Humans, also known as scavengers to the Pyrrhiandragons, or reading monkeys to Cricket, 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.[1]Smolder has been known to keep a scavenger that he named Flower (otherwise known as Rose) as a pet. Winter also formerly owned one named Bandit. Winter established 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.
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. Winter is currently overseeing the scavenger outreach project.[2]
Scavengers were once the dominant life form of Pyrrhia, and were rumored to have easily killed dragons. Some dragons, such as Webs, have doubts that they could have ever accomplished this.[3] Eventually, the dragons came together and arranged separate tribes, overthrowing the scavengers 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. Scavengers 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 scavenger would occasionally be eaten, but dragons rarely burned down villages.[4]
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.
In a Q&A, Tui confirmed 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.[5] This predated the publication of Dragonslayer and The Dangerous Gift, both of which contained major developments in human-dragon relations.
History
Pre-Series
Three scavengers (Heath, Stone, and Rose) robbed the SandWing stronghold and in the process of escaping, Stone impaled Queen Oasis in the eye with a spear. Two of the other scavengers 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.
Mushroom meeting Clay and TsunamiAfter Clay and Tsunami escaped from their guardians, they encountered a scavenger, 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.Leaf after escaping the Sky Kingdom
During their captivity in the Sky Kingdom, four scavengers (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 the Cranberry and Rowan were wheeled away in a cage. As the dragonets were escaping the SkyWing palace, Clay rescued a small scavenger that was climbing a cliff to escape, which became a focal event during the Dragonslayer chapters from Leaf's perspective.
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 afterward.
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.
Sunny met two scavengers in the ruins of an old scavenger den, who she named Fluffy and Holler (Leaf and Ivy). She also met one that Smolder, Burn's brother, was keeping as a pet, who he named Flower. (Rose.)
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 scavengers of a well-fortified den nearby (The Indestructible City). Winter is shown to have a scientific interest in studying scavengers, planting the seeds for him to later open up his scavenger sanctuary.
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.
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 scavenger and saw hundreds of dragons flying overhead.
A few scavengers were seen held in captivity by Vulture, who are 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 with Riptide.
Blue and his friends found what they described as "a reading monkey," as the creature possessed 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.
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. This is the only Pantalan scavenger shown to be above ground.
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.
After Snowfall tells Lynx about her vision of Hemlock and Grayling, Lynx takes her to an area in Sanctuary where Winter is studying a scavenger, 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.
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 was eaten by an IceWing upon release at the North Beach in the old Night Kingdom.
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. However once the war started, dragons started destroying settlements to both find the stolen treasure and avenge the SandWing queen.
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, 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. In Dragonslayer, Undauntable and Rowan mention that the scavengers at a medieval castle den (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.[6]
Many scavenger civilizations, such as Valor, are hidden away from where dragons would see them, such as underground,[7] and Talisman has a warning bell,[8] underground bunkers,[9] and most of the town buildings are camouflaged from the air with leaves and branches.
Names
It appears that scavengers are named after things that are small and sometimes overlooked, such as leaves (Leaf, Ivy), flowers (Daffodil, Violet, Camellia, Bluebell, Rose), small animals (Crow, Lark, Trout, Wren, Butterfly, Squirrel, Boar, Cardinal, Raven, Vole, Mole), and geographical features (Stone, Brook, Heath, Forest, Gorge). In the Indestructible City, humans are named after redeeming qualities, such as Undauntable or the Invincible Lord.
Scavengers have been known to keep animals as pets or livestock. Rose was mentioned to have kept a desert mouse as a pet once, and Daffodil has a pet rabbit.[10]
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 able to scoop one up with only one 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, as Bumblebee was easily the same size as Daffodil. However, Rose's drawing of her standing with Smolder shows that scavengers can be up to a dragon foreleg's length.
Queen Scarlet described Mushroom to be "stringy and tasting like fish."[12]Blister described scavengers as being "bulky and squishy."[13]
Mind-readers like Moon or Listener can hear scavengers' emotions, but not their thoughts.[14][15]
by Mike Holmes
by Mike Holmes
by Mike Holmes
Mushroom from The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes
