Jerboa

"What if I made you a brother? Wouldn't that be fun? We can even make him do all the boring stuff we hate, like gathering firewood or cracking the lobster shells. Whatever we don't want to do. We can also make him age very slowly so he stays a cute little dragonet for as long as we want. Oh, and we'll make him a really good sleeper, so he'll nap easily and fall asleep whenever he starts fussing."

— Jerboa to Jerboa III, The Dangerous Gift

(Not to be confused with her daughter Jerboa III, or her first attempt at creating a dragonet, Jerboa II.)

Jerboa was an adult female SandWing who was introduced in The Brightest Night. She is an animus dragon who lived during the time period of Darkstalker, working for Queen Scorpion before fleeing and becoming a fugitive. She is currently frozen in a block of ice under Jerboa III's hut.

Appearance

Jerboa looks similar to Jerboa III, although she enchanted herself to stay an average size and slightly larger than her daughter.

Personality

In the early years of Jerboa's life, she was a good, normal dragon. She worried about losing her soul, and ensured that the decisions she made were not evil. Later in life, her consciousness was still present but very far away, and Jerboa found it easier to push aside morality, eventually disregarding it altogether as her soul gradually faded away. She was easy, lazy and cruel, enchanting other dragons to do what she wanted, serve her, or to do things for her entertainment.

Jerboa yearned for freedom and wanted a dragonet of her own. She was manipulative and controlling of her daughter, Boa, regularly tweaking her personality. She desired perfection, casting many spells on Boa to keep her entertaining, helpful, and obedient. She was hypocritical, often critiquing Boa for being lazy while enchanting her to enjoy things that Jerboa didn't want to do herself.

Biography

Pre-Series

Eye of Onyx Jerboa was commissioned by Scorpion to create the Eye of Onyx — an enchanted necklace with an onyx set in the pendant — to keep the queen in power. Instead, Jerboa enchanted the Eye to choose rightful queens regardless of the royal bloodline and kill those who are not worthy who try to take the throne. She used her power for Queen Scorpion until Scorpion asked for things that would cause large harm to other tribes, including the SkyWings. Jerboa fled and enchanted an animal's egg to be a dragon egg. She named the dragonet Jerboa after herself, but the dragonet asked to be called Boa to be different from her mother. She started to enchant Boa to do the hard tasks and chores and be agreeable and perfect and reset her to a dragonet many times. Jerboa also abducted dragons from different tribes, enchanting them to be their servants. Jerboa enchanted Boa to "fear animus magic" or "not be interested" but Boa still asked Jerboa for an animus enchanted item; she gave her a shell necklace that would bring Boa to Jerboa any time she wished. They had lived eleven centuries when Boa asked for another enchantment, which was on porcupine quills tied together with a vine that would freeze her prey so she could catch it easier. The next day, Boa pointed the quills at Jerboa, freezing her in place. Boa interrogated Jerboa, asking her how many animus spells were on her. Boa said she found a scroll where Jerboa wrote down all her spells that she wanted on Boa, and revealed that she wrote down for her to be an animus. By that time, the porcupine quills had frozen Jerboa in a block of magical ice, sealing her in forever. Jerboa left one lasting magic effect on Boa: "I enchant this dragon to lose a part of herself with every enchantment she made until she was dead."

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The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Talons of Power
When Turtle tried to convince Anemone she didn't have to be evil just because she was an animus dragon, he mentioned Jerboa as an example of someone who stayed good.

Darkness of Dragons

Thorn told Qibli that she felt that the Eye of Onyx was created by a dragon with "wisdom and goodness in her heart." Later, Smolder explained to Onyx that the Eye of Onyx was made by Jerboa. Thorn later states her theory on how Jerboa was playing a trick on the queen, and Jerboa made this clever spell to pick good queens. In the epilogue, Jerboa III introduced herself as not the original Jerboa, but her daughter.

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The Lost Continent Prophecy

The Dangerous Gift

Jerboa is shown in Queen Snowfall's vision, where she saw how Jerboa had started out originally and how she later treated Jerboa III. Jerboa tweaked her daughter's personality to her liking, occasionally even resetting her to a young dragonet. Eventually, Jerboa III found out about all of her mother's enchantments on her and froze her with enchanted porcupine quills. The block of ice in which she is frozen in remains under Jerboa III's hut.

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Legends

Darkstalker
While reading Arctic's mind, Darkstalker heard him think briefly of Jerboa when he listed all of the known animus dragons of Pyrrhia.

Relationships

Jerboa II

Jerboa II was Jerboa's first attempt at creating her own dragonet with animus magic. Jerboa later got rid of her because she "went wrong," though the details of this situation are unknown. Jerboa had planned to never speak about her again.

Jerboa III

Jerboa III, nicknamed Boa, was Jerboa's second attempt at creating a daughter. Jerboa regularly manipulated her daughter's personality with her magic, making her more agreeable, obedient, helpful, and less annoying. She would enchant Boa to enjoy tasks she disliked, to be a talented cook, to dislike music, to love her mother more, and a variety of other things. Jerboa would also "reset" Boa to a dragonet when she became bored, wiping her memories and reverting her growth. Their relationship was severely strained, with Boa running away several times through the centuries. During Jerboa's final moments, she cast a spell that caused Boa to lose a part of her physical form whenever she used her magic, ensuring that she would never forget her mother.

Scorpion

Jerboa served Queen Scorpion under duress, and fled after refusing to enchant something that threatened the SkyWings. While under her control she was kept away from other dragons, tortured by the queen, and made to enchant her with healing and longevity. She believed that Scorpion would use a dragonet against her if the queen found out she had one.

Family Tree

Jerboa

Jerboa II

Jerboa III

Known Enchantments

Phrasing	Target	Intention
"But it was getting so hard to keep track of them, and some of them were complicated … it was just easier to make an enchanted scroll where she could write down whatever she wanted to change about Boa, and it would happen."	A scroll	To change Boa according to what was written.
"This seashell will bring Boa to her mother instantly, at just a flicker of a thought from either one of them."	A small shell	To bring Boa to her when either of them wished.
"Boa is using one of the objects Jerboa enchanted — the stone that builds them a new home each time they move."	A stone	To build a new home each time they move.
"But I could steal someone else's egg and change the dragon inside into a SandWing like me."	An animal's egg	To hatch the egg into a SandWing dragonet. Cast multiple times.
"An animus dragon named Jerboa created it for the queen of the SandWings thousands of years ago."	Eye of Onyx	To determine whether a SandWing is fit to be queen.
"Scorpion's not the only one enchanted with longevity."	Herself	To extend her own lifespan.
"Boa has started over as a dragonet several times in those centuries."	Jerboa III	To revert Boa's age. Cast multiple times.
"Every time Boa tries to use animus magic, she will lose a piece of herself, bit by bit, until she dies of her wounds."	Jerboa III	To torment Boa by making her lose a part of her body every time she casts a spell. This spell is irreversible.
""When I point this at my prey," she'd said, "I want them to freeze in place, so I can catch them more easily.""	Porcupine quills	To freeze Boa's prey in place.
"Which won't be for a long time, thanks to those healing and longevity spells Jerboa was forced to make for her."	Scorpion	To extend her lifespan and heal her.
"Queens die in their sleep of unexpected heart attacks all the time. It might have happened at any moment even without any magic help."	Scorpion	To inflict a heart attack on her.
"But there were servants here and there — dragons that Jerboa kidnapped and enchanted."	Several unnamed dragons, including a SeaWing and a RainWing	To be servants.

Quotes

"Do I feel like murdering anyone today? Not particularly. How about some senseless violence, is that on the agenda? Don't think so. How do we feel about tiny dragonets? Still think they're cute? No impulse to kill any of those, right?"

― Jerboa to herself, testing to see if she was losing her soul

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"No, no, no. […] Magic isn't safe. It's very very dangerous. Only very special dragons should have it, and that's why it's so rare. Only one animus dragon at a time, that's the rule."

― to Boa

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"Absolutely, […] One animus dragon at a time — if there are too many, can you imagine how dangerous that would be? They could get in a fight, start throwing spells around, and destroy the whole world by accident!"

― to Boa

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"Of course, […] We can even make him love to do all the boring stuff we hate, like gathering firewood or cracking the lobster shells."

― to Boa

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"I couldn't possibly remember all of them. I've been trying to fix you for literally centuries."

― to Boa

Gallery

• 
  Reference by Lumin the Whisperer
• 
  Jerboa and her daughter, Jerboa III on the Barnes & Noble special edition of The Dangerous Gift, by Joy Ang

References

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