WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Raya and the Last Dragon, now playing in theaters and on Disney+.

Raya and the Last Dragon sets itself apart from other Disney films in several key ways, like by not having a true villain, but it also sneakily broke a major storytelling rule, and it paid off. At one point in the film, all of the characters, including Raya, are dead, and the malevolent force wins. Few films have been able to kill off all of the major characters on screen and gotten away with it successfully.

At the climatic scene, Raya, Namaari and friends use the orb fragments to ward off the encroaching Druun. As it becomes apparent that the only way to survive is to reassemble the orb, Raya must trust Namaari with her orb fragment; however, the rest of the group doesn't trust Namaari since she worked against them the entire film. To show Namaari and the group her faith, Raya gives Namaari her orb piece and allows herself to be turned to stone by the Druun. The rest of the group follow suit until Namaari is left with all of the orb pieces. She reassembles them and joins the huddle of stone allies, allowing herself to be crystallized in solidarity.

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 Raya and the Last Dragon

For a few seconds, everyone on screen is essentially dead -- or at least suspended in a fossilized state. The Druun have accomplished their blind mission of annihilation, as it can be assumed that most, if not all, of the kingdoms have been turned to stone as well with the expansive breadth of the Druun cloud. For a film based on hope, this is a pretty hopeless moment; however, the audience trusts this will resolve itself, and moments later the orb ignites and obliterates the Druun, bringing everyone back to life in the process.

Due to the fact that Raya and the Last Dragon is built on the importance of trust, hope and belief in the greater good, this type of climatic moment works. Namaari has deceived Raya multiple times, so a grand gesture to build back a bridge of trust is required, and there is no greater gesture than putting one's life in someone else's hands. The audience can feel the characters' hope, and they ascribe that hope to the conflict resolving itself, despite having no living heroes on screen.

Having all of the main characters, especially the protagonist, sacrifice themselves lets the theme of collectivity shine through with incredible poignance. Throughout the whole film, the five kingdoms worked in self-interest, but now representatives from each of the realms perform this last selfless act for the reunification of Kumandra.

Raya and the Last Dragon

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With Raya and the Last Dragon focusing on lofty ideals of collectivity, it's expected that the individuals be treated like agents of these larger forces. In this manner, Raya and the group can perish, but the dreams of trust and hope survive. These ideals become the characters of the story, and so these "characters" don't die when the Druun turn the agents of trust and hope into stone.

Temporarily killing all of the literal characters doesn't feel like a ploy or uneven part of the narrative. Instead, it feels like a natural length the story has to go to in order to resolve itself. For a film about grand ideals and epic consequences, there needs to be a big statement at the climax, and it is a risky move on the writers' part that pays off. Raya's sacrifice is the perfect depiction of hope that almost masks the fact that a children's movie really killed off all of its characters.

Directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada from a script by Paul Briggs and John Ripa, Raya and the Last Dragon stars Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran, Alan Tudyk, Lucille Soong, Patti Harrison and Ross Butler.

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