War of SandWing Succession

The War of SandWing Succession, also known as The Great War, was a war over the heir to the SandWing throne. Five of the Pyrrhian tribes were explicitly involved, excluding the RainWings, who had no knowledge of the war; the NightWings, on the other hand, were discreetly involved due to their secret alliance with Blister. The event began nearly twenty years before The Dragonet Prophecy, in 4,992 AS.

The war is the main backdrop for the first five books of Wings of Fire, and its impact on the Dragon Planet after the events of The Brightest Night is discussed in subsequent books.

Description

In 4,992 A.S., Queen Oasis was killed by Stone, a human, in an attempt to steal the SandWing treasure with his siblings Heath and Rose. Among the stolen treasure was the Eye of Onyx, which was traditionally used to choose the next SandWing queen. Blister allied with the SeaWings, Burn allied with the SkyWings and MudWings, and Blaze had most of the SandWings supporting her, along with the IceWings. The war ended in 5,012 A.S. with Sunny finding the Eye of Onyx and giving it to her mother, Thorn, who became the new SandWing queen. Burn died from a dragonbite viper (a trap set by Blister), and Blister was killed by the Eye of Onyx. Blaze was the only survivor of the three, and she accepted Thorn as the Queen of the SandWings.

Timeline

• Heath, Rose, and Stone break into the palace to steal the SandWing treasure. Oasis goes after them and is killed by Stone in the process.
• Burn tracks down the scavengers and burns down their dens. Blister steals some of the treasure for herself during Burn's absence. Councils are held on who should be the next SandWing queen.
• Rose is found and adopted by Smolder.
• Blister allies with the SeaWings and MudWings. Burn forms an alliance with the SkyWings, and attempts to contact the IceWings, but they are already allied with Blaze, who also has the majority of the SandWings on her side. The war officially begins.
• Morrowseer and Battlewinner create the Dragonet Prophecy, which is part of the NightWings' plan to take over the rainforest. Blister forms a secret alliance with the NightWings and gains favor with the Talons of Peace.
• Commander Tempest of the SeaWings is assassinated by Deathbringer, resulting in the MudWings splitting off their alliance with Blister. Burn threatens the MudWings and forces them to ally with her.
• The Talons of Peace gather the prophecy dragonets' eggs. Hvitur and the SkyWing egg are killed by Burn, the latter of which is replaced with Glory's egg. Asha is caught in the crossfire between Blister and Blaze's forces and dies of her wounds after delivering Clay's egg. Webs steals Tsunami's egg and Dune steals Sunny's egg. Morrowseer brings Starflight's egg to the Talons of Peace.
• All SkyWing eggs that were going to hatch on the brightest night were killed under Queen Scarlet's orders so that the prophecy would not be fulfilled. According to the guards, the eighth egg escaped somehow.
• The brightest night occurs, and the dragonets hatch.
• Six years later, the dragonets of destiny attempt to escape from their cave in the Claws of the Clouds Mountains. They are taken prisoner by Queen Scarlet, along with Kestrel.
• Queen Scarlet invites Burn to her palace for her hatching day to see the dragonets and to give Sunny to Burn as a gift. The dragonets soon escape after Glory sprays Scarlet with her venom, nearly killing the SkyWing queen.
• Around the same time that the dragonets escape from the Sky Kingdom, Blaze's army attacks the MudWings. The only named loss of this battle was Crane, one of Clay's sisters.
• Burn's alliance bombs the Summer Palace during the dragonets' stay due to the work of Crocodile, a Talons of Peace infiltrator. The SeaWings flee to the Deep Palace, breaking their alliance with Blister.
• Nautilus, then the leader of the Talons of Peace, and Morrowseer come up with a set of replacement dragonets of destiny, known as the false dragonets.
• The MudWings and SkyWings plan to attack the IceWings, the idea being to "kill them all, take no prisoners." They decide not to after Sunny dreamvisits Queen Moorhen and manages to talk her out of the idea.
• On the false brightest night, Sunny has the heirs and most of the tribes meet up at Burn's stronghold. Sunny plans for the sisters to peacefully choose who the next queen is or have the SandWing tribe decide.
• Blister gifts Burn a dragonbite viper, which Burn pins in her talons. A second dragonbite viper leaps out of the box and kills Burn. Blister attacks Blaze after Burn's death.
• Rose helps Sunny find the Eye of Onyx and Sunny gives it to Thorn. Blister attempts to steal the Eye for herself but is electrocuted and turns into a pile of ash due to the Eye's enchantment. The Eye of Onyx chooses Thorn as the new SandWing queen.
• The queens sign a peace treaty and accept Thorn as the new SandWing queen, ending the war.

Gallery

The dragonets acting out the beginning of the war in The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes