The Lost Heir (graphic novel)

(This is the page for the graphic novel adaptation of The Lost Heir. You may be looking for the book instead.)

The Lost Heir (graphic novel) is a comic adaptation of the second Wings of Fire book, The Lost Heir. The art is done by Mike Holmes. The book is written from the point of view of Tsunami. It was officially released on February 26th, 2019.

Synopsis

The New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series soars to new heights in this graphic novel adaptation!

The lost heir to the SeaWing throne is going home at last.

She can't believe it's finally happening. Tsunami and her fellow dragonets of destiny are journeying under the water to the great SeaWing Kingdom. Stolen as an egg from the Royal Hatchery, Tsunami is eager to meet her future subjects and reunite with her mother, Coral.

But Tsunami's triumphant return doesn't go quite the way she'd imagined. Queen Coral welcomes her with open wings, but a mysterious assassin has been killing off the queen's heirs for years, and Tsunami may be the next target. The dragonets came to the SeaWings for protection, but this ocean hides secrets, betrayal — and perhaps even death.

The New York Times bestselling Wings of Fire series takes flight in this first graphic novel edition, adapted by the author with art by Mike Holmes.

Plot

Prologue

A younger version of Tsunami picked out The Missing Princess from a scroll rack. Starflight asked "again?" as Tsunami requested him to help her read the hard parts. After he began reading, she told him to skip to the end. They then read the final paragraphs together.

Part One: The Edge of the Ocean

When the dragonets of destiny spotted an island, they immediately landed, where Tsunami was happy to smell the sea and fish. Clay, as always, felt hungry and imagined a huge feast full of fish and other seafood. Meanwhile, Starflight, who was always very protective of them, suggested that they hide under the trees just in case the SkyWings were still looking for the Dragonets. Tsunami and the other dragonets quickly assured him that they would not be found. After the dragonets argued for some time on how Tsunami and the others would get to the Kingdom of the Sea, they heard distant wing beats. Glory camouflaged herself, Clay buried himself in the sand, Tsunami dove underwater, and Sunny and Starflight hid in the trees. As Tsunami watched from the surface of the water, the group of flying dragons comes nearer. She saw one of the SkyWings open his mouth and mistakenly assumed that he had spotted them and was calling for help. Tsunami suddenly lunged out of the water and bit the SkyWing's tail, and Clay joined the fight.

After the skirmish, they dragged the unconscious SkyWing back onshore and trapped him with a tree trunk on top, then the dragonets flew to a cliffside cave to spend the night in. However, Tsunami thought that the others hated her for attacking the SkyWing, while she believed that she was protecting the others. She flew down into the water, where after several moments of exploring the sea, she spotted her first SeaWing since escaping from Queen Scarlet's palace. She watched as he met up with a green SeaWing and exchanged flashes of light from their glowing scales. Afterward, Tsunami swam up to the first SeaWing and smiled at him. When he flashed some of his scales at him, Tsunami assumed it was some sort of test and flashed back at him. When she began to swim up to the surface, he grabbed her tail, and she swatted him away and quickly swam up to the surface, assuming he was attempting to attack her. Just then, Clay appeared and started attacking the SeaWing, and so did Sunny. Tsunami quickly explained to the dragon that Clay and Sunny were her friends.

Back on the shore, the stranger introduced himself as Riptide. Tsunami explained to him that she and her friends were the dragonets of destiny. Soon, Riptide took them to the Summer Palace, with Clay and Sunny blindfolded because the SeaWings might assume they were war enemies. On their way to the Summer Palace, the group encountered an advance guard. The dragon in charge of the group, Commander Shark, the Commander of Palace Defense and brother to the queen, was suspicious and questioned Riptide if Tsunami was really the lost princess. Riptide told Tsunami to light up her wings and explained to her that because she and Shark were royal, they had the same royal patterns on their wings. Shark reluctantly accepted the fact and commanded his soldiers to kill the other four dragonets of destiny, but Tsunami stopped him. The commander told all of the dragons to continue to the Summer Palace while twirling one of his talons to his comrades. The group of dragons then continued to the Summer Palace through a hidden underwater passage.

Part Two: Into the Deep

As the group emerged from the water, Tsunami was fascinated by the beauty of the pavilion. Riptide explained to her that there was a different purpose for each level and told her to wait at the top level. She agreed and flew up to the top with the other dragonets to wait for her mother. Soon, Queen Coral herself arrived, and Tsunami was overjoyed to finally meet her mother. However, to her disappointment, she found out that she had a younger sister, Anemone, who was also an heir to the SeaWing throne. Queen Coral said the exact same words, "I knew you'd come back to me. I knew you were out there, finding your way back. I never stopped searching for you." as the queen in The Missing Princess, as she missed her daughter greatly.

Coral, who knew about Webs, demanded to know where he was and that he would die a slow death. Sunny stepped up and begged Coral not to hurt Webs. The queen then noticed Clay, who she immediately assumed was with their war enemy, the MudWings. When Tsunami explained that they were the dragonets of destiny, the queen reluctantly accepted the fact and commanded several of her soldiers to take the other dragonets and put them in a cave with a guard, much to the other dragonets' displeasure. However, Tsunami pleaded with her friends to go along and told them she would join them soon. After they were taken away, Tsunami was gifted a pearl necklace and then asked Coral if she could talk to her alone. Coral sent away all the dragons, emphasizing her dislike for Riptide and revealing to Tsunami that Webs was Riptide's father. After Tsunami pointed out that Anemone was still there, Coral told her that she did not allow Anemone out of her sight. Tsunami then noticed strange black stains on Coral's talons and asked her mother, who told Tsunami that it was the "perils of her job."

The queen led Tsunami, along with Anemone attached to her harness, down to a cave, where she called for Whirlpool, the council member of Learning and Magic. Tsunami realized that the stains, which were also on Whirlpool's talons, were ink. Afterward, Queen Coral showed her scrolls to Tsunami, including The Missing Princess, which she wrote. When her mother revealed to her that she was the one who wrote that, Tsunami was surprised. Coral let her daughter borrow several of her stories to read in her spare time. Just then, Tsunami's cousin, Moray, appeared and informed Coral that there was a dead SkyWing not far from the Summer Palace. When she added that the dead dragon was a SkyWing, Coral immediately jumped up and asked Moray to take her to the body, with Tsunami following closely behind.

When they arrived at the cliff where the scene was, while the other SeaWing soldiers and the queen were talking about the SkyWing, Tsunami spotted the body and realized that it was Kestrel, one of the guardians who raised the dragonets. When they got back, Queen Coral told Tsunami and Anemone to wait in her chambers while she dealt with the situation. When she left, Anemone signaled for Tsunami meet her at the surface of the water, as the latter did not know how to speak Aquatic. When Tsunami surfaced, Anemone embraced her sister, expressing how glad she was that Tsunami returned, much to Tsunami's shock. After talking about each other's past lives for a while, Anemone felt a tug on her harness, and the two daughters returned to their beds with Coral. In the morning, she took Tsunami and Anemone to a Council meeting.

There, after Whirlpool gave his report, Shark announced that a war party had returned with "a worrying report." Two injured dragons came to the center of the platform, where they said that they were attacked by three groups of dragons, one of which seemed to be supporting Ruby, Queen Scarlet's daughter. When Tsunami mentioned that she and her friends were the ones who drove the Sky Kingdom into chaos, Coral demanded to know if she had seen Gill. When Tsunami admitted that he was dead (while leaving out the part about her being the killer), Queen Coral revealed that Gill was Tsunami's father, and dismissed her council to grieve.

After several moments where Tsunami thought of how she was the type of dragon who would kill her own father, Whirlpool tapped her on the shoulder, taking her down to the chambers for her first Aquatic lesson. After they recited the first chapter of The Tragedy of Orca, Tsunami did not think she would learn anything like that, so she swam off to find Riptide, against Whirlpool's wishes. When she arrived in a cave out in the storm, Riptide joined her and taught her several basic words and phrases in Aquatic, including "I will protect you". When Tsunami showed what Shark had done when Tsunami saved her friends from being killed, Riptide said that twirling a talon meant "Not right now, we'll finish later". Assuming that the commander meant to kill the other dragonets later, Tsunami quickly left the cave to return to the Summer Palace and save her friends.

While swimming through the tunnel to the Summer Palace, a mysterious dragon attacked Tsunami and covered her face with seaweed. When she finally managed to fend them off, she emerged from the tunnel and told her mother that she had been attacked. Queen Coral realized that her last two eggs in The SeaWing Royal Hatchery could be in danger, so she quickly swam there with her daughters in tow. When they arrived, she found one of her eggs destroyed and the dragonet within killed. Tsunami snatched up the last remaining egg, vowing to protect it until it hatched.

Meanwhile, Coral exited the Hatchery and executed Tortoise, the hatchery guard, with her own talons in front of everyone. When she spotted Tsunami with the egg, Tsunami flashed back "I will protect" (the egg). The queen insisted that the egg would be safer in the hatchery, but Tsunami insisted on protecting the egg herself. However, Coral threatened that if anything happened to the egg, she would lose two daughters that day. When Coral mentioned the terrible floods that happened where Tsunami's friends were, she rushed there to find them half-submerged in the water, with one of Clay's feet chained to the floor of the cave. She ran to the cave where two guards held the key to the chains and convinced the guards, Snail and Herring, to give her the key, promising to remember them and protect their families. When she freed Clay, all of the dragonets moved to a higher cave. Tsunami explained everything that had happened during her time with Queen Coral, including being attacked by the mystery dragon, the smashed SeaWing princess egg, Tortoise's execution, and Tsunami protecting the last egg. Sunny took over protecting the egg, as she had warmer scales. They discussed the possible dragons that were killing the heirs. Afterward, they all slept together in the cave for the night.

The next morning, Blister found the dragonets, as they were in her cave, and Coral hosted a banquet for Blister and the dragonets to meet. During the banquet, it was revealed to the other dragonets that Kestrel was dead, much to Sunny's despair. When the SandWing asked about their secret weapon, Coral led her down to a training arena along with Whirlpool and Tsunami, where Anemone revealed herself to be an animus after enchanting several objects.

When she "accidentally" made a spear fly away to have Whirlpool go retrieve it back, she turned to her sister and quickly explained that Tsunami had to save her from going insane, briefly mentioning their ancestor Albatross and how Blister wanted her to use her magic to end the war. Just then, they saw movement within the canopy that hid the Summer Palace from intruders. Blister flew up and snatched a dragon from the canopy, which turned out to be Webs. After briefly begging for mercy, Coral denied his pleads and threw him in the prison with Riptide, his son, before planning for their execution. Blister also pointed out that they were the perfect suspects for the killing of Coral's eggs, which was another reason they were imprisoned, all while ignoring the dragonets of destiny as they tried to convince Coral otherwise. Because of this, Tsunami became even more determined to protect the egg until it hatched, and stayed in the Royal Hatchery to watch for the assassin.

Part Three: Out of the Egg

While guarding the egg in the Royal Hatchery, Tsunami began to hear creaking noises within the Hatchery. Just as she realized that the statue in the center was not facing the same direction several moments ago, it came to life and began to attack Tsunami. She used her spear to fight it, although it did minimal damage. During the fight, Tsunami managed to pluck out its gemstone eyes and trap the statue by its mouth with her spear as the egg began to hatch, subduing it just in time for her to hold her newly hatched little sister. When the spear trapping the statue snapped in half, Tsunami rushed to the entrance of the Hatchery, where the statue, in hot pursuit, turned back to solid, immovable stone the moment the hatchery doors opened.

After a time skip, back on a beach, while the dragonets were playing with Auklet, the newborn dragonet, Queen Coral, Anemone, and Blister arrived and took a look at Auklet. Coral explains that they had smashed the statue and Anemone had made it reveal its origins, and that it had been Orca that had enchanted the statue. When Tsunami mentioned leaving and going back into the world to search for Blaze and compare her with her other two sisters, Blister and Burn, Coral and Blister both opposed her. Coral said that the Kingdom of the Sea was where she belonged, and Blister said that the outside world was much more dangerous than what the dragonets thought. She also told them that she was the one who should be queen, and so the dragonets should choose her and tell the world. When Tsunami and her friends disagreed, Coral and Blister had no choice but to throw all of them in the prisons.

In the dragonets' prison, the dragonets talked about how everyone they met wanted the war to go their way, just because they were the dragonets of destiny. Starflight also realized that the creatures in the water, which turned out to be electric eels, charged the water with an electric force, including the water running down the sides of their prison "cell". Just then, Anemone came into the caves, and Tsunami saw that she was unharnessed for the first time since meeting her, since Auklet was getting a harness made. Anemone enchanted for Tsunami a spear to find the unknown dragon who tried to kill Tsunami in the entrance tunnel. The spear soon brought in Whirlpool, who admitted to attempting to murder Tsunami so he could marry Anemone instead of her. Anemone grabbed the spear and knocked Whirlpool into the water, where the electric eels swarm and electrocute him to death.

When Starflight said he thought the electric eels needed time to recharge and that the water was possibly no longer electrified, Tsunami called a vote to see if her friends wanted her to go through the water "bars" to free the rest of them. Clay and Starflight said no, and Sunny and Glory said yes. As a tiebreaker, Tsunami decided to take the risk and go through the water. Upon landing safely on the other side, she told her sister to go back to their mother and promised to end the war. After she freed her other friends from the prison, they went to look for Riptide and Webs, who were in a separate cell. Suddenly, Starflight began to smell smoke. Within seconds, Tsunami smelled it too, and she ran out to warn her mother and the other SeaWings.

Suddenly, a flaming log crashed through the canopy just as SkyWings and several MudWings flew in, starting the attack on the Summer Palace. After freeing Riptide and Webs, Riptide confessed to being in the Talons of Peace, to learn more about his father, Webs. When Clay spotted a huge MudWing standing in the entranceway, Webs recognized her as Crocodile, who turned out to have infiltrated the Talons of Peace as a spy for Burn's forces. Crocodile had told Webs to go back to the Summer Palace she could follow him, which was how the SkyWings and MudWings found the palace. Glory asked Crocodile if Queen Scarlet was still alive. When the MudWing said that nobody knew, Glory told her that she was about to find out and sprayed her venom at Crocodile's face. She plummeted down the ledge and into the lake at the bottom.

Tsunami saw Riptide again once all her friends got out and into the middle of an attack. Riptide apologized to Tsunami before they all escaped through the clear area up high. While flying, Blister attempted to stab Webs in the heart, but Tsunami intercepted her and Blister managed to stab him, but missed his heart. Tsunami flew alongside Webs and took him with her friends. For the rest of the day, Sunny, Tsunami, Glory, Clay, Starflight, and Webs flew from an island to land. Once they got there, it was dark, and Tsunami and Starflight talked to each other. Clay brought up the fact that they needed to help Webs. Tsunami suggested that the RainWings could help them cure SandWing venom, so the rainforest was where they should head after they rest. She also hoped her mother and everyone else would make it through the attack. She realized that at the end of the day, before going to sleep, there were more important things than being queen.

Epilogue

Morrowseer and Blister stood over the smoking ruins of the Summer Palace, lamenting the parts of their plan gone wrong. He and Nautilus revealed the existence of the false dragonets, and the three discussed who they should replace.

Variations from novel

• Instead of the prologue being of Webs escaping the Talons, it is Tsunami and Starflight reading The Missing Princess.
• At the beginning of the original novel, the dragonets were already on the beach. However, in the graphic novel, they are just landing on it.
• When Tsunami lands on the beach, she says "Ahhh...". She did not say this in the original novel.
• Some words were cut out of one of Glory's lines. Originally, she said: "Let me guess, [...] You guys, that's the smell of freedom." In the graphic novel, "Let me guess" was cut out.
• Some words were cut out of one of Starflight's lines. Originally, he said: "Freedom smells a lot like fish, [...] Which, to be clear, is kind of nose-curlingly awful." In the graphic novel, "Which to be clear, is kind of nose-curlingly awful." was cut out. Another phrase was cut out, too, with Starflight originally saying: "Shouldn't we stay under the trees? What if a patrol spots us? I mean — [...] We must stay under the trees. All right. Yes. Everyone back into the trees right now.". In the graphic novel, "I mean —" and "Yes." were cut out.
• Sunny never says "Sorry, Starflight." in the original novel.
• Tsunami never tries to catch fish before Clay speaks.
• Some words were cut out of one of Clay's lines. Originally, he said: "You know what I love? [...] Fish. Lots of fish. Big fish I can eat, not these little wriggle scraps." In the graphic novel, "Lots of fish." and "I can eat" were cut out.
• Some words were cut out of one of Sunny's lines. Originally, she said: "Clay, it's only been a day since you caught that enormous pig for all of us." In the graphic novel, "for all of us" was cut out, and the period was replaced with an exclamation point.
• One of Clay's lines was slightly changed. Originally, he said: "Wasn't enormous, [...] That was the smallest pig in the whole world." In the graphic novel, "It" was added to the beginning of the sentence.
• Sunny never says "You should have eaten my carrots." in the graphic novel.
• Starflight is not standing well out of reach of the waves on the island and trying to shake wet sand off of his talons as he did in the original novel.
• Only Snail and Herring are shown to be guarding the dragonets' cave and the key instead of Snail, Kelp, Flounder, and Herring.
• Riptide and Blister have armor.
• At the beginning of the novel, Tsunami sees Crocodile and a SkyWing flying over her saying that Webs would lead her to the Summer Palace. In the book, Crocodile is not present in this scene.
• It is never explained why pink dolphins cannot be eaten, while in the book it is because Queen Coral believes that they could be distantly related to the SeaWings.
• When Tsunami catches Riptide watching her, she says he should never become a spy. In the book, she says "Has anyone ever told you that you should definitely never be a spy?"
• Queen Coral introduces Tsunami to her sister Anemone in the novel, but Riptide's the one who reveals Anemone to be Tsunami's sister in the book.
• When Tsunami meets Anemone in the graphic novel, she never has the thoughts where she mixes up "an enemy" and Anemone.
• Unlike the book when Starflight reveals to Coral that Blister killed Kestrel and wants Webs dead only for her own benefit, he does not mention that Blister cares little for the SeaWing queen's daughters in the graphic novel.
• When Queen Coral, Blister, and Anemone meet Tsunami on the beach after she saves Auklet, Moray is absent in the graphic novel.
• Although Queen Coral is said to have ink stains on her talons forever, the ink only appears for relevant scenes.
• In the book, Tsunami encounters a ship of scavengers but this is not featured in the graphic novel.
• Auklet's egg was never given a harness.
• Moray is never shown cleaning the blood off the floor after the SeaWing guards were dismissed by Coral.
• On her way to the Deep Palace, Tsunami saw SeaWing soldiers injured from the war. In the graphic novel, these were not shown.
• Kestrel is shown with and mentioned to have claw marks on her neck when at the end of the previous graphic novel, she was only stabbed by Blister, not clawed in the throat.
• When Tsunami is following Riptide back to the Summer Palace, she thinks "I hope he meant follow me and not watch out for that monster who eats dragon eggs." In the novel, she never thinks this.
• During Anemone's animus training, it is the spear that Anemone sends away to distract Whirlpool, not the pearl necklace.
• In the novel, when Coral hits Webs in the head with her tail, it says he bled from his right ear. In the graphic novel, when he gets hit, the blood shoots out of his mouth and then stops until the dragonets rescue him from the prison, and even then he is still bleeding from his mouth.
• During Tsunami's fight with Orca's statue, she imprisons it by stabbing a spear into it's mouth, then stabbing the other end into an air vent. In the novel, the statue freezes like this. In the graphic novel, the statue breaks the spear, lunges at Tsunami, and then freezes.
• After the fight with the statue, Moray is the one who brings up Orca's last words. However, in the graphic novel Coral does it.
• During the SkyWing attack, round cacti are dropped into the Summer Palace. In the novel, only flaming logs are mentioned.
• Clay sleeping on Tsunami and Tsunami having a dream that the cave was suffocating her was never shown.
• Queen Coral never said that "squid ink and whale blood" was in the ink she used.
• In the novel, Whirlpool has to throw a plate of armor twice for Anemone to catch it with the spear. In the graphic novel, she pierces it the first time.
• In the scene following Tsunami's battle with the Orca statue, she does not have a seaweed bandage on.
• The mechanism for the waterfall in the prison was a large switch on the wall. In the original novel, it was a chain that was pulled.
• Queen Coral did not say that Orca could have had the privilege to have Whirlpool as a teacher.
• When Tsunami enters the ocean in the book she says the water is salty, while in the graphic novel, she never thinks nor says anything related to the topic.

Mistakes

• Glory is shown without back spikes.
• Riptide's glowing spots on his belly are green instead of blue.
• Sunny's blindfold disappears before reappearing again.
• Riptide's wings change colors from dark blue to light blue and back again.
• The number of glow spots above Tsunami's eyes changes throughout the book.
• Coral and Whirlpool are shown without ink stains on their claws in some panels.
• Coral is shown wearing a bracelet, but it does not appear later.
• One of Anemone's back legs was missing.
• Coral has pearl ropes around her horns and a narwhal horn on her tail which frequently disappear and reappear.
• A line on the floor goes over Clay's wing.
• Tsunami's pearl necklace disappears before reappearing on the same page.
• Blister doesn't slash Kestrel's throat in The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), yet Kestrel is shown to have had her throat cut out.
• Shark's glowing belly spots are missing.
• When two injured SeaWings walk in during the SeaWing Council, they left a trail of blood behind. Shortly after, that trail of blood was not shown.
• The word people is used instead of dragons.
• While the dragonets are sleeping in Blister's cave, Auklet's egg isn't shown.
• When Tsunami is holding Auklet's egg, it is shown without swirls which reappear later.
• Some of Tsunami's glowing scales are missing.
• Some of Whirlpool's glowing scales are missing.
• Clay is shown with SeaWing glowing spots on his belly.
• In the Summer Palace attack, SkyWings are holding burning logs or firebombs without getting burned.
• Whirlpool's earrings disappear then reappear.
• Queen Coral's tail hook accessory appears and disappears.
• The weapon Tsunami uses is stated to be a spear, but resembles more of a lance.
• Starflight's underscales are purple instead of gray.
• Queen Coral's rope pearls around her horns are missing in some panels.
• In some panels, Tsunami has three claws on her talons instead of five.
• Tsunami's pearl necklace is missing in some panels.
• The base of Orca's statue is shown with her name written vertically, but is later shown with her name written horizontally, and then never appears on the base again.

Gallery

Click here to see the cover gallery.

International Releases

• French: Les Royaumes de Feu en Bande Dessinée. La Princesse Disparue (September 2019)
• Korean: 불의 날개와 잃어버린 후계자 그래픽 노블 (June 2022)
• Spanish Alas De Fuego. La heredera perdida (April 2024)

References

de:Das verlorene Erbe (Graphic Novel) fr:La Princesse Disparue (Bande-dessinée) ko:불의 날개와 잃어버린 후계자(그래픽 노블) ru:Потерянная принцесса (графический роман)