"Aww Raven, come on! Why can't you just have fun like normal people?"
—Beast Boy
Raven is isolating herself from the other Titans, feeling that no one understands her and that they only regard her as being "creepy". Then one day one of the ancient books she is reading suddenly speaks to her, calling itself Malchior. He appears to understand her and encourages her to not feel down about being different, making her happier and more cheerful. She decides to break the curse which binds him to the book. Unfortunately, Malchior is not as honest as he professes to be.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: Prior to The Reveal, it at first seemed to hint that the story was wrong with the wizard being evil while the dragon was good. Turns out that Malchior merely changed the text names, and that he was the dragon all along.
- Beam-O-War: The climax have Raven's dark energy beam against Malchior's fire, pushing each other. When it seems like there isn't a victor, they stop firing and battle hand-to-hand instead.
- Bifurcated Weapon: Robin's birdarang sword, which is made by combining two birdarangs together.
- Big Bad Friend: Malchior.
- Big Damn Hug: After Malchior is resealed, Beast Boy give the heartbroken Raven a sincere You Are Not Alone speech, to which Raven responds by wordlessly opening her door and wrapping her arms around him in a very heartfelt hug, leaving BB at a loss for words.
- Big "NO!": Raven, when she realizes that Malchior tricked her:Raven: You changed it. Malchior wasn't the wizard, he was the...! (Leaps at the book in attempt to stop the ritual) NO!
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Malchior pretends to be the good wizard, even showing off a dry wit and charming façade, when he's actually the evil dragon.
- Dark Is Not Evil: When Raven accuses Malchior of teaching her "dark magic", Malchior insists the spells he taught her were Not Evil, Just Misunderstood. Turns out, he was lying.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: This episode feels subtly like a look into on-line predation, albeit dressed up with fantasy elements. An older person (Malchior the Dragon) pretending to be someone else (a noble wizard) tries to get a lonely, younger target (Raven) to give him something he wants (his freedom from the spellbook).
- Evil Mentor: Malchior uses Raven's desire to help him to teach her dark magic.
- Foreshadowing: Much of Malchior's actions prior to the reveal that he's not the charming wizard Raven thinks he is.
- Malchior makes a joke at Beast Boy's expense, earning a laugh from Raven. He also shows a portrait of her in a flattering light and calls her beautiful. While this could be seen as him being charming, the fact that he says the very things that help her feel better points to careful manipulation.
- When Raven asks Malchior if he thinks she's creepy, he says she's not. Saying that she's dark but darkness is often misunderstood while saying that he understands her. This paints to him being a darker person than she thinks he is.
- Genre Blindness: Raven doesn't notice the nominal symbolism of Rorek and Malchior.
- Good Costume Switch: Raven's white outfit switches back to blue after sealing Malchior.
- Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: The spell that Raven uses to free Malchior and the curse that sends him back into the book are both in iambic heptameter.
- Gratuitous Latin:
- Heartbroken Badass: Raven, after realizing that Malchior was just using her to get his freedom.
- The Hero: Raven
- If You Can Read This: The text of the Malchior's Tome of Eldritch Lore is briefly visible in a few scenes. It appears to be written in Elder Futhark.
- Ironic Echo: When Malchior is comforting Raven that he doesn't think she's creepy, he frames that darkness is often misunderstood. Later, when Raven tries to call him out for underhandedly teaching her dark magic, he recalls "Is it 'dark', or is it misunderstood, like you?" This comes across as manipulative, as though cluing in the audience that Malchior is trying to gloss over something evil as "misunderstood".
- Just in Time: Raven sealing Malchior, who was about to crush her with his fist.
- The Lancer: Beast Boy
- Leaking Can of Evil: Malchior's Tome of Eldritch Lore doesn't prevent him from communicating with Raven.
- Light Is Not Good: The power Malchior bestows upon Raven through his teachings turns her normally blue cloak white. She realizes something is wrong when she can't control this power in a fight.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Malchior's name is derived from the Latin root for "malice".
- Oh, Crap!: Malchior has this reaction just before Raven seals him back inside the book.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for Laughs. After Beast Boy's You Are Not Alone speech to Raven, she comes out of her room and gives him a hug, something so out of character for her, that he's completely shocked and speechless.
- Poor Communication Kills: If Raven had just explained to the other Titans that she wanted some time alone to finish her book, she probably wouldn't have kept getting interrupted and could have learned who sealed whom before things got out of hand.
- Power Incontinence: Raven is unable to control her new magic during a fight, and almost harms a child.
- Running Gag: While listening to Malchior's story, Raven is interrupted several times by the other Titans, which results in the story pausing as if it were a tape.
- Stopped Reading Too Soon: Because Raven didn't get past the part in the story where the wizard used the ancient book against the dragon, she doesn't learn who really got trapped in it until it was too late.
- Tome of Eldritch Lore: The book Malchior is trapped in.
- Unseen Pen Pal: Raven falls in love with Malchior, an Evil Mentor trapped in a Tome of Eldritch Lore. He uses her introversion, loneliness, and annoyance over her goofball teammates to sway her into learning the spell necessary to release him. Malchior also managed to swap his name with the hero's name (who sealed him inside the book to begin with) so Raven wouldn't deduce anything wrong until she finished casting the spell.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While they simply wanted to hang out with Raven, the other Titans' constant interrupting Raven's reading stops her from reading just who got sealed in the book, allowing Malchior to trick her into thinking the wizard was the one sealed away, and that he was the wizard.
- You Are Not Alone:Beast Boy: "Okay. Fine. You're way creepy. But that doesn't mean you have to stay locked in your room. You think you're alone, Raven. But you're not."
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once Malchior is freed from the curse by Raven, he tells he doesn't need her. Luckily, Raven has learned the same curse that Rorek used to seal Malchior in the book, and uses it to banish him once again.
