Hawthorn

Hawthorn was an adult male LeafWing and the former primary host of The Othermind. 

Appearance

Hawthorn is said to be gigantic with giant talons. He has long green wings and green eyes. He usually had a dragonbite viper wrapped around his neck. Although he was later revealed to be the host of The Othermind, his eyes weren't described to be white like the ones of the HiveWings when they were mind-controlled. 

Personality

During The Poison Jungle, Hawthorn seems to be a friendly dragon. In the book he is very excited to see other dragons, this behavior is most likely due to the fact that for several years of his life Hawthorn was stuck in an area of the Poison Jungle that was not inhabited by dragons. When Sundew and other dragons arrived he became very chatty and even a little forceful when Nettle, Willow, Mandrake, Cricket, and Sundew all told him that they were in a hurry. Based on how Hawthorn acts around other dragons it seems safe to say that Hawthorn has forgotten how to act in polite dragon society. Hawthorn also shows he is somewhat of a prideful dragon when he brags of his use of the Breath of Evil. When Sundew talks about bringing Hawthorn back he becomes very anxious.

Biography

Pre-series

When Queen Wasp started to threaten the LeafWings, Hawthorn begins to become desperate in search of a way to stop her. That is when he remembered The Legend of the Hive and went searching for the Breath of Evil. When Hawthorn discovered the Breath of Evil, he unwisely grew it so it would only work on HiveWings. During a diplomatic event between Queen Wasp and Queen Sequoia, Hawthorn put it in Queen Wasp's drink. When Hawthorn and Queen Sequoia realize that they unintentionally gave Queen Wasp mind-control powers, Queen Sequoia banished him to solitude to find a cure. While alone, the grasp of The Othermind became a strong influence on Hawthorn. 

The Poison Jungle

Hawthorn was taken over by The Othermind through consumption of Breath of Evil, which he discovered in the Eye of the Jungle. He tested the Breath of Evil on himself, and upon discovering that he could control vipers with it, continued using Breath of Evil. He eventually succumbed to The Othermind because The Othermind kept suggesting things that Hawthorn felt compelled to obey, and eventually, Hawthorn's mental state began to decay, becoming The Othermind's physical form. Hawthorn then began protecting The Othermind by holding the seed it came from, saying it was a prized carving of his. He was eventually killed by Willow upon discovery that he had been strongly taken over by The Othermind. He tested himself to see if the mind-control actually worked.

Relationships

The Othermind

Hawthorn seems very fond of the Othermind, although this, of course, is most likely a trick the Othermind set up to control Hawthorn easier. Hawthorn was very protective of his “favorite carving”, which in reality, was the seed of the Othermind. He also seemed to follow the Othermind’s orders without a struggle.

Queen Sequoia

Hawthorn was very loyal towards Sequoia, and it was obvious that he missed her. He had plenty of carvings dedicated towards her.

Quotes

• "Begone! [...] Leave these travellers in peace!" -To some vipers
• "Well, you very nearly just died! [...] What kind of idiots come to a place like the Den of Vipers?" -To Sundew, Cricket, Willow, Mandrake, and Nettle.
• "If you had, then the others would have immediately killed all of you, [...] I mean, only reasonable, right? You did come into our territory. No one ever does that! So they tend to be a bit overprotective." -To Sundew, Cricket, Willow, Mandrake, and Nettle about the vipers.
• "Oh, yes, [...] I'm Hawthorn, and those were my vipers. Who wants tea?" -Introducing himself.
• "Come on in." -Inviting Sundew, Cricket, Willow, Mandrake and Nettle into his house.
• "Ah, yes, [...] Lots of time on my talons, you know. No one else to talk to, so I thought I'd make some friends for myself. This one's my favorite. [...] They're better company than you'd think. Thank goodness I have you, right?" -About his carvings, particularly about an egg-shaped carving (which is truly The Othermind's seed).
• "I can't help but notice that you're a HiveWing, [...] I hope you being here means peace has finally been achieved between the tribes? So... maybe I can go home?" -To Cricket.
• "Ah, hmmm, [...] Traitor to her tribe, eh?" -To Nettle about Cricket.
• "Oh, right, [...] I know that feeling." -To Cricket about her situation.
• "I must say, if I'd known so many visitors were coming, I would have carved more cups! But these are all I have, [...] We'll just have to share, won't we? Yes, we can manage that." -Thinking out loud about cups for tea.
• "It won't take long, [...] There's a hot spring out back where I can get the water. I even have honey!" -To Sundew, Cricket, Willow, Mandrake, and Nettle about the tea.
• "Oh, [...] That does sound serious! Really worth mentioning, I must say. Yes. I'd call that relevant news. How do you know that? Someone is quite clever, I see. [...] Ah, [...] You know about the breath of evil." -To Sundew when she says the LeafWings are in danger.
• "Did Queen Sequoia send you? [...] Does she want me back at last? [...] That is... Is Sequoia still queen?" -To Sundew.
• "She is! [...] That's... that's wonderful news. After all this time. Still alive! I can hardly believe it. And she did send you? What did she say about me?" -To Willow about Queen Sequoia still being alive.
• "Ha! [...] That is certainly true, isn't it? I mean, that was her intention, sending me here. Quite a long time it's been, for me to be here studying it, all alone. I really should be an expert by now." -To Sundew about him studying Breath of Evil.
• "Well, of course, [...] Rather hard to study something without doing a few experiments." -To Cricket about how he controls the vipers.
• "So many questions! I really don't know if I can do this without tea!" -To Sundew, Cricket, Willow, Mandrake, and Nettle.
• "See! All ready, [...] Please do have some; I'm quite proud of this tea. [...] No visitors in decades. This is so splendid." -To Sundew, Cricket, Willow, Mandrake, and Nettle.
• "Of course, [...] I am surprised it took Sequoia so long to send you. I was beginning to think none of my messages got through." -To Sundew, Cricket, Willow, Mandrake, and Nettle.
• "Well, [...] I was forbidden to return to the village myself, wasn't I?" -To Mandrake.
• "So I sent messages however I could, [...] In coconuts down the river. Tied to the legs of monkeys and birds. I even sent a few of my vipers, but they were killed before they could reach the village. Such a shame; they were smart little snakes, just doing what I'd asked." -To Sundew.
• "I did [find an antidote to breath of evil], [...] That is, I believe so." -To Sundew.
• "Oh, it's only... you know, the time I've lost... all these years I could have spent with Sequoia." -To Cricket about why he's sad.
• "That is something, [...] If it works... I'm glad to know this wasn't all for nothing. And don't get me wrong. I know I deserved this. I told the queen I understood, and I meant it. This was the right punishment for me, the only punishment." -To Cricket about saving everyone from the mind control.
• "Didn't she tell you why I'm here? [...] Because I'm the one who found the breath of evil, after everyone thought it had been wiped out centuries ago, [...] And I'm the one who gave it to Queen Wasp." -To Sundew about why he was punished.
• "I'm sorry, I thought you knew! I thought Queen Sequoia would have told you. Wouldn't you think she would share the whole story before sending someone on a quest this dangerous?"
• "All right, [...] But can I please start by saying I know you'll hate me at the end of it. That's all right. If you could hold back a little bit, though, I'd appreciate it. Fifty years of carrying this guilt has really been a lot. If you can imagine."
• "Yes. Well. Let's see. Queen Wasp was dangerous from the moment she inherited her crown. Her mother, Queen Cochineal, was deceitful and power-hungry, but at least she respected the separate tribe monarchies. Wasp, though... she looked at SilkWings and LeafWings and only saw more dragons to crush under her talons. She wanted everyone to bow to her. That became clear very early on. But that wasn't the worst of it. She thought our power came from the trees, and she thought that if she cut them down, we's become weak. She did it stealthily at first. Stretches of forest cleared in faraway corners where we might not notice. 'Accidental' forest fires that wiped out hundreds of trees. Another hundred cut down to build her first Hive, and a dramatic performance art piece when we tried to object: 'Oh, are LeafWings the only ones allowed to use Pantalan resources now? Why shouldn't I build my tribe a city to live in?' And so on. [...] By the time we figured out what she was doing, it was too late for countless trees. We tried to stop her in all the diplomatic ways, but she would lie to our faces, promise to stop, and then turn around and keep doing it. Or she'd have her guards throw us out-- the queen of the LeafWings, tossed out of Wasp Hive like a spider that crawled in the wrong window! Can you imagine?!"
• "And then she became even worse, [...] She announced that according to the Book of Clearsight, the time had come for us to consolidate the three tribes under one queen: her. She sent Queen Monarch and Queen Sequoia instructions for formally stepping down and handing their subjects over for her to control."
• "Not immediately, [...] First we tried to talk her down. And second... we tried something else."
• "It wasn't supposed to make her powerful. [...] I thought, if I found the plant and we used it on her... that we'd be able to control her."
• "She threatened our trees, HiveWing, [...] The trees we loved, our homes and souls. We saw the war that was coming. We knew how dangerous she was, and we knew we couldn't give her the LeafWings. So we held a peace summit and I... I put it in her food that night."
• "I told her what I wanted to do. She didn't stop me. But I can't say she exactly told me to do it. She could have stopped me, though. I was so loyal. I always listened to her. If she had told me not to do it, I wouldn't have. She never said no! This is really-- [...] I mean, [...] Of course it was my fault. I found the plant; I slipped it into Wasp's food. That was me. Even if I did it with the noblest of intentions. [...] At first, it seemed like nothing happened. It clearly didn't work, [...] Wasp behaved exactly the same, both that night at dinner and the following morning during negotiations. We tried to steer her onto a peaceful path. We tried subtle suggestions, and when those didn't work, we tried to order her to back down. She hissed at us and promised war, just as she always did. So we thought we had failed. No harm done... a long shot attempt at salvation that didn't work. It wasn't until later, when I saw her mind control, that I realized we must have caused it. I didn't know how she figured out what do do, or where she got the plant."
• "The good news, [...] is that now I know what we did wrong. We needed to ingest the plant ourselves. Otherwise there was no connection between our minds and hers."
• "Ah! [...] Those are mysteries I solved with science! Experimentation! Research! Investigation! All the careful procedures I wish I'd had time for back then. It's amazing what you can discover when you're alone for fifty years with nothing else to do. Yes, I know, not completely alone."
• "The snakes, the foliage, my wooden friends, [...] I have extremely strong leafspeak, so I can always chat with the jungle if I get lonely."
• "Yes, exactly! [...] I tried everything, and I finally found this!"
• "It's another plant I found growing in the jungle, [...] I call it 'heart of salvation'. [...] I figure if we're going to be all dramatic with our plant names, I might as well join in."
• "As far as I can tell, [...] It works on snakes... but who knows about dragons? I haven't exactly had any test subjects for that, have I? Oh! Maybe you could eat one, and we'll see if it works on you!"
• "I'm afraid so."
• "Yes, we can do that, [...] As long as I have this friend, I'll be all right."
• "What about my vipers?"
• "Should I bring them? [...] I should bring them, shouldn't I?"
• "But they might be useful, [...] Aren't we about to go to war? Yes, so I hear. So maybe Queen Sequoia would like a few zombie vipers on her side this time!"
• "If it works, [...] And if we can figure out how to give it to all of them. Ooh, vipers might help with that!"
• "Exactly! [...] I'll just have a few of them follow us."
• "It depends on how we give it to them, [...] Ideally they would all eat a piece at least this big. [...] But it might work if we could get it into their water supply."
• "Maybe."
• "I'd wait to see if it works on dragons first. The heart of salvation is rather a pain to uproot once it takes hold... you wouldn't want to overrun your village with it for nothing. Keep a few aside for planting; the rest should be enough for the army, and we can grow more for the rest of the Hives later."
• "That is an excellent question."

Trivia

• Hawthorns, or Hawberry, is a genus of several hundred species of shrubs native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Gallery

• 
  A typical LeafWing, by Joy Ang
• 
  LeafWing Sigil by Platypus the SeaWing
• A real hawthorn tree
  A real hawthorn tree
• Hawthorn and Willow by TRUNSWICKED
  Hawthorn and Willow by TRUNSWICKED
• 
  Hawthorn design by Trunswicked (Base by Joy Ang)
• OTHERMIND By Lamp-P0st on DA
  OTHERMIND By Lamp-P0st on DA
• Hawthorn by Daroganheart_
  Hawthorn by Daroganheart_

Show/Hide Gallery