Aaravos is a fictional character who serves as the main antagonist of Netflix's animated fantasy television series The Dragon Prince.

He is introduced as an ancient and mysterious Startouch Elf, an extremely rare race of elves connected to the magical energy of the stars.

Following his appearance, Aaravos received a positive reception, with praise for Dellums' vocal performance, his relationship with Viren and later on Claudia, and his tragic backstory that revealed his true motivations behind his actions.

After his crimes are exposed by the Orphan Queen, he is soon imprisoned inside a hidden undersea prison in the form of a giant pearl and placed beneath the Sea of the Castout by an alliance of elves and dragons.

He is supervised through an enchanted mirror by the King of the Dragons, Avizandum, while the Archdragons of Earth and the Ocean, each hold a clue to the whereabouts and true nature of Aaravos' prison.

Aaravos explains how one single ripple growing into many could affect certain events in the world with the simple touch of a human hand alone.

First, he has Viren chant a dark spell to create ghostly versions of elven assassins to terrorize the other four monarchs into taking a stand against Xadia.

Claudia finds and revives Viren with her dark magic, and subsequently reveals Aaravos's caterpillar has entered a cocoon, metamorphosing into something else.

[15] Aaravos continues to set his release in motion by using resurrected Lord Viren and his dark mage daughter Claudia as his pawns, with his caterpillar familiar, now an elf-like homunculus, guiding them to the clues that will lead to his prison.

One fateful day, the archdragon Sol Regem exposes Leola who accidentally introduced magic to humans, prompting the Startouch Elf council to sentence her to death for disrupting the cosmic order, in hopes of maintaining it.

The Merciful One approaches a grieving Aaravos and advises him that every being is stardust, held together by love for an instant, which motivates him to seek revenge.

Aaravos initiated his plan by teaching dark magic to the human mage Ziard and giving him his staff which caught Sol Regem's attention.

He also goaded Sol Regem by tricking him into killing his mate, Aithne Solaire, thus directing his rage against the humans banished from Xadia.

When he was eventually exposed for his crimes centuries later, he was imprisoned instead of being executed, as the essence of a Startouch Elf, which is the very stars themselves taking mortal form, is truly immortal.

Despite his confinement, Aaravos managed to reach out to human mages who would use dark magic, making them susceptible to his influence and exploiting their feelings of love for his revenge.

After tricking Callum into swapping the prison with a decoy, Aaravos sets his plan in motion by using Pharos, whom he infected early during Khessa's death, to manipulate Karim to declare war against his sister Janai and using Sol Regem as an ally.

They successfully stole a sacred sunseed and used it to heal Sol Regem's wings, as the Archdragon is eager to fight without his eyesight, and Pharos would guide him.

[20] As a Startouch Elf, Aaravos is naturally connected to the stars, but due to being a "fallen" member of his race, he can only access a fraction of his former power.

Hypable praised Aaravos and Viren's relationship and the contrast between the goals and actions of these two characters and those of Callum, Rayla, and Ezran.

[25] Nelson also reacted positively to the relationship between the two characters and how Aaravos "preys on Viren's ambition and desperation to fulfill his own mysterious, malevolent goals".