In the opening to The Dragon Prince, the narrator tells us the land of Xadia is rich in magic. It’s also rich in history, cultures, and the depth of its main characters, as one would wish for in an epic drama. There are so many details that, with the heroes focused on saving their world, questions are raised that are never answered.
Until now. Though the seven-season story arc finished as of December 19th, 2024, the show’s creators, Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond, have availed themselves to fill in the narrative gaps.
For example, what happened between Seasons Three and Four? Two years have passed, after which Claudia has found a way to revive her dad, Lord Viren, and got herself a boyfriend, an Earthblood Elf named Terry. Prince Callum has become High Mage and sports spiky hair; and Moonshadow Elf Rayla returns with a granny bun and a pet cuddlemonkey named Stella. Do we learn what happened? Not really. The narrative drives on with a focus on the mysterious Startouch Elf named Aarvos, who threatens all existence—a far more compelling plot than dwelling on Rayla’s failure to find Lord Viren or learn why she twisted her hair into a granny bun.
“I have three thoughts on that to share,” Aaron Ehasz says. “One is, great stories don’t show you parking the car. You don’t need to show the 18 frustrating minutes that the character had to park the car before all the important parts of the scene happened.
“Sometimes that’s the case in a saga, in an adventure. There were two years that were probably Callum having long nights and being down about what happened and maybe trying some spell to find the confined moonshadow presence and failing and then giving up. These things happened. But in terms of the front story pushing forward, in my and Justin’s belief, it didn’t happen so much in those two years until Rayla comes back and then things started to happen at that point. That’s why you don’t need to include those two years. It’s almost an ellipse, dot, dot, dot, and then you continue with the most active part of the story.
“One thing that really influenced me was Battlestar Galactica, the new version. There’s a major time skip. It’s so abrupt and when it hits you it’s like, ‘Oh my God.’ It really got me and it pushed the story forward hard. And it felt bad in the sense of sometimes in a story you become complacent and you become connected with the characters and the familiarity of the conflicts. And so there was something very brave to me about the way it pushed forward a year and all the conflicts evolved and we were in this new place and the storytelling kept up. That influenced me as a bold move.
“But then as we were thinking about Dragon Prince as a saga, one of our influences was freaking Star Wars. It’s not like Empire Strikes Back picks up Luke going back and, “Wow, this medal is nice. What’s next guys?” Empire picks up years later and things have happened and what they’re wearing is different and I love that. You got to the next part of the saga. Everyone had evolved, and you’re able to keep up and put it together. If you care about the things that happen in those gaps, you can read the comic books or play the games or watch animated series. There are other ways to fill that in. That’s why we’re okay with those time jumps from one season to the next,” Ehasz says.
A big fuss was made that humans could only do dark magic, that they could never perform primal magic—until Callum demonstrated otherwise. So during that two-year gap, wouldn’t he spread the word about human potential using elemental “light” magic?
The answer, from Justin Richmond, is this: “He’s been too busy. He hasn’t had any time to talk to anybody. He is like been on back-to-back adventures.” – implying activity during the two-year gap. “I think once he gets a chance to settle down, he’ll be able to write it out and talk about it and make it a big deal or talk to humans about it. But right now he is just so concerned with everything going on in his life. He’s like a teenager. It’s like, did [Lionel] Messi [Argentine soccer player] tell people, ‘Hey, this is how you play soccer better.’ No, he just won a bunch of awards and now that he’s old. Now he’s like, ‘Hey, this is how you play soccer better.’ That’s what Cal’s gonna do. He’s just too busy being the man.”
Still, other humans could have learned primal magic. Right?
“I don’t think so,” Ehasz says. “I mean, it’s certainly possible that somewhere in Del Bar or somewhere there’s … None of that come to mind.”
Season Seven reveals that Queen Aanya of the kingdom of Duren does command several mages—which she could have sent to battle Callum when he, Rayla and Runaan fled to the Silvergrove across the border. Would they wield dark magic? Or primal magic? Or both?
Ehasz replies, “I think using gems like fire rubies and things is almost like a crossover point. It’s technically dark magic ‘cause you’re consuming the gems. They’re rare, they’re precious, but I don’t know. Maybe it’s more of a cross.”
“There’s an argument that it could be that,” Richmond says. “It’s definitely a weird point because like Runaan does it also. Like he’s able to crush gems.”
“Yes, I think that’s right,” Ehasz says. “It’s not necessarily dark magic; it’s an overlap area. You’re consuming a rare thing, but you’re not consuming a creature.”
King Ezran can communicate with animals. Does that mean he is employing the Earth arcanum—that is, primal magic?
“It’s different,” Richmond says. “I don’t think it is a form of a magic like that. Maybe it’s some kind of innate magic, but no, we always talked about it as being more like a unique mutant ability kind of thing, and less like a piece of magic.”
In Season Five, in “Finnegran’s Wake,” Team Callum is trapped on the pirate ship Sea Legs. Callum uses dark magic to transform his bindings into animated snakes. The episode ends with the snakes hissing and sliding toward the camera, while Freddie Wiedmann’s music underscores they’re up to no good. What happens to them? The show never addresses it.
“I don’t know if we can answer that,” Richmond says. “It’s left to speculation.”
“It’s certainly some funny story about what would [Captain] Villads do when he discovered the snakes later,” Ehasz says.
“Yeah,” Richmond says, and laughs. “That’s right. They’re just stuck in there.”
Speaking of the crustacean ship Sea Legs, its crew includes the blind Captain Villads, his chatty parrot Berto, the treacherous Skywing Elf Nyx, and the humongous Deadwood aka Elmer—a ready-made crew fit for further adventures on the high seas. Were these episodes meant as a back door pilot for a Dragon Prince spinoff?
“I wish,” Richmond says. “I would write Xadia pirate stories all day if I could. I know Devon [Giehl] would, too. So yeah, if we could do a Welcome to Scumport spinoff, I’m in.” He laughs.
So, are there other countries or continents, besides Xadia, that they could sail to?
“We always joke that the other side of the map is the Avatar world,” Richmond says. “If you could sail around the other side of the map, you’d end up meeting Aang and Katara. So no, I don’t know. I mean, we’ve never really talked about it. There’s so much stuff to even explore. We still have tons of stories we want to do in the map. What happens when you go off the edge? I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
As the narrative unfolds, the Archdragons and elves have sealed the malevolent Startouch elf, Aaravos, in a magical prison and went to great lengths to hide its location. Only a very few knew where. A Jailer ensured that execution awaited beings unauthorized to know about it. An elf versed in dentistry chiseled a map on the tooth of Rex Igneous the Earth dragon—but that elf had to be disposed of to keep it secret. The show never revealed his fate.
“He had to be killed whether he was eaten or whatever.,” Ehasz says. “Part of the Jailer’s plan was that he or she, or they or whoever it was, probably had to suffer a fate after that. Creating the puzzle in a way that it would be unbreakable probably meant that some people who had special knowledge or access [had to be eliminated]. I mean, this is the warning the Jailer gave to Akiyu [aka Tidebound Tina]: ‘When Archdragons find out, you’re gonna have to die.’ They made a deal so that Akiyu could live—which was that if anyone ever found out, Akiyu would take care of that for her.”
During the escape from Umber Tor—Rex Igneous’s lair—Team Callum is bombarded with tumbling rocks from the dragon’s rampage. Rayla and Stella the cuddlemonkey are trapped by a molten pool inside the mountain. The next time we see them, they’re outside, buried under rocks. How did they get outside? The show doesn’t say.
“I don’t know exactly,” Ehasz says. “This is one of those details that maybe she was running really fast, maybe Stella helped and they got part of the way there.”
It’s a case where sometimes, viewers have to fill in the gaps with their own imagination. I offer the explanation, that Stella teleported them out of the mountain and Rayla looks up and sees the rocks coming down on them.
“Oh yeah, that’s possible. That’s an interesting story,” Ehasz says. “I like your version. That’s pretty cool.”
Alas, The Dragon Prince: Mystery of Aaravos leaves behind more unsolved mysteries. Like, what was the purpose of the Aaravos cube, which is still in Callum’s possession?
Justin Richmond and Aaron Ehasz at “The Dragon Prince: Secrets in the Stars” panel at New York Comic Con, October 14, 2023
Justin Richmond teases, “We definitely gave more clues as to where it goes. If you’re paying attention, you can see on the map what the lines are pointing towards and where it’s going. It has a very long arc. It’s a very special object. I would’ve loved to get more into it. We just didn’t have space. But yeah, it’s a big piece of the next series.”
Do the showrunners feel confident that there will be a next series?
“I’m not confident at all,” Richmond says, “but, if we get to tell it in any way, it’s a huge piece of it, for sure.”
If Netflix doesn’t greenlight more episodes, would the story continue in other venues?
“Well, yeah,” Richmond says. “We can always do it through like an OGN or a novel or whatever, but you know, there’s other ways we can potentially put this stuff out there in the future, not just through Netflix. So hopefully that’s not true. Hopefully, we get it done and get it out there and everybody gets to watch it, just like they do now. But yeah, that’s definitely a huge piece of the coming story.”
Interviews conducted December 7, 2023, May 23, 2024, and December 23, 2024.
He has just completed Batman: The Animated Interviews, a five-volume work featuring the executives, producers, directors, writers, actors, designers, storyboard artists and composers involved with the making of Batman: The Animated Series and its spinoffs. BearManor Media is the publisher.
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