What I really love about The Dragon Prince is that Callum isn’t fully blood-related to Ezran or Harrow. They could’ve made Callum all angsty about being a “Step-Prince” and have him be all “We’re not real brothers / You’re not my dad”, then have him slowly grow into the role of a good brother to Ezran. Instead, he is a good brother right off the bat, and there is so much love in their bond.
Sure, Callum and Ezran share the same mother, but oftentimes in fiction,the term “half-brothers” is viewed as “Not really brothers”. But here, for these two? That trope doesn’t apply.
In the second episode, when Rayla tells Callum that she must kill Ezran to complete her mission…
Callum was willing to die in order to protect his little brother. Like, did not hesitate to put himself in Ezran’s place.
He was going to dive into a frozen lake to save Ezran. And when he didn’t resurface, Callum was horrified that he lost his baby brother.
There has never been any doubt that Callum cares for and loves Ezran very much.
Then there’s Callum’s relationship with King Harrow.
Now, it’s established that it was hard for Callum to call Harrow his father. Not because he didn’t believe it to be true, not because there is no love between them, but because he felt he didn’t deserve to refer to the king by such an endearing word.
Callum has a lot of respect for King Harrow. He’s afraid that he would be stepping out of line by calling him “Dad”, so he plays it safe and addresses him the way anyone else would: As a King.
He says “I’m his stepson.” Not, “He’s not my father.” I feel like there’s a difference between these two phrases. By saying “I’m his stepson”, it’s basically telling us that Callum feels he’s not fit to call the king his father, no matter how much Harrow acts as one toward him.
But this isn’t due to how the king treats him. Harrow is never cold or closed-off around Callum, and he’s never made him feel like he wasn’t part of the family.
From Harrow’s perspective, there is no denying that Callum is his son, and he loves him very much.
And Ezran is right. Harrow would want Callum to call him “Dad”. But only if he wanted to. He would never force the boy into doing so if he wasn’t okay with it. The tension between Harrow and Callum is not due to a lack of devotion, but out of respect for each other’s boundaries.
But in the end, there is nothing but love, affection, and just… a strong familial bond between all three of them. Callum may not be blood-related to Harrow, he may only be Ezran’s half-brother, but that does not mean he isn’t family. He is given so much love by his father and his brother, and he gives that same love back to both of them.
TLDR: The Dragon Prince establishes one of the most important lessons in life: Family isn’t defined by blood. It’s defined by love.
In 1518, an artist would be commissioned to paint the duke’s daughters.
In 2018, they’re commissioned to draw his descendant’s fursona.
It was unintentional, but I accidentally made it seem like an immortal artist has been doing commissions for the same noble family for 500 years and I find that idea amusing.
the immortal artist started out doing cave paintings of animal gods and is finally relieved when they can go back to drawing furries
Yeah that’s why they all died at 30 because they were so unhealthy but cool
Pretty sure it was the plague not heart disease.
Pretty sure it was the Plague, childbirth, food spoiling, maltreated infections, smallpox, pneumonia, and/or generally unsanitary living conditions (such as dumping sewage and waste in the streets) and not health conditions caused by excess body fat.
Not to mention that the Renaissance standard of female beauty being plumpness and full-figured forms came from the fact that it was a status symbol. Plump, pale, full-figured women were wealthy women who didn’t have to spend their days in hard labor or raising children (or both) and stood a better chance of bearing healthy babies than commoner women did.
Cultural “Oh Snap” I hate it so much when people pull out the “unhealthy” excuse for having a reason to body shame a person.
“Women died young in the 1700s because they were fat” is an amazingly ignorant statement
I still can’t believe that one of the main arguments against the LGBTQA+ community is, “What will the children think?” or “How will I explain this to my kids?” Like???? Seriously???? Kids are open minded. You know what’s really hard?
Try telling a little girl who grew up with two dads that, “Actually, some people think your parents are evil and are going to hell.”
Try telling a little boy with an older sister who is trans that, “Some of us believe that you have to stick with the gender you were born with.”
Try telling a child who has crushes on both boys and girls that, “No, you have to pick one. Society says you can’t like them both.”
Try telling a kid who doesn’t want to get married that, “No. You have to. That’s just the way things work.”
Honestly, try telling any kid that they have to compromise or change who they are because some people in society are close-minded and ignorant.
It isn’t the children who won’t understand. It’s the adults. It’s always been the adults.
“Must have reliable transportation” = “this is how we legally discriminate against poor people who take the bus”
As someone who has held several management positions with hiring responsibility, this is true. The boss at my last job informed me before I conducted my very first I interview,
“You can’t outright ask someone if they have a car or have kids. That’s technically illegal. But you need to know because sometimes they can be deal breakers. You can just say ‘Do you have reliable transportation?’ and ‘Do you have any current circumstances that could impede you from being successful at work?’
To which the last one most people fumble and would say, “Well I have kids, so sometimes they could get sick. But that’s not often.” But then your potential employer could mark it down on your interview notes nonetheless.
I thought that maybe it was just my own employer. But now I noticed that I am asked both of these almost every time I interview for a job.
Language is very sneaky. Be careful how you answer. Corporations can be snakes.
In my businesses class my professor told us that the bus counts as reliable transportation. You do not legally have to say “I take the bus” just say “yes I do have reliable transportation” and leave it at that. Do not over share. DO NOT OVER SHARE. The second question just say no. If your kids are sick call out as if you are sick. I don’t have kids but I myself can get sick and that doesn’t hinder my ability to succeed so kids getting sick shouldn’t hinder you. When I call out I give as little info as possible. No one needs to know why you call out. They can’t ask about your “illness” because it violates HIPAA if they do. So as long as you don’t offer more info than you need to you should be okay.
Even before I had a car, I just flat out lied when I got asked this. The answer was just Yes. My parents used to ask me this in mock interviews until I could say it without sounding like lying.
If you need this job, If you really want this job – “Yes you have reliable transportation and/or a vehicle.” You may not have it at the time of the interview but by god will you make it true if they give you the job.
an artist friend was recently harassed at a con. she had people denigrate her merch, question the placement of characters on a gen art piece, and make ableist slurs about pairings. this isn’t about ships anymore, and it’s barely about fandom. frankly, this is a discussion about basic human politeness. in my life, i’ve used the ableist slur that fan used once and it was cause for my mother to explain to me in short and angry words that my behavior was unacceptable. i never used it again. the difference is: i was seven years old at the time and these people are fast approaching full adulthood if they’re not there already.
we’re reaching the point where fandom has reached near-religious levels of devotion by many people, to the exclusion of everything else. nothing should come before your ability to treat others with basic respect. this falls in line with what many of us have been saying as this has ramped up: if you don’t like something, don’t talk about it. fandom is not activism. and when you pretend it is, you open the door to a state of being that’s honestly horrifying.
we’ve had people feed artists needles over a ship. we’ve had the entire cast of a major series have to withdraw from fandom almost entirely due to death threats over a ship. it’s now typical that a fan needs to consider before posting something: am i ready to receive death threats for this? this is a level of absurd that at first blush is hilarious and at second is terrifying. so often i tell myself that these people will grow up and grow out of this behavior, but will they?
i never acted that way at that age and i can’t imagine i ever would have. i think my mother would have been livid if i’d tried. for many artists, fandom is a part of their livelihood, and the gall to come up in public and insult that livelihood to their face is both disgusting and the slippery slope to–demonstrably–much, much worse. so if you’re at a con and you see people act this way to an artist? don’t make a scene, but do something. try to talk to them. most cons have a zero harassment policy. if it comes to that, gently alert someone with the con that a fan is acting out of line, because artists are in absolutely no position to speak up and start an altercation over that and this is now common place and unacceptable.
and in a more general sense: i have no idea who is raising these people but eventually this behavior will come back to bite them and it will bite very fucking hard.
So Captain Underpants explores the friendship between a gay boy and a black bisexual boy and y’all wanna say Beauty and the Beast was the pinnacle of gay representation in children’s films huh
Captain Underpants comes out on Pride Month. Coincidence? I think the fuck NOT.
Excuse but Harold and George aint gay.
You miss the book where Harold has a husband?
Fanfiction aint canon
It’s in the official books written by the actual author, so it is canon. Pilkey wrote it, so it’s canon.
I refuse to believe he willingly inserted a political agenda into a popular, established children series
Oh look, stuff from the book! The actual canon book.
Look at Harold with his husband and kids. Very small but super poignant.
LOL @ ‘wouldn’t put political agendas in children’s books’.
i see your death of the author and raise you: death of the fandom, for when other fans and the content they produce are so unbearably bad that you divorce yourself entirely from the fanbase except for one or two Trusted Mutuals™️
Artisan Scribbles 