With Viren's glowing army closing in on the Storm Spire, Rayla, Callum and friends must decide whether to flee to safety or stay and fight.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: When asked to teach him the wing spell after showing his magical prowess, Ibis tells Callum to Get Out!. However, it's not out of malice. Ibis is advising him and his friends to take Zym with them in case Viren's army is indeed a serious threat.
- Batman Gambit: When Tiandrin realizes that Viren covets power, she plays that desire to convince him that Zym's egg could become a powerful weapon for him as a reason to spare the Dragon Prince. While her husband is shocked at her actions, Tiandra's words save Zym for the time being and, as the rest of the series shows, pays off for the best.
- Bilingual Bonus: Amaya's signing to Callum is not interpreted. It says, roughly, Janai thinks she is cute but won't admit it.
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: It looks like Rayla and Callum will have one of these after Rayla tries to send Callum on ahead while she stays back and dies. In the end it is averted; the two end up having a pretty serious argument but there's no real question of them staying together.
- Call-Back:
- When Soren recognizes Pyrrah, he asks if she's "Come to finish me off?", referencing how she crippled Soren when they fought in "Fire and Fury".
- When Claudia first told Callum and Ezran about why Viren had taken the egg, she said it was a "powerful weapon." As it turns out, those were Tiandrin's exact words when she convinced Viren not to destroy the egg: "It could be a powerful weapon."
- Chekhov's Gun: Callum uses the Moon Opal Ethari gave Rayla (who then gave it to him) as a single-use Primal Stone to cast a spell that reveals what really happened the day Zym's egg was stolen.
- Darkest Hour: Things are more desperate for the heroes in this episode than any other: Zubeia is unconscious, even Ezran's ability to communicate the presence of her son can't wake her up, and an army of monsters is coming for the Dragon Prince, with just three humans and and elf standing in the way. Nonetheless, Soren insists that "it may seem hopeless, but our only chance is to fight him here, where we're all together."
- Dirty Coward: Rayla had always thought her parents abandoned their duties as Dragongaurd. Instead, it is revealed that they chose to stay and remain Defiant to the End while the rest turned tail and ran after Avizandum was felled.
- Special mention goes to the Skywing elf who tells Rayla's parents that staying to defend the egg is a fools errand and balks at the idea of taking the egg with him since he doesn't want to paint a target on his back.
- Dramatic Irony: Rayla's parents were dishonored because it was believed they abandoned their posts in the Dragonguard and allowed Zym's egg to be smashed. As the flashback shows Rayla's parents were the only members of the Dragonguard who didn't run away.
- A Fate Worse Than Death: Viren agrees to spare the dragon egg for his own purposes and decides to "thank" Rayla's parents for the idea. It's never established that he killed them, nor did he leave any evidence of their deaths.
- Foreshadowing: While Callum doesn't get to learn any martial-artsy spells that Rayla mentions (like "tornado punch" and "lightning lash"), her comment is a strong implication as to what kind of spells he will learn in the future.
- Gigantic Moon: The full moon behind the Storm Spire in the final shot of the episode is enormous.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Amaya, Janai and the remainder of the Sunfire elves arrive to aid the heroes in the upcoming battle with Virin. Ibis and Ezran then go forth in order to gather more allies for the Final Battle.
- Guile Hero: Tiandra shows this when she and her husband have lost. She quickly assesses Viren wants power and plays that card to get him to take the Dragon Prince's egg and not destroy it by saying it would be a powerful weapon to him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the past, Rayla's parents insisted on guarding the dragon egg to the bitter end, as opposed to the Dragon Guard who deserted. Even though Viren curbstomped them, her mother said the egg was more valuable alive as a weapon. It's implied that Viren as a "reward" for the information trapped them into coins.
- Hidden Depths: Soren's speech demonstrates that his defection wasn't a spur of the moment decision, but has actually realized that his dad is evil and that it's his moral imperative to stop him.
- Honor Before Reason: Callum calls Rayla out for her irrational idea to leave everyone behind and await Viren alone.Callum: You're going to stay here and die out of pride?Rayla: It's not pride, Callum! It's more than that. It goes deeper.Callum: Oh? Do you have a nicer word for it? Honor? Redemption? It's just pride!
- Irony: Viren has been shown to be a Manipulative Bastard, stringing people for his own ends. Interestingly, the flashback here shows that Rayla's parents manipulated Viren into sparing the egg.
- Last Kiss: Averted. The kiss Rayla shares with Callum after she says her goodbye to him was intended to be one from her to him, fortunately for the both of them, Callum uncovering the truth about her parents made sure it wouldn't be.
- Mistaken for Afterlife: When Soren awakes at the top of the Storm Spire after collapsing on the way, he assumes he's in the afterlife.
- Never Found the Body: The reason why everybody thought that Rayla's parents had abandoned the dragon's egg: Nobody saw what really happened to them, and Viren left no evidence.
- Pseudo-Crisis: The previous episode ended with the reveal that Zym's mother has died. This episode starts with Ibis clarifying that she has recently fallen into a deep sleep, overwhelmed with months of grief after losing her mate and son.
- The Reveal: Rayla's parents did NOT abandon their post; in fact, not only were they the only Dragonguard who stayed, they're the sole reason why Zym's egg was spared at all due solely to Rayla's mother's quick thinking.
- Rousing Speech: Soren tells the group that no matter where they run to, Viren will keep coming, so they might as well face him on the ground of their choosing.Soren: The only way to stop this is to look evil in the face and say no more.
- Ship Tease: Janai blushes while denying that she sees Amaya as a friend. Amaya's rather cheeky response (that Janai thinks she's cute, she just won't admit it yet) hints that it's mutual.
- Stunned Silence: Ibis can only stare in wide eyed shock at seeing Callum perform Sky Arcanum, the look on face screaming "What just happened?".
- Traveling at the Speed of Plot: It takes Soren a bit more than two episodes on a horseback to race from the Breach to the Storm Spire, a distance that took Callum and Rayla the entire season.
- Potentially justified by the fact that Rayla and Callum's path (The Moonstone Path > Silvergrove > Midnight Desert > Storm Spire) is longer and more winding than Soren's path (The Breach > Lux Aurea > Storm Spire).
- Villain with Good Publicity: Soren states that this is what makes Viren so dangerous, his charisma and commanding presence make people believe in what he is saying and trust that he is doing everything for the betterment of mankind, even if he tells them to commit atrocities. Soren notes that if they don't stop Viren now he will just get more powerful and nobody will be safe from him.
- "You!" Exclamation: Soren's reaction on encountering Pyrrah who he fought back in season 2.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Attempted by Tiandrin and Lain after their fellow guardsmen flee before Viren reaches them. They fail to stop Viren, but Tiandrin's quick thinking is able to at least save Zym.
