LGBT themes and representation
Before the release of the show's first season, during San Diego Comic-Con in July 2018, it was revealed that the series would contain LGBT characters in it; no details or characters were provided to avoid spoilers. On the day of the first season's release, Wonderstorm issued a statement regarding the show's handling of diversity, where co-creators Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond described the importance of telling a story with diverse characters in it, which is something they are passionate about. To achieve their goal of creating a diverse world and characters, it was decided that they would accomplish this through a variety of methods, with some examples singled out being the inclusion of racial diversity, the portrayal of non-typical family structures, as well as people with disabilities. Alongside these forms of representation, the representation of LGBT characters was also singled out.
Regarding The Dragon Prince's diverse representation, it was stated that with some characters their arcs would "play out in ways that clearly demonstrate their difference or representation right away", but that with other characters their status as minorities would be "part of their identity, but not yet a part of their plot or storyline". Following the release of season 1, it was theorized that an unnamed elf that appears in the end credits illustrations of two episodes—dubbed "Tinker" by fans—was Runaan's boyfriend.
The second season of The Dragon Prince included the show's first instance of LGBT representation. The Queens of Duren—Annika and Neha—appear in flashbacks set prior to the show's beginning and are depicted as a couple, sharing a kiss on-screen; they appear in two out of nine episodes. Vice noted how the series' creators have "acknowledged their commitment to making sure [the show] doesn't use the "bury your gays" trope.
Despite this statement, in a pre-release review of the season, Michal Schick of Hypable discussed how the show's representation of these characters would likely cause debate, given that they can be viewed as falling under the "Bury your gays" trope. While Renaldo Matadeen of Comic Book Resources also acknowledged how the depiction of the Queens of Duren can fall under the "bury your gays" trope—also acknowledging fan complaints regarding this—he still praised the show's depiction of an openly lesbian couple. Similarly, The Mary Sue's Caroline Cao argued that while their depiction adheres to the "bury your gay" trope, there are still positives to be found within these characters. Heather Hogan of Autostraddle also expressed mixed feelings towards the characters, acknowledging the characters as having positive attributes, but lamenting them already being dead by the time the story begins.
Following the second season's release and the show's future in terms of LGBT representation, Ehasz stated that there are more characters—including main characters—that are "non-straight". Regarding any future LGBT relationships presented in the series, Ehasz stated that they often let the characters lead them to where they will go next, including any potential relationships that might occur. For this reason, he described revealing a character to be LGBTQ+ as "challenging", as they do not want to give the impression to the audience that these characters will go on to be in a same-sex relationship, but also acknowledged that LGBT characters and relationships are underrepresented in media. Both Ehasz and Richmond stated that under the right circumstances, and with enough time to tell the story, they would like to explore their queer characters more and have their "identities manifest in relationships and in the story"
The third season introduces Ethari, who is Runaan's husband. This season also introduces Kazi, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, but this is only revealed outside of the story through the show's Twitter account. According to lead writer Devon Giehl, the writers intended there to be romantic interest between Amaya and Janai that starts at the end of season 3, and confirmed that both characters are lesbian who like each other.
In a pre-release review of season 3, Inverse's Jake Kleinman criticized the show's LGBTQ+ representation, arguing that despite its initial promise, The Dragon Prince has never truly delivered on said promise. He criticized how the first season lacked any on-screen representation, while in season 2 the Queens of Duren only appear in flashbacks and are killed off. While Kleinman viewed the representation of Ethari and Runaan as an improvement, given that both characters are still alive by the end of the season, he found fault with Ethari's minimal role in the story.
