Breaking the Seal

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**Breaking the Seal** is the fourteenth episode of *The Dragon Prince* and fifth chapter of the second book, "**Sky**".

At the summit of the five kingdoms, Viren fights to win the support of a young queen. Flashbacks reveal a key moment from King Harrow's reign.

## Plot

Viren arrives at the meeting point of the Pentarchy in Duren where he greets three of the other four rulers, King Ahling of Neolandia, King Florian of Del Bar, and Queen Fareeda of Evenere, who believe that Viren was made regent of Katolis by Prince Ezran. The last member of the Pentarchy, the young girl, Queen Aanya of Duren arrives. Viren politely tries to dismiss Queen Aanya to send an adult substitute since he views her incapable to understand their discussion due to her age. Aanya remains adamant, asking Viren to proceed already. Viren uses his magic for a horrifying and grim presentation of the Xadian threat based on the Moonshadow Elves' assassination of King Harrow, the Sunfire Elves' attack on the Breach, and reports of dragons looming above villages, requesting the rulers to rally behind Katolis in an alliance to fight back Xadia's forces. The three adult rulers of Neolandia, Del Bar, and Evenere are convinced to join Katolis in the war but only if all members are united. Aanya is the only one who remains unconvinced and undecided, not willing to send in her army based on Viren's claims. Viren is repulsed by Aanya's answer, convinced that Duren needs an adult ruler to make the right decisions. Aanya pushes back by recalling how ever since she took the throne, she was always threatened by usurpers and coups and survived, but those threats may be considered mild compared to Viren's "sweet words". To persuade Queen Aanya, Viren shares a story of how Duren and Katolis achieved a miracle years ago.

Viren's story takes place nine years ago; Harrow has just been crowned the new King of Katolis, beside his wife, Queen Sarai. Harrow, Sarai and their children, Ezran and Callum all pose for the family portrait for some time until Viren finally telling them it is finished and they are allowed to leave. However, Viren reminds Harrow he must pose for his royal portrait. Harrow invites Viren to stand beside him and be in the portrait, as a gesture of appreciation of how Viren will stand with him through anything. Sometime later, while Harrow had an audience with his people in the throne room, Queens Annika and Neha, Queen Aanya's parents and the past rulers of Duren, made an unexpected visit. The queens humble themselves as they plead Harrow for aid in Duren's famine since the coming winter will wipe out all their resources and consequently starve 100,000 of Duren's people to death. Without hesitation, Harrow decrees that Katolis will share their food supply with Duren. Viren confronts King Harrow in private, reminding him that Katolis has barely any food supplies to spare and asks that Harrow take back his decision. Instead, Harrow accepts to share the terrible fate with Duren of having 50,000 people of Katolis starve with the other half from Duren, not willing to abandon his decision.

As winter nears, Viren approaches King Harrow with a solution. He shows King Harrow a relic, a small stone emanating heat that belongs to a Magma Titan. Since the titan lives on the other side of the Border, Viren believes if they slay it, he can use its heart to magically warm the land, allowing the kingdoms to have the time and the conditions to grow more food and feed the two kingdoms tenfold. However, Queen Sarai strongly disapproves of this solution, viewing it as immoral to slay a magical creature for their own gain with dark magic, but Harrow is unconvinced, much to Sarai's dismay. Afterward, Harrow gathers Viren, Amaya, Annika, and Neha for their journey to the Breach. Before they leave, Sarai unexpectedly joins her husband in their mission as well, despite disagreeing earlier. They enter the Xadian border at sundown with ballistae, where they only have until sunrise to return to the Breach with the Magma Titan's heart before Avizandum, the King of the Dragons, discovers them. They manage to find the titan but appears to be dead. Queen Neha and General Amaya decide to approach the body and take the heart out. Once Amaya starts breaking the tough rock skin of the titan, its whole body lights up with lava and awakens.

Meanwhile, Villads and Team Zym resume their sailing, estimating about a day until the group finally reaches the other side of the bay. Meanwhile, Callum remains below deck, pondering whether to finally open the letter King Harrow gave him before leaving the castle. When the door is opened, Callum angrily asks anyone who entered to leave him in private but realizing it was Bait, who sadly begins going back after being rejected to rest with Ezran. Callum pitifully invites him back to stay. Callum fears that once he finishes reading his stepfather's words then he would be officially dead. But after a long struggle, Callum finds the strength to finally break open the letter's seal and begin reading the letter.

## Characters and Cast

* Callum (Jack De Sena)
* Rayla (Paula Burrows)
* Ezran (Sasha Rojen)
* Bait
* Azymondias
* Viren (Jason Simpson)
* Villads (Peter Kelamis)
* Berto (Paula Burrows)
* Aanya (Zelda Ehasz)
* Ahling (Ian James Corlett)
* Florian
* Fareeda
* Harrow (Luc Roderique)
* Sarai (Kazumi Evans)
* Amaya
* Opeli
* Barius
* Annika (Paula Burrows)
* Neha (Patricia Isaac)

## Spells

Dark Magic

* Ecnesse ruoy esuf *(Fuse your essence)*
* Natit amgam eht kees *(Seek the Magma Titan)*

## Trivia

* The king on horseback that Harrow stops in front of during the flashback sequence is one of his ancestors.
* There is a brief animation error where Aanya's seat at the summit bears the symbol of Neolandia instead of Duren.
* The title of the episode is a reference to breaking the seal of the letter that Harrow gave Callum in "What is Done".
* During his bedside conversation with Sarai, Harrow describes a real-world thought experiment used to argue about the principles that should govern a society. The metaphor of the blindfold he uses is similar to the real name for this philosophical concept: the "veil of ignorance".

#### Credits

* The necklace Aanya received from her mothers is closed, symbolizing her lack of knowledge about the events that killed her mothers, as well as her indecisiveness about what to do about the situation until she would know. It can be seen opened in the following episode.
* Ahling's firstborn son and heir Kasef is seen holding a plate of broccoli with a disapproving expression, in relation to his father's statement about him fighting back against eating his vegetables.

## References

1. ↑ TDP Official Tumblr Blog
2. ↑ Reddit