12 big questions after The Dragon Prince: The Mystery of Aaravos’ ending

After two years, the characters of The Dragon Prince are once again running across the magical realm of Xadia. And once again, they’re split into two factions, albeit with alignment shuffles and new characters brought into the fold. Dark mage Claudia has finally resurrected her father, Viren, who was the main villain in the first three seasons, and in order to make his revival permanent, she needs to free the enigmatic Startouch elf Aaravos. Claudia, Viren, and her new boyfriend Terry have their work cut out for them.

On the other end of the court, young King Ezran, his half-brother Callum, Moonshadow elf assassin Rayla, and Claudia’s brother, the new kingsguard Soren, set out to stop Claudia from freeing Aaravos. In the first season, these two factions sought out the Archdragon of Earth, who held a critical piece of information about Aaravos’ whereabouts. As the season’s subtitle implies, there are a lot of mysteries surrounding this guy.

And we’ve barely scratched their surfaces, even after a confrontation with the great Earth dragon in the finale. Even without all the questions we have about Aaravos, there are still plenty of lingering plot points that we want to see answered in seasons 5 and 6. Let’s dig in, and spin a few theories, too.

[Ed. note: This post contains major spoilers for the fourth season of The Dragon Prince.]

Image: Wonderstorm, Bardel Entertainment/Netflix

So what is the mystery of Aaravos?

Zubeia, the Archdragon of the Sky, tells the young heroes that, centuries ago, Aaravos was imprisoned for essentially manipulating mages into causing political strife. He was found to be the puppet master behind a number of murders and assassinations. So the crime is clear, but no one knows why he did this. Does he just enjoy chaos? Is there a greater scheme at play here? What we do know is that he is incredibly old and was one of the first beings to live in Xadia. He calls himself the “last of the Great Ones,” though we don’t know anything about what the Great Ones are.

Where is the mysterious prison?

All we know is that Aaravos is locked in a prison in a location unknown to even the dragons and elves who imprisoned him. It is very likely that the characters will spend the next two seasons racing across Xadia trying to find this prison. But who will get there first? Claudia, Viren, and Terry, who want to fully release Aaravos? Or Callum, Rayla, Soren, and Ezran, who want to stop them? Considering Team Claudia has the map to the prison, they’re currently in the lead.

Is Claudia permanently evil?

This season kicked off with Claudia finally resurrecting her dead father, Viren — and then embarking on a quest to free Aaravos so that she can complete the resurrection. Considering she seems pretty hellbent on her mission, even after learning that Aaravos is Not Good News, it’s likely that she’ll remain an antagonist for at least the bulk of the next few seasons. There is a possibility that she could have a change of heart. Certainly the fact that she listened to her boyfriend Terry when he called her out for being needlessly cruel to Rayla indicates that there’s still some good in her.

Why can Callum use primal magic?

Image: Wonderstorm, Bardel Entertainment/Netflix

As of the show’s fourth season, Callum is still the only human who can use primal magic. (Quick refresher: Primal magic comes from one of the six elements, and usually only elves can use it; humans use dark magic, which involves draining life force.) We still don’t know exactly why he can use it when other humans can’t — does he have an elf father? Can other humans use it but they just haven’t tried?

Will we ever see Runaan again?

Probably! We’ve long known that Rayla’s guardian, the broody Runaan, was not actually dead but imprisoned in a coin. As it turns out, her parents are also trapped in similar coin prisons. At the end of this season, Claudia taunts Rayla with the coins and while she initially withholds them, she eventually tosses them to Rayla. Now Rayla has her guardian’s and her parents’ souls (????) in convenient-to-carry form! She might be able to free them in the next few seasons.

What was Rayla doing during those two years?

Image: Wonderstorm, Bardel Entertainment/Netflix

After leaving Katolis and her BF Callum two years ago, Rayla hunted for Viren and Claudia. Despite being a master assassin, she was entirely unsuccessful. We don’t know what exactly she got up to in that time except that (1) she was too busy to write a letter and (2) she adopted a cute monkey creature. Hopefully the next few seasons will dive into some of Rayla’s adventures during this time.

Will Rayla and Callum get back together?

Does it count as broken up if they never officially broke up? There’s clearly still some tension between these two, even if they have yet to sit down and have a proper conversation about it all. Still, they have chemistry and history, so it’s only a matter of time before they repair their bonds. We’re pretty damn certain that Rayllum will share a smooch or two by the time the sixth season comes around.

What the heck is Sir Sparklepuff?

Image: Wonderstorm, Bardel Entertainment/Netflix

Ah, yes. So, the little worm thing that Aaravos used to whisper cryptic messages to Viren in the first three seasons spun itself into a giant cocoon… and then from that chrysalis emerged a strange humanoid-bug hybrid creature. Claudia, naturally, named it Sir Sparklepuff. We have no idea what the heck it is, but it appears to be connected to Aaravos in some manner, though he can no longer use it to speak directly to Viren and Claudia. Instead, Sir Sparklepuff communicates via rudimentary pantomime.

Is Viren possessed?

The last shot of this season is Viren with glowing purple eyes that fade into black, with shadowy lines slowly spreading across his face. When Aaravos possessed Callum earlier in the season, Callum also had the same black eyes. Though, it should be noted, this is also how he looks when he performs dark magic. Did Aaravos find a way to puppet Viren more directly, or is Viren simply regaining his passion for dark magic? The fact that it is the last thing we see this season hints that it might be more important…

Is Callum possessed?

While Aaravos seemingly released Callum after delivering a villain monologue, Callum is still deeply scarred by the experience. He even asks Rayla to kill him should Aaravos take control again. Aaravos taunts Callum, saying that Callum is destined to play right into his hands. Seems likely that this is not the last we’ve seen of Possessed Callum.

Will Janai choose her people or Amaya?

Image: Wonderstorm, Bardel Entertainment/Netflix

Throughout the seasons, Sunfire elf queen Janai struggles between being a leader for her people and just wanting to marry fearsome human warrior Amaya. You may recall that Janai only stepped up to take the throne after the death of her sister, and she didn’t even want to be queen. While Janai wants to lead her people into a new era, her brother and several other political leaders feel that she is abandoning tradition. As Janai says when confiding in Amaya, she knows she can’t “have her cake and eat it too.” To which Amaya replies, “Just have two cakes!”

While Janai successfully quashes her brother’s attempts to stage a coup, the future of the Sunfire elves — and her own relationship — remains up in the air.

IS HARROW IN THE BIRD?!?!?!?!?!?

One of the most popular theories after the first season of The Dragon Prince was that King Harrow’s soul was trapped in his pet bird. We have not seen the bird in quite some time (not even in the end credit illustrations), and considering that every time Harrow is mentioned, none of the characters even acknowledge the possibility he could be alive… Harrow is probably dead-dead. Sorry!