The Dragonet Prophecy

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2012

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-6

Part 1, Chapters 7-9

Part 1, Chapters 10-13

Part 2, Chapters 14-16

Part 2, Chapters 17-19

Part 2, Chapters 20-22

Part 2, Chapters 23-25

Part 2, Chapters 26-30

Part 3, Chapters 31-35 and Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Prologue-Part 1, Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1: “Under the Mountain”

Front Matter and Prologue Summary

The Dragonet Prophecy opens with a detailed map of Pyrrhia, the fantastical land of dragons where the story takes place. The map labels places that are settings for this novel: the Sky Kingdom, Queen Scarlet’s palace, the Diamond Spray River, and the Mud Kingdom. After the map, several pages of “A NightWing Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia” serve as front matter. The pages feature detailed black-and-white illustrations of different types of dragons that exist in Pyrrhia, plus details about their physical appearance, special abilities, their queen, and any alliances they have in the ongoing war.

“The Dragonet Prophecy” is the final page of front matter. The prophecy is the source of the 20-year war, and the only dragons who can bring it to an end are five dragonets who were born on the brightest night, when all three moons were full in the sky. Each of the dragonet eggs have a distinct quality that helps the Talons of Peace identify and locate the eggs. The Talons of Peace is an inter-tribal group of dragons who would like to end the war by helping the dragonets reach adulthood.

In the prologue, an IceWing named Hvitur flees the Sky Kingdom. He carries an egg he thinks belongs in the prophecy. Under the cover of night, he doesn’t see Burn of the SandWings tracking him and following him from the ground. Hvitur is almost to his secret destination when Burn catches him. During their exchange, Hvitur stands up for the prophecy and talks about ending the war. Burn scornfully tells him, “No prophecy decides what happens to me” (iii). She drops the egg off a cliff and kills Hvitur. She and her guards feel satisfied that the prophecy won’t come true now, and she flies off into the night.

Hvitur’s death doesn’t go unnoticed. Kestrel, a SkyWing in the Talons of Peace, comes out of a secret cave, finding eggshell fragments and Hvitur’s body. She returns to the secret hideout and meets Webs, a SeaWing dragon of the Talons of Peace. They update each other with the latest news. Asha, who brought the MudWing egg, had a fight and died from her wounds after she safely delivered the MudWing egg. Kestrel argues that with only four dragonets, the prophecy has already failed. She argues that they should destroy the other four eggs and cut their losses. With Asha and Hvitur dead, they only have three guardians to raise the dragonets: Kestrel, Webs, and a SandWing named Dune. Webs disagrees with her.

Webs suggests they replace the missing SkyWing egg with a RainWing egg and hope that the prophecy will still come true because there are five dragonets born on the brightest night. The others are repulsed that he’d choose a RainWing egg, but he argues that having five eggs is better than having four and that RainWings “don’t even count their eggs” (vii). He insists that they do whatever it takes to fulfill the prophecy and keep the dragonets alive for the next eight years.The Dragonet Prophecy opens with a detailed map of Pyrrhia, the fantastical land of dragons where the story takes place. The map labels places that are settings for this novel: the Sky Kingdom, Queen Scarlet’s palace, the Diamond Spray River, and the Mud Kingdom. After the map, several pages of “A NightWing Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia” serve as front matter. The pages feature detailed black-and-white illustrations of different types of dragons that exist in Pyrrhia, plus details about their physical appearance, special abilities, their queen, and any alliances they have in the ongoing war.

Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary

Clay’s inner monologue during fight practice troubles him. He just wants it to be over. At the same time, he worries that he’ll never be as ferocious as everyone expects him to be. The night he hatched, he tried to eat the other dragonets, and he’s much larger than the rest of them, even though he’s not fully grown yet. In the battle room, Kestrel taunts him, trying to awaken his inner vicious killer. Clay, a MudWing dragonet, just thinks about food and tries to talk Kestrel into letting him fight his fellow dragonets instead of her. He doesn’t “particularly want to be a violent angry monster” (5), like Kestrel says he should be.

Kestrel is a vicious dragon. She fights Clay brutally, calling him “useless” and a “coward” (2). She also insults the other dragonets and Clay defends them. Having had enough, Tsunami, a SeaWing dragonet, bites Kestrel on her tail, pulling off a scale and telling her to “stop picking on Clay” (5). Annoyed, Kestrel leaves.

Tsunami and Clay swim in the underground river that runs through the cave. The freezing cold water annoys Clay, but Tsunami always insists it will make him feel better and she is right. As they swim in the river, Tsunami and Clay dream about their real parents, their tribe, and wonder if anyone misses them while they live their lives in a cave under a mountain preparing for destiny and putting up with the menacing Kestrel. They talk about going to be with their families after they stop the war.

Tsunami suggests leaving before they turn eight, the age they’ll be when the prophecy calls for them. Clay worries that they won’t be ready, and Tsunami insists, “That’s the whole point of the prophecy” (10)—no matter what, the dragonets will be ready. As they race off to dinner, Tsunami makes Clay promise to think about it.

Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

After dinner, Clay and the SandWing dragonet Sunny, bond over dinner and head to study hall. Clay tries to move the boulder that serves as a door to the hidden cave. He hopes that when he’s strong enough to budge it, he’ll know he’s nearly full grown and ready to face his destiny. In the study cave, Tsunami organizes a game. The dragonets will act out the start of the great war, each playing a part in the history. Clay plays the scavenger who kills Queen Oasis, and Sunny plays Queen Oasis. Glory, Starflight, and Tsunami each play one of Queen Oasis’s daughters.

Starflight, the NightWing dragonet, only grudgingly plays along, preferring to read or the lecture the other dragonets instead. He provides updates from newer scrolls, which say that of the three sisters named Burn, Blister, and Blaze, Blaze is the most well-liked among the SkyWings. The daughters didn’t get to fight and kill their mother for the throne, so now there is a world war to settle which of them should be queen. Most of the other dragon tribes have formed alliances with one of the three sisters.

Kestrel walks in on the dragonets during their play-studying and tells them they are “too old for games” (24). When Tsunami insists that they were studying, Kestrel punishes Tsunami, but not the others. Clay and Sunny try to stand up for Tsunami, but Kestrel ignores them.

When Kestrel leaves, Tsunami asks Sunny to take some scrolls to their sleep cave. Sunny happily obliges, and Tsunami turns to the others and raises the discussion of escape. Between Kestrels’ poor treatment and being tired of being treated like a fragile little dragonets, Tsunami and Glory are especially ready to leave. Clay and Starflight have reservations, but together they vow to leave as soon as they have a good plan in place. They also wordlessly agree to keep the secret from Sunny, who isn’t good at keeping secrets.

Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary

As the dragonets prepare to finish studying and go to bed, Webs comes in from outside and the four dragonets spring into action. Spying on their guardians is another secret they keep from Sunny. Since Glory can change her scale colors and Starflight is as black as the night sky, they ease in as close as they can, blending into the shadows. Clay and Tsunami can swim, so they get even closer, swimming into the guardians’ chambers and taking up posts on the opposite sides of the room for maximum eavesdropping potential.

They learn that Morrowseer, the NightWing dragon who wrote the prophecy, has announced his first visit ever to see the dragonets of the prophecy. He will arrive the next day. The minders, or guardians, Webs, Kestrel, and Dune are nerve-wracked about what Morrowseer might do or say when he sees Sunny because of her extremely small size, golden color, and lack of a barbed tail. They worry even more about Glory, who as a RainWing, is not technically part of the prophecy. Webs defends Glory, saying, “she’s smarter than she wants us to know” (32). The other insist that she is “lazy and worthless like the rest of her tribe” (32). As Clay thinks about Morrowseer’s visit, he wonders if everything is about to change for the dragonets.

Prologue-Part 1, Chapters 1-3 Analysis

Front matter in the fantasy genre is rich and provides background information that draws readers into the world and provides a baseline understanding for the novel. The Dragonet Prophecy follows this formula, providing a map to illustrate the dragonets’ travels throughout the novel, as well as how the different dragon tribes interact with one another over great distances. “A NightWing Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia” has the effect of a book-within-a-book, or in this case, a scroll-within-a-book. The scroll is presented as a book the dragonets might study as a part of their training, providing fast facts on the different dragon tribes, their alliances, and characteristics.

The novel’s plot centers on the prophecy presented in the front matter. It provides clues to the setting, plot, and characters that present themselves throughout the novel. It takes the form of a poem and uses allusions and riddles, which give the dragon kingdoms much to think about as they try to interpret and determine whether the prophecy will come true. Others use the same prophecy for clues to thwart fate and create their own destiny.

The opening chapters, along with the front matter and prologue, provide exposition for the novel and lead to the inciting incident in Clay’s story: Morrowseer’s visit. Clay’s worried inner monologue drives the plot and presents his unique view of the characters. Clay feels protective of his friends, but not viciously so. He and the other dragonets are close and have varying degrees of discontent with their lives. Sunny’s naïveté is on full display when she apologizes to Kestrel on behalf of the others. They disagree with her; Tsunami, the most defiant of all, sharply counters with, “No, we’re not” (24).

The prologue sets up the novel’s themes around fate, destiny, and self-determination. Burn aggressively tries to thwart the prophecy by killing as many involved parties as she can, including unborn dragons. At the same time, the other dragons hope that nothing, not event Burn’s violence can stand in the day of the prophesied destiny. Tension between Tsunami and Kestrel appears in the first scene of Chapter 1, introducing another aspect of the destiny theme: the right to choose how to live.