The Core & The King

"The Core & The King" is the second segment of the fifty-fourth episode of the Disney Channel animated series, Amphibia.
==Synopsis==
King Andrias confronts the demons of his past.
==Plot==
The Core continues to upgrade itself while absorbing much of Marcy's personality. It chooses to call itself Darcy, short for "Dark Marcy", much to Andrias' confusion. As they prepare for the invasion, Andrias looks over an old portrait of himself and his friends. In flashback, a young and eagerly happy Andrias plays with his childhood friends Barrel, a toad, and Leif, a frog. While they live a care free life, Andrias is constantly watched over by his father, King Aldrich, who has plans for him. He tells him that should not rely on his friends as they will ask for "favors" and shows him the Core, which houses the memories of their ancestors, and explains the importance of the music box.
Andrias shows Barrel and Leif the music box, but after touching it, Leif suddenly has a horrible vision of the future. Leif sees Amphibia in ruins, the Olm's prophecy, and a giant flaming planet heading straight to Amphibia. Scared about her vision and coming to the conclusion that this is what will become of Amphibia should they invade Earth, she explains her findings to Aldrich. He thanks her, but ignores the warning. He then tells Andrias that she is a traitor that that they will do something about her. Leif tries to talk to Andrias, but marred by his father, he snaps at her. They make up, but she steals the key to the music box from Andrias pocket. He discovers this too late and chases after her, with Barrel also being ordered to capture her. Barrel lets her go after a lapse in judgment and Leif escapes Newtopia using one of the moss men, much to Andrias' anger. After her escape, Leif decides to visit the Olms and tell them of her vision. 
Days later, Aldrich states that the music box is no longer in Amphibia, but is told by the Core that it will eventually return in accordance with the Olm prophecy, though they do not know when or how, but when that day comes will be the day Andrias makes up his mistake. Hardened from the experience, Andrias is put in charge and orders Barrel to watch the outskirts of Amphibia and keep the frogs in check. He slashes his portrait. In the present, Andrias has his childhood portrait burning in the fireplace, yet can't help but remember Leif's words of having his back and using his powers for good. After he awakens Darcy after it has rebooted and upgraded itself, it tells him that they are now close to starting their invasion of earth so that they can claim its resources. As Andrias agrees with it, it is revealed that the dominant personality in Darcy is that of King Aldrich.
==Cast ==
*Haley Tju as Darcy
*Keith David as King Andrias
**Zeno Robinson as Young Andrias
*Cassandra Lee Morris as Leif
*Jason Ritter as Barrel
*William Houston as King Aldrich
*Zeno Robinson as Past Newt Servant
*Haley Tju as Past Newt Woman
=== Additional Voices ===
* Kyle McCarley
* Ashleigh Ball
== Trivia==
*This is the 100th episode segment in the series.
*This is the fourth episode where Anne is absent.
*Darcy's name is officially used and revealed in this episode.
*Leif is shown performing the dance that Sprig uses in "Anne Hunter". This combined with the fact that she looks like a female Sprig, could imply that she is somehow related to Sprig and Polly.
**This is later confirmed to be true in "All In", where Leif had founded Wartwood after hiding the Calamity Box on Earth.
*Leif's vision includes a giant red moon crashing down on Amphibia. This moment was oddly foreshadowed by, of all things, an episode of Chibi Tiny Tales, where Sprig accidentally pulls a red moon down to Earth while trying to catch a fly. It should be noted that episodes of Chibi Tiny Tales are non-canon.
*The events of "True Colors", "Olivia & Yunan", and "Mother of Olms" are shown during Leif's vision of Amphibia's future.
* Instead of the usual season three credits music, it is a quiet shot of the portrait of Andrias, Barrel and Leif burning in a fire.
** This is the second episode in Amphibia after "Olivia & Yunan" and the seventh Disney Television Animated series overall to do this:
**#Gravity Falls: "Dreamscaperers/Gideon Rises", "Not What He Seems", "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future", and "Weirdmageddon"
**#Star vs. the Forces of Evil: "Starcrushed", "Cleaved"
**#Tangled: The Series: "Queen for a Day", "Destinies Collide", "Cassandra's Revenge", and "Once a Handmaiden..."
**#DuckTales (2017): "Last Christmas!", "The Last Adventure!"
**#Big City Greens: "Chipwrecked"
**#The Owl House: "Agony of a Witch", "Clouds on the Horizon" "King's Tide"
*Barrel's voice actor, Jason Ritter previously worked on the Disney XD animated series Gravity Falls as Dipper Pines.
**Jason Ritter is the third cast member of Gravity Falls to guest star in Amphibia, the first being Alex Hirsch (Stan Pines, Soos Ramirez, Old Man McGucket and Bill Cipher) as Mr. Ponds the Curator and Frog Soos in "Wax Museum". and Kristen Schaal (Mabel Pines) as Bella in "The Plantars Check In".
*The Moss Man from the previous episodes was revealed to be female and a member of 4 individuals of the same species taken from another dimension that were held in the garden until Lief escaped with said individual and the Calamity Box.
*Translating from the Amphibian alphabet what it says on the screen when the Core is rebooting reads "Memory Wipe in Progress", implying that Andrias and the Core are wiping Marcy's memory. However, series editor Andrew Sorcini clarified on Twitter that the intentional message was supposed to be "Optimization in Process" as shown in the English text on the screen but the Amphibian script wasn't changed to adjust to it.
*Several Frobots sharing the same model as Frobo appear in the flashback.
==Gallery==
===Promotional===
The Core & The King promo art by Faith Schaffer.png
The Core & The King Art Promo by Forosha.png
The Core & The King promo art by Alex Swanson.jpg
The Root of Evil and The Core & The King promo art by Caitlin Rose Boyle.png
===Concept Art===
Amphibia The Core and The King Concept art.jpeg
Amphibia King Aldrich Concept art.jpeg
Amphibia King Aldrich Concept art 2.jpeg
Amphibia Darcy Concept art.jpeg
===Screenshots===
The Core & The King - Marcy's Phone.jpg
Amphibia Darcy mommet 1.png
The name Darcy apeals to us.PNG
Darcy Explaining Macy's situation 10823.png|Darcy explaining Marcy's situation 
Darcy Loves Cupcakes.PNG
The Core & The King - Picture 00.jpg
The Core & The King - Picture 01.jpg
Young Andrias before evil.PNG
Amphibia The Core and The King Still.jpeg
King Aldrich S3 E14.png|Adrias' father King Aldrich
Andrias meets the Core.PNG|Andrias meets the Core for the first time
The Core & The King - Young Andrias and King Aldrich.jpg
The Core & The King - Leif 00.jpg
The Core & The King - Calamity Box.jpg
The Core & The King - Leif 01.jpg
Unknown Female Frog crying.jpeg
Andrias, Pink Female Frog and Toad Warrior.jpeg
Young Andrias and Pink Female Frog.jpeg
Leif Cuagt in the act.PNG
Andrias decent into darkness.PNG
Darcy being rebooted.png
Darcy Upgrade Complete Amphibia 1159.png|Darcy Upgrade Complete
==International premieres==
*April 17, 2022 (Canada)
*May 27, 2022 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand)
*June 30, 2022 (Poland)
*November 14, 2022 (Portugal, Spain)
==External Links==
*The Core & The King at the Amphibia Wiki
Category:Amphibia episodes