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(This is the page for the graphic novel adaptation of "The Dark Secret." You may be looking for the book instead.)

The Dark Secret (graphic novel) is a comic adaptation of the fourth Wings of Fire book, The Dark Secret. The art is done by Mike Holmes. The book is written from the point of view of Starflight. It was officially released on December 29th, 2020. The graphic novel was first confirmed to be in the works in an interview at the Newton Free Library.[1]

Dedication[]

For Oscar and Beatrice, two of the most awesome people ever — we feel so lucky to have you as friends!

— T.T.S.

For Ruby and Gabby, who I hope will always let me know if my art's any good

— M.H.

Synopsis[]

The #1 New York Times bestselling series Wings of Fire soars to new heights in the fourth graphic novel adaptation!

In the shadows, trouble is brewing…

When Starflight is stolen by his own tribe, he hopes to at least discover some of the long-held NightWing secrets — what magical powers they really have, who they're allied with in the war, and where they've been living all this time.

But the truth about Starflight's tribe is more terrible than he ever imagined: Not only do the NightWings live in a dark, miserable place, but they've imprisoned several innocent RainWings there, too. Stranded and alone, Starflight only wants to get back to his friends. But the fate of two kingdoms now rests in his talons, and with no one to save him, Starflight will have to find a way to be brave … before it's too late.

Plot[]

Prologue[]

The prologue shows Reed and his siblings in a battle between the IceWings and the MudWings, where Marsh becomes terrified after he had just seen his sister Crane die in front of him during their first battle. After the battle was over, Umber claimed to have noticed a scavenger den the IceWings were after. Reed took note but did not ponder on it anymore. He then thought about joining the Talons of Peace with his siblings. The prologue ended with him not wanting to lose anyone else in the war, having already lost their sister.

Part One: The Secret Plan[]

The book began with Starflight unconscious and worrying where Sunny was, before replaying what had happened beforehand. Starflight's half-sister, Fierceteeth, awoke him by dumping salt water onto him. He was introduced to all of the NightWing dragonets. However, the introduction was cut short when Morrowseer stormed into the room, demanding that Starflight join him at the council to see the queen. Starflight nervously came along.

At the council, Starflight watched as they debated about attacking the RainWings. They asked Starflight what he knows, and Morrowseer threatened to kill him if he did not say anything, so he said that he thinks they were planning an attack. He witnessed Vengeance's death because he endangered the tribe for bringing Glory to the home of the NightWings, with Greatness saying, "You brought us a viper disguised as a simple garden snake," and so the guards threw him in the lava.

When he tried to come up, the guards pushed him down. Deathbringer thanked the queen for choosing not to kill him, but Greatness ordered him to the dungeon, saying, "The queen will figure out what to do with you later."

Morrowseer took Starflight to an island to hunt, and when Starflight saw how the NightWings hunt, he was disgusted and tried to talk his way out of eating the giant albatross Morrowseer had killed. After listening to Starflight rant on and on about the strange hunting habits of NightWings, Morrowseer confirmed who his father is. Morrowseer took Starflight to the labs, but on the way, they met Fatespeaker. Morrowseer agreed to take her to the labs if she promised to be quiet, and she happily agreed. When they met Mastermind, Morrowseer went away, being bored with science, leaving him and Fatespeaker with Mastermind.

At first, when Starflight met his father, Mastermind, he was filled with elation at the prospect of having such a smart father, but when he was given a tour by Mastermind around the labs, he was sickened by the fact that his father was abducting and torturing RainWings without even showing that he cared. He said that they were doing it for "science" because he did not want his son to know the real reason. When Mastermind showed him a RainWing test subject — which turned out to be Orchid — Starflight told her Mangrove was still looking for her, turning her a pink color (which means she was happy). Mastermind marveled at this, wondering why she turned pink. Fatespeaker gave him a look that said, "We'll be talking about this later."

Morrowseer then came back, saying that Starflight must be introduced to the "others." However, Starflight was not paying attention but instead pondering why the NightWings would be abducting the RainWings. The puzzle pieces clicked inside Starflight's mind, and he figured out the plan was to take the Rainforest from the RainWings and make that the new home of the NightWings. He also figured that the NightWings allied with Blister so that she and her army could help them take the territory.

Part One ends with Starflight thinking, "I've figured out the NightWings' secret plan. But now … what do I do about it?"

Part Two: The Queen's Secret[]

Starflight was brought to meet the false dragonets, and almost immediately afterward, Morrowseer ordered the dragonets to kill him as a test. He ran away and hid in the RainWing prisons, where a guard stopped him. He told her he was there for a "school project," and she let him through to Starflight's surprise. While waiting there, the other dragonets ran into the Nightwing guard, who freaked out, not knowing that the alternate dragonets of destiny were on the island. When Flame, the false SkyWing dragonet of destiny, shouted, "We're trying to kill a NightWing dragonet! Did you see where he went?" The guard then screams, "THEY'RE HERE TO KILL OUR DRAGONETS!" and slammed a gong on Flame's head. After a while, Fatespeaker found him and brought him back to the cave where the dragonets had been. Morrowseer then took them to the fortress and to the dormitories where Starflight slept.

Fatespeaker woke Starflight up in the night to explore the volcano. They found the old treasury, and Starflight discovered a dreamvisitor. He attempted to contact the real dragonets with it but had to enter Kinkajou's dreams instead since no one else was sleeping. In her dream, he learned that his friends thought he had betrayed them and gone to warn the NightWings of their attack. Starflight then fell asleep feeling lonelier than he ever had before.

He was woken up by Morrowseer, who brought them to the mainland to try to convince a remote outpost of SkyWings to switch their alliances to Blister. The dragonets failed, and some NightWings, who were following them, burst in and killed all the SkyWings. Squid then said he did not want to do this anymore, and Morrowseer furiously sent him away, saying he hoped Squid would die, devastating Fatespeaker. Morrowseer then took everyone back to the volcano island. Starflight and the rest of the dragonets then took a long, deserved sleep.

Fatespeaker woke Starflight up, saying that Flame had just snuck out, and she wanted to follow him. Flame lead the way to the NightWing dungeon, where Flame and Ochre had to stay when the guard caught them trying to kill Starflight. In there, they found Deathbringer, the NightWing who helped Glory escape the Night Kingdom. Flame wanted to know how to become an assassin but stormed back to bed after Deathbringer told him not to get too attached to his target — thinking of Glory — and remember that he was his own dragon, and he does not have to do everything he is told.

Fatespeaker and Starflight left so that they had time to find Queen Battlewinner. They found her in a secret room behind a map. When nobody was inside, Starflight thought there might have been no queen after all, but a dragon rose from a cauldron of lava in the middle of the room. They found out she was forced to stay in the cauldron because an IceWing shot their frost breath straight down her throat. Since the lava and ice canceled each other out, if she left the lava, the ice would finish its work and kill her. Both NightWing dragonets tried to convince her that what Morrowseer was doing was too cruel, but the queen told them to do as he says and for them to leave her. The dragonets had failed to change anything.

That night, Starflight took out the dreamvisitor again and successfully contacted Glory. He told her that the NightWings were attacking, and he was captured and did not betray them. He then woke up after talking with Glory and realized the blankets had changed, and the dreamvisitor was exposed.

The next day Morrowseer instructed them to do battle training. While attempting to kill Fatespeaker, Viper fell into the lava but managed to accidentally scratch Flame across the face with her venomous tail. Morrowseer tried to save Flame and left Viper for dead. While Morrowseer took Flame back to the fortress to find healers, Starflight discovered that none of the alternate dragonets were born on the brightest night. Fatespeaker and Starflight returned to the fortress to rest.

Before Starflight could get any sleep, Mastermind told him to walk with him to their library to find something on how to cure SandWing venom for Flame. Starflight decided to tell him about the brightsting cactus, but before he could, NightWings came to take Mastermind to the council. There, Starflight learned that the NightWings would attack the RainWings at midnight that night.

Part Three: The Truth[]

Frantically trying to find the dreamvisitor to warn Glory, Starflight discovered it was missing. He woke up Fatespeaker and told her that they needed to help the RainWings, but he did not know how. Fatespeaker agreed that they should help and came up with the plan to get to the rainforest.

Using Flame's scratch as an excuse, they tricked the guards into letting them into the rainforest, claiming that they would find the venom's antidote. He told the guards that the queen had chosen him as he was the only NightWing the RainWings trusted. The guards decided to let them in. Immediately after they came in, RainWings pinned them down, as ordered by Tsunami. Starflight and Tsunami spotted each other, and Tsunami explained a bit of their situation and brought them to Glory, Sunny, and Clay. Fatespeaker asked who Sunny is, and soon after, they found that they were quite alike. They planned how they would do the battle and decide they would go in within a few hours. Sunny suggested a new way of fighting for RainWings: Sleeping darts. Soon, all of the RainWings were armed with their tranquilizer darts.

Starflight believed he might die in the fight, so he confessed to Sunny that he loved her. She was surprised, and told him to kick some NightWings for her. The army of RainWings then went through the tunnel. Glory freed Orchid first, reuniting her and Mangrove. Glory told Liana and Grandeur how to release the RainWings with the spear. They then went to speak to Queen Battlewinner. As they were entering her chamber, Starflight noticed the ground shaking and realized the volcano would erupt. Glory demanded that Battlewinner stop the attack, but the NightWing queen refused. Starflight came up with the idea for letting the NightWings come to the rainforest, as long as they accepted Glory as their queen. Queen Battlewinner shrieked in rage and attempted to attack them, but because she jumped out of her lava, the ice froze her insides and killed her in a matter of seconds.

They then rushed to free Splendor and Deathbringer. During this period, the volcano was shaking violently. They released Splendor and Deathbringer and told the NightWings their plan. Almost all the dragons entered the rainforest, saying "Queen Glory" except for Morrowseer. As they were about to leave, Morrowseer told them the prophecy was false and made up, as part of an elaborate plan he and Battlewinner orchestrated to take over the rainforest. When the volcano erupted, the dragons dashed through the tunnel to the rainforest as the explosion consumed Morrowseer and killed him. Starflight then felt the blast on his scales and felt a stab of pain through his eyes — the lava had blinded him. Clay shielded Starflight from the lava with his fireproof scales and brought him to the rainforest, and Fatespeaker came up to him (he was unsure whether it was Fatespeaker or Sunny at first), and he was then jabbed in the neck by a sleeping dart and was knocked unconscious.

Epilogue[]

Blaze was with Glacier, telling her about the dragonets. Glacier confirmed that she only was supporting Blaze for the land. Glacier allowed Blaze to go inside and thought to herself about killing the dragonets if they did not choose Blaze.

Blister was with Nautilus and Squid, who was found by the mountains after Morrowseer had left him to fend for himself. Both Nautilus and Blister wondered about Morrowseer's disappearance and why he sent Blister to a scavenger den. She realized that the dragonets may be the reason for his disappearance and vowed to kill them.

Burn was outside of her stronghold, with her brother, Smolder. They were talking about their prisoner, Scarlet. Burn then told him how much a bore Queen Ruby was and how she would not enter battle while her kingdom was in turmoil. Burn then stated she would destroy the prophecy by killing the dragonets.

Variation from novel[]

  • In the graphic novel, Starflight had already been captured by the NightWings.[2] The novel briefly depicts Clay leaving Starflight by the entrance to the NightWing island before the latter is captured by his tribe.[3]
  • In the original book, Starflight runs into a chandelier after Fatespeaker informs him she was raised by the Talons of Peace.[4] This isn't present in the graphic novel.[5]
  • When Starflight dreams about being back under the mountain in the novel, he and Sunny are interrupted by Kestrel and Dune.[6] In the graphic novel, only Kestrel interrupts Starflight and Sunny.[7]
  • In the graphic novel, the scavenger dens on the detailed map of Pyrrhia are crossed out in red ink.[8] However, the scavenger dens are crossed out in green ink in the novel.[9]
  • When Starflight enters Tsunami's dream via the dreamvisitor, Anemone is not present, nor does she go insane in Tsunami's dream and attack Gill.[10] Instead, Tsunami is the one who kills her father in her nightmare.[11]
  • When Starflight and Fatespeaker go through the tunnel with Flame, Fatespeaker is not captured and gagged.[12]

Mistakes[]

  • Fatespeaker is missing the bracelet pattern on her arm.[13]
  • When Starflight is trying to convince the SkyWings he was the NightWing dragonet of the prophecy, he says, "Remember, [Queen Scarlet] had me fight scavengers?"[14] However, in the graphic novel adaption, the scavenger fight isn't shown — only Starflight and Tsunami's "fight" and the IceWings' deaths.
  • Nautilus is missing his black spiral patterns.[15]

Gallery[]

Click here to see the cover gallery.

International Releases[]

  • French: Les Royaumes de Feu en Bande Dessinée. L'Île au Secret (June 2021)
  • Korean: 불의 날개와 어둠의 비밀 그래픽 노블 (November 2022)

References[]

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEi7CtDag88
  2. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 6
  3. The Dark Secret, page 4
  4. The Dark Secret, page 45
  5. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 41
  6. The Dark Secret, page 92
  7. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 75
  8. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 118
  9. The Dark Secret, page 158
  10. The Dark Secret, page 173
  11. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 128
  12. The Dark Secret, page 221
  13. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 40
  14. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 97
  15. The Dark Secret (graphic novel), page 216–217
Wings of Fire books
First Arc The Dragonet ProphecyThe Lost HeirThe Hidden KingdomThe Dark SecretThe Brightest Night
Second Arc Moon RisingWinter TurningEscaping PerilTalons of PowerDarkness of Dragons
Third Arc The Lost ContinentThe Hive QueenThe Poison JungleThe Dangerous GiftThe Flames of Hope
Legends DarkstalkerDragonslayer
Winglets PrisonersAssassinDeserterRunaway
Graphic Novels The Dragonet ProphecyThe Lost HeirThe Hidden KingdomThe Dark SecretThe Brightest NightMoon RisingWinter Turning
Other A Winglets CollectionWinglets Flip BookThe Winglets QuartetForge Your Dragon WorldOfficial Coloring BookA Guide to the Dragon WorldHow to Draw
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