While Zubeia fights for her life and Viren arrives at a crossroads, the race toward Aaravos' prison leads those who seek him deep beneath the waves.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parent: Aaravos claims the Chrysalis Child as being his child... right as he is pitching sacrificing them.
- All for Nothing: Claudia not only fails to release Aaravos, but Viren — having learned what would be required to keep him alive — refuses to go through with the spell and walks away to live his last moments on his own terms, rendering the goal Claudia has worked towards for the last two years and thirty days, a pointless endeavor.
- Ambiguous Situation: Zubeia is found by a mysterious elf that calls himself the Mushroom Mage, who heals Zubeia's dark magic-infected wound, though it's not clear if he healed her for good or if the cure is just temporary.
- Androcles' Lion: A swarm of fish comes to the heroes' rescue because Ezran was treating them kindly on their way down to the bottom of the sea.
- An Arm and a Leg: Claudia loses her left leg in the fight with the heroes, a result of Rayla cutting off one of her thickest tentacles in octopus form just before the spell wears off.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Claudia has captured Ezran and Callum with her Combat Tentacles, it's Rayla who comes in for a surprise attack to free her companions.
- Black Comedy: Aaravos making cute jokes about how the Chrysalis Child is his and Viren's child and how the child gets his eyes from Aaravos but his voice from Viren, in-between goading Viren into murdering the child.
- The Bus Came Back: This episode features Aaravos' first appearance outside of flashbacks since "Through the Looking Glass" back in Season 4.
- Chekhov's Gun: The amulet Akiyu gave to Callum is a water-breathing amulet. Since Callum is now an ocean mage, however, he's able to reproduce and power the spell by himself, rather than only one person being able to use it.
- Cliffhanger: All plot threads are still unresolved after this season 5 finale. Viren refuses to perform dark magic to complete his resurrection and faces death in a few hours. Claudia has lost to the heroes but is still capable of coming back. Zubeia is still incapacitated by her infection but seems to be recovering. The heroes have what appears to be Aaravos's prison, but that doesn't mean Aaravos can't still be released. Finally, thanks to Miyana's betrayal, Janai's kingdom is threatened by Karim, who now has the Sun Seed and a new-found army.
- Combat Tentacles: Claudia uses dark magic to grow tentacles which she uses to restrain the heroes.
- Dead Person Conversation: During Zubeia's opening dream sequence, Avizandum seemingly aids her from beyond the grave by telling her to keep fighting and find help for her corruption.
- Defecting for Love: The Reveal shows that Miyana was in love with Karim the whole time. When the queen entrusted her with the Sun Seed, she used the opportunity to change sides and hand over the seed to Karim along with an army of Sunfire Elf soldiers.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Rayla's water phobia prevents her from diving with Callum and Ezran initially, despite the breathing spell and Callum's assistance. She manages to overcome it in time to save the boys from Claudia.
- Dream Intro: The opening scene is revealed to be a fever dream Zubeia is having of her reuniting with her mate, who urges her to fight on for the sake of their son.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played with: Aaravos makes it clear that he does not expect for one moment that Viren is willing to sacrifice either his daughter Claudia or his son Soren to save his own life, showing he at least understands Viren's love for his children. However, he has no problem with sacrificing their child, the magically made, non-human Homunculus, apparently regarding its artificial nature as less than a natural life.
- Face Death with Dignity: Viren renounces dark magic and goes off to accept his end alone under the moonlight. He still can't help but shed tears knowing his demise is nigh.
- Graceful Loser: Aaravos accepts Viren's renouncement of dark magic with little resistance, simply staring at him as he walks away, almost like he was surprised that someone like Viren would be willing to stay dead.
- Group Hug: After defeating Claudia, Ezran, Callum, Rayla and Stella go in for a group hug.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Claudia has grown so single-minded about saving her father that she immediately drops any affability with her former friends, and grabs and threatens Ezran when he accidentally gives a tell he knows where Aaravos is.
- Healing Herb: After Zubeia falls out of the sky due to the dark magic bite, a helpful Earthblood Elf calling himself the "Mushroom Mage" begins to heal her infected wound using magic fungi.
- Heel Realization: After struggling with the matter since his revival, Viren is horrified at the corruption the dark magic has wreaked on him and Claudia and thus refuses to kill the Chrysalis Child to prolong his own life.Viren: No. I won't do it. I finally see the truth. I find myself here at these horrifying crossroads because I have followed a dark path. And worst of all, I have led my beloved daughter down this path. No more dark magic, never again! I am done with it. And I am done with you!
- I Did What I Had to Do: Claudia justifies her attempt to free Aaravos by explaining to Callum and Erzan that it's something everyone would have done for their family and they both would do the same if it was King Harrow's life that was on the line instead of Viren's.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: Played for Drama. When they reunite, Claudia tries to assure the brothers she's still the same person who was their friend, only to grab and threaten Ezran without hesitation when she realizes he knows where Aaravos is.
- Just in Time: Claudia, Terry and Viren reach Aaravos's prison on the last day of Viren's month of borrowed time.
- Loophole Abuse: The Chrysalis Child turns out to be a loophole for Aaravos's resurrection spell. Ordinarily, Viren would have to sacrifice his child (Claudia or Soren) and use their blood/life to extend his own, but because the Chrysalis Child was born of Viren and Aaravos's combined blood, he technically counts as their "child" for the purposes of the spell. It's ultimately subverted, however, because Viren can't bring himself to kill the Chrysalis Child in cold blood.
- Melancholy Moon: The last scene shows Viren somberly staring at the full moon during his supposedly last night on Xadia.
- Offing the Offspring: Aaravos reveals that as a requisite for the spell that will properly restore Viren to life, he will need to sacrifice one of his children. It's then subverted when Aaravos explains that he would never ask Viren to kill Soren or Claudia, and offers the Chrysalis Child as a substitute, as it was created through their blood and thus counts as Viren's "child", so Viren only needs to sacrifice a barely sentient creature born of dark magic that he finds disgusting. Double Subverted in that Viren is unable to kill the Child anyway.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: Downplayed since we don't know enough about Miyana to know if she qualifies as a paragon, other than being one of the Six Horns, but when she defects she is able to get a significant number of Sunfire Elf soldiers to defect with her.
- Playing the Heart Strings: Emotional solo strings play during the scene where Claudia cryingly falls into Terry's arms after her defeat to the heroes and the loss of her leg.
- Redemption Equals Death: Viren coming to the realization that he can't sacrifice another life to save himself, not even the Chrysalis Child. He dies as a direct result.
- The Reveal: Several:
- What did Aaravos whisper to Khessa that left her so shaken? Apparently, that he ate Queen Aditi.
- This season, the Chrysalis Child started yelling "blood of child" at times for seemingly no reason. Turns out blood of a child, or more specifically, the sacrifice of an offspring, is the only ingredient needed for the spell that would restore Viren's life for good, with said sacrifice intended to be the Child itself; since Aaravos used Viren's blood to create it, it counts as Viren's "child".
- Sadistic Choice: Double Subverted. In order to make his resurrection spell permanent, Viren must sacrifice the blood of one of his children. Rather than Soren or Claudia, Aaravos soon explains that having been born of both of their blood, the Chrysalis Child is also a valid option, seemingly prepared for this outcome. However, Viren can't bring himself to do that either.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Callum figures out the spell to allow the heroes to breath underwater. Meanwhile, Claudia makes herself part octopus, allowing her to do the same.
- Thinking Up Portals: Stella opens up a portal to allow Rayla to reach her weapons and cut off one of Claudia's tentacles.
- Together in Death: Delirious from the pain of the corruption, Zubeia momentarily considers surrendering to it if only so she might be with her beloved Avizandum again. Luckily, her hallucination of Avizandum tells her that she must survive to guide Zim, as he's still too young to be left alone.
- Voice of the Legion: Claudia's voice has an echo effect while she's under the influence of her dark magic spell.
