can you tell me about your wyverns?? specifically gavriel but them in general too!!
hello!! omg. i can! i’ll be releasing full rundowns for wyverns as a species over on @oldnarnia when i have all the graphics and art ready, but i can tell you a little about gavriel now!
gavriel of the rose / of the thorn, is the son of the first wyvern, milcah, who was the companion of the first dragon, and helped spread dragon eggs out across narnia as it grew and populated further into each major city ( creating the dragons of archenland, calormen, telmar and the lone isles ). she then created more wyverns by building eggs from her own scales and filling them with her blood, which is a molten gold, and giving the eggs to the dragons of each city, thus creating the wyverns of each city. this is how wyverns create more wyverns, and the act is rare since it leaves them incredibly vulnerable to do so.
in the time of the lion the witch and the wardrobe ( and the door in the willow, my fanstory where gavriel appears ), there are 3 wyverns in archenland, 1 in calormen, 1 in telmar, 2 in the lone isles, and gavriel is the last surviving narnian wyvern.
milcah, gavriel’s mother, was the wife to queen swanwhite, and swanwhite and milcah are the protagonist of the door in the willow, charlotte’s, mothers. this makes gavriel and charlotte half siblings, and charlotte half-wyvern. this grants her the magic and knowledge she has, as well as her physical resilience.
as for gavriel, he was raised for 60 years in mt pyre, which is on the boarder of narnia and calormen, alongside his dragon and his mother. wyverns age slowly, and are a sort of shape-shifter. in the link above to view milcah, you can see her more human-esque form. this is a form wyverns will take when among humans to put them at ease, communicate easier, etc. it’s a painful process, but they’re proud creatures at heart, and enjoy showing off the extent of their powers.
at the time of the narnian rebellion, when charlotte returned through the willow, milcah recognised her-- and since swanwhite was long since captured, she recognised her authority and aided in leading the rebellion forces to attack and give charlotte a way into the witch’s castle, and gavriel complied and smuggled the rest of the non-fighting narnians away to archenland to keep them safe. of course, some were left behind out of their own choice.
anyway, in archenland gavriel was immediately taken to the summit of the mountain there ( which the city is built into in my worldbuilding! ), and treated like wyverns tended to be treated-- with great respect, bounty, and reverence. though, left with the prophecy given to the narnians by charlotte ( about the 4 pevensies, and the war against the witch to come ), he quickly adapted himself into a human form, and took to training as a soldier.
he turns up again at the end of lww, after the 100 year winter, his ageing stunted along with his growth due to being removed from the magical source of his dragon at such a young age, as well as the winter-curse of jadis, since he is a fire-based creature. he took part in the war, and immediately pledged himself to the new monarchy-- something unheard of in wyverns, as they deem themselves greater creatures than man.
he becomes a soldier in edmund’s army, as well as peter’s housecarl. he retires from wars when peter does, and they have a very slowburn romance when they’ve grown into the adulthoods. it’s a little tragic. they get engaged, a week before the staghunt, and gavriel goes mad in grief. he dies, though the way he does is a little gruesome and hurtful, so i won’t talk about it here.
fgdfhgfs that was a lot, but those are the basics of gavriel’s stories and some wyvern tidbits. if you want to know specifics about anything, please send another ask! i’ll either put it on my list for oldnarnia rundowns, or i’ll answer it here! thank u for asking i probably gave you more than you wanted lol
