Cricket


 * "I usually think of rules as things that get in the way of all the stuff I want to know. I mean, how can don't ask questions ever be a good rule? Or only borrow one book at a time from the library. That's just ludicrous. No one ever sensibly explains rules like that. But don't hurt other dragons — that's a rule I think everyone believes in, right? So … I guess I believe in some rules, and I think rules in general can be useful, but I also think it's all right to stop and question some of the rules sometimes, if they feel wrong to you."
 * —Cricket to Blue, The Lost Continent

Cricket is a young female HiveWing and the main protagonist of The Hive Queen. She is interested in several fields of science, such as inventing and botany, and is one of the only known HiveWings who is not subject to Queen Wasp's othermind control. She is currently fleeing as a refugee towards Pyrrhia, and has romantic feelings for Blue.

Appearance Edit
Cricket has orange-gold scales that are speckled with black scales that look like tiny inkblots. She has golden-yellow talons, golden-orange wings, and warm, dark brown eyes. She is a slightly smaller than Blue, with small, sharp claws similar to a leopard's and an open, curious face. She wears gold-rimmed spectacles and a bag tied sideways across her chest. Blue notes her to smell like books and apples.

Personality Edit
Cricket is fascinated by science and is always very eager to learn. She is extremely curious and inquisitive, and constantly asks questions about anything and everything (much to Sundew, Cadelle, and all her teachers' annoyance). She is slightly rebellious and kind but is often frustrated by the strict laws of HiveWing society, which prevent her from learning many of the things that she is most interested in. Cricket is never portrayed as dignified or authoritarian, and she is shown to be quite empathetic and compassionate. This was demonstrated when she rescued Blue from her tribe in The Lost Continent, despite never having met him, and later helped him rescue Swordtail. Cricket carries none of the usual HiveWing smugness and haughtiness, is kind yet firm, and is not pushed around easily. Cricket is also very open-minded — in The Lost Continent, Blue observed that she stopped to listen and think about what he said, and then weighed it against her ideas and beliefs (quote "she held what others said and holds it against what she thinks she knew to see if there is something she missed"). Blue commented to himself that he liked the way that she didn't have all her ideas set firmly in her head, like most dragons, and was willing to see different perspectives. Cricket really dislikes violence and conflict and wants the best for most dragons. She is also extremely intelligent, which is proven on several occasions. A significant one is how she was able to quickly find a library key hidden in a statue of Clearsight with nothing more than a few very vague directions. Sundew derisively says at one point that Cricket believes she can save the tribes with "truth and flyers" and perseverance. Cricket is also not afraid to try new things, proven in The Lost Continent when she tried a formula used to make plants stronger on Swordtail, not knowing whether it would work or if it would turn out to be bad or possibly fatal for dragons. She loves learning new things and experimenting. Cricket believes there are some good HiveWings that would help them if they could like the Librarian in the Temple of Clearsight.

Katydid Edit
Cricket is shown to have a close relationship with her "sister," who, unlike her, was proven to be susceptible to Queen Wasp's mind control. Before Cricket met Blue, Katydid was the only other dragon to know of her mind control immunity. After realizing that Cricket was immune, Katydid encouraged her to hide it out of fear of what Queen Wasp would do upon finding out. Cricket also states that Katydid always covered for her, despite how she would often go missing during and after the periods in which Queen Wasp took control of the other HiveWings. In The Hive Queen, Katydid is revealed to be Cricket's mother and not her sister. Katydid is one of the only dragons that Cricket loves, apart from Blue.

Cadelle Edit
Even though Cadelle is Cricket's grandmother, they are not close. Cadelle resented Cricket since her hatching and had no wish to raise another child even if the dragonet was her flesh and blood. According to Lady Scarab, Cadelle would rather have drowned Cricket as an egg than raise her as her dragonet. Cricket recalls being terrified of Cadelle as a small dragonet, and her latest encounter with her grandmother revealed that those feelings have not subsided, even after years apart. Cricket originally believed that Cadelle was her mother (she is in truth her grandmother) because Katydid was unable to raise Cricket as her mother

Bombardier Edit
While Bombardier believed Cricket had a crush on him, making comments such as "Cricket, I'm sorry but I don't feel the same way." Cricket never had any romantic feelings for him. She describes him as awful, arrogant, smug, and the opposite of Blue and also comments that there isn't much difference between his normal self and his "brain-dead," mind-controlled self. Cricket does say that if she had the power to save the HiveWings from Queen Wasp's mind control, she would save Bombardier, but perhaps last, after all the others, demonstrating her hate for him. The first time she saw the HiveWings being mind-controlled, while she wondered why they were acting strange, she thought maybe it was because she was too young. She soon realized that it couldn't be that since Bombardier was her age and was being mind-controlled too.

Blue Edit
Cricket and Blue become friends in The Lost Continent. She and Blue say they are best friends, with Cricket saying she would be Blue's best friend even if she knew every dragon on Pantala. Blue values her friendship and also has romantic feelings for her. Cricket describes him as being one of the most colorful (and handsome) SilkWings she's ever seen, calling him "beautiful" at least twice out loud. In her POV, she repeats that she thinks that his face and wings are handsome. In The Hive Queen, Cricket recalls when she promised to stay by Blue's side until he woke up in The Lost Continent and describes the moment as romantic. Later, it is revealed that she returns Blue's love and wonders if he likes her back. She is extremely sad when she has to leave him behind in The Poison Jungle after he is likely infected with the Breath of Evil.

Scarab Edit
Lady Scarab first comes up in a conversation between Blue and Cricket. She turns out to be deeply woven into Cricket's history. In The Hive Queen, we learn that Lady Scarab helped cover for Cricket's egg. Lady Scarab often scolds Cricket, but it is unlikely that she actually hates her. In The Hive Queen, she tells Cricket a lot of useful information, discussing the HiveWing bloodline and reasons why they both were immune to Queen Wasp's mind control.

Sundew Edit
Sundew hates HiveWings more than Swordtail but seems to be okay with Cricket, acting a bit more friendly and open around her in The Hive Queen and saying she was different. Sundew tends to hide her true emotions, always trying to act tough, but has displayed a certain extent of trust towards Cricket, admitting that she has a "one true love." She also cares enough for the HiveWing that she was willing to risk herself to allow Cricket to try and rescue Katydid.

Bumblebee Edit
Bumblebee hatched from the egg Cricket rescued from Queen Wasp's poisons in the hatchery, so she and Bumblebee have a naturally close relationship. Cricket is almost like an adoptive mother towards Bumblebee. Bumblebee adores Cricket, and it seems like Bumblebee has slightly imprinted on Cricket, as she was the first dragon she had met. She currently does not know if Bumblebee is immune to Queen Wasp's mind control but Cricket infers that Bumblebee cannot be controlled by Queen Wasp, just like her.

Swordtail Edit
Throughout the Lost Continent and the very beginning of The Hive Queen, Cricket believed that Swordtail disliked her, but changes her mind when Swordtail objects to her comment about them needing to find out what was wrong with her and right with the rest of the tribe. However, Swordtail corrects her and says they need to find out what was right with her and wrong with her tribe, proving that he does not dislike her as much as she thought he did.

Tsunami Edit
Cricket seemed very excited when Tsunami enters the Poison Jungle and wanted to ask her a lot of questions. This was probably because Cricket has a very curious mind and so she wanted to know more about "The Distant Kingdoms." She is later on shown to trust Tsunami deeply for she asked her to take care of Bumblebee when she went out looking for Hawthorn.

Quotes Edit

 * "Really? Why don't you know your father? Is that normal for SilkWings? Don't you live with your parents? Or, I'm sorry, is that a question I'm not supposed to ask? I ask a lot of questions I'm not supposed to ask, apparently, according to most of my teachers — also my parents — actually, according to pretty much every grown-up HiveWing. Too many questions, Cricket! Don't you know what happens to nosy little HiveWings? They lose those noses! Which is silly; I've never seen a dragonet without a nose and I'm sure I can't be the first one with this many questions. What's your name? Oh, that's another question. Sorry. I'm Cricket."
 * ―  (The Lost Continent, page 67)


 * "I don't know.I guess I'll have to ask all my dangerous criminal friends."
 * ― to Blue (The Lost Continent (book), page 71)


 * "His name's Bombardier. But he's awful, so there's not much difference between regular him and brain-dead him. He thinks I'm in love with him if you've ever wondered what the most enormous arrogance looks like. I guess I'd still save him, but maybe, like, last."
 * ― to Blue about Bombardier (The Lost Continent, page 85)


 * "Is it a secret? A SilkWing secret? Do you guys have lots of secrets from us? Can you tell me some of them? I promise not to tell anyone! There's so much I don't know about SilkWings, but Father won't let me ask the servants anything."
 * ― to Blue (The Lost Continent, page 88)


 * "Let's think. Flamesilk orders go out all the time because each thread only burns for about one cycle of the smallest moon before it fades. Which means someone has to get the flamesilk from the dragons producing it, to fill the orders. So whose job is it? And someone must keep them fed and taken care of … And of course, Queen Wasp knows. So there must be a way to trace the flamesilk back to wherever the dragons are. This is a solvable mystery."
 * ― to Blue, about flamesilk (The Lost Continent, page 90)


 * "I wish I could go to your school for a day. I'd love to hear what other dragons are learning, wouldn't you? Are your teachers interesting? How big is your library? Do you have music classes? I wish we did; I don't understand music at all and I want to."
 * ― to Blue (The Lost Continent, page 94)


 * "I usually think of rules as things that get in the way of all the stuff I really want to know. I mean, how can don't ask questions ever be a good rule? Or only borrow one book at a time from the library. That's just ludicrous. No one ever sensibly explains rules like that. But don't hurt other dragons — that's a rule I think everyone believes in, right? So … I guess I believe in some rules, and I think rules, in general, can be useful, but I also think it's all right to stop and question some of the rules sometimes, if they feel wrong to you."
 * ― to Blue (The Lost Continent, page 97)


 * "A dollhouse book? Which the monkey found somewhere? No, you're right. This is the monkey's book. When we came in, I thought its expression looked familiar — and that's because it was reading. Mystery animals in a cave under the savannah- who can READ! Blue, this is the biggest scientific discovery of our lifetime! I wouldn't have to be a gardener if I told the queen about this. I'm sure she'd let me change disciplines so I could study them. Don't you think?"
 * ― to Blue (The Lost Continent, page 141)


 * "That's the kind of dragon I'm talking about, Sundew. What would she do if the queen didn't control her? I mean — if she knew the truth about everything — the flamesilks, the Book of Clearsight — and she didn't have the queen in her head, making her do things and messing with her thoughts. Then could we trust her? Maybe she would try to help us."
 * ― to Sundew, about a HiveWing (The Hive Queen, page 89)


 * "They're so big. I didn't know trees grew so enormous. Some of them look as tall as the Hives! How old are they? Can you tell? Would they all get that big if they lived that long? Are they all dangerous? Oh, please tell me you have books about all these plants!"
 * ― to Sundew, about trees (The Poison Jungle, page 7)


 * "Oh my gosh. Oh ― oh my gosh. Do you see that? What is happening? Who is that? Why is she amazing and blue and look at her wings are those webbed talons? Are they for swimming? Is she a water dragon? What is she and where did she come from and OH MY GOSH SHE'S FROM THE DISTANT KINGDOMS ISN'T SHE?"
 * ― to Sundew, upon seeing Tsunami (The Poison Jungle, page 133)


 * "I know. But you can understand what I'm feeling, right? You can imagine how important this is to me and … and how important you are to me."
 * ― to Blue after he tells Cricket he doesn't want to leave her. (The Hive Queen, page 203)

Trivia Edit

 * Cricket is the first bespectacled protagonist in the series.
 * Though trees no longer are widespread on Pantala, Cricket somehow managed to grow a small tree in her terrarium in her botany class, having found the seed on a gathering trip, and not having known what it was until it started growing. (A show of her rebellious nature is how she refused to throw it out).
 * Cricket is the second character in the series to be depicted on two book covers (The Lost Continent and The Hive Queen), the first being Turtle. She is featured on the Barnes and Noble exclusive version of The Lost Continent.
 * Tui stated that Cricket's depiction on The Hive Queen cover was more accurate than her depiction on the Barnes and Noble The Lost Continent cover, due to Joy Ang having more time to add detail to her.
 * Cricket is one of the four dragons to be on a book cover that they are not PoV in.
 * In an interview with Tui, she revealed that originally, Cricket was going to be a reporter or a journalist.
 * She seems to be too energetic for the rest of the hive, possibly because she can not be mind-controlled by Wasp. Her energy has led to her being kicked out of many classes (i.e. art).
 * Her breath smells of apples as described by Blue.

Gallery Edit
Reference by Platypus the SeaWing

Cricket on the cover of The Hive Queen, by Joy Ang

Cricket on the full cover of The Hive Queen, by Joy Ang

Cricket on the Barnes & Noble Special Edition of The Lost Continent, by Joy Ang

Cricket fullbody render, edited by Blue the SilkWing Add a photo to this gallery

References Edit

 * 1) ↑ The Lost Continent, page 143
 * 2) ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Lost Continent, page 66
 * 3) ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Lost Continent, page 63
 * 4) ↑ The Poison Jungle, page 7
 * 5) ↑ The Lost Continent, page 99
 * 6) ↑ The Lost Continent, page 78
 * 7) ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuq-7LETH-U&t=1284s