Wonderstorm’s Netflix series The Dragon Prince, Season 5 Episode 8, called “Finnegrin’s Wake,” continues the primary mission of Team Zym to stop Claudia (Racquel Belmonte), Terry (Benjamin Callins), and Viren (Jason Simpson) from releasing Archmage Aaravos (Erik Dellums), a powerful Startouch Elf, from his secret prison. The episode begins with Callum, Rayla (Paula Burrows), Ezran (Sasha Rojen), Azymondias, and Soren (Jesse Inocalla), alongside Bait and Stella, heading to the Sea of the Castout on Captain Villads (Peter Kelamis) and Commodore Nyx’s (Rhona Rees) sea ship, the Ruthless. However, Captain Finnegrin (Tariq Leslie) of Sea Legs captures the group for stealing three baitlings from him.
Callum is imprisoned in Finnegrin’s quarters while the rest of Team Zym, including Villads and Nyx, are held captive in Sea Legs’ brig. Finnegrin enters his quarters and lets Callum know that he released Nyx from her captivity for exchanging invaluable information with him. Nyx told Finnegrin the Sea of the Castout holds “valuable treasure,” which is why Sea Legs is heading to the location. For Callum to gain his freedom like Nyx did, he has to perform a Dark Magic ritual, the same ritual that turned Azymondias’ father, the former King of the Dragons Avizandum, into stone. Callum refuses, so Finnegrin orders Elmer (Dave Ward) to torture Callum until he complies.
Later, Finnegrin tells the injured Callum his plan to use the Dark Magic ritual to kill Domina Profundis. Finnegrin wants to kill Domina Profundis to avenge Sea Legs’ sister, his former loyal pet and ship for 40 years. The Archdragon of the Ocean killed Sea Legs’ sister when Finnegrin challenged Domina for control over the sea. Following the conflict, Domina spared Finnegrin and told the captain she would drown him if she ever saw him again. Finnegrin vowed vengeance and believed killing Domina would make him the freest being at sea. After hearing Finnegrin’s story, Callum mocks the pirate captain for trying to find freedom when all he does is control everyone around him at sea. Callum’s defiance angered Finnegrin, and the Tidebound Elf took Callum to the deck where Callum’s friends were.
Since Team Zym stealing the three baitlings caused the conflict, Finnegrin forces Callum to decide which of his friends should lose a hand: a punishment for thieves. Callum refuses, so Finnegrin unchains the mage and wants him to perform a Dark Magic ritual to turn his friends’ chains into serpents, thus releasing them. Suddenly, Rayla frees herself from her chains and attempts to kill Finnegrin, but the Captain of Sea Legs casts the spell “Veinus Frigardis,” which freezes every blood in Rayla’s body, causing great pain to the Moonshadow Elf. Angered at what Finnegrin had done, Callum attacked Finnegrin until Elmer stopped and knocked out the mage.
When Callum wakes up, Finnegrin wants to hunt a sea leviathan and plans to lure the creature in with Bait and feed Rayla as food to the leviathan. Callum becomes scared and reveals the Dark Magic ritual that turned Avizandum into stone: A dying breath, blood filled with hatred, and a unicorn horn. Finnegrin gets the information but dismisses it because of Callum’s early refusal and defiance. For Callum’s defiance, Rayla will get eaten by the sea leviathan during Finnegrin and the crew of Sea Legs’ hunt for the sea creature.
In the Sunfire camp, Pharos (Deven Mack) comes to tell Amaya and the Six Horns that Karim (Luc Roderique) sent him as a messenger: Karim will free Sunfire Queen Janai (Rena Anakwe) in exchange for the Sun Seed, but it needs to be delivered personally by Sunfire General Miyana (Cecilly Day). Sometime later, Amaya disguises herself as Miyana, and she rides to Karim’s location with a tightly bound Pharos to surprise attack Karim. Amaya defeats Karim in a fight but stops when Kim’dael (Laara Sadiq) holds Janai hostage with her claws. Karim orders Kim’dael to kill Janai, but the Bloodmoon Huntress wants Karim to free her from the Mercy Debt first. Karim attempts to release her but fails, and Janai explains the power to free Kim’dael lies with the crown of Lux Aurea. In other words, the one who is a descendant of former Sunfire Queen Aditi and the monarch of Lux Aurea has the power to free Kim’dael. Because of this, Karim, Pharos, and Kim’dael escape while Amaya liberates Janai from the former three’s captivity.
When Rayla is about to be fed to the Sea Leviathan, Callum frees himself with Dark Magic and saves his girlfriend with Sky Magic. He turns his attention to attacking Finnegrin with lightning until the latter uses Ocean Magic to freeze Callum’s blood veins. Callum overcomes the Ocean Magic by using Ocean Magic to negate the freezing spell Finnegrin inflicted on him. Finnegrin is shocked and orders Elmer to kill Callum and later Soren until the latter convinces Elmer to rebel against his evil captain. Elmer then commits mutiny against Finnegrin and throws his captain into the sea, where the Sea Levithan devours Finnegrin. With Finnegrin’s death, Elmer and the crew of Sea Legs are free from their captain’s dark reign. The episode ends with Sea Legs and the Ruthless arriving at the Sea of the Castout, Nyx returning, and Callum embracing Rayla after a long night of Finnegrin torturing him physically and mentally.
Statues of Aaravos and the Merciful One
In Season 5 of The Dragon Prince, the eighth episode is magnificent. The heroes triumph over the villains after their defeats in the previous episode. Amaya frees Janai from Karim, Pharos, and Kim’dael while Team Zym defeats Finnegrin and liberates Sea Legs’ crew from the Tidebound Elf’s control. However, there is confusion regarding how Finnegrin controlled Elmer and his crew in the first place unless the Ocean Magic the captain performed was a mere glimpse of his full strength as a Tidebound Elf Mage.
The episode also introduces the Sea of the Castout and its entrance with two giant statues depicting a sorrowful Aaravos being offered a gesture of mercy from a Startouch Elf called the Merciful One. In a Twitter post, Aaron Ehasz answered fans’ questions that the Merciful One is not the Startouch Elf Laurelion and that they are a non-binary Startouch Elf whom Aaravos had known some millennia ago. The humans or elves likely constructed the statues sometime after the Startouch Elves banished Aaravos to Xadia, as seen in The Dragon Prince Short Story: “Ripples.” It is unknown why Aaravos was exiled to Xadia by his kin since the banishment sparked his desire to destroy the Startouch Elves.
Rating: 9/10