WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2 of DOTA: Dragon's Blood, now streaming on Netflix.
In Netflix's DOTA: Dragon's Blood, there's been a swath of enemies Davion (the Dragon Knight) and his allies have faced in trying to stop the demon, Terrorblade. The mage known as the Invoker turned on them, trying to use Terrorblade to alter reality, which created a civil war in the Nightsilver Woods. Selemene's cult moved against the followers of Mene, with the latter wanting the Dark Moon Goddess dead. It also caused a brutal war in Mirana's home at the Land of the Solar Throne. However, as fun as it was seeing these forces collide, the show's best trait isn't this medieval action -- it's primordial horror.
In the two seasons so far, this war has caused armies to use supernatural powers in battle to even the odds, while drawing dragons into action too. It's most evident in how the Invoker deployed smaller Eldwyrms to destroy Kaden's hold and reduce the Knights' numbers.
However, the suspense, tension and a macabre mood is where DOTA: Dragon's Blood really stood out. It first came to light in Season 1 when Mirana fell through a crack in the ice as Kaden and Davion fought. Davion turned into his dragon form, Slyrak, leaving his mentor disgusted and thirsty for the blood of this Elder Dragon possessing him.
But as they tussled, Mirana encountered zombies in a dark cave in a scene influenced by the Castlevania anime. There, she almost gave in to a mysterious force beckoning to her. These were the creeps from the video game, with the red stone more than likely the Direstone that fell to Earth when the moon was shattered as the Ancients and Terrorblade went to war. Here, it seemed to be influencing dead people making the crossing and Mirana almost succumbed. This would mean that if a share of the evil Dire is on Earth, then bits of the Radiant (aka the Light) could be too.
Thankfully Mirana's faith in Selemene and her coven kept her going, but it felt like a horrific episode of The Walking Dead as she had to then slaughter zombies -- men, women and kids -- to make her way out. What was most alarming was how, as she cut her way out in a gory scene, Mirana actually looked aged and weary, like she was ready to give up. Blurring the lines between hallucination and reality gave DOTA: Dragon's Blood a more psychological, cerebral approach, with the lack of light in the cave, jump scares and Mirana showing fear for the first time adding nuance and humanity.
After all, DOTA painted her, Marci and Davion as invincible so it was nice to see her flawed and scared like this with these ghouls. Luckily, Davion would revert to his human form and rescue her in the snow, realizing how shaken she was from the PTSD of fighting these chasing monsters.
It felt personal because of how the stone probed her mind, and while Season 2 of DOTA: Dragon's Blood would see them fending off more creatures of the night sent by Invoker's sinister alliance, it was all open warfare. It lacked the intimacy, silence and emotional connection of the creeps, which left Mirana doubtful she could be the hero she was destined to be. More so, this fright trickled down to Davion and Mirana's peers, making them realize the lands hid shady forces beneath the ground they didn't know of.
