Humans

Humans, formerly known as scavengers to the Pyrrhian dragons, are a species inhabiting both Pyrrhia and Pantala. They were regarded by dragons to be somewhat more dangerous than average prey, as they have weapons and are more intelligent, although most dragons did not seem to acknowledge or even notice it. They were seen as a nuisance or prey to most dragons, and are endangered. Winter established a scavenger sanctuary in the dragon town of Sanctuary at the end of Darkness of Dragons.

As of The Dangerous Gift, dragons became aware of humanity's sentience and the Pyrrhian queens issued a nationwide decree prohibiting dragons from hunting or eating them as well as keeping them as pets. Winter is currently overseeing the scavenger outreach project.

Their feelings have been described by NightWing mind-readers to be small and muddled, but very powerful. Their emotions are heavily similar to dragon emotions.

Society

Before the Scorching humans were divided into three empires, the Diamond Empire, the Jaguar Empire, and an unnamed empire.

Humans were once the dominant life form of Pyrrhia, and were rumored to have easily killed dragons. However, some dragons, such as Webs, have doubts that they could have ever accomplished this. Eventually, the dragons came together and arranged separate tribes, overthrowing the humans and almost wiping them out completely. Dragons know this event as the Scorching, but knowledge of it may be lost to human history, as neither Talisman nor Valor have been mentioned to teach about it in school. Humans have villages and towns, known as dens to dragons, all over the continent, which have frequently been destroyed by dragons following the death of Queen Oasis and the stealing of the Eye of Onyx. Before the War of SandWing Succession, a human would occasionally be eaten, but dragons rarely burned down villages. Most humans love treasure, and they are notorious for stealing treasure from dragons, no matter how often members of their species are eaten.

Prior to The Dangerous Gift, most dragons did not consider humans a sentient life form, instead seeing them something closer to oversized squirrels. The existence of technologically advanced human settlements like the Indestructible City seems to be mostly ignored or brushed off by dragons. Humans are well-known to live in groups, even preferring the company of dragons in some cases.

Tui confirmed that humans do not see dragons as intelligent life forms, more as just "giant flying sharks." They do have more clues than the dragons to the contrary, as it is hard to miss the giant castles and structures inhabited by dragons. Tui stated that it's a very debated topic among humans. This predated the publication of Dragonslayer and The Dangerous Gift, both of which contained major developments in human-dragon relations.

History

Pre-Series

Before the Scorching, humans were divided into three empires on Pyrrhia, the Diamond Empire, the Jaguar Empire, and Cottonmouth's empire. When the empires started stealing dragon eggs to use as weapons, the dragons retaliated, starting the Scorching. A power hungry human named, Cottonmouth, led some of the surviving humans and a dragon egg across the ocean to Pantala. He created the Breath of Evil. Eventually he and the dragon that hatched from the egg became attached to vines of the Breath of Evil within the Abyss and the Pantalan humans near the Abyss came to worship it. Paintings were made telling of the Scorching, omitting the fact humans caused it and portraying the dragons as vicious. Heath, Stone, and Rose robbed the SandWing stronghold. In the process of escaping, Stone impaled Queen Oasis in the eye with a spear. Two of the other humans took the treasure, along with the queen's cut-off tail barb, and left, leaving Rose behind injured in a sand dune. Since none of her daughters had defeated Oasis, the princesses argued over who should be queen, which escalated into the War of SandWing Succession.

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The Dragonet Prophecy

The Dragonet Prophecy

After Clay and Tsunami escaped from their guardians, they encountered a human, who was revealed in Dragonslayer to be Mushroom. Tsunami commented that she had thought they would be more ferocious, and Clay asked if they could eat it. It had stolen Queen Scarlet's treasure, carrying it in a bag over its shoulder, so Queen Scarlet then flew down and bit off his head. During their captivity in the Sky Kingdom, Rowan, Cranberry, Cardinal, and Arbutus were released to interrupt the fight between Starflight and Tsunami. They had prepared a battle strategy and surrounded them quickly. However, Cardinal and Arbutus were eventually killed, and Cranberry and Rowan were wheeled away in a cage. As the dragonets were escaping the SkyWing palace, Clay rescued a small human that was climbing a cliff to escape, which became a focal event during the Dragonslayer chapters from Leaf's perspective.

The Lost Heir
Tsunami decided to save two humans drifting in a boat during a storm by putting them on an island.

The Hidden Kingdom
Glory saved two humans with Jambu when they went into Blaze's fortress by hiding them under their wings and depositing them outside the fortress afterward.

The Dark Secret
Starflight and Fatespeaker discover that the NightWings were keeping track of humans for an unknown reason. It was later discovered that they were trying to locate the stolen SandWing treasure when Queen Oasis was killed to find the Eye of Onyx.

The Brightest Night
Sunny met two humans in the ruins of an old scavenger den, who she named Fluffy (Leaf) and Holler (Ivy). She also met one that Smolder, Burn's brother, was keeping as a pet, who he named Flower (Rose).

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The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Moon Rising
Winter kept a pet human named Bandit.

Winter Turning
Winter releases Bandit in the rainforest. It is currently unknown what happened to Bandit. Winter later saves Qibli from being impaled by a projectile fired from a ballista by the humans of the Indestructible City. Winter is shown to have a scientific interest in studying humans, planting the seeds for him to later open up his scavenger sanctuary.

Escaping Peril
Peril was hunting when she found a few humans. She considered killing them but decided not to, as there was a sad human who reminded her of herself.

Talons of Power
When Turtle, Kinkajou, and hundreds of various NightWings flew over what seemed to be an abandoned scavenger den, Turtle idly thought about what he would think if he were a human and saw hundreds of dragons flying overhead.

Darkness of Dragons
A few humans were seen held in captivity by Vulture, who are later freed by Winter. In the epilogue, Winter is shown hunting humans so he can catch them to observe them more closely in Sanctuary, a new town similar to Possibility that is a work in progress with Riptide.

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The Lost Continent Prophecy

The Lost Continent
Blue and his friends found what they described as "a reading monkey," as the creature possessed a very small book.

The Hive Queen
It is first mentioned that Sundew saw a human while patrolling the tunnel to the flamesilk factory. Later on, Cricket sees one in the Glitterbazaar hiding under a basket.

The Poison Jungle
It's briefly mentioned while Sundew reunites with Willow and tells her what happened. Willow mentions ghosts and scavengers as examples of stories to be told at parties and says that maybe the HiveWings who saw Sundew in the Hive will assume it was their imagination and it'll end up as a story like these.

The Dangerous Gift

After Snowfall tells Lynx about her vision of Hemlock and Grayling, Lynx takes her to an area in Sanctuary where Winter is studying a human, which he named Pumpkin (Daffodil). After Snowfall attempts to summon another vision, Winter tells her to keep an eye on Pumpkin while he gets Tsunami and Qibli. Sky emerges soon after she's left alone and distracts her while Wren frees Daffodil from the enclosure. After Snowfall confronts Sky, Wren reveals that she can speak Dragon, much to Snowfall's shock. She then has a vision involving Raven and Mole, where Snowfall can understand their language. They mention that the Abyss is changing for the first time in years. Snowfall then takes Sky, Wren, and Daffodil back to the enclosure, where Winter, Lynx, Cricket, Qibli, and Bumblebee are. Wren speaks to them in Dragon, saying that they call themselves humans, surprising everybody else present. Snowfall tells them about the vision and Qibli suggests using Wren and Sky to communicate with the humans in Pantala. Wren initially refuses, but Snowfall convinces her by saying that the queens will issue an edict that will prohibit dragons from hunting or eating humans in any of the kingdoms in exchange for her help. After the meeting, some dragons like Crystal are horrified by the revelation that they were eating a sentient species, while Snowfall points out that other dragons are going to violently deny that it's true. It's mentioned that Winter is overseeing the scavenger outreach project and keeping Daffodil safe. In the epilogue, Vole says that the abyss is growing and it will soon need a dragon. He tells Raven to bring it "the dragon" to save the village, and says that everybody she knows will die if she doesn't.

The Flames of Hope

Luna realizes that the group is searching for dragons, with them claiming they have not seen one for at least a year. The humans then move, and Luna follows them hiding, hoping for them to not see her. Luna is then worried they have seen her, but it seems they cannot see Luna at all. One of the other humans' questions Cottonmouth, wondering if that would make the dragon notice, to which Cottonmouth responds by stabbing him in the gut and killing him. In the end, they gather all of them, with this knowledge, Luna thinks to herself that the group of humans had something to do with the grotesque-looking human and dragonet on the throne earlier. The humans remark how other empires are collecting dragon eggs in the hope of using them. A group of humans' barge in, bringing samples of the plant, and Cottonmouth reassures them that whatever he was planning would work. Cottonmouth is speaking cruelly with the dragon, and Dusky remarks that the dragonet had been named Lizard, and she wanted an actual name from a dragon. Cottonmouth spoke, in Dragon, stating that she was interrupting the story. Lizard says that Cottonmouth got the both of them caught by the plant. Cottonmouth disagrees, citing that Lizard was rebellious and annoying. It seems more so that Lizard and Cottonmouth view dragons and humans as toys, with Lizard throwing a tantrum when Cottonmouth suggests killing Dusky. Lizard reveals the the only reason they are alive is because of the Breath of Evil and if they were separated, they would die. Another shift occurs and they are transported into the throne room of Queen Wasp with Tsunami, Pineapple, and Qibli in front of them, bound and Cottonmouth then commands Queen Wasp to not kill them, and unbind them in which she is defiant to, but caves in. Luna is then scared for the group, and pleads to Lizard to free them, but she declines. She finds out that Pineapple had been mind controlled and disappears from the mindspace when Cottonmouth came back to it and saw her. Moon tells the rest of the stealth team that Pineapple is controlled by the Othermind, and Cottonmouth, controlling Pineapple, lies that it was Moon who had the Othermind in her head. Cottonmouth wants Sundew to fly to the abyss, and threatened to hurt Luna if she does not. Lizard says that if Luna cuts the vine that is growing through Cottonmouth's and her physical bodies, then the breath of evil will become a normal plant again, and Lizard and Cottonmouth will be gone. Lizard tells her to hurry up and not waste time asking questions or saying sentimental goodbyes. Lizard then takes them to Lake Scorpion, where three HiveWings and three LeafWings controlled by Cottonmouth have captured Cricket and Bullfrog, as Cottonmouth-in-Pineapple, Qibli, Sundew, and the rest of Luna's friends arrive at the lake. Cottonmouth threatens Sundew with Carabid's venom, which he says should be able to absorb a dragon into the othermind on the first stab, as Luna continues to make her way to the throne where the vine that she needed to cut was. In the meantime, Cricket and Bullfrog have been injected by Carabid and are absorbed into the othermind.

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Legends

Darkstalker
There were several scavengers kept in the NightWing school, and Listener could sense what she described as in-depth emotion from them. She and Clearsight rescued the captive humans in their school, but one of them was eaten by an IceWing upon release at the North Beach in the old Night Kingdom.

Dragonslayer
The story of the aftermath of the death of Queen Oasis, from the viewpoints of the humans Wren, Ivy, and Leaf. It is revealed that before Oasis was murdered, humans and dragons largely did not interact. However once the war started, dragons started destroying settlements to both find the stolen treasure and avenge the SandWing queen.

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Winglets

Assassin
Deathbringer and Quickstrike flew over a scavenger den on Deathbringer's first assassin mission. Deathbringer seemed vaguely interested in them at the time.

Defenses

Throughout the series, humans have been known to use weapons in defense against dragons. They do not have any natural defenses. Weapons they are known to use are spears, swords, knives, and a modified version of a ballista to launch flaming spikes to kill dragons. The spear that killed Queen Oasis was described to be only about as long as Six-Claws' foreleg and so thin that he could have snapped it between his teeth. In Dragonslayer, Undauntable and Rowan mention that the humans at The Indestructible City use catapults to fight dragons. The Indestructible City also has a water-collecting contraption similar to a waterwheel built out into the Winding Tail River. Many human civilizations, such as Valor, are hidden away from where dragons would see them, such as underground, and Talisman has a warning bell, underground bunkers, and most of the town buildings are camouflaged from the air with leaves and branches.

Names

Human names generally relate to small and sometimes overlooked elements of nature, including leaves (such as Ivy and Leaf), flowers (such as Daffodil, Violet, Camellia, Bluebell, and Rose), or small animals (such as Crow, Lark, Trout, Butterfly, and mole). They can also have names related to geographical features (such as Stone, Brook, Forest, and Gorge). In the Indestructible City, humans are named after redeeming qualities (such as (Undauntable and Invincible Lord).

Click here for a list of known humans.

Trivia

• Humans have been known to keep animals as pets or livestock. Rose was mentioned to have kept a desert mouse as a pet once, Violet's dads were mentioned to have once kept a parakeet and Daffodil has a pet rabbit.
• Bryony calls humans "underground monkeys."
• Cricket called humans "reading monkeys."
• Humans are quite small compared to full-grown dragons, as Tsunami was able to pick up one of their boats while flying and Clay was able to scoop one up with only one talon. Anemone is described as being no taller than a human, so it can be presumed that dragons are large, even as one-year-old dragonets, as Bumblebee was easily the same size as Daffodil. However, Rose's drawing of her standing with Smolder shows that humans can be up to a dragon foreleg's length.
• Queen Scarlet described Mushroom to be "stringy and tasting like fish." Blister described humans as being "bulky and squishy."
• Mind-readers like Moon or Listener can hear humans' emotions, but not their thoughts.
• To dragons, humans smell like mammal, but odd.
• Humans have dictionaries.

Gallery

• 
  From The Hidden Kingdom by Mike Holmes
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  From The Hidden Kingdom by Mike Holmes
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  From The Dragonet Prophecy by Mike Holmes
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  Mushroom from The Dragonet Prophecy, by Mike Holmes
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  Rose, Stone, and Heath from The Brightest Night, by Mike Holmes
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  Rose, by Joy Ang
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  Leaf, Ivy, and Wren from the cover of Dragonslayer, by Joy Ang
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  Mushroom meeting Clay and Tsunami in The Dragonet Prophecy, by Mike Holmes
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  Leaf after escaping the Sky Kingdom in The Dragonet Prophecy, by Mike Holmes

External Links

• Human - Wikipedia

References

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