Starflight


 * "I love you. […] Don't hate me because of what the other NightWings have done. Don't think I'm like my tribe. Don't listen to Glory's description of my kingdom, of the smoke and the fire and the smell and the death and the trapped, tortured RainWings and the cruel black dragons. Don't look at me like I'm one of them, like I could ever do what they've done, please."
 * —Starflight's thoughts toward Sunny, The Dark Secret

Starflight is an adult male NightWing and the main protagonist of The Dark Secret. Along with being a dragonet of destiny and a founder of Jade Mountain Academy, he aided in the end of the War of SandWing Succession. After being caught in a volcanic eruption, Starflight was permanently blinded. He is currently working at Jade Mountain Academy as the head librarian.

Appearance Edit
Starflight has midnight-black scales with glints of purple and deep blue in them, and a slate gray underbelly. The silver scales on the underside of his black wings spray outward, like a splash of water. He has a pitch black head and claws, as well as sinewy, thin shoulders. He has bright green eyes, but wears a bandage over them after being blinded by the volcanic eruption. Because of this, he has long burn scars streaking across his scales and snout.

Personality Edit
Starflight is described as being a nervous and studious dragon. He is extraordinarily intelligent and is considered a know-it-all by his friends. Starflight can sometimes be annoying, according to his fellow dragonets of destiny, as he tends to regard academics very seriously. He was also often regarded as cowardly and meek, avoiding confrontation and usually preferring the easiest, most peaceful solutions. In The Dark Secret, Starflight frequently felt ashamed of his cowardice and wished that he could have a braveness similar to Tsunami's. However, he eventually forced himself to move past his fear in order to rescue Deathbringer and Splendor from the NightWing dungeons. He cares strongly about his friends and is affectionate towards his loved ones.

Fatespeaker Edit
In The Dark Secret, Fatespeaker and Starflight become close friends. When he is chased by Ochre and Flame, she is in a cave right next to his hiding spot and promised that she wasn't going to kill him. They also sneak away to talk to Queen Battlewinner and figure out her secret. Starflight likes Fatespeaker better than all the other NightWings. Fatespeaker has a crush on him but he currently likes her as a friend, as when Starflight is confessing to Sunny he glances at Fatespeaker to think about how his feelings for her could never be the same as his affection towards Sunny. He may still have developing feelings for her, but it is unknown what kind of feelings. Even if those feelings aren't romantic, it is still fair to say that they are good friends.

Clay Edit
Starflight and Clay are good friends since they have known each other since hatching. Clay is often annoyed by Starflight's constant lectures, although he sometimes appreciates them. Starflight felt very annoyed when Clay called the Scorching "the Scalding," and in The Hidden Kingdom, Starflight seemed jealous of Clay when the MudWing called dibs on sleeping next to Sunny even though he was only joking and likely wanted to keep warm in the IceWing's territory. In The Dark Secret, Clay shielded Starflight with his fireproof scales from the fire coming from the volcanic explosion, saving him from getting horribly burned or even killed. However, he was not fast enough to save Starflight's eyes from being burned, rendering Starflight blind. Clay also mentions that he sees Starflight giving him lectures in his dreams.

Tsunami Edit
Tsunami, like the other dragonets (with the exception of Sunny), is annoyed by Starflight's lectures, and she often shushes him up. Despite this, they seem to care for each other, shown when they refuse to fight each other in Scarlet's arena. Tsunami and Starflight have known each other since hatching. Tsunami once had a slight crush on Starflight, before realizing how annoying he could actually be, due to the ongoing endless lectures. Starflight often wishes he had Tsunami's "crazy-brave" courage, and Tsunami believes that the reason he studies so hard and reads so much information is so he can be an asset to the group.

Glory Edit
Glory, like the rest of the dragonets (not including Sunny), was always very annoyed by Starflight's lectures. She has made blunt remarks about his tribe to his face but never the less seems to care about him. They seem to trust each other since they have known each other since hatching. Starflight seems to admire Glory's way of remembering things easily and making plans. This is demonstrated when Starflight used the dreamvisitor to appear in her dreams, and while the other dragonets believed that Starflight was just a part of their dream, Glory immediately knew that he had found a dreamvisitor. In the fourth book, they work together to unite the RainWings and the NightWings along with the help of the dragonets.

Sunny Edit
Starflight is thought to admire Sunny's joyful personality but doesn't interact with her much in the first book. It is thought that he did love her then, too, for when Tsunami said to Peril that Sunny was like a little sister to all of them, Starflight acted like he considered Sunny differently. However, he does stand up for her against Tsunami, Glory, and even Morrowseer. In the second book, he is noticed to want to do everything in his power to protect her. In the third book, Glory is near certain he has had a crush on her for his entire life. Starflight has known Sunny and the other dragonets since hatching. Sunny seems to have the most positive attitude about Starflight and his lectures. In the fourth book, he is directly stated throughout the story to be in love with Sunny. He finally admits it to her, but in The Brightest Night, it is shown that Sunny is unclear and confused about how she loves Starflight. At the end of The Brightest Night, Sunny ultimately decides that she loves him as a brother, which he reluctantly accepts.

Kestrel Edit
Starflight was afraid of Kestrel and her short temper. He would hide in the shadows if the SkyWing was nearby, and would often get burned by Kestrel just like all the other dragonets. He did, however, stand up to her by helping Sunny melt the chains Kestrel put on Tsunami.

Morrowseer Edit
Starflight seemed to be terrified of the larger NightWing, as shown when he "froze like a stalagmite" when Morrowseer first visited the dragonets under the mountain. During The Dark Secret, Starflight did his best to impress Morrowseer and was very scared of Morrowseer exposing him as not a real NightWing due to his lack of powers. Morrowseer hated Starflight for being "weak" and a "spineless failure." This apparent hatred that Morrowseer had for Starflight may be mutual.

Peril Edit
Starflight fears Peril, and refused to speak to her when tethered to his rock spire in The Dragonet Prophecy. Later, though, when the dragonets were trapped by a wall of fire, Starflight addressed Peril, asking her if she was hurt by fire, but this may have been out of desperation since if they didn't escape, he would be forced to battle in the SkyWing arena. When she answers, he comes up with the idea of Peril moving the black rocks in order for the dragonets to escape. During the time when she was out of earshot, he and Tsunami point out to Clay of her crush on him. Peril lost Starflight's trust when she betrayed the dragonets to Queen Scarlet. However, by the end of The Brightest Night, he feels slightly indebted to her for saving Clay's life. In Escaping Peril, that seems to have changed, as he was worried he was going to wake up on fire one day. He also was thinking about finding a scroll about sociopaths, which might mean that he thinks Peril is one. Regardless of his personal opinion of her, he is still aware of Peril's crush on Clay and tolerates her at Jade Mountain Academy.

Mastermind Edit
Starflight shares many traits with his father, including scale patterns and extreme intelligence. At first, Starflight wanted to have a good relationship working with his father. But, when he learned what Mastermind was doing to the RainWings, he felt horrified. He still helped his father but was wary of him. His father was very impressed with Starflight and wanted him to be his assistant. After The Dark Secret, Mastermind was put into prison and Starflight wanted little to do with him after the incident with the RainWings. It is unknown how Mastermind currently feels about this, or if he even knows how Starflight feels about him.

Fierceteeth Edit
Fierceteeth is Starflight's half-sister. He was surprised to learn that he had a sister, but otherwise didn't seem enthused to meet her. They do not have a close relationship, and Fierceteeth unabashedly dislikes him, referring to him as a 'walking tragedy' in Prisoners.

Farsight Edit
When Starflight's egg was still on the NightWing island, Farsight didn't care about anything but his egg.

Family Tree Edit
= Possible timeline

Quotes Edit

 * "Easy. Its because we have all these special powers, and we don't want to make regular dragons feel inferior […] You know. Telepathy? Precognition? Invisibility? Hello?"
 * ― To Clay, about the NightWings (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 105)


 * "I'm sorry he took me. I wanted him to bring me back right away, but he wouldn't. He said they couldn't afford to lose any NightWings, even — even peculiar little ones."
 * ― about Morrowseer's abduction of him (The Dragonet Prophecy, page 297)


 * "Shouldn't we stay under the trees? What if a patrol spots us? I mean — We must stay under the trees. All right. Yes. Everyone back into the trees right now."
 * ― to the other dragonets of destiny (The Lost Heir, page 1-2)


 * "Um. But. We think you, of course — I mean, obviously you — er — you'd make a great, uh, queen. Of the SandWings. That is. The other two — hardly any competition — really, it's, um, a clear, so to speak, sort of, um, choice […] I'mjustsayingshe'dbeallright."
 * ― to Blister, about the Dragonet's choice of princess (The Lost Heir, page 198)


 * "What if I can fix everything? This is the chance you wanted. You asked Glory to let you talk to the NightWings. You wanted to give them a chance to explain themselves — you wanted to find a peaceful solution, so you wouldn't have to pick sides in a war."
 * ― thinking (The Dark Secret, page 18)


 * "Crazy-brave is the opposite of me. Crazy-brave is Tsunami. Crazy-brave would have been turning around to fight all four dragonets at once, which is what she would have done. Sitting in a dark hole? Waiting for someone else to deal with my problem? She's right about one thing: that does sound like me"
 * ― thinking about Tsunami (The Dark Secret, page 83)


 * "Perhaps that's one downside to staying isolated. They keep themselves separate to seem more powerful, and yet they're cut off from so much potential knowledge. If they didn't feel superior to all other dragons, maybe they'd be better at listening to them, and maybe they'd learn something new."
 * ― thinking about the NightWings (The Dark Secret, page 199)


 * "There's no time to be afraid. This is the only thing you can do. And you must do it."
 * ― thinking about saving Flame and warn the RainWings (The Dark Secret, page 215)


 * "[…] We're only dragonets. We shouldn't be leading anyone to their deaths. But this is happening no matter what we do. We have no choice now. […] You can't be the most cowardly dragon on Pyrrhia right now. Remember, you've read over all the history scrolls you could find about famous battles. Now use that knowledge. It's time to prove that you really do belong in this prophecy."
 * ― thinking about the invasion of the NightWing island (The Dark Secret, page 234-236)


 * "No, I mean- you're all I think about and I want to be near you and it hurts when I'm not, and everything I do, I think, what would Sunny want me to do? And I think you're the only dragon who sees me the whole way I am and likes me anyway … And I had to tell you, in case something happens to either one of us today, although if anything happens to you I don't know how I'd be able to breathe or think or do anything ever again."
 * ― professing his love to Sunny before going through the tunnel (The Dark Secret, page 239-240)


 * "It's royal SandWing business now. They'll fight and Blister will win, but the important thing is that the war is over. There will be a queen on the SandWing throne, and no one else has to die."
 * ― to his friends after Burn's death (The Brightest Night, page 287)


 * "I promise. You won't have done anything wrong, Icicle. You can still go home now, but if you kill me, Queen Glacier might not take you back."
 * ― to Icicle while she is attempting to kill him (Moon Rising, page 271)

Trivia Edit

 * Starflight has a tenor singing voice.
 * After his experiences in the SkyWing Arena, Starflight finds scavengers terrifying.
 * Despite being blind, Starflight has the ability to "read" carved letters by running his talons over them, similar to braille.
 * Tui T. Sutherland has stated that Starflight is the character that she can most relate to out of the dragonets of destiny.
 * In The Hive Queen, Turtle stated that he was in the process of writing an animus spell to restore Starflight's eyesight.
 * In The Dragonet Prophecy, when Starflight was talking to Clay and Tsunami about Clay's fire immunity, he commented that he wondered if NightWings get their powers activated by moonlight. His theory was later proven correct in Moon Rising.
 * Before escaping the underground caves, Starflight would read a scroll entitled Tales of the NightWingswhenever he was stressed or upset.
 * Starflight is in the process of creating fireproof scrolls for Peril to read, and becomes "hilariously twitchy" when he senses her near the library.

Gallery Edit
Reference by Platypus the SeaWing

Starflight on the cover of The Dark Secret, by Joy Ang

Starflight on the full cover of The Dark Secret, by Joy Ang

Starflight on the cover of The Dark Secret (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes Add a photo to this gallery

References Edit

 * 1) ↑ The Dragonet Prophecy, page 123
 * 2) ↑ The Dragonet Prophecy, page 297
 * 3) ↑ The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), page 12
 * 4) ↑ The Lost Heir, page 286
 * 5) ↑ The Hidden Kingdom, page 26
 * 6) ↑ The Lost Heir, page 267
 * 7) ↑ The Lost Heir, page 76
 * 8) ↑ The Brightest Night, page 268
 * 9) ↑ The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), page 19
 * 10) ↑ The Brightest Night, page 264
 * 11) ↑ The Brightest Night, page 8
 * 12) ↑ The Brightest Night, page 206
 * 13) ↑ The Dark Secret, page 7