(This is the page for the organization. You may be looking for the book titled Talons of Power or the ceremony instead.)
Appearance
The Talons of Power are all similarly dressed SandWings, with long black and hooded robes and gold medallions imprinted with a vulture around their necks. Some dragons also have dragon skull tattoos on their scales like their leader, Vulture.
The Talons of Power is a large organization from the Scorpion Den led by Vulture, Qibli's grandfather. They form a substantial part of the Scorpion Den underworld, specializing in organized crime. They captured Ostrich and pretended to imprison Cobra. However, Cobra's imprisonment was a ruse to get Qibli to lead them to Thorn's stronghold and possibly assassinate Queen Thorn. Qibli and Winter discovered this organization when they went to the Scorpion Den to rescue Ostrich in Darkness of Dragons, and subsequently find out that Chameleon, disguised as Bog, was being paid to help Vulture blame the MudWings for explosions in the Scorpion Den with fake confessions to undermine Queen Thorn and get Onyx on the throne. However, Vulture or some other member likely set the explosions themselves to help with their scheme, framing Thorn as a useless queen who could not protect her subjects. As usual, Chameleon only did this for treasure and has been shown in past books to adore jewelry of any kind and go through a lot of trouble to gain it, no matter the consequences. The Talons of Power may be the "talons of power" that The Jade Mountain Prophecy was referring to, as they are an antagonist group and pose a danger to the economic and social stability of Pyrrhia.
Known Members
History
The Jade Mountain Prophecy
| Moon Rising |
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Moon has a vision of Qibli shouting at his family, who were wearing medallions etched with "some kind of bird," believed to be the medallions worn by the Talons of Power. The bird was most likely a vulture, heed after Vulture. |
| Escaping Peril |
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When Turtle and Peril await Turtle's friends in Possibility, Peril watches as a SkyWing merchant and two SandWings, wearing hoods and medallions, argue with each other. One of them eventually kicks a dragonflame cactus, which rolls into Peril's talons, exploding in her face. Luckily, since Peril has firescales, she did not die but was in pain for the next several minutes, and nobody else died either. These two SandWings are part of the Talons of Power, most likely buying bombs and other weapons for their organization. Tui confirmed that the two SandWings were Rattlesnake and Sirocco. |
| Talons of Power |
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In the epilogue, it is stated that in the Sand Kingdom, three explosions, timed to go off simultaneously, started every dragon panicking, and black-hooded dragons wearing medallions — members of the Talons of Power — were seen fleeing the scenes. |
| Darkness of Dragons |
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After Ostrich is mysteriously kidnapped by who looks to be Onyx, Qibli seems to know who is behind it: his grandfather, Vulture, leader of the Talons of Power. He and Winter travel to the Scorpion Den to confront Vulture, but he (Vulture) captures him instead. The crime lord then reveals the Talons of Power's goal: they want to kill Thorn and replace her with a dragon who actually has royal blood: Onyx, Smolder's long-lost daughter. Vulture is also behind the bombing attacks (as seen in the epilogue of the Talons of Power book), but lies to Qibli that he is trying to stop them and blames the dragon deaths on Thorn for not doing something. Bog, a MudWing that Vulture also "captured," says that the MudWings were behind the explosions, but it is later found out that Bog is lying and is secretly Peril's dad, Chameleon-in-disguise. Vulture then shows Qibli his mother, Cobra, chained in an oubliette with snakes and crocodiles surrounding her. Vulture says that she was put down here ever since Qibli left as a punishment for her selling him to Thorn. He orders Cobra to be taken out and gives Qibli a piece of paper saying to write Queen Thorn's secrets on it for them (lock codes, stronghold weak-spots, secret treasure vaults, etc.). Cobra is there beside him, whipping all her anger and pressure on him because he was the dragon who got her sent in the oubliette. After nightfall, however, Cobra decides to try and escape with Qibli and Winter. With a little help from Turtle's leftover magical items, they can do just that. Qibli and his new team decide to fly to Thorn's Stronghold and warn the queen about Vulture, but when they get there, Qibli realizes the Talons of Power's master plan: make it seem like they imprisoned Cobra for years, then make them escape and go to Thorn so Cobra could kill her with ease. He tells Thorn to arrest Cobra. With their master plan foiled, the Talons of Power fly over to the stronghold with Onyx, and she challenges Queen Thorn to a royal challenge. Thorn accepts. Qibli, afraid the Eye of Onyx will choose Onyx over Thorn since she is of real royal blood, uses Anemone's weather bracelets to conjure a sandstorm and delays the challenge. The Talons of Power then flee in the chaos. |
Trivia
- Vulture thought that the Talons of Peace was too good a name for that group of dragons, and says his organization was much better, with a different name.
- They also might be the 'Talons of Power' in the prophecy.
- This is one of the only large controlled organizations found in the Scorpion Den, the other being Thorn's group, the Outclaws.
fr:Les Serres du Pouvoir (organisation)
