Dragon Prince: How Old Aaravos Really Is

Although Viren is one of the primary antagonists of The Dragon Prince, even he knows very little about the Archmage Aaravos, whose power he uses to wage war against Xadia. C0-created by Aaron Ehasz, who, among other credits, served as the head writer for Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Dragon Prince is set in a Tolkienesque high fantasy world in which magic can be drawn from one of six Primal Sources or, in the case of some humans, from the malicious, destructive power of Dark Magic. A thousand years before the events of the show, the unnatural danger of this seventh type of magic caused the magical creatures of the world to drive humanity away from Xadia, into the west where they would found the Pentarchy.

The mage Viren is shown to be a true and good friend to King Harrow, the ruler of the human kingdom of Katolis, but his deep suspicion of elves and dragons, as well as his continued reliance on Dark Magic, eventually leads him to an alliance with Aaravos, a mysterious Startouch Elf that he finds in trapped in a mirror stolen from the King and Queen of the Dragons. Communicating through an insectoid creature, which looks to be taking on a new form for season 4, Aaravos encourages Viren’s plan to push the human kingdoms into war with Xadia, offering powers beyond those of even a High Mage.

In the novelization of Book 1, Aaravos refers to himself as being “of the First Elves,” which were the first of their kind to settle in Xadia at the dawn of history, making him around 5000 years old. It is unclear if this is a typical lifespan for the mysterious Startouch Elves, which would make them all the more similar to the effectively immortal elf race of The Lord of the Rings, or if Aaravos’s imprisonment in the mirror prolonged his existence, as the length of his sentence has also not been revealed. Startouch Elves, who draw their power from the Primal Source of the Stars, are markedly less common than other subspecies, such as Moonshadow, Sunfire, and Skywing Elves, which have all made appearances in the show; this makes discerning the uniqueness of Aaravos difficult, although he does certainly seem to be uniquely powerful in comparison to almost all of the other characters.

Having lived through nearly the entire existence of the world means that, in addition to powerful magic, Aaravos could offer an informed perspective on historical events that may become increasingly relevant as The Dragon Prince continues, such as the morally ambiguous destruction of the city of Elarion and the expulsion of humanity from Xadia. This explanatory role was hinted at even before his character was properly introduced, as he narrated the prologue at the beginning of Book 1. However, Aaravos clearly has motives of his own that could bias any information he gives, making conflicting accounts that might be given by the few comparatively antediluvian characters in the show (such as Sol Regem) a potentially important source of conflict.

Much like Ehasz’s previous world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there is a wealth of background and history and lore that shapes many of the current conflicts in the world of The Dragon Prince. While Callum, Ezran, and Rayla constitute a very young group of protagonists, they will almost certainly have to reckon with the far-reaching consequences of the past. And given that Aaravos, during his vastly long life, seemingly had a hand in shaping this past, his influence on present events imparts to them an even greater sense of weight, tying together the importance of the old and the new.