Rayla
Rayla is a fictional character who serves as one of the main protagonists of the Netflix animated fantasy television series The Dragon Prince. She is voiced by Paula Burrows.
Rayla is introduced as a prodigy Moonshadow Elf assassin and the protégé of veteran assassin Runaan. Sent on a mission to avenge the death of the king of the dragons, she ultimately joins forces with the human princes Callum and Ezran to deliver the egg of the Dragon Prince back to his mother. Throughout the series, Rayla and Callum develop a romantic relationship.
Storylines
Background
Rayla was born on the 31 July to the warriors Lain and Tiadrin. However, her parents were later recruited into the Dragonguard, an elite force of eight warriors, recruited from the various elfin races, who are sworn to protect the egg of the Dragon Prince, as he was the first dragonling hatched in millennia. As a result, she was taken in by the head assassin Runaan and his husband Ethari, an expert craftsman. For years, Runaan trains Rayla to be an assassin like himself, to protect those she holds most dear.Four months before the start of the series, Avizandum, the King of the Dragons and Archdragon of the Sky is slain by King Harrow and Lord Viren by a powerful dark magic spell. Frightened by this, the Dragonguard abandon their duty, apparently including Rayla's parents. This allows Lord Viren to supposedly destroy the egg of the Dragon Prince. Ashamed of her parents' alleged cowardice, Rayla joins a small group of assassins on a mission to avenge Avizandum by killing King Harrow and his heir, Crown Prince Ezran.
Bloodmoon Huntress
A younger Rayla is angry at her parents' decision to leave her at home with their closest friends, Runaan and Ethari, so that they can fulfill their duty as members of the Dragonguard. She struggles to adjust to her new home and becomes curious of how secretive Runaan is about his line of work. One night, she follows him and discovers that he is an assassin as she watches him try to guide fellow assassin Andromeda into unlocking her moonshadow form. Runaan eventually discovers her and orders her to return home. Though he insists that he must protect his people and he is making sacrifices so that those he loves don't have to, Rayla is appalled at the idea of killing people. Things continue to remain tense as the annual Bloodmoon Harvest festival approaches despite multiple attempts from Runaan, Ethari and Andromeda to help Rayla understand the necessity of assassins to protect people from those who seek to harm them.While wandering the forests around the Silvergrove, Rayla encounters the young Skywing elf Suroh, who pleads for help as his family has been abducted by Kim'Dael the Bloodmoon Huntress, an ancient moonshadow elf who intends to use them for a blood ritual. Rayla attempts to warn Runaan and Ethari but they do not believe her when Suroh disappears. When the Bloodmoon Harvest Festival finally approaches, Rayla attempts to leave to save Suroh's family herself but is stopped by guards on patrol. In order to get passed then undetected, Rayla reflects on the Runaan's explanation of the moonshadow form and manages to unlock it for the first time. With her new abilities, Rayla leaves quietly to try and confronts the Bloodmoon Huntress and helps Suroh try to save his parents from being used as sacrifices for an annual blood ritual for the rogue Moonshadow elf. However, the Bloodmoon Huntress overwhelms her and causes her to fall into the river. Runaan and Ethari narrowly save her from drowning, but the experience leaves her with severe aquaphobia. With her foster fathers by her side, Rayla helps Suroh sneak away with his parents, as Runaan and Kim'Dael face off, with the latter using Runaan's love for his husband and Rayla to gain the upper hand. Unable to consume the Skywing elves' blood, Kim'Dael vows to return to fully replenish her strength on Xadia herself. Better understanding the work of an assassin, and wanting to be able to protect the people she loves, Rayla asks Runaan to train her to be an assassin like himself as she begins to adjust to her new life with her foster fathers.
Lunabloom
With the help of Runaan, young Rayla makes a present from a Lunabloom flower for Ethari's birthday.Book One: Moon (2018)
Rayla joins Runaan and four other assassins on a mission to assassinate King Harrow and his son Prince Ezran to avenge the death of the dragon king and his egg the Dragon Prince at the hands of Harrow. Despite being the fastest and strongest of the assassins, Rayla has not taken a life yet and is hesitant at the prospect of doing so. Soon after arriving in the human kingdom of Katolis, The Moonshadow assassins are discovered by Marcos, a soldier in the Crownguard. Rayla is sent by Runaan to kill him, but although she manages to corner the soldier, she hesitates upon seeing his fear, allowing him to escape and warn the king. Fearful of Runaan's reaction, Rayla deceives him by staining her swords with deathberry juice. Per Moonshadow elven custom, Rayla and her fellow assassin bind themselves to their mission by tying ribbons around their wrists. Her deception is later revealed and Runaan takes her off the mission. Determined to make up for her mistake, Rayla sneaks into the castle to kill Harrow and Ezran but finds Harrow's stepson Callum instead. To protect his younger brother, Callum lies that he is Ezran, but his deception is soon revealed when Ezran shows up. Rayla chases the two princes to Viren's secret underground dungeon, where they discover the egg of the Dragon Prince and realize it was not destroyed.Rayla abandons her mission to kill Harrow and Ezran, deciding that since the Dragon Prince's egg survives, revenge is unnecessary. However, even when shown the egg, Runaan refuses to back down and Rayla engages her mentor in a duel to protect the princes. The two seem evenly matched, but Runaan deserts the fight to focus on killing Harrow. Rayla, Callum, Ezran, and Bait flee the castle, resolving to take the Dragon Prince egg home together. As they escape, however, one of Rayla's ribbons falls off, symbolizing Harrow's demise, but Rayla doesn't tell the princes. Because Callum now has a Primal Stone, Rayla educates the prince on the six Primal Sources of nature. Callum asks Rayla to help retrieve a cube that has the Primal Sources' symbols on it, and Rayla agrees only reluctantly. However, while retrieving the mysterious item, Rayla is captured by the prince's aunt, General Amaya. Callum, Ezran, and Bait rescue Rayla, but are soon cornered by Amaya and her soldiers. Desperate, Callum lies that Rayla wants to kill him and Ezran, hurting the elf's feelings. Rayla pretends to hold Callum and Ezran hostage to escape. Rayla realizes that her remaining assassin ribbon is getting tighter and will continue to do so until her hand comes off. Whilst traveling on a boat, Rayla opens up to the princes about herself but claims her parents are dead. When their boat is attacked by a giant fish, Rayla admits that she is afraid of water, but braves through her fear to save Bait from being eaten. Rayla admits her parents are alive but is ashamed of them for allegedly abandoning their duty to protect the Dragon Prince's egg and wishes to atone for their failure by returning the egg to his mother in Xadia.
The next day, Rayla is attacked by Corvus, a soldier sent by Amaya to track them, and defeats him. Later, while traveling up a mountain, an argument between Rayla and Callum about the former's trustworthiness, coupled with a burp from Bait, causes an avalanche. The trio ends up on an unstable frozen lake, where Rayla reveals the true nature of her wrist ribbon, but before she can reveal the death of Harrow, Callum desperately shoves the Dragon egg into Rayla's hands, causing her to drop it due to her dying hand. Ezran rescues the egg, but the freezing water leaves it severely weakened. Later, the group travels into a human town, where Rayla disguises herself as a human and unsuccessfully attempts to cut off her wrist ribbon with a Sunforge blade, a super-heated dagger made by Sunfire elves. The group then travel up a mountain called the "Cursed Caldera" to find a mysterious "miracle healer". During the trip, they work together to slay a giant leech. The supposed "healer" turns out to be a female Moonshadow Elf Moon Mage named Lujanne, who specializes in illusions. By unleashing the storm inside his Sky Primal Stone, Callum manages to hatch the egg of the Dragon Prince, Azymondias, who Ezran nicknames Zym. Zym bites off Rayla's wrist ribbon, saving her hand.
Book Two: Sky (2019)
Though delighted to have both working hands again, Rayla wishes to move on immediately, but the others do not. Rayla is later attacked by Viren's children, Soren and Claudia, but the fight is stopped by Callum. Rayla distrusts Soren and Claudia and suspects the former of trying to kill Ezran, but Callum doesn't believe her because he hasn't known her as long as Soren and Claudia. Feeling guilty, Rayla decides to tell Callum about Harrow's death, but Claudia does so first. Rayla's secret damages her friendship with Callum, but they reconcile after the latter finds himself unable to tell Ezran. Still mistrustful of Soren and Claudia, Rayla arranges a trick to reveal their treachery, and she, the princes, Zym, and Bait escape. Later, the group hires a blind ex-pirate, Captain Villads to take them across an ocean. During the trip, Rayla admits to Villads that she no longer believes that being an assassin is for her.After finally making it to shore, Rayla and the group witness a dragon being shot down after burning a town. Wishing to break the cycle of revenge, Rayla goes to save the wounded dragon, and, aided by Callum using dark magic, helps her escape. Afterwards, Corvus arrives and reveals Harrow's death to Ezran, devastating him. Ezran goes off to grieve and Corvus soon goes after him, leaving Rayla, Zym, and Bait to watch over Callum, who has gone into a coma as a result of using dark magic. As Callum's condition worsens, Rayla becomes increasingly distraught over the possibility of losing him. She is about to confess something to him but is cut off when he wakes up. Callum reveals he has managed to connect to the sky arcanum, allowing him to use sky magic without a primal stone. Ezran leaves the group to take the throne of Katolis. Rayla, Callum, and Zym continue their trek into Xadia, but soon find their path blocked by a massive dragon, which Rayla fearfully identifies as Sol Regem.