Photo Credit: Netflix
After an incredible second season, Netflix’s The Dragon Prince has become a must-watch show that deserves more love.
The Dragon Prince is an animated, Netflix original, the first season of which was dropped on 14th September 2018, and the second on 15th February 2019. While it may not be the most popular, the series has reached critical acclaim in both of its seasons. It’s currently certified fresh with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Created by Aaron Ehasz (most famously known for Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Justin Richmond, the show is set in a fantastical land where creatures of magic are at war with, you guessed it, us ordinary humans. IMDb summarizes the show as a story in which “Two human princes forge an unlikely bond with the elfin assassin sent to kill them, embarking on an epic quest to bring peace to their warring lands.”
Even if the summary may lead you to believe that the story follows a somewhat cliche trope, the treatment of the story itself is very unique. The show has so much more to offer for audiences across all age groups! Whether its compelling story-telling, rich characters, or beautiful animation, The Dragon Prince has become one of the most underrated Netflix originals. With something to entertain everyone, here are our top five reasons why you should start watching The Dragon Prince now!
Photo Credit: Netflix
1. The Story and the Setting
While the overall summary may seem like it’s like any other fantasy show, the series has a charm much similar to that of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It’s well paced and it’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into how the narrative plays out. The first couple of episodes are a little slow, but the story picks up the pace soon enough and is quite engaging.
The setting of the story makes for a very interesting arc all by itself, very unique since “magic and elements” is nearly an overdone concept for fantasy shows these days. The Dragon Prince is set in a land where magic is derived from six primal sources – earth, sky, ocean, moon, sun and the stars – but humans, as they always do, become greedy once one of the mages starts to draw magic from living beings. This makes all the creatures of magic unite and drive humans out of Xadia, which then live as five separate kingdoms known as the Pentarchy. The Pentarchy is separated from Xadia by what is known as the Breach, a gigantic river of molten lava, that is guarded by the King of Dragons, Thunder.
The main conflict of the series starts when the inhabitants of Xadia seek revenge against the human king who, with the help of dark magic, kills Thunder, for reasons that are revealed eventually on the show. The last surviving heir of Thunder, yet to hatch from his egg, is also believed to have been destroyed, much to the fury of Xadians.
With a dash of humor and just the right amount of drama and emotion, the protagonists of the story aim to bring peace to the warring lands while facing a villain with twisted motives who will stop at nothing to bring about war.
Photo Credit: Netflix
2. Loveable, complex and diverse characters
One of my favorite things about The Dragon Prince has to be the characters, all of them. They do not fit into any of the stereotypical molds set by television and there’s a surprising amount of relatability to them despite their existence in a fantastical, animated land.
A good example would be the children of the villain. You’d think they would be evil through and through, hell-bent on pleasing their father, but while the latter is true, the sliver of doubt they have of whether or not what they’re doing is right makes them very dynamic characters. Surprisingly, both of them are loveable. Think Sokka, Zuko and Azula thrown into a variant mix that brought about two different characters in the form of Soren and Claudia, and there you have it! It is speculated that one of these characters might go dark, but there’s no telling which one and even if they do, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that we’ll love them all the same.
The well-written characters make it difficult to really hate anyone because everyone has at least one redeeming quality, or at least we see their point of view.
A very important thing to note about the characters is that not only are they well written and complex, but the characters are also diverse in their race and ethnicities. There are people of color in important roles and the show also has a general, aunt to the protagonists, Amaya, who is deaf but an extremely skilled fighter, standing guard at The Breach. While there’s also been some LGBTQ+ representation on the show in the form of two queens of one of the kingdoms, there has been speculation of more LGBTQ+ representation on the show.
Photo Credit: Netflix
3. Fantastic artwork
The animation style is unique as it attempts to blend 3D animation with stop motion to create an animation effect as the 2D cartoons we’re familiar with, i.e, create the look of hand-drawn cartoons. Into the Spiderverse does something similar, but is a lot smoother as it has more frames as compared to The Dragon Prince. The Dragon Prince‘s animation occasionally came off as jarringly jerky.
While people took issue with the animation and the frame rate, which is something the creators have promised to try to address, the art itself was very beautiful. Each of the five kingdoms in the Pentarchy has distinctly different styles of clothing, color palettes, and motifs, with a very signature look. The Xadians, elves drawing their power from different primal sources also have very different and unique character designs.
The Sunfire elves are clad in gold and are dark skinned with swords that can cut through anything while the Moonshadow elves are pale, with white hair and draw their power from the moon.
Aside from the characters, the magical creatures and the landscapes of both Xadia and Pentarchy are very pleasing to the eye and very beautiful. Despite the sometimes dark tones of the show, the artwork makes it very pleasant to the eye and the detailing is superb.
Photo Credit: Netflix
4. Multiple themes explored
The show might seem simple enough, but personally, I found that there was so much to read between the lines.
The idea that humans were driven away because of their destructive nature resonated with me. They didn’t seem to find anything wrong or hesitate at the idea of taking a life if it meant achieving what they wanted via magic. They did this to the extent that Xadians drove the humans out of the magical land because not unlike what we see today, humans don’t seem capable of appreciating the simplicity and beauty of things without attempting to turn it into something for their own gain, even if it meant destroying said beauty. This especially reflects in a mission to hunt down dragons, beings that don’t attack unless provoked.
Another interesting theme explored is the political power play, which seems somewhat a reflection of the politics we see today. The villain, as evil as he may be, has a very convoluted sense of what is right and wrong. His idea of ‘power’ is very skewed, he seems to care for humanity as a whole, but doesn’t care if it comes with collateral damage in the form of human lives.
It also seems from what we have seen so far, that the relationship between siblings will be a strong theme in the upcoming seasons. Apart from this, the themes of greed, grief, and war are also heavily explored.
Photo Credit: Netflix
5. Balancing a throe of tones
The Dragon Prince gets dark at some points but the humor isn’t very forced and is very relatable quite a lot of the times. There’s no over-explanation of the joke, and nearly every joke on the show made me think “Ha, I’d say that too!” The humor isn’t very crass and is nearly always situational except when it comes to Soren, who is the goofy dork soldier on a dark mission, much like his goofy, dark-magic practicing sister.
Avatar: The Last Airbender was a Nickelodeon show, which meant that there wasn’t much scope to go very dark with the tones of the show because the potential was definitely there. Netflix seems to have given this show some freedom with this regard.
There are some scenes and ideas, that are particularly dark and deal with themes like fighting the dark side of your own self. The death of a character, while not dark visually, was dealt with great somberness. The aftermath of the same and the way other characters react to it was also quite solemn.
The show also examines various aspects of war, and the ensuing political changes that happen because of it. It does not hesitate to show the harsh brutality with which leaders tend to make decisions in times of war, and sometimes with reasons they would regret with time.
Luckily, the dark tones are very well balanced with the characters, who despite their serious circumstances, manage to add organic humor to the scenes.
What do you think of The Dragon Prince? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!