Belladonna

"Trying to keep secrets won't do any good at this point. I only see two ways for this to end: with you all helping us, or dead. In the former case, it'll be much easier if we know your names. Or we could skip to the latter case right now."

— Belladonna to Blue, Swordtail, and Cricket, The Lost Continent

Template:Charbox Commander Belladonna is an adult female LeafWing who was first introduced in The Lost Continent. She is the commander of the PoisonWings and currently resides in the Poison Jungle. As of now, she is presumably under the control of the othermind.

Appearance

Belladonna has light green scales with patches of brown, arranged with dark green scales, sharp green eyes, and strange pale burn scars scattered across her talons and up her forearms. She is much taller than Sundew and has an air of authority about her, and she wears several small pouches woven from long grass or fashioned from leaves.

Personality

Belladonna is commanding, confident, stubborn, bossy, aggressive, and assertive. Although she is a mother, she isn’t very parent-like, possibly because the only reason she had Sundew was to have more leafspeak dragons along with having stronger leafspeak in the tribe. Belladonna is sometimes surprisingly understanding, as shown when Blue didn’t want to use his flamesilk to burn down any more Hives, she gave ‘an almost pitying face’. She is proud and impatient and will act upon many things, even when Queen Sequoia forbids her to. She would do almost anything to get revenge. Belladonna is a very fearsome dragon, often choosing more deadly beetles and insects to put in her leaf-pouches. 

Biography

The Lost Continent

While planning out how to invade Wasp Hive, Blue and his friends get captured by three LeafWings: Sundew, Hemlock, and Belladonna. Belladonna forces Blue to tell her who they are, and what they are doing here. After Blue confesses, Belladonna introduces herself and her family to him. When Blue tells them that he and Swordtail are fugitives, although Cricket is somewhat innocent, Belladonna becomes intrigued and begins to trace out a plan. Blue also tells them that they were there to rescue Luna, his stolen flamesilk sister, which makes all three LeafWings come up with a plan. Belladonna tells Blue that they know where The Flamesilk Factory is, and will rescue Luna if Blue and Cricket will help them steal the Book of Clearsight. Cricket refuses, and Belladonna rushes over and seizes her jaw, growling at her that she has no right to refuse after everything her tribe has done to the LeafWings. Then Belladonna, Hemlock, and Sundew pretend to rush off into the foliage, leaving Blue, Cricket, and Swordtail to decide whether or not to take their offer, although secretly the LeafWings hide in the nearby trees and eavesdrop on their conversation. Eventually, the decision is made, and Blue, Cricket, and Sundew head off to steal the Book.

Later, Sundew mentions that her parents are still mad at her for revealing the secret LeafWing tunnels, although it was already decided that the LeafWings couldn't use them.

The Hive Queen

Belladonna and Hemlock are frequently mentioned to be working with their LeafWing tribe on a secret LeafWing attack plan, which turns out to be the Burning of Bloodworm Hive.

The Poison Jungle

Belladonna appears after Sundew arrives at the PoisonWing village, furious for bringing Cricket and Bumblebee, the "enemies", in. She then starts arguing with Sundew as she explains everything she has done while she was gone. After Sundew has left to secretly see Willow, she was summoned by Queen Sequoia to fight against Queen Wasp's forces. Belladonna was furious, arguing with both Sundew and the Queen. She does not appear in the book after she forces Sundew to take Mandrake and Nettle with her to the Eye of the Jungle, so it’s assumed she was mind-controlled by the othermind.

Quotes

"Trying to keep secrets won't do any good at this point, [...] I only see two ways for this to end: with you all helping us, or dead. In the former case, it'll be much easier if we know your names. Or we could skip to the latter case right now." - To Blue

"Sundew, [...] Save that for later. Corpses lying around will notify the queen we're here, which would make our mission harder. Remember?" - To Sundew about killing Blue, Cricket, and Swordtail

"All we want is to level the wind currents, [...] Do you really think it's fair that the HiveWings have had this secret knowledge for so long? That they've abused it to dominate and destroy other tribes? Do you think that's what your precious Clearsight intended? [...] Queen Wasp has already read the whole thing, [...] She probably even has a copy somewhere, unless she's an idiot. We just want to read it, too. Then we'll all know the same things; we'll have the same advance information. The LeafWings won't have anything more than what the HiveWings have had for generations. Equality. That's what we're looking for."

"Make us proud, [...] Do not fail. Remember this is what you were hatched to do. Remember how evil they are. Let your rage carry you." - To Sundew before she leaves with Hemlock

"You can't imagine we'd let a weapon like yours fall into our talons and not use it, [...] Try to think of what we're doing as 'freeing your tribe' rather than 'killing the other one'. Does that help?"

"My daughter could escape and kill you all any time she wanted to, [...] The only reason she hasn't yet is she's trying to infuriate me."

"I'm sure she tried, [...] Probably doesn't work on a superior species like LeafWings."

"Just a moment, [...] I'm not letting my daughter stroll off on a suicide mission with only these two... these two strangers alongside her. [...] I insist they take two of my dragons with them."

Family Tree

Linden

Unknown

Belladonna

Hemlock

Sundew

 Trivia

• An Atropa belladonna, commonly known as deadly nightshade, is a perennial poisonous herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, native to North Africa, Europe, and West Asia. Its leaves and berries are extremely toxic to any living thing that ingests them. Belladonna poison is sickly sweet in taste but deadly. This may be a reference to Belladonna’s personality in The Lost Continent.
• Belladonna was the first named LeafWing to ever physically appear in the series.
• The burn scars on her forearms may be flamesilk burn scars, even though no other time is mentioned in which Belladonna managed to acquire a bit of flamesilk. It might also be a corrosion burn from a poisonous jungle plant. 

Gallery

• 
  A typical LeafWing, by Joy Ang
• Reference by Platypus the SeaWing
  Reference by Platypus the SeaWing
• A real belladonna plant
  A real belladonna plant
• 
  Belladonna by ponyo100

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References

fr:Belladonna ru:Белладонна