Something major I want to change that I feel a lot of people will agree with me on is changing the starting dynamic between Starflight and Sunny.
As the dragonets of destiny has always felt like one big found family of siblings, Starflight crush on Sunny has always been bordering on the weird territory. This also negatively affects Starflightās relationship with Fatespeaker, as more times than not she feels like a Sunny replacement or a rebound for Starflightās romantic interest. Itās a shame because I like Starflight and Fatespeaker and can see potential in their dynamic.
I think the best way to change it is to make Starflight more of unnecessarily protective big brother to Sunny. A lot of his flaws stem around the idea that he thinks heās inadequate, he doesnāt live up to certain standards, and that he is cowardly. All of these traits are exasperated by living in a volatile environment for the first couple years of his life with the guardians. He is neither the bravest, the strongest, nor the biggest of his siblings, likely he would be the one needing protection from guardians like Kestrel and Dune.
I think this can be where his insane protectiveness of Sunny can stem from. As Sunny is smaller and younger than him, even if not by much, it gives him a sense of pride to look after someoneās well being. Sunny is his youngest sister, and it his job to take care of her like the others do to him.
Itās still a flaw of his because he ends up babying Sunny, often seeing her as not capable to handle bad news or certain plans. In his need to be her protector he ends up leaving her out or finds himself unable to include her because he needs to āprotect her peace of mind.ā This hurts Sunny, who already feels like she is often left out of decision making and struggles to make herself heard within the group.
TLDR; Starflight and Sunnyās relationship is much more interesting as a flawed sibling dynamic than Starflight having a crush on her.
So here is something I liked about Book 11 that took me until now to realize I liked it. I greatly enjoyed the fact that Blue didn't have wings.
Why did I enjoy this? Well, I think having Blue lack this (for this setting) very ubiquitous mobility option created some interesting challenges for the group to overcome. Challenges that aren't seen very often in this series and that I thought felt very fresh as a result.
See, there is a set of common issues you tend to run into when you give your protagonists access to free and convenient flight. It makes travelling almost trivial. It becomes much harder to challenge your heroes through putting some kind of treacherous landscape in between them and their goal, because unless said goal is inside that landscape, there is little stopping them from just soaring over it and laughing at you.
Maybe that is something you welcome. Perhaps the idea of Clay and friends having to rough it out in the wilderness for weeks, evading patrols and slowly making their way to their destinations doesn't appeal to you. You might prefer them to just fast-travel to the next big location because that's where the plot is. And that is a perfectly valid opinion to hold. Spending story time camping on a dusty trail might be a total pace killer.
But for me, a little bit of magic is lost if you can theoretically access any point on the continent with at most two days of flying. It makes the world feel kind of small. I yearn for that kind of trail filler, putting me into proximity to all the settlements on the way and exposing me to their little quirks and cultures.
Another aspect I liked about Blue's initial flightlessness was that it gave us another dragon body type to appreciate. The physiological diversity in Wings of Fire is... rather shallow. Barring injuries and some dragons having a harder time lighting a fire, everyone has roughly the same body shape and array of abilities to work with: Flight, something that kills, and in some cases one utility ability (like invisibility or darkvision). But very few have specific physiological shortcomings. I liked Blue's situation because it gave him a very glaring and obvious weakness that the others had to work around. That was interesting to me, having to conceive of ways to get him up cliffs or down to a deeper hive level.
I kind of wish there was more of that, dragons having to consider the weaknesses of their physiological makeup and planning around it. Like, if I really think about it, passing through the desert should be a huge problem for characters like Tsunami, Turtle, and Anemone, and being in the humid rainforest would be a struggle for Sunny and Qibli. The only instances I can think of where anything like that happens is with Clay's temperature-based breath weapon and Winter noting that proximity to a volcano makes his frostbreath less effective.
Iām maybe picturing a little side story on the way from the rainforest to Blazeās fortress, where the group is crossing the desert and has to barter with some shady Sandwing water merchant because Tsunami is in danger of drying out. Maybe the merchant could say something like āIf you donāt like my prices, you can go get your throat slit in the Scorpion Den instead,ā setting up that place as bad news. Then when Sunny goes there in her book, people will recognize it and have appropriate expectations of it as a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
I donāt know, it could be fun.
So I guess if there are any aspiring authors of dragon xenofiction reading this, I leave you with this bit of unsolicited advice: Think about the physiology of your dragon characters and do not be afraid to give them appropriate gaps in their skillsets. Not every dragon needs to be able to fly, or do the same things every other dragon can. Sometimes it is fun watching your characters have to think of clever ways to cover for each other's shortcomings. That is how bonds are formed.
Those are my I'm-falling-asleep-and-am-rambling-nonsense thoughts of today. Let's hope they'll still make sense to me when I wake up again.
Moray! Perhaps one of my current favorite characters due to my rewrite of her! Since completing my Lost Heir outline sheās become one of the most interesting characters among SeaWing politics. Still a devious schemer and morally gray and yet somehow the only adult Tsunami can trust among the liars and snakes in court.
Once upon a time, there was a small RainWing who loved everyone. Kinkajou paused.
She dipped her claw in the ink and scribbled out the last word. Once upon a time, there was a small RainWing who loved almost everyone. Which is fair enough, right? I mean, who could love every dragon? Some of them were even hard to like.
For instance, she had this one venom training teacher who was very mean to her. Not to name names. It was Bromeliad.
So she definitely didn't have to love her. I mean, would you? Also, this one time, our hero was kidnapped by NightWings, and most of them were even meaner than Bromeliad. And they were like that on purpose, because they were trying to scare everyone.
And listen, I know they had hard lives, but kidnapping dragons and being awful to them is still not okay, right? So it's alright to still be mad at some of them even a while later, don't you think? Also, some of her RainWing friends even noticed she was kidnapped, which made her love them a little bit less than she wanted to, although she really did love them lots before, but how could they not even care that she was missing? Oh, and also, there was this one big old shape-shifting dragon who attacked her so hard- Kinkajou stopped and wrinkled her snout with a scroll. This story was turning out a lot grumpier than she had planned. She slipped over her shoulder at her best friend.
Across the cave, Moon was curled up with her own scrolls, studying intently. She had her very serious Moon look on, which meant she probably didn't want to give Kinkajou writing advice right that exact second. Which was fine, Kinkajou could do this herself.
She pushed the grumpy scroll off her writing rock and spread out a brand new one. Right, let's try this again. How else did stories about heroes start? Kinkajou tried to remember some of the ones she had studied in school this year.
There was that one scroll that Webs assigned for history class about a brave SeaWing from long ago. It was kind of weird how many scrolls were about amazing SeaWings, honestly. She remembered it started with a story from when a SeaWing was a dragonet.
That was tricky, though. Kinkajou didn't really like talking about her life before she met Queen Glory. Because back then, she was the noisy one, and the one who talked way too much, and, oh no, here comes Kinkajou, and the troublemaker.
She thought her friends still liked her and didn't really mind that she was a little different. But then, none of them had cared when she was kidnapped, so that would seem to indicate that maybe they didn't like her that much after all. It didn't matter, though.
Kinkajou had Glory and Moon now, and other friends at Jade Mountain Academy, who she was pretty sure liked her. Hopefully, most of the time. Also, she wasn't thinking about this.
Okay, perhaps she could start her story with the time she was kidnapped by NightWings. Whoa, that was such a gloomy beginning. It had been horrible on the NightWing Island until Glory showed up and rescued her.
Glory was shiny and brave and smart and cared a lot about all dragons, including dragons she'd never even met. And she was very different from every other NightWing, but it didn't bother her at all. Kinkajou hoped she would be like that one day, all cool and unbothered.
Maybe she should wait to write her story until she was a little more like Glory. No, no. Starflight said to start writing for the practice.
I can write something. Today. Yes.
Here I go. Kinkajou went over the new scroll. Once upon a time, there was a RainWing named Kinkajou.
Most dragons would think, oh, that dragon is small and harmless and frequently pink. And she smiles too much. So who needs to worry about her? Certainly not us, the bad guys who want to take over the world.
What are the chances a tiny RainWing can stop us? None, that's what. We turn up our arrogant bad guy noses to her. Well, guess what? All those bad guys were wrong.
Turns out even little smiley dragons can save the world. More than once, in fact.
āOops.ā Kinkajou said, accidentally out loud.
āOops what?ā Moon said absentmindedly. Kinkajou sighed.
āI think I just did the thing where I gave away the ending in the first couple of paragraphs again.ā
Moon looked up and blinked at the drift of scrolls piled around Kinkajou's talons.
āWhat are you doing?ā
āI'm writing the very exciting, long-awaited, extremely dramatic epic of Kinkajou that readers everywhere have been demanding. Well, I'm trying to. Moon, did you know that writing is actually very hard?ā
Moon laughed, and Kinkajou repressed the urge to run across the cave and hug her.
āI just can't figure out where to start.ā A wave of concerned laughter rippled across Kinkajou's wings. She paused, took a deep breath, and turned the back to sunflower yellow.
Yellow was for happiness. Yellow made other dragons happy, too. Yellow and pink, the colors Kinkajou wanted everyone to see, and the colors she wanted to be inside and out.
āThat's normal, I think,ā Moon said. She rubbed her forehead, frowning a little. āMaybe try writing down everything that flies through your brain, and then you can edit it later.ā
āI have a lot of things that fly through my brain.ā
āI know, but it's all wonderful,ā Moon said, which made Kinkajou want to hug her again. And that's when Starflight-
āOh. Ow.ā She folded over, clutching her head. Her silver speckled black wings unfurled like billowing distress signals.
āMoon!ā Kinkajou cried. The ink bottle spilled a long shadow across the blank scrolls as she leapt to her feet and flew across the cave. āMoon, are you alright? Moon?ā She wrapped her wings around her friend and pressed her front talons over Moon's.
āNo, no,ā Moon whispered.
āWhat is it? You can't be doing another prophecy!ā Kinkajou shook her gently. It hasn't been long enough since the last one.
āIt's Glory,ā Moon gasped, her eyes flying open.
āGlory?ā Kinkajou's heart stopped. āQueen Glory? My Queen Glory?ā
āShe's in danger. They all are. Something is about to... I can'tā¦ā Moon closed her eyes again, clutching her talons like she wanted to drive her claws into her head and drag the visions out.
That was all Kinkajou needed to hear. Or rather, she would have been delighted to hear more, such as extremely specific details about danger and how to stop it. But she had witnessed Moon's visions before, and the thing was that it could take forever to spit them out.
And even once Moon shared everything she saw, the details part was always still kind of vague and unhelpful. So, Glory in danger and upset, Kinkajou was out the window before Moon could open her eyes again.
āWait!ā Moon shouted. āKinkajou, come back! We need help, and if you... We have toā¦ā
Whatever she said next was lost to the wind, rushing around the peaks of Jade Mountain. Kinkajou soared toward the rainforest as fast as her wings could beat. Moon could go tell someone in charge and ask for help and organize whatever official mission needed to happen.
This isnāt exactly a question about designs necessarilyāmore like lore.
Anywayā
How are you going to deal with animus magic? Are you going to stick with the āevery spell chips away at their soulā or do something else?
ANIMUS MAGIC LORE!!!
I might fall into the minority of liking animus magic as an unlimited resource.
My main thing in my rewrite is making animus magic āchip away at a dragonās soulā an in-universe belief about the magic system. That too many animus dragons in history have a habit of āgoing madā and it shaped the way the world of Pyrrhia sees animus magic.
Itās less about how the magic literally corrupts the soul and more like how the lack of real consequences to actions you take can affect a dragonās ethics and morality. I like Tamarinās take on it during Book 9, where she asks how using animus magic to make life easier might stifle innovation, to think of new ways to solve problems. And thatās just the harmless end of the bad effects that animus magic could have on the dragon in question.
Animus magic as a metaphor for agency, responsibility, and morality is super cool!
For example: Darkstalker. He believes in the idea of animus magic effecting the soul. What does he do with this belief? He decides that we will outsource his soul rot by putting his magic in a scroll. He claims that the actions he magic no longer has any effect on him. That distance in consequences allows Darkstalker to go down a dark path with his magic because Darkstalker takes no responsibility for the actions he does. Heās able to separate his actions from himself. This is what makes him morally corrupt.
Donāt know if that makes a whole lot of sense, but Iām and very passionate about this aspect of Wings of Fire lore :D
Something Iām already decided before I even start an Arc 2 rewrite is Iām making Qinter happen.
I just feel like Qibli and Winter are so much more interesting when they arenāt sizing each other up over who gets to be Moonās love interest and I wish Tui has committed to the āwe might as well marry meā thing she had going on in book 10. Their chemistry was super good and they need to stop saying āhe is so handsome I bet Moon like him better than meā LIKE LOOK INWARDS AND MAYBE REASSESS SOMETHINGā¦
And also Moon reads soo aroace romance-adverse to me and I need more happily single characters in this series. It may just be the projection part of myself (also aroace with little desire to get into a relationship) but all Iāve got in the way do happy single characters is Sunny and perchance I just want more characters I can relate to in this aspect.
Hi! I love your art, I would love to see mulberry in your art style!
I described to draw Mulberry with a closer canon description instead of my rewriteās reworked dragon taxonomy.
Spoilers underneath the cut!
So Iām theorizing that Mulberryās dragons peak powers are a weird combination of LeafWing leafspeak and NightWing mind reading powers so I drew him with some silver scales and a little more hints to his partial NightWing heritage.
I donāt really know how to feel about Mulberry as a character. Unfortunately he falls into that love interest at Mach 900 speed that I donāt particularly enjoy out of the wings of fire series. (Unfortunately the Flame/Umber 40 chapter therapy fic still reigns supreme in my head) Though heās likely getting his own book to be a protagonist so maybe Iāll ended up liking him more as the Arc progresses.
Do I feel like the Umber and Mulberry relationship is a liiiiitle š¤ but toxic? Kinda? Mulberry lies to Umber a lot at the very beginning at their relationship and it effectively traps Umber on the forgotten isle, even if Umber forgives him for it. Do I think that was Tuiās intention? Not really. Would it be interesting if it leaned into that direction? Yeah! (Maybe Iām too toxic yuri/yaoi pilled, thanks twitter)
If I could place one F-bomb in Wings of Fire, I would put it right in the prologue, when Hvitur gets his back torn, just to mess with the reader and make them think it was an adult novel.
really really curious about hvitur haunting the narrative in your rewrite
Ok so I think I wasnāt entire sure what āhaunting the narrativesā meant actually when I first wrote that post. So Iām not entirely sure if what I have in mind for Hvitur is haunting the narrative.
But in essence, Hvitur is important as a character that others miss within the narrative. He an idealized dragon in death, a martyr for his cause. He wholeheartedly believed in the prophecy and bringing peace to dragonkind, giving up everything he knew for the greater good. On top of that, he was just a very kind and empathetic person. He didnāt want to raise the dragonets as tools for the prophecy, he wanted to give them love and raise them to be good dragons.
He takes Kestrelās place to find the SkyWing egg because he care for her as a friend. Kestrel was still heavily traumatized by the loss of her children and couldnāt face the SkyWing Queendom yet, especially as a wanted fugitive. Hviturās kindness, ultimately, is what got him caught and killed.
Growing up under the mountain, the dragonets notice certain scrolls and toys that were more carefully picked out with them in mind, nothing the current guardians they had would ever do for them. Itās a piece of Hvitur that lives on, even if no one speaks his name.
I wanted Hviturās name to be told to the dragonets of destiny. To put a name to a dragon who cared in a way that survived past his death.
if you have any wof ocs itād be awesome to see them!! or any hybrid tribe dragons :33 your art is beautiful by the way MWAH!!!
I have some OCs that I made specifically for my rewrite to further flesh out the world of Wings of Fire! Here are some that I really like so far:
Shoat & Vole
They are a pair of young MudWing unsibs that came together to form their own troop. They were created to give Ochre extra story as he was not explored very much after Arc 1. Theyāll become Ochreās adopted troop!
Taxonomy
The NightWing that wrote and illustrated A NightWingās Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia. I am giving that infographic at the very beginning of the book a lot of fun lore and flavor text.
Sparrow
The first OC that I had a clear vision in life for when I was rewriting Book 1. She plays a special role for a whole new subplot I wrote! She is one of Scarletās guards, but sheād rather be making glass art than watching a stupid prisoner. I repurposed a design of an unnamed SkyWing guard from the graphic novel and made her mine :)
Draw Pineapple and Jumba from wings of fire please :3
To everyone who loves the gays, rejoice! For while I do plan to cut all and Pyrrhia from Arc 3, I will make up for the lack of Jambu and Pineapple scenes but putting him in Arc 1!
you should totally draw queen coral. Or ruby maybe? /nf
I have A Lot of opinions of Coral. Most of them being me bashing her verbally about how bad of a person she is. But sheās the kind of antagonist that is fun to berate for her bad decisions.
Iām of the opinion that she was never really a good Queen. She selfish in a way that I feel extends past her over protective nature as a mother. For one, the scrolls she writes. Iāve read the titles and descriptions of some of her published scrolls in the guide and man do they sound mediocre as all hell. Yet somehow they are required reading material in all SeaWing schools? Vain and narcissistic much?
I think that the death of all her heirs and daughters probably exacerbated her issues. Instead of her being a selfish Queen she is a selfish PARANOID Queen, which is a dangerous combination of traits. She treats her servants like garbage and their lives are little more than means to an end. She feels no remorse in mercilessly killing her guards for something that wasnāt their fault. She tortures them and makes an example out of them. Her paranoia makes her easy to manipulate at the hands of Blister, who easy exploits the trauma sheās experienced into making decisions that alienate her daughters from her.
Of course who could ever forget the Whirlpool situation š
Yet despite it all, sheās a very entertaining character. I feel less frustrated by her character and more amused by how bad of a person she is. Itās kinda funny. She so dramatic and over the top as a Queen. It makes me want to root for her downfall.
Of course she is supposedly getting better by book 9 but that feels too little too late for her character.
If I get to rewrite Arc 2 I feel like the SeaWings needed to have a bigger presence in the plot. Maybe dragged into the IceWing and NightWing conflict. Darkstalker created a plague that specifically targeted the IceWings and killed off a lot of their people but the SeaWings are haunted by a ghost he conjured? Is the ghost even doing anything? Itās resolved with very little fanfare.
So Coralā¦her life may or may not be forfeit for Arc 2. Weāll just have to see š
Decided to fill out a template from @/falling-skyzz I feel normal about . The dragons ! List of characters & design & dynamic thoughts under the cut <3
Also If anyone else fills out thus template feel free to send me the post,, I would love to see other people filling this out!!! I love templates !!
Secretkeeper & Moon ā¢Ā I understand theres a lot of reasonable hate for Secretkeeper but!!! I find her & moon to be a very fascinating pair! To make a long ass thought short, I think Secretkeeper is the embodiment of āproduct of her environment & deeply traumatize & projectingā. I think she genuinely really loves moon but obviously expresses that through being āāprotectiveāā. But I think shes genuinely a character with a capacity for change & realizing the autonomy Moon has over her own powers. Also from the perspective of Moon I think her arc around her relationship with her mom could be really interesting, especially as Secretkeepers authority becomes challenged in Moons life & she has to confront the bullshit her mother has put her through. Overall very very interesting pair I think about them a lot.
Design Note: Secretkeeper is duller in color than Moon & has less stars due to lack of moon light on the island! Also the scales around her mouth are almost completely black, making her mouth barely visible, giving her the name āSecretkeeperā as she āhas no mouth to tell others secrets.ā
Tsunami & Starflight ā¢ Just one of my fav siblings! This specific illustration is from the Arena Scene in Dragonet Prophesy! I really really love Tsu & Starflights dynamic of looking up to eachother & their development together just. So neat!
Design Note: Starflight has very few constellation marks in this illustration as he hasnt spent much time under moonlight quite yet!
Shark & Abalone ā¢ One of my more out-there ships! I based this on the thought that Shark was once close with Abalone (cough. Husbands.) and that relates to why he was willing to give Tortoise a lunch-break from watching the eggs. He already saw someone close to him die from being overworked to watch the clutch, he didnāt want to watch another dragon die from his sisters selfishness. I could write an essay on these two I swear
Deisgn Note: Shark is based on a tiger shark & abalone is based on real abalones! hes one of my fav designs here
Six-Claws & Ostrich ā¢Ā Heās just a sweet dad! the little we see of him he seems to really love her & vice-versa <3 theyāre just neat
Design Note: Six-Claws is based on a king cobra & is a specific sub-āspeciesā of hooded Sandwings ! Burn found his hood mutation & six-claws super interesting
Tamarin & Pike ā¢ My fav background friendship! Theyāre just fun. I like Pike just chillin out around Tamarin & describing flower colors to her to the best of his ability (she just likes to hear him ramble about a shared interest)
Design Notes: I updated how I draw Tamarins eyes to properly resemble a blind-born dragon ! Also Pikeās deisgn got some yellow in it and I really like it <3
Whiteout & Thoughtful ā¢ I just think theyāre neat!! They just seem like a sweet pair love them
Design Note: none really! Just experimenting with a rando Thoughtful design that I tossed together for my āships tier listā
Tsunami ā¢ Its just her :) my fav dragon <3!!! I definitely dont think she upholds the āprincessā title once she gets older, her only link to the throne is by Coral insisting monthly visits but Tsu otherwise wouldnāt be any interesting in royal life I would imagine
Design Note: Shes caught a waaururrghh something im going bonkers I cant remember what fish that is and my reference photo seems to have dissipated into the cosmos
Anemone ā¢ I LOVE HER. SO MUCH ! Anemone haters BACK OFF!!!! Her relationship to her powers is so fucked man. Something youād think would give her power & control is just a key by which others use to manipulate and abuse her like . Man :( shes literally never had any autonomy over her own identity & intermingled her powers into her identity So Much only for that aspect of herself to also be revealed to be a facade for someone elseās desires like. GUH I love her so much I hope shes having a good day I dont care what anyone says she deserves to be a brat and I support her for it
Design Note: none really! The stars in her talons are just metaphorical though
Snowflake & Snowfox ā¢ THE OGS!!!!!! MY FAVORITE PROBLEMATIC LESBIANS <3 Ahhh remember in the early days when they were considered the #1 most problematic ship because they were gay and also evil. I love the evil lesbians so much theyāre so shitty sorry Darkstalker Snowfox shouldāve been queen I wouldāve loved to see that go down itād be so silly
Design Notes: Snowfox is based on an arctic fox shedding into their summer coat!! I know its p . Away from canon descriptors of her but it was sm fun to illustrate so shhh <3 Snowflake is just grey & blueish per-canon but shes sooo fun. love her.
Okay thats all here are the individual illustrations now !!!!! Because why not !!! If these arenāt transparent its all over
if you could change one sentence in the entire book series what word would you change and why?
oooo that's such a good question actually :0
there's a lot of dialogue that I want to change in the rewrite, but to do that, I have to change the circumstances in which they're said, ya feel me?
for example: the whole Starflight and Sunny thing. you know what i'm talking about. we're gonna be tweakin' that.
and what i mean by that is i'm gonna have this running bit that, instead of Starflight being head-over-tail for Sunny (eugh), she's gonna secretly be his favorite sibling. the affection and admiration is still there, but it's Differentā¢ now.
so when the "confession" scene comes up, it goes something like this:
I always thought my favorite character in WOF was Moonwatcher or Winter. Upon further examination it turns out NOPE it PERIL.
PERIL IS MY BABY GIRL I LOVE HER SO MUCH. PAST ME WAS EITHER A LIAR OR WASNāT BASED ENOUGH TO HAVE PERIL AS HER FAVORITE. GOD I LOVE HER. I SAW A POST ABOUT HER AND HER THING ABOUT TOUCHING HER TALONS BECAUSE CLAY WAS THE FIRST PERSON THAT EVERY TOUCHED HER WITHOUT DYING AND THE FIRST THING HE DID WAS HOLD HER HAND AND
This panel makes me sad. Peril willingly gave up the ability to touch others so Scarlet wouldn't have control over her. And she still wants that ability, yet knows she can't take magic shortcuts anymore.
But I want to talk about the talon-holding for a second...
...because that's the first piece of physical affection that Peril ever received. Ever. For someone who straight up kills anyone who touches her, a gesture like that is gonna stick with her.
She holds/rubs her own talons right after this, and throughout The Brightest Night; it happens enough times that Sunny notices. Almost as if she's trying to imagine them being held...
So it's no wonder she wants to hold Cliff's talon during Ruby's fight, because the gesture was so comforting for her that she wants to give that feeling to someone else. But she can't, so she uses words instead. It may not be physical contact, but it does help him feel better.
Oh, and this is probably a coincidence, but in the last scene Peril appears in as of writing, she asks Clay if they can go flying, then regrets asking and tries to take it back, and you want to know what Clay does in that moment to reassure her?
