Talons of Power Plot
Talons of Power begins directly after Escaping Peril ends. The legendary NightWing animus, Darkstalker, has been freed. Before anything bad happens, Turtle, our animus protagonist, enchants an ordinary stick to hide anyone holding it from Darkstalker. Despite everyone’s worries, though, it seems that the 2,000-year-old NightWing actually has good intentions and is just here to help. Or so it seems. Turtle flies to Jade Mountain Academy to warn the staff about the potentially dangerous villain coming to the school. When Darkstalker first shows up at the academy, everyone is afraid of him, but not much convincing is required for everyone to change their minds about him. Qibli, Turtle’s clawmate, is suspicious of Darkstalker and the fact that everyone trusts him so much, so he asks Turtle to enchant something to make him immune to any spell Darkstalker casts, and Turtle does. Not long after, Darkstalker decides to go to the rainforest to meet with the modern-day NightWing tribe, and Turtle follows to keep an eye on him.
In part 2 of Talons of Power, Darkstalker arranges a speech to give to his tribe and challenges Queen Glory (the current Queen of the NightWings and RainWings) for the throne of the night dragons. She declines, but eventually, they come to the agreement that any NightWing who wants to go with Darkstalker to the ancient Night Kingdom can go. Before they leave, Turtle wants to find Kinkajou, another member of his winglet who was injured and has been in a coma for two books, to help him defeat Darkstalker. He uses his magic to wake her up from her unconsciousness. Along with Moon, yet another clawmate, they follow most of the NightWings and Darkstalker to find the Lost City of Night and stop a terrible prophecy from coming to fruition.
In the conclusive part 3, the three dragonets reach the ancient Lost City of Night, which is in ruins after 2,000 years of neglect. Darkstalker reminisces about what it was like to live here in his time. After Turtle’s sister, Anemone, another animus, misbehaves and casts some enchantments Darkstalker disapproves of, he tells her to leave the Night Kingdom and go back to the sea. Turtle is worried that she will try to kill her family like other animus dragons from history. He finds her on a beach and tries talking to her, but when that doesn’t work, a fight breaks out. Animus versus animus. They use objects from their environment against each other until Turtle enchants some seaweed to trap Anemone and stop her from using her magic. Suddenly, Darkstalker uses his magic to warp every animus to the NightWing throne room and finds out about Turtle. Turtle throws his hiding stick to Anemone before Darkstalker imprisons him, ending Talons of Power on a cliffhanger.
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Enchanting Anemone
Towards the end of Talons of Power, just before the royal siblings’ animus battle, we learn that Anemone wasn’t born with animus powers. In fact, it was all Turtle. The SeaWings have a tradition called the Talons of Power ceremony, where young dragonets are tested to see if they possess animus magic. Not wanting anyone to find out about his magic, Turtle enchanted his little sister at the ceremony, keeping his powers a secret.
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Turtle in Talons of Power
Turtle is quite an interesting character. He believes that he is a coward and is not capable of doing anything heroic. This stems from an event that happened 3 years earlier: Gill, Turtle’s father, needed Turtle to get someone to help the guard of the Royal Hatchery who had come down with some strange disease. Turtle couldn’t find the dragon Gill needed, even with the use of his magic, and the feeling of letting someone down was so much for the SeaWing prince, who vowed never to let anyone down again. Of course, the best way to do this is to make sure no one notices you or trusts you with any responsibility. This is why Turtle tries to seem as insignificant as possible.
Another interesting quirk of Turtle’s we get to see in Talons of Power is that he likes to imagine things as if they were a story; he is constantly comparing himself and his friends to characters from his mom’s stories. I find this a bit funny, considering he is a character in a story.
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Some Questions to Think About:
- What do you think of Talons of Power?
- Did you like Talons of Power?
- Was Turtle a good point-of-view character for this story?
- What do you think of Turtle's personality?
Jade Mountain Happenings:
- Year 31, Week 1...make sure to enroll yourself in all your classes!
- Willow Sinclair is infected with the typo disease
- Transmissions Team is open...*scary ghost noises* Two more positions! We'd love to have you.
- The Jade Winglet is currently in first...! Lily gives you a quiet side eye... /silly
- Please leave a message in chat, on my wall, or shoot me a letter if you have any news you'd like to be featured! I may or may not get you a cookie bag :)
Interesting WoF Facts:
- Whiteout experiences synesthesia, which means that she sees and describes the world in colors, such as sounds and touch as well.
- SkyWings produce a hissing sound before breathing fire. This sound can also be used to display anger or respect.
- Queen Coral laid 47 eggs in 9 years
- The character Pyrite is named after Fool's Gold, which hinted at the fact that she was Hailstorm in disguise
- Pyrrhia has pandas and ice cream
- Deathbringer was partially responsible for the MudWings leaving Blister's alliance
- The character Cliff is based off of the author's son.
Today's blogger:
Ebony Blade
"Mmm yes, I like my Silkwings smelling like bananas" - Azalea Robin