I keep seeing people not understanding why Ezran had such beef with Runaan when he forgave Zubeia and that it was bad writing but I think it makes a whole lot of sense, though it definitely could have been better written.
Like at the start of season 7, Ezran had just (at least I think he just got there? My memory is horrid, my apologies. Correct me if I’m wrong on anything in the timeline :) ) arrived to his kingdom that has been burnt down by a dragon (potentially causing more wariness around dragons and humans getting along even though Ezran has tried so hard to get people on board with the idea) with most, if not all of his DECEASED father’s and mother’s stuff they still had having been burned with them including the building where he grew up with his family and made those memories with them burned downed, having to process that and plan how to move forward when suddenly his father’s killer had just walked in with his own brother and friend trying to say it was fine when he clearly couldn’t think right with so many emotions.
And then Callum’s point about how Ezran forgave Zubeia even though she called the order to kill Harrow because thing’s were complicated is a good point but we have to remember that Ezran is a king now, with much more weight on his shoulders who had thought that it wasn’t very complicated this time because as far as he was aware, Aaravos’ prison was with the Celestial Elves and there wasn’t going to be a world threatening conflict that would cause things to be complicated. Besides he’s swamped with the duties of being king, I doubt he had enough time to FULLY process his grief for his father when he was so busy.
Had Rayla not broke Runaan out, I’m sure Ezran would’ve eventually let Runaan go (as seen in the last episode of s7) when he manages to clear his head because, Callum’s right, he forgave the dragon who literally gave the order, or at the very least give him a shorter punishment because of how long Runaan had been trapped in that coin.
I think the most important thing about it though is that Ezran is still just a kid. A kid who’s going to make mistakes and let his emotions take over solid logic and reasoning, especially when he’s dealing with the destruction of his kingdom.
"How does Aaravos care about Claudia when he’s manipulating her?" The thing is that Aaravos, for as much as he clearly does care about her and views her like a daughter, is way too blinded in his revenge for Leola to not continue having Claudia as his pawn in his grand scheme of things like he does care for her but his vengeance for Leola will always be his topmost priority.
Aaravos has even said that Claudia is his only light in this world and I do think that since he was trapped in a mirror for THREE CENTURIES without anyone nor knowing when anyone would come and find him plus his clear longing for wanting his daughter back plus the fact that everyone else hates him and fears him would make him desperate enough to the point that he literally drove Terry away from Claudia to make her dependent on him so she– really the only person he has left– wouldn’t leave both because he’s genuinely attached to her and because she’s an important pawn besides it’s clear that the father daughter dynamic had caught him by surprise/wasn’t planned and you can tell from the early seasons that she was always meant to be a pawn that he can’t afford to lose.
I was pondering a lot recently on why arc one Aaravos and arc two Aaravos had such different vibes (disregarding the fact that we as the viewers have tended to view him with more sympathy and pity since his backstory dropped because that can tend to make us think vibes have changed when it’s just our point of view that’s changed) and it literally just hit me. The entire point is that the vibes ARE different because Aaravos is focused on manipulating a whole new person in arc two.
In arc one Aaravos is manipulating Viren, a man who wants power. In this case, Aaravos doesn’t have to rely too much on trust (even stating that Viren shouldn’t trust him just yet at the very beginning) and needs to focus more on showing the power he has and the power he has to offer. And because of that, we see him as a very graceful and powerful man, someone who exudes extreme mystery because why wouldn’t he when there’s no reason to tell a man who doesn’t trust him anything super important/personal about himself and therefore we, as the viewers who know as much as Viren does, also view him the same way as Viren: a powerful Startouch archmage who’s knowledge is extreme and is immensely shrouded in mystery.
And because Viren doesn’t require a whole lot of trust for Aaravos to manipulate him, they never actually form a friendly bond together that’s more than just a few jokes and respect and you can tell that Viren doesn’t hold much of an emotional bond towards him at all when he gets annoyed at the "has our relationship truly escalated to this new height?” line because Viren does not feel that their relationship is more than acquaintanceship with how little trust is required amongst them.
But in arc two however, Aaravos is manipulating Claudia, an entirely different person who is so love-driven (and therefore so much more emotion-driven than Viren was) and has been alone (her dad dying and being dead for two years, assuming Claudia didn’t meet Terry till around the like one year of Viren being dead mark) for so long that Aaravos needs to rely on trust and emotional bonds more than just power (although that’s important too because he got introduced to her when Viren died) to manipulate her. And because of that, he has been so much more 'soft' and caring towards her that we no longer just see the all powerful and mysterious archmage, we see a man who has formed a bond with Claudia that goes past acquaintanceship that we never got to see with him and Viren.
That’s what made everything click for me, because I had asked myself 'why would Aaravos tell Claudia his backstory and not Viren when they have so many similarities with them both being fathers who would do anything for their kid(s) and it would make Viren trust him more?' It’s because Viren and Aaravos’ relationship never relied too heavily on trust and emotions while Claudia and his did because she’s a character who is so loving that she can’t seek out power (subsequently not follow anything Aaravos had said during his manipulation) without it being for love.
So in arc one, we only see one side of Aaravos, one that’s powerful and mysterious. In arc two, we see another side of Aaravos, one that’s caring and can be trusted by Claudia. The only times we really see arc one Aaravos in arc two is his conversation with Viren, his talk with Ezran, and the final battle because he’s no longer with people who are so emotion and love driven.
I haven’t seen many people talk about how Aaravos had isolated Claudia from Terry (her really good and healthy boyfriend who was her emotional support system) to lowkey make her dependent on him
Like Aaravos not only was the one who convinced Claudia not to tell Terry the truth about the Garden of Innocence which led to their breakup even though Claudia had clearly wanted to tell him and would’ve had Aaravos not interfered but he also told Terry about her not telling him (leaving out the fact that he TOLD HER not to) so he WOULD leave because he knew Terry wouldn’t have wanted that situation for him or Claudia even though Aaravos did not need to tell him for any other reason other then getting him to leave