Darkstalker (graphic novel)

(This is the page for the graphic novel adaptation of Darkstalker. You may be looking for the book or the dragon instead.)

Darkstalker (graphic novel) is a comic adaptation of the first Wings of Fire legends book, Darkstalker, with art done by Jake Parker. The book follows the perspectives of Clearsight, Darkstalker, and Fathom, and was released on November 4th, 2025.

Synopsis

The graphic novel adaptations of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series continue to set the world on fire!

Three dragons. One unavoidable, unpredictable destiny. This is the beginning... of the end.

In the SeaWing kingdom, a young prince learns he is an animus – capable of wonderful magic that comes with a terrible price.

In the mind of a NightWing dragonet, a thousand futures unfold – and almost all of them, she knows, lead to disaster and destruction.

And under three full moons and the watchful eyes of his NightWing mother and IceWing father, the most powerful dragon Pyrrhia will ever know is clawing his way out of his egg. Darkstalker, the dragon who will change the world forever.

Long before the SandWing war, lifetimes before the Dragonet Prophecy... darkness is born.

The #1 New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series soars to new heights in this Wings of Fire: Legends graphic novel adaptation, with art by Jake Parker.

Dedication

For Courtney Donovan, who is eternally lovely, helpful, smart, and patient with me! — T.T.S.

For Judy — in my corner, round after round — J.P.

Plot

Prologue

Prince Arctic was introduced as the son of Queen Diamond of the IceWings. He was an animus dragon whose gifting ceremony was coming up, but he could not come up with something to create, bothered by all of the rules that he had to follow. Another IceWing came to Arctic's room and told him that the NightWings had arrived and Diamond had summoned him. Arctic reluctantly followed the IceWing and realized that she was named Snowflake, the dragon he was engaged to. The two flew to the gift of diplomacy dome where they ran into one of the visiting NightWings.

The NightWing attracted Arctic's attention and instead of going outside, he stayed outside with her to watch the sunset. Arctic learned that the NightWing was named Foeslayer and the two talked to each other about the restrictions they face in their kingdoms. After Foeslayer complained about the cold, Arctic used his animus magic to enchant his earring to always keep the dragon wearing it warm and safe, giving it to Foeslayer. Foeslayer was worried about Arctic using his magic for her despite the IceWings' rules, but Arctic reassured her that his soul was hers if she wanted it.

Main plot

Fathom, a SeaWing prince, was summoned to be part of the yearly Talons of Power ceremony meant to detect animus dragons in the SeaWings. His friend Indigo and sister Pearl were also in attendance. Queen Lagoon and her brother Albatross, the only SeaWing animus, appeared and had the dragonets present attempt to enchant a coconut to fly over and touch Albatross. Fathom told his coconut to strike his grandfather, and it did, revealing that he was an animus.

In the Night Kingdom, Arctic and Foeslayer were watching their eggs on the night of their hatching, a brightest night. Arctic was concerned that one of the eggs was white while the other was black. Sensing the tension between the two with his mindreading, the dragonet in the white egg hatched. Foeslayer picked him up and named him Darkstalker, something that Arctic protested. As a compromise, Arctic got to name the other dragonet, however she would not hatch the same night as the brightest night. Darkstalker used his foresight ability to see futures of him and his sister. He was aware that he could summon her from her egg, but decided against it, not wanting to share the love his mother had for him.

A few days after the animus test, Albatross summoned Fathom for his first animus lesson. Fathom met Albatross on the Island Palace and Albatross took him to where he was building the Summer Palace, a project he was working on for the queen. Fathom suggested building a canopy over the palace to keep it hidden from above and was eager to test his magic to create it, but Albatross warned him about using his magic by telling him about how he discovered his magic, resulting in his sister, Sapphire, losing her claws. The two discovered that Indigo was spying on them, and Albatross decided against allowing Fathom to practice his magic. Once they returned to the Island Palace, Fathom used his magic to carve an octopus out of a piece of driftwood and enchanted it to come to life as a pet for Indigo, who named him Blob.

A NightWing dragonet named Clearsight with a very powerful foresight traced many possible futures in her library room. She saw troubling futures with Darkstalker which she would keep track of. Her worry was concerning her parents, who wanted their daughter to go to school, but Clearsight tried to delay going because she knew she would meet Darkstalker once she went to school. While talking to her father, Clearsight convinced him that she could go once she turned three years old.

After returning home from catching hawks for dinner, Darkstalker found his parents fighting while his sister, Whiteout, was in the house. He was upset that they would argue so loudly while his sister was present, both not knowing that either of them were home. Darkstalker heard that his parents were fighting over a letter Arctic received from his mother and eventually revealed that he and Whiteout were both home. During dinner, Darkstalker left the table to find the letter to read to himself. The letter told Arctic that if he killed his dragonets, Diamond would take him back. Darkstalker then thought about how he needed Clearsight, whose foresight was stronger than his.

While getting ready for a party at the Island Palace, Fathom offered Indigo some pearls to wear that belonged to his sister Pearl. Once they were ready, Fathom, Indigo, and Pearl all went to the party where they met up with Fathom and Pearl's mother, Manta. They watched as Queen Lagoon, King Humpback, and their daughter, Princess Splash, arrived, followed by the visiting SkyWings who the party was being thrown for. Lagoon introduced the SkyWings, Princess Sunset and Eagle, to Manta, and told Indigo to get her a drink to get the SeaWing away from Fathom. Lagoon told Fathom that he needed to stop being friends with Indigo, before telling the SkyWings about the animus-enchanted statue of herself. The SkyWings warned the queen about animus dragons right before Albatross arrived. After being threatened by Lagoon, Albatross used his magic to kill her with a knife, starting the Royal SeaWing Massacre.

Clearsight arrived at the NightWing school early on her first day to try to avoid meeting Darkstalker. After receiving her schedule from Professor Truthfinder, she tried to find the hidden classroom for her seer training. While looking, she spotted Darkstalker who had just arrived and was also bombarded with visions showing her that the massacre was happening at that moment. Using her foresight, Clearsight found the seer classroom, and after being scrutinized by Allknowing, revealed the strength of her power. This shocked the other students and Clearsight learned that their powers were not as strong, making her worried that she will not be able to learn anything from the class.

After Albatross killed Lagoon, he continued to kill more dragons, including Sunset, Splash, Manta, and Reef. During the panic, Indigo grabbed Fathom and they escaped from the chaos, hiding in a boat house. Albatross soon found them, and told Fathom that he was going to kill the dragonet for being a pain to him for years. Before Albatross was able to kill him, Indigo attacked Albatross, causing Fathom to use his animus to enchant several spears to kill his grandfather. To protect Fathom, Indigo got severely injured, but Fathom used his magic to heal her after his grandfather was dead.

After her seer training class, Clearsight met Listener, a mindreader who had plans to release the scavengers their class was keeping. During this class, Clearsight also met Whiteout, who asked if she was the dragon her brother was waiting for. Clearsight answered honestly that she was, and after class, knew that she could not delay meeting him. Clearsight watched as Darkstalker defended Whiteout after she had interrupted a game of marbles. Afterward, Clearsight talked to Darkstalker for the first time, although they both knew each other from their future sight. After Darkstalker took her talon, Clearsight saw several futures, including Darkstalker with a crown, Darkstalker with his scroll, IceWing blood on a wall, her and Darkstalker with dragonets, Darkstalker with three dreamvisitors, Clearsight putting the moonstone bracelet on Darkstalker, her and Darkstalker old together, and Fathom in despair. Darkstalker broke her out of her distress and told her that he would not invade her thoughts. Clearsight thought about how it was the beginning of everything for them.

At a later time, Darkstalker took Clearsight to the shore during a rainstorm, causing the two of them to take refuge in a cave. While in the cave, Clearsight asked Darkstalker about him being a hybrid, and he showed her his IceWing scales. They then talk about Darkstalker's animus magic, which only they know about. They eventually hear another dragon in the cave and find Current, Fathom's cousin, deep inside the cave injured. He told them about Albatross, which caused Clearsight to worry about Darkstalker's animus magic. Darkstalker came up with an idea to prove to Clearsight that he was smarter than all of the other animus dragons.

After the massacre, Pearl became the queen of the SeaWings and issued an edict to outlaw animus magic in the Kingdom of the Sea. She then asked Fathom how he killed Albatross, but Fathom lied and told her that Indigo had killed him. Fathom promised to never use his magic again, and to prove it, made an oath to Pearl by slicing an 'X' into his talon. Pearl told him that he had to stay away from Indigo because he loved her and Pearl did not want Fathom to have dragonets. Fathom reluctantly agreed.

Darkstalker eagerly found Clearsight one day and brought her to his house where he showed her his scroll. He told Clearsight that he had put all of his magic into the scroll so that he would not lose his soul when he used his magic. Clearsight was surprised and happy about this. The two then enchanted several items together, including a moonstone bracelet that Darkstalker enchanted so that the wearer's mind would be shielded from any mind reader. He gave this bracelet to Clearsight so that they could protect the secret of his scroll. While enchanting one of Darkstalker's scrolls, Arctic came into his room and learned that Darkstalker was an animus. Clearsight took the scroll before Arctic could realize what it was, but also had several visions about Arctic's possible futures, which led into a prophecy warning him that his claws would betray him in his final hour. Worried by the prophecy, Arctic told Clearsight to give him Darkstalker's scroll so he could write it down, but Clearsight claimed that it was homework and took it home with her to protect Darkstalker's secret, promising to return it the next day.

One year after the massacre, Pearl summoned Fathom to the throne room to show him that their cousin, Current, had returned. She told Fathom that Current had been in the Night Kingdom where the NightWing queen, Queen Vigilance, had expressed concern about their first animus. Fathom believed that Darkstalker needed to be stopped from using his magic carelessly, and Pearl told him that he was going to stop him. After learning that Pearl was going to send him to the Night Kingdom, Indigo asked to join Fathom as the head of his guard. Pearl accepted the request due to Indigo's reputation as the animus slayer.

At dinner after Arctic discovered Darkstalker's animus magic, Arctic told Foeslayer and Whiteout about it. Darkstalker decided that he was ready for the whole tribe to know and told Vigilance about his powers. Afterward, he and his mother were treated kindly by the tribe and queen, often being invited to parties, but Clearsight refused to attend, wanting to earn her place at these events with her own gifts. Darkstalker is invited to a welcoming party, to which he wore an earring he had enchanted to make other dragons think he was charming and handsome, and a tailband that could kill any dragon he touched with it. He discovered from his parents' minds that the welcoming party was bringing someone for him to meet, and once at the palace, Vigilance introduced Darkstalker to Fathom. To get them away from the party, Darkstalker took Fathom and Indigo to a quieter place in the palace where Indigo attacked Darkstalker, ready to kill him. Fathom talked Indigo into not killing Darkstalker, but Darkstalker had already decided that Indigo was his enemy.

Clearsight went along with her friend Listener to free the scavengers from their classroom. They took the scavengers from their cage and released them at North Beach. While releasing the scavengers, Clearsight sensed danger and had the two hide, causing them to witness two IceWings who were hiding underwater. Clearsight's visions revealed that the IceWings were planning an underwater attack and she had to warn the queen.

After being guided to their suite in the NightWing palace, Fathom and Indigo talked for the first time alone since he had gone into isolation. Fathom believed that he was the real danger, but Indigo disagreed and told Fathom that she did not think he was dangerous.

After being attacked by Indigo at the party, Darkstalker realized that he was more vulnerable than he thought. In order to protect himself, he enchanted his scales to be invulnerable, hiding the spell on his scroll where Clearsight would not look. After seeing that the spell worked, Darkstalker wondered what else he could do to other dragons.

With the support of Darkstalker, Clearsight went before Queen Vigilance to warn her about the impending IceWing attack. Vigilance was confused by Clearsight's warning, asking her why she had no prophecy, and Clearsight revealed the strength of her foresight. This caused Vigilance to dismiss her previous seer, Clearsight's teacher Allknowing, and appoint the position to Clearsight instead. She told Clearsight to move into the palace and while leaving, Clearsight and Darkstalker ran into Fathom, who Clearsight knew from her visions of the future. This caused Clearsight to approach Fathom as if they were friends, making Indigo defensive, but after clearing the misunderstanding, all four of them went to Fathom's room where Darkstalker showed them the soul reader he had created. He used the soul reader on all of them, showing them that their souls were all good in an effort to get Fathom to use his magic. Fathom still believed that Darkstalker should stop using his powers and Clearsight picked up on the negative relationship between Darkstalker and Indigo.

Darkstalker left the soul reader with Fathom which made Indigo suspicious. Darkstalker told Fathom to come with them to get Clearsight. They found her in her room where Darkstalker revealed that it was her hatching day. Clearsight was reluctant to leave her room due to Vigilance wanting her to map out a year's worth of information, but Darkstalker forced them all to go out and celebrate Clearsight turning five years old. They went out to the forests of Borderland Mountain where Fathom gifted Clearsight a wood carving of a NightWing that he made quickly. Darkstalked asked Fathom if he could make one for him too in the shape of a SeaWing, before presenting his gift to his friend. He created three dream visitors that would allow them to all visit each other in their dreams. Fathom worried about Darkstalker using his magic again, but was interrupted by Clearsight and Darkstalker both getting visions about Foeslayer being in danger, causing them to leave.

Darkstalker and Clearsight hurried to Darkstalker's home where they found Whiteout in distress. Darkstalker learned from his father's mind that Foeslayer and him had fought, causing her to take her protection earring off, after which she flew away. Darkstalker realized that Diamond must have put a summoning spell on Foeslayer and he used his magic to show him where his mother was, seeing that she was flying toward an IceWing encampment. Darkstalker went to enchant something to kill Diamond to protect his mother, but Clearsight told him that he could not kill her because it would be worse if her niece, Snowfox, took the throne. Darkstalker and Whiteout embraced, and Whiteout told Darkstalker that only one of them would see their mother again depending on who won the future.

During a meeting with Vigilance and Darkstalker, Clearsight was disturbed by the violent uses of magic Darkstalker was coming up with to use against the IceWings. Clearsight turned down many of Darkstalker's ideas, which disappointed Vigilance, but eventually Clearsight allowed Darkstalker to enchant a shield around the kingdom to kill any IceWing who tried to enter. Clearsight confronted Darkstalker about his violent ideas, but he wanted revenge on the IceWings for taking his mother.

Weeks after Foeslayer had been taken, Fathom finished and gifted the SeaWing carving to Darkstalker. Darkstalker also got something for Fathom, a glass goblet which Fathom attempted to drink from, but Indigo broke it before he could. Darkstalker was furious with Indigo for breaking it and before he and Darkstalker left to view a lightning storm, told Indigo to stay, afraid of the way Darkstalker was looking at her. Before leaving, Darkstalker threw several pebbles into Fathom's room while cleaning out his bag to show Fathom a pair of moonstone earrings that he had gotten Clearsight. Once the two returned later, they discovered a note written by Indigo saying that she had left. Darkstalker comforted Fathom, and the SeaWing asked if he could keep the SeaWing carving, which Darkstalker allowed.

Clearsight and Listener arrived at Queen Vigilance's glass jubilee together. Listener told her about a new crush she had on a dragon named Thoughtful. As the two went to the game pavilion, they saw Thoughtful and Clearsight realized who he was, causing her conflict since she could see who he was destined to be with. The two dragons joined Darkstalker who was surprisingly happy. Thoughtful eventually came up to them and asked if any of them would like to play scroll tower with him, causing Clearsight to introduce him to Whiteout, despite Listener's crush on him. Whiteout and Thoughtful got along well and went off to play a game together. Shortly after, a NightWing jumped through the tent and attempted to drive a spear through Darkstalker's heart, but instead, it bounced off of his scales.

Lionfish, one of Fathom's body guards, killed the NightWing, revealed to be named Quickdeath by Thoughtful. The surrounding dragons were shocked, all seeing that the dragon had hit Darkstalker in the heart with the spear. Darkstalker, Clearsight, and Fathom all go to Fathom's suite where he revealed that he had given himself invulnerable scales. Despite his friends' worries, Darkstalker wanted to focus on who had tried to kill him, but Fathom was worried about Darkstalker's soul. Darkstalker then told Fathom about his scroll, hoping it would make Fathom less worried, but it did not work. Fathom discovered that Blob was in his suite, having been brought along by Indigo, but Fathom was confused why she would have left him there if she had left.

When Darkstalker returned to his home, he noticed that Whiteout was talking weirdly, but was too focused on confronting his father about the attempted assassination. He suspected that Arctic had been the one to hire Quickdeath, but Arctic's thoughts told him otherwise. Darkstalker instead used his magic to tell him who had hired Quickdeath, revealing to him who he had to kill.

When Clearsight woke up, she found Vigilance and Allknowing talking to each other. Vigilance asked Clearsight if she had any visions about Darkstalker, but Clearsight had trouble seeing any bad futures with Darkstalker. Allknowing told Clearsight that she had a prophecy about Darkstalker stealing Vigilance's throne and when Clearsight tried to defend him, Vigilance told her she could be enchanted. This caused Clearsight to remove her moonstone earrings, revealing to her that Darkstalker had enchanted them so she could only see good futures, and now many bad ones were being shown to her. She also learned that Vigilance was the one who sent Quickdeath to kill Darkstalker, and that Darkstalker was planning to kill her as revenge. Clearsight escaped capture by Vigilance's guards to stop Darkstalker from killing the queen. Fathom joined her and they found Darkstalker on his way to the palace. Clearsight confronted Darkstalker about the spell he put on the earrings, but he saw nothing wrong with it. Clearsight also learned that he enchanted himself to be immortal. The two of them then have a vision of Arctic taking Whiteout to the Ice Kingdom and fly after them to save Darkstalker's sister.

As they flew over Darkstalker's Teeth, Fathom learned about the spell Darkstalker put on them to kill any IceWings who tried to enter the kingdom. Darkstalker used his scroll to injure Arctic, allowing them to catch up to them, before he enchanted Arctic to obey his every command. He had Arctic remove the spell he had put on Whiteout, allowing her to talk like she used to again, however she is saddened that she won the future.

Darkstalker was upset that neither Clearsight or Fathom were happy with what he did. He had Arctic return to the Night Kingdom and as they flew, thought about spells he could put on Fathom to get him to stop being anxious. They land on a stage in the Great Diamond where Darkstalker forced Arctic to reveal his plan to give the IceWings the information they needed to invade the Night Kingdom. Darkstalker then forced Arctic to rip out his tongue and rip open his stomach, resulting in his death. Darkstalker was dissatisfied watching his father's death and turned to Clearsight to find that she was not there. Whiteout told Darkstalker that Clearsight had his scroll and would meet him at Agate Mountain. As Darkstalker flew to meet Clearsight, he thought about how there might not be a queen on the throne beside him.

While Darkstalker was making Arctic confess to the NightWings, Clearsight found Listener and told her to take her family away from the Night Kingdom, resulting in the NightWing tribe leaving the peninsula. Clearsight stole Darkstalker's scroll and met Fathom in his suite. Fathom agreed to break his oath to enchant something that could stop Darkstalker, and he used Clearsight's bracelet, enchanting it so that it would put Darkstalker to sleep forever. Clearsight gave Fathom Darkstalker's scroll and told him that she thought Darkstalker had done something to Indigo, before leaving to meet Darkstalker at Agate Mountain.

Fathom read over Darkstalker's scroll to try to find what Darkstalker could have done to Indigo. He discovered that Darkstalker had written some spells in invisible ink, hiding them from everyone else. He learned that Darkstalker had been casting spells to torment the IceWings and that the goblet he had gifted him was enchanted to make Fathom forget about his oath to his sister and to stop loving Indigo, making him feel guilty for not believing her. Fathom eventually fought a spell that trapped Indigo inside the SeaWing carving Fathom made for Darkstalker when he threw the pebbles from his bag into Fathom's room, along with a spell to create a believable note from Indigo that she decided to leave. Fathom used his magic to bring Indigo back. Once she had returned, Fathom gave Indigo the soul reader, fearing that he had used his magic, but Indigo threw the soul reader away and told Fathom that she knew his soul was good. The two took Blob and flew away from the Night Kingdom with the NightWings.

At Agate mountain, Clearsight told Darkstalker that it would not be the tallest mountain much longer after an earthquake. The two argued about the actions Darkstalker had taken and Darkstalker attacked Clearsight after she compared him to his father. While he had his talon on her, Clearsight slipped her bracelet off of her wrist and onto Darkstalker's, allowing him to read her mind and see that she loved him before he fell asleep.

Clearsight dragged Darkstalker into a cave in the mountain before closing the entrance with boulders. She watched as Agate Mountain collapsed and thought about what she could do now. She decided that she could not rejoin the tribe and instead decided to find the lost continent.

Epilogue

Five years later, Indigo and Fathom had found an isolated island to live on with their three dragonets. Their daughter, Clearpool, was frustrated while trying to hunt a fish and Indigo reminded her to be patient. Indigo and Fathom reflected that they named the wrong dragonet after Clearsight. While their other dragonets, Cowrie and Ripple, fought, Indigo called them over to tell them a story. They asked her to tell them a story about bad guys. When asked about why bad guys are bad, Fathom told them he believed no dragon was truly bad, although Indigo disagreed and reassured him that Darkstalker was not coming back.

Post-Epilogue

Two thousand years later, the skyfire comet passed by the planet, causing earthquakes. One of the earthquakes caused the moonstone keeping Darkstalker asleep to break and woke him up from his sleep.

Variations from the novel

• Arctic does not mention Frostbite or Penguin when thinking about historical animus gifts.
• Arctic does not ask Snowflake if she had seen a NightWing before.
• The graphic novel does not contain labeled parts.
• There are only five dragonets present at the Talons of Power ceremony instead of eight.
• Eel and Scallop are not mentioned to be at the buffet table during the Island Palace party.
• The scene where Clearsight eats breakfast before going to school is not present.
• Clearsight does not mention Snowfox's daughter when warning Darkstalker to not kill Diamond.

Mistakes

• Vigilance says "Prince Fathom of the Sea Wings" instead of "Prince Fathom of the SeaWings."
• Allknowing is shown with mindreader silver scales in several panels despite not being a mindreader.

Gallery

Click here to see the cover gallery.

International Releases

• French: Les Royaumes de Feu en Bande Dessinée. Spectral (February 2026)

References

de:Darkstalker (Graphic Novel) fr:Spectral (Bande-dessinée) ru:Мракокрад (графический роман)