#winter turning

I’m honestly really happy with how this turned out. I don’t draw humans very often, so I wasn’t expecting it to look great, but I think I did pretty good.

Which gave me and idea for a really dumb meme

Shout-out to Winter not whatsoever clocking that Glory and Deathbringer are together until Glory makes the 'you can't always be there to protect me' comment, and then Winter has to reevaluate everything he thought he understood about their relationship.

Also I think Winter reflecting back on things that he and his siblings did when they were the age of the dragonets in the wingery are so typical of the three of them. Hailstorm wrestled polar bears, Icicle sparred with dragons three times her age, and Winter was forced to stay out in a blizzard all night by himself. It feels so on-brand--Hailstorm and Icicle prove themselves in single combat, while Winter is literally just abandoned to suffer.

I enjoy the observation that Glory isn't quite as adept at flying through the rainforest as Moon is--I like these little bits where the fact that Glory hasn't always been the totally-capable RainWing queen sneaks through. In general, this section is really cool in terms of showing Glory both as a very capable queen, and as an imperfect, very young queen who's still figuring it all out

At least Glory is more quiet that Qibli who is so incredibly unstealthy in the rainforest.

Interesting note on Qibli and Winter's relationships--we have the 'it's just his face. And his personality.' line and later on the reminder that if Qibli ever hurts Winter with his barb, it won't be by accident. At this stage, although Qibli remains convinced of Winter's good heart, he's really not having it with Winter's behaviour. And I think that's a fun little thing to note--their relationship hasn't always been the friendly arguing that comes later on.

I appreciate Moon coming right to Winter's defence at the hatchery and stating he would never hurt a dragonet. Which is ironic, considering certain decisions made later in the series, but we'll get there when we get there.

The discussion of Darkstalker's backstory and Foeslayer 'stealing' animus magic is so interesting because it brings up so many of the same conundrums that discussions of real-life history and social justice do: what happens when two groups have different understandings of what happened in the past? how do you figure out what really happened around the bias that you were taught? is it fair for one group to still be angry at another group for something that no-one alive today did? what if the repercussions of the past still negatively impact on the people today--is it fair to hold resentment and anger then? It's so interesting.

Icicle's final scenes are so chilling--she's out here injuring herself just so that she won't sleep so that she doesn't have to tell Scarlet she failed.

Also, when Kinkajou says (in concern) 'you look terrible', Icicle responds with 'better than looking like you'. for the final time: girl what is your problem

I forgot that Kinkajou and Icicle straight up try to kill each other. Kinkajou hears a threat made towards Glory and is immediately like, oh no you don't.

The whole conversation between Winter and Moon when they're watching Icicle sleep is really nice. I am not a big Winterwatcher fan, but Tui builds a good case for them here. With that said, Moon continues to give Winter this glowing praise that I'm not totally sure lines up with what we've seen her see in his head. I feel like this feeling is backed up when Moon is genuinely surprised that Winter says he'd never hurt her. She's seen enough in his head to know beyond doubt that he's good and noble and well-meaning and all, but she hasn't figured out that he doesn't hate her, which makes her glowing endorsement of his character interesting--she believes that he can be a good person despite the way he feels about her (or how she thinks he feels about her), and all NightWings. I think there's a really interesting theme here--that's going to come out way more later with Darkstalker--about how Moon tends to see the best in the people she cares for.

Winter is SO overstimulated in the rainforest and he's real for that.

I also love him saying that black and white are the only dignified colours for a bird. As though penguins are dignified.

Winter's internal description of the Ice Kingdom are genuinely beautiful. He and Kinkajou do not understand each other's worlds at all, but they both love their own a lot.

I think Moon identifying the 'dark thoughts' in Obsidian's head opens up a really interesting conversation. It's the first moment we see Qibli and Winter have a disagreement of ethics, which will, of course, become a much bigger thing further down the line. Moon raises the ethical quandary about whether she should alert Glory to the fact that Obsidian is having 'dark thoughts' about hurting her, when the only evidence is what Moon can see in his mind, with no proof that he will act on them. Winter takes the stance that noone has any business reading anyone's mind, for any reason, while Qibli believes that there are good reasons for doing so. This is a handy establishment of their general broad ethical stances--Winter is extremely ethically consistent, and if he believes something is wrong or bad, it's always wrong and bad, with no ifs, ands or buts about it; while Qibli tends to think that the ends and the motives justify the means, if said means happen to be a little more ethically grey, and it's clear that for him, whether or not certain things are 'wrong' depend on who's doing them, and why and how they're being done. It's also really interesting to compare their stances to their personalities--Qibli's ethics are a bit more grey and less 'admirable', but he's genuinely so kind, and nice.

Meanwhile, having discussed their differences, onto similarities--Qibli and Winter being terrified of Moon reading their minds and realising they are Bad People (spoiler: they aren't and she doesn't think that).

on that note, Moon saying that Winter is a better dragon than 'most anyone'. now. I have feelings about this here. Now, I know that this is meant to a) show Winter that Moon sees a different side of him than he does, b) show the readers that Winter is more than his extraordinarily prickly and racist exterior and c) give some little Winterwatcher crumbs, and d) it's Moon bolstering Winter's awfully fragile self-esteem, but as much as I love Winter, I think that this compliment is--as of yet--unearned. Seeing Winter's thoughts does lend him a lot more humanity and allows Moon to have a lot more sympathy for him, but I think describing him as a better dragon than 'most anyone' is perhaps a stretch, because honestly--Winter is still a deeply flawed character who is quite notably not nice to those around him, and Moon happens to now know a handful of dragons who I would describe as at least equally good as Winter. However, I am choosing to read this comment in the greater context of Moon's character (I.e. So unwilling to believe the worst of anyone she considers a friend), and her generally overly optimistic takes on dragonkind.

Also, Qibli's response being 'but not better than me, right?'. oh qibli.

also I do love Qibli's 'oh my, forever? I was wondering why everything was so ruined all the time!' line, because it's funny, but now I'm reading this with a different perspective, because all I'm seeing here, is someone who is cracking jokes in an effort to stay relevant in a conversation that has turned to discussing things he has no idea about--this is him going 'hello, I'm still here! and I want to be included in this conversation, but I can't because I'm missing context, so instead I'm going to be funny so you'll look at me!'

shout-out to Qibli and Kinkajou watching Moon and Secretkeeper's loving reunion so wistfully--they wish they had that kind of relationship with their parents. And then we have Winter who goes 'aw how sweet HOWEVER my parents are perfect. by IceWing standards. Which are the correct standards.'

Deathbringer gets so offended when Qibli comments that if Winter was to make an attempt on Glory's life, it'd be in open combat, because Winter's no 'sneak-in-the-night assassin', and then Deathbringer is like 'hey there is Nothing Wrong with being an assassin! Assassination is a valid career path! You are, however, not allowed to assassinate my...queen.'

Glory is doing such a good job of dealing with four runaway students (including a rather entitled IceWing Prince), several somewhat incompetent RainWing guards, an overenthusiastic bodyguard and the looming threat of Icicle looming over her head. Pretty good for a seven-year-old who was always taught she'd never amount to anything.

I love her making Kinkajou and Moon apologise for running away from school (she also attempts to make Qibli and Winter apologise, but she's not their queen and they're not sorry--well Qibli does the classic 'I am genuinely sorry that you're upset, would 100% do it again' apology).

I love that Kinkajou's reaction to hearing that the teachers were super worried about disappearing students is 'didn't Turtle tell them where we were going?" and Glory's response is 'yes he did, and it was not comforting'.

Glory is trying so hard to make sure that these essentially-teenagers do not think that saving the world/solving problems is their job. She's been there, done that, does not recommend.

The scene where Glory describes what an IceWing looks like and then one of her RainWing guards is like 'I think there's one right there' at Winter, simply never gets old.

I love Winter thinking that 'if anyone tries to get in Icicle's way, they will end up dead'--I lowkey love how he assumes that she's the strongest and best out of anyone. It just reminds me of the way that the dragonets of destiny thoroughly believe that Tsunami is the fiercest and Starflight is the smartest dragon there is--I love the way that sibling/sibling-adjacent figures in this series always see each other as the best.

That's right, this series is back, and it's Winter-themed this time! Now, without further ado:

I simply cannot get over Hailstorm saying 'Can you catch me? No you cannot!' Nobody says 'cannot' in that context. It flows horribly.

However, I love Hailstorm indulging in Winter's intense interest in scavengers. Hailstorm doesn't get it, but he does love his brother.

Hailstorm notes that Winter is 'much more fun to tease' than Icicle. This is true. Winter is fun to tease (see: pretty much every conversation he has with Qibli) and I have no doubt that if you attempt to gently rib Icicle, she will try and fight you and kill you.

Also, really interesting that Hailstorm finds everything about being a proper IceWing very natural--he doesn't have to work to be at the top of the First Circle, and his advice to Winter absolutely comes from a place of 'it just comes naturally to me, and I don't know what bit you're struggling with'.

Also, Hailstorm deliberately being as hurtful to Winter as possible so that Winter will storm off and avoid getting captured by the SkyWings. Devastating stuff from both sides.

It's interesting that the epilogue ends with a dragon heavily implied to be Pyrite (the description matches Pyrite, and she's shown taking off a necklace as she approaches Hailstorm) coming over to put the necklace on Hailstorm, but that's really interesting--was whoever was wearing the necklace not compelled via enchantment to keep it on? Or is 'loyalty to Scarlet' enough to overrule the 'you must keep it on at all costs' enchantment? Interesting stuff.

Also, shout-out to the prologue being a flashback, and then the first chapter opening with a flashback.

I think there's something great about Winter seeing the polar bear with her cubs and hesitating because he needs to hunt the bear, but she's a mother, and then he sees the scavenger sitting there with his spear, and the scavenger also needs to hunt the bear and it's also hesitating because the bear has cubs, and it's just a beautiful moment of silent inter-species bonding over shared humanity (you know what I mean).

AND THEN WINTER'S PARENTS TURN UP! BOO 👎

anyway, I love how much Winter adores scavengers and also steadfastly refuses to believe that they might think, act or feel in a way that is comparable to dragons.

Also, Winter's feelings of betrayal when Moon reveals that she has powers are so interesting because his first instinct is to go 'so she is just like the other NightWings! I thought she was different'. It's so interesting how all of the Jade Winglet react to Moon hiding her powers--Kinkajou's offended because it feels like a breach of friendship to keep that kind of secret, Qibli is just so scared of having his internal thoughts read, Turtle's chill because he understands why Moon would hide them (and also she can't read his thoughts, which totally helps), and Winter goes 'ugh, turns out that even though she's smart and beautiful and intriguing and kind, she IS still a NightWing and a lying traitor. I was hoping that she'd be the only NightWing who isn't ontologically evil, because I have an inconvenient crush on her.' Winter isn't willing--for now--to let Moon change his opinions on NightWings as a whole. Anything good she does is despite being a NightWing and anything she does wrong is because she's a NightWing.

Turtle eagerly volunteers to fly back to JMA and warn the other teachers. Get This Man Out Of The Rain. He Does NOt Want An Adventure.

Kinkajou is so disappointed and annoyed when he wants to go back. 'How are we supposed to be the second coming of the dragonets of destiny if there's only four of us?' that's so funny. I do wonder how much she'd thought about that possibility, and if she was assuming 1:1 equivalences (she ABSOLUTELY wants to be Glory in this situation).

Shout-out to Qibli for the 'nine thousand good points' he regularly makes that Winter hates.