The Dragon Prince returns to Netflix today for its penultimate season. Nine new episodes can now be streamed, as we draw ever nearer to the end of the Mystery of Aaravos. I suspect many viewers will binge the whole thing in a day, but the first section of this review is spoiler-free other than setting up the story before Season 6. Beyond that, I have a spoiler warning for the final section in which I discuss some of the big things that go down this season.
The Story So Far
The Dragon Prince first came to Netflix way back in 2018. It tells the story of a group of adventurers and unlikely allies who set out on a quest to bring peace to the realms of men and elves. For ages, the western and eastern halves of the continent have been divided. The elves, dragons and other magical creatures life in the east, known as Xadia. The humans live in the non-magical Five Kingdoms in the west. Unlike elves, who can wield primal magic—tapping into the sun, moon, ocean, stars and so forth—humans have only learned how to wield Dark Magic, which requires taking life.
In Season 1, after Moonshadow Elf assassins attack the king of the human kingdom of Katolis, young Prince Ezran (Sasha Rojen) and his half-brother, Callum (Jack De Sena) set out on a quest to bring the egg of the dragon prince back to its mother in Xadia. They’re joined on this quest by Rayla (Paula Burrows) in the first alliance of men and elves in thousands of years. Soon, the egg hatches and Azymondias—known as Zym—is born, bonding immediately with Ezran.
Meanwhile, the king’s advisor and mage, Viren (Jason Simpson) begins plotting to take power for himself and stop the young princes from succeeding in their quest. His children, Soren (Jesse Inocolla) and Claudia (Racquel Belmonte) are sent to track down the runaways. What follows is an incredible adventure that culminates in the end of Season 3 with a massive battle and a satisfying conclusion to the story. At the time, I wrote that The Dragon Prince was one of the best fantasy shows on TV.
In Season 4, a new four-season arc began. The Mystery Of Aaravos is all about the diabolical machinations of the shadowy figure, Aaravos (Erik Dellums) who had been manipulating Viren throughout the first seasons by way of a magic mirror.
Season 6 Is The Best Since Season 3
Season 6 answers some of the burning questions fans have had about the mysterious Startouch Elf and his dark purpose. It also moves the story forward for many of our favorite characters in pretty big and important ways. This is especially true of Callum and Rayla, whose relationship has been in a weird place for quite awhile now. Viren’s story also makes big strides, as he grapples with is past and the part he played as a father in leading his children down two very different paths.
Season 6 is more epic and devastating than than the last two seasons, and in big picture terms feels like it has more momentum. It also sets the stage for the seventh and final season. It’s probably a good sign that I’m much more eager to see where this goes than I was after the last two seasons. Hopefully it’s not too long a wait!
Every group of characters gets some solid screen-time this season, with Soren and Corvus (Omari Newton) given their own questline, Ezran off on his own mission with the Sunfire Elves, and the best Rayla and Callum content since the first three seasons. Claudia continues to impress as one of the most emotionally complex characters in the series—someone who does terrible things but continues to be so lovable—lovable enough for Terry (Benjamin Callins) to stand by her side unwaveringly.
This is definitely the best the series has been since Season 3. Seasons 4 and 5 had plenty to enjoy, but with just nine episodes each, it often felt as if the show was dragging its heels a bit. Not so in Season 6, which thrusts the story forward in big, unexpected ways and resolves some of the character threads that needed to be wrapped up.
Season 6 manages to be a bit darker than previous seasons without losing the fun and charm. It feels geared toward a slightly older audience, though you still have goofy jokes and plenty of charm. The Dragon Prince is back at the top of its game and I couldn’t be happier.
Season 6 Changes Everything
I’ll discuss a few of the big events that happened in the new season below, so turn back if you haven’t watched yet. Spoilers ahead.
A few big, super important things happen this season. There’s also a very funny scene at a frozen ship that’s all about Rayla and Callum’s relationship—which has been on ice, so to speak, for the last two seasons, frustrating some fans.
It’s very clever. Callum talks about the ship and about how, when it was new and not frozen in ice, people were probably excited about it, and excited to see where it would go, but now it’s just been sitting here frozen. Talk about meta! When fans want two characters in a show to get together it’s referred to as “shipping” so this is operating on many levels. The ship itself is called the Ray of Illumination, and when it begins to sink below the ice we get this very brief moment where the ship is collapsing and you see the ship’s name line up to spell RAYLLUM—the shorthand of Rayla / Callum that designates their romantice “power couple” name.
Other big important things:
- Viren’s arc is so huge this season. He was already questioning everything by the end of last season, as Claudia worked tirelessly to try to save his life by freeing Aaravos. Viren is horrified when he sees what Claudia has done to save him, and tells her that he never should have led her down such a dark path. Much to her dismay, he leaves to return to Kotalis and face justice. Once there, he tries to explain himself to Soren, but his son won’t listen. He even composes a letter, explaining how he turned to dark magic in order to save Soren’s life when he was a sickly child, and that this led to Soren and Claudia’s mother leaving and his resentment toward Soren. He doesn’t give him the letter, however, realizing that it would likely cause more harm than healing.
- Ultimately, when the archdragon, Sol Regem, attacks Kotalis, Soren asks his father to use the dark magic spell that can protect them from dragonflame. It requires a human heart, however, so Viren decides to use his own, sacrificing himself to save countless lives. Viren’s redemption arc is complete. But this leaves Claudia without her father, and only the poison words of Aaravos to guide her. She doesn’t realize that it was Aaravos who was responsible for Viren’s death and after he tells his own story (we’ll get to that in a minute) she casts the spell that frees him from his prison and restores his body which, it turns out, is massive!
- Aaravos finally reveals his motivations. We learn that long ago he had a daughter who he loved dearly and who loved to spend time with mortals. She’s taken from him by the other Startouch Elves when it’s discovered that she gave magic to the people, breaking a sacred law. The only punishment for this crime, even for a child, is death. Aaravos is given the option to die with her, but he chooses to stay and seek revenge. Sol Regem witnessed the transgression, so he becomes one of the targets of the Startouch Elf’s malice. After using Sol Regem, Aaravos reveals that it was the dragon himself that killed his own mate, Aithne Solaire, burying her alive in a fit of fury. Then he kills the dragon.
- Now he—quite literally—has Claudia in the palm of his hand. And we know what he meant when he said that he swallowed Janai’s grandmother. He literally swallowed her! Because he’s huge!
- We meet the Celestial Elves and Rayla and Callum are revealed as the Chosen Two, a warrior and a mage who have come to fulfill a prophecy, which involves “piercing the heart” of a great beast that brings with it endless storms and snow. Quite a lot happens here with their quest, with some time travel (well, “time blind”) magic and with Callum finally finding some inner peace when he realizes that his guiding star is actually Rayla. We also learn that the prison orb they brought with them was a fake, and that Aaravos somehow tricked Callum into leaving the real one back in Kotalis.
- The reward for completing their quest is a tiara of special, super rare gems that can be used to bring back her parents and her adoptive father, Runaan, all of whom have been trapped in the magic coins Claudia revealed in Season 4. It turns out that one of the gems is fake, and that the real one has been in Viren’s staff this entire time. It’s that gem that Claudia uses to restore Aaravos. Rayla frees her parents from the magic spell but they choose not to return to life, and she returns the father she knew best—Runaan (Jonathan Holmes)—instead. This is done at the same time as Claudia restores Aaravos and it’s a great dramatic moment.
- We get some resolution in the Sunfire Elf storyline as well, which I’m glad about since this story in particular has felt like a bit of a distraction from precious screen-time we could be spending with the main characters. There’s been so much focus on these elves and this side-story and we finally learn that the whole thing was just Aaravos using the Sunfire mage to heal Sol Regem’s wings so that he could use the dragon to burn Katolis and retrieve the orb in which he was imprisoned. Hopefully now that Queen Janai (Rena Anakwe) has emerged victorious, we can focus on the core characters and storylines in Season 7.
- They named the episode where most of this goes down ‘The Red Wedding’ but thankfully it wasn’t quite as bloody and horrifying as the corresponding episode of Game Of Thrones. The wedding between Janai and Amaya was actually pretty nice—as nice as possible with the threat of war hanging over everyone.
Obviously, a lot more went down this season but I think this covers the major story beats. What did you think of Season 6 of The Dragon Prince and where this show is headed in its final season? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Also be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me here on this blog. Sign up for my newsletter for more reviews and commentary on entertainment and culture.