Lord Viren

## Character Information

**Viren** is the main antagonist of the high fantasy adventure series, *The Dragon Prince*. He is the High Mage of the Royal Court who uses dark magic to solve his problems. He is also King Harrow's former best friend, Claudia and Soren's father, as well as the latter and Rayla's archenemy. He is also formerly the unwitting pawn of Aaravos, who he was trying to help break out of his prison.

He also served as a dark foil to both Aaravos and Callum, the series'  antagonist and protagonist.

## Arcs

* Even before he became evil, Viren was already a flawed individual. He was an extremist to get his goals accomplished. During the quest for the best of the magma Titan, he tried convincing Harrow to leave the wounded behind including the soldiers which counted Amaya, one of Viren's closest friends and Harrow's sister-in-law.
* Imprisoned elves in his cursed coins, including his mentor Kpp'Ar, after their falling out, regardless of their close relationship and his mentor's grandfatherly relationship with his own children. Additionally his imprisonment of Tiandrin and Lain led them to become "ghosts" in their tribe. Additionally, Tiadrin and Lain's daughter Rayla would start to believe that her parents were cowards. However, she eventually learned the truth from Callum, with Tiadrin and Lain winning their daughter's love back.
* Takes advantage of King Harrow's hidden grief of losing his wife to the Dragon King. Viren points out that because of Avizandum, his sons, Ezran and Callum grew up without a mother. Harrow gave into his hatred and provides the blood Viren needs for the unicorn home and the makeshift spear that belonged to SaraI. The two murder the Dragon King, who was protecting his unhatched baby son, Azymondias to avenge Sarai's death, something the Queen wouldn't have wanted.
* Refused to let Callum into see his father. Viren even called him an spoiled child for being handed the title of Prince and getting everything and threatened to have him arrested. He also victimized Callum by removing his voice while he tried to warn Harrow that the Dragon Prince is still alive out of spite for Harrow.
* Rushed King Harrow's memorial service and didn't give the kingdom seven days to grieve for a fallen monarch.
* Orders Soren to hunt down the Princes and kill Ezran and Callum. He also conspired to drain Azymondias of his life force so Aaravos's powers are replenisher. He later tries to kill Rayla when she defended the Dragon Queen in the season 3 finale. He is willing to hurt Team Zym, despite being children.
* Tried taking over Xadia without remorse.
* He is verbally abusive to his son Soren and turns his attention the Claudia, his favorite.
* Killed many others

## Redeemable qualities

* He performed dark magic to cure his son of a deadly illness because he didn't want to lose him, only for Soren to run away from him when he saw Viren's face corrupted by dark magic. While it was his sacrifice to ensure his son's survival, Lissa grew frustrated and left. Safe to say, Viren has a rather tragic backstory.
* He cares for several people, those being his daughter Claudia, his ex-wife Lissa, his former best friend Harrow, Sarai, and his son Soren.
* Despite manipulating his daughter, Viren loves Claudia and taught Claudia how to use dark magic, visibly proud of her talent. Aaravos even admits that he knew Viren would be incapable of killing Claudia.
* Despite their strained relationship and telling Claudia to save the egg rather than her brother, Viren still loved Soren and was hurt by his son wishing Viren had stayed dead. Aaravos even admits that he knew Viren would be incapable of killing Soren, which is why he decided to try to bend the rules for Viren to stay alive.
* Viren and Harrow were once brothers. He believed that the moment when Harrow told him that he was a servant of Katolis that it meant that the King didn't care for him
* He is so deeply affected by his divorce from Lissa that their breakup still devastated him. In the books, he mistakes Opeli's voice for Lissa when he returns from his failed mission in his attempts to rally the Five kingdoms
* As revealed in "Callum's Spellbook" Viren used to be an uncle figure towards Ezran and Callum before their mother's death.
* He is somewhat respectful towards Gren for his optimism and supportive of Terry when he admits that he was born female.
* \*Viren ultimately chooses to reject dark  magic after realizing his mistakes caused so much devestation as a result of his dark magic induced coma. He refuses to sacrifice Soren or Claudia, showing that Viren truly loves his son despite their bad blood. He didn't kill his and Aaravos' synthetic child, the homunculus, breaks away from Aaravos so he can die in peace after the resurrection spell wears off.
* \*He has sympathetic insecurities, as he wants people's approval and respect,

## Gallery

Viren accused the other leaders of traitors to humanityThe weigh of dark magic put a toll on him.