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| “ | My whole life I've been chasing after things I didn't have. Influence. Status. Power. Now that I'm here and I may have 30 days left...Do I really want to spend all those days...chasing? Maybe I should stop and appreciate what I do have: a month of life. Living each day to the fullest. Watching beautiful sunsets together. Laughing and enjoying every moment with my daughter, who is the most special person I have ever known. We could travel the countryside and try the seven cakes of Xadia. I've spent my whole life striving to become someone different. Maybe it's time to accept that I am who I am, for the days I have remaining. And when I reach the end I will be at peace. And it will just be my time to let go. | „ |
| ~ Viren admitted what he truly wanted in life and expressed to let go of his ambitions. |
| “ | I always seem to capture the same expression defiance, giving away to absolute fear. | „ |
| ~ Viren talking to a horrified Gren about Runaan's expressions after being trapped in a cursed coin. |
| “ | Opeli: Viren, you are not above the law! Viren: I'm afraid you have misjudged the situation terribly. I am...the law. |
„ |
| ~ Viren to Opeli as he crowns himself the king of Katolis. |
Lord Viren, also known simply as Viren, is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside his daughter Claudia) of Netflix‘s The Dragon Prince franchise.
He is the High Mage of Katolis, an adviser of King Harrow, and a master of dark magic who has vision for the future of humanity by ridding the world of Xadia. He's also the father of Claudia and Soren, as well as the latter and Rayla's archenemy.
He is voiced by Jason Simpson.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
In General[]
- Even before being further corrupted by dark magic, he was already an extremist who would do anything to achieve his goals, as he went to kill a Magma Titan despite knowing it was a sentient creature and suggested to Harrow that they should leave their wounded soldiers (including Amaya, who was not only Harrow's sister-in-law, but also one of Viren's closest friends) behind so they could get out of Xadia quicker.
- He grew to have a hobby of imprisoning elves in cursed coins, which is portrayed as a fate worse than death.
- He was emotionally abusive towards his son Soren, seeing him as an annoyance and a disappointment and if Aaravos' taunt towards Soren was right, Viren wished he had never been born.
- While he does treat his daughter Claudia much better, Viren is still not above gaslighting her to convince her that he's doing the right thing for humanity, which lead to her path to villainy, something Viren himself would later note.
- His emotional abuse towards Soren is actually what lead to him starting to pick up on Callum, as he envied the fact he had a healthy relationship with his step-father in comparison to the toxic one Soren had with Viren.
- Despite seemingly believing that he was doing things for the good of humanity, it's made clear that Viren was only using it as an excuse for his hunger for power, with Aaravos even calling him out on it. Viren himself even admits that he was only interested in power and respect before he was revived, subverting any chance of him being a well intentioned extremist.
- While he has few comedic moments whenever it comes to his children Claudia and Soren, none of them are actually played for laughs and his actions are still taken seriously.
Background[]
- For refusing to help Soren with his illness, he betrayed his mentor Kpp'Ar by stealing his relic staff and later trapped him in a cursed coin when he threatened him.
- He pushed his former wife Lissa to a wall and forced her to cry so he could use her tears as an ingridient to heal Soren's sickness, which lead to her realizing how far Viren went and leaving him.
- While he tried to save Annika and Neha for no pragmatic reasons in the past, he seems to have lost any care for them in the present, as he uses the memory he had of them to manipulate their daughter Aanya into waging war on Xadia.
- After becoming a dark mage, he killed many creatures to make his spells. One of the biggest example is his murder of Xadian butterflies to maintain his physical appearance and to get rid of the affects of dark magic.
- Has a dungeon where he experiments on creatures for dark magic.
- In order to get revenge on Avizandum, he manipulated Harrow into going to Xadia to kill him by fueling his deep desire for revenge against Avizandum for killing his wife Sarai.
- Understanding that Avizandum left the Xadian border to protect his egg, he went to the Storm Spire to kill it, even taking sadistic delight of bringing an end to a "mighty" dynasty of dragons, and only didn't kill it because Tiadrin convinced him that he could use it for dark magic in order to save him.
- When Viren was going to destroy the egg, Viren gave Lain back his voice so he and Tiadrin could watch as he did the act.
- He trapped the souls of Tiadrin and Lain in cursed coins, which would caused her tribe to turn them into "ghosts" and make them invisible in the tribe's eyes because they thought they abandoned their duty, not knowing about their fate.
- This made Rayla believe that her parents were cowards who abandoned her and were a disgrace to her name, which almost lead to her trying to get herself killed by fighting Viren's army at the Storm Spire to be remembered as a martyr until she found out about her parents' true fate.
- He stole the egg of Azymondias, the Dragon Prince, to use it for dark magic. This would lead to Azymondias' mother Zubeia, who was devastated by the deaths of her mate and (seemingly) her son, to send Moonshadow assassins to try to kill Harrow and Ezran, leading to the show's events.
- Overall, his actions are the reason why Xadia and the Human Kingdoms were near waging war on each other at the start of the series.
Book One: Moon[]
- He initially was going to have a guard sacrifice their lives in order to save Harrow's, but was incapable of doing it himself. While he later tried to do it, it was already too late as Harrow did not trust him anymore.
- When Callum threatened to tell Harrow about stealing the egg of the Dragon Prince, Viren stole his voice, although Callum was able to get it back. He would then taunt Callum for him being a bastard son and called him spoiled and weak for thinking he could stop Viren.
- He disrespected the laws of Katolis by making Harrow's funeral as quick as possible so he could be crowned king and immediately try to wage war on Xadia, although this initially fails thanks to Amaya.
- He imprisoned Gren in his dungeon so Soren and Claudia would lead the investigation to find the princes and get the egg of Azymondias.
- He told Soren to kill the princes, which would later lead to Soren questioning his actions and even being happy when it seemed that he won't be able to walk again, as he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.
- When Claudia asked him if she was ever in a situation that she would have to choose between Soren and the egg of the Dragon Prince, Viren told her to choose the egg.
- He coldly ignored Gren when he asked Viren for some of the Xadian fruit he had at the time.
- After capturing Runaan, he imprisoned him in his dungeon, and after he refused to tell him about Aaravos' mirror, Viren put Runaan's soul in a cursed coin, and then sadistically remarked to a horrified Gren that he always captured a moment of agony in his cursed coins.
Book Two: Sky[]
- He stole the king's seal from Harrow's bedroom, and later threatened to kill the Crow Master if he didn't send his messages with the seal, so he could talk with the other monarchs of the Human Kingdoms.
- During the meeting with the other monarchs of the Human Kingdoms, Viren tried to convince them to help him wage war on Xadia, and when Queen Aanya refused, Viren used the memory of her late mothers to manipulate her into joining his cause.
- Thankfully, Aanya doesn't fall to his deception and is able to convince the other leaders to not do it as well.
- After failing to sway the other rulers into waging war against Xadia, and at the urging of Aaravos, he creates smoke elf assassins and sends them to assassinate them to instill terror in the human kingdoms. Queen Fareeda and King Floring are killed while King Ahling is severely injured.
- This would also make him responsible for Kasef’s corruption, as it was Ahling’s near death experience that led him to want to wage war on Xadia out of revenge on the elves who he mistakenly blamed for the attempted murder.
- When Opeli sent soldiers to arrest Viren for his crimes, Viren, with the help of Aaravos, killed several of them, and only didn't kill more because Aaravos calmed him down in order for Aaravos' plan to work.
Book Three: Sun[]
- Under Aaravos' suggestions, he gaslighted Claudia into believing that he didn't tell Soren to kill the princes and side with him over her brother.
- After getting released from his cell, he callously mocked Ezran by sarcastically apologized for letting this happen when he's giving himself up, which Ezran knew he didn't.
- By taking the throne and conquered Katolis, he waged war on Xadia, and while he did allow all the people who did not want to fight in the war to go back to their homes and families, as per Ezran's last request, he only did it to make the remaining force more loyal.
- As such, he humiliated them in front of everyone, purposely taking Ezran's intent and twisting it, and called them cowards for not wanting to fight in front of a large crowd of people.
- In order to get into the Storm Spire, Viren tried to convince the Sunfire Elf Queen Khessa to allow his army to pass through Lux Aurea, and after she send him to the Sunforge so the dark magic within Viren would be removed, Viren released Aaravos, who killed several of her guards, corrupted the Sunforge, and burned Khessa alive.
- Tie-in-material such as the short story After Darkness and the tabletop game Tales of Xadia reveal that countless people were killed because of the Sunforge's corruption, and, at one point, the Sunforge became so unstable that it threatened to destroy the whole continent, which would have happened had it not been for a group of heroes who were able to minimize the impact so the destruction caused by the Sunforge would only be limited to Lux Aurea, which was already abandoned at that point (although, given Viren's goals, he was likely not aware of how the Sunforge could put all the continent in danger).
- After getting the power of the Sunforge, he tried to turn Soren into a sunfire monster, and when he refused, he decided to do it to Kasef and the rest of his army, the latter of which unwillingly. This would cause Soren to leave Viren's side and decide to help Team Zym and the elves fight against his father's army.
- It's revealed in Tales of Xadia that a human captain named Ekkers defected from Viren's side after he saw his allies being turned into Sunfire monster.
- He attacked the Storm Spire with his army, which lead to a battle that lead to the deaths of hundreds of humans and elves alike.
- He gaslighted his son yet again by creating an illusion of himself that Soren was forced to kill because the illusion was going to kill Ezran.
- Furthermore, this lead Soren to question what he did and was shocked that he killed his own father despite having no choice in the matter. Down the line, this lead him to think that he should have killed Viren due to how big of a threat he became during the events of "Through the Moon" comic.
- It's also revealed in the short story "Strangers" that Viren's "death" at Soren's hands still torment him even after 2 years, and he suffers from self-loathing and asks himself why he did it.
- He went to the top of the Storm Spire to try to drain the life force of Azymondias, and when Bait and Rayla tried to protect him, Viren threw Bait away with his staff and froze half of Rayla's body, telling the latter that after he was done with Azymondias, he would trap her spirit in a cursed coin.
- He took great joy/displayed sadism at slowly trying to remove Azymondias' life force.
Mystery of Aaravos[]
- His actions would cause Rayla to develop PTSD, and after finding out that Viren was alive, left Callum and her friends for two years so she could go after Viren and stop him from hurting anyone else, which caused Callum to be left heartbroken as result.
- Even after he was revived by Claudia and came to see the wrong in his actions, he was still initially rude to Terry, coldly telling him to "get a grip" after he started crying over having killed Ibis to save Claudia.
- While he was against it, he initially helps Claudia and Terry in trying to free Aaravos, despite knowing that Aaravos would likely cause horrible things to happen if released, and only stopped when it was already too late.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He has a tragic backstory of almost losing Soren when the latter was a child from an illness, and became so desperate to save him that he used dark magic, only for Soren to run away from him when he saw Viren's face corrupted by dark magic. His wife also left him for his use of dark magic to save their son, and all his attempts to reconnect with her failed. While it doesn't excuse everything he has done, it's made clear that all of this still affects him in the present.
- He cares for several people, those being his daughter Claudia, his ex-wife Lissa, his former best friend Harrow, Sarai, and his son Soren:
- With Claudia, while he does gaslight and manipulate her, it's made clear that he still loves her deeply, as he told Aaravos that she was his daughter after the former called her a valuable asset, and after being revived, he tells her that she is the most special person he has ever known. He aknowledged how he caused Claudia to go down a dark path and even tried to help her change for the better, only failing because he was killed by Aaravos so he could convince Claudia to help him escape from his prison.
- With Lissa, it's made clear in the novels that him breaking up with her still affects him to this day, and when he returns to Katolis after failing to convince the leaders of the other Human Kingdoms into waging war on Xadia, he expresses that he misses her and wished she was with him, with Viren briefly thinking Opeli's voice was that of Lissa and immediately looked behind him only to start thinking he was foolish when he saw who it was. In his confession to Soren, he admitted how much he loved Lissa and regretted hurting her to save him, and it's shown that a big reason why he started emotionally abusing and distancing himself from Soren is because he felt contempt towards him for believing he was the cause for Lissa leaving him.
- With Harrow, while he does manipulate and use him for his goals, as well as quickening his funeral so he could become king and stealing the king's seal from Harrow's bedroom, Viren still saw him as his brother, and tried to sacrifice himself to save him before he failed. It even took him some time to become emotionally prepared to steal his seal from Harrow's bedroom.
- The novelization of Book 1 even further proves this as in Viren's point of view, he believed that the moment when he told him that he was a servant of Katolis that it meant that he didn't care for him, and the novel says that his heart turned cold when Harrow told him to get on his knees. It's shown even further as it's mentioned that he was on a verge of tears when he told Amaya how he almost gave his life to save him.
- This is fully cemented in Book 5, where he hugs Harrow in his hallucinations and tells him that he always saw him as family. It's also revealed in Book 7 that Harrow had his soul transfered to Pip before the moonshadow assassins' attack, which means that Viren had saved his life despite all their previous issues.
- With Sarai, he felt saddened by her death, and went to kill Avizandum out of revenge for killing her. The novelizations also reveal he regretted causing her death and was filled with guilt when he saw a picture of Sarai with Harrow and their children.
- Despite all of the emotional abuse he put Soren through and him coldly telling Claudia to save the egg instead of him, it's revealed that deep down, Viren truly loved Soren, as when he was in a coma, he played with a child Soren, and when he turned into ash, Viren broke down and screamed that he would do anything to change it, and when he brought him back through dark magic, he was smiling with tears in his eyes. When he met Soren after two years, he helped him breathe after Soren suffered from a panic attack, and had difficulty talking to him because he knew what he did to him was wrong. Aaravos even admits that he knew Viren would be incapable of killing Soren, which is why he decided to try to bend the rules for Viren to stay alive. He was also willing to give his own life to stop Sol Regem from destroying the castle of Katolis then allow Soren to do it.
- He has sympathetic insecurities, as he wants people's approval and respect, even sometimes seeing himself as useless for not being able to get it.
- He is occasionally shown to have respect for others, mostly Gren and Terry, but also later revealed to have had it for his mentor Kpp'Ar as well. The former is shown by how he admired Gren's optimism when he was able to still be upbeat even after being imprisoned in his dungeon for weeks, and told Terry that his name was a strong one and respecting the fact that he chose it himself. With the latter, it is shown in the present by him complimenting him and feeling regret for putting him in a cursed coin.
- After being revived, he became extremely remorseful of his actions, starting to get a change of view and understanding that everything he did only lead to things getting worse, and tried to stop Claudia from trying to free Aaravos, as he wanted to live his last days alive with her and planned to accept his death. Unfortunately, Claudia slaps him for that idea, saying that she is not letting him go after spending years trying to revive him, and despite becoming okay with Claudia's plan, he still tried his best to not use dark magic, as he feared that he would get corrupted again.
- He has standards against killing people related to him by blood, as he refused to kill his children to save his life, even the Being, whom he had barely known until recently and had just found out they were related. When he discover that Claudia had just killed the Being in order to permanently revive him, he instantly became horrified of seeing what she has done.
- He redeems himself by abandoning his plan to free Aaravos so he could prolong his life span, and refused to kill the Being even when it would mean he would die in a few hours, telling Aaravos that he was done with dark magic and with him. After surviving his supposed final day and seeing what Claudia did to keep him alive, he goes to Katolis to face judgement for his crimes, and during this, reconsiles with Soren and nearly convinces Claudia to change for the better. He ends up sacrificing himself to save Katolis from Sol Regem, dying one last time as a "servant" and in peace.
- His death is played for sympathy as he gives his life while thinking of past memories with Lissa and their children, and his final words are him accepting himself as a servant of Katolis like Harrow wanted him to be. Claudia would later find his body and mourn him while begging him not to be dead as she still needed him.
Trivia[]
- According to lead writer Devon Giehl, Viren killed many of the members of the Dragonguard before getting to Tiadrin and Lain, which is why Hendyr was so afraid of Viren when he was approaching Avizandum's lair. If this was confirmed, it would make Viren worse.
External Links[]
- Lord Viren on the Villains Wiki.
- Lord Viren on the Dragon Prince Wiki.
- Lord Viren on the Heroes Wiki
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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