‘The Dragon Prince’ Season 4 Review: The Trouble With Peace

It’s been almost three years since The Dragon Prince aired its third season on Netflix. The time-jump we all experienced between then and now—a global pandemic that sent our world into its own strange chaos and left many of us reeling—is just a bit longer then the one that takes place in the fictional world of Xadia.

Two years have passed between the third and fourth seasons, and many of the show’s younger characters have aged up—a surprisingly rare thing in animated TV shows (I’m looking at you, Bart Simpson).

Ezran (Sasha Rojen) has now been king for over two years and has grown more confident in his rule. He’s taller, lankier. The boy is still there, but he’s in early adolescence now.

And his hair has changed. So has Callum’s (Jack De Sana) and many of the other characters as well, including this bold new look for Amaya:

Callum is now the high mage after the war against Viren (Jason Simpson) who fell to his “death” at the end of Season 3. The young mage has grown into a young man, though he’s every bit as awkward and good-natured as before.

He’s also filled with a deep sadness and sense of loss. Rayla (Paula Burrows) left on a mysterious quest two years prior, and Callum is heartbroken. When Rayla returns, he’s angry and confrontational. Where the elf/human romance will go from here remains a mystery.

Where the fledgling peace between the humans and their neighboring elves and dragons will go next is a bigger mystery still.

A Brief Dragon Prince Primer

If you’re new to The Dragon Prince, here’s a brief primer. (Skip ahead if you are familiar with all this).

The Dragon Prince is a fantasy series created by Wonderstorm, a studio led by Aaron Ehasz (former head writer on Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Justin Richmond (game director of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception). Along with a team of writers, animators and game designers, they’ve been building out the magical world of Xadia into a television series, comic books, a mysterious video game, and some tabletop games.

This is a world of magical elves and dragons and other strange creatures. But it’s also a world that has been torn apart by ancient feuds between the realm of Humans in the west and the magical realm of Elves and Dragons in the east. The first three seasons (which you should watch before you come to Season 4!) tell a complete arc about the adventures of a pair of young human boys, a young Moonshadow Elf assassin, and the dragon egg that’s in their care.

What I love about this show is that it’s great for the whole family in much the same way Avatar and Legend of Korra were. There’s lots of fun and humor but there are also deeper themes, political scheming and even some moments of tragedy and violence. Like the best characters in Avatar and Korra, many of the ‘villains’ in The Dragon Prince are much more morally grey and complex than you’d expect.

If you enjoy shows about dragons and wizards and magical creatures with complicated characters that you want to root for even when they’re doing bad things, The Dragon Prince is a great choice for older and younger viewers.

(Fans and newcomers alike should absolutely read the two graphic novels that Wonderstorm has released, as these have important stories about some of the show’s key characters, and will definitely help with the gap between seasons. You can find Through The Moon and Bloodmoon Huntress on Amazon.)

The Trouble With Peace*

I’ve only seen the first four episodes—or Chapters—of Season 4 and I’m itching to see the remaining five. Each season has its own element attached to it. The first three “Books” were Moon, Sky and Sun respectively. This is Book 4: Earth. It’s the first time we meet an Earthblood Elf for one thing, but I suspect there are other crucial reasons why this season is being associated with Earth specifically.

When we last encountered our heroes, they’d joined forces to defeat Viren and Claudia (Racquel Belmonte) and their dark magic army.

Victorious, the united elves and humans were finally able to speak with the Dragon Queen Zubeia (Nicole Oliver), mother of Zym, the titular Dragon Prince.

This begins the reunification of Xadia after centuries of war and strife. Humans and elves begin to mingle. Amaya and Janai (Rena Anakwe) find themselves at the symbolic center of this new era of goodwill and friendship, when Janai asks Amaya for her hand in marriage (after a rather unfortunate tangle with some Sunfire Elf dancers Amaya mistakes for attackers).

But the peace is a fragile one. Hundreds of years of tension and mistrust don’t simply disappear overnight, as our heroes soon learn.

The Sunfire Elves became homeless refugees after Viren and Aaravos (Erik Dellums) destroyed the city, killing the Queen and High Priest. They live in a refugee camp alongside humans now, and as we learn in the first few episodes of the season, tensions are running high. Elven customs and human pragmatism don’t always mix, and here—as well in Katolis—there are signs of trouble brewing.

Ezran is the great champion of peace and cooperation, but his enthusiasm for change isn’t always shared by everyone. Some think he’s pushing too hard while others are outright hostile toward his progressive efforts. When he invites the Dragon Queen to Kotolis, it becomes clear that not everyone is on the same page.

All of this is stage-setting for what’s to come. In the first four episodes we see just how fractured the world of men and magic remains despite our heroes’ best efforts to bring about peace. Even peace has its obstacles—and often a much murkier way through them. War is simple and straightforward compared to the drudgery that peace and unity require. And such a fragile peace is ultimately a dangerous one that can shatter at any moment.

The Good Daughter

While Soren (Jesse Inocalla) has gone over to Team Ezran and remains in Kotolis as a knight and protector of the king alongside Corvus (Omari Newton), his sister has taken a different path.

Claudia (Racquel Blemonte) has spent the last two years figuring out how to bring her father back from the dead, along with the help of caterpillar Aaravos. Once she succeeds, the caterpillar spins up a mysterious cocoon and disappears inside.

The young sorceress has had to do terrible things, she tells Viren, in order to work such dark magic. But even still, unless they can figure out how to free Aaravos from his magical prison, Viren will die in a month’s time. This will be no easy feat given that the Startouch elf’s prison is hidden in a secret location that only the dragons know about.

Viren himself has undergone something of a transformation. The shock of having been dead for two years has left him a little weak in the knees. A part of him wonders if he even should have come back at all, or whether everything and everyone would have been better without him. But Claudia will hear nothing of it. She’s determined to save her father, who she loves, and nothing will stop her.

She has a new helper on that front: Terry—short for Terrestrius—an Earthblood Elf. Terry is an affable sort, much like Claudia herself, though more shy. They seem quite fond of one another. But one can’t help but worry that the same dark forces that have drawn Viren and Claudia down this forsaken path will swallow up Terry as well. Making matters worse, of course, is the fact that Viren opposes pretty much everything the elves stand for. How will an elf—and such a friendly one at that—be party to his and Claudia’s plans?

The Mystery Of Aaravos

Season 4 begins a new arc in The Dragon Prince timeline called The Mystery Of Aaravos. The mysterious Startouch Elf has been imprisoned in his magical cell (which looks pretty cozy and has lots of reading material by the way!) for ages now, and we learn a little bit more about why early on in the season.

Still, Aaravos and his motivations and plans for Xadia—and what exactly is coming out of that cocoon—remain an enigma. Is he really just a nefarious elven sorcerer vying for power over Xadia, or is there some deeper game at play here? He certainly seems like a villain, willing to do terrible things to achieve his grim purpose. But I suspect Wonderstorm has more surprises up their sleeves.

Having only seen four episodes of Book 4, I can’t really hand out a verdict at this point. What I’ve seen is great, however. It’s so fun to be back in Xadia with all these wonderful characters, even if some of them have aged up in ways that make them slightly less cute. Even Zym has grown, though the Dragon Prince is still adorable.

And then there is Bait with his grumpy-cat face and all the other smaller characters that give this show its rich texture. The Crow Master has been promoted. So has Barius, the castle baker who Ezran names Minister Of Crusts And Jellies—a position I think more nations in our own world should adopt. More jelly tarts for everyone!

The Dragon Prince lands on Netflix this Thursday, November 3rd. I’ll have a follow-up review after I’ve finished the season.

Check out my video review below:

*I stole my title for this review from Joe Abercrombie’s novel The Trouble With Peace which is part of his First Law fantasy books. These are very wonderful books that I can’t recommend highly enough. Abercrombie is an excellent writer and draws some of the most fascinating, complex characters I’ve ever read in the genre. Start with The Blade Itself and go from there.

**The top image, the image of Amaya and Janai and the image of Claudia and Terry are exclusive to Forbes and have never been released prior to this review.