Pantala

Pantala, also known as the Lost Continent by the dragons of Pyrrhia, is one of the two known continents in the Wings of Fire series, the other being Pyrrhia. It takes multiple days of flight (or swimming in the case of Turtle and Tsunami) from the west of Pyrrhia to get there. Its existence was hinted at occasionally, before being confirmed at the end of Darkness of Dragons. Several dragons have traveled between the continents: Luna was blown to Pyrrhia by a storm, Tsunami and Turtle swam to Pantala, and Clearsight flew to Pantala to warn the Pantalans of a dangerous hurricane, as well as the whole of the BeetleWing and LeafWing tribes in the Legend of the Hive. The Pantalan dragon types are based on insects (the BeetleWings and their descendants) and plants (the LeafWings). Hope mentions this in Darkness of Dragons and it was also confirmed by Tui. In the epilogue, Hope showed Moonwatcher Pantala's possible position on the planet via an example, which showed it on the opposite side of the dragon planet from Pyrrhia.

Geography

Pantala is a dragon-shaped continent consisting of a grassland or savannah biome primarily. The most prominent landmarks of Pantala are the Hives, which are connected structures that host most of the continent's SilkWings and HiveWings. It has several landmarks aside from the Hives, including Lake Scorpion, Beetle Lake, Dragonfly Bay, and the Poison Jungle. The jungle is in the top right of the continent, on the 'head' of the continent. Within the Poison Jungle are the Snarling River and the Gullet River, which are where the neck and mouth would be if Pantala was a dragon.

Flora & Fauna

Tribes

There are currently three known tribes on Pantala. One is the HiveWings, who are currently ruled by Queen Wasp. The second is the SilkWings, who after the Tree Wars accepted Queen Wasp as their queen. Before the Tree Wars, their tribe was led by Queen Monarch. The third tribe is the LeafWings, who were nearly driven to extinction in the Tree Wars and were believed to be extinct by the Pantalan dragons, though they are just in hiding in the Poison Jungle. The BeetleWings are an ancient tribe, having gone extinct after Clearsight's arrival, as she split them into the SilkWings and HiveWings.

Trivia

• The arrival of Clearsight had a significant effect on the dragons that lived there. The two main things she impacted were the language (she introduced the Dragon Language to Pantala) and religion (most dragons worship the Book of Clearsight and pray to Clearsight's spirit). She married a BeetleWing from Pantala named Sunstreak.
• This is the second instance of dragons being shown having a religion (the first is when it was shown in Escaping Peril that SkyWings believe in reincarnation) which is dragons believing in an afterlife (they pray to Clearsight even though she has been deceased for two thousand years).
• It is shown in Darkstalker that Pantala was known to dragons of Pyrrhia back then, but it appears that knowledge surrounding it has been lost over the centuries.
• Tui has confirmed that there is no animus magic on Pantala, due to its extreme prevalence in the second arc.
• The Legend of the Hive, a scroll mentioned by Hope in Darkness of Dragons, has to do with a plant native to Pantala, later revealed to be the breath of evil.
• Pantala has biomes not seen on Pyrrhia, such as that of the grassland or savannah-like biome seen on The Lost Continent cover. It also reveals that zebras, wildebeest, and gazelle live on Pantala.
• The SilkWings and HiveWings having two pairs of wings may be a reference to Pantala's name coming from a genus of dragonflies.
• In Pantala, each Hive is ruled by one of Queen Wasp's sisters (Queen Wasp rules the Wasp Hive, Cicada rules the Cicada Hive, etc). The only exception is Jewel as she is Queen Wasp's cousin. 
• This confirms the names of Queen Wasp's other sisters and that she has at least eight other sisters (Vinegaroon, Bloodworm, Mantis, Cicada, Tsetse, Yellowjacket, and Hornet). Of these, only Lady Jewel, Lady Cicada and Lady Bloodworm have been confirmed, with Lady Cicada shown in The Lost Continent, Lady Jewel appearing in The Hive Queen, and Lady Bloodworm confirmed in a statement by Tui, ^[1]. Of all the ladies in Pantala, Scarab is the only one known to not rule a hive.
• The currency in the Hives is called scales. These seem to be used as coins, as Luna uses them to pay for honey drops in The Lost Continent. It is unknown if they are real scales or simply called scales. From a discussion between Blue and Luna about how they haven't gone to a certain shop because they don't have enough scales, it seems that scales are the only form of currency and that all scales might be worth the same amount.
• Pantala appears to be much more technologically advanced than Pyrrhia, with books instead of scrolls, glass, greenhouses, large-scale architectural projects, track schools similar to colleges, plumbing, playgrounds and even ID bracelets that can inject dragons with toxins from a distance. In The Hive Queen, it is mentioned that the dragons on Pantala make use of hydroponics, which is a type of hydroculture involving growing the plants in a solution made of water with minerals dissolved in it. Sometimes, gravel or mica rocks are used to support the plants.^{[citation needed]}

• Pantala is the first continent in the series to have books instead of scrolls, likely because they have access to SilkWing silk, making pages easy to form.
• The majority of Pantala is currently a police state.
• Pantala is the first place candy was actually shown.
• Pantala once had its own language, before Clearsight's arrival, the third dragon language shown in the series (after the language "Dragon" and Aquatic, which is used by the SeaWings).
• Such as how North America and Pyrrhia are similar, Pantala is much like Africa.
• It is possible that Pantala's technology and language(pre-Dragon Language) was based off the Roman Empire.

Gallery

Map of Pantala, by Mike Schley

Colored map of Pantala, by Mike Schley

Pantala on the cover of The Lost Continent, by Joy Ang

Add a photo to this gallery

References

1. ↑ https://wingsoffire.scholastic.com/forums/topics/329450