- "Your Majesty, […] the facts are clear. You gave an order. Kestrel disobeyed you and fled the kingdom. She has been living under your mountains for the last seven years, aiding and abetting the Talons of Peace, who also refuse to follow Your Majesty's orders. She deserves a long, painful execution. There is no need to drag this trial out."
- — Vermilion to Scarlet during Kestrel's trial, The Dragonet Prophecy
Vermilion is an adult male SkyWing prince who was introduced in The Dragonet Prophecy. He was the announcer for the SkyWing arena before Queen Ruby's succession to the throne, and is Ex-Queen Scarlet's eldest son. He currently resides in the SkyWing palace.
Description[]
Vermilion has bright red scales[1] and blood-red wings.[2] He towers over Ruby.[3]
Personality[]
Vermilion was formerly a loyal supporter of Scarlet, but became devoted to Queen Ruby once he realized that she is a better queen than Scarlet. His loyalty towards Scarlet was born out of fear, likely from watching so many of his siblings die at Scarlet's talons - he switched allegiance to Ruby almost immediately after Scarlet's disappearance and ignored every single one of his mother's dreamvisitor messages to him. Once Scarlet returned, Vermilion half-heartedly obeyed her orders, showing that his fear of his mother still had a firm hold on him. He is fairly cowardly and weak,[4] but he snorted and took a step away from Ruby when she sat next to him.[3]
Vermilion seems to have a lot of interests, having been an announcer in the SkyWing arena and a prosecutor while Scarlet was alive, and showing an interest in owning a pet scavenger like Smolder's after the war ended.
Biography[]
The Dragonet Prophecy[]
| The Dragonet Prophecy |
|---|
| Vermilion, although unnamed at the time, was the announcer for the fight between Horizon and Peril, making weak jokes about the battle to come. After that, he announced the fight between Clay and Fjord; he was shown to be Scarlet's herald in her arena. Later on, Vermilion stood as the prosecutor during Kestrel's trial, where he awkwardly claimed his mother's side to avoid anger from her. The next day, he announced the battles for his mother's hatching day. Tsunami attempted to attack him before her fight with Gill; however, her chains kept her from fighting him. |
| The Brightest Night |
|---|
| Vermilion was mentioned in a letter from Smolder to him about his pet scavenger, Flower, featured at the end of the Collector's Edition. The letter explained how to protect your scavenger, as someone could eat it "by accident," to protect your belongings in case they would try to make little things out of the cloth, what to feed them, and to supply them water daily. Smolder ended the letter by requesting Vermilion to send him a picture of his scavenger when he got them and commented on the picture Flower drew of him and her; this letter appeared to indicate that Vermilion was interested in getting a pet scavenger and has, presumably, made plans with the SandWing. |
The Jade Mountain Prophecy[]
| Winter Turning |
|---|
|
Vermilion was indirectly mentioned in the prologue when Ruby pitied Winter by saying that she would probably rather die in battle than listen to her brothers talk to her the way Hailstorm did to Winter. The same letter featured in the Collector's Edition of The Brightest Night was also at the end of Winter Turning. |
| Escaping Peril |
|---|
| In the prologue, he irritatingly shifted away from Hawk and Ruby when Peril was first introduced to the tribe. Years later, Vermilion was described as a loyal supporter of the new SkyWing queen, Queen Ruby. When Scarlet found him in her return, she questioned him about what happened since she "left the kingdom," as well as saying that she attempted to dreamvisit and told him to kill his sister many times; she knew he had heard her, yet tactfully ignored her orders in his continuing loyalty towards Ruby. To her outrage as she noted the lack of treasure, Vermilion replied that Ruby used almost all of the SkyWing treasure to transform the SkyWing Arena into a hospital for dragons that were injured during the war, hiring dragons from all of the different tribes to teach and assist her healers in helping heal injured dragons. He was also accused of liking Ruby more than Scarlet and was forced to help Peril to take Cliff into custody and guard him. |
Field Guides[]
| A Guide to the Dragon World |
|---|
| Vermillion wrote a letter to Starflight about a list he found of dragons Scarlet wanted dead. He was one of the dragons on the list. He was later indirectly mentioned by Tailwind in This is Why We Don't Marry Psychopaths as one of Scarlet and Canyon's sons. |
Relationships[]
Ruby[]
When Ruby sat next to Vermilion in Scarlet's throne room, he snorted and edged a step away from her.[3] Years later, he became loyal to Ruby when she became the new queen of the SkyWings.
Scarlet[]
Vermilion was loyal to his mother during her reign, which helped him to keep a stable relationship with Scarlet. She entrusted him with announcing arena battles as well as arguing for prosecution. After Scarlet returned to the Sky Kingdom, he threw himself into a bow before her[1] and stammered that he was so relieved to have her back. When Scarlet addressed her son, however, her voice was full of fury - so much so that she may as well have called him "Disappointment." He was sure that he would be killed for disloyalty, especially because Scarlet had hunted through his dreams with a dreamvisitor, ordering him to help Scarlet regain her former throne,[5] and kill Ruby for her, but he ignored her commands. He spoke to her weakly and miserably after she scolded him,[4] and he once tensely warned Hawk not to question Scarlet.[3]
Smolder[]
After the end of the war, he seems to have become somewhat friendly with Smolder — the two share an interest in keeping scavengers as pets.
Family tree[]
| Carmine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunset | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Several Generations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| More | Firestorm | Unknown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canyon | Scarlet | 3 Dragons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vermilion | Hawk | 11 Dragons | 2 Dragons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ruby | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cliff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Quotes[]
- "After four wins, Horizon the SandWing — formerly, and unwisely, a soldier in Blaze's army — has been challenged to a match with the Queen's Champion, Peril. Claws up, fire ready! Fight!"
- ― announcing a match in the arena between Horizon and Peril (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 130)
- "After last month's battle with Blaze's army, our queen's dungeons were stuffed with IceWing prisoners of war. Only nine have survived. After two wins, I give you — Fjord of the IceWings! […] And in this corner, an unusual case — a MudWing, but not one of our allies. No, this dragonet was found hiding under our mountains, protected by the Talons of Peace. Is he one of the dragonets of destiny? Not if he loses this battle! […] If these prophesied dragonets are as wonderful and legendary as they're supposed to be, this should be a showdown to remember. I hope you're prepared to impress us, dragon of the mud. I present to you … Clay of the MudWings! Claws up, teeth ready! Fight!"
- ― announcing a match in the arena between Fjord and Clay (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 154-155)
- "Your Majesty, […] the facts are clear. You gave an order. Kestrel disobeyed you and fled the kingdom. She has been living under your mountains for the last seven years, aiding and abetting the Talons of Peace, who also refuse to follow Your Majesty's orders. She deserves a long, painful execution. There is no need to drag this trial out."
- ― during Kestrel's trial (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 177)
- "She turned your arena into a hospital. […] She pardoned all the prisoners and brought in doctors and healers from other tribes to teach ours everything they know and she made space for all the wounded soldiers from the war and she's been finding them all places to live and jobs to do and using the gold for all of that."
- ― to Scarlet, about Ruby (Escaping Peril, page 184)
- "No! […] Never! You're the only good queen! I liked my arena job! It's absolutely terrible here now! We always loved the, uh, the fighting! We missed you so much!"
- ― to Scarlet (Escaping Peril, page 184)
Trivia[]
- In The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), Vermilion does not announce all of the arena fights as he did in the original novel. In the graphic novel, Queen Scarlet herself announces all of the battles before the ones taking place on her hatching day instead of Vermilion.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Escaping Peril, page 181
- ↑ The Dragonet Prophecy, page 175
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Escaping Peril, prologue
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Escaping Peril, page 183
- ↑ Escaping Peril, page 182
| SkyWings | |
|---|---|
| Queens | |
| Royalty (Present) |
Cliff • Hawk • Tourmaline • Vermilion |
| Royalty (Historical) |
|
| Jade Mountain | |
| Other Dragons |
Avalanche • Cardinal • Eagle (WT) • Eagle (L1) • Harrier • Jasper • Kestrel • Osprey • Pyrite • Soar • Sky • Tailwind |
| Kingdom |
Claws of the Clouds Mountains • Diamond Spray Delta • Diamond Spray River • Great Five-Tail River • Possibility • SkyWing palace |