Voyage of the Ruthless is the thirteenth episode of The Dragon Prince and fourth chapter of the second book, "Sky".
After saying goodbye to Phoe-Phoe, the gang teams up with a pirate to cross a bay, where Callum tries to forge a connection with the Sky arcanum.
Plot[]
At the Breach, General Amaya orders her lieutenant Fen to gather a small force to inspect their human outpost at the Xadian part of the Border, despite the outpost sending a clear signal that it is secure.
Phoe-Phoe, feeling exhausted, makes a rough landing on the ground. Nonetheless, Ezran expresses his gratitude for the flight before she returns to the Moon Nexus. Rayla points out they now need to get across a vast bay to resume their journey to Xadia. The princes offer to walk around it in respect for her fear of water, but Rayla is willing to venture the waters to get Zym back to Zubeia as soon as possible. Callum and Ezran soon find a suitable captain that can offer his ship for a ride and will not suspect Rayla as an elf and notice Zym. The princes introduce Rayla to Villads, a blind ship captain wearing two eyepatches and his pet parrot Berto. Villads takes them to his ship, The Ruthless, suggesting that they wait a few days since a storm is approaching. But since they need to hurry, Villads insists that they depart now and hopefully race the storm or get caught by the storm in the middle of the bay and likely get killed.
Viren continues to observe the elf mage, where he finally acknowledges Viren. When the elf returns with several items, Viren realizes that the elf is asking him to find the items he gathered. Shortly after, Viren returns with the items. The elf asks him to imitate his actions by first knitting an unfamiliar rune that gets hit by a spell from the elf, then placing the cloth on a stone before breaking it in half; Viren must then pour the stone's contents with water into the chalice. The elf then drinks his chalice, nodding to Viren to drink his also. Viren hesitates but drinks his chalice. Lastly, the elf takes a dagger and tasks Viren to slash his palm and drip his blood on the chalice to finish the ritual. But Viren does not trust the elf since he will not reveal his identity and decides to contemplate his choices and leaves the room.
Unfortunately, Villads realizes the storm has reached them and eventually grows too strong that they need to find land for safety. Villads, with the help of Berto, guides The Ruthless toward a nearby island amidst large waves and deadly sea stacks, managing to port the ship on the island's pier.
Amaya leads the patrol and reaches the outpost, only to find it seemingly abandoned. A lone soldier of the outpost walks up to them, nervously reporting his failure after sending a late signal to his superior. The commander and the rest of the soldiers think the base is secure, so they lower their guard and prepare to leave. When Amaya notices the soldier shakily pointing someone behind him, she realizes the soldier is targeted with an arrow and manages to rescue him from getting hit. Sunfire Elves emerge to surround Amaya's forces, trapping the humans within the outpost.
Villads asks the group to wait out the storm below deck. Rayla notices Callum is forming an idea. Callum believes that to make a connection with the Sky arcanum, heading out and facing the storm will finally establish the connection. Rayla is reluctant, especially since Callum asks to take Zym with him. Ezran allows it since Zym is a Storm Dragon. Callum takes Zym with him to venture the island. But Callum makes no progress with the Sky arcanum, getting frustrated as he desires to practice magic again. Callum spots a windmill getting repeatedly struck by lightning and believes that it is where he needs to be. When Callum and Zym reach the windmill's roof, Callum is desperate to learn sky magic that he holds the rod and waits to get hit by a lightning strike, but he eventually let go, unwilling to risk his life for the sake of learning magic. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning finally strikes Callum and Zym.
Meanwhile, Viren notices a crow returning with a scroll and immediately heads to the Crow Lord's keep. The Crow Master informs him that four messages have arrived, each from the other Human Kingdoms. Viren is ecstatic as he learns that all have complied for a summit of the Pentarchy, putting him one step further to rally the other rulers behind Katolis in finishing the war against Xadia.
Sunfire Elves engage their human combatants, where they are easily overpowered by the female Sunfire Elf leader, named Janai, wielding a Sunforge blade and makes her way to General Amaya for a rematch. With her sword broken, Amaya faces Janai's Sunforge blade with her hands alone. She manages to separate the Sunforge blade from Janai's reach, but the Sunfire Elf soon transforms her appearance that empowers her to be able to make holes at walls with just her fists. Amaya manages to evade Janai when the latter's hands get stuck. Amaya seizes the moment to help her forces break through the Sunfire Elves blocking the exit, allowing everyone to escape but abandoning the outpost to the Sunfire Elves.
Ezran and Rayla spot Callum carrying Zym after the storm has cleared. Fortunately, Zym absorbed the lightning strike's energy allowing both to survive. However, Rayla finds Callum still upset, apologizing how he was wrong and not brave enough to face the storm if he so desired to learn Sky magic, but Rayla believes he made the right decision and embraces Callum.
Viren returns to the magic mirror, where the elf expects he has returned to finally finish the ritual. But to the elf's surprise, Viren decides to pause his interactions with the elf by covering the mirror with a large tarp.
Characters and Cast[]
- Callum (Jack De Sena)
- Rayla (Paula Burrows)
- Ezran (Sasha Rojen)
- Bait
- Azymondias
- Viren (Jason Simpson)
- Villads (Peter Kelamis)
- Berto (Paula Burrows)
- Crow Master (Cole Howard)
- Fen (Sam Vincent)
- Amaya
- Janai
- Phoe-Phoe
- Aaravos
Trivia[]
- It was revealed that the ship "Rayllum" (Rayla x Callum) was born during the lightning scene, where most editors felt a spark between the two.[1]
- By following Team Zym's path in Callum's Spellbook[2] and comparing it with the official map, it is revealed that the ship crossed the northern area of the Weeping Bay.
- The set for the seaport town used in this episode was reused in "Bait & Switch" as Scumport's set due to inflation costs in animation.[3]
Credits[]
- The image of Aaravos raising his glass is a reference to a famous scene of "The Great Gatsby".
ASL Translation[]
| 03:13 | Amaya: "I see elves down there." - "No. Something's wrong. Set up a search party." | |||||||||||
| 15:25 | Soldier: "Danger!"[4] | |||||||||||