Prince Karim makes a desperate gambit against his sister.
Tropes:
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Janai asks Amaya if they should simply elope and return to Katolis, thinking that Karim might provide better certainty for her people, Amaya has a question of her own: "What life do you want?"
- Call-Back:
- When introducing Amaya to her Twin-Tailed Inferno-Tooth Tigers, Janai playfully quips that Embertail thinks Aegis is cute but won't admit it yet — using Amaya's exact words to Callum regarding her at the end of Season 3.
- Claudia's ocarina-induced sleeping spell that she used in "Half Moon Lies" to try to incapacitate Rayla makes a comeback.
- Chekhov's Gift: The "Brown Sludge" Tart Barius the Baker made for Ezran is put to good use to get in Rex Igneous's good graces.
- Chekhov's Gun: The moon opal Callum collected at the Crystal Labyrinth comes in handy when Rayla needs a boost for her Moon-powered spell to disguise Zym.
- Dragon Hoard: Rex has a rather impressive collection of artifacts, weapons and treasures, which is unfortunate for our heroes since it means he's become very bored of such tributes. It takes Ez offering the earth dragon one of his new flavored tarts to finally appease him, as it provides Rex with an exciting new experience.
- Duel to the Death: Not wanting to risk losing any more of the traditions of the Sunfire elves, Karim reluctantly sets of this against his own sister, the current queen, for the right to rule. It is later revealed that this is a bluff because he knows Janai won't fight him and she already has reservations about remaining queen. Or so he thinks...
- Exact Words: Rex reveals that he has knowledge of the location of Aavaros' prison, but not the location itself. Callum realizes that he has a map of some sort that may find it. Rex is impressed Callum realizes this fact.
- False Dichotomy: Janai is convinced she has to choose between leading her people and being with Amaya, but as Amaya herself puts it, she can also "Just have two cakes" and forge her own path.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Played with. Due to having been in his cave for at least eighty years (and likely not leaving in about that time, let alone having many if any visitors actually reach him), Rex Igneous doesn't even know that Avizandum has been dead for three years until told.
- Forced Sleep: Claudia uses a magic tune in tandem with a Doppleganger Spin to put the heroes to sleep, even affecting Rex.
- Foreshadowing: Rex Igneous speaks of Avizandum in the present tense, rather than the past tense, hinting that he does not actually know his friend-turned-rival is dead sometime before he reveals his lack of information.
- Geeky Turn-On: Callum is noticeably smitten by the sight of Rayla casting an illusion spell. Though he tries to play it cool, Stella catches on to how impressed with her he is.
- Glamour Failure: The illusion spell that disguised Zym breaks after he gets tossed to the ground by Rex.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- As callously as he critiques the initial gifts, Rex Igneous is right in that each of them has absolutely no value to him whatsoever, being more about the gift giver (who he doesn’t even know personally) than he himself.
- Despite being given a unique gift worthy of a request, Rex refuses to give the kids the location of Aaravos's prison as it will only risk him escaping.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The looks of horror on Callum, Rayla, Zym, Bait, and Stella's faces when Ezran offers Rex Igneous a brown sludge tart as a gift are priceless. Callum is so freaked out he immediately does a Security Cling with Rayla, and Bait faints dead away on Zym's back when Ezran tosses the tart into Rex's mouth.
- Mouth Cam: We see Ez throw a tart into Rex's mouth from inside the dragon's mouth.
- Palm Bloodletting: Karim cuts his palm and uses the blood drips to draw up the blood-and-ash challenge paper for his sister.
- Security Cling: A scared Callum clutches Rayla when his brother does the unthinkable and offers Rex a simple baked treat.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Rex begins to mock Zym's dad because he believes the great Dragon King would be too cowardly to meet himself, instead meeting the prince. He finally shuts up when Ezran reveals that Avizandum was murdered, revealing that Rex was oblivious to the news until now. Rex then expresses his sympathy and assessed that Aaravos may have something to do with his rival's death.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Rex Igneous notes that Ezran is the spitting image of his ancestor, the Orphan Queen.
- This Is the Part Where...: Callum uses the line "This is the part where we run." to convince his brother to leave Rex's dragon lair. Ezran opposes and goes on to win over the dragon with a brown sludge tart.
- We Used to Be Friends: Rex reveals that he and Avizandum were friends before they turned rivals.
