Every so often, Netflix graces us with an animated series that blows its contemporaries out of the water. And somehow these incredible shows and films seem to fly under the radar, rarely getting the praise they deserve from mainstream audiences. We’ve had She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Arcane, Castlevania, and Blue Eyed Samurai, just to name a few. But two years later, there’s one show that never got the flowers it deserved.
The Dragon Prince ran for a whopping seven seasons, which is shocking considering Netflix’s bad habit of cancelling even their most beloved shows. Set in the fictional world of Xadia, it was a sprawling fantasy that blended magic, mythos, and relatability in seamless fashion. The Dragon Prince centers around the war taking place between the land of Xadia and the Human Kingdoms after dark magic was created by a group of rogue mages. Before the mages created their own power, magic was known to come from only six primal sources: the sun, moon, stars, sky, earth, and ocean. Now, the mages are capturing and harvesting magical components from Xadia, and a seemingly endless war wages on. Three kids from opposite sides of the war—two princes and the elven assassin sent to kill them—discover the secret that could end the conflict, potentially saving everything that they love in the process. It’s a series that feels incredibly timely, tackling issues that are very real, even as they’re set against a fantastical backdrop.
Magic And Adventure Helped Propel Incredible Character Development
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There’s a reason that this show still sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes: the character and story development came first in The Dragon Prince, something that most current television shies away from as they attempt to rush from start to finish in a mad dash to tell their story before the increasingly likely cancellation happens. But, despite all of the action happening, this series took its time, allowing viewers to become genuinely invested in each new character introduced, which served the story at large in ways that no full-scale battle could. Much like Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Dragon Prince has something for everyone, and feels relatable in a way that few shows can ever hope to match, as well as a core message that most current fantasy series would abandon in favor of grim dark and gritty realism: hope is what we make it, and that hope is the thing that will save us from despair.
It’s also something that so many shows have abandoned: unabashedly fun. The animation and voice acting lend themselves perfectly to The Dragon Prince’s inherent whimsy, further helping to bring the story to life in a way that feels wholly unique. The plot itself, a war between magical creatures and humans, is one as old as time, but there’s something fresh about the way the story is told this time—something that can be deeply attributed to the joy that the creators brought to each scene.
There’s A Reason Its Core Fan Base Loves It So Deeply
The Dragon Prince is what it is, and it doesn’t try to be something else. It’s hopeful, it’s full of love and whimsy, and it brings to the forefront of its storytelling the notion that fighting for those things is important, but that we cannot fight our way out of every problem, or we will inevitably lose our humanity in the process. One character tells his queen, “We kill one monster to save 100,000 people.” She responds to this statement with, “Is it intelligent? Does it think? Does it feel? Does it have a family? You said you want to build a better world, to really change things. That’s going to take decades of work. There’s no monster you can slay and solve all your problems. There’s no shortcut.” It’s a statement that provides a very powerful message for a series often summed up as just a kid-friendly cartoon, and it swiftly and deftly cuts away the critique that fantasy is simply an escape.
The seventh and final season of The Dragon Prince has officially debuted on Netflix, where each season of the show can be found. And, while Netflix chose not to renew the series after its final season, a Kickstarter from the series’ creators to bring the sequel, The Dragon King, to life, is currently making the rounds and has already made enough funds to, hopefully, see the continuation of this surprisingly deep and nuanced story, rife with beautiful animation and a heartfelt message.
Did you enjoy The Dragon Prince? Let us know your favorite moments from the series in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the ComicBook forum to see what other fans are saying.
