Sketched out Toothless’ fam faster than a Speed Stinger! Here we have his adoptive dragon family: his father Deserteye, his mother Sage, and his sisters Dawn and Sandwasp! I made them ages ago when I was just starting out as an artist and writer, and I was really inspired by “Beautiful Shades of a Night Fury” when writing his story (actually Toothless’ family and backstory is almost exactly like Nightshade’s story in that comic; rememer Nightshade? The blue female Night Fury that everybody shipped with Toothless before the Light Fury came around?)
As you’ve probably noticed, Deserteye is the odd one out in this family, because he’s not a Sand Wraith. He’s a Sandbuster, a dragon that lives in the same territory as Sand Wraiths and has learned to coexist by building them those large elaborate dens while the Sand Wraiths protect them and give them food bc they can’t hunt aboveground.
When Toothless was a baby, he was found by Deserteye in a rotting wooden chest and a cut in his leg. He was barely six months old, freezing, and scared to death, so Deserteye decided to take the little black cub up to the surface and find a Sand Wraith who would take care of him. Thankfully, he came across Sage as she was out on a hunt near his den and he let the two stay in while a dust storm raged outside. Sage let the baby drink her milk and fall asleep beside her until the storm passed, and Deserteye didn’t see her for another few days until she came back with her other two cubs (baby Dawn and Sandwasp), saying that her mate Taipan had left her after making her choose between the cub and him, and she asked if they could stay with him. He agreed, and over time, Deserteye and Sage fell in love over taking care of this little family. Deserteye started going aboveground at night or on cloudy days so he could adapt to sunlight, and eventually grew an immunity to it so he could spend more time with his family.
Sage is Toothless’ adoptive mother, and before she and Deserteye properly met, she was mated to Taipan, a male Sand Wraith, whom she had two daughters and a son with. The son didn’t make it, which tore Sage and Taipan apart because Taipan had loved him more than their other two cubs, and he was often out hunting or just out in general, not wanting to be around his mate or his remaining offspring. When Sage received the little black cub from Deserteye, Taipan was furious when he found out that his mate had been in the den of a Sandbuster and had taken in his mutated runt, so he gave her a choice: Him or the cub. She chose the cub, and she never saw Taipan again. After a few days, Sage realized that she couldn’t take care of three cubs by herself, so she went to the den of that kind Sandbuster who had given her the black cub, and he was more than happy to let them stay in his den for as long as they’d like. They named the black cub “Toothless” together (because his teeth were growing in late), and Sage let herself love again after being with Deserteye for a long time. They’re even thinking of having cubs of their own if possible.
Dawn is the more bubbly one of Toothless’ sisters, and she loves adventure and exploring. She doesn’t remember much about her birth father, but she doesn’t really care since she already has Deserteye as an amazing dad. When Toothless left, she wasn’t as outgoing as usual, but found solace in her girlfriend Mirage, a leucistic Sand Wraith who had always been there for her.
Sandwasp is to Dawn as Raven is to Starfire. She’s fierce and no-nonsense, and she isn’t afraid to fight if she has to. She doesn’t remember her birth father, but she knows why he left her mother, which is probably why she’s so angsty all the time. She finds a mate in Saguaro, an equally fiery male Sand Wraith who was good friends with her brother Toothless before he left.
Toothless and Beetle never got to meet, simply because by the time Toothless arrived on Burnt-Toe Beach, Beetle had been dead for two months. He was the third cub and only son in Sage and Taipan’s clutch, and his father’s favorite, mostly because he was a male and looked like him. Tragedy struck when one night, while everybody else was asleep, baby Beetle chased a cricket out of the den and was killed by a cockatrice, a vicious raptorial creature that competed with the dragons for turf and snatched up unattended cubs. Sage and Taipan were heartbroken over the loss of their child, and they buried him by the river, where a small flowering cactus grew. Taipan was never the same after his son died, cold and distant from his family. When the black cub came along, he accused Sage of replacing his son with a mutated runt, so he made her choose: Him or the cub. She chose the cub.
