Humans

Template:SpoilerDragonslayerScavengers are Pyrrhia and Pantala's humans. In Pantala, Cricket calls them "Reading Monkeys." They are regarded by dragons to be somewhat more dangerous than average prey, (though it is noted byEx-Queen Scarlet after she ate Mushroom that they taste stringy) as they have weapons and are slightly more intelligent, though most dragons do not seem to acknowledge it. They are seen as a nuisance and/or prey to most dragons. Smolder has been known to keep a scavenger that he named Flower as a pet who could draw. Winter also had one, his exotic pet named Bandit. Winter later went on to establish a scavenger sanctuary at the end of Darkness of Dragons. It was also shown in a letter at the end of Winter Turning that Vermilion was interested in getting a scavenger of his own.

Scavengers from the cover of Dragonslayer

Flower, Smolder's pet scavenger.

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Society

Scavengers were once the dominant life form of Pyrrhia, easily killing off the dragons. According to Webs, some of the things scavengers supposedly did before The Scorching are too absurd to be true in the dragon's eyes. Eventually, the dragons came together as one and arranged separate tribes, overthrowing the scavengers and almost wiping them out completely. This was known, by the dragons, as the Scorching. The Scavengers have dens, or villages and towns all over the continent, which are frequently destroyed by dragons. They are seemingly obsessed with treasure, doing anything they can to steal it from dragons.

They have been shown to live and hunt in groups, proving that they are very social creatures.

In a Q&A, Tui confirms that scavengers 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 scavengers.

History

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 scavengers in their school, but one of them got eaten by an IceWing upon release at the North Beach in the old Night Kingdom.

Pre-Series

Three scavengers, who were later revealed to be The Dragonslayer, Stone, and Rose, robbed Queen Oasis when Flower's brother impaled her in the eye with a sword. Two of the other scavengers took the treasure, along with the queen's cut off tail barb, and left, leaving Rose behind. Since none of her daughters had defeated Oasis, they argued over who should be queen, thus starting the War of SandWing Succession.

Dragonslayer

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

Assassin

Deathbringer and Quickstrike flew over a scavenger den on Deathbringer's first assassin mission. Deathbringer seemed vaguely interested in them at the time, although later in The Hidden Kingdom he was terrified of them, most likely because of the events that took place in Dragonslayer involving him and Wren.

The Dragonet Prophecy

After Clay and Tsunami escaped from Under the Mountain, they encountered a scavenger, later revealed to be Mushroom, and marveled at it. Tsunami mentioned how she had thought they would be more ferocious. Clay asked if they could eat it. It had stolen Queen Scarlet's treasure, carrying it on a bag over its shoulder. Queen Scarlet then flew down and bit off its head.

During their captivity in the Sky Kingdom, four scavengers, now known as Rowan, Cranberry, Cardinal, and Arbutus, were released to interrupt the fight between Starflight and Tsunami. They had a battle strategy and surrounded them quickly. However, both male scavengers were eventually killed, and the two remaining females were wheeled away in a cage. As the dragonets were escaping the SkyWing palace, Clay rescued a small scavenger that was climbing a cliff, trying to escape, that turned out to be Leaf.

The Lost Heir

Tsunami decided to save two scavengers drifting in a boat during a storm by putting them onto an island.

The Hidden Kingdom

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

The Dark Secret

Starflight and Fatespeaker discover that the NightWings were keeping track of scavenger dens 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 scavengers in the ruins of an old scavenger den, who she named Fluffy and Holler, later to be revealed as Ivy and Leaf respectively. She also met one that Smolder, Burn's brother, was keeping as a pet (Flower revealed to be Rose).

Moon Rising

Winter kept a pet scavenger named Bandit.

Winter Turning

Winter releases Bandit in the rainforest. It is currently unknown what happened to Bandit, although some speculate he reappeared in the desert scene with the group of scavengers Peril finds in Escaping Peril. Winter later saves Qibli from being impaled by a projectile fired from a ballista by the scavengers of a well-fortified den nearby. Winter is shown to have a scientific interest in studying scavengers, planting the seeds for him to later open up his sanctuary.

Escaping Peril

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

Talons of Power

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

Darkness of Dragons

We see a few scavengers held in captivity by Vulture, who is later freed by Winter. In the epilogue, Winter is shown hunting scavengers so he can catch them to observe them more closely in Sanctuary, a new town similar to Possibility that is a work in progress.

The Lost Continent

Blue and his friends found what they described as a reading monkey, and commented that it had a very small book. This suggests that the few Scavengers that live in Pantala are underground hidden away or next to extinct. The book also seems to suggest they have rudimentary technology.

The Hive Queen

It is first mentioned that Sundew saw a scavenger 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. This might imply that scavengers are something of a myth in Pantala, or at least among the SapWings since Willow is the only one on Pantala so far who seems to know anything about scavengers.

Defenses

Throughout the series, scavengers 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 scavengers at a medieval castle den formally called The Indestructible City, utilize the ballista with many scavengers working together, as they did with the water-collecting contraption, suggesting that they have an organized government at the fortress to annihilate and eliminate dragon threats. Many scavenger civilizations, such as Valor, are hidden away from where dragons would see them, such as underground.

Names

It appears that scavengers are named after things that are small and sometimes overlooked, such as leaves (Leaf), flowers (Daffodil, Violet, Camellia, Bluebell, and Rose), small animals (Crow, Lark, Trout, Wren, Butterfly, Squirrel, Boar, Cardinal) and geographical features (Stone, Brook, Heath, Forest, Gorge). They can also have last names, such as with the case of Mrs. Laurel. In The Indestructible city, they are named after redeeming qualities (Such as Undauntable or The Invincible Lord)

List of Known Scavengers

• Arbutus
• Aster
• Azalea
• Bandit
• Boar
• Bluebell
• Butterfly
• Butterfly's Mother
• Camellia
• Cardinal
• Chipmunk
• Commander Brook
• Cranberry
• Crow
• Daffodil
• Daisy
• Forest
• Foxglove
• Gorge
• Grove
• Grove's Father
• Heath
• Squirrel
• Tadpole
• The Invincible Lord
• Thyme
• Ivy (Holler)
• Lark
• Leaf (Fluffy)
• Leaf's Father
• Leaf's Mother
• Mrs. Laurel
• Master Trout
• Moth
• Mushroom
• Petal
• Pine
• Rose (Flower)
• Root
• Rover
• Rowan
• Stone
• Stone's Father
• The Dragonslayer
• Undauntable
• Violet
• Violet's Fathers
• Wren

Trivia

• Dragons known to be more sympathetic towards scavengers are Clay, Tsunami, Glory, Starflight, Sunny, Winter, Moonwatcher, Vermilion, Listener, Clearsight, Smolder, Peril, Cereus, and Cricket.
• Some scavengers appeared to have battle training, as they were able to outwit Tsunami.
• Scavengers have been known to keep animals as pets or livestock. Flower is mentioned to have kept a desert mouse as a pet once, and Daffodil has a pet rabbit.
• Scavengers are quite small compared to full-grown dragons, as Tsunami was able to pick up one of their boats while flying and Clay was also able to scoop one up in his talon. Anemone is described as being no taller than a scavenger, so it can be presumed that dragons are large, even as one-year-old dragonets. When Kinkajou fed Bandit a blueberry, it was said to be about as big as his hand, because dragon food is larger than food on Earth, being proportional to dragons.
• Scavengers seem to be different sizes compared to dragons each time they are mentioned. This may be because few dragons have ever seen them or because of dragons' varying heights. However, those that have seen them say they are about the size of a large dragon's head. It is not known if this is standing or lying down.
• Some scavengers are seen as more advanced than others. In Winter Turning, there was a scavenger den surrounded by a wall. They also had a ballista that could shoot flaming spears at passing dragons. This shows that some scavengers may live in cities with an organized government and have weapons designed to defend against dragons.
• In the prologue of The Brightest Night, Blister described scavengers as being too "bulky and squishy" for her taste. Additionally, in The Dragonet Prophecy when Clay and Tsunami escaped the cave and met Queen Scarlet, the queen described the scavenger she had just eaten to be "stringy and tasting like fish", making it clear that she dislikes the taste.
  • It may also suggest that when Scarlet was describing what scavengers tasted like to her suggests that scavengers have a mostly seafood diet around the Sky Kingdom. Though, it could be possible that that scavenger was a traveler from around the Sea Kingdom, though nothing is confirmed.
  • Since real human flesh tastes similar to pork, dragons may have different taste buds from humans.
• In The Dragonet Prophecy (Graphic Novel), Queen Scarlet describes some of the oddities that are kept in Princess Burn's Stronghold, including "stuffed scavengers with pale white skin", suggesting most scavengers have dark skin.
• The Dark Secret and Talons of Power are the only books where scavengers are only mentioned, and not seen. Curiously, both of these books are the fourth in their respective arcs.
• At the end of Darkness of Dragons, Winter opens up a sanctuary for scavengers, which Tui confirmed we will see more of. It is stated in Winter Turning that Winter had wanted to build a safe sanctuary for scavengers so he could study them, and it may come true in Sanctuary, a town similar to Possibility that is being built as of the Darkness of Dragons epilogue.
• In The Lost Continent, Blue, Swordtail, and Cricket find a scavenger in a cave carrying a book (who they dub Reading Monkey). However, none of them had ever seen a creature like that before on Pantala. This shows that scavengers on Pantala, and possibly Pyrrhia, can read.
• Mind readers like Moon or Listener can hear scavenger's emotions, but not their thoughts. 
• Dragonslayer is the first book in the series to have a scavenger perspective.
• It was briefly stated in The Poison Jungle that scavengers were just a campfire tale.
• In an annotated version of The Dragonet Prophecy, Tui stated that female scavengers are usually smarter than male scavengers.
• Scavengers on the cover of Dragonslayer, are shown to wear modern-day clothing and have hairstyles, although the scavengers shown in The Dragonet Prophecy, wear a different style of clothing.
• None of the covers of the Wings of Fire series except for Dragonslayer have scavengers anywhere on them.

Gallery

• Scavengers and SkyWing art
  Scavengers and SkyWing art
• 
  Smolder and Flower
• I don't know whose this is, but it is really cute!
  I don't know whose this is, but it is really cute!
• Very cartoony scavenger. Because why not?
  Very cartoony scavenger. Because why not?
• me the derpy scaveger
  me the derpy scaveger
• Clay and Tsunami meet their first scavenger
  Clay and Tsunami meet their first scavenger
• Clay saves a scavenger
  Clay saves a scavenger
• The Scorching, as shown in The Lost Heir Graphic Novel
  The Scorching, as shown in The Lost Heir Graphic Novel
• Scavengers in Blaze’s Place in Ice kingdom
  Scavengers in Blaze’s Place in Ice kingdom
• Freeing the scavengers from being eaten
  Freeing the scavengers from being eaten
• The scavengers seen on the cover of Dragonslayer
  The scavengers seen on the cover of Dragonslayer

Show/Hide Gallery

References

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22Xhf7-gpM4