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random-fandom-ramble · 11 months

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Is Redfeather Etharis mother?

I just read the new short story about Rayla in Scumport, where we were introduced to this wonderful new MILF character, Redfeather:

Some things we learned about her:

She’s a moonshadow elf

She has matted messy hair

She has pale markings and likely has a darker complexion (“like shining leather”)

She was ghosted about 15+ years ago

She doesn’t regret the thing(s) she was ghosted for

Now 15+ years ago doesn’t place her at any important events that we know of yet. Rayla would’ve been 0-2 years old at the time, so it probably doesn’t connect to her. The whole ordeal with Sarai getting killed by Avizandum happened about 10-12 years prior, so it couldn’t be connected to that.

But you know who would’ve been in a very interesting age back then?

Ethari and Runaan

Ethari and Runaan were once referred to as “uncle-ish” age, which the show runners have clarified means somewhere between 30-35 years old. That means Ethari and Runaan would’ve been 15-20 years old at the time when Redfeather got ghosted by her village. And as we all know, 15-20 is the perfect age for fictional characters to get traumatized✨

One theory I had was that she was somehow involved with the assassins (target? Former assassin? Who knows) and that her crime, which somehow affected a younger Runaan, got her ghosted. But that is a theory for another time.

What caught my attention first was the specifics of her description.

Pale markings and “leather colored”(darker) skin

When it comes to the colors of markings, moonshadow elves tend to have very deep or even dark blue/purple markings. Ethari is the only moonshadow elf we’ve encountered till now who has significantly lighter, or paler, lavender colored markings amongst moonshadow elves.

This means that Redfeather having specifically PALE markings would be significant, if the paleness is referring to the color.

Another point is the eyes

While Redfeathers and Etharis face’s aren’t THAT similar, the eyes very much ARE

Look at that shape! Look at the lashes! Look at the curved lower lids! If this doesn’t mean anything, then this would be one heck of a coincidence for eyes to be drawn THAT similarly.

Another reason I like this theory isn’t just because of looks and appearances, but also because it could explain a bit about Etharis behavior regarding ghosting family members and strong feelings about abandonment.

See, when Rayla first comes back to the Silvergrove, one of the first things he says to is:

“They’re gone Rayla. He’s gone. Because you abandoned them.”

And later on, when he briefly lifted the ghosting spell to talk to Rayla, he says again:

“But I don’t understand, how could you abandon them like that?”

On a similar note, in the novel the bloodmoon huntress, when Runaan realizes that Kim’Dael is out there, there isn’t even a question about wether or not Ethari is coming along; he said right away “I’m coming with you”. He was NOT gonna stay- or be left behind. It’s like he has some very deep rooted issues surrounding abandonment, and being left behind. Maybe because his mother had to leave him when he was young? Or maybe pertaining to the crime she committed, where she left someone behind and surrendered them to their doom? Who knows…

And yet, for someone who has such strong feelings about someone being left behind, he was very quick to ghost Rayla. Yes he regrets it, and yes it was a decision made with feelings and grief and not his sound and sensible mind. But regardless of how much he regrets it now, he still ghosted her for “abandoning her team (and Runaan)”, and he seemed very sure of that choice at first.

If we looked at him as a regular person, a godfather who loved and cherished his goddaughter, and had raised her since the age of 8, this behavior doesn’t make any sense!

But if we look at him as someone who’s had to do it before, someone who had to learn long ago that family ties don’t excuse crimes, and that sometimes you need to cut out and ghost those closest to you - like say, your own mother-, well then it makes sense why he was able to do that to his goddaughter, even if he regretted it later…

——

And a final point close this whole theory off, though it is more of a meta textual point:

Ethari rarely gets talked about by the creators of the show. He was maybe mentioned here and there in the past, and on Twitter Aaron Ehazs promised that they hadn’t forgotten about Ruthari. So any mention of him that actually includes his name and something other than „he’s Runaans husband/Raylas substitute dad“ is pretty special and rare to find outside of the graphic novel Bloodmoon huntress . But in this new short story, he wasn’t just mentioned by name; he was specifically described along with his profession, his crafting.

And the first time that Ethari gets mentioned again outside of the bloodmoon huntress is when a new Moonshadow elf with eyes almost identical to his gets introduced.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

✨Thanks for reading!✨

Feel free to add your own thoughts to this theory in the comments or in reblogs!

@beautifulterriblequeen @sunstone-nerding @hoothalcyon @legend-of-the-fandoms @anybody-else-who-wants-to-join-the-fun

#tdp #the dragon prince #tdp theory #tdp headcanons #tdp ethari #tdp Redfeather #tdp season 5 #tdp s5 #tdp spoilers #tdp meta #tdp angst ✨#tdp speculation #tdp rayla #tdp runaan

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raayllum · 1 year

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intention vs reception, and breaking the cycle

I think one of the best ways TDP talks about family / cultural dynamics is how things can be taken in ways differently than they were meant to, particularly when it comes to parents and children. Dynamics and interpretations are a two way street, and your reasoning for something may not be something someone else can see, and they’ll make up another reasoning for it on their own end.

We see this pretty specifically with Harrow and Callum.

Harrow puts up a distance because he 1) wants to honour Callum’s possible relationship with his deceased biological father and 2) likely feels guilty over Sarai, and Callum growing up in the shadow of that grief.

H: Over the years, there have been moments where I let there be a distance between us. Because I’m your stepfather, I was trying to give you the space I thought you needed to love your real father, even though he passed away. Now I wonder if I should have held you closer. I wonder if showing you how much I loved you would have been okay, and would not have disrespected your relationship with him. Callum, I know I’m not your birth father, but in my eyes and in my heart, you are my son. I see myself in you. I’m proud of you. And I love you unconditionally.

So we know Harrow had nothing but good intentions, but those moments of distance - of Harrow trying to give Callum more thoughtfulness, not less - led to Callum being insecure and distant over his spot in the family, doubtful that Harrow truly thought of him as his son, exacerbated by Harrow’s royal status that Callum was married into through his mother. This was never Harrow’s intention, but Callum responded to how he was being treated and then conjured up his own reasonings that made sense to him to explain it.

E: Callum, why don’t you just call him Dad? C: Because he’s the king. And I’m his stepson. E: I think he would want you to. If you wanted to.

Their full understanding of each other comes too late, but it’s no less meaningful for Callum. Even if discussing and getting there wasn’t easy.

We see Ezran struggle with this too, of what to take from his father (“I just wish Dad was here - he’d know what to do, y’know?”) as well as what to leave behind (“I don’t want to be that kind of king”). Rayla has a similarly complex relationship with her parents. Is feeling abandoned how Lain and Tiadrin meant to make her feel in Bloodmoon Huntress? Of course not. Was the other side of that when Rayla makes her peace with it supposed to give her this highly dangerous risk taking personality where she’ll go off alone in misguided attempts to protect people? Of course not.

The same way that no matter how angry, Runaan never would’ve wanted her to be Ghosted (he tried multiple times to send her home). He took her off the mission to protect her, not because she was ‘weak.’ The same way that Runaan was the best of his village / culture - a brave and selfless man who wanted to protect his people - and yet could also be cruel and unyielding in the face of innocence that didn’t fit with his preconceived notions. Even the whole “do not show fear” was likely meant to be far more akin to “don’t let fear control you” but as always, cultures are made up of people, and people are flawed and varied in their interpretations, and how they manifest them:

“It’s okay to miss them,” she said gently.

“But it doesn’t do anything.”

“Feelings aren’t about productivity or results,” she said. Maybe a little ironically considering she was a Moonshadow elf, he thought at first, or maybe exactly why, when she finished. “They’re just our responses. Our reactions. We can only control them so much. And Garlaff knows they aren’t always rational, even if they’re what we feel.”

“I thought Moonshadow elves were against letting your emotions rule you.”

“We are,” she said. “Because it’s about controlling how you respond in the wake of your emotions, but we cannot make ourselves totally unfeeling. No matter how much we may wish we could, sometimes.” She smiled sadly. “But we do sometimes work too hard to control how we respond, to the point of shutting them down. Some of us are better at that than others.”

“You don’t have to tell me that,” he said, his lips twitching upwards. “I’m engaged to Rayla.”

“Which is why if you can’t control it—if you miss someone, in spite of everything—maybe it’s okay. I’ve seen your fear and aspects of your grief rule you, Callum. I’ve never seen you treat anyone worse for it.”

“Yeah, well...” He turned back towards the window. He thought of losing his temper with Ezran at Katolis, or the Caldera; Rayla at the Nexus after Claudia (a grimace tugged at his mouth) told him about Harrow. “I’m a lot better at that than I was when I was a kid.”

—Chapter 11 of “If Time Is Money,” published March 2020

We see this play out with Lissa and her children in particular, even more than with Viren perhaps. Lissa didn’t mean to give Claudia the trauma she did. She was doing her best to do the right thing by giving her children agency alongside Viren, and then trying to help them stay together. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t massive harm done anyway.

And it’s these gaps in interpretation and intention versus consequence that make these dynamics real and viable and well, emotionally poignant. We can do massive harm to one another, even when it’s the opposite of our intentions (Viren and Harrow are a fantastic, mutual example of this, and so is Callum and Rayla’s post-TTM fallout).

Because, especially as these child characters grow older, eventually what we do with those interpretations fully become our own actions. None of them have had to go down the roads they have. Yes, our childhood experiences and the choices our parents make effect us, but we also 100% have the power to make different decisions and grow beyond those interpretations. That’s what Breaking the Cycle is all about. But...

E: Because people are still hurting and they are still angry. We can’t ignore that, or pretend it will go away.

And I also think this commonality of difference between intention vs reception, shall we say, is also why Harrow’s advice in regards to how to break the cycle and free yourself from the past emphasizes understanding and imagination.

H: Reject the chains of history. Do not let the past define your future, as I did. Free yourself from the past. Learn from it, understand it, then let it go. Create a brighter future from your own hearts and imaginations.

Over and over, we see characters (mostly antagonists and villains, but not always) insist that things have to go a certain way. We have to do this. I have to do that. This is the way things have always been. We must prevent a terrible future born from apparent weakness.

History - of our families, of our lives, of ourselves, of our communities - demand certain things, and we can be chained down by those things so easily out of obligation, or fear, or guilt, or trying to find some way to feel loved or important. But, in reality

You just have to be willing to imagine something new, that the cycle can be broken, that you can be something else than what you were. You just have to try - and it is never too late to start trying.

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beautifulterriblequeen · 11 months

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So we all saw the trailer, right? Is anyone else worried about that fact that we saw neither hide nor hair of Runaan or Ethari?

Like, I think Callum was holding his coin yes, but we didn't see his face like Lain or Tiadrin...

What freaks me out the most is that Ruthari were pretty much integral to the last encounter with the Bloodmoon Huntress. And now Rayla will potentially face her alone???

...I am scared. I am genuinely scared.

Callum was holding Runaan's coin too, yep! Maybe coin stuff is too spoilery to show, or maybe coin stuff won't even happen this season - we really don't know too much about what it's going to take to pry those things back open!

We also don't know how much chaos Kim'dael will get up to this season, or with whom (except for those poor Sunfire elves, rip).

I do think Bloodmoon Huntress has a few clues that point toward stuff and also things for some of Rayla's future choices and encounters. Ethari did make her a promise, after all. However - and whenever - it pans out, I'm feeling that Rayla won't have to go up against Kim'dael alone!

#asks #thanks for the ask!#kim'dael #tdp spoilers #tdp s5 #tdp s5 trailer #rayla #runaan #ethari #i hope she fights with both her dads again... and also with callum #i think runaan especially would benefit from seeing her fight with callum the way he fights with ethari #admit it runaan it's a good match #if they have this conversation while fending off kim'dael i will ascend #also... dae see her sitting like sir sparklepuff

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winterstorm032802 · 9 months

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Bloodmoon Huntress Rayla AU

Sometimes, she wakes up to feeling blood all around her, not in a good way. If there even is a good way to word it like that.

It's like a horrible stain on her, itching all around her whenever the mere thought of that night comes to play. She barely remembers that night. She just knows that there were beasts. Probably rabid Banthers, and she collapsed after fighting and covered in blood. That's the only answer... right? Yeah, only answer.

Rayla internally scolds herself, not knowing why the thought of that random night is coming back when they are facing a horrible threat.

"I recognize that bow. How interesting it's passed to you. How long has it been?"

Rayla grits her teeth as she holds the bow and its string, already nocked with an arrow and ready to fly. Callum, Soren, and Ezran look between the two Moonshadow elves in confusion. Kim'dael, the Bloodmoon Huntress, standing ever so poised ahead of them. Rayla glares at her, and the itch of blood is coming back.

"Hm... are you still a non-killer? It's disappointing, I thought you'd make a good Huntress."

Rayla furrows her brows, looking a bit confused. "How... do you know that?" "Should I be offended? You sound as if you don't remember me." Rayla scoffs. "Oh, I remember, I was there when you tried to kill me when I was just a kid."

Callum's soft, "What?" doesn't go unnoticed by the two elves, Rayla merely brushes his question off. She keeps looking at Kim'dael, eyes trained on her for any movements. "So you don't remember our other meeting." "What..?" "I tried to make you like me, imagine my utter devastation to know you've never killed. Yet you look like one, unfortunately, you weren't fit to be a Huntress like me."

The itching of blood is getting worse. She can taste blood on her lips. She isn't hurt. What is going on?

"What are you talking about?"

"You certainly remember the night, covered in blood. Seems you're failing to remember what led to it."

"Rabid banthers."

"That much blood for what, two banthers? Think on it."

The taste is getting stronger. It's not her blood...

An elf she never knew, on the ground, their throat cut with a slice. Their blood...

Rayla lowers the bow just slightly. "What did you do to me?"

"I tried to make you like me. I did not know you never killed anyone. Some assassin you are."

The sun is beating down on them, and everything in Rayla is on high. It doesn't feel like a sun. It's like a Sunforge blade or a dragon's fire beating down on her specifically.

"Rayla, what's wrong?"

Rayla, with a slight tremble, directs the arrow to Kim'dael. "..."

She merely grins and ends up to the side as the arrow whizzes past.

"Fulminis!"

Another dodge, this time nowhere in sight. Everyone moves, trying to gauge the Bloodmoon Huntress's next location. "Rayla, snap out of it." Before she can respond to Soren, the cold smell of blood is at her throat. Kim'dael, right behind her.

"I can smell it. You've shed someone's blood, maybe next time, try to finish the job assassin."

She's frozen in place as Kim'dael holds out that vial of blood for Rayla to see, only to take a drop and disappear once more. Rayla's mind is blank, her entire body still. Then she drops, hearing her friends calling to her in worry as the sun swells down.

Rayla sits up with a start. Someone grabs her arm and keeps her settled down. The taste of blood is still fresh in her mouth. "Hey, Rayla. Calm down, breathe. Stay with me." She looks, that familiar High Mage of hers. "I need you to focus."

Rayla merely shakes her head slowly and then covers her eyes with her hands, unable to bear whatever reality she has woken to. She remembers it now. The blood, Kim'dael's voice, all of it. Searing itself back into her mind. "There's something wrong with me..."

"Rayla, what do you mean?"

She can feel whatever is wrong with her. Festering around her. The mention of the blood she spilled when underwater that night, it makes the festering grows.

#rayla #kim'dael #callum #ezran #soren #tdp #the dragon prince #bloodmoon huntress #small rayllum #tdp s5 #tdp au #the dragon prince au #might not be clear but i have no idea how to write kim'dael #tw blood

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hoothalcyon · 2 years

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Heyooo. Maybe you could do 8? (In secrecy), if you want :D I would've gone with my signature 28 move (just the number in general, not the prompt) but since lying is bad, guess 8 will have to do 😔. (It's Mari btw, yes, I'm a coward ✌🏼).

Bloodmoon Huntress angst set right after the final panel of the coloured previews!

tags: fluff, hurt/comfort, selective mutism, angst, everyone's having a hard time but they're trying

- -

Rayla quickly finished the rest of her mushcup before following Ethari down the hallway, eyeing the new surroundings with interest. Holding her hand, her new guardian noticed her quiet curiosity with a gentle fondness before he noticed the closed door above her horns.

He squeezed her hand for a beat. “Rayla, I just need to check on something very quickly. Could you stay here for a moment?”

Pressing her back against the wall to show that she wasn’t going anywhere, she nodded. “Okay!”

“Thank you, moonbeam,” he murmured before turning the knob, making sure to cover the doorframe before the elfling could peek inside. Just as he’d suspected, his husband had found refuge in the small, secluded room—burrowed underneath his weighted blanket as he tried to collect his thoughts.

Ethari frowned, crossing the room to kneel beside him. Even as they were situated face to face, he couldn’t help but notice just how small Runaan appeared in his current state.

He put a gentle hand to his husband’s shoulder and offered a hopeful smile. “Hi, love. Are you alright?”

Runaan laid motionless, as if still processing Ethari’s very presence. He shook his head.

“I know it’s a lot of change all at once, but we can get through it together. Rayla is on our side.” He let the moments between each sentence broaden, since he knew his husband needed extra time to process them clearly along with their meaning. Ethari’s hand smoothed through Runaan's hair all the while; broad strokes to guide him towards the softer side of reality.

A minute passed before Ethari spoke up again. “I invited the little one to join me in my workshop today. You don’t have to worry about us, we’ll be okay while you get some rest.”

Runaan pressed his face into his pillow, signalling that the quelling of guilt in him had started to kick up again. Deciding not to press further, Ethari pressed a final kiss to his forehead and whispered a final goodbye, allowing him to be alone.

#ruthari #runaan #ethari #rayla #Bloodmoon huntress #hoot's words

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raayllum · 9 months

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Although, wouldn't it be super interesting if Rayla is forced to choose between Callum and the world? She either hesitates again (and saves Callum) or stops someone who is a danger to life and love itself (like Runaan would have).

I mean, I think that's exactly what it's leading up to. However, I don't think Rayla is going to save Callum through hesitation (and I'm not sure if I think her hesitation will be what allows Callum - under possession - to free Aaravos, but we'll have to see). More details on various scenarios Callum could free Aaravos under / Rayla's response(s) here

Rayla's trolley problem - one life over potentially many - has been her most continual character conflict over the course of the series ("You let him live but you killed us all" in 1x01; "if I don't come back, you and Ezran can get Zym to Xadia" in 2x07; "You all die or just the wretched evil human dies" in 3x01; "You and Ezran should take Zym, but I can't leave [...] I have to stay and defend the dragon queen" in 3x09; saving Zym over her own life in 3x09), with Rayla always saving/sparing the life of the individual even when that would mean losing/risking her life and turning against her family/loved ones. Save one important exception - leaving the drake behind in 4x05 with "We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake." (More on TDP's continual trolley problem as a conflict here.)

This is because to Rayla, a single life is worth defending, saving, and sparing. She failed as an assassin because she's overly compassionate; what she labels hesitance, the show itself labels as mercy, doubly pointed out by Ezran: "You saw he was afraid. And you knew he was a person, just like you." And Rayla still - still - likely considers that a mistake & a moment of inevitable weakness: "It was my fault we were discovered" (3x03) / "I failed them, I let them all down. They're right to reject me" (3x04) / "The face glowering back at her wasn't an assassin, and it never would be" (Chasing Shadows) / "Oh no, I messed up again!" (4x06).

Losing Callum has also been a consistent fear of hers since 2x02 and has just continually grown since then: "I'm afraid of hurting him" / "I can't lose you like this, you mean too much to me!" / "I risked losing the best thing I ever had: you" / "You think I meant to hurt Callum? That was the last thing I wanted!"

So I think like anything else, her not killing Callum while he's brainwashed will have a few different levels to it:

Self sacrifice because we know Rayla doesn't care about what happens to her / if he hurts her, she just wants to save him.

At the same time a refusal to sacrifice what she wants/loves most (for once) and thus 'undoing' her choice in TTM in a lot of ways

The aforementioned Runaan parallels, although I feel like the possession scene may borrow more from Bloodmoon Huntress even if Runaan may be pushing her to be more like him from 1x01-1x03, but we'll have to see

Emphasizes her opposition in Aaravos in regards to the role/place she has in Callum's life

If she spares/saves Callum, she's honouring her own decision to spare Marcos tenfold, and realizing it wasn't mistake. That's one of the reasons I lean towards Rayla 1) making an active choice about it in the end (even if she may hesitate at first) and 2) her choice to be merciful ultimately not being what leads to disaster (re: Aaravos' release), but being in Callum's hands instead (especially if she's been injured) in how he responds.

Other metas / tags adjacent to this that may be of interest to you

TDP’s Perpetual Trolley Problem (S1-S4)

I need you to kill me

Light and darkness motif

Rayla's role as Callum's salvation and destruction (a pre-S4 meta)

Rayla’s Position In The Narrative as a Dual Antagonist (s1-s4)

Subset: salvation and destruction

Devil and the lovers (Aaravos, Rayla, and Callum tag)

#thanks for asking #anonymous #tdp rayla #i need you to kill me #predictions #s6 #arc 2 #me chomping at the bit for callum and rayla to both save and destroy each other against the other's will for 3 years:#it's not much but it's honest work #tdp #the dragon prince #rayllum

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raayllum · 2 years

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Do you think that I’m season 5 we’ll find out why Rayla came back. I mean she kinda just showed up. Also, do you think some traumatic thing happened to her? If so, what do you think it was?

Given that S5 is likely going to be Ocean and Callum by the end of S4 has going through his initial block and will likely be way more willing to talk / expressly want answers in S5, I think so, yeah!

Also yes, I 100% think that something traumatic happened to Rayla during her time away, if not a few things. Keep in mind that everything she’d been through from S1-S3 and TTM — turning against Runaan, almost losing her hand, almost losing Callum, almost dying times like five, being Ghosted by everyone, the nightmares and PTSD, etc — were not enough to take away her core ‘saviour complex’ (for lack of a better term) that she had in early S1 and all the way through S3.

Now, in S4, we see she’s shut that part of her down - eerily reminiscent of the way Callum has heavily emotionally repressed his own ability to feel. For any other character, leaving the drake in the forest wouldn’t be out of character (Callum and Ezran were both willing to, ultimately, in 2x07 after all) but it is a massive shift for Rayla in particular, and that feels purposeful.

We know, bare minimum, she was travelling entirely on her own for at least six months if not maybe a full year, since Stella is still a baby in an almost teething like stage of comfort, gnawing, and cuddles. Real life human babies start teething around 6-12 months, for example, and other animals even younger, so she’s on the early stage in Rayla’s life, absolutely

So I have one to like, five factors I think could have heavily played a part

The initial isolation of 6+ months and being on her own heavily wore her down and was a new experience for her, since Rayla had never been that alone before, always travelling with her troupe and then the boys. I doubt her nightmares about Callum suddenly vanished when she did, lol, so that’s another layer too

Possibly a near death experience or drowning, whether accidentally or in an attempt of saving someone, would likely deeply rattle her given her history. This could be what inspired her to come home. Oneshot pending

There was someone Rayla could not successfully save, and they asked her for a TW mercy killing. She did it, meaning she knows Aaravos isn’t assessment of her isn’t entirely accurate even if it’s still true about Viren. This would mean she killed someone she 1) didn’t want to and 2) wasn’t even her target. Also oneshot pending

Rayla possibly ran into the Bloodmoon Huntress, a dangerous Moonshadow villain from her childhood named Kim’Dael, resulting in one of the two aforementioned options

Compounded by everything or nothing, an emotionally and physically exhausted Rayla decides to throw herself into actually trying to Move On and Let Go for the first time, and knows the first step there is going back to Katolis to face the music

The same way Rayla coming back to Katolis forces Callum to stop emotionally repressing everything he was feeling about her and thereby get back to being more genuinely and wholly himself (which is going to be very important considering possession is about being stripped of autonomy and identity in equal measure!!), I think Callum is going to help Rayla restore herself back to the heroic selfless figure she was, but in a healthier way than ever before. It won’t surprise me if Rayla doubles down in future seasons on a self-destructive route (possibly in S5 depending on how the coin plot goes) now that she’s tried to let go and failed, but she’s also lost some of what made her selflessness a good quality - and they’ve always been heavily tied to each other’s identity and having an ultimately positive, if sometimes painfully transformative, impact on each other

#thanks for asking #predictions #s5 speculation #arc 2 #raylangst #rayllum #every separation is a link #it's about the Identity arc #anonymous #requests #tdp rayla #timeskip shenanigans

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raayllum · 1 year

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so we will have ocean, coins and kimdael in the same season is this going to be rayla's season? I think it's also going to be a traumatic season for Rayla, what are your expectations for her this season?

Yeah, today's short story definitely shed light on how Kim'Dael is factoring into the plot, which is a big relief because it was a big head scratcher for me! Turns out we knew literally nothing and that's why. However I've written a little bit about why I think Kim'Dael is being included with context from Bloodmoon Huntress, which was far easier to at least take a stab at (ha) predictions wise.

The last time Rayla faced Kim'Dael, Runaan and Ethari were there to help protect her, reaffirming that they were stronger together. Now her family is in coins and while not physically alone any more, I think S5 will shed light on how emotionally isolated she still is. She left in TTM to "be strong" and protect the people she loves, but this was a very misguided (understandable) choice born out of deep trauma.

Now she knows Callum is vulnerable to Aaravos, Viren is legitimately alive, Claudia is more dangerous than ever, her parents are weaker than ever, and Kim'Dael is running around. Oof. Rayla is also primed to become more like Runaan than ever before, with her boyfriend literally asking her to kill him and be a proper assassin a season before. It's an emotionally rigorous combination

Basically, I'm expecting Rayla to have the worst time she's ever had in her life (which is saying something) but hopefully this emotional of a process, as well as having Callum actually back as a support - although whether she'll be receptive to his support again is up in the air, as she's always been back and forth with it - can hopefully mean she starts gaining ground in healing and dealing with some of her emotional & self worth issues

I think the first step will be her realizing she Can save people again (since 4x05 and her failed mission casts doubt on that) which would work out nicely if she saves Callum from possession. Then hopefully she can learn that just because she can sacrifice herself for others doesn't mean she always should - that she's saving her parents because she wants to, not because she failed them somehow or has to redeem herself

At the very least, I'm expecting at least one Rayla breakdown if not two, because a Rayla breakdown every season is a TDP tradition at this point, and we're certainly not going to stop now

TLDR; I think in many ways she'll be pushed to her absolute emotional breaking point, and there's hopefully nowhere to go but up

#thanks for asking #tdp rayla #s5 #tdp spoilers #s5 spoilers #arc 2 #predictions #raylangst #lessachannn

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