#except sol regem he's a dick

[kradogsrats]

So I think my perspective on Xadia is colored quite a bit by the fact that I actually really hate elves in every fantasy setting I’ve ever encountered (with the exception of Hilda, because I love tiny things and neurotic Kafkaesque bureaucracies). Yes, I am That Bitch(tm) whose favorite LotR character was Boromir.

But, like… Lux Aurea reads on the surface as a dystopian theocracy (but maybe just Khessa was awful, who knows), and the Silvergrove apparently trains child assassins, and while I’m definitely biased Xadia’s also legitimately kind of shitty. Not to mention we’ve seen like 2.5 Archdragons, their omnipotent god-rulers, and an entire 2 of those were gigantic dicks. Zubeia’s reaction of sending assassins is honestly pretty restrained in context, as she’s willing to just trading lives one-to-one, versus Sol “Welp, Time to Wipe Out Humanity” Regem. Also lbr when you maintain a tradition of assassins everything’s gonna start looking like a problem assassination will solve.

So idk I honestly don’t have a ton of hope for how the human/Xadian situation is looking, two years on? Zubeia wakes up and has her son back, returned to her by heroic elf/human collaboration… but there’s also still the waste of a huge-ass army sitting outside, so humans are not really giving the best accounting of themselves, here. Some fought and died to protect Zym, but if we’re looking life-for-life… a shit-ton of them also fought and died trying to kill him. At best, it kind of evens out?

Then apparently she immediately sends Zym back off with Ezran like nothing happened, since he’s in Katolis for Ezran’s short story. I really hope they explain that if he continues to be hanging around, because, “well, you killed that one creepy guy with the bug, so never mind the other hundreds of people who followed him, I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s not like there are any other dark mages in the world. And I certainly don’t remember any important mirrors going missing at the same time that we may want to think about retrieving before they end the goddamn world, or anything” is a really weird take to have to on that situation.

Meanwhile, as far as anyone in the human kingdoms knows, their monarchs were still assassinated at Zubeia’s word, and denial from her would probably not land super well in the “believability” area. On Xadia’s end, it was (again) Dark magic that caused all these problems, and they’re unlikely to compromise on that just because of some nice kids and their cool aunt.

So what’s really going to make or break S4 for me is just how shitty are things, still, and how much has it worn Callum and Ezran down?

#like i really hate to say it but the amount i care about runaan is literally zero #i mean i’ll be mad if he doesn’t get rescued someday just because they’ve lined up too many chekov’s guns about it #but am i sad about him and/or ethari? nnnnnnot really #anyway i was going to say more about viren in S4 but it boiled down to like #’zubeia isn’t a real character yet and also xadia sucks’

[fenrhi]

Double standards in tdp s3

This show’s bias towards elves/dragons is back in s3

Warnings: long post, typos, bitterness, things I may forget, things you will disagree with

1) Ziard-Sol Regem conversation in the very first minutes of s3 (yes i’m including it because i honestly don’t know who the show wants me to root for)

We start with this exchange:

There’s a clear hierarchy here: Sol Regem orders Ziard and his comrades to give up dark magic, without offering alternative solutions, without letting Ziard time to think about solutions on his own. He didn’t came here to bargain, he demands Ziard obeys him blindly

Ziard doesn’t:

What Sol Regem demands of Ziard is not only to give up dark magic, but leave intact the power structure that dragons/elves put in place: they have the monopoly of magic while humans crawl in the dirt and starve. The existence of dark magic threatnens this hierarchy. But for Ziard, dark magic is essential to improve humanity’s quality of life, it’s not something he can give up on a whim

Of course Sol Regem doesn’t care about that: he always saw humans as inferior creatures

Probably Aaaravos. Anyway Sol Regem is super pissed, not only because Ziard talks back to him, but also because someone from his own side betrayed him by giving the staff to a human

Sol Regem tricked Ziard: he made him come here so that Elarion would be less protected

People might think “if Ziard obeyed, nothing bad would have happened!” but it’s victim-blaming bullshit and I hate it. If Ziard gave up dark magic, what guarentee would he have that Sol Regem would never torch Elarion afterwards? None. Sol Regem made it clear he despised humans, and only cared about his moral superiority. Destroying an entire city on a whim isn’t below him, and we already saw that same scenario in s2 with the red dragon. Knowing this, how could Ziard throw away the only thing that can keep him safe from dragons?

However, Ziard still had a little hope that Sol Regem wouldnt really attack Elarion

He is proven wrong

He is burnt alive for trying to defend his city. He is punished for thinking humans aren’t lesser beings

Meanwhile, Sol Regem only loses his vision

2) Sol Regem being a dick again, Rayla and Callum edition

Sol Regem: “If I don’t show disgust for humanity every two seconds, I will die”

When Callum acts like a good obedient human, this is what happens:

You can’t win with Sol Regem. But the worst is, Rayla agrees with him:

Rayla does the “good exception” trope (was it called like that?) which is shitty for obvious reasons. Then she makes her “Callum is wonderful” speech but Sol Regem couldn’t give less of a fuck:

Callum used dark magic ONCE so now he’s tainted forever and he must die. It’s just an elaborate way for Sol Regem to say “I am the only one allowed to kill innocent creatures”.

Callum isn’t allowed to contradict Rayla or Sol Regem’s POV in this ep

3) Callum is in awe of Xadia’s flora but Rayla never looks even remotely impressed by the flora on the humans’ side

I consider this a continuation of the “Elves are better than you” trope

4) When elves attack humans, the protagonists don’t think it’s a big deal. When humans attack elves, it’s the worst thing ever

EZRAN YOUR FATHER WAS KILLED BY RUNAAN THREE WEEKS AGO!

Oh and....Friendly reminder that Prince Kasef is killed by a human in the last ep

5) The way the Sunfire Elf Queen treats Amaya

Why did i put this on the list? Because it’s another example “humans are shitty but this one is an exception”. And she gets killed by Viravos, which further validates her point of view: humans are dirty and evil, especially those who use dark magic

6) The red dragon who torched a human town and broke Soren’s spine becomes buddy-buddy with him

Yes I know that fits the “break the cycle of violence and forge peace” theme in TDP, but that was so awkward to watch. Of course, the red dragon’s actions are never mentioned again. Fuck the civilians living peacefully in their town and the soldiers who fought to protect their town right?

7) Callum giving up dark magic to learn the pure, superior Elf magic

Again, this gives the impression that miserable little Ziard should have just shut up and submitted to the great Sol Regem and maybe he would have survived. I still don’t see why dark magic is so evil: it’s just like hunting an animal. It only bothers elves/dragons because it gives humans the possibility to stand up to them. Or maybe TDP was just vegan propaganda the whole time?

#long post #fenrhi watches tdp