Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Raya and the Last Dragon!

Like all great Disney films, Raya and the Last Dragon triggered tears during its final scenes, prompted in part by the death of one of the movie’s most beloved characters. The animated film reaches its climax when Raya and her band of misfits attempt to make peace with Namaari of Fang, the princess of an enemy nation. Their fragile truce is interrupted by a betrayal that leads to the temporary demise of a character critical to lasting peace.

Raya and the Last Dragon, released on Disney+ and in theaters follows orphaned warrior Raya as she attempts to restore life to the fictional world of Kumandra. The land is split among five different tribes who have been warring for centuries. Their constant enmity eventually leads to the destruction of the dragon stone, a magical artifact which is the only force keeping Kumandra safe from monsters known as the Druun. When the Druun regain power, Raya embarks on a quest to find the land’s last surviving dragon, Sisu, and restore the dragon stone.

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The animated film has a classic Disney ending in which Raya and her band of misfits triumph over enmity and distrust, but their victory isn’t without cost. At the end of Raya and the Last Dragon, Raya’s attempt at making peace with her lifelong nemesis Namaari ends with Sisu’s death. The magical dragon is later revived with the power of the dragon stone, but her unexpected end teaches the people of Kumandra and the audience a lesson about the cost of war.

As Sisu’s eyes close and her magic fades, the cause of death of the last dragon in Kumandra is not immediately clear. Sisu’s death follows a tense sequence in which Namaari pulls out a crossbow in an attempt to steal the pieces of the dragon stone for Fang’s benefit. As Sisu approaches Namaari, entreating her to trust Raya and the others, Namaari’s finger tightens on the trigger. At the same time, Raya’s hand goes to the hilt of her sword. In a quick flash of action, an arrow fires, a sword is drawn and Sisu dies.

The ambiguity surrounding Sisu’s death makes Namaari and Raya equally culpable. Blame for the extinction of the dragons can’t be clearly laid at the feet of one woman or the other. Namaari points this out to Raya at the end of their final fight, saying Raya is as much to blame for Sisu’s death as she is. In the face of Sisu’s faith in humanity, Raya and Namaari were equally distrustful of each other, inevitably leading to violence and the loss of an innocent life. Raya, Namaari, and the other characters expected the meeting to end in disaster, and therefore it did. Unexpected, however, was Sisu’s death, which was a pointless casualty of humanity’s infighting.

Sisu’s death reflects the nature of conflict. In a land defined by decades of fighting, it only takes the smallest spark to ignite the flame of war, a fire that engulfs everything in its path. In the real world, like in Kumandra, war can sometimes seem unending. A lack of faith in people can be poisonous, leading to long-lasting distrust and pigeonholing. As long as people can’t imagine a world in which peace is possible, the fighting will always continue, cycling endlessly. Raya and the Last Dragon, a stunning addition to the series of Disney princess movies, shows that taking the first step toward peace requires blind trust. That trust may not always pay off, but it creates a better world.

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About The Author


Jasmine Gallup
(115 Articles Published)

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Jasmine Gallup is a writer for ScreenRant, covering fantasy, science fiction and superheroes. She’s worked as a freelance reporter since 2018.

By day, Jasmine writes for a small North Carolina newspaper near her hometown of Cary. By night, she explores the depths of film and television alongside her twin sister.

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