Peril
πππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππ
| Pre-Series |
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Peril is the daughter of Kestrel and Soar. Their egg held two dragonets β a very rare occurrence β but while Peril was still in the egg, she absorbed her brother's fire, leaving him with none and Peril with too much. Dragonets like Peril β referred to as having "firescales," β were usually thrown off the highest mountain peak in SkyWing culture, but Scarlet said that she would allow Kestrel to keep one of her dragonet so long as she killed the other. Kestrel was told that she had to kill one of her dragonets. She chose to kill Sky, whom she thought was weaker and would not survive anyway, but Scarlet reversed the order and told Kestrel to kill her other dragonet as well. Kestrel tried to flee with Peril, but was too badly burned by her dragonet's firescales and was forced to drop her before fleeing, leaving Peril at the mercy of ex-Queen Scarlet.  Since then, Peril spent her childhood and early adult life as Queen Scarlet's puppet. Scarlet used her in gladiatorial arena battles for the queen's own entertainment and ordered her to kill dragons who had somehow displeased her. She also deceived Peril into trusting her by lying about her past; Scarlet told Peril that she killed her brother in their egg and that Kestrel had tried to kill her, but Scarlet saved Peril and sentenced Kestrel to death. Scarlet also manipulated Peril into believing that she had to eat black rocks, possibly coal, every day to survive with firescales as a ploy to force Peril to both rely on Scarlet and rely on staying within the Sky Kingdom. She once tried not to eat them, as she was mad Scarlet would not tell her more about her mother, and Scarlet put poison in her food so Peril would become extremely sick, causing her to assume it was because of the black rocks. As a young dragonet of about a year and a half old, Peril was kept in a cage of black rocks, similar to the ones she "had to" eat, by Scarlet. On the day before the brightest night, Scarlet had her demonstrate her deadly capabilities to Burn, Hawk, Vermilion, Princess Ruby, the rest of Scarlet's children, and the SkyWing court by burning seven out of the eight SkyWing eggs scheduled to hatch on the brightest night to ash. Peril seemed worried that Scarlet would be mad at her for burning the egg handed to her, and hesitated before Scarlet ordered her to burn the rest of them. Peril could burn through any substance but solid rock, making her nearly invulnerable, yet cursed, as she could not touch any other dragon without burning them, besides Clay and other MudWings hatched from blood-red eggs. Due to her invulnerability and ability to easily burn opponents to death, she was raised by Queen Scarlet to become her arena champion, where she killed hundreds of dragons in the arena without a second thought, becoming a "monster" who did not know how to be "nice." Thanks to Queen Scarlet, killing was the only thing Peril knew and was "good" at. |
πππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππ
| The Brightest Night |
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When Ruby claimed the SkyWing throne, she exiled Peril from the Sky Kingdom because of her abilities. Ruby claimed that she was dangerous and threatened her with execution if she ever returned. Ruby also thought that Peril had murdered her sister, Tourmaline, as a young dragonet. Peril left and began searching for ex-Queen Scarlet, the only mother figure she had left. Sunny found Peril sneaking around Burn's stronghold, intending to free Queen Scarlet from Burn's clutches. At this time, Thorn and the Outclaws were attacking the stronghold, trying to save Sunny, and were vastly outnumbered. Peril asked about Kestrel, and when told about her mother's fate; she was overtaken by sorrow, upset that she had never gotten to properly know her. Sunny begged Peril to stop the fight between the Outclaws and Burn's soldiers. Peril did so, but only so Sunny would let her free Scarlet. Later, Sunny and Peril followed Smolder and Thorn into the tower housing Burn's collection of strange things, including Scarlet. Scarlet ordered Peril to free her and Peril claimed that she would only do so when Sunny was out of the ex-queen's reach. Scarlet became aggressive and Peril refused to free her. The group then left without Scarlet. While the Outclaws are busy freeing Sunny, Peril manages to free Scarlet and they flew away towards the Sky Kingdom, but Scarlet left Peril and disappeared. During the choosing of the SandWing queen, Clay was bitten by a dragonbite viper on the leg, and its venom rapidly began to spread around his body. Peril had a moment of panic and sorrow, feeling as though the world would end for her if Clay died. Denying that Clay would perish, Peril tackled him, stabbed her talons into his leg, and burned out the poison. Although Clay had fireproof scales, Peril's claws put him in terrible pain; he thrashed, trying to throw her off, but several other dragons held him down. Although Peril left a nasty scar and limp, her attack did end up saving his life. Afterward, Clay said that maybe Peril was their 'Wings of Fire.' Saying this left Peril hopeful, though not for long. She then burned and killed the other dragonbite viper by stamping on it. |
The Jade Mountain Prophecy
| Moon Rising |
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Peril came to Jade Mountain Academy at Clay's request. Many students were afraid when she arrived, and Starflight even thought that she was Queen Scarlet, as he heard screams saying, 'Help! The SkyWing! She's come to kill us all!'. As he prepared to fight, Moonwatcher points out that it is Peril, and not Queen Scarlet as he had thought. Tsunami said that they already had a SkyWing in each winglet because they did not know she was coming. The dragonets of destiny decided to give her a room by herself because they did not want her burning up the other students. Tsunami was not happy about Peril coming to the school, but Clay reasoned that every dragon deserved a second chance. Winter and Icicle, along with almost every other IceWing, were appalled that the dragonets allowed her to attend, as she had killed many IceWing prisoners in Scarlet's arena. During the history cave fire, Peril helped pull Carnelian out of the fire but was unable to save her. This left her talon prints on her body, which Ruby later used as an accusation of the death. In the epilogue, Scarlet entered Peril's dreams using a dreamvisitor. Peril's dream was shown to be filled with several Scarlets chasing her through the SkyWing palace and burnt dragon corpses popping out to attack her. |
ππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππ
| Escaping Peril |
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The story begins by following a brief prologue about Princess Ruby, and Queen Ruby comes to Jade Mountain Academy to perform the proper SkyWing death rituals for Carnelian, after her untimely demise due to being killed by the result of an exploding dragonflame cactus in the Academy's history cave. Clay tells Peril to stay inside her cave until she leaves, but Peril, under the impression that Clay had come, leaps into the hallway, nearly bumping into Turtle. He prompts her to eavesdrop on Carnelian's proceedings. They hear a loud roar, making Peril assume that Queen Ruby was just told of Peril's presence in Jade Mountain. Queen Ruby starts yelling at the dragonets of destiny but is interrupted when Scarlet arrives. Peril, the Dragonets, Turtle, and Queen Ruby then go to confront Scarlet. Scarlet appears to be holding what seems like the head of Queen Glory, she then proceeds to throw it at the gathered crowd of dragons. Sunny is left screaming in horror while Tsunami becomes furious and chases after Scarlet. Ruby demands to know why Peril is in Jade Mountain, but Peril replies that even Queen Ruby could not keep her from her friends. Clay, Ruby, and Peril study the head in horror, but when Turtle has a look he finds out that the head is an enchantment. Scarlet had apparently decapitated a MudWing and enchanted its head to look exactly like their friend Glory with a scrap of paper. They are shocked that it had been the work of an animus because there are very few known animus dragons in Pyrrhia. Clay decides to take the head to Moorhen to identify whose it was. A little while later, Peril is left alone with Clay and Turtle. Peril asks Clay what he wants her to do. He replies that 'he won't be another Scarlet and tell her what to do,' though Peril still wants him to tell her what to do. Peril later figures out what Clay really wants: His friends and the academy to be safe. The only way to do that was to kill Queen Scarlet, so she sets off through the mountains with Turtle following her, to her annoyance. A little while into their expedition, they were ambushed by four members of the Talons of Peace (Cirrus, a MudWing, Nautilus, and Avalanche), who did not know who they were or if they were conspiring with Scarlet. After the Talons members confirmed that everyone was on the same side, Turtle and Peril were allowed to continue on to Possibility to find the rest of the Jade Winglet. During this, she has a heated exchange with Avalanche, ending with "β¦ but I'll forget you exist in a minute, so I don't actually care if you die." Later on, Peril and Turtle stop for dinner, and Turtle throws a piece of fish into her mouth so that it is still wet and not burned. After this, Peril decides that she likes fish better when it is burned. Later, Peril discovers that Turtle has been rolling a smooth rock between his shoulders, which she thinks is a bit odd, but decides that SeaWings might have some peculiar ability to heal themselves with river rocks. Peril and Turtle continue on toward Possibility, and repeatedly catching small glimpses of a strange NightWing, Shapeshifter. When they finally reach the town, Turtle suggests that Peril should travel underwater so that she does not burn any other dragons, which turns out to be a good tactic. However, when she comes out of the water, a dragonflame cactus (in the process of being sold, presumably to the Talons of Power) explodes at her feet after brushing her scales. The explosion does not severely injure any dragons, but it leads Qibli and Moonwatcher to Peril and Turtle. Peril starts thinking about how she would defeat them in the arena. Moon then reveals that she is a mind-reader and suggests that Peril should stop thinking about how to kill them. Once Turtle leaves to go see Kinkajou, Peril gets a bit upset and flies into the desert, where she runs into Winter and Foeslayer, who is traveling back to Possibility. Winter seems enraged to see her and accuses Peril of conspiring with Scarlet. They fight, and Peril accidentally burns Winter when she was attempting to land and he swooped under her. Foeslayer commented on how she had not seen firescales in a long time, and Peril tells her to get help. Turtle, Moon, and Qibli come rushing to Winter and Peril, and Turtle heals Winter with a rock that he enchanted, revealing that Turtle is an animus. Everyone is surprised by this, but Turtle assures them that he is perfectly fine at the moment, indicating that he had not gone insane from overuse of magic. Moon then tells Peril about the prophecy, and Peril discovers that they think the first part is about her. Winter insults her, leading to her flying off, angry and hurt. She then meets a SkyWing who wore lots of jewelry who claims that he is her father, Soar. Peril tells him that the name "Sore" is not really all that practical. He tells her to follow him and leads her right to Queen Scarlet. After Scarlet rips off one of Soar's necklaces, he is revealed to be a lime-colored RainWing named Chameleon with invariable scales, who has a grudge against RainWings for banishing him from the rainforest due to his scales. He admits to being the one who harmed Kinkajou for her being a RainWing, and claims that she probably would have laughed at him like the rest of his tribe. He tells Peril about his animus powers (which really came from an animus scroll he had) and offers to give her an enchanted necklace of chains that can remove her firescales. Peril agrees. However, the enchantment also includes other conditions, like becoming loyal to Queen Scarlet, forgetting about Clay, and assisting the former SkyWing queen to take back her kingdom. Scarlet, Peril, and Soar enter the Sky Kingdom, and many SkyWings they pass are still afraid of Peril because they do not know of the enchantment. They enter the hatchery, where Scarlet is humiliated by some of the dragonets, but she ignores them and asks for her grandson, Prince Cliff. They capture the prince and bring him into the throne room, planning to hold him for ransom until Ruby came and agreed to give up her kingdom in order to keep her son safe. Ruby accuses Peril of killing Tourmaline and betraying her friends, which Scarlet replies to by saying that Tourmaline is still alive, but hidden. Ruby is shocked, but Scarlet dismisses this quickly and forces her to give up her kingdom. An unknown MudWing, seemingly one of Ruby's soldiers (possibly Reed), asks Peril what Clay would think. She simply looks at the MudWing and asks who Clay is (one of the conditions of the spell), making Ruby realize that there is a spell over Peril. Peril states that she was only "following orders" from the first Queen. Ruby orders two of her soldiers to lock herself up in one of the dungeons where Kestrel was once held. Scarlet then goes on a tour of the palace with Vermilion to see everything Ruby 'messed up' and becomes furious after learning that Ruby had spent almost all of the SkyWing treasure on turning the SkyWing arena into a hospital, forcing him to help her, and Queen Scarlet taking over the Sky Kingdom once more. After Prince Cliff escapes and reunites with his mother, Scarlet appears and tells Peril to burn them. She refuses, finally realizing she is done with Scarlet and her games, takes off the necklace, and Ruby officially challenges Scarlet to a fight for the throne. Ruby was beaten down by Scarlet and was losing the fight, until Peril shows everyone that Ruby was Tourmaline all along by burning an animus earring worn by Ruby that was enchanted, and Scarlet says she made up Ruby because Tourmaline was becoming 'too dangerous.' Tourmaline then finishes the duel by snapping Scarlet's neck and shouting, "For the SkyWings!", ending Scarlet's terrible reign. In the end, Tourmaline thanks Peril, and Peril reveals who Chameleon is, forcing him to show Tourmaline what the scroll could do. Chameleon was also forced to make Tourmaline back into Ruby, as Tourmaline stated that she only wanted the appearance of Ruby, to Chameleon's dismay as he said that he was disappointed that she did not want any superpowers. Peril also thinks wistfully of how she wished she could dance at the full moon festival. Peril and the rest of her group, who eventually came to rescue her, forcefully confiscated Chameleon's scroll. After seeing Moon and the rest of the dragonets unknowingly get into a fight about what happens to the scroll, she burns it, saying that it was "too much power for one dragon to have." However, in the course of doing so, she accidentally released Darkstalker, the ancient NightWing who's animus power was in the scroll. Since the power no longer had a vessel, it returned to Darkstalker, and he was able to use it to escape his prison underground. At first, the dragonets thought that Jade Mountain was falling, leading Peril to think fearfully of Clay's well-being. Darkstalker burst free of the earth, ominously thanking Peril for her role in his escape. |
πππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππ
πππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππ
Legends
| Dragonslayer |
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| While escaping from the SkyWing palace to avoid being eaten, Leaf noticed a copper-colored dragon swoop past him, leaving a "wave of fiery warmth." This dragon was followed by a "blue dragon" and a "brown dragon," who stops and helps him get to a safer ledge. This matches the scenario in The Dragonet Prophecy in which Tsunami and Clay are helping Peril to rescue Kestrel during their escape from the SkyWing palace. |
Relationships
Peril helped pull Carnelian out of the fire but was unable to save her. She felt remorse for her tribemate's death and wished she could've done more to save her.
- "Her Majesty said I might as well follow my true nature. That's how she raised me β letting me be myself, giving me dragons to kill. Maybe you'd feel better if you could be who you really are."
- β to Clay, about Scarlet (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 138)
πππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππππ
- "No. You killed my brother. You left me here. And it's your fault my friend is dead. I may not want you dead, but I don't want to know you."
- β to Kestrel, about Sky and Osprey (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 182)
- "I'm your friend! You don't need them! That's not fair! The others can have any dragon! I only want you!"
- β to Clay (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 235-236)
- "I thought I was born a killer, but it turns out I wasn't. Queen Scarlet made me that way ... or I let myself become that way. It's like I chose it without knowing I chose it. But you were born that way. You knew what you were like, and you chose to be something else. I guess I feel like I can't be one of you unless I can do that, too."
- β to Clay (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 256)
- "Who are you? [β¦] I mean, who are you? [β¦] I'm not being creepy, [β¦] I'm not, like, putting you on a murder list of anything. I don't have a murder list! Not a to-be-murdered list, I mean. Wait, no β to be clear, I have no kind of murder list at all. Definitely out of the murdering business, me. Maybe I should stop saying the word murder."
- β to Turtle (Escaping Peril, page 9)
- "It's a town full of dragons and more than half of them aren't too fond of Queen Scarlet. At least, they really, really don't like being asked about her. They tend to throw things. Which they also do when you set even the smallest basket of snails on fire β by accident, mind you. Frankly, I think they should rename the place Unnecessary Violent Overreaction."
- β to Turtle, about Possibility (Escaping Peril, page 58-59)
- "If I show her what Chameleon can do⦠I'll be giving another queen his power. He could fly away right now, with no one the wiser about his scroll or his shape-shifting. But if I let him do that, no one will know what he's doing with it. He could end up working for another terrible queen. I guess it comes down to who I trust more⦠my new queen who always hated me⦠or my father, who betrayed me as soon as he met me."
- β thinking about Chameleon (Escaping Peril, page 244)
- "It was strange to realize that a dragon who couldn't be hurt on the outside could have so many ragged holes on the inside."
- β thinking to herself (Escaping Peril)
- "I know, I know, it's my thing, [β¦] but I can't kill him, because of his stupid magic, GROWL. So you have to. Don't worry, it's not that hard, and it would be such a relief β for me, I mean β because I'm having this feeling β I don't know what to call it, but it's kind of big and heavy and annoying? And it's filling me all up inside like everything is awful and it's all my fault? Like maybe all the bad things in the world are my fault? I really don't like it, so if you can make it stop, that would be the greatest."
- β to Turtle, about Darkstalker (Talons of Power, page 13)
- "Well, he's been super nice to me, [β¦] Which kind of never happens, so he's obviously more awesome than the average dragons. And he pointed out that animus powers and firescales are the same, because other dragons are always scared of us, but they shouldn't be. Totally true, right? I mean, I wouldn't want MY insides exploded by magic just because someone thinks I'M scary."
- β to Turtle, about Darkstalker (Talons of Power, page 45)
- "Or you can keep skulking around, [β¦] Whatever you want. I'm going to go say hi to Clay! I mean to uh, him and his friends. So I can tell him what I did to Scarlet! I mean, tell all of them. What Ruby did, technically. But with my help! He's going to be so excited. Don't you think? So excited? I mean, not that it's any big deal. Well, I guess it's kind of a big deal that I stopped his, like, super worst enemy from coming after him. He'll be happy about that. Right? Not that it matters. Why am I nervous? I'm not! STOP BEING NERVOUS, PERIL. Haha! That'll work."
- β to Qibli (Talons of Power, page 46-47)
- "Huh. Looks like a norm-nope! You're right! Stupidest bowl I've ever seen! Can I join in? HEY, BOWL, YOUR SHAPE IS INANE! FOOD PROBABLY FALLS OUT OF YOU ALL THE TIME! I BET YOU DON'T EVEN STACK WELL IN CABINETS! YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! YOU'RE THE WORST! Ooh, this is great. Let's do it every day! I feel much better."
- β to Turtle's food bowl (Darkness of Dragons, page 43)
- "I prefer dragons who are handsome, baffled, kind, and accidentally heroic. I mean, hypothetically, just supposing there were someone like that, I would maybe think they were pretty cool, is all I'm saying. Not that I'm thinking of anything specific."
- β to Qibli about Clay (Darkness of Dragons, page 45)
- "I don't know. Whenever his name comes up, everyone looks at me like they're remembering it was my fault he got out. I mean, I'm clearly the 'talons of fire' in the prophecy. Which makes me want to be like YEAH, I KNOW and I'M SORRY, OK and I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS FROM AN ANCIENT SCROLL WITH NEBULOUS POWERS."
- β to Clay, about Darkstalker (Darkness of Dragons, page 373)
- "Want to go flying with me? [β¦] I mean, I know it's raining, but it's kind of cool to fly in the rain, unless you're busy, you're probably busy, you're, like, running a school, so, that's OK if you can't, we β"
- β to Clay (Darkness of Dragons, page 374)
Trivia
- Tui had originally intended to have Peril die in The Brightest Night, but fan outcry caused her to change this and later give her a book of her own.[event 1]
- In the pre-final English cover of Escaping Peril, Peril was shown to have white eyes, instead of blue.[1]
- Peril is a restless sleeper.[2]
- The possibility of Peril being trans is currently being considered.[event 2]
Gallery
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Reference by CleverBasilisk -
Reference (Book) by CleverBasilisk -
Peril on the cover of Escaping Peril, by Joy Ang -
Peril on the full cover of Escaping Peril, by Joy Ang -
Peril from The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes -
Peril fullbody render, edited by Mimiccering -
Peril talking to Queen Scarlet in The Brightest Night Graphic Novel
- Art by Mike Holmes, from the Wings of Fire Graphic Novels
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References
| SkyWings | |
|---|---|
| Queens | |
| Royalty (Present) |
Cliff β’ Hawk β’ Tourmaline β’ Vermilion |
| Royalty (Historical) |
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| Jade Mountain |
Carnelian β’ Flame β’ Garnet β’ Peregrine β’ Peril β’ Thrush |
| Other Dragons |
Avalanche β’ Cardinal β’ Cinnabar β’ Eagle (WT) β’ Eagle (L1) β’ Harrier β’ Jasper β’ Kestrel β’ Osprey β’ Pyrite β’ Soar β’ Sky β’ Tailwind |
| Kingdom |
Claws of the Clouds Mountains β’ Diamond Spray Delta β’ Diamond Spray River β’ Great Five-Tail River β’ Possibility β’ SkyWing palace |
