Brawnshanks

**Brawnshanks** is a male golden monkey. He is the leader of the Broken Forest Troop.

## Appearance

Brawnshanks is a big golden monkey with a tear in his left ear, and a blue face.

## Personality

Brawnshanks is mean, and Rain described him as an "annoying monkey." He made fun of the pandas for not being able to stop the great flood, sneering and laughing at them. Brawnshanks was willing to help Sunset pretend to still be a Dragon Speaker, using dream leaf. He and his troopmates also organized an assault on Maple so Sunset could stage the young cub's rescue.

He and his troopmates also tease Ghost when the latter is assigned to "look after" them by Sunset.

## History

### *Creatures of the Flood*

After Rain and Pebble trick Frog and Fir into doing their chores, the former pair are confronted by Brawnshanks. He teases the young bears for their inability to stop the great flood. Rain responds back and Brawnshanks backs off, leaving the pandas alone. Upon arriving at the river, Pebble laments the Dragon Speaker's absence, thinking the Brawnshanks had a point when he told him and Rain that no other animals will take them seriously anymore due to their inability to stop the flood. Rain, however, disagrees, reminding Pebble that everyone in the Prosperhill is doing fine without the assistance of a Dragon Speaker.
After Sunset returns to the Bamboo Kingdom, Rain becomes suspicious of the former's motives so when the Dragon Speaker leaves the Prosperhill Clearing, she secretly follows him and discovers that he and Brawnshanks are in cahoots. After Maple is recruited in the Prosperhill Community, Sunset visits Brawnshanks again and orders him to lead a fraction of his troopmates to harass Maple so he [Sunset] can stage a rescue. Brawnshanks agrees to do so on Sunset's behalf. When Brawnshanks and his troopmates harass Maple, they allege that the latter had siblings, which Maple denies and demands that he wants his mother. Rain, who overheard the commotion, arrives to confront the monkeys for picking on Maple, and demands that Brawnshanks and his troop leave the young cub alone. Rain is then joined by Sunset, who seemingly sides with her and Maple, however, Rain sees through Sunset's ruse after she spots Brawnshanks exchanging a look with the former Dragon Speaker. Realizing that Maple's rescue has been staged, Rain vows to keep a close eye on Sunset. After Sunset delivers a fake prophecy to the other Prosperhills, Rain is comforted by the knowledge that her own mother is looking after Maple, making it impossible for Brawnshanks to pick on him a second time. Rain then follows Sunset into the golden monkeys' territory to spy on them. There, she learns that Sunset allied with the monkeys in exchange for dream leaf. Sunset seemingly believes that the dream leaf will give him visions, or at least hallucinations that he can use for inspiration for false prophecies. After Rain consumes some of the dream leaf to see what happens, she realizes that the monkeys are taking advantage of Sunset, as Rain did not experience anything unusual after consuming it, no matter how much she ate. However, Rain cannot figure out Brawnshanks' motives for manipulating Sunset Deepwood.
When Sunset confronts Rain by the river, Rain acknowledges the so-called Dragon Speaker's role in sending Brawnshanks and his troop after Maple and staging his subsequent rescue. Realizing that Rain stands in the way of his schemes, Sunset attempts to drown Rain before she, herself, is saved by the Great Dragon.
### *River of Secrets*

Sunset assigns Ghost to keep Brawnshanks' Troop in line. However Ghost finds that the monkeys appear to be watching him rather than the other way around.
After Sunset banishes Rain and Peony from the Prosperhill, he sends Brawnshanks and his troop after the two bears. Rain and Peony are unable to fight the monkeys off and are taken prisoner in a pit.