- "That's right, admire me, fear me, wonder about me. You all have no idea who I am or what I'll be one day. One day soon. No more hiding, Mother. I make the decisions now."
- — Onyx, thinking about the other SandWing students, Moon Rising
Onyx is an adult female SandWing who was introduced in Moon Rising. She formerly attended Jade Mountain Academy as a member of the Gold Winglet. Named after the Eye of Onyx, she was hatched in secret and raised in isolation by her mother, Palm.
As of Darkness of Dragons, Onyx is currently living in Queen Thorn's stronghold, recovering from a leg injury.
Appearance
Onyx is muscular, with pale yellow scales and branching black lines tattooed on her horns and neck.[1] She has little black diamonds embedded between the scales along her wings[1] and wears a metal amulet around her neck that contains the twisted hunk of skyfire that killed her mother, Palm. The stone is bound to the amulet using copper wires.[2] One of her back feet was crushed during the sandstorm at Thorn’s palace, caused by Qibli, to the point where she will likely never be able to walk on it again.[3]
Personality
Similar to her aunts Burn and Blister, Onyx is very ambitious, power-hungry, and intent on becoming queen of the SandWings. She seemed confident in winning the challenge against Thorn. She is sly and willing to do whatever is needed for her to reach her goals, such as a place on the throne, even if it means teaming up with dangerous leaders like Vulture. She attempted the assassination of Thorn when the Talons of Power attacked the SandWing stronghold, showing her boldness and courage.
She is cunning and tricky, shown when she kidnapped Ostrich so she could use the dragonet as leverage against Six-Claws, Thorn's most trusted general. However, she isn't entirely evil or scheming, as shown when she accepted help from Six-Claws and talked with curiosity when bringing up the topic of Prickle.
Pronghorn also noted that she doesn't like music.[4]
Biography
| Pre-Series |
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| Onyx had lived on her own in the desert with her mother for her entire life, raised in secret and far away from royalty, hoping that it would discourage her from taking the throne. Many years later, her mother was killed by a fragment of skyfire falling from the sky on the false brightest night. After that, without her mother's guidance, she began her search for power, teaming up with Vulture and enrolling in Jade Mountain Academy as part of a plan to take the SandWing throne. There she spied on Sunny to see if she was a considerable challenger to the throne and therefore, another dragon that stood in the way of her quest for power. Moon first learned that she is ambitious and after the throne when Onyx temporarily took off her skyfire. |
The Jade Mountain Prophecy
| Moon Rising |
|---|
|
At first, Onyx was depicted as just another student at the academy, if not older or removed. Moon once thought that she could be a suspect for the dragonflame cactus bombing at Jade Mountain Academy until Onyx removed her amulet that contained the skyfire, which allowed Moon to read her thoughts. Moon caught her thinking: "This is a tiresome distraction from my plans. Maybe if I go back to the desert and try a different approach." She then looked at Qibli, thinking, "They say this one is her third wing. Maybe if I..." before her thoughts were cut off by her skyfire being returned. She questioned Webs on the first day of history class, "There has never been a queen in history who was not descended from the royal family. Does that mean now anyone could become queen?" |
| Winter Turning |
|---|
| Onyx was seen in the epilogue, at Jade Mountain Academy. Darkstalker listened to her speak to someone he didn't know, plotting to overthrow Thorn. She complained to the unknown dragon that "she couldn't get near the daughter," referring to Sunny. Onyx also said, "I thought I had an idea, but then he up and vanished from the school," referring to Qibli. Onyx then stated that "There's one more option if I stay a bit longer. A dragon, as loyal to that Thorn character as anyone, and I think she's connected to one of Thorn's generals." The dragon she had in mind is Ostrich, as she kidnapped her in Darkness of Dragons so that she could get to Six-Claws, her father. The epilogue ended with her thinking, "I will be queen within the month, whether that old dragon helps me or whether I have to kill him and do it myself." |
| Escaping Peril |
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| More information flying in soon… |
| Talons of Power |
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| More information flying in soon… |
| Darkness of Dragons |
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|
At the beginning of the book, Onyx and Ostrich were missing. Qibli deduced that they may have been kidnapped, or that Onyx had kidnapped Ostrich (which turns out to be true), and flew off to find them. Onyx was revealed to be part of the Talons of Power and working for Vulture to try to ascend the throne. She had been trying to find out if Sunny wanted to challenge Thorn for the throne in the future, which she discovered the answer was "no," and had since been trying to find a way to get close enough to Thorn to challenge her under Vulture's strict regulations. The reason she was talking to herself was shown to have been communication through the Obsidian Mirror with Vulture. She was a part of the Talons of Power attack on the SandWing stronghold and attempted to assassinate Thorn. Her attempt was foiled by Qibli, however, and instead had to directly challenge the queen. During the challenge, she revealed who she was and Smolder desperately tried to get her to stop fighting. When the sandstorm kicked up, she and Smolder hid in the dungeon hosting Prickle, her aunt. Onyx's hind leg was badly injured during the sandstorm, perhaps by Smolder to prevent her from challenging Thorn again. |
Relationships
Palm
Palm was Onyx's mother. Onyx and Palm were roaming the Kingdom of Sand, avoiding guards, when a piece of the comet crashed down and burned through her mother's head, killing her. However, Onyx did not seem to care much about Palm's death and said she used to "snore and tell weepy stories and expect her to care" as well as attempt to get Onyx not to care about taking the throne.[5] Onyx also said Palm was not very emotionally stable, had a lot of nightmares, was super paranoid, and would have kept her buried under a rock forever if she could have.
Prickle
Prickle is Onyx's aunt. Onyx seems curious about her, despite having hated her mother's endless talking about her.
Smolder
Smolder is Onyx's father. Even though he loves and cares for her, she doesn't seem to care about him, at least not outwardly, and thinks he is unhelpful and useless. She also thinks he is a coward who is afraid of ghosts and looks at him with contempt for not even searching for his lover, Palm, and her dragonet.
Tamarin
Tamarin is a RainWing and Onyx's clawmate at the Jade Mountain Academy, who was hurt badly in a fire. Onyx looked at Tamarin's injuries with apparent concern,[6] but it was later revealed that Onyx thought that if she acted totally devastated about Tamarin's injuries, she would be able to keep the cave they shared all to herself instead of getting a new clawmate. Inwardly Onyx seemed to not care that Tamarin was harmed.[5] Onyx does admit that Tamarin was at least a quiet and agreeable dragon to share a cave with, and that Palm was much worse.[5] Tamarin seemed to think Onyx disliked her, but was always nice to her, though not realizing how much of her emotion Tamarin can detect.
Vulture
Onyx worked with Vulture to overthrow Thorn and take the SandWing throne, but she often got a little impatient about the fact that his plot was very slow.
Family Tree
| Char | Oasis | 2 Dragons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scald | Singe | Burn | Blister | Blaze | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prickle | Palm | Smolder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Onyx | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Quotes
- "But that's my point. Does this mean now anyone could take the throne and become queen? Could that happen to other tribes, too? I mean, it sounds like asking for chaos and rebellion everywhere. That's all I'm saying."
- ― to Qibli (Moon Rising, page 142)
- "Yes [it hurt], but that is half the point. If I could endure that much pain just for a little beauty, imagine how much I could handle in a battle, or for my own survival. I think the most beautiful things should also be frightening."
- ― to Ostrich (Moon Rising, page 239-240)
- "I don't see why I have to care about dragons from other tribes, but it seems to be expected, for some reason. At least Tamarin was a quiet, agreeable dragon to share a cave with; she didn't snore like Mother or tell weepy stories and expect me to care - like Mother. Ugh, I hope they don't give me another clawmate. Perhaps if I act totally shattered, they'll let me keep the cave all to myself."
- ― thinking about the explosion (Moon Rising, page 243)
- "That's right, admire me, fear me, wonder about me. You all have no idea who I am or what I'll be one day. One day soon. No more hiding, Mother. I make the decisions now."
- ― thinking about the other SandWing students (Moon Rising, page 241)
- "Oh, I didn't do it. No, this rock just fell from the sky one night. It went straight through her head, leaving a burning hole behind, and over she went. That's when I thought, Well, time to join the world."
- ― about Palm's death (Moon Rising, page 240)
- "I chose not to choose a side. None of those dragons were fit to be queen."
- ― about the war (Moon Rising, page 238)
- "By all the serpents, I hope they do catch whoever did it so we can stop blithering about it. This is a tiresome distraction from my plans. Perhaps I should go back to the desert and try another approach. Or . . . they say this one is practically Thorn's third wing. If I -"
- ― thinking about the explosion and Qibli (Moon Rising, page 245)
- "I'm only taking what's mine. My throne, my crown."
- ― to Queen Thorn after Vulture steals the fake Eye of Onyx (Darkness of Dragons, page 162)
Trivia
- Onyx is the oldest student attending the Jade Mountain Academy, at the age of nineteen.[7]
- Onyx was named after the Eye of Onyx, hinting towards her royal heritage.[8]
- Onyx is the dragon who thought of the name "skyfire."[2]
- Onyx does not like being questioned.[7]
- Onyx thinks that the most beautiful things should also be frightening.[2]
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Moon Rising, page 140
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Moon Rising, page 240
- ↑ Darkness of Dragons, page 183
- ↑ Darkness of Dragons, page 35
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Moon Rising, page 243
- ↑ Moon Rising, page 183
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Moon Rising, page 239
- ↑ Darkness of Dragons, page 161
| SandWings | |
|---|---|
| Queens | |
| Royalty |
Blaze • Blister • Burn • Char • Scald • Singe • Smolder • Sunny • Onyx |
| Jade Mountain | |
| Other Dragons (Present) |
Addax • Agave • Armadillo • Camel • Capybara • Cereus • Cobra • Dune • Horizon • Jerboa III • Kindle • Meerkat • Needle • Ocotillo • Ostrich • Palm • Parch • Prickle • Quicksand • Rattlesnake • Saguaro • Sandstorm • Sirocco • Six-Claws • Tawny • Torch • Viper • Vulture |
| Other Dragons (Historical) |
|
| Hybrids | |
| Kingdom |
Blaze's fortress • Blister's hideout • Great Five-Tail River • Jerboa III's hut • North Beach • Possibility • SandWing stronghold • Scorpion Den |
| Society | |