[[quoteright:241:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/book1_smaller.png]]
[[caption-width-right:241:"Here there be dragons" might be an understatement.]]
->''"Five eggs to hatch on Brightest Night. Five Dragons born to end the fight. Darkness will rise to bring the light. The Dragonets are coming..."''
-->--'''Last lines of The Dragonet Prophecy'''

''Wings of Fire'' is a series of dragon-centric children's fantasy books by Tui T. Sutherland, a member of the Creator/ErinHunter team. The books take place on the ConstructedWorld of Pyrrhia, a continent on a planet only known as "the dragon planet". Pyrrhia is inhabited by seven different tribes: the [=IceWings=], [=SandWings=], [=SkyWings=], [=MudWings=], [=RainWings=], [=NightWings=], and [=SeaWings=].

Twenty years ago, Queen Oasis of the [=SandWings=] was killed by a group of humans who sought her treasure. Without a clear heir, her three daughters began to fight over the [=SandWing=] throne, which led to an all-out war that has torn Pyrrhia apart. Fourteen years later, the [=NightWings=] foresaw a prophecy that a group of dragons born on the brightest night (a rare time in Pyrrhia when all three of its moons are full), the Dragonets of Destiny, would choose a queen, stop the war, and bring peace. Now six years old and trapped under a cave for all their lives, the Dragonets of Destiny decide to escape, meet their families, and somehow save the world in the process. Each book is from the point of view of one of the five dragonets.

'''First arc:'''

# ''The Dragonet Prophecy'' (2012): Details the dragonets' training and as they escape out into the world, focusing on [[IdiotHero Clay]].
# ''The Lost Heir'' (2013): Chronicles the dragonets' ongoing search for their parents, focusing on [[ActionGirl Tsunami]].
# ''The Hidden Kingdom'' (2013): Follows their attempt to escape the war by retreating into neutral [=RainWing=] territory, and is told from [[DeadpanSnarker Glory's]] point of view.
# ''The Dark Secret'' (2013): Focuses on [[LovableCoward Starflight]].
# ''The Brightest Night'' (2014): Focuses on [[ThePollyanna Sunny's]] efforts to put an end to the war once and for all.

The second arc takes place after the first one. Pyrrhia has entered a time of peace, and the Dragonets of Destiny have opened up a school, the Jade Mountain Academy. Moonwatcher, a [=NightWing=] dragonet, enrolls in the school, but as strange things begin to happen around her, it's up to her and her new friends to find out what's going on and get to the bottom of it.

'''Second arc:'''

# ''Moon Rising'' (2015): Centers on a young [=NightWing=] called [[ShrinkingViolet Moonwatcher]].
# ''Winter Turning'' (2015): Led by [[ByronicHero Winter]].
# ''Escaping Peril'' (2016): Follows [[TheAtoner Peril]].
# ''Talons of Power'' (2016): From the perspective of [[SquishyWizard Turtle]].
# ''Darkness of Dragons'' (2017): Focuses on [[GuileHero Qibli]].

The third arc introduced a new continent, Pantala, and three new tribes: [=HiveWings=], [=SilkWings=], and [=LeafWings=]. Blue has lived a relative happiness as a second-class citizen in Cicida Hive with his stepsister Luna. However, when Luna begins displaying a strange and rare ability, Blue realizes that something very sinister is going on, and along with some unlikely allies, finds secrets that are far more dangerous than he could've ever imagined.

'''Third arc:'''

# ''The Lost Continent'' (2018): Led by [[WideEyedIdealist Blue]].
# ''The Hive Queen'' (2018): Focuses on [[CuriousAsAMonkey Cricket]].
# ''The Poison Jungle'' (2019): Focuses on [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Sundew]].
# ''The Dangerous Gift'' (2021): From the perspective of [[TheParanoiac Queen Snowfall]].
# ''The Flames of Hope'' (2022): Focuses on Luna.

There is also a series of E-Books called ''Winglets'', exploring the backstories of some of the side characters.

# ''Prisoners'': From Fierceteeth's perspective.
# ''Assassin'' Follows [[DeadpanSnarker Deathbringer]].
# ''Deserter'': Follows Six-Claws.
# ''Runaway'': Follows Arctic and Foeslayer.

The series has also been adapted into [[ComicBook/WingsOfFire graphic novels]].

There is also a series of extra-length {{prequel}} books, ''Wings of Fire: Legends''. Only two have been released as of yet -- ''Darkstalker'', released in 2016, is from the points of view of Darkstalker, Fathom, and Clearsight. The second one, ''Dragonslayer'', was released in 2020, and is shown through the point of view of three [[HumansByAnyOtherName scavengers]] named Ivy, Leaf, and Wren.

On March 5, 2020, it was announced that an animated television series adaptation was in development at Creator/{{Netflix}} and would have been made by Creator/WarnerBrosAnimation and Creator/AvaDuVernay. However, on [[https://variety.com/2022/film/news/netflix-animated-series-wings-of-fire-antiracist-baby-1235269747/ May 17, 2022]], Netflix suddenly announced its cancellation mid-development, alongside a bunch of animated projects. On [[https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/wings-of-fire-animated-series-amazon-netflix-1235919326/ February 22, 2024]], [[Creator/AmazonStudios Amazon MGM Studios]] announced acquisition of the rights to develop the series, but with an entirely different creative team. Marc Resteghini of Jack Tar Productions will serve as executive producer.

Please add all new character tropes to the [[Characters/WingsOfFire character sheet]].
----
!!This series provides examples of:
* AccidentalMurder: Queen Coral killing her first daughter Orca by [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice stabbing her with a narwhal horn]] after being challenged for the throne was completely accidental.
* ADayInTheLimelight: The winglet e-books are this for its protagonists (Fierceteeth, Deathbringer, Six-Claws, and Snowflake). All of them are written in the point-of-view of supporting characters and focus on their perspectives on certain events or their backstories.
* AnimalMotifs: [=SilkWings=] are based off of butterflies, being four-winged dragons who come in a variety of bright colors and go through a metamorphosis where they gain wings when they've reached a certain age.
* AfterActionHealingDrama: After Moon, Winter, Qibli, and Kinkajou's fight with [[spoiler: Chameleon]] and TheReveal that [[spoiler:Pyrite is actually Hailstorm]], the dragonets then have to fly to Possibility to get medical treatment for the gravely injured [[spoiler:Kinkajou.]]
* AlasPoorVillain: While Arctic was a terrible husband and father who tried to kidnap his daughter, his death [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath (being forced by his own son to rip out his tongue and disembowel himself in front of a crowd)]] is so gruesome that it's hard not to feel bad for him.
* AlienBlood: [=IceWing=] blood is blue.
* AlienSky: The planet both Pyrrhia and Pantala are on has three moons.
* AliensNeverInventedTheWheel:
** The [=NightWings=] are the most technologically and scientifically advanced tribe and know about things like desalinization, genetics and germ theory, but they apparently never invented glass, considering the impractical device Mastermind makes to [[spoiler:shield the eyes from [=RainWing=] venom.]]
** [[DownplayedTrope [=HiveWings=], however, do have glass, as well as things like bound books (the Pyrrhian tribes use scrolls), sugar, and currency, and are more technologically and architecturally advanced than the Pyrrhian dragons in general. However, while they have indoor plumbing, greenhouses, hydroponics, megacities and ''remote controlled tranquilizers'', they don't seem to have figured out concrete, candles or coal.]]
* AllDeathsFinal: Animus magic is incapable of resurrecting the dead.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: In the first arc, Fatespeaker is in love with Starflight, who is in love with Sunny. In the second series, Umber is suggested to have a crush on Qibli, who is suggested to have a crush on Moonwatcher. Winter also has a crush on Moonwatcher, and Kinkajou has a crush on Winter, and Turtle has an implied crush on Kinkajou.
* AlliterativeFamily: The three [=SandWing=] sisters are '''B'''urn, '''B'''lister, and '''B'''laze.
* AllOfThem:
** Willow is horrified when she finds out that Sundew was seen by [=HiveWings=] during her mission and asks Sundew how many have seen her, thinking it was a very small number or even just one. Sundew responds that [[OhCrap ''all'' of them did.]]
** [[spoiler:Darkstalker doesn't just want to kill the [=IceWing=] queen...]]
* AnAesop:
** Sometimes, things aren't as perfect you thought it would be and you'll end up disappointed and unsatisfied with it. However, just because something isn't what you expected, that doesn't mean you can't find some sort of beauty or value in it.
** Your upbringing, abilities, or skill set does not make you a bad person. It's your actions that make you a bad person, and everyone, no matter who they are, has the potential to be a good person.
** It's not healthy to be angry all the time and lash out whenever something's going wrong for you, nor is it healthy to suppress that anger deep down. The key is to control your anger and use it to your advantage when needed.
** Relating to the first point: the group that you were and raised in is ''not'' perfect, and some of its members have done horrible things, as Winter and Sundew learn. Stereotyping other groups and thinking your group as superior to theirs is also not good. Once you go out into the world, you'll realize that your group's views aren't necessarily correct and that other groups and people aren't what you thought they were.
* TheAntiNihilist: In book 6, when [[spoiler: Sora]] is fussing over how everyone probably suspected from the start [[spoiler: she planted the bomb that killed two dragons and injured Tamarin]], Moon is the first to voice that's not true: dragons are self-centered by nature, and thus were thinking more about themselves at the time. On paper, this is a rather demoralizing testament that the dragons of Phyrria are selfish through and through. But for Moon, this is an oddly comforting thought. Because it lets her know that ''[[YouAreNotAlone everyone]]'' has worries and insecurities about how others will view them. If anything, this lets Moon know that her imaginary audience was ''just that'' and nothing more.
* AnArmAndALeg: Dune lost his leg due to [=IceWing=] soldiers. He also has a shredded wing, courtesy of Burn, making him unable to fly. He gets killed by Scarlet for this exact reason.
* AncientArtifact: Animus-touched objects.
* AndIMustScream:
** After Darkstalker loses the bracelet, he is trapped underground without his animus powers, fully conscious but unable to escape.
** Foeslayer is trapped in an ice tunnel for nearly 2,000 years, where she is killed repeatedly during a practice known as the Diamond Trial as "revenge" for supposedly stealing Prince Arctic, the last animus [=IceWing=]. Luckily, she gets freed by Winter and Hailstorm, and now lives a happy life in the rainforest.
** Indigo, who Darkstalker fears is becoming a rift in his and Fathom's friendship, as well as her being suspicious of him, is trapped inside of an octopus carving Fathom made for her for months without anyone noticing.
** Mastermind is punished by the [=RainWings=] by being thrown in quicksand and being pulled back out when he's about to die, as the [=RainWings=] don't have a prison where they can keep him in.
* AnIcePerson: The [=IceWing=] dragons breathe a freezing mist instead of fire.
* AnimalAssassin: In ''The Brightest Night'', Blister tries to use venomous dragonbite vipers, which she had given Burn as a gift, to kill her. [[spoiler: Burn never takes them, but in the peace meeting that the dragonets of destiny organize, she tries to give the snakes to Burn instead. Burn tries to [[KarmicDeath kill Blister with one of the snakes]], but ends up dead instead because she doesn't realize that there are two.]]
* AncientEvil:
** Darkstalker is the oldest dragon in the series, having been trapped under a mountain for 2,000 years.
** [[spoiler:The Othermind has been alive for thousands of years, even before the first [=BeetleWings=] and [=LeafWings=] flew to Pantala.]]
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Turtle apparently has these. When Peril and Cliff get in an argument about who really saved the day, Turtle declares that he has brothers, so he knows Peril will never win.
* AntiClimax: A justified example with ''Darkstalker'', as the main antagonist in question is both invincible ''and'' immortal. The book sets up a confrontation between Clearsight, Darkstalker, Indigo, and Fathom, with the latter two rushing to meet the former before Darkstalker does anything to harm Clearsight. The "confrontation" is nothing more than [[spoiler:Clearsight baiting Darkstalker into tackling her so she can slip an enchanted braclet onto his arm, which makes him fall asleep immediately and indefinitely. She then very quickly hides his body in a cave behind boulders]]. By the time Indigo and Fathom arrive, Darkstalker has already been dealt with and Clearsight is nowhere to be found.
* AnyoneCanDie: Not to the extent of most series under this trope, but it's never a good idea to assume someone's safe for structural reasons. Notable examples include:
** [[spoiler:Book 1 kills off Hvitur, the [=SkyWing=] dragonet, Dune, and Kestrel.]]
** [[spoiler:Book 2 kills off Crocodile and Whirlpool.]]
** [[spoiler:Book 4 kills off Viper, Battlewinner, and Morrowseer.]]
** [[spoiler:Book 5 kills off Burn and Blister.]]
** [[spoiler:Book 6 kills off Carnelian.]]
** [[spoiler:Book 8 kills off Queen Scarlet.]]
** [[spoiler:Book 10 erases Darkstalker from existence. It's confirmed via WordOfGod that he will stay as Peacemaker forever, will never remember his past self, and will vaporize into nothing if the transformation is undone since his immortality spells were nullified.]]
** [[spoiler:Book 13 kills off Hawthorn.]]
* ArcVillain: The five main heroes of the second story arc have to deal with their own villian in their own book (in order) [[MadBomber Sora]] (for Moonwatcher), [[HeroKiller Icicle]] (for Winter), [[HijackedByGanon Scarlet]] (for Peril), [[DarkMagicalGirl Anemone]] (for Turtle) and [[BigBad Darkstalker]] (for Qibil).
* AristocratsAreEvil: Just look at the character sheet. ''Nearly every single queen'' is TheCaligula.
* ArrangedMarriage:
** Queen Diamond intended for her son Arctic and Snowflake to be married. However, both of them dislike each other, and Arctic ends up running away and marying Foeslayer, while Snowflake was in love with Arctic's cousin Snowfox.
** Sundew and Mandrake were going to be in one, since the two both had leafspeak and could therefore reproduce and have more leafspeak dragons (Sundew's parents also married because of this). The two have no romantic feelings for each other due to Sundew being a lesbian, and they end up breaking off their engagement and remain as acquaintances.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
** The dragonets dislike Blister because she killed [[spoiler:Kestrel]], she's creepy and manipulative and, in Sunny's case, because [[BerserkButton she called her sweet]].
** When Ruby is trying to figure out where Tourmaline went:
--> "There were no splatters of blood. No sign of a struggle. No note saying "Oh, I've popped off to one of the outposts for a few days, see you soon."
* ArtifactTitle: The title ''Wings of Fire'', which references a line in the original prophecy, isn't relevant for the second and third arc.
* AttackTheTail: All dragons have a weak point on their tail. Dragons often attack it in battle.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: [[spoiler:[[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by]] the [=NightWings=], who are neutral in the war but whose influence would strongly turn the war in whichever side they choose's favor. [[spoiler:And it turns out that this was their plan all along, and they have just now decided on supporting Blister.]]
* AxesAtSchool: The plot of ''Moon Rising'' involves a dragon flame cactus being set off in Jade Mountain Academy's history cave, and Moon trying to find out who did it. [[spoiler:This later escalates to the same dragon who set the bomb trying to throw a stalactite on her intended target, and said target trying to kill all of the founders and battling Moon and Qibli, who try to stop her.]]
* BabiesEverAfter:
** Darkstalker sends Moon a vision of the future that invokes this trope for the original Dragonets of Destiny (Except possibly Sunny.)
** Also Clearsight and Darkstalker's happiest visions about the future, where they have six dragonets and live happily together, and even get to maybe save the tribe.
** The epilogue of ''Darkstalker'' features [[spoiler:Fathom and Indigo's]] dragonets.
** Clearsight flies to Pantala and ends up having dragonets with multiple [=BeetleWings=], who would later evolve to become modern [=SilkWings=] and [=HiveWings=].
* TheBadGuyWins: ''The Poison Jungle'' ends with [[spoiler:the Othermind's goal being achieved after Sundew accidentally grows the Breath of Evil and infects hundreds of dragons, including several of the protagonists.]]
* BadPowersBadPeople: Some [=NightWings=] can [[spoiler: infect prey with bacteria by biting them, slowly killing them]], but it's almost entirely antagonistic [=NightWings=] who have that power. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because [[spoiler: the reason the [=NightWings=] can do this is that they adjusted to eating rotten food in the volcano, and the whole reason they are behind some reprehensible acts is to escape from the volcano. Starflight and other [=NightWings=] on the dragonets' side were either raised outside the [=NightWing=] island or they have been away for long enough both to lose that ability and develop rebellious opinions.]]
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Peril's character arc in ''Escaping Peril'' involves realizing that her powers don't make her evil, her actions do. In the same book, Winter balks at releasing Darkstalker due to his "horrible powers", only to be reminded that those powers are the same as Moonwatcher's and [[spoiler: Turtle's]] powers.
* BattleInTheRain: The battle between [[spoiler: Scarlet and Ruby/Tourmaline]].
* BeastlyBloodsports: Queen Scarlet forces other dragons (and occasionally humans) to fight each other in a pit, gladiator-style.
* BettyAndVeronica: {{Genderflipped}}. Moon must choose between the kind, lighthearted Qibli, and the moodier, more mysterious Winter. [[spoiler: She ends up with Qibli.]]
* BewareMyStingerTail: Several tribes have these.
** [=SandWings=] have a poisonous barb in their tail.
** [=IceWings=] have whip-thin tails with spikes at the tip.
** Some [=HiveWings=] have stingers in their tail.
* BigotWithACrush: Winter is very prejudiced against [=NightWings=] even more than the average [=IceWing=] is (because of an ItsPersonal backstory in addition to the general hared the two tribes have for each other). He also has a crush on Moonwatcher, a [=NightWing=], which he feels guilty about. The bigotry part gets better after a lot of CharacterDevelopment, though.
* BlankWhiteEyes: The [=HiveWings=] have this when [[spoiler:being mind-controlled.]]
* BlessedWithSuck:
** Becoming the Librarian is considered a great honor for the [=HiveWings=], but it actually involves having to stay in the temple your whole life and [[spoiler: having the [=HiveWing=] queen controlling your mind for your whole life.]]
** Being an animus could qualify as well, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity as each use of your powers does further damage to your soul until you eventually go insane.]] [[spoiler:It's later heavily implied that this only happens when animus magic is used for evil, however.]]
* BreadEggsMilkSquick: When Peril is describing how her life was before the series started.
--> "Do you know anything about my life? Here's how it went: Wake up, eat breakfast, Queen Scarlet tells me to kill one of her prisoners, I kill that prisoner, eat dinner, go back to sleep".
* BrickJoke: Prudence is berating Foeslayer when [[spoiler:she suddenly freezes in place courtesy of Arctic.]] Several pages later [[spoiler:Arctic unfreezes her to get her out of the kingdom, and she finally finishes her insult that reader had probably forgotten about by that point.]]
* BigScrewedUpFamily:
** The [=SeaWing=] royal family. Queen Coral neglects her [[MassiveNumberedSiblings many]] sons and is [[MyBelovedSmother overprotective]] of her daughters, she killed her oldest daughter in a challenge, [[spoiler:(and said eldest daughter made a LivingStatue to kill her sisters in the egg]]). Her oldest surviving daughter, [[spoiler: Tsunami, killed her father without knowing it was him]], one of her daughters [[spoiler:may or may not be going insane due to her animus powers]], the dragon she wants her daughter to marry [[spoiler: wants to kill the oldest for [[RebelliousPrincess being annoyingly rebellious]], and wants to marry her ''newborn'' daughter instead]], and her niece is so loyal to her that she literally cleans up the brains of dragons she tortured to death for letting one of her daughters die. [[spoiler:[[SquishyWizard Turtle]] is an secret animus who enchanted Anemone to have powers. Anemone was nearly driven insane, and seemed okay with murdering her family.]] Yeah.
** Also the case for the SeaWing royal family back in Darkstalker's day: There's Lagoon, a classist, vain, cruel Queen who abuses her brother for his magic; Albatross, who is slowly being driven insane to the point of murdering his entire family because of Lagoon's abuse and the guilt of almost killing his other sister; Sapphire, the said sister who was almost killed, who is now insane and lives alone on an island suffering forever for her brother's mistake; Fathom, who is permanently traumatized from the Massacre, unable to marry the person he loves, and terrified of his own magic; and Pearl, the only survivor who has to pick up the pieces and become queen at ''age six''.
** The [=SandWing=] royal family, consisting of three warring sisters who all hate each other's guts and want to see the other two dead so they can get the throne. One is a bloodthirsty NightmareFetishist, one is a ManipulativeBitch who frequently backstabs and kills her allies when they're no longer useful to her, and the other is extremely incompetent and vain.
* BoardingSchool: Jade Mountain Academy.
* BodyHorror:
** The extremely graphic descriptions of what [[spoiler:[=RainWing=] venom]] does to Dragons. Especially [[spoiler:Queen Scarlet]], who survived a venom strike and is described as having her face [[FacialHorror almost entirely melted off, to the point were part of her skull was exposed]].
** The physical condition of [[spoiler: Queen Battlewinner]] of the [=NightWings=] in Book 4. [[spoiler: During a battle with an [=IceWing=], the freezing breath of the [=IceWing=] went down her throat and began to freeze her from the inside out. She has to stay in a cauldron of lava in order to balance out her body temperature, and the very act of talking causes the ice inside her to shatter and puncture her throat.]]
** How [[spoiler: Prince Arctic]] dies in Darkstalker is especially horrifying.
* BodyguardCrush: Deathbringer to Glory, once he actually becomes her bodyguard.
* BookEnds: ''The Dark Secret'' begins and ends with Starflight being unconscious.
** In "The Dragonet Prophecy" arc, Book 1 has [[spoiler: Sunny in danger of being sent to Burn's oddity museum. Book 5 has her go there [[HeroicSacrifice of her own free will]].]]
* BotanicalAbomination: While not terrifying in appearance, [[spoiler:the Othermind is a sapient plant who can speak and displays disturbingly human-like behaviors. It also wants to turn all of dragonkind into a mindless hivemind as revenge for "stealing" Pantala from it.]]
* CainAndAbel: The three [=SandWing=] sisters, Winter and Icicle, [[spoiler: Orca and all of her siblings, [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning posthumously]]]]...
* CallForward: Darkstalker notes that he isn't as good at telling the future as Clearsight, and the only way he'd have time for that is if he was trapped underground for months on end with nothing to do. Guess what happens to him?
* CamelCase: Each of the tribes names are written in this way, consisting of some substance followed by "Wing".
* CareerEndingInjury: [[spoiler: Averted. Starflight is blinded in Book 4, making it seem like his days of reading scrolls are over, but Book 6 shows him reading by touch from carved stone slabs instead, and he becomes Jade Mountain's librarian. Book 10 shows that he's working with Tamarin to make scrolls for blind people.]] Played straight with Osprey, who can't guard his DragonHoard and has to move into the main [=SkyWing=] kingdom after a scavenger paralyzes his tail and makes him unable to fly.
* CataclysmBackstory: Scavengers used to rule the continent of Pyrrhia until a great cataclysm known as "the Scorching" befell them.
* CatchAFallingStar: Clay catches Tsunami after she falls from an InevitableWaterfall while unable to fly due to a dislocated shoulder. Later on, Tsunami catches [[spoiler:Webs]] when he falls from the canopy of the Summer Palace.
* CaveBehindTheFalls: The cave that the dragonets originally live in turns out to be one.
* ChallengingTheChief: All dragon tribes' queens ([[spoiler: Except for the [=RainWings=]']]) are decided when one of her daughters, sisters, or nieces challenges her for the throne, and kills her in combat. The series' first arc's plot kicks off when the [=SandWing=] queen is killed by a human, leaving her three daughters to go at war over which of them most deserves the throne.
** Averted in the case of [[spoiler: Queen Glacier. While on her deathbed, she names Snowfall as her new heir after her three daughters promise not to fight for the throne.]]
* CharacterDevelopment: Each dragonet goes through it in their particular books.
* ChekhovsGun:
** Within the list of the [=SandWing's=] lost treasures given in ''The Dragonet Prophecy'' is the Eye of Onyx. It later plays a central role in ''The Brightest Night'', where Sunny spends half the book looking for it, and it [[spoiler: ultimately allows Sunny to crown Thorn queen and stop Blister.]]
** Among the various decorations in the Sea Kingdom is [[spoiler:a statue of Orca]], which turns out to be [[spoiler:enchanted, and the real murderer of Tsunami's sisters]].
** When [[spoiler: the [=SkyWings=]]] bomb [[spoiler:the Summer Palace]] in ''The Lost Heir'', the drop flaming logs that are surprisingly effective. This plays a large role in ''Moon Rising'', where it turns out that the logs had explosive dragonflame cactuses in them, which [[spoiler:a dragon uses to blow up the history cave]], setting off the main conflict of the book.
** The [=RainWings'=] tranquilizer darts turn out to be important later on in ''The Dark Secret'' when [[spoiler:they use them to infiltrate the Night kingdom without having to kill any of the guards.]]
** Near the beginning of ''The Dark Secret'', Starflight gets to observe Mastermind's various inventions, one of which is a strange looking suit of armor. Turns out that it is for [[spoiler:containing lava inside it]], hinting at [[spoiler:just what happened to Queen Battlewinner.]]
** In ''The Brightest Night'', Thorn goes to burn out a dangerous Dragonbite Viper, describes as the only snake able to kill a dragon. This turns out to be important later on when [[spoiler:Blister releases two of them, killing Burn and almost killing Clay.]]
** Pyrite's necklace in ''Winter Turning'' is later revealed to be [[spoiler:the enchantment that gives her her identity as Pyrite instead of Hailstorm.]]
** Turtle carries around a rock from the river all of the time, which [[spoiler:he enchanted to have healing powers. When he uses it, it saves Winter's life and reveals that he's an animus.]]
** Queen Ruby is mentioned in the ''Winter Turning'' prologue to wear an earring, which [[spoiler:like Pyrite, is enchanting her to give her her identity, and she is actually Tourmaline.]]
** In ''Assassin'', Deathbringer notices several weapons strewn around in the area where Blister and her allies are meeting, like a [=MudWing=] spear [[spoiler:which he uses to kill Tempest and make the [=SeaWings=] think the [=MudWings=] betrayed them]].
** Foeslayer's earring in ''Darkstalker''. We know it's enchanted and what it is enchanted to do from the start, but it ends up becoming important when [[spoiler:she throws it off angrily in a fight with Arctic, allowing Queen Diamond to capture her.]]
** The bracelet that protects dragons from mind readers in ''Darkstalker''. [[spoiler:Clearsight uses the protection to allow her to put Darkstalker to sleep without him realizing her planned betrayal.]]
** Remember that "Kinkajou is unimportant to Darkstalker" spell that Turtle gives Kinkajou in book 9? [[spoiler: Kinkajou uses this knowledge to defeat Darkstalker in book 10.]]
** Shapeshifter / Chameleon was the first to discover Darkstalker's scroll, and still has some pieces of that scroll. [[spoiler: Torns out that it can still be written on using the back, and Darkstalker is immune to every dragons animus magic '''except his own.''']]
** The Breath of Evil plays a minor role in ''The Hive Queen'', being introduced as [[spoiler:an unnamed plant that Queen Wasp uses to mind-control [=HiveWings=]. Come the next book, it's revealed that Hawthorn has been studying it for fifty years, and that the Othermind can use it to have telepathic control over creatures, just as long as they get in contact with the Breath of Evil. Sundew being tricked into growing it is what causes thousands of dragons to get infected.]]
** In the third arc, Blue and Cricket find a deep hole in the middle of the savannah to hide from the Hivewings. It turns out that [[spoiler: the cave has a pit that the Pantalan humans dub the "abyss." It is unknown exactly ''what'' it contains, but it's related to the Othermind in some way, possibly being a cure for it. Likewise, Vole tells Raven that it's time to bring a dragon to the pit.]]
* ChekhovsGunman:
** Gill is just some random prisoner that Tsunami kills, right? [[spoiler: He's actually Tsunami's father and the king of the [=SeaWings=]]].
** A very short-term one, but when Clay is touring the Mud Kingdom, he sees the head of a small dragon pop out briefly, who turns out to be [[spoiler:one of his brothers]].
** Cirrus has only one appearance in the whole first arc, threatening Webs in the prologue of ''The Lost Heir''. Then he reappears in ''Winter Turning'', and by ''Escaping Peril'' he's revealed to be [[spoiler:an alternate identity of Chameleon, the EnigmaticMinion who the main characters spend the first half of the second arc fighting, as well as Peril's father.]]
** Tsunami's brothers as well - she clearly has them, since they're not being killed like her sisters, but they're never really talked about. Then we get introduced to Turtle in ''Moon Rising'', and he is the protagonist of ''Talons of Power'', which also introduces Octopus, Cerulean, and Fin.
** ''The Lost Heir'' introduces two [[PosthumousCharacter Posthumous Characters]], Orca and Albatross. Orca [[spoiler:turns out to have been killing her sisters after she died via LivingStatues]], and Albatross [[spoiler:figures heavily in Fathom and Darkstalker's backstory in ''Moon Rising'']].
** Smolder is briefly mentioned in ''The Hidden Kingdom'', where there is a picture of him and Palm in Blaze's headquarters. In his actual first appearance of more than a chapter in ''The Brightest Night'', he spends a lot of time with Sunny, reveals the nature of the Eye of Onyx, and [[spoiler: along with Flower, ends up finding said treasure.]]
** Grandeur is briefly mentioned as one of the six [=RainWing=] queens, but not the one who is currently queen and thus not the one that Glory interacts with. But within the last few chapter of ''The Hidden Kingdom'', she [[spoiler: beats Kinkajou in the final round of the competition to become queen turns out to be related to Glory and the last full-time queen of the original [=RainWing=] royal line, and the last competent queen, and abdicates to allow Glory to be queen.]]
** Kinkajou mentions her friend Tamarin offhand, leading Glory to [[spoiler:choose her as a participant in the contest to be queen, where she wins a crucial round.]] She is also [[spoiler:injured in the history cave explosion in ''Moon Rising''.]]
** Fierceteeth gets a minor role in ''The Dark Secret'', where we find out that she's Starflight's sister and doesn't particularly like him, but not much else. But in ''The Brightest Night'', she ends up kidnapping Sunny to set off the whole plot, she gets to star in ''Prisoners'' and [[spoiler:is currently at the head of a revolt that's clearly going to be important in the next few books.]]
** Sunny sees a random scavenger while she is chasing after Fierceteeth, Strongwings and Preyhunter. Said scavenger [[spoiler: has a dreamvisitor which she uses to contact Sunny, leading to Sunny returning to the scavenger den and finding both most of the lost [=SandWing=] treasure and said dreamvisitor, which she and Clay use to prevent a genocide and convince Burn and her allies to go to their peace meeting.]]
** Jambu and Bullfrog discuss a [=RainWing=] who couldn't sleep due to a snout deformity in ''Winter Turning''. That [=RainWing=] is actually [[spoiler:Chameleon, the true identity of the scribe who is one of the main antagonists of ''Winter Turning'' and the next book, ''Escaping Peril'']].
** The [[spoiler: humans in general after ''The Dangerous Gift''. Not only are the dragons now aware of their sentience, the humans on Pantala also hold the key to stopping the Othermind with something that they call "the abyss."]]
* ChekhovsVolcano: [[spoiler: The [=NightWings=] live in a volcano, which they resident MadScientist Mastermind says will erupt in a few years. However, it ends up erupting at the end of ''The Dark Secret''.]]
* TheChessmaster: Blister, Morrowseer and [[spoiler: Queen Battlewinner]].
* ChildSoldiers: The [=SkyWings=], [=MudWings=], and [=IceWings=] all use them.
* TheChosenMany: The Dragonets and they aren't very enthusiastic about it. [[spoiler:Subverted once it turns out the prophecy was made up by the [=NightWings=] as part of a complicated plan to secure a new home in the [=RainWings=]' jungle, due to their island being slowly destroyed by an erupting volcano.]]
* ClassTrip: The dragonets talk about having class trips to the various kingdoms for Jade Mountain Academy students.
* ClimacticVolcanoBackdrop: The climax of ''The Dark Secret''.
* ClingyMacGuffin: The [[RingOfPower ring of vision]] that Snowfall puts on can't be taken off or broken until it decides the wearer is "ready".
* ColourCodedEmotions: In addition to camouflage, [=RainWings=] change color according to their emotions. Red is anger, white is fear, yellow is happiness/amusement, gray is sadness, pink is happiness or love, purple is guilt and white is pain.
* CometOfDoom:
** Inverted. The appearance of a comet when there are two full moons makes it look like another Brightest Night, which dragons consider a good omen for [[spoiler:the peace meeting]] at the end of "The Brightest Night".
** Played straight in the second series, as ''Darkstalker'' reveals [[spoiler:the comet passed close enough that its gravity caused a slight tremor under Agate Mountain which broke the ancient enchanted bracelet keeping Darkstalker asleep,]] and since ''Talons of Power'' seems to set him up as the obvious BigBad of the next series...
* ComingOfAgeStory: Each book follows dragons who would be considered teenagers in human years maturing and finding their purpose in life.
* ConstructedWorld: The series is set in the continents of Pyrrhia and Pantala on a planet that clearly isn't our, even having three moons.
* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: The Dragonets of Destiny were TheChosenMany and were raised from birth to fulfill the prophecy; by contrast, the Jade Winglet are a group of random dragonets, some of whom happen to have special powers, and the protagonists in the third arc are a RagtagBunchOfMisfits on the run.
** The [=SeaWing=] protagonist of the first arc, Tsunami, was headstrong, bold, and a good fighter who was the de facto leader of the Dragonets of Destiny. Her younger brother and the [=SeaWing=] protagonist of the second arc, Turtle, is a quiet SquishyWizard with a large amount of self-doubt who prefers to stay in the background and acts as TheSmartGuy of the Jade Winglet.
** The [=NightWing=] protagonist of the first arc, Starflight, was a nerdy bookworm with an InferioritySuperiorityComplex, and had no special powers to speak of. The [=NightWing=] protagonist of the second arc, Moon, is a painfully shy ShrinkingViolet with a FriendlessBackground who has telepathy and precognition.
** Unlike the other protagonists of the second arc, Qibli has no special powers and is not a member of royalty, and instead is a GuileHero who relies on his wits and skill at reading others to make up for it.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: No dragons are actually injured by lava or Peril's fire without being touched by it. However, dragons are noted to have a resistance to fire in general, and don't die as quickly as humans would even when they actually touch lava.
* CoolBigSis: Tsunami towards Anemone and Auklet, whom she is very protective of. Katydid is this to Cricket as well, in contrast to their mother, [[spoiler:though this is subverted when it turns out that Katydid is in fact Cricket's mother.]]
* CoolGate: [[spoiler:Stonemover]] created portals that connect [[spoiler:the Rain, Sand, and Night kingdoms.]]
* CruelTwistEnding: Almost every novel but the last in an arc seems to feature one.
** ''The Dragonet Prophecy'' ends with Clay being hopeful for the future. We then cut to the [[spoiler:brutal murder of Kestrel.]]
** ''The Lost Heir'' suddenly has [[spoiler:Webs be attacked by Blister out of nowhere]], resulting in a poisonous wound which will almost certainly kill him. Arguably the whole sequence after the statue fight is one big CruelTwistEnding. Then there’s the alternates...
** ''The Hidden Kingdom'' ends with [[spoiler:Glory becoming queen]]... then it’s revealed that [[spoiler:Starflight]] has seemingly backstabbed them.
** ''The Dark Secret'' has 2. That the [[spoiler: prophecy is fake]] and to end the book [[spoiler:Starflight loses his sight.]]
** ''Moon Rising'' reveals that a hithero unseen ally of Scarlet has obtained the [[ArtifactOfDoom Darkstalker scroll]].
** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Winter Turning''. Instead of Foeslayer being the historical monster [[NobleBigot Winter]] assumed she was, she's actually fairly nice, just put in a bad position by her husband's family.
** ''Escaping Peril'' ends with Peril doing the right thing... or not, as [[spoiler:Darkstalker is released.]]
** On a completely related note, ''Darkstalker'' ends all well and good, with the immortal nigh-unstoppable Darkstalker being put to sleep forever at the hands of the only dragons capable. Oh, but then the epilogue mentions that [[spoiler:he wakes up 2000 years later...]]
** ''Talons of Power'' ends with [[spoiler:Turtle losing his animus power.]] Though this is somewhat of a bittersweet ending as him allowing himself to be discovered saved both Kinkajou and Anemone, while giving Anemone the same disguising power to use against Darkstalker that he had.
** ''The Hive Queen'' ends with Bloodworm Hive being bombed as the protagonists are hopeless to stop it, signifying that the [=LeafWing=] rebellion has begun.
** ''The Poison Jungle'' ends with Sundew [[spoiler:inadvertently poisoning most of the [=LeafWing=] tribe with the Breath of Evil just when it looked like she was going to cure the [=HiveWings=] and end the war and the scattered survivors evacuating to Pyrrhia, while most of the [=SilkWings=] are still in the line of fire and it would be very risky to try to save them.]]
*** There's also the epilogue, where [[spoiler:Jerboa (the daughter, not the mother) is implied to have removed animus magic from Pyrrhia. This is confirmed in ''The Dangerous Gift''.]]
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Most dragon tribes often have eyes that match their scale color ([=MudWings=] have orange or brown eyes, [=SkyWings=] can have orange eyes, [=SeaWings=] have green or blue eyes, [=IceWings=] have blue eyes, [=NightWings=] often have black eyes). [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with [=SandWings=], who have white or pale gold scales but black, pupil less eyes.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: From the first book in the series, it's revealed that scavengers, not dragons, used to be the dominant power on Pyrrhia, until an event known as "the Scorching" happened. To the main characters, however, it's all boringly obvious history, so they never elaborate on it for the benefit of the audience. It takes until the final book of the third arc--Book 15 of the main series--for its events to finally be revealed to the audience: [[spoiler: Dragons used to be largely solitary creatures without any real coherent civilization of their own, existing mostly as scattered individuals across Pyrrhia. Humans, meanwhile, had several massive empires that sprawled the entire continent, and which were embroiled in war. Cottonmouth, a human general from the Diamond Empire, decided to try [[LivingWeapon training dragons to be weapons of war,]] so he began stealing dragon eggs and trying to train hatchlings for combat in his lab. He ended up stealing eggs from one of the [[MonsterIsAMommy biggest, baddest females around]]--implied to be the progenitor of several different tribes, including [=MudWings=], [=RainWings=], and [=LeafWings=]--and she was so incensed that she organized several nearby dragons to get revenge on the humans, (heavily implied to be) becoming the first Queen in the process. This turned into a continent-wide genocide against the human race, which destroyed their civilization, leaving the now-united dragons to spread across the continent. And yet, [[AllForNothing Cottonmouth escaped and became the driving force of the Overmind.]]]]
* DarkhorseVictory: At the end of the first arc, [[spoiler:it's not any of the three sisters that ends up getting the throne, instead it goes to Thorn, the leader of the Outclaws and Sunny's mother.]]
* DawnAttack: One potential future that Clearsight sees involves the [=IceWings=] attacking the [=NightWings=] at dawn.
* TheDeadGuyDidIt: The dragon killing [[spoiler: Queen Coral's daughters before they hatch]] turns out to be [[spoiler: Orca, Coral's oldest daughter who died challenging her for the throne years before the story starts. She had used her secret animus powers to enchant a statue in the hatchery to kill any female relatives of hers, intending to kill potential competitors when she took power, but due to her death it ended up killing Coral's future children instead]]
* DeathFromAbove: [=SkyWings=] tend to use this in war, dropping [[spoiler:dragonflame cactus bombs]] from above.
* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Actually thought word-for-word by Turtle after [[spoiler:Anemone tries to cut him up with a bunch of seashells.]]
* DeclarationOfPersonalIndependence: In the first book, the Dragonets of Destiny decide to go against their guardians' wishes by going to the outside world and forging their own path.
* DisappearedDad: Most of the main characters have dead or unknown parents. Clay's father is unknown, Tsunami [[spoiler:unwittingly killed her father]], Glory's parents are unknown, Starflight's mother is dead, Moon's father is dead, Winter's [[spoiler:father dies in Book 10]], Peril's [[spoiler:mother is dead]], Turtle's [[spoiler:father is dead]], and Qibli's father is unknown. The only exceptions to this are Sunny, Blue, Cricket and Sundew.
* DisappointingHeritageReveal: As the main characters in the first series were all separated from their tribe and family, most of them experience it when they get to meet that tribe and family again. Clay is disappointed to find that [=MudWings=] don't take care of their children after spending his whole book hoping to find parents who love him. Tsunami ultimately has an ambivalent relationship with her family and respects her mother in some ways, but is disappointed that she isn't exactly TheHighQueen that WrittenByTheWinners history made her out to be. Glory ends up disappointed by the [=RainWings=] because most of them fit the {{st|opBeingStereotypical}}ereotypes that she's spent her life being stereotyped as herself. Starflight ends up especially disappointed when he finds out that his tribe, which he was told was made up of wise and powerful dragons, is actually planning the genocide of another tribe and spreading propaganda to make themselves look infallible.
* DisappointingPromotion: Snowfall always thought that her coronation would be some glorious, ego-stroking affair, earned by the culturally-mandated [[KlingonPromotion battle to the death with her mother]]. Then, while Snowfall was still a child, [[LifeWillKillYou a messy and unexpected plague]] kills her mother, and a lot of their subjects, so that Snowfall ascends the throne during the most weak, hopeless period of [=IceWing=] history shown. ([[{{Determinator}} She makes it work.]])
* {{Dissimile}}: Sundew thinks to herself how entering the Poison Jungle is just like diving into an ocean. Except for the poisonous plants, and it being a jungle, and everything.
* DistantPrologue: All of the prologues so far of the second arc - the one for ''Moon Rising'' takes place four years ago, ''Winter Turning'' is two years ago, and ''Escaping Peril'' is seven years ago. In the first arc, the prologue for ''The Dragonet Prophecy'' takes place six years ago, which due to a TimeSkip is just days after the ''Escaping Peril'' prologue, and the prologue of ''The Brightest Night'' and ''Dragonslayer'' takes place ''twenty'' years ago. In ''The Lost Continent'', the prologue takes place 2,000 years ago.
* DoWrongRight: After hearing how Hawthorn [[spoiler:snuck the Breath of Evil into Queen Wasp's drink during a peace meeting to try to control her]] and inadvertently [[spoiler:gave her its powers instead]], Nettle suggests he should have just poisoned her.
* DragonVarietyPack: The dragon tribes of Pyrrhia all follow the "four legs, two bat-like wings" body plan, but that's where the similarities end because they're each adapted to different environments. For example, most of them can breathe fire, but the [[AnIcePerson IceWings]] breathe ice instead, the [[{{Veganopia}} RainWings]] are venomous, and the [[TokenAquaticRace SeaWings]] don't have a breath weapon at all. The dragons of Plantala are even weirder, being based on insects.
* DramaticIrony: Since the events of ''Dragonslayer'' are from the humans' points of view and they have a tendency to get caught up in the events of the first arc, there's a lot of extra information we know that they don't (and often they assume the opposite of what's actually happening is happening).
* DubNameChange: [[DubNameChange/WingsOfFire Has its own page.]]
* DyeOrDie: Blue gets painted a different color to hide from the [=HiveWings=] that are trying to capture him for being a potential flamesilk.
* DysfunctionJunction: Let's face it. The main cast of the second arc has some rather... ''extensive'' self-worth issues.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The prologue of the first book calls [[WeHardlyKnewYe Hvitur]] an "ice dragon" instead of an [=IceWing=] at one point. It also switches to a different perspective halfway through, but in the rest of the series, each chapter is only from one perspective.
* TheEndOrIsIt: At the end of ''Darkstalker'', the other main characters, unable to kill the titular Darkstalker because he is immortal and invincible, have enchanted a bracelet to put Darkstalker to sleep and buried him underground. After the epilogue of the book ends, there is a very short post-epilogue that shows the bracelet being broken by and earthquake and Darkstalker awakening.
* EitherOrProphecy: The Jade Mountain prophecy. Either Jade Mountain will be destroyed or the Lost City of Night will be found.
* EggMacguffin:
** The prologue of the first book features the guardians trying to steal the five prophecy eggs in time for the Brightest Night.
** In ''The Hive Queen'', the main cast carries around an egg that they [[spoiler:took from a nest to save it from being poisoned by Queen Wasp]].
* ElementalDragon: Dragon tribes are categorized by the element they represent, and their names usually indicate what element they're related to. SeaWings are water-attuned dragons that live under the sea, and one of the few tribes that can't breathe fire. NightWings are attuned to the moon, and their powers rely on the moons themselves. MudWings are attuned to mud, IceWings are ice-attuned and have frost-breath, etc.
* EmergencyTransformation: When [[spoiler:Queen Ruby]] is about to be killed by [[spoiler:Queen Scarlet, Peril]] intervenes upon realizing that [[spoiler: Chameleon has somehow limited Ruby's power]]. It ends up transforming her into an entirely different dragon, though, healing her injuries and allowing her to win the battle.
%%* EnemyCivilWar: Between the [=SandWing=] queens and their allies.
* EpunymousTitle: The first three books of the second arc are this. "Talons of Power" breaks the pattern, probably because it's hard to make "Turtle" work with anything this way.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Tsunami is first introduced as biting Kestrel's tail to protect Clay. She's fierce, stubborn, and not a stickler for the rules, but is protective of her friends and cares about doing what's right. She's later seen giving orders to everyone and assigning them roles for their play, showing her bossiness and position as the leader of the group.
** Glory is seen interrupting one of Starflight's lectures with snarky comments and not being particularily enthused about the play the others are doing, but still willingly participates in it. She's grumpy, snarky, and has little patience for her friends' shenanigans but will still participate in them nonetheless.
* EternalEnglish: Dragons from across the continent are capable of understanding each other, while Darkstalker [[spoiler:and Foeslayer]] can talk perfectly fine with the main cast despite being [[SealedBadassInACan sealed in a can]] 2000 years ago. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] with Darkstalker, who is a mind reader and had six months with nothing better to do than piece together modern dragons' thoughts, but [[spoiler:Foeslayer]] would have only heard brief snippets of modern dragons' speech.
** DoubleSubverted with the Pantalan dragons, who are initially shown in the prologue to have been separated long enough from the dragons of Pyrrhia that their language is very hard for Pyrrhian dragons to understand. As of the present years later, however, they have switched their language to the same one from Pyrrhia to honor Clearsight, and neither their language nor Pyrrhia's have diverged long enough over 2000 years for anyone to have any trouble understanding each other (perhaps understandable on the Pantalan side given how this is the language of their sacred text and may have been known to dragons like with Latin and Hebrew in real life, but not so much on the Pyrrhian side).
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Cricket in ''The Poison Jungle''. Upon meeting Turtle and Tsunami, among her [[ConstantlyCurious many questions]] is how they are speaking the same language as Pantalan dragons.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** For all his faults, Darkstalker loved his mother Foeslayer and was fiercely protective of his sister Whiteout. He was in love with Clearsight, even forgiving her for betraying him, and he also seemed to genuinely view Moon as a friend.
** While not completely "evil", Sundew does have others whom she cares about, most notably her girlfriend Willow and her friends, as well as her ex-fiance Mandrake, who's noted to be one of the few dragons she likes.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: For all her faults, Queen Diamond was not willing to commit genocide on an entire tribe, something that her niece Snowfox would not hesitate to do. It's due to this that Darkstalker can't just kill Diamond.
* EverybodyHasStandards: In "The Hidden Kingdom", the Rainwings are such a peaceful tribe that the idea of using their venom to hurt other dragons is beyond their comprehension. This pacifism even extends to the callous and uncaring [[LazyBum Queen Magnificent]], who finds the idea of dueling to the death for the throne "barbaric".
* EvilLibrarians: The Librarian is a villain who tries to kill the protagonists [[spoiler: -- except only because she is being permanently mind-controlled by Queen Wasp. She turns out to be willing to help the protagonists when she is temporarily freed.]]
* EvilMentor: It's clear from the beginning that [[spoiler: Morrowseer]] is not a nice guy, but how bad he is never really sinks in until much later.
* EvilVersusEvil: All three [=SandWing=] heirs (minus Blaze, who is nice but ditzy and extremely incompetent) are equally despicable, and even the leaders of the Talons of Peace are [[JerkAss jerks]]. (In fact, the BigGood is an [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero unapologetic racist]].) [[spoiler: The Talons get even worse when they decide to replace Glory and a few of the original dragonets with Flame and some false dragonets because they felt the originals are inadequate.]]
* ExpositingTheMasquerade:
** ''The Hive Queen'' ends with the main cast trying to figure out the identity of the mysterious plant that [[spoiler: Queen Wasp is using for her mind control.]] In ''The Poison Jungle'', they are directed to Hawthorn, who turns out to have been researching the properties and cure for that plant for fifty years.
** [[spoiler:The main goal of the protagonists in ''Dragonslayer'' in the third act.]]
* EyeScream: A frequent injury in the series. Fjord and Crocodile are both killed by [=RainWing=] venom striking their eyes, [[spoiler: Flame]] is blinded in one eye during a skirmish, and [[spoiler: Starflight]] is blinded completely after being hit by a fireball.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The first three books combined only span two weeks. Some of the other books are a bit better on this, like ''The Brightest Night'' and ''Winter Turning'', which last longer than a week, and the Winglets books, despite being shorter, tend to take up far larger amounts of time.
* FairyDragons: [=SilkWings=], although the same size as other dragon types, are colorful, have butterfly wings, and for the most part have no BreathWeapon or offensive powers.
* FamilyThemeNaming: Downplayed, with two examples, both [=SandWings=]:
** With only one exception (Vulture), all the named family members of Qibli’s family stick to a trend: The females are named after venomous snakes (Cobra and Rattlesnake), the males are named foreign words roughly meaning “desert wind” (Qibli and Sirocco).
** Queen Oasis named all her children after words relating to heat or fire, beginning with ‘B’ for the girls (Burn, Blister, and Blaze) and ‘S’ for the boys (Smolder, Scald, and Singe).
* FamilyPortraitOfCharacterization: Clearsight sees a portrait drawn by Whiteout of her family - her parents, Arctic and Foeslayer, and her brother Darkstalker, where they all look happy, showing her overly idealistic views of her family (given how messed-up it is and how cruel [[AbusiveParents Arctic]] is). It also has them all drawn in shades of blue that make them look more related than they look in real life, downplaying how her parents are from different tribes and [[MalignedMixedMarriage all of the conflict that has caused.]]
* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: [[spoiler:Cricket]] was raised believing that her mother [[spoiler:Katydid]] was her older sister, to cover up how [[spoiler:her father is a political prisoner of the queen.]]
* FantasticRacism:
** All over the place. All other tribes hate the [=RainWings=], seeing them as lazy and useless. [=SeaWings=] hate [=MudWings=] and try to kill them on sight, [=IceWings=] and [=NightWings=] completely hate each other due to events that happened 2000 years ago, after the events of the first series [[spoiler: [=SeaWings=] hate [=SkyWings=] and [=NightWings=] are hated by all of the tribes, besides having a mutually very tense relationship with the [=RainWings=]]]. And that's just the most prominent examples. [=MudWings=] are stereotyped as idiots, [=SkyWings=] are stereotyped as perpetually grumpy, [=IceWings=] are stereotyped as arrogant, [=SandWings=] are stereotyped as treasure-obsessed backstabbers, etc. Jade Mountain Academy is dedicated to subverting this, putting dragons of different tribes in the same group to show that dragons from different tribes can still be friends.
** In Pantala, [=SilkWings=] are commonly stereotyped as submissive weaklings who are unable to stand up for themselves, and the [=LeafWings=] (well, the [=PoisonWings=] at least) despise the [=HiveWings=] for what they did during the Tree Wars.
* FantasyWorldMap: There's one of Pyrrhia at the beginning of every book. The third arc adds one for Pantala.
* FateWorseThanDeath:
** [[spoiler:Foeslayer]] is chained in a cave and killed over and over by a spear that is enchanted to freeze her and not kill her permanently. She is trapped there for thousands of years and, even while being unconscious most of the time, has time pass for her enough that she would eventually rather be killed again than stay alive in her current weak and starving state.
** The fate of anyone who becomes the Librarian is to be never allowed to leave Clearsight's temple and to be [[spoiler:permanently mind controlled by the [=HiveWing=] queen.]]
** The fate of anyone [[spoiler:infected by the Breath of Evil. Their mind is completely taken over by the Othermind as they lose any sense of free will and their mental state slowly decays, and there is absolutely no way of stopping it.]]
* FeministFantasy: Many of the main characters are female, and are very competent. (That said, many of female rulers, at least initially don't seem to have their people's best interests at heart.)
* FightingForAHomeland: [[spoiler: The NightWings' actions are motivated by looking for a new home, since their old one is about to be destroyed by the volcano and is already miserable to live in. They are still the villains, because finding a new home for them involves [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide killing all of the [=RainWings=]]].]]
** [[spoiler: This becomes the goal for everybody in Pantala not affected by the breath of evil after the events of book 13.]]
* FirstTimeInTheSun: The dragonets get this after escaping the cave and seeing the outside world for the first time.
* {{Foil}}:
** In Book 2, there's a considerable dichotomy between Riptide and Whirlpool. [[spoiler: Riptide is distrusted and shunned by Queen Coral for being the son of Webs (aka Tsunami's kidnapper) and even has his secrets. Nonetheless, he's the most tustworthy and reliable Seawing Tsunami's ever met, always trying to be helpful and honest as often as he can. Meanwhile, you have Whirlpool who is favored by Queen Coral for flattering her and being her "trusted" advisor. But he's a murderous slimeball of a dragon who Tsunami dislikes, and a opportunistic social-climber who is vying to marry off one of Coral's daughters, even the infant Aucklet.]]
** In Book 6, [[spoiler: Moonwatcher couldn't be anymore different from her father, [[LikeFatherUnlikeSon Morrowseer]]. While Morrowseer lacks the [=NightWing=] abilities to see the future or read minds (and has to pretend he possesses such powers), his daughter possesses both abilities and has to [[{{Irony}} has to hide them]]. What's more, Morrowseer is cruel, arrogant, and [[KickTheDog deliberately makes Sunny feel she'll fail to end the war because the prophecy's not real]]. By comparison, Moon is a relatively kinder dragon who lets Sunny know [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre she and the Dragonets of Destiny are fit to usher in peace to Phyrria]].]]
* ForeignQueasine: The [=NightWings=] eat [[spoiler: prey that is already rotted before it dies, thanks to the bacteria in their fangs. It is deadly to dragons who aren't used to it, even other [=NightWings=], and most other dragons are unsurprisingly disgusted.]]
* ForegoneConclusion:
** Anybody who reads ''Darkstalker'' at any point after finishing [[spoiler:''Escaping Peril'']][[note]]''Darkstalker'' was chronologically released in between ''Escaping Peril'' and ''Talons of Power''[[/note]] knows that it has to end with [[spoiler: Darkstalker being enchanted to be put to sleep. Then, as the post-epilogue shows, he will wake up after 2000 years.]]
** The epilogue of [[spoiler:''Darkness of Dragons'']] reveals that a dragon from Pantala has arrived in Pyrrhia for the first time. While the dragon's description is kept vague, the next book is set in Pantala, so readers know that they will manage to get to Pyrrhia in some way. [[spoiler: Sure enough, it's revealed that Luna got there after she got swept up in the wind during a storm.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In "Winter Turning", Pyrite remarks that simply by sleeping near Winter, she dreamt about [[spoilers: snow]], which also happens whenever she slept near Cirrus.
** In "Moon Rising", [[spoiler: Darkstalker tells Moon that when writing spells in his animus-touched scroll, one must be as specific as possible, or something will go horribly wrong. Sure enough, in "Winter Rising", one such consequence arises when Hailstorm (thanks to a necklace enchanted by the scroll) is stuck with remnants of memories as Pyrite, even after said-necklace has been removed.]]
* FourPhilosophyEnsemble:
** The Cynic: Glory
** The Optimist: Sunny
** The Realist: Tsunami
** The Apathetic: Starflight
** The Conflicted: Clay
* FreeTheFrogs: Clearsight and Listener go on a mission to free the [[HumansByAnyOtherName scavengers]] being used in their school research projects.
* FugitiveArc: The first series has the protagonists on the run from Burn's army after the events of book 1. The third series has the protagonists as wanted criminals throughout the whole continent [[spoiler: until the end of book 13.]]
* GeniusCripple: [[spoiler: Starflight, after being blinded.]]
* GeniusDitz: The [=RainWing=] healers are described as giving completely useless advice for most healing, but being total experts in injuries that happen often in the rainforest.
* GenocideBackfire: The [=HiveWings=] supposedly killed all of the [=LeafWings=], but there are rumors that this is the case and that some are alive and trying to kill the [=HiveWings=]. [[spoiler:They are indeed alive and are willing to go extreme lengths to overthrow the [=HiveWings=].]]
* GladiatorGames: Queen Scarlet loves them. In Book 8 she is stated to have a gladiator fetish.
* {{Glamour}}: Darkstalker uses his animus powers to this effect, subtly influencing everyone around him to see him as likable and trustworthy.
* GodGuise: Clearsight is remembered as a godlike figure by the Pantalan dragons. [[spoiler:This allows Queen Wasp to hide how she never really had the power to tell the future as far ahead as is claimed.]]
* GoryDiscretionShot:
** Despite the usual amount of violence in the series, ''The Lost Heir'' has the narrator Tsunami being too horrified at [[spoiler:Coral killing Tortoise]] to look.
** Similarly, in ''Darkstalker'', the narration mostly skips over the gory details of [[spoiler:Arctic's]] death, just saying that it was messy and took a long time, even though the character narrating the chapter was watching the scene. {{Justified}} as [[spoiler:Artic's]] death (ripping his own guts out and disembowelling himself) is super graphic even by the standards of this series.
** Averted multiple times in the graphic novel, which depicts, in ''full'' detail, [[spoiler:Vengeance]] being thrown into a pit of lava, [[spoiler:Morrowseer]] being submerged in a wave of lava, [[spoiler:Fjord]] being killed by Glory's acid, and Blister impaling [[spoiler:Kestrel]] through her back, to name a few.
* GreatOffscreenWar:
** We never get to see the Scorching, when the Dragons took over the continent from the scavengers.
** Same with [[spoiler: what conflict the [=RainWings=] were fighting in during Grandeur's early rule.]]
** The war between the [=HiveWings=] and the [=SilkWings=] and [=LeafWings=] aka the Tree Wars.
* GruesomeGrandparent: Fathom's grandfather Albatross kills most of their family and tries to kill Fathom himself before Fathom kills him in self-defense.
* HandyHelper: [[spoiler: After being blinded in book four, Starflight receives assistance from Tamarin - a blind dragoness who teaches him how to get around and fly without sight - and Fatespeaker, who promises to stay with him and read to him until they can find a way he can read on his own.]]
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Wren. [[spoiler: She was sacrificed after she read a book about the illegal acts of the dragonmancers.]]
** Whenever someone questions Heath's story, gets too close to his treasure, or has even the slightest chance to expose him as a fraud, he would banish them from Valor. Pine learns this the hard way.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: A dark variation happens with [[spoiler: the replacement dragonets.]] They consider ''themselves'' the heroes of the story, and when they find out they're not, [[spoiler: and the "main" dragonets find out that they were expendable and easily replaceable all along]], it leads to a lot of arguments and confusion.
** ''Dragonslayer'' focuses on the humans, particularly Wren, Leaf, and Ivy, during the events of the first arc. When the three of them finally meet, their goal is to expose Heath and the dragonmancers, and to work for peace with the dragons. [[spoiler: They succeed in both counts, although it took around six months for Wren to [[HeroicNeutral (inadvertently)]] come across the [=IceWings=] queen and make humanity's sentience known]].
* HiddenDepths: Each of the dragonets possesses them, and each dragonet's book is dedicated to exploring the depths of their character. While the other books show them as their friends perceive them, their book shows them as they are. Snowfall's character arc has her understanding that many dragons have their own stories and there's more to them that meets the eye.
* HiddenElfVillage: The [=RainWings'=] village, which is isolated from all other dragon tribes.
* HoldYourHippogriffs: 'Three moons', and ‘moons’ is a common exclamation of frustration.
* HowDoIShotWeb: Luna initially struggles with using her silk after metamorphosis, and her bad aim [[spoiler:leads to her getting swept off by a storm.]]
* HufflepuffHouse: The [=MudWings=]. They're mainly OutOfFocus for the entire series, with Clay being the only major character who's part of the tribe(Umber and Sora might count, depending on who you ask). Their society and culture is the least expanded on, with it only being briefly touched upon in the last couple chapters of the first book. Overall, they're overlooked and more focus is put on the "cooler" tribes, like the [=NightWings=] and [=RainWings=].
* HumanitysWake: Takes place more than 5,000 years after humans were replaced by dragons as the dominant species of Pyrrhia. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] because humans aren't actually extinct here, but they no longer rule the planet like they did 5,000 years ago and are treated as just another prey animal by most dragons. [[spoiler: Well, up until ''The Dangerous Gift'' for the latter part, anyways.]]
* HumanPet: Some of the [=SandWings=] keep human pets, as does Winter. Those who do actually tend to think of "scavengers" as [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter rather adorable.]]
* HumanPopsicle: The fate of [[spoiler: the [=IceWings=] who lose the Diamond Trial, as well as Foeslayer when she isn't being killed over and over again by the dragons in the trial, until she is freed by Winter]].
* HumansAreNotTheDominantSpecies: Humans, or "scavengers" as dragons call them, are considered an endangered species and only live in a few select areas. Originally, humans were more dominant, however that changed when dragons began creating kingdoms and living under queens. Dragons look down upon humans and see them as weird, dumb, and mostly good for food or blood sports. [[spoiler: That last part changes after ''The Dangerous Gift.'']]
* HumansAreWhite: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Flower is white but some other scavengers are described with skin the color of [=MudWing=] scales. Notably, the protagonists of ''Dragonslayer'', Ivy, Leaf, and Wren are all shown with tan skin.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters:
** Even when regulated to the role of pests, scavengers ''still manage'' to cause the events of the first arc. ''Dragonslayer'' reveals that [[spoiler:the death of Queen Oasis was ''accidental'' and the whole incident was actually an attempt to steal her treasures out of greed. Blissfully unaware of the ''continent-wide'' war that happened afterwards, the mastermind of the burglary steals the credit of slaying Queen Oasis while rewriting it as a heroic venture, turns the village of Valor into his personal estate while exiling anyone who would reveal him as a fraud and later attempting to have them executed. When there are requests from other villages asking for his help, [[BlatantLies he would reply that he would come with clearly no intention to fulfill it]], effectively giving false hope. Not only that, due to the idea of a dragon being slain by a scavenger being inconceivable until then, the dragons in turn ''razed'' scavenger villages throughout the continent to the ground in an attempt to find the missing Eye of Onyx, forcing the survivors to either live underground or in walled cities. In another village, a smaller case is still happening, with another group of thieves who routinely steal from the Skywing Palace posing themselves as "dragonmancers" to seize power over the village while having anyone who is standing in their way be "sacrificed" to the Skywings. Note that the Skywings themselves are ''completely ignorant'' of this whole affair.]]
*** By the end of ''Dragonslayer'', [[spoiler:it's shown that [[HumansAreFlawed while genuinely evil people do exist, they tend to be good more often than not,]] as can be seen when every single person in Valor turns against Heath when he confesses to not being the real dragonslayer. Wren, Ivy, Leaf, Cranberry, and Rhyme make plans to build a town that would welcome refugees from the burned down villages and attempt to make peace with the dragons.]] [[spoiler: Come ''The Dangerous Gift,'' Wren succeeds in the latter part]].
** [[spoiler:It is revealed in the finale of the 3rd arc that the Scorching began when a human thought that it would be a wise idea to steal dragon eggs to attain beasts of war, earning the wrath of their mothers. Not learning from history when the refugees fled to Pantala, the same human tried to weaponise a local parasitic plant, creating the ''Othermind'' as a result which would lead to the current events of the arc. However much like ''Dragonslayer'', the dragons are made even more aware of the sapience of scavengers and would attempt to help those who are good.]]
* HumansByAnyOtherName: Humans are called "Scavengers". Blue and Cricket, having never seen them before, call them "reading monkeys". [[spoiler: Downplayed after the dragons become aware of their sentience. While they are still called scavengers for the most part, they now know that said scavengers refer to themselves as humans.]]
* HybridAllAlong: [[spoiler:Sunny is assumed to be a deformed [=SandWing=] dragon at first; she's missing her kind's [[BewareMyStingerTail venomous tail barb]], and her scales are golden instead of pale yellow. It's only at the end of the first arc that she learns that her father was a [=NightWing=].]]
* IcePalace: The [=IceWings=] have one, enchanted by an animus dragon to never melt.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The second arc's pattern is "(protagonist) (x)ing", sometimes "(x)ing (protagonist)". This is changed in ''Talons of Power''.
* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: In The Brightest Night, Burn receives a gift from Blister, which she easily guesses contains a deadly Dragonbite Viper, and so she quickly dispatches the Viper inside. [[spoiler: Turns out that Blister anticipated this and put two Vipers in the box so the second would kill Burn]].
* IgnoredEpiphany: In "The Dark Secret", Flame visits Deathbringer with the intent to know how to best be an assassin. At one point, Deathbringer advises it doesn't hurt to question your orders and to think for yourself. To this, Flame shrugs it off, as [[spoiler: Deathbringer ''is'' imprisoned for turning on the Nightwings after all.]]
* ImmortalityHurts: Darkstalker, who made himself immortal with animus magic, is trapped underground, starving but unable to die. While he is unconscious most of this time, he ends up waking up after 2000 years and remains conscious in this state for six months before being freed.
* InadequateInheritor:
** Queen Grandeur completely changes the line of [=RainWing=] succession because her children are all lazy and would make horrible rulers.
** Oasis mentions that while Blaze is a good daughter to her, she'd make a terrible queen.
%%* IncendiaryExponent: Most of the dragons can breathe fire (except the [=SeaWings=] and [=IceWings=], the former breathing underwater, while the latter breathes a freezing mist. [=RainWings=] have no BreathWeapon at all. [[spoiler: Turns out they can spit a corrosive venom.]]
* InevitableWaterfall: In ''The Dragonet Prophecy'', when Clay and Tsunami are travelling through the underground river, Tsunami goes over a very small waterfall and pranks Clay into thinking it is much larger. But then it turns out that there really is a large waterfall beyond that one.
* InfractionDistraction: In ''The Hive Queen'', the fugitive main characters are having a secret meeting with three members of [[LaResistance The Chrysalis]] in a library when some [=HiveWing=] guards discover them and decide to search for them. Queen Wasp, while [[HiveQueen controlling one of the guards]], threatens to burn down the library if they don't reveal themselves, at which point the Chrysalis members come out of hiding and claim they were only servants who were secretly reading after hours, accepting the relatively lesser punishment for this "crime" so they won't get caught for their true actions and the fugitives they were harboring will be safe.
* InMediasRes: ''The Brightest Night'' starts right before [[spoiler: the eruption of the [=NightWings'=] volcano]], replaying the last bits of ''The Dark Secret'' and then having [[spoiler:Sunny kidnapped by Fierceteeth, Strongwings and Preyhunter.]]
** In the second arc, ''Darkness of Dragons'' starts right after Turtle [[spoiler:flies to the rainforest with Darkstalker in ''Talons of Power''.]] It would later catch up at the end of Part 1 after [[spoiler: Turtle writes in his slate pleading for Qibli's help.]]
* InnocentMeansNaive: Sunny is very innocent and optimistic and tends to assume the best in other dragons. Her friends treat her as though she's very simple-minded because of it. In [[ADayInTheLimelight her book,]] we find out that [[HiddenDepths she's actually very observant and has a go-getter attitude,]] but being treated as though she's stupid for being "sweet" has left her with an inferiority complex.
* IntroOnlyPointOfView: Every book has a prologue from the perspective of one character and an epilogue from the perspective of another, separate from the one (in the main series) or three (in the ''Legends'' prequels) focus character(s) for that book.
* InLoveWithTheMark: Deathbringer, towards [[spoiler: Glory]], who tries to hide the fact that she likes him back.
* InsultFriendlyFire: Winter objects to freeing Darkstalker because of his weird, scary powers. Moon and Turtle are quick to point out that said weird, scary powers are the same PsychicPowers that Moon has plus the same animus powers that Turtle has.
* InvisibleWriting: Darkstalker outsources all of his magical powers onto a scroll that lets him write whatever he wants to use his powers to do. He writes spells that do kind favors to other dragons in normal ink, but when he wants to write a spell he knows his friends will reproach him for for its cruelty (like killing an [=IceWing=] dragon every month), he writes it in invisible ink.
* InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath: Scarlet forces dragons to fight in the arena. Not always this trope, considering some of them are dragons who were originally on opposite sides of the war. But it culminates in making [[spoiler:Clay and Peril]] fight, which is definitely this trope. Anyone who tries to talk their opponents out of it ends up getting a nasty fate, like in Gill's case, being dehydrated into insanity.
* IronicName:
** Queen Scarlet, which is a shade of red, is orange. Tui has said that it was an oversight on her part, and that she regrets it.
** Coconut hates coconuts, which is lampshaded by Kinkajou.
** Chameleon is named after an animal that can change colors. However, Chameleon cannot change the colors of his scales unlike other [=RainWings=] due to a snout deformity that affects his suntime.
** Mindreader cannot read minds, though [[spoiler:she gains the ability after Darkstalker grants it to her.]]
* {{Irony}}: According to Book 2, Tsunami always dreamt her reunion with her mother would be just like in the story of "The Missing Princess", with a joyful mother declaring she never stopped looking for her daughter, being reunited with both parents, and having a glorious feast thrown in her honor. [[spoiler: Although Tsunami ''did'' get the [[BigDamnReunion joyous reunion]], the rest of her expectations are subverted by a father killed (unwittingly by her own hands) and the feast part being delayed by circumstances. Sunny, on the other hand, got the mom, feast, ''and'' reunion with her dad.]]
** In Book 2, Queen Coral makes it a point to openly distrust and shun [[spoiler: Riptide for the rather [[DisproportionateRetribution petty reason]] of [[SinsOfTheFathers being Webs son]]. On the other hand, she openly trusting towards Whirlpool and even ships him with Tsunami over the bias that he's her most loyal advisor. And [[DramaticIrony she doesn't know]] (or worse, doesn't care) that he's such a [[SocialClimber slimy and conniving worm]].]]
*** Unto itself, [[spoiler: Queen Coral is highly protective of her daughters, to the point she killed Tortoise for [[DisproportionateRetribution neglecting to watch over the egg that was destroyed]]. Meanwhile, she sings praises to Whirlpool for being her "trustworthy" advisor (really her most sycophantic) and to her late daughter Orca. The thing is, ''they'' each either attempted to kill one of her daughters (like Whirlpool) or suceeded to some degree (like Orca with her animus statue).]]
** In "The Hidden Kingdom", [[spoiler: neither members of the remaining Rainwing Royal family ever win the competition.]]
** In "Winter Turning", Qibli remarks on how the Nightwings plan to [[spoiler: steal away Prince Arctic, have his babies and then do away with him]] feels convoluted and devious, to which Winter affirms is Nightwings in a nutshell. But towards the end, [[spoiler: not only do Winter's parents create such a plan that sets him up for failure, but he learns the Nightwing Foeslayer wasn't the devious temptress legends make her out to be.]]
* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: All of the dragonets go through this in various ways. Glory, the one dragon who isn't TheChosenOne, even outright states it to Deathbringer, who notes that he's never thought about it that way.
* IWillFightSomeMoreForever: The [=LeafWings=] never gave up on the Tree Wars, even fifty years later. [[spoiler:Well, half of them, at least.]]
* JustAKid: Adults often tell the Dragonets of Destiny that they are just dragonets, so they can't possibly have any impact or make their own choices. In ''Winter Turning'', Glory gets in on it herself, [[DeadpanSnarker snarking]] that it makes her very relieved that some five year olds are skipping school to chase after two dragons who want her dead.
* KeepingTheHandicap: Darkstalker offers to use his animus powers to cure Starflight and Tamarin's blindness, but they refuse, feeling that they don't want to make a habit of solving their problems the easy way out with magic.
* KidHero: All of the protagonists of the main series books so far are dragonets rather than full grown dragons. Peril is the oldest of them, between 7.5 and 8.5 years old, which would make her full grown by standards of [=IceWing=] culture but not by [=NightWing=] culture, and it's unknown what her own tribe ([=SkyWings=]) would consider full-grown[[note]] Though it should be noted that dragonets age and mature quickly until they're nine years old, where they're considered to be full-grown adults. [[/note]]
* KnockoutAmbush: At the beginning of "The Hidden Kingdom", the dragonets and [[spoiler:Webs]] are ambushed by [=RainWings=] who knock all of them out with tranquilizer darts except Starflight and Glory.
* LaResistance:
** The Talons of Peace have brought the five dragonets together to help end the war. Needless to say, it doesn't end well.
** The Chrysalis in the third arc is a secret group of [=SilkWings=] dedicated to resisting the [=HiveWings=].
* LateArrivalSpoiler:
** The revelation that Tsunami is a long-lost princess and that [=RainWings=] can shoot venom out of their fangs. If you go onto any Wings of Fire-related forum or website (hell, even this wiki's page for the series), it's extremely easy for you to get spoiled on those.
** Glory becoming [[spoiler:queen of the [=RainWings=] in ''The Hidden Kingdom''.]] Considering that it made Glory an even more polarizing figure, you can find many arguments on her that bring this up.
* [[LesserOfTwoEvils Lesser of Three Evils]]: The dragonets are supposed to choose between the three royal [=SandWing=] sisters for queen, but none of them are very good choices. Burn is AxCrazy and does things ForTheEvulz, Blister is a completely [[EmotionlessGirl pitiless and emotionless]] ManipulativeBastard [[TheEvilPrince who engineered the war to become queen over the physically stronger Burn]], and Blaze is LethallyStupid and would clearly be a very incompetent queen. Initially, after meeting Burn for the first time, they decide that they definitely don't want her. But by ''The Brightest Night'', they differ in their opinions as to who's the better one. Tsunami prefers Burn because she's more powerful than Blaze and won't try to betray them like Blister was, Glory prefers Blister because she's the most intelligent and not pointlessly evil, while Clay prefers Blaze because she's the kindest of the three. [[spoiler: In the end, none of them would become queen. [[TakeAThirdOption Instead, Thorn becomes the [=SandWing=] queen.]]]]
* LikeBrotherAndSister: The five dragonets tend to view each other this way. [[spoiler: Except for Starflight over Sunny. And it's part of why Sunny ultimately turns him down: Their relationship is just too familial.]]
* LivingStatue: [[spoiler: Unbeknownst to Queen Coral, her eldest daughter Orca possessed animus magic as well as a talent for sculpting and had "programmed" the statue she made in the Royal Hatchery to kill all female heirs before they hatched. This was done to eliminate the competition to Orca's reign, but also worked as a way to spite her mother from beyond the grave when Orca lost the duel for the crown.]]
* LoveDodecahedron: Qibli and Winter both have a crush on Moon, and Moon doesn't know who she likes back. Umber has an unrequited crush on Qibli, and Kinkajou has an unrequited crush on Winter. Turtle has a crush on Kinkajou, and Kinkajou may like him back. [[spoiler:Moon ends up choosing Qibli]], Kinkajou is struggling with her feelings, and Umber is out of the picture by the end of the second arc.
* LoveRuinsTheRealm: [[spoiler:Arctic and Foeslayer's]] love affair led to [[spoiler:their respective tribes being at war for thousands of years.]]
* LoveTriangle:
** With Starflight, Sunny and Fatespeaker. Starflight loves Sunny, while Fatespeaker loves Starflight. [[spoiler: In the fifth book, Sunny ultimately turns Starflight down because she loves him like a brother, and pushes him towards Fatespeaker, who he's been growing closer to.]]
** In the second arc, Qibli and Winter both have crushes on Moon, who feels conflicted over it. [[spoiler:She ends up choosing Qibli in book 10]].
* LoyalPhlebotinum: The Eye of Onyx [[spoiler:only lets the dragon it chooses to be the rightful queen wear it, and explodes any other dragons.]]
* LowFantasy: While it stars sapient dragons instead of human(oid)s, there are no other fantastical creatures in their world, the ability to use magic is a rare genetic trait, and most of the conflicts are caused by the monarchs' politics.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Tsunami, upon entering the Kingdom of the [=SeaWings=], learns that her father was [[spoiler: Gill, the crazed, dehydrated [=SeaWing=] she was forced to kill in Queen Scarlet's arena]]. Sunny also gets this twice in ''The Brightest Night'', with [[spoiler: Thorn]] revealing both that she is her mother and later on that [[spoiler:Stonemover]] is her father. Later [[spoiler: Soar/Chameleon]] tells Peril that he is her father. Peril is not particularly excited.
* MacGuffinTitle: Part three of "The Brightest Night" is called "The Eye of Onyx", referring to the piece of [=SandWing=] treasure that has the power to end the war, which Sunny looks for throughout the book.
* MachiavelliWasWrong: Kestrel believes that dragons don't have empathy for each other, which leads to [[spoiler: Sunny and Starflight combining their fire to free Tsunami when she is tied up, which Kestrel had discounted as a possibility]].
* TheMagicGoesAway: Animus dragons, who have the ability to enchant objects, have disappeared thousands of years ago [[spoiler: in all tribes except the [=SeaWings=] and [=NightWings=]]].
** Happens for real in the third arc - no animus magic is working anymore. While preexisting enchantments still work, no new spells can be cast. [[spoiler: It's revealed in ''The Dangerous Gift'' that Jeroba II irreversably erased animus magic for the current generation. She decided that dragons can't be trusted with that kind of power after her experiences with her mother, Darkstalker, and Snowfall.]]
* MaternityCrisis: A variation with an egg: Bumblebee hatches early and at the worst possible time when Cricket, Blue, Sundew and Swordtail are all fugitives and trying to complete an important task.
* {{Matriarchy}}: The dragon tribes are all ruled by queens.
* {{Matricide}}: How queens usually come into power. Most of the dragons who challenge for the throne are the current queen's daughter, and are forced to kill their mothers in a fight to win the throne, though sisters and cousins can challenge as well. [[spoiler:The [=RainWings=] are the only tribe to not do it this way and averted in the case of Queen Glacier, who would have abdicated to whatever daughter challenged her without fighting.]]
* MamaBear: When she first appears, Queen Coral is ''violently'' protective of her eggs and had any guard that failed to protect them (whether they were at fault or not) painfully executed. [[spoiler:This is also how the Scorching happened, as humans stealing dragon eggs caused the dragons to unite and completely annihilate human civilization, leaving humanity as little more than isolated villages and small cities that do their best to avoid being seen by dragons.]]
* MeaningfulName: plenty of examples:
** On the continental level, Pyrrhia's name has three meanings: from PyrrhicVictory, which is believed by many fans to be about the Scorching or the War of Sandwing Succession; from the Pyrrhia genus of moths, [[TitleDrop which implies flight (as in wings); and from the Greek prefix ''pyro''-, meaning "of or relating to fire".]]
** Pantala is the name of a genus of dragonflies, referencing the insect-inspired dragons who inhabit the continent, and matching Pyrrhia being a genus of moths.
** The different dragon cultures each have [[FantasticNamingConvention their own naming schemes]], usually revolving around things in each culture's environment, such as animals (Cricket, Peregrine, Fruit Bat, Shark, Camel), plants (Kelp, Liana, Cereus, Sequoia), weather (Qibli, Tempest, Sandstorm, Typhoon, Sirocco), minerals (Clay, Onyx, Vermilion, Ruby), geographical features (Glacier, Cliff, Reef), biomes (Tundra, Marsh), or natural phenomena (Tsunami, Eclipse, Avalanche).
** The exceptions to the above naming schemes are Nightwing dragons. While the still somewhat using the previous environment-based naming schemes, most NightWings have compound names which are either designed to evoke mystery or fear, ([[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Darkstalker, Deathbringer, Fierceteeth, Mastermind, or Battlewinner]]) or reference their psychic abilities (Clearsight, Morrowseer, Mindreader).
* MentalStory: The Flames of Hope, mostly centers around the visions protagonist Luna gets from Cottonmouth and Lizard about their backstory and later her use of the two's mind-sharing to show Lizard the empathy and kindness of dragons.
* MindOverMatter: A basic enchantment for an animus dragon.
* AMinorKidroduction: All of the prologues for the second series are this, except for Darkness of Dragons - Moon Rising's prologue features Moon's hatching, Winter Turning's prologue features a three-year-old Winter, we get to see one-year old Peril in Escaping Peril's prologue, and Talons of Power shows two-year-old Turtle.
* MonsterAndTheMaiden: One of the perspective characters ''Dragonslayer'', Wren, is a young girl who befriends an abandoned dragon. They travel the continent together for years, and learn each others' languages.
* MoreThanMindControl:
** In "Winter Turning", the concept it explored. [[spoiler: Hailstorm and Winter have their belief in the Icewing way of life shaken after each has worn the animus-touched necklace that makes them Pyrite. Hailstorm can at least stake claim that brainwashing is the reason he's unsure of his pride as an Icewing. Winter, on the other hand, realizes there are other factors for his crumbling faith in the Icewings' [[TheSocialDarwinist meritocracy]], namely the friends he made who taught him teamwork and empathy.]]
** In the case of [[spoiler: Darkstalker]], it's "More than Corruption". [[spoiler: Usually, when an animus goes bad, the culprit is that their magic stole too much of their soul. But as Qibli points out in Book 10, Darkstalker's corruption may have less to do with his animus magic and more to do with the fact he's not a good person.]]
* MouseWorld: Scavenger aka human society as a whole when they are no longer the dominant species on Pyrrhia. Deconstructed as not only the general populace are ignorant of the dragons' sapience and civilizations, they also think that their world works like a classic DragonRider work as a result, which can't be more further from the truth.
* MultiVolumeWork: There are 15 planned books, plus Winglets, an extra-length book about Darkstalker, Clearsight, and Fathom, and 3 graphic novels. Another extra-length book, titled ''Dragonslayer'', was released in early 2020.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast:
** The [=NightWings=] are particular experts at this. Vengeance, Slaughter, Deathbringer, Darkstalker, Foeslayer, etc. The other tribes also have dragons with names like Tsunami, Crocodile, Shark and Viper. Not all of them are evil, though.
** The [=LeafWings=] rival even the [=NightWings=], with many of them named after poisonous or carnivorous plants. [[spoiler:They didn't have names like this before the war, and even then only the [=PoisonWings=] do it.]]
** The Breath of Evil. Take a wild guess at who would want to use this. [[spoiler: Also, the Othermind,]]
* NastyParty: The Royal [=SeaWing=] Massacre happens at a party with two [=SkyWing=] guests, killing most of the [=SeaWing=] royal family, a [=SkyWing=] princess, and a musician. Fathom and Indigo are noted to be unnerved whenever they're at a party after going to ''that'' one.
* NeckSnap: Several dragons kill other dragons this way.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In ''Darkstalker'', his placing all his animus powers into the scroll is initially what helps win Clearsight's heart. [[spoiler: It's also what ultimately drives her away. Convinced his soul is now in no danger of corruption, Darkstalker uses the scroll not only to do kind, compassionate things for his friends, mother, and sister, but to do an increasing amount of cruel, petty, angry, vicious things to any and every dragon that makes him feel unsafe or insecure. Including his best friends, if they question his motives.]]
* NorthIsColdSouthIsHot: The northern part of Pyrrhia consists of the freezing Ice Kingdom as well as much of the Sky Kingdom (which seems to be rather cold but considerably warmer than the Ice Kingdom despite its tall mountains), while the southern part has a hot desert, a hot rainforest, and a wetland inhabited by a type of dragon who clearly don't function well in the cold.
* NoManShouldHaveThisPower: Peril decides to resolve Winter and Qibli's argument over how they should use Darkstalker's scroll, which has his animus powers stored in it and allows you to enchant objects to do basically anything, by burning the scroll so no one has it. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero this backfires]] because the scroll was enchanted to give [[SealedEvilInACan Darkstalker]] back his powers, allowing him to free himself, if it is burned.]]
* NotQuiteTheRightThing:
** After Winter and Qibli get in a huge fight about using Darkstalker's scroll, Peril decides to burn it to stop the fighting and [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower prevent anyone from having that power.]] Instead, she ends up [[spoiler: releasing Darkstalker, who will use his newly regained animus power for far worse than Winter or Qibli ever would have.]]
** Hawthorn and Queen Sequoia decide to [[spoiler:trick Queen Wasp into consuming the Breath of Evil at a peace summit]], believing this is the only way to stop their tribe's destruction after she has refused all attempts to be reasoned with. [[spoiler:Instead of using the plant's mind control on her, they give Wasp the power instead, and now she can control her whole tribe, easily mobilize whole armies, persecute any enemy and crush any rebellion, and it is now far more difficult to rise up against her without having to kill even sympathetic [=HiveWings=].]]
* NoTrueScotsman: Each of the two [=LeafWings=] villages gives the other a new tribe(the [=PoisonWings=] and [=SapWings=], respectively) name because they don't see their counterparts as ''real'' [=LeafWings=].
* NotSoDifferentRemark: In ''Darkness of Dragons''. In order to stop the renewed war between the [=NightWings=] and [=IceWings=], Anemone and Turtle cast a spell to let the combatants on both sides hear the thoughts of the dragons they're fighting, showing that they're all just scared people who have grown up hearing horror stories and are just trying to protect their loved ones. This (and a subsequent part of the spell that teleports both armies back where they came from) plays a vital role in stopping the war and ending the millennia-old feud between both tribes.
* NotSoSimilar: In "The Brightest Night", [[spoiler: shortly after departing from her father, we have Sunny narrate how she's met both parents: her [=SandWing=] mother who takes action and her [=NightWing=] father who waits for the worst outcome. Considering she's currently being spurred to stop the war despite learning the prophecy isn't true, she lampshades she's nothing like her father.]]
* OddlySmallOrganization: The Chrysalis turns out to have just seven members within Jewel Hive, and four of them couldn't even come to the meeting that the main characters attend. We later find out that there're hundreds within other areas like Bloodworm Hive, and that particular branch was so small because Jewel Hive as an [[NobleTopEnforcer actually kind leader]] and the [=SilkWings=] there are not as aggrieved as the ones in other hives.
* OddNameOut:
** The six queens of the [=RainWings=] are called Splendor, Magnificent, Dazzling, Exquisite, Grandeur...and Fruit Bat. Lampshaded in story.
** The first [=LeafWings=] we hear of or see are all named after poisonous plants, except for Willow and the old queen Sequoia. [[spoiler:It turns out only the [=PoisonWings=] have this name convention, while the other half of the [=LeafWings=] are still following the old tree name convention.]]
* OncePerEpisode: The protagonist sees one or more [[CallAHumanASmeerp scavengers]] and decides to rescue them rather than kill them {except in ''The Dark Secret''). However, this stopped after the first arc.
* OneCastMemberPerCover: Each book depicts a different dragon on the cover. With the exception of ''Dragonslayer,'' that dragon is the point-of-view character for that particular book.
* OneWordTitle: ''Prisoners'', ''Assassin'', ''Darkstalker'', and ''Dragonslayer''.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: And how! There are seven species of dragons, each with their own unique attributes and abilities. [[spoiler: Now it is up to ten species as of The Lost Continent, with three new tribes revealed.]]
* OurFounder: Pantala is full of statues of Clearsight, the dragon who wrote the future-predicting book of Clearsight, was responsible for the language that Pantalan dragons currently speak, and is generally regarded as something like a [[DeityOfHumanOrigin Deity of Dragon Origin]] to the Pantalan tribes.
* OutrunningTheFireball: After [[spoiler:the [=NightWings'=] volcano erupts]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] due to the dragons' natural resistance to fire and the fact that they're [[spoiler:going through a portal]], so the fireball is only coming through a very narrow passageway. And [[spoiler:Starflight still gets [[EyeScream blinded]] and nearly killed, as well as Morrowseer dying.]]
* OutsideManInsideMan: In ''The Lost Continent'', the protagonist and his friends end up getting involved in a revolution aiming to overthrow the [=HiveWings=]. Blue then encounters his father, [[WideEyedIdealist Admiral]], who is happy with his life being farmed for silk because it puts him in the position to petition the queen for reforms. After seeing how comically little Admiral still managed to accomplish despite decades of work, Blue decides to oppose him and still try to escape and fight back, but Admiral is terrified that Blue's actions will undo everything Admiral has done and get the [=HiveWings=] to put them back in chains like it was when Admiral first arrived.
* TheOutsideWorld: The first arc stars five dragonets who were raised secluded in a cave and never allowed to go outside so that when they grow up, they could [[TheChosenMany fulfill a prophecy]] and stop a war, without being killed by one of the sides of said war. After escaping a bit ahead of schedule, they spend the rest of the series encountering both the wonders of the outside world and dealing with the many dragons who want them dead there.
* TheParanoiac: Snowfall is this. [[CharacterDevelopment She grows out of it.]]
** Heath is always paranoid in general, but it reaches new heights when Leaf gives him a message from the Invincible Lord, not realizing that it's a threat. [[spoiler: Heath soon announces to Valor that the Invincible Lord set a price on his head, orders the Wingwatchers arrested for plotting against him, and calls Leaf an assassin. He plans on capturing Leaf so that he can execute him and the Wingwatchers altogether.]]
* PatternCodedEggs: Each kind of dragon has a differently-coloured egg. A minor plot point is that [=MudWings=] occasionally lay blood-red eggs, which hatch into fireproof dragons. [=NightWings=] can avert this, however. While their eggs are normally black, when exposed to moonlight they turn silver.
* PerceptionFilter: Turtle uses an enchanted stick to not be perceived or thought about by Darkstalker.
* PerfectPacifistPeople: The [=RainWings=] [[spoiler: before Glory's rule.]]
* ThePlague: The [[spoiler:[=IceWing=]]] plague in ''Talons of Power''.
* PlanetEngland: The world is called "Pyrrhia" at first, until the third arc reveals that it's just one continent on the planet.
* PolarBearsAndPenguins: All of the kingdoms contain animals from their respective biomes regardless of what part of the real world they are found in. This means there are both polar bears and penguins in the Ice Kingdom.
* PoisonousPerson:
** The [=RainWings=] have a [[spoiler:deadly, corrosive venom that they can spit from their fangs.]] It takes quite a bit of time to aim it well.
** The [=BeetleWings=] supposedly had the same ability, suggesting that they might be distantly related to the [=RainWings=].
** The [=SandWings=] have a poisonous barb in their tail which they can use to poison their enemies with, similar to scorpions. They are taught from a young age how to keep their tails in a specific position to not accidentally stab others with it.
** Among the various [=HiveWing=] abilities, some of them can have venom in their claws or teeth, as well as a nerve toxin that can paralyze their enemies.
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Blister's "secret weapon" is [[spoiler: Anemone, Coral's one year old animus dragonet.]] She plans to use [[spoiler: her animus powers]] to win the war, even though [[spoiler: it will make her lose her soul.]]
* PowersInTheFirstEpisode: Fathom finds out that he is an animus dragon in the first chapter of ''Darkstalker''.
* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: The first series revolves around the [[TheChosenOne five dragonets who are prophesied to end the war]]. [[spoiler: Subverted, since Morrowseer actually made up the prophecy as part of his plan to have the [=NightWings=] take over the rainforest to escape their home]].
* PropheciesRhymeAllTheTime: The prophecies about the dragonets, Moonwatcher's prophecy, and The Lost Continent prophecy.
* ProphecyTwist: In book four [[spoiler:Morrowseer reveals that he made up the prophecy about the dragonets]]. However in the following book (The Brightest Night) the third part of the prophecy comes true. "Of three queens who blister[[note]]Princess Blister[[/note]] and blaze[[note]]Princess Blaze[[/note]] and burn[[note]]Princess Burn[[/note]]. two shall die[[note]]Burn dies from being bitten by a dragonbite viper and then Blister dies from trying to take the "Eye Of Onyx" from Thorn[[/note]] and one shall learn[[note]]Blaze is left as the SoleSurvivor of the three Sand Wing Sisters[[/note]]. If she bows to a fate that is stronger and higher[[note]]Queen Thorn[[/note]], she'll have the power of [[TitleDrop Wings Of Fire]].
* PubertySuperpower: [=SilkWings=] gain the ability to fly and spin silk after going through their metamorphosis, which takes place at the equivalent of puberty in dragon age terms.
* ProtagonistTitle: "Darkstalker", though there is an alternating POV with him, Fathom and Clearsight.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: As ''Darkstalker'' tells the story of Pyrrhia's most feared dragon, it was only natural it would end up like this.
* PsychicBlockDefense: The effect of [[spoiler:skyfire.]]
* PsychoElectricEel: Coral has a prison where no dragons dare escape because of eels with shocks powerful enough to kill a dragon. There is water flowing from the ceiling so even flying out would be risky. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by how all Pyrrhian animals and plants are larger than ones on Earth to be more "dragon sized".
* PygmalionSnapback: Darkstalker tries to use his animus powers to [[spoiler: give Clearsight earrings that make her forget all of the [[BadFuture bad futures]] she sees and see only the good ones. Clearsight]] doesn't take it well, especially since [[spoiler: most of her visions now show Darkstalker having no qualms with going further than this and using his powers to shape her and Fathom however he likes]], and the whole thing leads to tragedy for both.
* QuicksandSucks: The [=RainWings=] don't have any prisons, since they typically exile offenders. As a result, when [[spoiler:Mastermind]] is held prisoner for [[spoiler:experimenting on the [=RainWings=]]], they put him in quicksand and drag him out and then back in every few hours so he doesn't die.
* RaceNameBasis: Several dragons refer to others by their tribe's name.
* RaiseHimRightThisTime: [[spoiler: Foeslayer and Kinkajou]] turn [[spoiler:Darkstalker]] into a dragonet with no memories of his previous self to allow him to live a happier life without becoming evil. Though it's as much for [[spoiler:Foeslayer]] as for him, given that [[spoiler:Darkstalker is now the only dragon she knows from the past who's still alive.]]
* RebelliousRebel: Neither the Dragonets of Destiny nor some of the Talons of Peace accept the organization's decisions.
* RenegadeSplinterFaction: [[spoiler:Belladonna's faction of the [=LeafWings=]]] turn out to be this. Her mother left with half of the tribe out of frustration that [[spoiler:Queen Sequoia refused to continue the war and take revenge on the [=HiveWings=]]].
* ResurrectionDeathLoop: [[spoiler: Queen Diamond punishes Foeslayer by killing her over and over with an enchanted spear that will freeze her when she dies and then revive her whenever the user wants. She ends up tying her there for thousands of years so new dragons can come to kill her during their Diamond Trials.]]
* RewritingReality: Darkstalker's scroll works exactly like an animus dragon's magic does, because he put all of his powers into it, and is activated by writing in it.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: [=RainWings=] think sloths are this. Scavengers also, Glory notes upon seeing this that she can see why people like them, since they look like slightly less furry sloths.
* RockThemeNaming: A sizable number of dragons are named after gems, such as Ruby, Tourmaline, Pearl, Onyx and Diamond.
* RoyalSchool: Since there are only 35 students at Jade Mountain academy (5 per tribe) and all of them are selected by their queens, quite a few are royalty, as are some of the founders.
* RoyaltySuperpower: [=SeaWing=] royals have extra bioluminescent scales and [[spoiler: are often animus dragons]]. [=IceWing=] royalty used to have animus powers due to marrying whatever animus was born in another family, until 2000 years ago when [[spoiler:Foeslayer and Arctic fell in love]].
* SapientAllAlong: Dragons find out humans a.k.a scavengers are sentient in book fourteen, and a group of humans find out dragons are sentient at what is timeline-wise towards the start of the series. This causes many dragons to be rightfully horrified, since they have been eating 'scavengers' since the dawn of time.
* SapientEatSapient: Humans are not the dominant species in the world, and are treated as animals by dragons. While dragons don't go out of their way to hunt them, most of them are certainly not above opportunistically eating humans. [[spoiler: When ironclad proof of human sapience surfaces, some dragons are noted to look rather ill all of a sudden.]]
* SeriesContinuityError: In ''The Flames of Hope'', it's mentioned twice that Tsunami's blood was blue. This contradicts earlier books, most evidently in ''The Lost Heir,'' where [=SeaWing=] blood is stated (and shown in the graphic novels) to be red.
* ShadowArchetype: In book 2, part of Tsunami's character arc is learning [[spoiler: to be a better leader than Queen Coral, her mother. Queen Coral, despite her redeeming qualities and her [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing affection]] for her daughters, has plenty of flaws that reflect what Tsunami would be if she didn't learn from her mistakes about killing willy-nilly. On one hand, she shows no remorse for killing Tortoise over [[MamaBear neglecting to protect her eggs]]. On the other hand, Tsunami learning she accidentally killed her father gives her pause (to say the least) and prompts her to only resort to killing ''[[CharacterDevelopment sparingly]]''.]]
* ShipTease: Just about every protagonist gets a love interest, save for a few exceptions.
** In Arc 1, we have Clay and Peril, Tsunami and Riptide, Glory and Deathbringer, and Starflight and Fatespeaker (Starflight initially had feelings for Sunny, and although Sunny was confused about her own feelings at first, she eventually decides that she loves Starflight as a brother and encourages him to pursue a relationship with Fatespeaker).
** In Arc 2, we got the love triangle between Moon, Qibli, and Winter, and although there was plenty of teasing on both sides, Moon eventually decides to start a romance with Qibli, which thankfully did not damage their friendship with Winter. We also got some teasing between Turtle and Kinkajou (although whether or not Kinkajou's feelings are due to some level of aftereffect from Anemone's love spell has yet to be determined), as well as some more teasing between Clay and Peril.
** Arc 3 gave us Blue and Cricket, and Sundew and Willow were also teased a little bit before they were revealed to be girlfriends later on. Luna and Swordtail were already OfficialCouple status to begin with.
** The ''Legends'' books gave us Fathom and Indigo in ''Darkstalker'' and Ivy and Leaf in ''Dragonslayer''. The latter book also teased Wren and Undauntable a little bit, but the romantic feelings are purely one-sided on Undauntable's part, and given how their last interaction went, a potential future romance between them is looking very uncertain.
** The ''Winglets'' books gave us Snowflake and Snowfox, who were the series' first official gay couple.
* SlidingScaleOfAnimalCast: Level 3. Humans do exist, but they are an endangered species. Only a few humans actually appear (usually in the OnceAnEpisode of the main character deciding to save a human instead of eating them during the first arc), and fewer are actually named. The series' main focus are the dragons, and the most that the humans ever get mentioned are the three humans that killed Queen Oasis and started the war.
** ''Dragonslayer'' is, by itself, at Level 10, with three human protagonists and a dragon as a major supporting character. [[spoiler: It also appears to push the series as a whole towards Level 4, with the protagonists actively setting out to establish peaceful contact with dragonkind at the end of the book.]]
* SlidingScaleOfAnimalCommunication: Level 2, as the dragons can communicate with each other, and the humans present are treated as prey at worst and pets at best. [=LeafWings=] are capable of talking to ''plants'' to varying extents, though.
** As of ''Dragonslayer'', [[spoiler: the scale has shifted to Level 5. As Wren and Sky demonstrate, humans and dragons are capable of learning each other's languages, albeit with some difficulty over the course of several years, making the lack of understanding between the two species an ordinary language barrier.]]
* SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVersusFate: Level 4, because while prophecies do exist, they are just predictions of one of many futures and dragons still have free will. Though skilled {{Seers}} like Darkstalker can know every single future and their odds, it is the individual dragon's choice which future will happen.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism:
** The first arc's setting is a cynical, somewhat hellish environment torn by a decades-long war that seems to have no point of stopping, with the only real hope being the five Dragonets of Destiny destined to save the world. However, the first arc never really loses its idealistic streak of hope, despite its use of {{Cruel Twist Ending}}s and whatnot. The dragonets keep fighting for what they believe is right, even when life throws every curveball at them. It's through their determination and hope that leads to the arc's happy ending.
** The third arc is similar, and focuses on some more mature subjects like tyranny, genocide, and discrimination. Despite this, the third arc is quite idealistic, even more so than the first arc. The protagonists of the first two books of the third arc are also idealistic and hopeful. In fact, one of the arc's major themes is empathy and learning to be empathetic to others.
* SnakesAreSinister:
** Queen Blister, one of the major villains, is described as having a snakelike face and later uses [[AnimalAssassin venomous snakes]] to try to kill Burn. Both dragons named after snakes, Viper and Rattlesnake, are antagonists.
** Snakes are among the animals used to attack the first settlers of Pyrrhia in the Legend of the Hive. Hawthorn later follows suit by using the Breath of Evil to control the snakes [[spoiler:one of which he uses to hold Willow hostage when he is controlled by the Othermind.]]
* SociallyScoredSociety: In the Ice Kingdom, an Icewing's place in society is determined by their rank on the wall in the seven circles, which is in turn determined by the Queen and her council assessing their accomplishments. The highest-ranked Icewings are among the aristocracy and royalty in the top of the first circle, while the bottom of the seventh circle is the worst place in Icewing society for any tribe to be in. Because of all the harm the ranking system has caused for Icewing society, [[spoiler:Snowfall destroys it when she takes the throne of the Icewing Kingdom]].
* TheSociopath: Most of the adult dragons, [[BlackAndGreyMorality even those on the heroes' side]], say that dragons are not supposed to feel empathy for others. (Though this is probably just propaganda to justify the war, since the dragonets and others are able to show empathy just fine.)
* SongOfCourage: Clay gets Queen Scarlet's prisoners who are about to be killed to sing the "Dragonets are coming" song. Not only does it instill hope in the prisoners, it makes Clay more reassured that dragons really do want the dragonets to save the world and for the war to end.
* SnowMeansCold: All dragon tribes besides the [=NightWings=], [=SilkWings=], and [=HiveWings=] have names based on their environment. [=IceWings=] live in an area with very cold temperatures, and some have names involving snow (and there's even a dragon named Hailstorm).
* StandardEvilEmpireHierarchy: For Blister's side of the war:
** The Emperor: Blister
** The Right Hand: [[spoiler: Morrowseer]]
** The General: Commander Shark
** The Guard: Moray
** The Evil Counterpart: [[spoiler: The alternate Dragonets of Destiny]]
** The Oddball: Mastermind and Deathbringer
** The Man Behind the Man: [[spoiler: Battlewinner]]
* '''StoryBreakerPower''': As time went on, there came to be quite a few of these.
** Surprisingly enough, [[spoiler:[=RainWings=] of all dragons turn out to be this. With incredibly deadly venom, camouflage, and tranquilizers, they'd be more than capable of resolving most plots if they weren't held back by pacifism and their own sheer idiocy. Tellingly, Glory spends most of her time (after learning how to use her abilities) being Queen away from the plot, and Kinkajou is incapacitated or elsewhere whenever the other dragonets have to fight anyone in their league.]]
** [=NightWings=] would certainly qualify for this, [[spoiler:if their abilities were as real as they'd like to have others believe. Moon is the only character in the present-day that actually has the fabled powers of seeing the future and reading minds, and she's far weaker than most in this department.]]
** Animus Dragons [[spoiler:have the power to do anything they want. Yes really. The only things that hold them back are themselves, the fear of losing their souls, and the fact that there are multiple of them (It's also common knowledge in-universe that they can't bring back the dead, though this has never been known to be tried). Once the arc involving them ended, they had their powers removed because they'd be far too capable of fixing everything and likely willing to.]]
** There's a reason Clearsight [[spoiler:is only present in one book (two if you count the prologue of book 11) and only with fellow story-breakers. Her omniscience is so ridiculously strong that she really shouldn't have any problems dealing with anything less than animus dragons... who of course use their own powers to blind her to the futures to get what they want. Once she gets her powers back, she manages to resolve the plot in a couple hours. What really cements her as this, is the fact that if she existed during the timeline of any of the main books, she'd easily be able to resolve every conflict the protagonists face.]]
** The reigning king of this however, is Darkstalker. [[spoiler:While this trope normally doesn't apply to antagonists, Darkstalker becomes the biggest Story-Breaker in the series by a large margin by being an animus with omniscience, CompleteImmortality and Mind-reading. This isn't ''so'' bad in ''Darkstalker'' (the novel) since his animus powers are confined to his scroll, his MoralityPet has better omniscience than him, and he has very little practice seeing the future. However, when he wakes up in book 9, it becomes clear very quickly that next to none of the protagonists actually stand a chance against his whims, especially once he rapidly makes himself immune to other animus magic. As such, he spends most of the storyline attempting to use his powers very little, and still faces no real opposition from anyone besides Turtle (an animus) and Dragons helped by Turtle's magic.]]
* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Downplayed in "Winter Turning". [[spoiler: Although initially conflicted by his brainwashed life as Pyrite, Hailstorm does regain a good deal of his personality by returning home. But at the same time, he and Winter also comes out of the experience realizing their people's Meritocracy isn't nearly as important as they previously thought.]]
* StrongerWithAge: Dragons get larger and thus more powerful as they get older, and [=RainWings=] can also [[spoiler:shoot venom farther.]]
* StronglyWordedLetter: All of Admiral's attempts at "reform" are laughably small requests to the [=HiveWings=], but he still convinces himself that the changes he is accomplishing are worth being a glorified prisoner to the [=HiveWings=] for.
* StumblingUponTheLostWizard: Sunny discovers the animus Stonemover in Jade Mountain. He stays there because [[spoiler:he turned himself partially into stone to counteract the [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity standard effects]] of using animus powers,]] and sustains himself by enchanting a fox to bring him food every few days.
* SuccessionCrisis: The [=SandWings=] are having one throughout the first series that turns into a continental war. The [=MudWings=] are mentioned to have had one a few centuries ago.
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: The first arc, where first it looks like [[spoiler:Clay is going to die]] and then that [[spoiler:Blister is going to win]], but [[spoiler:Peril [[HealItWithFire heals Clay]] and Thorn becomes queen instead.]]
* SurvivedTheBeginning: In the second arc, the seven dragonets of the Jade Winglet class are introduced and set up to be the main cast, only for [[spoiler:one of them, Carnelian,]] to die halfway through the first book. However none of the others of the main cast, nor any other character who's not a villain, dies after this.
* SwitchingPOV: Most books have just one perspective (excluding the prologue and epilogue), but there are occasional exceptions.
** ''Darkstalker'' alternates between the perspectives of Clearsight, Fathom and Darkstalker himself.
** ''Runaway'' rotates between Foeslayer, Arctic, and Snowflake.
** ''Dragonslayer'' rotates between Ivy, Leaf, and Wren.
** ''The Dangerous Gift'' occasionally switches to another character's perspective thanks to Snowfall's animus-touched ring, known as the gift of vision. The visions include Atala, Blue, Bryony, [[spoiler:Raven]], and [[spoiler:Jeroba I and Jeroba III]].
* TagalongKid: Bumblebee in the third arc, who's mainly just there to act cute and bring some levity. [[spoiler: At the end of ''The Dangerous Gift,'' [[PutOnABus she stays in Sanctuary instead of going with the stealth team]]]].
* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler:Sunny chooses Thorn over Blister and Blaze as the next [=SandWing=] queen.]] [[note]][[spoiler:Burn was already dead, due to getting bitten by a snake that she received as a gift from Blister]][[/note]]
* TapOnTheHead: [[spoiler: The other [=NightWings=]]] use this to knock Starflight unconscious to bring to [[spoiler: their island]]. He remains semi-conscious for days with no long-term affects. Later in a flashback, Ruby has Hailstorm knocked out this way.
* TaughtToHate: Winter and Snowfall have both been raised to despise [=NightWings=], a prejudice that has been held among [=IceWings=] for the past two thousand years. However, they both manage to grow beyond this.
* ThatPoorPlant:
** Plants are often used to test out the effects of [[spoiler: [=RainWing=] venom.]]
** Post-HeelFaceTurn, Peril vents her fiery temper and abilities on vegetation.
* ThatsWhatIWouldDo: Qibli figures out that [[spoiler:Darkstalker is using a spell to make himself ACharmPerson]] because that is what he would do if he had animus powers. It's later revealed that Darkstalker, being a mind-reader, [[spoiler:got the idea from ''Qibli''.]]
* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler:Kestrel]] is killed after having her throat slit, getting poisoned, and is then thrown off a cliff for good measure.
* ThreadOfProphecySevered: Burn kills one of [[TheChosenMany the five prophecy dragonets]] in its egg in the prologue of the first book, leading to the guardians trying to raise said dragonets getting a replacement that clearly doesn't fit the prophecy. [[spoiler: Turns out this is because the prophecy was made up in the first place.]]
* TheToothHurts: Queen Coral punishes certain dragons, like [[spoiler:ones who [[FailureToSaveMurder failed to protect her eggs]]]], by having all of their teeth pulled out and then killing them, as shown with Tortoise.
* TimeSkip: Six months pass between the first arc and the second arc. ''Dragonslayer'' has a couple timeskips early on until around the beginning of the first arc.
* TitleDrop: In ''The Brightest Night'', twice near the end of the book. First Clay says that Peril might really be the Wings of Fire, then Sunny, responding to Clay's statement with [[spoiler: the knowledge that the prophecy is false]], says the wings of fire are in all of the dragonets of destiny. And then there's how [[spoiler: the Eye of Onyx]] is mentioned to look a lot like wings of fire.
* ToadLicking: A variant. ''Winter Turning'' has Moonwatcher warning her friends against eating brightly colored frogs. The last time she ate those, she says, she has had strange dreams about anteaters and newts taking over the world.
* TokenAquaticRace: The [=SeaWings=] are the only fully aquatic dragons; they have gills as well as lungs, are one of the few tribes to not have a BreathWeapon, and their kingdom covers a chain of islands and the sea around it. The [=MudWings=] are also amphibious and live in a swamp, but they can't stay underwater indefinitely.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Nearly every book's back cover blurb contains a major spoiler for the previous book, to the point where only three books in the main series manage to avert it:
** ''The Lost Heir'' reveals that [[spoiler:Tsunami is Queen Coral's only surviving daughter]].
** ''The Hidden Kingdom'' reveals that [[spoiler: Glory can shoot venom]].
** ''The Dark Secret'' reveals that [[spoiler:the [=NightWings=] were the ones responsible for kidnapping fourteen [=RainWings=]]].
** ''The Brightest Night'' reveals that [[spoiler: Morrowseer made up the prophecy]].
** ''Winter Turning'' reveals that [[spoiler:Hailstorm is alive]].
** Without even looking at the back cover, anyone who is browsing the bookstore looking for their first Wings of Fire book can find out about [[spoiler: Scarlet's face being disfigured]] from the cover of ''Escaping Peril''.
** ''Talons of Power'' and ''Darkness of Dragons'' reveals that [[spoiler: Turtle is an animus and Darkstalker has returned after 2000 years.]]
** ''The Hive Queen'' and ''The Poison Jungle'' reveals that [[spoiler: The Leafwings aren't extinct after all and there's an entire tribe of them in the Poison Jungle]].
** ''The Dangerous Gift'' reveals that [[spoiler: Snowfall becomes the next [=IceWing=] queen and that the Pantalan dragons are evacuating to Pyrrhia]].
** ''The Flames of Hope'' reveals that [[spoiler: humanity's sentience is discovered and that they will play a massive role in the stopping the breath of evil]].
* TranquilizerDart: The [=RainWings=] use these. They become useful in ''The Dark Secret'' for taking down the [=NightWings=] without harming them.
* TransformationTrinket: [[spoiler: Chameleon]] uses [[spoiler: Darkstalker's scroll]] as this. It is capable of doing much more, but he keeps the full extent of its power secret.
* TreeTopTown: The [=RainWings=] live in one, unsurprisingly given that they are large, flying animals that live in the rainforest.
* TriumphantReprise: Near the beginning of "The Dragonet Prophecy", Tsunami sings the "dragonets are coming" song to annoy her guardians, which Clay notes that she does often. Later in the book, Clay, in despair at being imprisoned by the [=SkyWings=], sings the song and the other prisoners join in. This serves as a moment of affirmation for Clay and the audience that the dragonets do mean something to the world.
* TrueCompanions: The Dragonets of Destiny were raised together, and through the shared suffering they endured for six years, became very close, almost like siblings. Even when they meet their families, the dragonets still choose to stick together, even after the war was over.
* TrulySingleParent: Jerboa I uses her animus power to create Jerboa II "Boa", who she keeps around for more than a thousand years while using her powers to edit her mind to be the ideal child whenever Boa does something she doesn't want. Eventually Boa realizes the truth and effectively kills her mother.
* TwinsAreSpecial: It is extremely rare for [[ProudWarriorRace SkyWing]] twins to hatch from the same egg, making any that do considered special. One of them is constantly WreathedInFlames (known as firescales), while the other has no fire at all.
* TwoDunIt: The culprit for [[spoiler: the deaths of Coral's unhatched daughters]] turns out to be a different dragon, [[spoiler: an enchanted statue created by [[TheDeadGuyDidIt Orca]]]], than [[spoiler: the one who tried to kill their sister Tsunami, Whirlpool.]]
* TwoGirlsToATeam: The alternate dragonets and the Jade Mountain group (with Kinkajou or [[TheSixthRanger Peril]]). Inverted with the original prophecy dragonet group, which consists of three female dragonets and two males.
* UnderwaterCity: The [=SeaWings=] live in one, unsurprisingly.
* TheUnfavorite: Glory is this to the Talons of Peace, on account of the fact that she's not a [=SkyWing=] (as the prophecy demands) and was a [[ReplacementGoldfish last-minute replacement.]] In fact, the guardians and Morrowseer threatening to outright ''kill'' Glory is what incites the other dragonets to finally try to escape.
* UnknownRelative: Sky from ''Dragonslayer'' is Peril's twin brother and Kestrel's son, but no one in-universe actually knows that because everyone believes that he's dead. It's not explicitly revealed in the books either, though there are enough clues in ''Dragonslayer'' to figure it out, and was further confirmed by WordOfGod.
* UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway: Battlewinner decides to go ahead with [[spoiler:the invasion of the Rain Kingdom]] with only prototype [[spoiler:guards against venom]], despite Mastermind's protests.
* VaguenessIsComing: The Jade Mountain prophecy, which ominously states that "something is coming", but doesn't say anything about what it is.
* {{Veganopia}}:
** [=RainWings=] are the only vegetarian tribe in Pyrrhia, and eat only fruit. They live in a utopian village with no real threats [[spoiler: until the [=NightWings=] show up.]]
** Sky is vegetarian as well.
** Averted with the [=LeafWings=], the other hidden jungle tribe. To Cricket's surprise, despite their association with plants they are carnivores, and [[spoiler:at least for half of them]] not very peaceful.
* VelvetRevolution: Sunny plans on ending the war this way, with a peace meeting between the tribes. [[spoiler: It works, but not without two of the three queens dying anyway.]] A book earlier, [[spoiler: the battle between the [=RainWings=] and [=NightWings=], which has been set up to be potentially very bloody, is resolved relatively peacefully with only two deaths due to a combination of Sunny's suggestion to use tranquilizer darts to incapacitate the [=NightWing=] guards, Greatness peacefully agreeing to AbdicateTheThrone, and the [[ChekhovsVolcano erupting volcano]] forcing the [=NightWings'=] hands.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds:
** The dragonets themselves at times, especially where [[HotBlooded Tsunami]] and [[DeadpanSnarker Glory]] are concerned. They may in-fight a lot--well, OK, all the time--but they are nonetheless fiercely loyal to one another.
*** Sadly averted with the [[spoiler: replacement dragonets]], who strongly dislike one another, and show little concern when any of their number are in peril.
** Qibli and Winter, although they both fight a lot and Winter tries to deny it, they’re still friends.
* VolcanoLair: [[spoiler:The [=NightWings=]]] live in one. Living there has all of the problems one would expect from living in an active volcano, though, so they are desperate to leave and find a better home.
* WantedPoster:
** Thorn posts one in the Scorpion's Den featuring Dune, Morrowseer and Stonemover.
** Blue, Cricket, and Swordtail end up on one for [[spoiler:stealing the book of Clearsight.]]
* WarArc: The first arc is set in the middle of a civil war among the [=SandWings=] which most of the other tribes of Pyrrhia have been caught up on in as well.
* WarIsHell:
** The dragonets of the first arc get to see the utter horror of a pointless war filled with FamilyUnfriendlyViolence and [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath death.]] Highlights include Queen Scarlet making her prisoners fight in arenas, which culminates for the "winners" in Peril burning them alive, the dragonets coming across a battlefield full of mutilated dead bodies from Burn and Blaze's sides (one of the casualties being Clay's sister Crane), [[spoiler:the [=SkyWings=] bombing the summer palace]], and Burn's side planning to lead an attack to kill ''all'' of the [=IceWings=] with the full knowledge of the dragons involved, including ChildSoldiers, that a fight in such cold temperatures will likely nearly kill off every single tribe involved.
** The Tree Wars were this for the [=LeafWings=], who were very nearly wiped out and all of the trees which they fought to protect were destroyed soon after. It's no wonder that Sundew bears so much hatred towards the [=HiveWings=] for what they did to her tribe.
* WeAreStrugglingTogether: Morpho alienates the other members of the Chrysalis by refusing to accept any [=SilkWings=] into their organization unless they have properly pure principles and reject the [=HiveWings=] enough, no matter how otherwise enthusiastic they might be.
* WeHaveForgottenThePhlebotinum: The war would have already been over a long time ago if the Eye of Onyx hadn't been lost along with the other [=SandWing=] treasure.
* WhamEpisode: Book 4, the Dark Secret. [[spoiler: The alternate Dragonets are revealed, removing any PlotArmor the Dragonets previously enjoyed. The [=NightWings=] after 3 books of seemingly being omnipotent, are revealed to be frauds. '''''The Dragonet Prophecy is a fabrication intended to help the [=NightWings=] seize the rainforest'''''. Starlight manages to arrange for the [=RainWings=] and [=NightWings=] to be ruled by the newly queened Glory. Oh, and Starflight is blinded by a blast of flames from an erupting volcano, [[AnyoneCanDie which also incinerates Morrowseer.]] So much for the status quo.]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: InUniverse. In ''A Guide To The Dragon World'', Smolder once read a scroll made for dragonets that teaches how to take care of pets. The scroll includes a section with recipes if the reader gets bored and want to eat their pet instead. Smolder himself thinks this would be gruesome for a dragonet to read.
* WhenThePlanetsAlign: The brightest night that the dragonets were born on refers to the day when all three moons are full. It only occurs about every century [[spoiler:though the end of the book "The Brightest Night" features a fake brightest night caused by two full moons and a comet.]]
* WinYourFreedom: Queen Scarlet's arena is like this in theory - but anyone trying for freedom has to [[NoSell get]] [[NighInvulnerability past]] [[AxCrazy Peril]] [[WreathedInFlames first.]]
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Being an animus means each use of your magic does further damage to your soul until you eventually go insane. [[spoiler:Or, so it seems at first; the trope is [[ZigZaggingTrope zigzagged]] because it ''is'' corrupting, but not literally so. As the series goes on, it's revealed that the shift in the animus mindset is more a psychological one -- the more you use your powers, the more powerful you feel, and the more entitled you become as you start thinking that you're unbeatable. This was proven when a character decided to enchant an amulet that would protect their soul from being corrupted, so then they believed they could use their magic as much as they wanted without restrictions, but slowly [[DrunkWithPower started acting more spoiled and reckless because they now beleived that they were untouchable]]. The basic conclusion that most of the characters come to is that these evil temptations are stemming from that were always there, and WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility if you don't want to lose your mind. In short, the power was corrupting them, but it's because the temptations of power itself were causing the shift rather than the animus magic itself making them go insane.]]
* WomenAreWiser: It is noted that the female scavengers tend to live longer in the arena because they tend to be more clever and work together. Not particularly true of female vs male dragons, though.
* AWorldHalfFull: Pyrrhia is full of plenty of horror and sadness, and the grudges that dragons and tribes hold against each other don't easily go away, but dragons are still capable of slowly working towards a better world.
* WorldOfActionGirls: All of the queens by definition, given [[ChallengingTheChief how they gain power]]. And, in general, most female dragons are competent to great at fighting. Even female scavengers are [[ActionGirl action girls.]]
* WorldOfBadass: Dragons are expected to be powerful fighters, and most of them are.
* WorldOfSnark: There are many, ''many'' DeadpanSnarker characters running around.
* WorshippedForGreatDeeds: Clearsight is worshipped by the dragons of Pantala for her protecting them with the ability to tell the future, which no Pantalan dragons could do.
* XMustNotWin: In "The Brightest Night", when it seems like the war is about to end, the dragonets are motivated to still try to do something about how [[spoiler: Blister]] will win.
* YouHave48Hours: In ''The Hive Queen'', the main cast is given two days to enact their plan, or else Belladonna and Hemlock will enact their own, [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized much more violent,]] plans for revolution. [[spoiler: They succeed in finding out how to stop Wasp. Unfortunately, by that point, Hemlock and Belladonna didn't want to wait for Sundew's report and they go through with their plan anyways.]]
* YouNeedABreathMint:
** In ''The Dark Secret'', Starflight notices that many of the dragonets from the [=NightWing=] tribe have "horrendously bad breath," which he later realizes is because they've only been able to eat rotten flesh for nourishment. The graphic novel even has him inwardly wondering why Fierceteeth's breath is so awful and visibly recoiling from Mightyclaws and remarking to himself that his breath is just as bad as hers.
** In ''Darkstalker'', Clearsight tells Fathom not to eat a fruit with purple spots on it that Darkstalker bought because it'll "make your breath smell like vultures for a week." When Fathom questions how she knows this, she mentions that Darkstalker ate one once, and she had to endure his breath for a full week.
* YourSizeMayVary: How big are scavengers compared to dragons? An illustration of a dragon and a scavenger in one book suggests that dragons are ''much'' bigger and scavengers are only as big as a dragon's head, while the graphic novel depicts dragons only being about twice to three times as big as scavengers.
** ''Dragonslayer'' shows that while a newly-hatched dragonet is smaller than a scavenger, they quickly grow much, ''much'' bigger. Wren can easily carry a dragonet on her shoulders when she's seven years old. After a year and a half together, Sky's shoulders were level with her waist and his wingspan was wider than her outstretched arms. After another TimeSkip of around seven years, he's more than twice her size and can fly with her on his back. Bear in mind that Wren is 14 years old and the dragon is 8 years old at that point.
----