Deathbringer


 * "Did you ever notice that whenever one side appeared to be winning the war, one of their top generals would mysteriously die? Not that I'm taking credit for anything, of course."
 * —Deathbringer to Starflight, The Dark Secret

Deathbringer is an adult male NightWing who was introduced in The Hidden Kingdom. He was an apprentice under Quickstrike before her death, and formerly served as an assassin for the NightWings. He has since relocated to the Rainforest Kingdom and is currently in a relationship with Glory.

Appearance Edit
Deathbringer has black scales. He is only a bit taller than Starflight, and wiry and graceful in his movements. He previously wore a black pouch around his neck, where he kept his silver throwing blades. He is larger and heavier than Winter and has clearly been trained to fight based on the way he stands and assesses others.

Personality Edit
Deathbringer is charming and optimistic, and he does not seem to share the grumpiness of the other NightWings in his tribe. He is adaptable and quick to make decisions, as shown when he chose to make an attempt on Blaze to make up for his mental inability to kill Glory. Deathbringer has an extremely large ego, calling himself the greatest assassin in Pyrrhia, and can be sarcastic and witty. He takes his job seriously despite his confidence. He was previously very devoted to his work but is now willing to bend rules, as he promised himself that whomever he loves comes before his mission.

He was described by Glory to be an "overenthusiastic bodyguard." He looked amused rather than repentant after attacking Winter, and Glory mentioned that if Deathbringer turned out to be correct, it would make him insufferable.

He is clever, and brags about it on more than one occasion, sometimes bringing it up when he flirts with Glory. He enjoys annoying the RainWing, and they seem to mutually enjoy their banter and conflicts. Despite his confidence, he acts uncomfortable around scavengers, most likely because of the time he met Wren during the events of Dragonslayer.

Glory Edit
Glory is the character that Deathbringer interacts the most with in the series. She is his love interest and it seems that they return feelings for one another. Deathbringer volunteered to be her bodyguard, most likely so that he could protect her and be close to her at all times. Deathbringer is stated constantly throughout the series to care for her and finds little things to protect her from. In every book that he is in, he and Glory flirt with one another as this is most present in The Brightest Night. Despite finding Deathbringer's need to protect her sometimes exhausting, Glory seems to care for him as well, even sometimes talking to him pretty affectionately. She doesn't speak very highly of him in front of other dragons. Even though it is obvious that these insults are hollow, she tries to make others think that his status is just Bodyguard to the Queen; however, no one seems to buy it. Glory also trusts Deathbringer more than other NightWings (excluding Starflight) and almost as much as she trusts the dragonets of destiny. She once saved him from a dungeon in a volcano, while he saved her from a lab where the NightWings did experiments on the RainWings. One of the reasons why Deathbringer is so protective of Glory is that on the night Blister sent his mother to be executed, he vowed that if he ever found someone to care for and love again, he would make sure to do everything he could to not lose that dragon too, that new dragon being Glory. In the epilogue of The Brightest Night, Sunny wonders if Glory and Deathbringer will ever have dragonets together, and it is confirmed that the dragonet Firefly in Moon/Darkstalker's vision in Moon Rising is the daughter of Deathbringer and Queen Glory. Deathbringer mentioned that he was half a dragon before he met Glory, and that he would be even less if he lost her after meeting her. He stated that he could not live without her.

Sunny Edit
After Glory, Sunny seems to be the closest to Deathbringer. Sunny knows that Deathbringer loves Glory, but she doesn't object to it in any way, she even once imagined what would happen they got married and had eggs, also wondering whether other dragons would object to her marrying a NightWing rather than another RainWing. Sunny doesn't trust Deathbringer as much as Glory does, and she does not quite seem to understand why Glory trusts him so much, however it seems that Sunny thinks of Deathbringer as a friend. She and Clay also seem to hold almost no grudge for their attempted murder by him.

Starflight Edit
Starflight and Deathbringer have a slightly complicated relationship. They had their first real conversation when Deathbringer was in the dungeon and Starflight was asking him questions from outside the bars. Starflight seemed to know that Deathbringer loved Glory, and he doesn't seem to object, but it is still unclear. Starflight at first tried to stop Glory from going into an erupting volcano to get Deathbringer as their lives were at risk, and Starflight was extremely surprised that was even on her agenda, let alone something she would risk entering an exploding volcano for. Despite objecting, he reluctantly went with her and assisted in his breakout. Presently, Starflight probably doesn't quite think of him as a friend, but Starflight seems to respect Deathbringer's profession and also has some respect for him, unlike Peril.

Tsunami Edit
Although Deathbringer and Tsunami don't interact much, they both seem to have a distaste for one another. Out of all the dragonets of destiny, Tsunami seems to trust and like Deathbringer the least, even once stating to Sunny that she doesn't trust him. Unlike the other Dragonets, Tsunami does not quite seem to approve of Deathbringer's love for Glory. She doesn't like that Glory loves him, too, since he tried to kill her in his assassin days. She once tried to convince Glory to kill him when they captured him in the rainforest. It annoys Tsunami that Glory loves and trusts Deathbringer, and it seems to annoy her that he showed up to their gathering when Sunny came back, and she doesn't like how he helps them and follows them like he is one of them. She also holds a huge grudge against Deathbringer because he accidentally cut her wing once when he tried to kill Blaze. However, she doesn't completely hate him like she does with Blister or Burn for example.

Clay Edit
Similar to Sunny and Deathbringer's relationship, Clay and Deathbringer seem to be good friends. For a short amount of time (while Glory was a prisoner in a NightWing lab), Deathbringer was Clay's prisoner in the Rainforest. Deathbringer somehow convinced Clay to let him go and to go with him to the NightWing kingdom to save Glory. Although it doesn't show his direct feelings on the matter, Clay probably does not object to Deathbringer loving Glory, like Sunny.

Kinkajou Edit
Deathbringer and Kinkajou appear to be friends. When they first meet, Deathbringer rescues both Glory and Kinkajou, much to Kinkajou's relief. When talking to Qibli, she lists Deathbringer as one of the NightWings she considers trustworthy, claiming "he is usually pretty great". She seems to be mad at him when he attacks and sits on Winter, however, she probably is not anymore considering her forgiving and kind personality.

Moonwatcher Edit
Moon and Deathbringer seem to at least know each other, as in Winter Turning he and Moon have a more or less friendly conversation while he is sitting on Winter, which consists of her trying to reason with him. In another part of the book, Moon suggests that they "Try Deathbringer" to see if he knows where a certain mountain is that will help them find Hailstorm.

Winter Edit
Deathbringer and Winter dislike each other. Deathbringer sits on Winter when he goes to the Rainforest, claiming that Winter is a threat to Queen Glory. Winter demands that Deathbringer be punished and Queen Glory says he will be, however, it is unknown if Deathbringer ever was.

Wren Edit
Deathbringer seemed to think of Wren to be a dream or illusion at first, and later seemed somewhat curious about her ability to speak Dragon. She managed to cut him in the spot between his claws two times, which amused him. He mentioned that "No one [had] managed to draw [his] blood in years... And now [she'd] done it twice." He also seemed to be somewhat embarrassed by this, offering that they should both keep the situation secret. Deathbringer in Dragonslayer from Wren's perspective is called Murderbasket, as she could not translate his name correctly.

Later in The Brightest Night when Sunny returns to her friends and told her story, Deathbringer brought up that confronting scavengers gave him a shudder. Glory teased him that "The big bad assassin terrified of itty-bitty scavengers," to which he retorted by telling her to face a sword-waving scavenger. His fear of scavengers most likely comes from Wren.

Quickstrike Edit
Deathbringer seemed to love his mother very much, killing Slaughter to prove that he was worthy to go onto the mainland. When Quickstrike was struck down with a lightning bolt, Deathbringer dragged her further ashore and watched over her. As he was completing his mission, Blister's forces found Quickstrike and killed her. From then on, he swore that the dragon he loved come first, not the mission.

Family Tree Edit
= Possible timeline

Quotes Edit

 * "It will be Ice Kingdom territory one day. If Blaze wins the war, that is. She's promised Queen Glacier all the land you can see from here to the southern horizon — basically where the desert starts. I suppose you know all that. But it's interesting, isn't it? That's a lot of land Blaze is willing to hand over. But not exactly useful land to either tribe, so what would Queen Glacier want with it? Do you think there's treasure under these rocks? That would be my guess. A diamond mine, perhaps. Maybe you know. Maybe all the IceWings know and are wisely keeping it a secret from Blaze and her SandWings."
 * ― to Glory (The Hidden Kingdom)


 * "You feel sorry for the dragonets. That's interesting. I've seen a lot of that around Pyrrhia, actually. Everyone expects so much of them, but they also think it's a heavy burden for five young dragons. I wonder if the dragonets would be surprised by all the sympathy for them. You haven't seen any sign of them here, have you? Rumor has it they were headed for the Ice Kingdom next."
 * ― to Glory (The Hidden Kingdom)


 * "Is that an invitation? I probably have a day or two before the—before my work can begin. I wouldn't mind seeing the inside of an IceWing tavern, if you'll be there."
 * ― to Glory, disguised as an IceWing (The Hidden Kingdom)


 * "But maybe you could come back and see me sometime. I'll be here for a few more days at least, probably, and it's pretty boring just sitting here."
 * ― to Glory (The Hidden Kingdom)


 * "Why, hello, everyone. Isn't this a coincidence? I was just talking about you all this morning. Mystery dragon! Hmmm. There's something different about you. Did you get your claws trimmed? [...] You could have told me you were one of the dragonets. I'd have asked for your autograph. I see now that you're a RainWing, so... Glory, right?"
 * ― to the dragonets of destiny (The Hidden Kingdom)


 * "You can express your undying gratitude to me later. I'll wait."
 * ― to Glory (The Hidden Kingdom)


 * "I don't know, he sounds kind of murder-y, Kinkajou. And we heard there's an extra-dangerous IceWing on the loose right now. So I'm going to keep sitting on him until I get further instructions."
 * ― to Kinkajou (Winter Turning, page 48)


 * "Loyal to what? Do you even know why you follow her anymore? She's not a good queen. You are helping a viper and making her stronger and more poisonous. Can't you see that? If you can't, you will soon, I'm afraid."
 * ― to Six-Claws (Deserter)


 * "You know, I've never understood what happened to Queen [Oasis], but now I see that scavengers are tiny ferocious mean little monsters, and it all makes sense."
 * ― to Wren, after she stabs him (Dragonslayer, page 312-314)


 * "No one had managed to draw my blood in years, and now a tiny scavenger has done it twice. I have this great idea: Let's both never, ever tell anyone about this."
 * ― to Wren, after she stabs him again (Dragonslayer, page 338)

TriviaEdit

 * He mentioned that "When one side appears to win the war, one of their top generals seems to mysteriously die. Not that I'm taking credit for anything." This is the first indication that the NightWings, him specifically, were killing off generals before they chose Blister to fight for, as to prolong the war.
 * Deathbringer went on his first mission when he was four years old.

Gallery Edit
Reference by Platypus the SeaWing

Deathbringer from The Hidden Kingdom (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes Add a photo to this gallery

References Edit

 * 1) ↑ The Hidden Kingdom, page 112
 * 2) ↑ The Dark Secret, page 20
 * 3) ↑ The Hidden Kingdom, page 114
 * 4) ↑ The Hidden Kingdom, page 147
 * 5) ↑ Winter Turning, page 50
 * 6) ↑ Winter Turning, page 56
 * 7) ↑ Winter Turning, page 53
 * 8) ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Winter Turning, page 128
 * 9) ↑ The Brightest Night, page 216