Media Essays: Callum vs. Ruby: The Ordinary Child

Written by The Wandering Fox

The Wandering Fox wanders out of a bar wearing a Rayllum t-shirt with his voice ever happy.

Wandering Fox: Yes! They’re together again, yes!

He then looks up and gasps.

Wandering Fox: Oh, sorry everybody, just celebrating my favourite couple being back together! Though its not just them I’ve been thinking about, no! I’ve been thinking of Callum. You know how much I love him as a character. I think he’s so well done in how he went from a nobody to a somebody, but that got me thinking. This season revealed a bit more of him and I found myself realising how he easily fits the Ordinary Kid character you have in a story. I thought id do an essay of why exactly dear old Callum works but Ruby doesn’t. Ruby Sunday just to be precise.

Well, get your red scarfs wrapped around ya, cos this is gonna be a interesting topic.

Lets begin with exactly who are these characters?

Prince Callum is what he is, Prince Callum of Katolis, son of Sarai and Damian, adopted son of King Harrow, Human Primal Mage, the lover of Rayla the Moonshadow elf, and the brother of King Ezran.

Ruby Sunday is the companion of the Doctor, left at the church on Ruby Road, adopted by Carla Sunday, a quick thinker, skilled music player, cares for those who were abandoned.

Okay, those sound basic, lets go into a bit more detail.

Callum you would think has nothing on Ruby in anything by simply being royalty, though look at what I said. He’s adopted into the royal family. So, he has that in common with Ruby, both are adopted. Both lost their parents at a young age; both have devotion to children. Then their lives change just one day and end up thrown into a whole new life. There's lots of similarities there, but what is the one thing they have in common?

They’re both ordinary.

Well, almost. As I said, you wouldn’t think Callum was simply because he’s a prince. But no. He was ordinary, even as a prince. Ruby is ordinary, or at least we have to accept that despite incredibly bad plot holes telling us otherwise. Okay, what exactly is it that makes Callum well written as the ordinary youngster than Ruby?

In The Case For Callum

Callum is introduced to us not in the way you think he would be as a prince. You’d think he’d be grand, dressed in smart clothing with a bulky build to him. But instead, he’s introduced as this young guy in his bedroom, drawing away having fun, dressed in a blue jacket and baggy trousers, while softly telling his baby brother to go back to sleep and not be scared.

The episode continues with us seeing Callum being taught to fight in sword fighting. But as we look, he’s not that good. He struggles hard and is looked down upon by those around him from the guards to Soren. This isn’t how you’d think a prince would be treated or how he’d come off as. You then look at how he is compared to the rest of the castle cast, he’s skinny, he’s little, he has a withdrawn outfit with his scarf and coat hiding him. He’s honestly a little boy in a strange world. Then he cant ride a horse and wears the wrong armour.

This kid you’d think isn’t a prince. As we learn later, he isn’t really a prince. Does this mean he’s just a mere weakling? No. As we see, Callum does take action, as soon as he hears there’s assassins coming for his stepdad, he tries to join Soren in finding them but ends up humiliating himself, but even then, it's what he’s trying to do. He wants to protect his stepdad, trying hard to get in the role as prince.

Then as we see the series continue, Callum slowly comes out of his shell. Bit by bit, he slowly begins to change. He is ready to throw his life away for Ezran. He’s willing to confront Runaan on the roof knowing well he’d kill him. Then he confronts Viren and we have what I think is the moment we now look back and things suddenly seem much harsher in hindsight.

Callum confronts Viren of what he did. What does Viren do? He has the guards restrain him. They’re willing to restrain the prince they’re meant to protect, then Viren steals his breath. Viren then racially insults him, calling him a mongrel, treating him as if he were a spoilt brat which is far from true, like he’s a little common criminal he caught, and the guards just stand there and let this go on. Then Runaan comes with his assassins and after getting his breath back, Callum makes the hard choice: stay behind and die. Or leave his father and go to Xadia? The choice he makes sets Callum on the path of becoming the man he is now.

As the series goes on, Callum slowly moulds into the role of a Prince. He makes a noble sacrifice in giving up his power to save the life of another. He thinks of the greater good than his old friends. He’s willing to risk his own life to save others out of desperate hope for peace and to prove his worth. Then he comes up with all these plans a commander would do, though in a more kid like way, oddly enough like his aunt. Then finally, not only does the prince get the girl, but he physically fits the role of a prince.

Taller, muscled, a fine hairstyle, wearing a long-styled coat, can ride a horse, can fight. This all came with experience he had in his journey. He became special because of what he did.

If there’s something that must be brought up though? Its him not being born special. His mum wasn’t a queen as she birthed him. Callum’s ancestry is 100% human, his family don’t have elves in the bloodline, his dad wasn’t this grand mage, there was nothing special about Callum of why he connected to the Sky Arcanum. He was an ordinary kid. His dad was a poet, that's all who he was. His mum and aunt were soldiers.

Callum may have not been born special, but he made himself special through hard work. He was so young losing Damian, then he’s thrown into a world which was so alien to him with royal life, then he loses his mum, he’s struggling with his step dad. But he got himself together and everything of his mum and dad were, everything they taught him, as well as Harrow, came together to help unlock his path completely. His dad’s love for the stars, his mum’s compassion for all life, Harrow’s regret, they all came together for him at such a dark moment in the second season.

Through all this, Callum became a inspiring figure. This ordinary guy who was adopted into royalty and didn’t exactly match with the castle began to become special, proving to anybody you can be what you want to be if you try. Its why I love Callum so much as a character. He’s gone through so much, but he came out strong and became special.

Then why didn’t it work with Ruby?

The Problem

I do like Ruby, I just hated how she was written, from her sudden budding friendship with the Doctor, to her plot holed storyline and lack of insight in her home life. Ruby was badly hurt by the season story which set out teasing there was more to Ruby than what met the eye and in the end we got a smack to the chops for all our thoughts of who Ruby’s mum was.

The thing is the season sets out with it teasing there’s something about Ruby which has the Doctor drawn to her. This has to be something intense as why would the Doctor begin watching Ruby? Then we have her mum garbed in a cloak leaving her daughter on the doorsteps of a church then leaving her, with no way of tracing her.

Then it starts snowing whenever Ruby thinks of her mum. No matter what, it snows. Then there’s the fact in the Time Window we don’t get to see her mum’s face, as if there’s some powerful force interfering with Ruby and the Doctor to stop them from finding her mum. Then there’s the gods who are somewhat scared of Ruby.

You have Sutekh scared of killing Ruby out of fear of who her mum could be. Then Maestro panics after they try killing Ruby, finding Ruby has an old song within her which makes you wonder what exactly is it about Ruby?

We’re left wondering who could Ruby’s mum be? A god? A alien? Could Ruby be the Doctor’s great granddaughter? Could Ruby herself be a powerful entity she herself doesn’t know and had done something with herself to get herself there?

This was all set up and leaves you with an ending that makes the season age incredibly badly.

Ruby’s mum was an ordinary lady. A teenage girl who left her daughter out of fear, not wanting Ruby to live in a horrible environment she was in. Then Louise became a nurse. Ruby reunites with her in the end, with us finding out Louise is a kind woman who wished she could have found Ruby. With her now back, Ruby can spend lots of extra catching up with her mum, leaving the Doctor in going alone.

This raises questions that were answered yet others weren’t.

Why did Louise wear a cloak while leaving Ruby? Well RTD said Louise was not wearing a cloak, it was time itself hiding her.

Why was Sutekh so worried? Louise was only special as the characters and us thought she was important.

Then why did it snow with Ruby whenever she thought of her mum? Don’t know. What was the old song within Ruby? Don’t know.

You compare this to Callum. Did The Dragon Prince do a whole season teasing who Callum’s dad was? Was Callum this special person only for it to be revealed he wasn’t? It's interesting as there was fan theories of what Callum was, was he half elf? Half dragon? Did the show tease any of us this? Not really. We just learnt enough of Callum in the first season of him being adopted, then we learn of his mum in the next season, then finally in season six we learn his dad was an ordinary guy. The plot doesn’t try having us think who Callum could be and smack us for thinking he’s special. No, Callum was an ordinary kid who became special.

The Dragon Prince also has you think of the earlier seasons with a different context, especially with Callum being strangled or focusing on his breathing. He’s thinking of his dad in those moments and of his mum, how his breath has become his strongest tool. His dad cherished every breath he took, Callum learns to breathe to understand the Sky Arcanum, his breath does so much for the series going on. Doctor Who has you looking back going ‘Uh, buddy, this is kinda crap”.

Its a shame as RTD could’ve taken a book off Callum’s shelf and learn a great deal from him. Ruby is a fine character but was badly handled in her story. If you want to make her ordinary, do it right off but if you want to make her incredibly special then give her a character story like our dear old prince.

With this in mind I can say Callum wins.

With Season 7 just due to come, I only hope what comes next for Callum’s story ends up being much better than what Ruby was given to do.