aiyassalt
Bleh
Salt Blog. Pro-Shaladin, pro-Piladin, and pro-Lotor x Paladin, but I will post criticisms I have about some ships, so be warned. Antis don't interact.
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Non-Boring Environments that need Fantasy Representation
Tropical Rainforests
Scrubland/Dry Forests. For extra effect make them the sort that burn very often; some native plants never germinate until after a fire, and some animals not only rely on fire to smoke out prey, but may even start them themselves.
Savannas/Tropical Grasslands
Temperate Rainforests. I almost didn’t include this bc New Zealand is covered in them, and that’s where they filmed Lord of the Rings. But tbh, no one really knows about them, so it belongs here
Taiga Forests
Barren Tundra, perfect for some extreme seasonal dichotomy
Polar Ice Sheets
Desert-Grasslands (arguably the same as Scrubland but Australia’s good at adding its own twists)
Barren Desert
If you like Cacti, look at American Deserts like the Sonoran
Salt Flats
Soda Lakes and Alkaline Lakes
Madagascar’s Karst Limestone Formations
Madagascar’s Spiny Forests
Madagascar’s Baobab Forests
Madagascar’s Subhumid Forests (Madagascar is cool as hell ok)
Danxia Landforms
Badlands/Mountainous Deserts
Steppes and Highland Prairies
Flood Basalts
Newly-Formed Islands, still rife with Volcanic activity
Now for Underwater Environments, sure Coral Reefs are cool.
But there are SO MANY other kinds of environments for aquatic settings, it’s unbelievable:
Seaside Cliffs
Archipelagos. Not just Tropical Island chains like Polynesia (Moana anyone?) but also Coldwater Archipelagos like the Aleutians.
Tidal Flats
Bayous/Cypress Swamps
Tropical River Basins, AKA Seasonally Flooded Rainforests
Mangrove Swamps/Deltas/Beaches
Kelp Forests
The Open Ocean
Coastal Seabeds
Rocky Beaches with Tidepools
And there are a LOT more I could name but this post is already obscenely long as is, if you’d like to toss in your own go right ahead, but my point is if you limit yourself to European Deciduous Forests you’re a wimp.
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Sorry for responding to this incredibly late. Not only did some RL stuff take up some of my time, I also didn't look at the replies and such to this post until today as I didn't expect this post of mine to get more feedback.
Anyway, your whole rant is…
Absolutely brilliant! I agree with almost point you made (I ship Callum x Claudia and Soren x Rayla. That’s where we differ).
but i just have to express my support for your take. because it is so tiring when a fandom starts gatekeeping and outright bullying people for their own perspectives and opinions, and even moreso when the writers of the show start pandering to this lunacy and absolute entitlement *war flashbacks to vld among others*, which in turn just gives the people who has to have it their own way more affirmation and fuel to keep acting the way they do.
What I find most infuriating about the bullying and gatekeeping in the TDP fandom is that certain fans won't ever own up to doing it or admitting that it's major problem. I know those fans want to preach how much they’re so better than VLD fans, but they’re not. TDP is the VLD fandom without the death threats and open bullying which makes sense since a lot of VLD wankers migrated to TDP and never reflected on and grew out of their shitty behavior. There’s still and always been this air of bullying and intimidation for mono-shipping in The Dragon Prince fandom (especially on the subreddit) since S1 IMO, and it has only gotten worse. No thanks to the bonehead writers deciding to appease the horde (again, mainly composed of the same wankers who made VLD hell as well). I’m fully convinced that the fandom is just one “controversial” moment away from imploding.
I’m gonna be honest: I came into TDP expecting to ship R/ayllum only to be underwhelmed and dismayed that the ship fandom hyped up into juggernaut status has no romantic chemistry whatsoever meanwhile actual interesting het ships such Callum x Claudia and Soren x Rayla were rarepairs. The only aspect of Rayla and Callum’s dynamic I was invested in was their friendship. Like you said, M/F friendships in media, especially children’s media, are rare and underappreciated. And I believed and still believe the show could still fulfill their theme of unity without pushing Rayla and Callum into a romance with each other. Of course, the writers and the fandom decided otherwise.
I don’t have many comments concerning your analysis on R/yllum, Claudia x Callum, and Soren x Rayla. They’re incredibly spot on. However, I have to slightly disagree with you on the writers and Ehasz wanting generic fantasy. I don’t think initially they were aiming for TDP to be as generic as it’s shaping out to be now. Especially not Giancarlo Volpe, who tends to gravitate towards pairings dissimilar to R/yllum and worked on S1 and S2 (two seasons that more Claudium/Sorayla heavy) yet (conveniently) didn’t work on S3 (the season in which the show went in cringy R/yllum overdrive).
TL, DR; your rant is everything and shame on the TDP writers for pandering to a bunch of whiny and toxic shippers and squandering the show’s potential for these brats.
Claudia’s Character Assassination
This post is a follow up on my recent Claudia hot take in which I state that Claudia was another character intentionally ruined and demonized by the writers (not unlike Viren) for the sake of shipping.
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lives4lovesworld
@aiyassalt I hope you don't take it personally: I do not think Dany would be appalled by Sansa. Simply because Daenerys is so motherly & lenient [even towards slavers & traitors] that I doubt she will feel anything negative about a conforming girl, who is a victim of her own circumstances & mentality. Dany simply is such a bigger person & has so much greater worries than some generic highborn daughter of upper society, she will/could meet.
Nor do I doubt that Sansa will dislike Dany for the same reasons why she disliked Arya: One of Sansa primar reasons for disliking Arya, was because she is very outspoken, impulsive [?], "messy & ugyl" ->for not conforming all of her goals & ideals of a sister. Daenerys is very courtly & hides her real emotions well behind masks she likes to put on [the Westerosi savage in Astapor, the "little naive girl", dealing with slavers]
she considered the beautiful & desirable woman in the world [remember Sansa admired Cersei just for being the most beautiful woman in Westeros] often wears the most beautiful dresses [adequate for her position] etc. I guess Sansa could envy her but also see her as an idole 🤷🏻♀️. That being said I hope Sansa will be content & mature enough to not start petty bs...
Don’t worry, I’m not offended. When I say that Dany would be appalled by Sansa’s actions (past and present), I’m not saying that she would wear her bewilderment on her sleeve. After all, like you said, Dany is very courtly and considerate. If anything, she would probably keep her shock and frustration with Sansa under wraps. That said, you’re right that Dany is pretty forgiving and lenient, so she probably tolerate Sansa’s snobby attitude.
It’s possible that Sansa would idolize Dany because she’s a beautiful Targaryen princess and the most beautiful woman in the world. However, I said that Sansa’s classist and conformist attitude would get in the way of any possible relationship between her and Dany because of the company Dany keeps and her (Dany’s) political and societal views. If Sansa took issue with and disliked Arya because of her associating with and befriending smallfolk, and she (Sansa) still bothered by masquerading as a bastard, then she’s definitely going to be disturbed by Dany’s character and entourage.
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Generally, I tried to be understanding of all ships and see their potential appeal but...all of this. Da/ensa never made sense to me, even as a potential friendship, for the same reasons you laid out. Sansa’s too much of a classist and conformist to entertain a friendship with someone like Dany, meanwhile I can see Dany being (inwardly) enraged and stunned with Sansa’s indifference to the plight of the lower classes and her own family (no, seriously, just let Dany get word how Sansa sold her father out to Cersei or how she treated Arya). At best, those two would probably just maintain a cold but polite acquaintanceship, and even saying that is pushing it.
I don’t understand Daensa as a ship for the characters in the series. I can’t imagine these two characters being friends even if they do meet. It’s not going to be as bad as the show of course. Book Sansa actually has courtly manners and is well versed in treating people with courtesy. But actually liking each other? I don’t see it.
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This especially when Monica x Jimmy, quite frankly, have more chemistry than Darcy x Jimmy and more meaningful interactions.
Why isn't Monica x Jimmy hyped up as much as Darcy x Jimmy? 👀
There needs to be more Monica x Jimmy content. I wish there was more content for them. Where is all the love for these two like there is a lot for Darcy? 👁
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I'm not gonna start a fight with anyone but I don't trust people who think that Claudia is a horrible friend because of what she did to Callum, but give Soren the benefit of the doubt even though he bullied Callum AND has made an attempt on Ezrans life. Its like... why are people willing to look past Sorens actions and recognize what he does is a byproduct of his abusive upbringing. But not Claudia who... also does questionable things because of her abusive upbringing? Like make it make sense.
#*whispers* it's misogyny#and certain shippers recognizing claudia as a bigger threat to their ship than soren#anti rayllum
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Why the fuck aren’t there any Jimmy x Monica fanworks?! They have such fun chemistry???
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I’m beginning to think there are a lot more people who dislike R/yllum but keep quiet about it (especially on the TDP subreddit because that place is really a watering hole of obnoxious R/yllum stanning and Rayla worship) because I’ve been seeing more criticisms pop up. But yes, I wish more people were vocal about their dislike/hatred about it and I don’t understand why it’s so well-liked. It’s the epitome of badly-written het ship a lot of fans complain about. It’s forced (it wasn’t supposed to happen in the first place), rushed, no chemistry, reduces a female character to her romance, blatant character shilling (Claudia and Callum are R/yllum’s biggest victims), etc.
I’m all for R/yllum breaking up and the show going forward with them ending up with other people. It would be a good message to children in the audience that it’s possible to remain friends with exes and there’s happy endings for childhood romances that don’t last.
As for cheating, I rather see a cheating storyline with Viren, Harrow, and Sarai. 🤐
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Reason #135 Why I Hate R/yllum
R/yllum shippers: We don’t want a ship war! All the characters are great! Stan all characters! We’re not going to repeat the VLD’s fandom mistakes!!!11
Also Rayllum shippers:
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Of course this interview gets ignored by Dany antis. GRRM didn’t just say Dany’s on a leadership arc and is a good leader. He dared to NOT mention a certain red-headed female Stark when discussing good leadership and recognized that Joffrey is the closest parallel to Trump ; not Dany.
There’s one GRRM interview in which he mentions Dany that I’ve never seen being discussed, but that I think is very interesting. GRRM was asked about who would be a leader nowadays, and at first he answers Tyrion, but then he says that Dany would also be an interesting choice for a leader (see video here, around 31:20):
Interviewer: Which of your characters would you say is the most suitable to be a leader nowadays and why?
GRRM: Which of my characters would be a leader in this day and age? Well, you know, probably Tyrion… Tyrion is very smart, he is also very ruthless sadly which you need. I don’t necessarily think he would be a beloved leader, but you know, he has the intellectual ability to do it, he has a certain understanding of politics, and he has a lot of experience in the dark side of humanity, so he wouldn’t be too naive for the job. He might be a good choice.
Interviewer: I agree, very good.
GRRM: Dany would also be an interesting choice if we could bring her dragons along. The recent American election might have turned out very different if Hillary Clinton had dragons.
Now, I know that Dany antis would interpret this as GRRM saying that Dany is nothing without her dragons and that she could never be a leader without the dragons. But I definitely don’t think that this is what he meant here. First, because GRRM has written three books so far in which Dany has been a leader, conquered cities and ruled a city without using dragons, so I think he is aware of the story he wrote, and of what kind of character Dany is (she is much more than her dragons). But also, because of the context in which he mentions her dragons: he is comparing Dany’s situations to Hillary Clinton losing the election to Trump, and this had a lot to do with sexism. So it seems to me he is saying that Dany would be an interesting choice of leader nowadays, but that just like Hillary, she would face sexism, and that if she had the dragons they could help with that.
But what I actually like the most in this interview is that GRRM mentions Dany alongside Tyrion. It’s no secret that Tyrion is GRRM’s favorite character and that he is considered a good ruler, and that GRRM considers him a good ruler. But right after GRRM mentions Tyrion, he also remembers Dany as a character who would be suitable to be a leader nowadays. Of all the characters that are leaders in the books, of all his characters that he could have chosen to mention alongside Tyrion, he chose to mention Dany. So to me, it does seem that GRRM considers Dany a good leader on par with Tyrion.
Another interesting thing about this interview is related to the wank in the fandom. As everyone probably knows, Dany antis love to compare her to the worst politicians, Trump amongst them. And there was even a Sansa stan that wrote a book saying that Dany was like Trump. So it’s interesting that here, GRRM actually compares Dany to Hillary AGAINST Trump. And in fact, GRRM has already said in another interview which of his characters that he considers to be similar to Trump, and it’s not Dany:
Interviewer: Who reminds you most of Trump? Dan Weiss [one of the “Game of Thrones” creators and writers] told me that the character that reminded him the most of Trump is Hodor because he endlessly repeats his own name.
Martin: Well, that’s amusing. But I think even during the campaign I said that Trump reminded me most of Joffrey. They have the same level of emotional maturity. And Joffrey likes to remind everyone that he’s king. And he thinks that gives him the ability to do anything. And we’re not an absolute monarchy, like Westeros is. We’re a constitutional republic. And yet, Trump doesn’t seem to know what that means. He thinks the presidency gives him the power to do anything. And so, yeah, Joffrey is Trump.
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How the hell is the fandom ignoring this
#i will be forever mad that fandom skipped over this ship and decided that bland af and chemistry black hole rayllum should be the juggernaut#forever.mad#claudium#tdp
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Oh, I totally understood you were talking about the general fandom’s and the writers’ views of Viren’s family, not your personal opinions. I’ve seen too many times fan insisting on the FN Royal Family/Viren’s family comparisons, so I immediately grasped your points. I also like Soren and Viren, too (I think I made it evident that I love Claudia on my blog). I just feel more defensive of Claudia because she gets more bashing and bad faith assumptions than Soren and even Viren get.
Xadia definitely should be presented more as the antagonist, but alas, that won’t happen because that might cast fandom’s Best Girl Rayla in a more morally ambiguous light, have her get called out on her double standards, therefore being forced to actually grow.
The Dragon Prince writers want me to believe that Soren is the new Zuko to Viren’s Ozai and Claudia’s Azula. Except what worked for AtLA does not work for TDP because the Fire Nation was the oppressors to the other nations the way Xadia is to the humans. Which makes Xadia’s racism and nationalism “justified” not unlike that of the Fire Nation’s acts of genocide which in turn makes Rayla, Callum, and Ezran look like spoiled, self-righteous brats (especially considering that Rayla is an elf and the boys are princes, which makes them more privileged than most humans) instead of fighting for what’s right like the Gaang did.
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Agree with most of this, but I also want to add that the Viren-Ozai, Claudia-Azula, and Zuko-Soren comparisons don’t really work because the characters involved have little to nothing in common with one another. Yeah, Viren is a harsh and not a super loving dad, and is an ambitious schemer like Ozai. However unlike Ozai, he actually does (or at least did, prior to his character assassination) love both of his kids. He just has high expectations for them. Viren is also insecure and self-deprecating, proves to be a loyal friend when shit goes down and cared about the safety and well-being of Katolis (again, prior to his character assassination but still...). Claudia is a pale-skinned, dark-haired, and talented Daddy’s favorite like Azula, but she shares more personality traits and elements with Zuko and Katara, TBH. Soren is a less sexist but dumber version of Sokka with a dash of Zuko.
I would get more into the AtLA similarities, but that’s for another post for another day.
The Dragon Prince writers want me to believe that Soren is the new Zuko to Viren’s Ozai and Claudia’s Azula. Except what worked for AtLA does not work for TDP because the Fire Nation was the oppressors to the other nations the way Xadia is to the humans. Which makes Xadia’s racism and nationalism “justified” not unlike that of the Fire Nation’s acts of genocide which in turn makes Rayla, Callum, and Ezran look like spoiled, self-righteous brats (especially considering that Rayla is an elf and the boys are princes, which makes them more privileged than most humans) instead of fighting for what’s right like the Gaang did.
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When I say “shove their pairing down people’s throats” I’m not talking about popularity. I’m talking about shippers sending people’s death threats because they don’t ship their OTP. I’m talking about shippers who tell rival shippers that they’re “disrespecting” canon by not shipping their OTP. I’m talking about shippers who comment on fanworks featuring a non-Zelink Link ship and telling them their ship is wrong because “Link loves Zelda/Zelda love Link”.
That’s what I mean by “shoving their pairing down people’s throats”.
But to say that “Zelink shippers are notorious” for all of those things is counterproductive and completely missing my point. Taking quotes and canon facts out of context? Every ship in the entire world has supporters who do this, and they are usually in the vocal minority. It’s not exclusive to the Zelda fandom.
I don’t think I was missing your point. I said I agree with you that the hate between both Miphlink and Zelink shippers is unnecessary and ridiculous. I just disagree with you simply boiling down this antagonism down to Zelda hate which, IMO, implicitly places blame solely on Miphlink shippers, implies that all Miphlink shippers hate/dislike Zelda, Zelink shippers are innocent shippers who haven’t done anything to fuel this antagonism, and ignores that Mipha gets her fair share of unreasonable hate. However, looking at the wording of my post, I could see where you thought I was deliberately missing your point and generalizing Zelink shippers, which is not fair as I have my fair share of popular ships that have wanky shippers and I don’t like being lumped in with the jerks acting up. So, I profusely apologize if I seem hostile and/or generalize Zelink shippers. That wasn’t my intention.
Anyway, all in all I agree with you. Both sides need to stop downplaying Link’s individual relationships with both girls and the bashing. Link clearly cares about Zelda and Mipha, both Mipha and Zelda are friends, and neither of them deserve to be bashed. There’s no need for either side to feel threatened. As far as I’m concerned I feel like Nintendo gave enough hints to certify that both Zelda and Mipha are Link’s canon love interests.
I will never understand why Zelink shippers and Miphlink shippers are always at each other’s throats. At all. Cuz here’s the thing... you can have both.
Maybe Link did love Mipha before the Calamity and later fell in love with Zelda during/after BotW
Maybe Link loved Mipha before the Calamity while also realizing he was falling for Zelda, or had feelings for Zelda he couldn’t quite place at the time.
There’s so many different ways you can look at this and interpret it. There is no reason to say one is objectively better than the other. It’s just shipping! You don’t need an objective opinion on fucking shipping, it’s all about self-indulgence!
The only reason for any shipper aggression I can think of is honestly just a hatred for Zelda. “Mipha’s better cuz she’s nice, and mean nasty Zelda yelled at Link” — fuck no. You stop that, it’s not true and you know it. You can have your fish waifu, but don’t throw Zelda under the bus to justify it.
So quit leaving “well my ship is better” comments underneath fanart. Learn to coexist.
Zelink. Miphlink. Canonically you can have both.
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Okay, I agree with most of this, but I have to challenge you on the shipper aggression part. Reducing the hostility between both groups to “Zelda hate” is not really accurate. Some of us who don’t like Zelink actually like Zelda; we just prefer Link with Mipha and just have our own reasons for not shipping Zelink. Also, simply assuming that this ship war is solely about Zelda hate ignores that Mipha, as popular she is, does get hate, from Zelink shippers themselves and that Zelink shippers are notorious for constantly shoving their ship down people’s throat, taking quotes and canon facts out of context to support their ship, and/or downgrade Mipha’s relationship with Link.
That said, I agree. There’s no need for hostility between these two groups. The game gives enough hints that you could make the case for either Mipha or Zelda being Link’s canon love interest and bashing of either girls is not cool.
I will never understand why Zelink shippers and Miphlink shippers are always at each other’s throats. At all. Cuz here’s the thing... you can have both.
Maybe Link did love Mipha before the Calamity and later fell in love with Zelda during/after BotW
Maybe Link loved Mipha before the Calamity while also realizing he was falling for Zelda, or had feelings for Zelda he couldn’t quite place at the time.
There’s so many different ways you can look at this and interpret it. There is no reason to say one is objectively better than the other. It’s just shipping! You don’t need an objective opinion on fucking shipping, it’s all about self-indulgence!
The only reason for any shipper aggression I can think of is honestly just a hatred for Zelda. “Mipha’s better cuz she’s nice, and mean nasty Zelda yelled at Link” — fuck no. You stop that, it’s not true and you know it. You can have your fish waifu, but don’t throw Zelda under the bus to justify it.
So quit leaving “well my ship is better” comments underneath fanart. Learn to coexist.
Zelink. Miphlink. Canonically you can have both.
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Claudia’s Character Assassination
This post is a follow up on my recent Claudia hot take in which I state that Claudia was another character intentionally ruined and demonized by the writers (not unlike Viren) for the sake of shipping.
I know what ya’ll are thinking: I’m just being a butthurt Claudia stan, but based on recent discoveries (such as a certain article from Polyon), I’m (mostly) making a case based on facts.
“Whoawhoawhoawhoa, aiya?” you cry. “Don’t you think you’re being ridiculous and going a bit too far with your Rayllum hate?!”
Au contraire, my friend, I’m not. An article published by Polygon in the last year (yes, I know. I’m late but whatever) came out and confirmed a few facts:
Callum/Claudia were supposed to be endgame or at least canon.
Rayllum was never in the cards, but the writers, supposedly claim that they decided to switch things up during the storyboarding phase for S2.
“The Callum-Rayla romance sparked in a moment during the storyboarding phases of season 2, when the pair sat down for a heart-to-heart. A lingering glance on Rayla’s part prompted the writing team to consider the potential of the duo, and they continued developing it through the rest of season 2.”
However, further along in the article, the writer talks about how the staff are completely aware of fandom happenings and have developed a…”strategy” concerning fandom.
“The Dragon Prince writing staff are aware of the possible relationships their fans are hoping for, say the creators, and “good ships and trash ships” are a source of constant chatter and scrutiny in the writers’ room. After a season 2 creative retreat, a gallon of corn oil inspired writer Neil Mukhopadhyay to put a name to those moments that leave a bit too much room for romantic possibilities. “Shipping oil” became the go-to slang for when scenes felt slathered with dialogue or character blocking that could send the wrong message.”
So, it starts to become clear that Rayllum didn’t happen because the writers had a lightning bulb moment and realized it “made sense.” It has everything to do with trying to appeal to the fanbase’ wants and ideas of “appropriate” ships.
“Okay,” you say. “So the writers decided to make the juggernaut canon to make fans happy. So what! What’s the big deal? What does this have to do with Claudia?”
It has a lot to do with Claudia (and to a lesser extent, Soren) and it explains why the writing for her character in S3 felt incredibly off and dismissive for her. The writers talked about “shipping oil” for certain pairings and being concerned about “sending the wrong message.” What if the writers decided to possibly tone down certain shippy scenes? Or even go further and decided to cut out scenes or even rewrite certain character arcs to:
Accommodate the sudden pro-Rayllum direction they pushed the story towards and not threaten their endgame ship?
Make the Rayllum fans feel better and more confident about their OTP rather than feel insecure and threatened by “trash” ships getting an upper hand?
LBR, as much as Rayllum like to deny it, they’re not that secure about their ship. It’s why we see a portion of Rayllum fans continually bashing Claudia. Why, throughout S2, we started seeing an uptick of Rayllum fans calling Callum/Claudia problematic and/or abusive (no, I’m not joking or hyperbolizing; this actually happened) and trying to frame Soren/Rayla as “p*dophilic”.
Think about it. S3 seems like it was written by a Rayllum fan with a (“hidden”) hate for Claudia. We never get to hear exactly her own thoughts about her father and her moral choices in S3. We don’t see her worrying and reeling with guilt over Callum and Ezran falling out with her. The girl we see clearly crying after telling Callum the truth about his dead father is suddenly not concerned about her childhood friends being in Xadia while she’s hearing rumors about Xadians possibly prepping for warfare. We witness Callum showing a baffling lack of concern for Claudia, a character who is supposed to be not only his childhood crush, but his childhood friend staying with her father who Callum acknowledged as someone who has changed for the worse (according to the books). We get Nyx, a Skywing elf who possibly has never been in contact with humans, acting like a straight-up in-canon Rayluum shipper and being fine with a Human and Elf being in love rather than being disgusted. I would continue, but I don’t want to make an incredibly long post.
And LBR: if Claudia (and Soren maybe) went with Callum and Rayla in S3 or S4, there would be trouble in paradise for the Rayllum ship and present more nuanced writing. Besides Callum x Claudia and Soren x Rayla having more chemistry than Rayllum, Claudia and Callum have more in common than Callum and Rayla do. And Soren and Rayla serve as better foils for one another and share more parallels together. Both Callum and Claudia are interested in magic, books, art, and history, had to serve as parental figures for their siblings, and are crafty and adaptive wildcards. Meanwhile Soren and Rayla are the youngest members of their individual organizations, good warriors who balance out each other’s weaknesses, and possess a lot of determination and ambition to prove themselves to their parental figures.
Imagine Soren and Rayla bonding over parents disappointing them and putting a lot on their shoulders. Imagine them confessing they have no idea what they want to do in life, and were put on their current career paths due to societal expectations. Imagine Claudia and Callum having a couple of tense moments due to her lying and trying to capture Zym, but eventually reconciling (basically, a gender reversed Zutara arc). Imagine Callum showing Claudia his Sky Magic moves and revealing it is possible for humans to do Primal Magic without needing a Primal Stone. Imagine Claudia then deciding to embark on training and dedicating herself to learn specific type of Primal Magic (such as Water or Moon, or even Earth) with Callum’s help. Imagine Callum and Claudia deciding to go on dates that also function as research trips to explore ruins and to discover the truth as to why and how the myth that humans can’t do Primal Magic was perpetuated. Imagine Rayla and Claudia’s initial interactions being full of hostility due to their past experiences and Claudia being a Dark Mage and Rayla going on a self-righteous anti-Dark Magic rant only for Claudia to break out of her typical goofy and upbeat persona and bring up the history of humans in Xadia and point out the birth of Dark Magic has nothing to do with humans wanting to kill creatures for the shits and giggles, but for survival and fighting against oppression. And as a result, Rayla actually undergoes actual character growth.
The scenarios I’ve described here sound 100x more interesting than the Rayllum Drama Desert mess. I’m also absolutely positive that they would absolutely make certain characters as more sympathetic (such as Viren, especially if Claudia defends Dark Mages), put a dent in Rayllum’s popularity and Rayla’s Perfect Waifu status and drive the Rayllum fandom bonkers. And the TDP writers knew it, which is why Claudia and Soren were given the arcs they have in S3.
I will never be over how Claudia was sacrificed at the altar of fandom pandering, and most of the fandom waving it off because, whatever, she’s no longer in the way and she’s an icky teenaged girl. Never. A refreshing character like her didn’t deserve the treatment she’s gotten thus far and will continue to get if the writers insist on pandering to vocal fan factions. Shame on the TDP writers for making such an ignorant, amateur, and disastrous move.
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Hot take: Claudia was fucked over by the writers just like Viren. Her character assassination was just more subtle and more accepted because it seemed more “natural” and because she’s no longer in the way of a specific popular ship.
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