When Soren picks a fight with a dragon, chaos breaks out — and Rayla faces a difficult decision. A defeated Viren returns to the figure in the mirror.
Tropes in this episode include:
- All for Nothing: Viren said this word-for-word when Opeli chews him out for not only using King Harrow's seal to summon the Pentarchy, but also lying to them about what had happened.
- Always Accurate Attack: Claudia uses a spell to enchant a ballista bolt to fly unerringly into the body of a dragon that is attacking a human enclave.
- Batman Grabs a Gun: Callum, despite his obvious hatred for it, decides to use dark magic just this once to save Rayla.
- Bloodless Carnage: Averted. Not only is the dragon covered in bloody wounds, but there's also a visible spurt of blood when Ezran pulls the bolt out.
- Dramatic Spine Injury: Claudia abandons trying to take Zym when she sees her brother injured and rushes to him, only for Soren to reveal he was left paralyzed by the dragon smacking him against a rock when she broke free.
- Dramatic Irony: Callum and Rayla never figure out that the dragon only attacked because Soren provoked it.
- Eye Awaken: The dragon awakens twice with a close-up on its opening eyes.
- Godzilla Threshold: Viren finally decides it's time to submit himself to the man in the mirror since his initial plan to join the human forces against Xadia didn't pan out.
- Innocuously Important Episode: Callum's use of Dark Magic here has lasting repercussions for the rest of the series, kicking off a series of events that leads to him gaining access to wind magic. Soren's broken back puts Claudia down a road deeper into Dark Magic, which also serves as a minor
Moral Event Horizon for her. - Just Hit Him: While the dragon used its deathly fire against the town, when faced by Soren it makes do with using its tail only, giving Soren a fighting chance. Subverted when even the tail slam is enough to break Soren's neck.
- Lampshade Hanging: When Claudia pulls out a box with the exact magical object needed for a spell, Soren lampshades it by asking her if she always carried that box around just in case she needs to cast that exact spell.
- Never Say "Die": Averted. Corvus tells Soren to not get himself killed after the latter asks him to help the townsfolk evacuate.
- Palm Bloodletting: Lord Viren does this to complete a magic ritual that would allow him to communicate with Avaaros.
- Power-Strain Blackout: Callum collapses after using a Dark Magic spell for the first time.
- Roar Before Beating: The dragon lets out a roar before fighting Soren.
- Sadistic Choice: Claudia faces the choice between saving her brother or capturing Zym. chooses to let the Dragon Prince escape in order to help her injured brother.
- Sickening "Crunch!": Yes, we do get to hear Soren's spine shattering.
- Stealth Pun:
- Claudia enchants a ballista with the eye of a gryphon/griffin so that it always hits its target. Since the head of a griffin is that of an eagle, whatever it enchants becomes eagle-eyed, or extremely accurate.
- Aaravos' "bug-buddy" is an earwig that literally crawls into Viren's ear as a form of communication.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Unlike in many fantasy series, Rayla's attempt to cut a metal chain with a simple sword doesn't work very well. This is immediately lampshaded by Soren.
- A particularly brutal one. Soren gets thrown into a rock in what would be a typical bit of fantasy violence... and damages his spine, paralyzing him from the neck down.
- Tail Slap: How the dragon defeats Soren.
- Think Nothing of It: A downplayed example: When Rayla reminisced to Callum about a valuable lesson she had learned about the Cycle of Revenge, Callum forgot that he was the one who had taught her that lesson.
- Translator Microbes: Viren starts communicating with Aaravos via a grub sitting on his ear.
- Traveling at the Speed of Plot: The heroes used a ship to cross a sea but didn't get further than their pursuers who used horses to go around traveling at walking speed due to their captive Corvus.
- Villainous BSoD: Viren is shown to have this when he returned to Katolis, having failed to convince the four kingdoms to join him in his fight against Xadia. In fact, he loses hope in his plan that he couldn't care less of Opeli chewing him out for committing treason.
- Villain Respect: Viren is dumbfounded by Commander Gren's unbeatably positive attitude in spite of his imprisonment, eventually admitting he admires his refusal to submit to despair, given his own situation has left him feeling much the opposite.
