Show Review (with spoilers):
The Dragon Prince Season 1
Rating: 8.5 out of 10 stars
Overview
Pros
- Likeable, complex characters
- Great worldbuilding
- Engaging plot
- High stakes
- Good voice acting
- Includes representation of a deaf character
Cons
- Could not think of any specific cons, but felt that the season overall earned an 8.5 out of 10 stars
Review
The Dragon Prince Season 1 was released in 2018.
The series gives us a bit of backstory to work with. After humans discover dark magic, elves drove them to the other side of the continent and a dragon guarded the new border between the human and elf realms. The humans were not pleased with this arrangement, and proceeded to kill the dragon and murder its child.
In the present time, a group of Moonshadow elves have taken it upon themselves to launch a revenge mission to kill a human king and his son as revenge.
One of the Moonshadow elves, Rayla, is only 15 years old. When the Moonshadow elves are accidentally discovered, she is responsible for killing the unlucky human who happened to cross their path. Only, she hasn’t actually killed anyone before. And she doesn’t have the guts…or perhaps has too much heart…to do it. The human gets away to warn the king, while Rayla uses berry juice to make her blades look bloodstained.
Since the king gets advance warning of the Moonshadow elves’ attack, he tries to send his sons Callum and Ezran to safety. Rayla ends up meeting Callum and discovering the dragon’s child, the dragon prince, is still alive when she is coming to kill Ezran. They realize that knowledge of the dragon prince could end the war between the humans and elves.
I love the Moonshadow elves assassin’s pact and how it uses bands on the pact-makers arms to bind them to their oath. If they fail to assassinate their targets, the bands will get tighter and tighter. The tightening causes loss of circulation and eventually the loss of the arm or arms it was tied to. In my opinion, that is pretty dark for a kids show, but I think it is fine for kids shows to include some dark elements as long as it is not excessive.
One of Rayla’s bands falls off when the king is assassinated, which she decides not to tell the kids. I know that is going to cause problems later, and she must have realized that as well, but I can’t really blame her. The other stays on because Ezran was never assassinated. And gets tighter. And tighter.
Seeing her arm and hand turn darker and darker is actually painful. Like wow. I don’t know how she pulls through for the team again and again when her hand is in so much pain. Even the special Sunforge blade that can cut through basically anything cannot cut through the bands. It is such a relief when the dragon prince hatches and is magical enough (or powerful enough) to cut through the bands and save Rayla’s arms.
Also, Callum has the same voice actor as Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA). It’s so fun and brings back so many fond memories of ATLA. I feel like The Dragon Prince isn’t quite as good as ATLA, but that may be the nostalgia talking.
A kick-ass side character in the show is General Amaya. She is deaf and uses American sign language. She doesn’t put up with much from Viren and she has a close relationship with her interpreter and Callum and Ezran. I really hope we see more of her in the next season.
Viren is the main villain, and is very complex. Though hesitant, he was willing to give his life for the king. Yet after the king’s death, he grasps power quickly and orders the princes dead. He wanted to use a magic two-headed snake to have the king switch souls with somebody and thus live, but the king wouldn’t hear of it. He tells his daughter Claudia that the dragon egg is more important than her brother’s life. Overall, he is a despicable character with some positive attributes.
In conclusion, I would recommend this show for both adults who like fun fantasy shows and for kids ages 7 and older.
Have you watched The Dragon Prince? Are you planning to? Comment below with your thoughts!
Links
The Queer Schizophrenic 