WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Dragon Prince: Through the Moon, by Aaron Ehasz, Justin Richmond, Peter Wartman, Xanthe Bouma and Olga Andreyeva, on sale now.
With Netflix's hit original series The Dragon Prince renewed for four additional seasons to complete its epic story, fans will get to revisit the fantasy world of Xadia sooner rather than later. As production continues on the planned fourth season, the franchise has since expanded into the mediums of prose and comic books to expand upon and continue its epic story. While a prose novel released earlier this year revisited and provided further backstory to the events of the first season, the original graphic novel Through the Moon takes place after the Season 3 finale, charting new narrative territory for the series while subtly setting up its fourth season.
With the graphic novel's story developed by series creators Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond and confirmed as a canonical tale between seasons 3 and 4, the sweeping battle against the evil Lord Viren has seemingly come to an end as a tentative peace settles over Xadia. However, Rayla remains restless with the lingering suspicion that Viren may not actually be dead, with no sign of his body recovered from the final battle closing out Season 3. Determined to learn the truth and discover what happened to her parents, Rayla is accompanied by the newly crowned King Ezren and her boyfriend Callum to perform an ancient ritual and open the Moon Nexus, a mystical portal between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Even before the characters enter the Moon Nexus, the romantic relationship between Callum and Rayla begins to show its first signs of major fissures. While Rayla is emotionally distraught over the unknown fate of her parents and her missing mentor Runaan, Callum is shown to still harbor deep resentment over the Moonshadow Elves murdering his stepfather and plunging the kingdom into chaos. By the story's close, the couple apparently reconciles but, still obsessed with discovering the truth, Rayla leaves him and the kingdom behind to explore parts unknown. This is done while Callum is sound asleep and Season 4 will presumably begin with Rayla missing from the core ensemble as her investigation continues.
This decision to leave is fueled by what Rayla witnessed on the other side of the Moon Nexus: Rayla was unable to locate her parents of Runaan, leaving open the possibility that the three may actually be alive in a remote part of Xadia. While setting open the potential for a future appearance in the series, Rayla discovers something far more ominous through the Moon Nexus: A vision of Lord Viren himself. The Season 3 finale revealed Claudia used dark magic to resurrect her father while the sinister Aaravos, a Startouch Elf who had possessed Viren in the form of a worm, had entered a cocoon state. Within the Moon Nexus, Rayla saw Viren waking up inside of a crystallized cocoon himself, signaling his return to life.
With its main ensemble scattered and the possibility of major characters connected to Rayla making an appearance, including the return of Runaan, Through the Moon has set the stage for the cast to receive several major additions.
While the Season 3 finale already confirmed that Viren had been brought back to life, Rayla's vision suggests that Viren and Aaravos' connection has grown far deeper with both villains experiencing their own metamorphosis in a mysterious cocoon, with Viren's in the Moon Nexus while Aaravos has taken roost in Xadia itself.