Sol Regem is the nineteenth episode of The Dragon Prince and first chapter of the third book, "Sun".
To cross to Xadia, Rayla and Callum must find a way past a fearsome dragon who was blinded in a battle with a human.
Plot
In a flashback of the past mirroring the series premiere, the dark mage Ziard waits for the Dragon King, the Archdragon of the Sun Sol Regem, on a tall mountain near the city of Elarion. When he arrives, the dragon inhales and claims that he "smells death", referring to his use of dark magic. He orders Ziard and his followers to give up the use of the forbidden magic, but the human fears a time where his people were starving, refusing to return to these dark days where they were considered "lesser beings". As Sol Regem still considers them "lesser beings", he mocks Ziard, then orders him to lay down his staff and to walk away. When the man claims it was a gift, Sol Regem furiously demands to know who gave him the staff, to which he receives the vague response that it was one of the "Great Ones". Enraged, the Dragon King threatens to incinerate Elarion and everyone in it if the staff is not given up. Though initially horrified, Ziard is convinced that Sol Regem is bluffing, so the dragon ascends into the sky to turn his threat into reality. In a desperate attempt to stop him, Ziard creates a tornado which drains the life from a flock of Sunbirds, causing Sol Regem to turn around and focus on the mage. Both parties cast a ball of fire at each other, one reducing Ziard to ash on hit, while the smaller fire strikes Sol Regem on the face. With his eyes on fire, he tries to douse the facial blaze by completely submerging himself in a lake. He succeeds, but the fire blast has left him permanently ravaged his eyes beyond hope along with a huge, red, mask-like scar on his face.
Picking up where "Breathe" left off, Rayla, Callum, and Azymondias find themselves facing Sol Regem, the only thing standing between them and Xadia. Rayla informs Callum that they are not facing an ordinary dragon, but the Sun King, the former King of the Dragons who has become a symbol of rage and bitterness after he was blinded when the wars began all those centuries ago. They debate how to get past him and immediately rule out any hope of fighting him since neither of them are equipped to go up against a dragon of his caliber. Rayla decides their best bet is to sneak past him, teaching her friend about the art of stealth. She explains that the art of stealth is about avoiding the detection of their opponent's senses, which in the case of Sol Regem thankfully rules out Sight. Seeing as she only lists two senses that they have to fool, Hearing and Smell, Callum wonders why some are missing. In response, Rayla jokes that getting involved with the dragon's sense of touch or taste would be anything but beneficial.
Back at the Border, Lieutenant Fen suggests to Amaya to gather their battalion and to abandon the fortress, as he fears an inevitable attack of the Sunfire Elves, which they could not withstand due to the lack of numbers in available men. He also informs Amaya that the enemy has taken over the outpost on the Xadian side of the Breach. Amaya, overwhelmed with frustration over the situation, punches into the wall next to her, when a soldier informs her that "someone" has arrived.
Zym proves to be terrified of Sol Regem, squirming and whining loudly as he does not trust their mission to sneak past the terrifying giant. Though Callum manages to calm him down briefly, and the group makes their way behind a large rock, Zym loses his nerves once more due to the ominous growling of the dragon, which causes him to flee and loudly whimper. Listening to only sounds, Sol Regem attempts to find the source of the noise and he comes dangerously close to finding Callum and Rayla. She manages to distract him by throwing a rock in another direction and she and Callum encourage Zym to return to them. Unfortunately, when he tries flying, he falls to the ground and the soft thud allows Sol Regem to pinpoint their location and he charges up. Callum and Rayla flee with Zym and get clear of Sol Regem when he unleashes a devastating stream of fire in their direction. They are unscathed but are now right back where they started.
The "someone" turns out to be Gren, who has been freed from imprisonment and is finally returning to his battalion. Overjoyed, Amaya rushes towards her dear friend, lifting and twirling him in a tight embrace. After saluting to one another, Amaya quickly takes notice of Gren's new beard, which she questions with a smug expression. The two swiftly engage in a sign language conversation to catch up but are interrupted by Lieutenant Fen who wishes to learn where their requested reinforcements are, as he had sent many requests to Viren Katolis to receive aid. Gren lets his comrades know that Lord Viren has been arrested for treason, meaning no reinforcements are coming. Amaya finally admits that they have no chance of defending the Breach, but refuses to abandon her position, instead choosing to destroy the Breach entirely.
Having just narrowly avoided being incinerated, Callum and Rayla plot their next move with Sol Regem on the prowl now that he knows there are trespassers on the prowl. Rayla rules out any hope of running past Sol Regem since he is too fast not to catch them even if he is blind. With no option left, Rayla is forced to reason with Sol Regem. She introduces herself to the hostile dragon and explains that she has traveled to the Human Kingdoms on order of Zubeia, the Dragon Queen. She explains that she is transporting the Dragon Prince, but Sol Regem does not believe her and yells "lies". She proves herself by holding Zym towards the former Dragon King, much to the displeasure of the dragonling. Sol Regem allows the two to pass, but refuses entry for Callum, whom he calls a "filthy human". Rayla tries pleading to the fearsome dragon, but Callum decides it best for him to return to Katolis if it means getting Zym back home. However, Sol Regem corrects him that he plans to kill either all of them or just the human he despises. Rayla puts her heart and soul into a speech to stand up for her friend, but all reasoning is futile when Sol Regem smells the stinging sensation of dark magic on Callum and decides that he will die one way or another.
Once inside the lava cave that edges on the Breach, Amaya and her comrades attach a cable to several barrels, which are filled with explosives that they hope to detonate, in order to destroy the path that connects them with Xadia forever.
Callum believes that if him dying is the only way to return Zym to his mother, then he'd meet his end there and then with honor. Rayla informs him that Sol Regem needs to build up a charge to use his fire, which means, having already blown one, they have time to come up with a plan before they once again face the inferno. Callum manages to come up with a new plan, suggesting that instead of hiding from Sol Regem's senses, they could trick them, citing Lujanne's own words of only truly knowing the appearance itself. Callum proposes of using his "Aspiro" spell to relocate his scent and fool Sol Regem's sense of smell as if it were ventriloquism. Rayla admits there is something to the idea when Sol Regem's patience runs out. In order to quickly make use of his human scent, Rayla requests to wear Callum's scarf to get Sol Regem's attention. If she can trick him into blowing his next fire charge, she can keep him busy while Callum and Zym make a run for it. Although Callum deems the plan risky, he hands her his scarf, which smells strongly as he has not bathed in two weeks. Callum helps her put it on (all the while momentarily getting lost in each other's eyes) and Rayla is ready to rock.
When the battalion attempts to detonate their barrels, they find the cable cut by Janai's Sunforge sword. Amaya decides that someone has to engage with the enemy in order to detonate the barrels and volunteers to do so herself. Gren stops her, reminding her that she will be very likely to die, but it is a sacrifice his general is willing to take as long as the rest of her people makes it out safely.
Sol Regem is on the attack. While Rayla provides an opening, Callum rushes behind a large rock. Sol Regem unleashes his fire stream towards Rayla, who barely manages to hide behind a rock to avoid getting burned to a crisp. Unfortunately, her temporary shelter crumbles onto her.
Amaya charges at Janai and manages to get behind her using her horse's jump, however, the torch to light the cable slips off the edge and falls down the cliff. Knowing she no longer has a way to succeed, Gren rushes to save Amaya but is too late when Janai activates her heat-being mode, initiating yet another attack. Amaya manages to dodge the attack and disarms the Sunfire Elf of her Sunforge sword, throwing it into the barrel, successfully detonating it. Amaya is unscathed, but the explosion has cleared the way for the lava flow above, cutting her off from the rest of the battalion. Janai is holding on for dear life at the edge of the cliff. Despite their differences, Amaya honorably pulls her back up. But instead of thanking her, Janai turns towards her soldiers, who surround the general and capture her.
Rayla is stuck under the rubble from the collapsed rock. Callum tries rushing to the rescue, but Rayla orders back to cover with Zym when he sees Sol Regem approaching. When Callum spots a stone arch, he ponders if he could lure the enemy into it and trap him. Callum whisper-yells to Rayla to throw his scarf. Unfortunately, Rayla misunderstands that he wants her to "throw up on the dragon", and Sol Regem finds her. Thankfully, she corrects herself when witnessing Callum's air drawing of the "Aspiro" symbol and she throws the scarf. Using the scarf in the wind as a lure, Callum manages to capture Sol Regem inside the archway just as he planned and he helps dig Rayla free from the rubble. Knowing the arch will not hold Sol Regem for long, Callum, Rayla, and Zym collect themselves and head for the Xadian canyon. Zym kicks some dirt into Sol Regem's direction before he leaves with a chirp and the three of them rush for Xadia.
In prison, Aaravos reassures a hopeless Viren that his time to succeed will come if he will be patient now that his plan has been set in motion. On the surface, Opeli declares that she deems Viren too dangerous and suggests to permanently rid the world of him. The High Council and the guards are alarmed as several loud knocks bang against the doors of the throne room. To their pleasant surprise, Ezran, Bait, and Corvus enter the room on the backs of Banthers. With a heavy heart, Ezran dismounts his Banther and stands in front of the throne, where Opeli offers him the crown of Katolis. His subjects bow to their new king.
Characters and Cast
- Callum (Jack De Sena)
- Rayla (Paula Burrows)
- Ezran
- Bait
- Azymondias
- Viren
- Aaravos (Erik Todd Dellums)
- Corvus
- Amaya
- Gren (Adrian Petriw)
- Fen (Sam Vincent)
- Janai
- Opeli (Paula Burrows)
- Saleer (Jonathan Holmes)
- Sol Regem (Adrian Hough)
- Ziard (Brian Drummond)
Spells
Sky Spells
Dark Magic
- Rewop rouy swollaws eh, thgim rouy swollaws eh, traeh rouy swollaws eh (He swallows your heart, he swallows your might, he swallows your power)
Trivia
- The episode shares its name with the Archdragon Sol Regem.
- Upon entering the throne room, the Banther only growls at Saleer, likely sensing danger from him before he betrays Ezran.
- The scene where Ziard conjures up a giant purple tornado to harvest the Sunbirds is the same scene shown in the prologue of "Echoes of Thunder". Implied to be a simple power-grab in that episode, the scene is elaborated here and shows the situation to be much more complicated, as Ziard's reason for killing the Sunbirds turns out to be actually quite noble.
- During the first introduction of the Sky and the Ocean in the show's intro, Sol Regem is shown flying above the Ocean, followed by a splash as the camera sinks into the water. This episode reveals the scene to show the moment in which Sol Regem flew out to the Ocean to extinguish the flames raging at his eyes after Ziard had attacked him with a fireball. Added onto the scene of the intro, Sol Regem can be seen roaring in anger before descending into the water.
Credits
- The image in which Sol Regem passes the Sun resembles the opening scene of the series, where he passes the Sun while the Sun Primal is mentioned.