Ethari can't bring Rayla back by himself. His flare of magic doesn't even last more than a few minutes.
But with Runaan holding his hands - and completing a circuit, if you will - he can cast a spell that works properly and lets Rayla stay visible for long enough to complete her ritual.
ergo: Runaan is Ethari's spell battery. Holding hands is part of the ritual, and Runaan's presence - his love - lets Ethari cast more powerful spells than he can alone.
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I’m not quite sure I ever understood the loss of arcanum connection during new moons. I mean, the moon is still there, no? Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s gone (another favourite moonshadow sentiment). After all, you are moon-shadow elves. Not just moon. Somewhere on that moon (the other side), there is still light during the new moon. I’d always imagined you’d be weakest when the moon is not out. Oh well. I guess that’s just something to think about. ;)
Far be it from me to spill tactical Moonshadow secrets, little shadow. But there is a reason Moonshadow assassins strike during a full Moon. There is equally a reason Rayla and I waited to shift into our full Moonshadow forms until after the clouds parted that night on the battlements.
Our magic is powerful, but it does come with checks and balances. The Moon's cycle is long, and it teaches us patience and tactics, so when we do find an opportune moment, we are prepared to take advantage of it.
I call Ethari "my light" because he gives me strength too
Something I've been wondering, how does your magic work? You can enchant the lotuses, what else? And can you do Moon illusions like Lujanne?
When it comes to magic, illusions aren’t my strong suit, love. I’m the poor fool who fell in love with an assassin, Moon help me, so I’m rather invested in magic that deals with keeping him alive. Illusions can only do so much there, so I need something with a bit more truth in it.
If you could hold an illusion sword or the real thing, just to look at, it wouldn’t matter whether the sword was real. It’s just art, aesthetic. Beautiful in its own right. But if your life depends on the difference? You want the true sword. It takes extra work to maintain reality--that’s why illusion is so appealing sometimes--but there is a deep satisfaction in crafting something real, no matter how you use it.
I make the real thing. But I also believe in aesthetics. So my real, actual swords all come with real, actual swirlies on them!
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Dadbird Theory goes canon! I always liked this one, and I got back on board with it a few years ago even after they strongly hinted (Aaravos style) that it wasn't true, because I had a separate theory that backed it up. And still, I cannot believe we get this one for real, lads. What a day!
Dadbird being canon means my theory on Moonshadows and hearts is probably accurate - Runaan's bloodribbon fell off back in S1 because the heart in Harrow's body stopped. The soul inside was irrelevant to the binding spell. That's what matters to Moonshadow magic: hearts, and heartbeats.
Lujanne sensed Zym was dying, that his heartbeat was slowing down. That's how fetal heartbeat monitors work.
Ethari and Runaan both called Runaan Ethari's heart. It's the core of life in their philosophy - Ethari didn't feel alive without Runaan there with him. And Runaan died in more than one way without Ethari.
The creators said ere ago that Moonshadow assassins have ways of locating hiding targets, that Harrow could not have hidden from Runaan if he'd tried. If Runaan can track the heartbeat of his victim anywhere, then Harrow couldn't hide without dying - or vacating his body. This is why Claudia's swapping spell idea would work, and Viren knew it. The heart in Harrow's chest was going to die, because Runaan was always going to locate it. But Harrow didn't have to be home when it did.
So, Viren used the two-headed soulfang to swap Harrow with his bird in a pinch because the assassins were closing in.
Dadbird just became canon, and pulled this Moonshadow hearts theory along after it. What a day!!
So both of the Tales of Xadia playtests have some mention of the color of Moon magic, and it's not white like in the show. It's described as a "pale purple" color. This is cool and pretty, and side note, I still hope that there's some element of UV light in here somewhere because of the glowy full Moonshadow markings thing. UV light is fascinating and already part magic, okay, it just is. Do you know how many irl nocturnal creatures have bright UV colors splashed all over them? Neither does anyone else, because we've just started noticing they're there!
Ahem. Back on topic: this purplish Moon magic.
And let's start with Ethari.
Our favorite soft craftsman, who tells Rayla, "You know I've never been as strong as the others. This will only break the spell for a moment..."
I'm not abandoning the idea that Ethari might get his crafty hands on a Moon staff at some point, but I am currently vibing with the interpretation of that dialogue as "I don't have a strong inherent Moon magic connection like other elves do." This could be just his perception, and not accurate. And it could be either a lifelong state or a state that follows some kind of catastrophe he endured. But I'm currently thinking that his statement is accurate, and if it is, that's going to be very important for his character development - skill sets and the myth of inherent talent, ableism stuff, perfectionism stuff.
Runaan and Lujanne can meditate and do various magics on their own, but they have jobs where that's important, and their skill sets fit their job requirements. And Ethari is no different! He can make excellent trick weaponry and various ingenious magical devices, and he knows about clever enchantments and how to pair them with crafty mechanisms. He's techy and nerdy, and he studies hard - look at this bookshelf that he keeps right in his workshop like a good studious craftsman who constantly strives to develop and improve his techniques.
Perhaps there are other crafters in the Moonshadow forest who have amazingly powerful arcanums, and good for them. But I bet they're not half as clever as Ethari has learned to be - because they didn't need to be.
ND people understand what it's like to have to carefully construct workarounds for things that NT people treat as ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill behaviors, so easy to remember that if you ask them how they remember to do them they go blank in confusion. "You just... do?" They're baffled, honestly. They literally think differently.
I imagine that an elf with a weaker arcanum might have to construct a set of workarounds for everyday tasks, too. If even the dirt is magical in Xadia, there are probably a million little ways that magic affects daily life, and not having a lot of it to use could make getting through the day very similar to the way we decide how to allocate our metaphoric spoons for tasks: we pick and choose, we bundle, we use any and all tricks and aids we can find, we ask for help, we try not to be a burden, we try not to get upset and feel lesser.
What we don't often realize is that the skill set we craft just to do our daily stuff can be huge and varied and have mass application, allowing us to transfer to some situations even more easily than NT people, and to use our skills with unique dexterity sometimes, excelling at things simply because the tools needed for them are things we use every single day.
If Ethari has crafted his way to success using book study and mechanics and various smithing techniques and jewelcraft, whereas other elves might rely primarily on their magic, then his skill set is far more adaptable than theirs would be. And that's where his "weakness" becomes a strength.
TDP doesn't really do "equality" so much as it embraces the broader concept of the individual in their unique awesomeness. No two characters on this show are the same. Even characters with similar roles or various parallels are very different in their self expression, attitude, and skill sets. Everyone is delightfully and refreshingly unique. There is no "normal" except as a concept to be rejected, such as Callum and his struggle with "normal" princely duties, which he's not good at and doesn't enjoy.
So, in this context, Ethari's skill set as the Silvergrove's Master Craftsman could include far more than only actual crafting skills, and the time and effort he put into finding the best ways to interact with his world could have had a directly positive impact on his career, and could directly influence his plot arc in the future. To parallel his character with Callum's (again), the things that set Ethari apart from the more magically powerful Moonshadow elves could be the things that make him uniquely qualified to be a heroic figure, just like how Callum's "failure" at prince stuff led him to find his own path to become a very different kind of hero.
Okay, this is very cool, but what's it got to do with eye color?
This is entirely speculative but I like it: if Ethari has always been weaker in magic than most Moonshadows, perhaps - like so many things - there's a visual representation of that in his appearance that says so? Moonshadow elves are covered in messages if you know how to read them, from Runaan wearing the colors of the gay men's flag to the temporary-but-repaintable markings on everyone's faces to the horn cuffs which are (probably) unique to their culture.
Honestly, why not eye color at this point? Gosh.
So: Ethari has less magic, and his eyes are a nice brownish-red. A sunset orange, or sunrise, if you like. The very edge of nighttime, either way. If you can see orange in your sky, chances are that you don't have a lot of nice bright moonlight going on. And he's not the only Moonshadow with red or orange eyes.
Some Moonshadows have golden or green eyes.
Some have bright blue eyes.
And then there's Rayla.
There's a full spectrum of eye color among the Moonshadow elves, and it's very pretty, but as with all Moonshadow things, it can also be useful to them at the same time. Nothing's "just decorative." If the spectrum of eye color stretches from sunset/sunrise all the way to the actual "pale purple" of Moon magic itself, then a single glance at another elf's eyes would tell them what their magic potential is.
Which is good and bad. Knowing that someone needs to learn a broader skill set in order to explore their fullest potential means they can get that skill set from a very early age. But getting labeled from birth is never a smooth journey, especially when that label makes opportunities open or close when you don't want them to.
Remember this line of Runaan's, which made Rayla so grumpy?
He says she's "maybe the fastest and strongest of any of us." She's a fifteen year old kid. How can he know that, even with all his skills and focus?
He's trained plenty of assassins, but maybe it's literally as simple as looking her in the eye. If her eye color shows a stronger arcanum than even his own, he would have the truth of her superior potential staring him eagerly in the face, every day, waiting to be trained to its best use.
And I bet Rayla is really, really tired of hearing how great and wonderful she's supposed to be when she didn't ask for this eye color, can't change it, and is the only person in the world who can't see it from the outside. Gifted Child Syndrome is a bitch.
As a final thought, I wonder whether it's possible to alter the strength of an elf's arcanum through some extrarordinary means, and if this happened to a Moonshadow elf, would their eye color change as a result?
Okay, actual final thought: does this hold true for other elven tribes as well, and is the color of their magic reflected in the eyes of their strongest arcanum holders? What's that say for Nyx, then? Is there really a spell on her eye, because that would genuinely be wild.
Somehow I got looking through my old screencaps of the Reddit AMA for TTM’s release, and I’m having a whole new batch of thoughts on some of them!
In this one, @lily-lilou asked whether Rayla’s flower bobbed underwater while she was in the Moon Nexus lake, and the answer was:
“Oy... yeah Ethari would feel dread and pain, and would probably cry with relief when it bobbed back up to the surface.”
Which, ow, okay, wow, damn. BUT. I have more thoughts now!
I’m looking directly at “dread and pain” here and wondering... what kind of pain is this? Because I had assumed it was emotional pain at the horrible prospect of losing Rayla so soon after seeing her again. But what if it’s something else?
I always wondered: What if Ethari wasn’t lurking by the pool when Rayla yeeted into the Moon Nexus? He’s trying to move forward in his grief, he’s probably working day and night on something or another, he’s not hovering by the pool.
How would he know that something had happened to Rayla’s lotus?
My exploration of this possibility is kind of tied to another ama question I want to write about--and this is all speculative, since we don’t know whether Ethari actually did see the lotus sink, or if this is just a hypothetical--but if he did, I think it would be connected with with how Moon magic works.
There seem to be a lot of pairings and balances in Moon magic, specifically in the life/death magic. The binding ribbon even forces a binary situation: your hand or your target’s life. Life and death are inextricably linked, and so the magic that utilizes this aspect of the primal Moon energy also seems to be connective, in one way or another.
In this case, I think it could connect Ethari to Runaan and Rayla via some kind of magical notification or bond. Perhaps Ethari adds a bit of spell to connect each assassin to their loved one(s), so if something happens to the lotus--and to the assassin on the other end of the connection--the elves in the Silvergrove will feel it somehow and come running to the pool.
It seems a very Moonshadow kind of magical tether to link an assassin and their loved one via something that would hurt when they’re dying from afar. Super angsty, holy cats. It would make Ethari rush to the pool no matter what he was doing, and considering what he’s been through over the last year, yeah, dread sounds about right.
Also, though, him crying with relief, obviously that can be taken at face value and I’m sure he’d feel the weight of the world lift off of his shoulders to see Rayla’s lotus rise again. But if Rayla’s lotus being sunken was somehow magically straining on Ethari, as a physical representation of grief, because he’s her loved one and he’s tethered himself to her life force? Well, gosh, that’s angsty too.
Oh, no worries, it’s about to get worse. Because if he were feeling physical or magical pain from Rayla’s lotus sinking, then he’s been feeilng it from Runaan’s sunken lotus all along. Whatever connection might exist between Rayla’s lotus and Ethari probably also exists between Runaan’s lotus and Ethari. The primal magic is still in that lotus, doing its job, hovering the flower between the surface and the bottom of the pool. Its connection to Runaan isn’t severed. So if there’s any connection to Ethari, it’s intact as well.
If Ethari had to feel the physical toll of two lotuses sinking at the same time, that’s... a lot for any one elf to bear. So it’s perfectly understandable that he would cry with relief at having one of those burdens lifted away, aside from the sheer relief of knowing that, somewhere in the world, Rayla wasn’t dead after all. Ethari’s heart has been through enough since Winter’s Turn. Let him rest!
So maybe it’s just better all around if Ethari wasn’t at the pool and didn’t see Rayla’s lotus sink and didn’t feel any direct magical consequences of Rayla’s Nexus dip straining the lotus’s bond. Because if he did, then he’d have been in constant pain since Runaan’s lotus dipped under. And he doesn’t deserve that, however much he may welcome its distraction from how much his heart aches.
Okay. Okay. I gotta stop hurting the poor craftsman. The lotus doesn’t need to cause pain, right? I’m just angsty. Moonshadow elves have some kind of way to sense life, like Lujanne did with Zym’s egg. Maybe that ability is involved in creating the lotus magic in the first place, so Ethari’s really good at that skill. Maybe he can just sense that Rayla’s life, specifically, has suddenly tanked, without it physically hurting him. That could be a thing. Still gonna stab him in the feels, though, I mean. Obviously. He loves Rayla. But her lotus does come up again! Poor guy, what a rollercoaster.
On the other hand... because I have to think about what he’d do next... if Ethari did see Rayla’s lotus dip and then rise, surely that’s got to get him thinking with a lot of question marks and exclamation points over his head, right? I mean, can you imagine? He would have such questions. Maybe he’d do research or cast some diagnostic spells at the pool or Rayla’s lotus, and maybe, if Rayla visited him after she left Callum at the Moon Nexus, they’d each have some very interesting information to share, which could set off a hunt for Viren’s coin pouch.
