But the mage Viren, King Harrow's advisor, is intent on war. Together they undertake to return the egg to the dragons to prevent war. One among the elves, the young Rayla, along with Ezran and his brother Callum, discover that the dragon king's egg wasn't in fact destroyed, but stolen. As forces gather, the elves attempt to assassinate the human king Harrow and his heir, the young prince Ezran. Now, after humans killed the dragon king and his egg, war is imminent. Long ago, the humans used dark magic, and were driven off by the dragons and elves to one end of the continent. Now comes the long wait for season 4 (please don’t cancel this Netflix) and another round of high fantasy to come.Excited about his newfound powers, Callum convinces the others to travel to the Banther Lodge for a magic cube. The Dragon Prince is high fantasy at its best and this third season rounds things out in a satisfying and action-packed final episode, while leaving plenty of questions for a follow-up season. While a couple of cliched plot tropes still crop up here and there, the rich lore and lovable main cast of characters should be enough to look past this. Overall though, The Dragon Prince continues to impress and deliver a story accessible to all age groups. Xadia offers up some beautiful locales too and whether it be the Sunfire Elf City or the Storm Spire surrounded by lush flat plains, there’s a great variety of colours and interesting topography used to help the world feel alive and brimming with history. The blend of CGI and hand-drawn animation works perfectly to really allow every scene to shine, while the fight sequences have some nicely animated choreography and variety of shots. While some may be turned off from the generic manner Viren ascends to villainy, the rest of the season does well to add some originality and interesting ideas into the mix.Īesthetically, the entire season shines with the same visual splendour we’ve come to expect from this show. Callum and Rayla explore a different side to their relationship while Soren and Claudia step out from their Father’s shadow and make a decision over their future too, for better or worse. Bait and Zym are of course the adorable showstoppers but every other main player, whether it be human, elf or dragon, have a consistent and believable arc that progresses throughout the episodes.
I won’t spoil too much but suffice to say, it makes the build-up during the first few seasons well worth the wait and solidifies this show as one of the better fantasy offerings out there.Īlong with its rich lore and detailed world-building, The Dragon Prince’s main draw comes from its characters. Without giving too much away, this conflict comes to a head during the final third in spectacular fashion, culminating in a final fight for Xadia’s future that resolves most of the conflict points but leaves things wide open for a follow-up season.
Taking advantage of this chaos lies Viren, the wildcard of the show and someone who continues to be controlled by the puppet master Aaravos, who makes his move late on this season. While they continue to press forward, Prince Ezran returns to the throne back home and finds life as King is not as easy as he may have first thought. Callum and Rayla find themselves separated from the others and crossing into Xadia, intent on bringing Zym home, whilst seeing more of the dragon and elven lands spoken about for much of the previous seasons in the process. With seven seasons worth of story all mapped out, The Dragon Prince left a lot of plot threads unanswered last time out (our recap for that episode can be found HERE) and this season wastes little time getting right to the heart of the drama. The Dragon Prince is one of those rare gems that manages to strike a chord with kids, families and adults alike, tailoring its story to all age groups with an accessible and surprisingly deep storyline woven through every season. This year, I tried to hold off ploughing through this on day one and I’m so glad I did. Alongside Dragonball Z, it’s the one I find myself binging through in record time and then obsessively waiting for the next instalment to be released. The Dragon Prince is one of my favourite animated series.