#that's not quite on the same level as the crew saying viren always resented callum

[sage-nebula]

On Callum’s Heritage, and Viren’s Resentment

There’s a popular theory going around right now that Callum is a half-elf. Many people have made posts on this, so there isn’t one specific post I can link to, but the theory goes that while his mother, Queen Sarai, was human, his biological father was an elf. This theory draws on evidence such as Callum’s talent for magic, the fact that we’ve been told that half-elves exist and yet no other information about them was given (despite the fact that Aaron Ehasz was directly asked about them), and the fact that we have no idea who Callum’s biological father is at this point. It still is a bit of a shot in the dark that he’s part-elf, but I believe there has been enough spice sprinkled in to stir up suspicion, which is why the theory has gained the traction and weight that it has in the fandom.

But while the tidbits mentioned above are enough alone to draw some to the conclusion that Callum is a half-elf, there’s something else that I haven’t personally seen discussed, but that I think adds even more weight and credence to the theory, and that something else is Viren’s attitude toward Callum.

In 1x03, Callum rushes to the tower in order to tell King Harrow about the dragon egg. He’s stopped outside the doors by Viren, who refuses him entry. The two argue, and Viren steals Callum’s voice. When he does, he says this:

Of course, a screencap can’t display it, but when Viren delivers this line, he does so with particular emphasis on that last word: mongrel. From the standpoint of wanting to hurt Callum, it makes sense; though calling Callum “impudent” is of course deriding his attitude and behavior, the word “mongrel” is more than just an insult. While many think of it as just another way of calling someone a dog due to it most commonly being applied to dogs, it’s actually a derogatory term / slur for people with mixed heritage.

Now, here’s the thing: We already know that, canonically, both Callum and Ezran are biracial. Ezran is biracial because his mother was Sarai, while his father was Harrow. Callum is biracial because his mother was Sarai, and his biological father was . . . well, we don’t know. We just know that his biological father was not the Katolian equivalent of Asian. But although both princes are biracial, Viren doesn’t seem to have any resentment or prejudice toward Ezran. True, he never mentions or interacts with Ezran at all, but we learned in the stream yesterday that Viren was possibly planning to steal Callum’s voice for “a while,” and also that Viren “may have always felt this resentment for Callum” but that calling him a mongrel was “over the line” (understatement). If Viren was simply racist against all mixed race individuals, why is it specifically Callum that he holds resentment for, and specifically Callum’s voice that he wants to steal?

Could it be because Callum is half-elven, and Viren knows it?

We all know that Viren hates elves, and hates them rather passionately. He refers to them as monsters, has taught his children (or at least Claudia) to see them as tools that can be used, gleans joy from their torture, thinks moonshadow elves are “the worst kind,” and so on. Moreover, Viren sees dark magic as “clever and practical”; he sees absolutely nothing wrong with killing magical beings in order to use them for his spells, and this includes elves. He sees humans as superior, sees only human lives as those worth saving. To Viren, elves are disgusting and only have use as batteries for his magic.

So to that end, it would make sense that Viren would disparage---perhaps even loathe---a romantic union between a human and an elf. He seems the type of person who would consider this to be treason against humanity. And if that is the case, then surely he would despise any children borne of such a union---would see them as unworthy, and even dangerous (particularly since we know that he is not above seeing children as weapons---just look at what he told Claudia about Azymondias’ egg). By calling Callum a “mongrel” as he does, he’s not only disparaging him, but dehumanizing him. And again, it makes sense that he would do that if he knows of Callum’s heritage, and knows that he finally has the chance to say what he has been thinking and feeling for years because there will be no repercussions for his actions because he had already put Harrow’s soul either into Pip or into a coin. (These are also popular theories, and I’m grasping onto them because I dearly do not want Harrow to be dead.)

But, you may ask, why would he want to steal Callum’s voice? What purpose would that serve? And the answer to that, my friends, is:

Magic. As Justin Richmond explained during the Reddit AMA:

If Callum is part-elf, that means that he has some natural inclination toward magic---that he has some inherent connection to a primal source, which means that he would be able to draw on it even without a primal stone, so long as the conditions were right. And as we know, in order to use primal magic you need three things: access to a primal source, the ability to correctly draw the rune, and to say the correct incantation. After all, Callum couldn’t properly use the lightning spell until he learned that fulminus was the incantation for it. And if he had no voice at all, then even knowing the incantation wouldn’t help him, because he wouldn’t be able to say it. (Since he has to draw the rune and hold his fingers in place, I imagine he couldn’t sign the incantation. Maybe he could sign it one-handed, though; I’m not sure.) If that’s the case, then it’s entirely possible that the reason why Viren was plotting to steal Callum’s voice for a long time was because he didn’t want to take the risk of Callum learning that he could use magic by drawing on a primal source due to his elven heritage. Of course, Callum doesn’t know that he’s half-elven, but if Viren does, Viren wouldn’t want to leave that risk unattended.

But then that begs the question: How does Viren know? Well, the answer to that one, too, is simple:

Harrow.

As we know from the stream, Harrow and Viren have known each other since childhood. As we know from 1x03, Harrow trusted and cared for Viren so much that he had Viren by his side during his coronation painting, and allowed him to run unchecked in a high position of power for a long time despite many in the kingdom (such as Opeli and Amaya) not liking him. It makes sense to me that, if Viren truly was Harrow’s best friend, Harrow might have mistakenly confided in him that Callum’s biological father was an elf. (Or perhaps it was even Sarai that did it, knowing that Viren was Harrow’s best friend, and thus assuming he could be trusted with this knowledge because she didn’t know him well enough yet to know that he would be prejudiced against Callum as a result.) Upon Viren revealing that he did not at all approve of Callum’s race, and certainly didn’t approve of him being Harrow’s heir, he was sworn to secrecy and forbidden to breathe a word of it to anyone, and particularly forbidden from saying or doing anything derisive toward Callum himself. Viren, mindful of wanting to keep his place by Harrow’s side, agreed . . . but also couldn’t help but express his distaste in lowkey ways in private and at home, which in turn influenced how Soren treats Callum today. I know that in the stream Aaron and the others said that perhaps the reason why Soren bullies Callum is because he’s jealous that Callum gets special treatment despite being bad at everything, but in my opinion, I feel that Soren doesn’t display any real animosity toward Callum. Don’t get me wrong, as a person from a step-family I absolutely despise the way Soren rubs salt in the “step-prince” wound and insinuates that Harrow isn’t Callum’s real father, but I also notice things like how he pretends that Callum stabbed him so that Callum can impress Claudia, and how when things get serious, he says, “But . . . he’s the prince” and puts his hand on Callum’s shoulder to protect and offer him comfort when the moonshadow elves arrive. Soren doesn’t seem to hold any real animosity toward Callum, and I get the feeling that the mindset that Callum isn’t a real prince, that he’s only a step-prince, and that he’s not really Harrow’s son is a mindset that he internalized due to things Viren said to him in private. That, and perhaps these were the only jokes that Viren laughed at or agreed with (given that Viren wouldn’t approve of Callum being one of Harrow’s heirs), and thus Soren doubled down on them in an effort to get some form of approval or validation from his father.

In any case, while this still isn’t definitive proof that Callum is a half-elf, I do think that Callum being half-elven helps explain so many things, as well as lays the groundwork for what we can expect next season (such as how he’ll be able to use magic now that he no longer has a primal stone). If it isn’t Callum’s elven heritage that Viren has a problem with, then I really wonder what it is, particularly since the writers could have had Viren call Callum anything, and yet they specifically chose a word that is used derogatorily for people of mixed descent (while at the same time, again, never breathing a word or showing a hint of Viren having the same resentment toward Ezran). 

It’s just something to think about.

#the dragon prince #prince callum #viren #meta #it's true that he's telling soren to kill both callum and ez #but that's because he wants to be king and as such crown prince needs to die as well #that's not quite on the same level as the crew saying viren always resented callum #and had been planning to steal his voice for a while #etc etc #idk man i just don't think this is a ''of different human descent'' issue #i think this is a ''of human and elven descent'' issue #but i guess we'll see in future seasons~ #(because i'm refusing to acknowledge the possibility we might not get them) #(lalala i can't hear you~)