The following review contains spoilers for “The Dragon Prince” season two.

Netflix recently released “The Dragon Prince” season two, and it is way better than the first season. I was not expecting to get another season so quick, being that season one only debuted five months ago. Hopefully they stick with this schedule because I am already hyped for season three.

If you are not aware, “The Dragon Prince” is an animated fantasy tale that mainly follows three main heroes Princes Callum (Jack De Sena), Ezran (Sasha Rojen) and their new Moonshadow Elf comrade Rayla (Paula Burrows). They travel across the world in order to return the Dragon Prince Azymondias to his rightful land and father, the Dragon King. This does sound like a cliché fantasy tale, but this brief synopsis does not begin to breakdown the greatness of this show.

Season two took what made season one so interesting and impactful and expanded upon it to build the world even further and fleshed out our character’s struggles within themselves and the world around them.

The best aspects of this season are the strong advances in character development and the introduction of new interesting characters. 

Let’s start off with two of our three main heroes, Callum and Ezran. At separate points in the story, they both come to terms with their father’s death at the beginning of season one. Callum was the first to learn about this tragedy, and being the older brother, he had to tell Ezran. However, he could not do it in the end because of the love he had for his little brother and decided to keep all of dread and burden within him. 

Due to this and other factors, Callum goes on a spiritual quest within his own mind, and by the end of it, he finds enlightenment and clarity, thus in turn, granting him the true power of primal magic. When Ezran finds out about the news of his father’s death, his character takes a drastic turn. Him being the direct heir to the throne, he made the choice to leave Rayla and Callum and return to his rightful throne. He knew he had to lead his people and they needed a true leader due, so he made the decision to not fulfill his quest with his best friends. 

Both character arks are a coming of age story for Callum and Ezran. They both have matured and grown up in a sense by the end of the season; no longer are they the goofy kids they once were.   

The most hyped aspect of the new season was the character Aravos. Aravos is actually teased in the pilot during the mini flash back to describe the primal sources of magic and the introduction of dark magic in the world. He is also the narrator for that small flashback. 

Aravos is a Startouch Elf (the only one we have seen so far in the series), and he is revealed to be trapped in some kind of magic mirror for who knows how long. Viren, the main antagonist, comes into possession of the mirror and struggles with trusting Aravos. 

Only after Viren has nothing else to lose he finally choose to trust Aravos, and this leads to what seems to be a betrayal. But it is left on a cliffhanger, so we viewers are not entirely sure what happened. Viren is a great antagonist; he is shown to be conflicted with his inner morals before and after the death of King Harrow, but Aravos has got an interesting mystery surrounding him. 

Why is he imprisoned in this mirror? What happened during and after that mini flashback that had his cameo appearance? 

He is also an extremely powerful mage, channeling his magic into Viren, he is shown using powerful primal spells in succession. He is a very charming and charismatic character that has the hype to fulfill the role of the big bad in the series. This is due to the fact that I can easily see Viren getting some kind of redemption ark, or at least being shoved to the side when it comes to the main antagonist to the story. 

Currently this series has a rating of 100 percent on Rotten Tomatos, so almost all the other reviewers agree with me on this series. Also, for those of you who grew up watching the show “Avatar: The Last Airbender” just like me, some of the people behind the scenes worked on that show as well. In fact, Callum’s voice actor Jack De Sena is the person who voiced Sokka in Avatar. “The Dragon Prince” seems to draw a lot of inspiration from Avatar, so if you enjoyed that series, you will enjoy this one. Both seasons are currently available on Netflix streaming service.

Jordan Boyer is a senior history major.He can be reached at 581-2812 or at jtboyer@eiu.edu.