WMG / Raya and the Last Dragon

Pre-Release

The Druun are the other dragons.

• Given Disney’s current no real villain streak, the Druun probably showed up after all the dragons disappeared and nobody put the two together. Human emotions are somehow linked to the dragons and over time, mankind’s selfish nature corrupted the other dragons, turning them into the Druun. Both Raya and the last dragon will end up purifying them together.
  • Jossed. The Druun are a separate species that battled the dragons before their disappearance, and they are vanquished at the end before the dragons return.

The Druun are negative emotions that the dragons extracted from humans.

• The tribes only fall apart after the dragons sacrifice themselves to contain the Druun. After the tribes break the Dragon Gem, their conflicts only grow. In the super bowl trailer, we see a World-Healing Wave, presumably from reuniting the Dragon Gem. The film's synopsis says "it will take more than a dragon to save Kumandra," implying it will be the love of the people, not Sisu, that stops the Druun. If the Druun is concentrated negativity, it would fit WDAS's recent themes of not interfering with nature and what others want.

If successful, the film will be spun into its own franchise

Possibly under the title Tales of Kumandra or something similar.

• With lots and lots of toy dragons

The Druun will die.

Disagreeing with that hideous theory above, Disney needs to bring back real villains! They have already brought them back with King Runeard and Terry, but we need actual villains whom the heroes face in fights and defeat, and then meet karmic deaths. The Druun are clearly doing terrible things and will likely reject the idea of trust. Villain deaths need to brought back. The Druun need to be destroyed!

• More than likely, Namaari and her tribe are the villains who will be redeemed (given that the second trailer emphasizes needing to unite the tribes — it can be assumed Namaari wants to stop the Druun from destroying her tribe but needs to be persuaded to look out for the other tribes) and the real villains are the Druun.
• Confirmed. The Druun are destroyed and the dragons are all revived as a result of the Gem being restored.

Raya's tribe intends to harness Sisu's power to destroy and take control of the other nations

• The theme of trust will then be turned on its head, as Raya, instead of needing to be taught to trust the other nations, will need to work to gain THEIR trust to help stop her own people from committing genocide. The Aesop would then be that trust is a two-way street, and you must show yourself worthy of it before you are given reason to show it. This would also allow for Disney to actually have a twist villain that is somewhat interesting, after a long string of duds.
• It would also allow for Namaari to be a more complete Evil Counterpart/worst version of Raya, leading the group that intends to carry out the massacre to force peace in Kumandra through submission.
• Jossed. The Heart Tribe genuinely wanted peace with their neighbours and have no ulterior motives.

Mushu will appear.

Presumably as a simple cameo since Disney likes to periodically have cameos and Shout Outs of their past works appear in their newer titles.

There will be Big Hero 6 easter eggs.

Both movies have Don Hall as a director.

Con baby isn't just a baby.

Specifically, it's a family friendly take on the toyol, a Malay helper spirit/thief. Or it's a tiyanak, which means it'll turn into a vampire at some point.

Virana is the Hidden Villain

She's either in control of the Druun, or the Druun aren't really evil and she did something to them. Either way, it'll be revealed she did/is doing something at least halfway through the movie, and she'll be the main antagonist for the remainder. And she'll probably be redeemed at the end after Raya gives her a good talking to.

• Most of the other characters have Hasbro dolls made of them. We haven't seen one for Virana. The rule of thumb is that villain dolls are made exclusively by Disney.
• She just has one of those faces, you know?. That shapely nose, those cheekbones, that chin. They're not as pronounced as on other villains, like say Doctor Facilier or Hans, but they're there.
• Her name, "Virana". It sounds like the kind of name a villain would have. Insert it into a list of Disney Villain names, and it wouldn't look too out of place. It might be because it starts with a "V", as in "villain", and also letters from the end of the alphabet just tend to sound more evil. Ursula, Yzma, Virana.
• You don't just give an animated character a magic scepter, and not have them do something evil with it.
• The soundtrack lists "Storming Fang" close to the end. Virana is the chief of Fang Land.
• Jossed to an extent. Virana is indirectly antagonistic for most of the film, but she has her own people's best interests at heart and the Druun are the main threat.

Namaari will have a Heel–Face Turn

After spending most of the movie as Raya's nemesis, something will happen that results in Namaari having a change of heart. She'll probably learn some dark secret about the Fang that brings her entire goal into question, and then after a short Villainous BSoD, she'll team up with Raya to battle the true villain.

• Confirmed.

Each member of the band of misfits represents a different form of love.

• Tong is parental love, Noi is pet/child love, Boun is sibling love, Raya is self-love, and Namaari...is romantic love. Namaari is marketed like a Disney Prince in some merchandise, and the Fang Castle is tall and pointed, like the castles in Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella.

The Druun are Dragons who have been corrupted

A long time ago the Dragons came across an evil being which corrupted several dragons and turned them against their former brothers and sisters but during the final battle the Dragons defeated the Druun by sacrificing themselves being turned into stone. Meanwhile the Druun soon lost their physical forms and now exist as orbs of energy. They seek to find a way to take physical form again and rule Kumandara through darkness.

After The Druun are defeated The other Dragons will come back to life

Following up on that theory during the final battle in Fang the pieces of the Dragon Gem will come together and will unleash a burst of energy which will turn the Dragons back to normal and the Druun to their physical forms but soon the Dragons come and begin kicking the Druun's butts and during the battle we get a heartwarming reunion between Sisu and her family.

• Confirmed. Though the dragons are not revived until after the Druun are vanquished.

Sisu will suffer a Disney Death during the climax near the end of the movie

This is a Disney Movie and Disney movies often have a protagonist appear to die during their climaxes in their movies, add to that, that Sisu is the last dragon and the Druun have wiped out the other dragons, it is possible they will attempt to finish the job they started, Sisu will either be killed by the Druun or voluntarily sacrifice her own life to save Raya and her people from them if her dying is the only way to activate a power she has to destroy the Druun forever. But whatever higher powers that exist in this movie will revive Sisu for her virtue so that she and Raya will be reunited.

• Confirmed. She is shot with an arrow by Namaari, but is revived in the ending.

Alternatively, Raya and not Sisu will be the one who will suffer the Disney Death during the climax near the end of the movie

If one of the characters were to die and that shock causes the other to have their latent powers awaken, unless Raya is a special type of human, Sisu is a Magic Dragon and seeing her best friend die would cause her to be shocked and that grief would be enough for Sisu to defeat the Druun, later as Raya's people and Sisu are mourning her death, an act of selflessness and true love in the platonic way and not romantic way from both Raya and Sisu will awaken Sisu's power to bring Raya back from the dead and they will be reunited that way.

• Jossed. Raya and her allies are almost consumed by the Druun in the climax, but it isn't a legitimate Disney Death.

The band of misfits will save Kumandra

The trailers and synopses hype up Sisu being the one to fix the Dragon Gem and save Kumandra. But knowing Disney's love of surprises and the Disney Death, the final battle will likely end with Sisu performing a Heroic Sacrifice, which forces Raya to trust others, i.e., Namaari. Raya opening her heart to Namaari and the band of misfits will generate the love magic that repairs the Dragon Gem, neutralizes the Druun, and restores everyone who was petrified.

• Confirmed.

Post-Release

If there is a sequel it will reveal that there are other species of Dragons scattered across the world each based on a different element

In the sequel Raya and Sisu will learn that there are other Dragon races each with a different element. Fire, Ice, Earth, Air, Moon, Sun and Shadow. The Shadow Dragons will be a evil race that lives in a very dark cave and seek to cover the world in shadows so Raya and Sisu along with Sisu's siblings will travel across the world to unite the Dragons against the Shadows but it's difficult to do considering the fact that every Dragon race doesn't get along with each other.

• In the process, it might turn out that the Shadow Dragons weren't actually evil and it was just a lie based on this animosity. Or they were being manipulated by an unseen great evil who was also playing Raya and her crew in order to plunge the world into war and disunity, which the Shadows will find out and switch sides once the truth comes out.

Future instalments of the franchise will imply a romance between Raya and Namaari

Neither character will be officially given a love interest and their romantic orientation won't be outright stated. Disney will most likely not have them explicitly end up together, though it will be subtly hinted at to let the individual viewer decide for themselves.

Namaari and Virana were able to redeem themselves because they were the only ones who felt regret about causing the apocalypse.

• Most of the other chiefs were either slaughtered, killed by their own deathtraps, or turned to stone. The old lady who is the replacement chief tries to threaten Sisu to interrogate her, which would have spelled death for everyone else, without considering the reasons. It's implied that none of the leaders had regretted what they did, hence it's up to the children (or innocent parents) from those regions to join Raya's crew. Virana in the present shows some regret for her part in causing the end of the world with her selfish plan and shows some Character Development by telling Namaari that she doesn't want to risk her daughter's life again to benefit the tribe. She turns to stone anyway because of Laser-Guided Karma: on realizing they can get the other shards she can't resist a chance to get them all back. Namaari also eventually admits that she caused the apocalypse by following her mother's orders, which was why she got a second chance to fix her mistake.

If there ever are more works set in Kumandra, more actors of actual Southeast Asian descent will be in the cast

As a form of Author's Saving Throw, considering the criticism for casting so few in the film.

Why the 1st use of the Dragon Gem didn't restore the dragons

Trust is what powers the Dragon Gem. But we know that Sisu trusted the other dragons, and they trusted her. So what was the missing element? My theory is that Sisu didn't trust herself to not screw it up, and the Gem reacted to that by holding back some of its power. On the other hand, when Namaari uses it, she has full confidence that she can redeem herself by doing the right thing for the right reason, and so the Gem works as it was always meant to.

Sisu's special ability isn't swimming, it's Resurrective Immortality.

Throughout the second act, we're told ad nauseum that her power is swimming, right? But then we see each of her sibling's powers are more overt and flashy, like summoning rain or fog, dancing on the rain(so cool), or glowing. Granted, she is a very strong swimmer, but that would be a secondary effect of her true power.

All of Kumandra's dragons are water dragons, and each represent a different aspect of water: rain, fog, flow(shapechanging), and clarity(glow). But a common aspect attributed to water is mythology is healing, life, and renewal. Sisu's aspect, then is that she represents the rivers, and can be brought back through the power of the river. When Raya summons her, the effect is almost identical to when she is resurrected by the rest of the dragons. She never died "properly" the first time, becoming one with the river, and flowed to its very end. Her second death didn't give her a chance to flow away, so she could be resurrected on-the-spot. Her strong swimming is just a side-effect from having enhanced vitality in the water.

Had Raya not tried to stop Namaari from using her crossbow, Sisu might have been able to defuse the situation.

Sure, there's a close-up of Namaari's finger on the trigger of the crossbow, but you could argue that, had Raya just done nothing, Sisu might've been able to talk Namaari out of using the weapon, seeing as the water dragon's words seemed to be having an effect.

• Even if that was true, Raya had every reason in the world to believe Namaari would kill Sisu if she did not intervene: Namaari betrayed her in their childhood, ending the world, hunted her down for years, and betrayed her again during this very scene. The fact that Namaari ran away after doing the deed and fought Raya after doing it, and had the nerve to pin the blame on Raya proves she would have killed Sisu anyways.

Sisu would suck at Among Us

If she's a Crewmate, she'd believe everything every lie no matter how obvious. If she's an Imposter, she'd just tell everyone she was an Imposter the first chance she got.

• .....Why.... Why would you do this?
  • Because it's true.

The reason the Druun appeared 500 years ago...

Despite the fact that everyone seem to be living in peace, there were a few humans who become jealous of the dragons' powers and tried to steal them for themselves. They fail miserably, and their frustration and dissent grew until they manifested into the Druun. With the dragons gone, those same individuals fight each other the gem, their actions influenced the rest of Kumandra to divide itself.

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