will never burn again.

kitchen scale!!! no more leveling off flour with a knife and getting it all over the table!! now all your measuring is just shoveling stuff in and out of bowls like you’re at the beach. baking is both more accurate and also way more fun.

coffee bean grinder. if you want to upgrade your coffee experience, this is a great one-time purchase. just-ground beans have a much better flavor than pre-ground.

CDs!! ask for a gift card and expand your physical music collection! or a collection of the DVDs for your favorite show!