Morrowseer

"Now there's no point — the NightWings are already in the rainforest, so we have no reason to join the war. It'll drag on endlessly, and more dragons will die every day, probably for generations. All of them wondering what happened to the amazing dragonets who were supposed to save them, but obviously failed."

— Morrowseer to Sunny, The Dark Secret

Morrowseer was an adult male NightWing who was introduced in The Dragonet Prophecy. He helped fabricate the Dragonet Prophecy and was one of Queen Battlewinner's most trusted advisors, but he was later killed by a volcanic explosion on the NightWing island. He was formerly in a relationship with Secretkeeper and was the father of Moonwatcher, though he never knew about her.

Description

Morrowseer had black-on-black scales that were described to look like a bottomless pit. The star scales on the underside of his wings curled inward like a snail shell and glittered from a great distance, casting a cold glow. He had heavy talons, black eyes, a black snout, strong claws and bright white teeth, as well as light gray spikes running down his back.

He was enormous, described as even larger than Kestrel and Mastermind, and as large as Battlewinner and Tempest. He had a vast form, with a huge, ridged back, as well as a sharp, menacing gaze and a deep, rumbling voice.

Personality

Morrowseer was bad-tempered, disdainful, smug, mocking, skeptical, grumpy, portentous, vindictive, felt superior, and impatient. He frowned often and was willing to unfairly sabotage Deathbringer's mission for his own gain. He often spoke about impertinence.

Morrowseer was seen as manipulative and arrogant, as he did not seem to care about how many dragons died for his cause. He only cared about his tribe and reputation, considering himself and the NightWings as naturally superior to others. He believed the way to be a true leader was to hide any weaknesses or to not have any weaknesses at all. Morrowseer would not make himself seem weak or any less powerful if he could ever avoid it. He was shown to be quite heartless, and would have destroyed every other tribe in Pyrrhia in order to protect the NightWings. He was also deceitful, lying to thousands of dragons about the Dragonet Prophecy without any remorse, as well as killing innocents on multiple occasions to avoid the truth getting out. He was also shown to be sarcastic and close-minded.

Morrowseer was also implied to lack the concept of altruism as when he discussed Farsight's fate to Starflight, Morrowseer claimed that Farsight was foolish for risking her life to save a SeaWing from a SkyWing attack since Farsight was a NightWing and she did not benefit from her actions but was killed in the process.

Biography

Pre-Series

After the first eruption of the NightWing Island's volcano, Morrowseer and Queen Battlewinner wrote The Dragonet Prophecy, intending to use it to steal the rainforest from the RainWings by taking advantage of the War of SandWing Succession. He personally "delivered" the prophecy and gave Starflight and Fatespeaker's eggs to the Talons of Peace, to whom he then remained a close ally. Morrowseer also spoke to Thorn after she fought with her secret lover, Stonemover, an animus NightWing, blaming her for being responsible for Stonemover's fate. Sometime before the events of Moon Rising, he fathered Moonwatcher's egg with Secretkeeper, as it is revealed at the beginning of the book.

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The Dragonet Prophecy

The Dragonet Prophecy

Morrowseer allying with Blister Morrowseer coming to inspect the dragonets of destiny Eighteen years after "delivering" the Prophecy, Morrowseer came to inspect the dragonets after a note saying that "Morrowseer is coming" was sent to Webs, Kestrel, and Dune. He was angry about Glory, the RainWing dragonet who served as a replacement for the the SkyWing Dragonet whose egg was smashed and ordered her to be killed. Sunny, Clay, and Tsunami fought him, and Morrowseer approved of Clay, Starflight, and Tsunami before looking at Sunny and saying "Well, ... we'll have to see about you." Later, he had a private talk with Starflight and left. The aftermath of his visit was the escape attempt and therefore the dragonets' capture by Scarlet. However, when the dragonets were being taken away from the cave, Clay saw a dark figure circle over them, spot them, and fly away. This dark figure was confirmed to be Morrowseer by Tui. He led a squadron of NightWings that massacred all eight of the IceWing prisoners in Scarlet's arena and took Starflight. While they hid in the mountains and watched the dragonets of destiny travel to the MudWing village where Clay's mother and his siblings live, Morrowseer instructed the young NightWing to side with Blister, and to become the leader of the other dragonets. He then returned him to the other dragonets. Afterward, he met with Blister in the Kingdom of the Sea and promised to help her become queen. When Kestrel arrived at the meeting, Morrowseer and Blister agreed that she was a danger to the plan and that they would have to kill her, and then did so, with Princess Blister first slashing her throat then stabbing her in the heart with her venomous tail barb.

The Lost Heir
Riptide mentioned that a NightWing visited the Summer Palace. Tsunami suspected that he was Morrowseer. In the epilogue, Morrowseer met with Nautilus and Blister after the destruction of the Summer Palace. Blister complained about how annoying the dragonets were, and Nautilus and Morrowseer offered her the false dragonets as backup.

The Hidden Kingdom

Morrowseer was with Nautilus, as they discussed the backup plan and observed the false dragonets during the prologue. Squid was the only dragonet who actually talked to Morrowseer and complained that he wanted gold and jewels. (He also said Morrowseer was 'nonagoshabibble,' in response to Morrowseer saying that Flame was 'non-negotiable.') Morrowseer was mad at the Talons for failing to raise the dragonets to be obedient. He took over their training and brought them to the Night Kingdom.

The Dark Secret

Morrowseer ordered the kidnapping of Starflight and brought him to the Night Kingdom. He expressed great displeasure in Starflight's failure to bring the dragonets to Blister's side and chastised him for lacking NightWing superiority. He also introduced Starflight to his father, Mastermind, after noticing that the two talk in a similar way. After introducing Starflight to the false dragonets, he ordered them to kill Starflight. This was both to test the new dragonets' abilities and to see if Starflight was worth keeping. This ended with Starflight surviving, and Flame and Ochre were arrested by NightWing guards and imprisoned for a night. The next day, he sent Starflight and the false dragonets to convince a remote outpost of SkyWing guards to switch to Blister's side. When the mission failed, several NightWing guards appeared out of nowhere to burn the fort down, which Starflight suspected would have happened even if they had succeeded. Afterward, Morrowseer sent Squid away after the dragonet complained about the training. Later, he announced that they were going to train for battle and told Ochre and Flame to fight, saying that he would step in when necessary. Flame clawed Ochre, who asked to stop, and Morrowseer removed the MudWing and threw Fatespeaker in. Viper quickly joined in, and the two proceeded to chase Fatespeaker, who called to Starflight to help her. Starflight joined the battle and knocked Viper off of Fatespeaker, but the SandWing's barb sliced across Flame's face, who accidentally pushed her into the lava river. Morrowseer showed no grief at Viper's death but was horrified at Flame's injuries, as the SkyWing was not replaceable after the destruction of the original SkyWing's egg. Soon after, Morrowseer attended an official meeting of the NightWings. Greatness announced that the NightWings would enter the rainforest at midnight and kill all of the RainWings. However, their plan failed when Queen Glory led her tribe in a preemptive invasion and freed the RainWing prisoners. Morrowseer's death During the attack, the volcano on the island began to erupt. He revealed to Starflight, Tsunami, Sunny, and Clay that the prophecy was fake, devastating Sunny. She fled through the tunnel, and Morrowseer took a step forward as if to follow her, but was stopped by Starflight and Fatespeaker. After he remarked that he had all of the dragonets he wanted to kill in one place, the volcano erupted, and Morrowseer was swallowed by the inferno. In the epilogue, Blister became fed up with Morrowseer's absence while waiting for him at their arranged meeting point. She then assumed that the dragonets of destiny were responsible for his absence.

The Brightest Night

After hearing why Sunny was upset, Glory began ranting about Morrowseer despite him being dead. She promised to bite his head off and stuff him in a volcano, saying she wanted to kill him again. Thorn asked Fierceteeth, Preyhunter, and Strongwings about Morrowseer. She killed Preyhunter in anger when she was told he was dead, believing the three were lying. Sunny saved Fierceteeth and Strongwings by confirming Morrowseer was indeed dead. Morrowseer was later mentioned again when Thorn explained what happened to Stonemover to Sunny. Thorn told Sunny that Morrowseer had talked to Thorn after Stonemover's disappearance, blaming her for it.

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The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Moon Rising
Morrowseer was mentioned in the prologue when Secretkeeper regretted not being able to tell him about Moonwatcher's egg, but she knew that he cared too much about traditions to allow her to be raised outside the tribe. Moonwatcher later mentioned hearing his name in Secretkeeper's mind, and it was confirmed that Morrowseer was, in fact, Moon's father.

Winter Turning
When Winter, Moon, Qibli, and Kinkajou take the tunnel to the NightWing island, they walk by the ashy statue-like form of a NightWing, which Winter first thought was alive since it was a silhouette illuminated by fire. This was confirmed to be the remains of Morrowseer, thus also confirming his death. Morrowseer's corpse from Winter Turning (graphic novel), Mike Holmes

Darkness of Dragons
In the flashback, Thorn asked Cobra if she found 'them' meaning Stonemover, Morrowseer, and Dune.

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Legends

Dragonslayer

When Leaf, Thyme, Rowan, and Cranberry were crossing the mountains to get to the SkyWing palace, Leaf noticed a black dragon farther behind him flying away. Due to the Talons of Peace's hiding place for the dragonets of destiny being in that direction and Scarlet going after Mushroom after the four get there, it can be assumed that this was Morrowseer leaving the cave after he inspected the dragonets.

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Winglets

Prisoners

Morrowseer was in Fierceteeth's story about her past. When she talked about being part of the prophecy, Morrowseer was checking all the NightWing eggs looking for the one that was closest to hatching. He found Starflight's egg and demanded it. Fierceteeth instead insisted that she pick her to be the wings of night, but Morrowseer declined the offer. He took Starflight's egg and as he was leaving, Fierceteeth said that bad things happened to dragonets and that she could be a back up if he needed, giving him the idea to make the false dragonets a backup plan.

Assassin

Morrowseer was Battlewinner's "most trusted advisor," he argued with Quickstrike about whether to allow Deathbringer to go on the mission. They agreed to let him go on the condition that he must assassinate either Slaughter or Vengeance, two full-grown NightWings who were referred to as Morrowseer's pets. Later, he is seen ushering Slaughter out of his cave and telling him to kill Deathbringer before he could be killed himself, but Deathbringer had snuck up on them and murdered Slaughter. At the end of the book, Morrowseer met with Deathbringer to send the young dragon on a mission to kill Six-Claws, a SandWing general in Burn's army, unaware that Quickstrike had died on the mission.

Relationships

Battlewinner

Morrowseer and Queen Battlewinner worked together to write the Dragonet Prophecy. He had been described as 'Battlewinner's most trusted advisor' many times. He mainly obeyed her orders, but the queen generally let him do whatever he wanted.

Blister

Morrowseer and Blister were allied during the War of SandWing Succession. He had an agreement with Blister, meaning that he would help Blister become queen if she would help them destroy the RainWings, in return for Morrowseer lending Blister the strength in numbers of the NightWings to assist her army in the war. In the end, it never worked out. Blister was annoyed that Morrowseer was always the one to choose their meeting spots, with no way for her to contact him between meetings.

Deathbringer

Morrowseer considered Deathbringer to not be worthy of his breath, and was disdainful towards him. He was irritated by Quickstrike's faith in him, and was willing to unfairly aid Slaughter in killing Deathbringer.

Dragonets of destiny

The dragonets were Morrowseer's idea and prophecy, but he ended up trying to kill them, since they did not meet his standards and did not support Blister becoming the queen of the SandWings, therefore refusing to help him overrun the RainWings. He especially hated Glory just because she was a RainWing and a potential threat to his plan, as she seemed like a failure for the prophecy.

Moonwatcher

Moonwatcher was the daughter Morrowseer never knew, as Secretkeeper had kept their dragonet's existence from him. Despite never discovering he had a daughter, judging by Morrowseer's angered reaction to Mastermind noting his and Secretkeeper's lack of any dragonets, it can be assumed he was deeply saddened by the presumed destruction of his egg and disliked reminders. Though they never met in life, Moonwatcher discovered her father's name from glimpsing it in her mother's mind and expressed a faint wish to have known him. Ironically enough, when she, Qibli, Kinkajou and Winter arrived at the NightWing island, they came across the shape of Morrowseer left after his death, and Moon wondered who it had been, unaware she was looking at her very own father's corpse.

Secretkeeper

Morrowseer described Secretkeeper as having "a good head on her shoulders" when comparing her to Starflight and Fierceteeth's mother, Farsight. Secretkeeper and Morrowseer most likely did love each other despite the actions of Secretkeeper when refusing to tell their daughter, Moonwatcher, the name of her father. This was due to the fact that she believed he could not be trusted and would insist that Moonwatcher grow up on the NightWing island. However, when saying this, she also mentioned that she desperately wanted to tell her dragonet who her father was, showing that she probably loved him and wanted the family to be together.

Slaughter

Slaughter was described to be one of Morrowseer's pets.

Starflight

Morrowseer initially saw Starflight as a fellow NightWing and believed that Starflight would be the one to save the world, as he believed NightWings were "natural leaders". Morrowseer went out of his way to save Starflight from the SkyWing arena as they cannot afford to lose any NightWings, even "peculiar little" ones. Morrowseer later showed that he did not like Starflight very much, due to the fact he had no leadership qualities and had antagonized Blister. He saw him as a weak, powerless failure and was often disappointed in Starflight. Morrowseer was often irritated by Starflight, though he was slightly impressed with Starflight when he managed to trick the guards. He was completely willing to kill Starflight, and was going to before the volcano killed him.

The alternate dragonets of destiny

Due to the "extra" dragonets who were deemed unnecessary, Morrowseer was tasked with getting rid of the added "problems." Unfortunately, he did not like any of the alternate dragonets, though he was determined to get them as much training as soon as possible. Eventually, Viper died and Squid quit, though it was Morrowseer who forced him out. He did not favor any of them and threatened to replace them (other than the SkyWing), disliking them as much as the original five. He was very cautious about the SkyWing, named Flame, though, for he was not as expendable as the others. He said he had never a met a dragonet more pointless than Squid, and sent him away to die.

Family tree

Secretkeeper

Morrowseer

Moonwatcher

Quotes

"Prophecies can be complicated."

― to Fatespeaker and Starflight

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"We made you. You dragonets are only important because of us, and we can destroy you just as easily."

― to Sunny

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"On the contrary, I certainly can make my prophecy happen however I want, considering I'm the one who made it up in the first place."

― to Sunny

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"Queen Battlewinner and I wrote it together after the last eruption destroyed part of the fortress. We knew we'd need a new home soon, and the prophecy was our plan to get it. The idea was that we would control the dragonets by including a NightWing, who, naturally, would be the leader of the group. Your abysmal failure in that department was our first problem. Then we'd choose a SandWing queen, and eventually, the NightWings would join the war, with our strength in numbers tipping the balance so our ally would be sure to win. [...] The only really important part of the prophecy; we couldn't be too obvious about it. The rest of it? Smoke and mirrors."

― to Sunny

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"Now there's no point — the NightWings are already in the rainforest, so we have no reason to join the war. It'll drag on endlessly, and more dragons will die every day, probably for generations. All of them wondering what happened to the amazing dragonets who were supposed to save them, but obviously failed."

― to Sunny and the other dragonets

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"Here's all the dragonets I want dead anyway, in one convenient place."

― to Clay, Tsunami, and Starflight, his last words

Trivia

• In the graphic novels, Morrowseer's snail shell-like star scale patterns on his wings are not shown. Instead, they appear to be scattered randomly.
• In an interview at the Rochester Children's Book Festival, Tui revealed that fan letters asking about why Morrowseer is the way he was helped her write Darkstalker's character.
• Tui said that most villain-like characters have a good side to them, that "He was just trying to help his tribe, his tribe is suffering in all these different ways."

Gallery

• 
  Morrowseer from The Dark Secret (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes
• 
  Morrowseer as a Cutie Cuff
• 
  Morrowseer as a Cutie Cuff (official render)
• 
  Morrowseer as a Plush Dangler (official render)
• 
  Reference by SpaceshipEarth

• Art by Mike Holmes, from the Wings of Fire Graphic Novels
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References

cs:Jasnovid de:Morrowseer fi:Huomisilmä fr:Loracle nl:Morgenziener pl:Wieszcz ru:Провидец