It's time for another trek back in time, this time with Viren explaining how Harrow's time as king went, while in the present Callum worries about Harrow's letter.
Viren rides for a meeting with Katolis's other rulers, leaving his staff outside but bringing an enormous scroll.
Inside, King Ahling (Ian James Corlett) offers his sympathies for Harrow's death and says how they were told Viren would rule until Ezran is of age. Viren gives his thanks and the last regent arrives: Queen Aanya of Duren (Zelda Ehasz). Noting her youth, Viren suggests someone represent her for their serious matters, but she points out she has a crown but no adult, while he's an adult with no crown. Everyone sits, so Viren unrolls his scroll, a map of the land that he magically elevates, to claim that Xadia is threatening all of humanity. Viren uses his magic to enhance the room as he explains how the Moonshadow elves attacked, Sunfire elves are gathering, and their are claims of dragon sightings. Claiming he fears the fire and destruction to come, Viren says the threat will come after all of humanity and implores the other rulers to join Katolis. Out at sea, Rayla and Ezran become excited when Villads smells land, only for him to continue that it's a day's sailing away. Callum is below-deck, thinking about Harrow, and can't bring himself to open the King's letter.
Back at the meeting, Ahling says his people understand and will join if the other kingdoms do; the other queen agrees, as does King Florian, but Aanya is undecided.
Frustrated, Viren says they need an adult who will make a decision, but Aanya counters that a two-minute speech isn't enough to make her send armies to face an unknown foe, and the other "decisions" were "we'll do what everyone else does." This gets a laugh from Ahling and Viren apologizes, but Aanya says she learned after numerous attempts at her throne and life that sometimes kind words are threats. Aanya permits him to recount how Harrow, with his young, beautiful family, became king of Katolis, with Sarai assuring him he can make a difference. After his family's royal portrait, Harrow surprised Viren by asking him to join in his king painting, sure that his friend will stand by him through anything. In his room later, Harrow mentioned to Sarai how fortunate he and Ezran were to be born princes, wondering why he deserved to be king just for being born royal. Sarai assured him of his justness, but he explained how after his father's death, he dreamed of Lady Justice, who told him true justice is a fair system. Given the option of her sword, scale, and blindfold, Harrow picked the blindfold, and she told him to imagine he hadn't been born, not knowing his future economic status, skin color, or his family's culture, and a fair system wouldn't discriminate. He and Sarai agreed Lady Justice is wise, believing the system should benefit and empower everyone, and things become lighthearted again. Believing himself to be a "servant king," Harrow worked tirelessly for the people, and one day two unexpected guests arrived from another kingdom: Aanya's parents.
Bait becomes jealous out at sea as Ezran and Zym sleep on the deck, perfectly in sync. Callum turns him away at first, thinking he's one of the others come to check on him, then makes him happy by requesting his light.
Viren explains to Aanya that while her parents, the queens of Duren, were dignified, they bowed humbly to Harrow to beg for his help. With their people on the verge of absolute death from a 7-year-long famine, Harrow immediately agreed to share everything Katolis had with them. Viren implored him to reconsider, given how little Katolis itself had, but Harrow refused to ignore the needy, accepting that this would simply make half the deaths from starvation come from Katolis. Despite the inevitable losses, Viren pored through ancient books and discovered a solution, giving Harrow a piece of a Xadian Magma Titan. He believed they could slay a titan, then he'd use a spell that would warm the land and allow much growth. Back then, Sarai was his closest adviser, and while sparring, she urged him not to see the titan as simply a beast, as it might have a family or be the last of its kind. She felt dark magic always goes for solutions that are too easy, but his goal to change things is going to be a slippery slope that will take a long time. The episode draws to a close with the consequences of Harrow's decision, and seeing Callum vent to Bait and decide if he wants to read Harrow's final words yet.
What a coincidence that I'd watch this episode right after the flashback Jessica Jones one, huh? And similarly, I like how this backstory was implemented.
Soemthing I like about the implementation of this flashback is that it doesn't take up the entire episode, yet is continuing into the next, and serves a great purpose. Viren is facing difficulty getting his plans to continue because of Aanya not agreeing to his alliance against Xadia. I'm so far enjoying her, because if not for her stubbornness and understanding of the royal world she's entered, he could've bullied her out of her decision. He already didn't want her to take part in the meeting, which would've made things easier for him, and then when she's the only one to really give his plan thought, he's left with nothing because of the all-or-nothing nature of the alliance. Like Amaya, Aanya is wary of Viren's words, but of course to Viren this just means he needs to use more in a different tactic, so he brings up Harrow. He's using this story in an attempt to both earn sympathy and trust by bringing up the recently deceased king who wanted him by his side, and also make Aanya feel bad and indebted by bringing up how Katolis helped her people. Viren isn't always subtle, but in this episode he definitely uses some tact, and he had to plan quickly after Aanya said no. During a flashback scene, there's another moment like this I liked, when the royal family is getting their portair made and we see how it turned out. The family is standking awkwardly, with forced smiles, Callum is in front of Sarai, close to the middle, and Harrow is holding Ezran, with his wife at his side. In the painting, the family is perfectly poised, which can be expected, because the artist likely wouldn't want to make them look awkward. However, the group is now more scrunched together, with Sarai in front of Harrow and holding Ezran, and Callum pushed to her other side, away from the king. The painting is certainly beautiful and crafted well; the family is sort of layered to give it depth, and there is a downward slope coming forward as each person gets shorter. However, I'd say the painting is also reinforcing stereotypes for the family and the isolation Callum has felt growing up. Putting Harrow behind everyone shows him as the strong, bedrock father and like he towers over everyone both physically and as king. In reality, he's hardly taller than Sarai, and them standing side-by-side goes with the kind of king he wants to be. He wants to work with and for the people, not tower above them, and as Viren himself says, Sarai was his #1 confidante/adviser at this point. Callum's position in the portrait leaves him sort of at the family's side rather than being part of it and pushing him away from his father. Early in the show, he and others constantly brought up how he's the King's stepson, and a painting depicting him more by himself would reinforce this. Even if not the king's biological son, Saria has to be his biological mother, yet the artist chooses to have her closer to Harrow, and tightly holding Ezran, who is front and center in the picture, rather than her hands on Callum like they actually are. Her holding Ezran also adds to the traditional family dynamic like Harrow's position, as rather than having the big, strong manly king holding the baby, his wife is. Instead of focusing on the kids like we mostly have, this episode gives us very little time with them, but these moments are funny, adorable, and even sad. Villads and Berto get a laugh revealing how close the island is, and of course Ezran's moment sleeping with Zym is funny and adorable. I found myself wondering if this is also related to Ezran's ability to understand animals, manifesting differently as a connection between the two. This also becomes sad moments later, as Bait becomes jealous and then sad that his owner and friend has seemingly replaced him with Zym. He thus heads below with Callum, at first getting sad again when he's turned away, then becoming happy and glowing when invited in. In these short, somber moments, we get a look at how Callum is feeling about Harrow and the possibility of opening the letter. The situation is easily applicable to anyone in modern times who loses a loved one, as he struggles to accept that his father is truly gone. Opening the letter will be the point of no return, as he'll be looking at the King's last words, knowing there's nothing more to come. I can see this happening now, with a person either cherishing the last text they got from someone, or maybe listening to their voicemail repeatedly. It's hard to accept that someone you care so much about is gone, and often times people wish they could at least hear their voice again. For Callum it's more painful, because even if the message is from Harrow, it's not his voice. I also enjoyed seeing Harrow's ideology and progression as king, as he tries to be the best kind of king, but is tested along the way. He's faced with terrible decisions, as he can either let a large number of people from another kingdom die, or save some of them at the cost of his own. Viren's third option makes a new problem: he can either let people die, or kill what he's been told is a monster to save them. As Sarai points out, he doesn't know if it's actually a monster, possibly endangered, or if it's sentient with a family. To Viren, and whomever he tells, it's just a creature. Harrow might listen to Sarai more than Viren at this point, but he's also younger, and likely doesn't have as much experience with dark magic. Considering how vehemently against it he was when the elves came, I assume this mission caused a lot of change for him. The possibility of dark magic was absolutely appalling to him at that point, compared to how he's considering it in this flashback. Considering how angry he seemed at Viren for suggesting it against the elves, and how Viren specifically mentions how he wasn't Harrow's #1 adviser in the past, I wonder if this mission resulted in Sarai's death. This would explain why Harrow was angry at Viren's suggestion and Amaya being suspicious of the mage, and perhaps Viren had something to do with the death. Next up we'll see the results of Callum's decision with the letter and Harrow's with the titan; I'm only becoming more interested in what's to come, and I'm loving the story that's unfolding both for current events and the past.
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