Chameleon

"Chameleon. Some dragons might say that was a cruel irony, while others, for instance an entire tribe of RainWings, might laugh and laugh for days once everyone realizes that the dragon named 'Chameleon' is the only one in the rainforest who can't change his scales."

— Chameleon to Peril about his true origin, Escaping Peril

Template:Charbox Chameleon is an adult male RainWing, who was introduced in Escaping Peril. Many of the other RainWings viewed Chameleon as strange and unsettling, and he was eventually banished from the Rainforest Kingdom.

After his banishment, Chameleon found Darkstalker's scroll. Using the scroll's magic, Chameleon created new physical forms: Bog the MudWing, Cirrus the IceWing, Shapeshifter the NightWing, and Soar the SkyWing. He possesses a different shape for almost every dragon species of Pyrrhia.

After the events of Escaping Peril, Chameleon no longer owns Darkstalker's Scroll, although he still possesses the scraps of parchment that allow him to transform into his other forms. His current location is unknown.

Personality

Chameleon was said to be creepy and weird due to his lack of sleep, which is due to his snout deformity. After being banished from the rainforest, he acquired reading and writing skills, making him more literate than other RainWings. He is shown to be practically obsessed with treasure. When he met Peril, he was said to be surprised and even "happy" to meet his daughter, but in the end, it was shown that he is very selfish, greedy, and deceiving.

Biography

Pre-Series

Pre-Series

At an unknown point in time before the series, Chameleon was banished from the Rainforest Kingdom because of his inability to change the color of his scales, which made the other RainWings "uncomfortable." This was because of a snout deformity that stopped him from sleeping for more than an hour. The lack of sleep made it so that he couldn't change the color of his scales, and had also affected his personality. This lead to many of the RainWings thinking he was creepy, different, and weird. Sometime after that, he found Darkstalker's Scroll and got someone to teach him to read. By reading some of what was written on the scroll, Chameleon figured out what it could do and then learned how to write. Using the scroll, Chameleon created many shapes for himself, including Soar the SkyWing. He moved into the Sky Kingdom and helped Queen Scarlet spy on the Talons of Peace as Cirrus. While he served Scarlet, he made a Pyrite mask to hide Hailstorm for Scarlet. As a SkyWing, he fathered Peril and Sky with Kestrel in the breeding program, but Scarlet told him that both of his dragonets were dead, and so Chameleon didn't know that Peril was his daughter until the eighth book, Escaping Peril.

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The Dragonet Prophecy

The Lost Heir

Chameleon, disguised as Cirrus, was part of Nautilus' group that found Webs after the SkyWings abducted the dragonets of destiny. He demanded Webs to tell them how the SkyWings found them, and Webs explained the dragonets' plans to escape and how it was played out. Cirrus asks why they had anything to do with the SkyWings, and Webs simply said that they followed Tsunami and Clay back to the opening of the cave. Cirrus was enraged because he knew they wouldn't be able to survive ex-Queen Scarlet's arena. When Webs suggested that the Talons attack the SkyWings, Cirrus hinted that there are only about forty members of the Talons of Peace, while there were countless SkyWings. Nautilus mentioned his backup plan and said that Webs would be a problem, in which Cirrus pinned him down, stating that Webs had failed them. He was instructed to kill Webs because of the SeaWing's lack of knowledge of the Talons of Peace's backup plan and allowing the dragonets to escape, and he also seemed to take morbid pleasure in the idea of killing the confused SeaWing, stating that he would feed Webs' heart to the fish. However, both he and Nautilus were thwarted and knocked out when Crocodile tackled them, which allowed Webs to escape the execution attempt. This hinted heavily that Crocodile wasn't working for the Talons of Peace after all, and had no problem betraying them.

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The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Moon Rising
In Moon Rising, as the NightWing Shapeshifter, Chameleon spoke with ex-Queen Scarlet in the epilogue, holding Darkstalker's scroll.

Winter Turning

A RainWing who couldn't sleep because of a snout deformity or change their scale color was mentioned by one of the RainWing healers when Winter was visiting Glory. He was also said to have watched other RainWings in their sleep. This was the description of Chameleon. Winter, Qibli, Kinkajou, and Moonwatcher went to the Talons of Peace in order to find a SkyWing that could help them locate the mountain Moon saw in Icicle's dream when she was visited by Scarlet. Upon their arrival, they found a dragon named Pyrite, and Chameleon, disguised as Cirrus, did not want them to take her. Winter thought maybe Pyrite was an animus, and Cirrus wanted to reintroduce the magic back into the IceWing bloodline but forgot the idea when he noted that he showed no sign of returning to the Ice Kingdom. Winter also noted that he and Cirrus should have recognized one another, as he was royalty. Winter asked if Cirrus knew his parents, Narwhal and Tundra, and Cirrus said he might. Later, on the way to Winter and Hailstorm's Diamond Trial, Queen Glacier said to Winter, "We haven't had a Cirrus in many years," and says she would look into the matter, claiming that he may have been on the outside of the kingdom and therefore didn't have a rank on the IceWing wall. Wearing his NightWing mask (Shapeshifter), Chameleon was overheard by Moonwatcher, Winter, and Qibli talking to Scarlet. He later went to the dragonets' camp to retrieve Pyrite and attacked Kinkajou, smashing her into a tree and leaving her in a coma. It is mentioned in Escaping Peril that he did this because of his grudge against the RainWings. He failed to capture Pyrite (Hailstorm) and leaves with his eyes burned and frozen by Moon and Winter, although it healed when he changed "faces."

Escaping Peril

As Cirrus, Chameleon stopped Peril and Turtle on their adventure with the Talons of Peace. When Avalanche mentioned Kestrel in a speech she gave about how she wanted to kill Peril when she was a dragonet, Cirrus asked questions about Kestrel and found out that Peril was Kestrel's daughter. Later Turtle saw a dragon, most likely Chameleon, diving into the forest behind him and Peril. The next morning, Turtle found talonprints that didn't belong to him or Peril beside their sleeping spot. They likely belonged to Chameleon. When Peril and Turtle flew away, Peril spotted Chameleon in his NightWing form staring at her. As Peril perched on the sandstone formation outside of Possibility, a large SkyWing came flying towards her but was distracted by Winter and Foeslayer's arrival. After Winter and Peril's fight, Peril flew away from the scene, and the SkyWing started flying with her. He told her his name was Soar and then revealed that he was her father. They were joined by ex-Queen Scarlet, and the SkyWing informed Peril that he was a RainWing named Chameleon. He offered her a gift of a strange necklace that he claimed would cancel the effects of her firescales. Peril accepted the gift, but unknown to her, it was also rigged with a loyalty enchantment to Scarlet, and it made her forget Clay. When Ruby/Tourmaline retook the throne, a guard came running saying that a NightWing had appeared inside the throne room. This was Chameleon in his NightWing form. Peril and the others (Moon, Qibli, Winter, and Turtle) went to confront Chameleon, but they found he was too powerful for them to take on. Turtle used his magic to steal his scroll, and then they ran away. In the process, however, Turtle smashed the scroll into Chameleon's face, injuring him severely.

Talons of Power
Turtle had thoughts about beating up Chameleon, worrying that he had damaged his soul.

Darkness of Dragons

In Darkness of Dragons, Chameleon, disguised as a MudWing named Bog, appeared as a false hostage in Vulture's lair. He told Qibli and Winter that the MudWings were causing the explosions in the SandWing kingdom and preparing to start a war, though Qibli could tell that he was lying. Later, when Qibli and Winter (along with Cobra and Ostrich who were elsewhere at the time) were trying to escape Vulture's compound, they ran into him as Winter was attempting to free Vulture's scavenger prisoners. He asked what they were doing and recognized them from his time as Shapeshifter. Qibli and Winter tried to fight him, but he threatened to kill the scavenger if they didn't let him go. Winter did not continue fighting after that. Qibli and Winter then managed to get back to Cobra and Ostrich. Bog later appeared in the Night Kingdom, and Kinkajou, who was investigating the area, started to "stealthily" follow him. Bog walked into a room and closed the door, later coming out as Chameleon's superpowered NightWing form, Shapeshifter. Kinkajou relayed this information to Qibli, who quickly realized that the two dragons were Chameleon, and most likely arrived with Vulture. Qibli and Kinkajou devised a plan to steal Chameleon's pieces of Darkstalker's Talisman. Qibli walked up and acted as a distraction, while Kinkajou grabbed Chameleon's earring, which had the pieces of talisman in it. Chameleon was quickly told off by Qibli, then knocked out by Kinkajou. The pieces of the scroll were later used to give Darkstalker a new life as Peacemaker.

Relationships

Peril

Peril is his daughter. They initially had a good relationship, but as she learned more about Chameleon's actions - hurting Kinkajou and enchanting her to forget about Clay and be completely loyal to Queen Scarlet - the relationship between the two of them deteriorated. She has not seen him since Escaping Peril.

Family Tree

Kestrel

Soar

Peril

Sky

Trivia

• Chameleon's name is ironic, as an actual chameleon can change the color of its scales, but Chameleon, the RainWing, cannot.
• Whenever he changes into a different form, it "resets;" (i.e. when he puts on the Soar mask, all traces of previous battles or other activities from when he was previously Soar would disappear). This would be consistent with Peril's noticing he had no scars.
• In Escaping Peril, he said he has a form for almost every tribe, but the SeaWing and the SandWing forms have never appeared.
• He is technically the first RainWing to join the Talons of Peace.
• It is said that the RainWing healers in Escaping Peril thought that Chameleon couldn’t change color because of a snout deformity.

References

de:Cameleon fr:Caméléon

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