The Dragon Prince: Make friends, not enemies

When did I start noticing the differences between myself and people from other cultures? Depending on where you live, that answer will come sooner or later, but it always comes. This is especially true in melting pots of numerous cultures, such as Canada and the United States. Growing up in Canada, I was always surrounded by different ways of life. I had no other frame of reference, so everything different and new just seemed normal. Of course, I could see people who looked different from my family and me, but as a kid, I just thought it was interesting. Now imagine those melting pot countries didn’t exist, and every country in the world completely closed itself off. This brings us to the Netflix series The Dragon Prince.

(Across this border are spoilers to The Dragon Prince)

You’re probably sick of these intros I write, but I’m doing it anyway. The Dragon Prince is set in a fantasy world divided between humans and various fantasy species, including elves. The humans and fantasy races have been separated for centuries. A human king murdering The Dragon King, this set an assassination plot in motion. The story is about two human brothers, princes named Callum and Ezran, who team up with an elven assassin sent to kill them. The trio have to journey to the elven lands to return the son of The Dragon King and stop a world war between elves and humans from occurring.

Now that my obligatory movie or show background paragraph is done, let's get to the article. The Dragon Prince holds a special place in my heart. It was fun to watch, had great characters, and my family liked it too. The story also made me think a lot about my own past experiences with school, romance and friendship. When I was in elementary school, there were very few Caucasian kids. Since the other kids had more in common with each other, I didn’t have many friends. I spent most of my recess or lunch just walking around by myself. While it’s slightly depressing, the silver lining was that it gave me the chance to think.

I thought about myself, other people and whatever else came to mind. That’s probably where my creativity came from. I figured out that the other kids didn’t hang out with me because they didn’t like me, but because we didn’t understand each other. We came from different cultures with different standards and practices. I can see those same experiences reflected in The Dragon Prince. When the two princes, Callum and Ezran, met the elven assassin Rayla, the hostility between them wasn’t solely due to the assassination attempt. Rayla was taught to believe that all humans are evil people who only cheat, steal and kill while Callum and Ezran were taught to think all elves thought they were superior and wanted to enslave humans and control the world.

This was their first interaction with the other side, and it was under less-than-ideal circumstances. It’s a natural reaction, considering the psychological conditioning they’ve been put through their whole lives. Thankfully, both sides were forced to spend time together, so they could get to know the culture and people they had been taught to hate. After finding the egg of The Dragon King, The Dragon Prince Azymondias, the trio realized this could be the key to stopping a burgeoning war between humans and elves.

After their initial distaste, they went through many life-threatening as well as light-hearted moments. The moments I found hilarious were when Rayla had to disguise herself as a human and Callum disguised himself as an elf. Both their interpretations were outrageous, but still had some truth to them. To me, that's the ultimate sign of a great friendship between people from different countries and cultures. If you can poke fun at each other while maintaining some truth, you’ve made it. My best friend and I joke about this probably more often than we should, but we both enjoy it. He pokes fun at my European culture, and I poke fun at his Eastern culture. We both know which lines we can and can’t cross, and the respect is evident.

Another theme that resonates with me in this show is the romantic aspect between Callum and Rayla. Back in elementary school, my first crush was a girl of Asian descent. I never got up the courage to confess to her, but I always thought she was cool. Having feelings for someone with different cultural values can be tough. Callum and Rayla didn’t just have to deal with standard personal baggage that every couple goes through. They had to deal with the intergenerational hate and differences in values. However, they persevered because they believed what they had was worth fighting for. Instead of using all their energy to harm each other, they used to build each other up and fill in what the other is lacking.

Next, we’ll move on to an example from the show that completely encapsulates the title of this article, the bond between Ezran and Azymondias (Zym). Ezran’s father was the one who killed Zym's father; usually in fantasy stories, that's a destined blood feud. However, after the trio hatch Zym from his egg, the dragon and prince immediately form a family-like bond. Ezran protects Zym from danger like his own little brother, even though he’s only a child himself. It’s through that bond that the others start to believe that maybe there is hope for reconciliation between humans and the fantasy races. It’s great to make friends instead of enemies.

The later seasons of the show more solidify the need for the races to work together to stop an ancient enemy. This enemy, called Aaravos, was manipulating the different humans and the other fantasy races to escape his prison. A majority of the events that caused the divide between everyone were a result of his manipulations. A hatred that spanned centuries and killed an uncountable number of people. It was all for someone else to benefit and reach their goals.

Watching the show and learning about this made me think about the world we live in. I’m not saying there’s an evil entity that’s shaping world events for their selfish purposes. I just want everyone to give an honest thought to their past experiences confronting others. Why did the confrontation happen? What did you or the other party do to cause this? After asking these questions, there’s one more you may or may not need to ask yourself: Is there anyone who could have benefited from that confrontation? Who knows, you might make some interesting discoveries you would have never considered before.

In the end, the point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t make enemies for reasons that come from a lack of understanding or manipulation. It’s easy to jump to conclusions or just follow along with whatever other people tell you. Take everything with a grain of salt and make your own conclusions on things based on experience. You probably won’t get an adorable dragon that weirdly sounds like a dog, but you can forge meaningful connections. Remember, if you can take a minute to consider someone else's point of view, you’re already doing great.