Darkstalker (IceWing-NightWing hybrid)

**King Darkstalker** was a male, animus, thrice-moonborn NightWing - IceWing hybrid, and the son of Foeslayer and Prince Arctic. He was said to have been described as the largest dragon the world had ever seen when he was freed in *Escaping Peril*, his wingspan being as wide as the mountain they were on. However, in *Talons of Power*, he was described as "three times bigger than a full grown dragon". In *Talons of Power*, Darkstalker became king of the NightWings, promising that if they joined him he could grant them any power that they could imagine (except for animus power). In *Darkness of Dragons* Kinkajou enchanted a strawberry to turn Darkstalker into a one year old dragonet (with no memories of his past self) using scraps from Darkstalker's scroll. He now lives as Peacemaker with his mother Foeslayer, (memories still intact) now Hope.

## Appearance

Darkstalker has been described as handsome and charming[1], with glittering black and silver scales[2], eyes as black as underground caverns, and long, twisting horns[3]. On the inside of his midnight-black wings[4], there is a seam of white IceWing scales where the membrane meets his side[5], described by Clearsight to be as cold as IceWing scales, the sole indicator that he's part IceWing. Additionally, he has a silver teardrop-shaped scale next to each eye[6], showcasing his powers of mind reading. Also he has silver scales on the underside of his wings that look like stars and dark grey underscales.

## Biography

### Pre-Series

Two thousand years before the start of the second series (3012 A.S.), Darkstalker was the first known animus dragon to be hatched of the NightWing tribe, unlike his sister Whiteout. He was the son of Foeslayer the NightWing and Prince Arctic of the IceWings. Being born under three full moons gave him the power to not only read minds, but to also be able to tell the future. One of his animus creations were three enchanted star sapphires that give their owner the ability to appear in others' dreams if the dragon was in a deep enough sleep talk to them. called dreamvisitors, One of the dreamvisitors was for his best friend Fathom, a SeaWing animus. The other was for his love Clearsight, who could see all possible futures, and the third was for himself. The dreamvisitors were meant to link the three dragons, no matter how far apart they were.

Darkstalker became too powerful and he began to frighten the other NightWings in his tribe. It was also rumored that he plotted to overthrow the current NightWing queen and seize the throne for himself, both of which were revealed to be true in his "Legends" book. Later, Darkstalker's hatred of his father became too much, so he killed his own father for casting a spell on his sister and attempting to take her to the Ice Kingdom. Darkstalker enchanted Prince Arctic to obey his every command and made his father disembowel himself, and that scared the NightWings into fleeing their city and to the volcanic island. After this, Clearsight and Prince Fathom soon agreed that Darkstalker had become too power-hungry. Clearsight then had Fathom enchant her bracelet (Darkstalker had given it to her to protect her thoughts from his mind-reading abilities) to put Darkstalker to sleep forever when he puts it on. It was the only time after the SeaWing Massacre and his oath to his sister, Queen Pearl, that Fathom used his animus power. Clearsight had placed it on Darkstalker herself, and in the instant before he fell into sleep, Darkstalker saw how much she loved and feared him, and showed a hint of resentment for his misguided acts against her. The bracelet put Darkstalker to sleep for two thousand years, until he woke up around six months before the time of *Moon Rising* due to the bracelet's destruction caused by the earthquakes at the end of *The Brightest Night.*It is unknown what exactly happened to Clearsight after Darkstalker was put to sleep, but she might have become an explorer and headed off to The Lost Continent. She also may have died laying next to Darkstalker's body as she thought of him as her best friend or maybe even his true love (Darkstalker thought so according to his 'Legends' book). After she slipped the enchanted bracelet onto Darkstalker's arm, she laid down next to the sleeping Darkstalker in the path of an avalanche she saw in the future. However, the latter is confirmed to be false because, as revealed in Darkstalker's Legends book, Clearsight blocked off the cave with rocks before flying off in search of The Lost Continent.

Darkstalker put all of his power in a scroll that he calls Darkstalker's Talisman so he could use his power without damaging his soul. This was to put Clearsight at peace since she feared for his soul. Two thousand years later, this ancient scroll somehow ended up in the claws of Chameleon.

### *The Brightest Night*

(in 5011 A.S.) While Sunny escaped from Strongwings, Fierceteeth, and Preyhunter, she hid herself in a tree so that Strongwings couldn't find her. She later stole the trio's Obsidian Mirror, while also writing in red mud that looked like blood: TURN BACK. YOU FLY TOWARDS YOUR DEATH. She managed to fly away with the mirror just as Fierceteeth woke up and stirred Preyhunter and Strongwings. Fierceteeth yelled at Preyhunter for losing the mirror, while Strongwings was paralyzed by fear from the words written in 'blood'. Preyhunter said that the mirror was kept close, but Strongwings said that it was the work of The Darkstalker, a legendary NightWing monster. Preyhunter also states that The Darkstalker plays with his prey until they are paralyzed with fear, then attacks.

### *Moon Rising*

Darkstalker first began to talk telepathically to Moonwatcher in the beginning of the book. One night, while Moon has a terrible dream of a dark future, Darkstalker pulled her out of the nightmare, and taught her a way to block out thoughts. He was devastated when he learned that over 5,012 years had passed since the Scorching.

Later, when Moonwatcher read a scroll on animus history, looking for a section on dreamvisitors, she came across the legend of Fathom and Darkstalker. Darkstalker then revealed he was the terrifying animus, mind-reading, and future-seeing dragon from legend, however, he claimed that history had gotten it wrong, and he wasn't evil. After two thousand years, the bracelet that Fathom enchanted to make Darkstalker sleep for all eternity had snapped (because of the tremors caused by the Orb in the Sky), allowing him to wake up.

After an explosion that killed students at Jade Mountain Academy, Carnelian and Bigtail, and injured Tamarin, Darkstalker helped Moonwatcher figure out who was behind it, without telling her things that he knew would lead to Moon's death. After they discovered the real killer, Sora, and the deadly secret that Icicle had been hiding, he was afraid to have Moonwatcher leave, because he was afraid that if Moon left him too long, he would go insane from being alone.

### *Winter Turning*

In *Winter Turning*, Darkstalker was revealed to be an IceWing/NightWing hybrid. Darkstalker also narrates the epilogue of *Winter Turning*, where he reads the minds of characters such as Onyx, Princess Anemone, and Peril. He ends the book by thinking that Peril could change everything. Winter also rescues Foeslayer (Darkstalker's mother, imprisoned by the IceWings in 3011 A.S.) from the caves that Queen Diamond trapped her in.

### *Escaping Peril*

Darkstalker is mentioned at the end of the book, as the true owner of the animus touched scroll. Moon reveals to her friends that it is Darkstalker's, and not for them to use. She then tells them that they should return the scroll to its rightful owner. The other dragonets disagree with this, but Moon sneaks away in the middle of the night to give the scroll to Darkstalker anyway.

The dragons try to follow, but Peril, who got there first being a SkyWing, is told by Moon that Darkstalker had enchanted his own father to kill himself, by writing the words, "Enchant Arctic the IceWing to obey my every command" and making Arctic disembowel himself. Moonwatcher cries out that dragons aren't things that you can enchant like objects, and Darkstalker tries to apologize. He spoke to Moon but she wouldn't listen. Winter and Qibli later catch up, and start arguing over the animus touched scroll. Peril ends the discussion by burning up the scroll, which ends up releasing Darkstalker (according to the earlier enchantment that "if the scroll is destroyed, all of his power will return to him") in a giant, magic-induced earthquake. When the mountain they are sitting next to cracks, he zooms through the crack, wings open wide. He thanks Peril for helping him escape, and, giving a sinister smile, the book ends...

### *Talons of Power*

Darkstalker appears in the first chapter, picking up right where *Escaping Peril* left off. Eventually convincing the Dragonets that he is actually a good dragon (though it's unknown whether a spell helped convince them), he goes off to Jade Mountain to see the original Dragonets of Destiny, and pick up any information on Clearsight or Fathom. He then has a conversation with Anemone, Tsunami, and Moon about animus power, while he knows that Anemone killed Whirlpool. Afterwards, he tells Moon he will make something else to keep his soul safe, as well as Anemone's. To this, Moon responded that it might not matter since Darkstalker still caused his father's death with an untainted soul. In his defense, Darkstalker argues Arctic was about to betray the tribe, and tells the dragonets about what happened. He then makes a statement about Moon possibly being Clearsight's descendant, and then tells them what he did to Arctic. After Moon and Tsunami leave, he enchants both Anemone's and his talismans to keep their souls safe. Afterwards, Darkstalker speaks to anyone who comes to him, and searches scrolls for references of Fathom and Clearsight. Flame passes by, and Darkstalker tells him that he could heal his face. Overjoyed, Flame is especially grateful, especially because Stonemover didn't agree to heal his face. Darkstalker tries to convince him. Eventually, Darkstalker enchants a flower to heal Flame's face and puts it on him. After Flame heals, he runs off. Darkstalker and Moon then feel danger, and then tell Sunny that someone's trying to kill Stonemover.

They then fly off to save him. Then, he heals Stonemover with a stalactite, to which he wakes up, and, noticing he's unfrozen, begins to yell that his claws aren't his. Darkstalker says he could enchant him to calm down, with Sunny stating he shouldn't do that. This ends in Darkstalker begrudgingly turning him back into stone. After this fray, Anemone comes in, with Flame, who admitted he tried to kill Stonemover because he refused to heal Flame's scar. This leads to Darkstalker opening Flame's pouch, finding the third dreamvisitor inside. Darkstalker then states Flame is both the darkness of dragons and stalker of dreams, causing Flame to protest that he would never be anything like that, asking what it would mean. Mindreader then hears that Flame had help from a dragon with a weird name, guessed to be Ochre. Darkstalker then uses Flame's library card to turn it into an iron band to hold him in place.

Later, when Turtle casts the spell to protect Qibli from Darkstalker's enchantments, he comes down the hall to Qibli's cave. He asks if Anemone was there and if she cast a spell. Qibli denies that, but Darkstalker tests him for animus magic (by telling Qibli to enchant his scroll to roll up). After Qibli is confirmed to not be an animus, Darkstalker comments on his intelligence, saying he would be a great animus.

The next day, Darkstalker, Anemone, Turtle, and the NightWings at Jade Mountain leave for the forest. When they arrived at the Night Village, a few NightWings flew away in terror but most held their ground. Darkstalker convinced them he wasn't the monster from the stories of the past, as previously shown by Preyhunter's fear in The Brightest Night. This then leads to the second part of the story, "Rise to Power." And Darkstalker removes all of Turtle’s animus magic.

### *Darkness of Dragons*

Darkstalker first appears in an event previously in Talons of Power where he is soaring away with Moon, Turtle, Anemone, and the NightWing students to see the NightWing tribe and become their king. Qibli observes that the NightWings are letting Darkstalker lead the way even though he most likely does not know where the NightWings live in the rainforest. When Qibli gives Sunny and Tsunami copies of his enchanted earring using a bowl Turtle left him, it proves that Darkstalker had set a spell to make every dragon in Pyrrhia to like him and not think he is evil.

After Qibli gets captured in the Scorpion Den by the Talons of Power and faces his grandfather, Vulture and confesses that Onyx is the granddaughter of Oasis, the former SandWing queen, a SandWing rushes in and says that Darkstalker is willing to help Onyx and Vulture's Talons of Power take over the SandWing tribe, also stating that Darkstalker is now the NightWing King to some of the tribe. This SandWing was most likely the SandWing prisoner that Darkstalker claimed he killed during Talons of Power.

After Qibli escapes the Talons of Power's talons he goes to the Sandwing Kindom to warn Queen Thorn about Vulture and his army. When he walks in a SeaWing-IceWing hybrid named Typhoon explains the IceWing Plague that is affecting the whole tribe. This was another spell by Darkstalker on his revenge for kidnapping his mother 2000 years ago. After Qibli uses the Obsidian Mirror to spy on Queen Glacier, Winter is frightened of all the IceWings getting sick and starts to take off to ask Darkstalker for help which, proves once again that Darkstalker really did put a spell on Winter to make him like him, a stronger one than the other dragons. Also, Winter isn't affected by the plague because Darkstalker promised Moon he wouldn't harm her friends.

Later During the book, Qibli looks into the Obsidian Mirror again and looks at Moon first. Kinkajou and Moon are fighting about if Darkstalker is evil or not. Kinkajou says he is evil but can't tell Moon why because then Darkstalker will know and Moon believes he is a good dragon. They also spy on Darkstalker himself and find him giving powers to the NightWings on a limited account.

When Qibli gets to the lost city of Night and talks to Moon, he gives her the earring and she says nothing has happened, stating Darkstalker has not put the spell on Moon because he likes her as a friend. Darkstalker walks in the library where Moon and Qibli are noticing the earring Moon is wearing.  Darkstalker walks in later with Clearsight (Fierceteeth under a spell).

Later Moon and Qibli spy on Darkstalker and they overhear him casting spells on the fake Clearsight to recreate her which he fails. Later during the spell casting, there is a glimpse of Darkstalker's good side suggesting he isn't completely evil. When Moon shows herself Darkstalker notices the skyfire she is wearing and asks if they are really friends. Moon responds saying it is hard to be friends with him because he lied to her and did terrible things she also suggests that the fake Clearsight idea was terrible and should be turned back to whoever it was. Darkstalker asks if she will be his friend forever if he changes fake Clearsight back into whoever it is. Moon refuses to promise it because of the IceWing plague and Darkstalker reveals that an IceWing-NightWing war was going to take place at Jade Mountain because of his return. When the vision returns he turns fake Clearsight back into Fierceteeth and prepares the NightWings for war, granting them superpowers along the way.

During the war, Anemone uses a spell (suggested by Qibli) on the NightWings asking them to retreat in Darkstalker's voice telepathic which fails as he shows up and says it's a fake, also throwing a boulder at Anemone and Turtle which doesn't kill them due of Turtle's spell he used in Talons of Power, similar to Darkstalker's own spell, to make his scales invulnerable.(turtle gets his a

When Anemone uses the next spell (suggested by Qibli) that links the minds of all the IceWings and NightWings for 100 dragon heartbeats. Darkstalker grabs Qibli with a swift movement (using an assumed speed spell) and carries him to the spot where he burst out from his underground prison after being trapped there for 2000 years. He states the similarities between Qibli and himself and offers a deal to make Qibli an animus if he can put a spell on him to make him not try to harm him. He also states that he needs Qibli's mind to make the right choices and that he just wants friends. He even summons Vulture and casts the signature "Make this dragon obey my every command" on him to make him be quiet and shows how he can change Vulture into the grandfather Qibli wanted. When Qibli refuses the deal Darkstalker threatens that he will have to kill him otherwise, but when Qibli suggests that it is evil to kill him Darkstalker suggests ripping his earring off and putting a powerful spell on him. Before he can do so Qibli pulls out the soulreader and points it at Darkstalker revealing that he is more evil than good. Darkstalker gets terrified by this revelation and thinks it is broken so re-enchants it and points it at Vulture showing Vulture is just as evil as shown with Darkstalker. He does it on himself again and gets even more terrified on how he is evil if he protected his soul. Qibli suggests it was because of his actions and not his magic. Darkstalker suddenly gets a strange vision and reveals that he knows Moon is watching them. Moon and Kinkajou show up and they ask him to come with them. He decides to and finally meets up with Foeslayer, his mother.

Darkstalker first happy to see his mother tells her about what the soul reader stated. Foeslayer agrees that his choices were evil and then Moon tells Darkstalker her vision of a dragon who is obsessed with strawberries, gets married, has two dragonets, and lives happily for the rest of his life. Moon suggests this dragon is him but with a spell to restart his life. Darkstalker refuses to do so because he wants to remember Clearsight and keep his powers. He says that with his power he can create a good future. Foeslayer, Moon, Kinkajou, and Qibli all agreed it was better if he did not do that. Foeslayer hands him a strawberry and suggests that he does it because it will make both of them happy. After considering a little, he then eats the strawberry, saying that no animus magic will work on him, but Kinkajou then tells him that his own magic will. As he slowly turns into a RainWing-NightWing dragonet he begs to keep his powers and memories. Qibli says he had his chances and chose the wrong choices, as a 1-year-old part-RainWing-part-NightWing dragonet named Peacemaker is created from Darkstalker. And Turtle gets his animus magic back

### *Darkstalker (Legends)*

Darkstalker first appears when he is hatching on a night of three full moons giving him the powers to mindread and see the future. He is already aware of his powers. His parents, Foeslayer and Arctic, are having an argument about what to name their dragonet, and he senses care and loving from his mother, in contrast to his father's mind, which Darkstalker describes as full of 'pain, fury, screaming dragons, and blood, everything, blood'. He then notices his sister's egg, which he wants to help hatch and gain the same power that he possesses. However, Darkstalker decides against this out of selfishness for the love of his mother and his own power, discarding many futures as he does so.

Darkstalker next appears at his home, where his parents are arguing. There, he learns that Queen Diamondhas made an offer to his father, Arctic; kill Darkstalker and his sister, Whiteout, and the war is over. Darkstalker decides that he will defend Whiteout at any cost, and this event just adds to the hostility between Arctic and Darkstalker.

Afterwards, when school starts, Darkstalker defends his sister from a group of NightWings at the NightWing School during free time, and in doing so, meets his destined love, Clearsight. They talk to each other, Darkstalker joking that Clearsight was "taking all of the romance out" of their destined meeting since she didn't act like she hadn't known him before. They start dating after this, their first date at a small cave by the ocean in a hurricane. There, they find Current, a SeaWing that survived the Royal SeaWing Massacre. They take Current to Queen Vigilance, but the entire scenario gives Darkstalker doubts about his own soul and Clearsight's trust in him, and so he decides that he needs to create an object that will contain his animus powers for him.

This object turns out to be a scroll, as seen when Darkstalker presents it to Clearsight in order to convince her that he was not going to be dangerous or turn evil. This scroll is commonly referred to as Darkstalker's Talisman in the main series. After Darkstalker presents the scroll to her, they start enchanting things with it, such as a bracelet that conceals one's mind from mind readers for Clearsight, and a history scroll that reads itself when someone says, "Bore me to sleep!" and stops reading itself when someone says, "Spare me!" However, they are caught by Darkstalker's father, Arctic, who is amazed that Darkstalker is an animus, and furious that he has been supposedly wasting his power. Clearsight then recited a prophecy that Arctic spent all night trying to figure out.

Arctic later tells Queen Vigilance that Darkstalker has animus powers, and arrangements are made for Prince Fathom, who was also an animus, to come and befriend Darkstalker. This was done in the hope that Darkstalker would be more cautious with his powers since no one besides Clearsight knew about his scroll at this point.

Darkstalker formally meets Fathom at the SeaWing welcoming party the NightWings had thrown. Darkstalker thinks that Fathom looks uncomfortable at the party, and possibly terrified since the Seawing Royal Massacre had happened at a party as well. So, Darkstalker tries to make him more comfortable by inviting him and his guard, Indigo, to go on a flight with him. However, Indigo is suspicious of Darkstalker, and shows this when she attempts to kill him once they are all outside. Although Fathom convinced Indigo to not kill him, Darkstalker wants to get revenge on Indigo from then on, and makes plans to get rid of Indigo, for both personal reasons and that he thinks that Fathom would be better off without her.

After the party, Darkstalker thinks about how Indigo could have killed him right then and there. He doesn't want anyone to ever murder him or even accidentally kill him, so he decides to enchant his scales to be invincible, hiding the enchantment from Clearsight by writing it earlier in the scroll.

Soon, Darkstalker goes with Clearsight for her to meet Fathom. Darkstalker shows Fathom a new thing he enchanted, a soul reader, and Clearsight, Fathom, and Darkstalker start to become better friends. After a while of being friends, Darkstalker suggests that they all celebrate Clearsight's fifth birthday in the woods by the Night Kingdom. There, Darkstalker presents the dreamvisitors to his friends, much to Fathom's dismay. However, his protests about Darkstalker using his magic are cut off as Clearsight has a vision about Darkstalker's mother, Foeslayer, being enchanted by Queen Diamond and sent to the Ice Kingdom.

Darkstalker receives the same vision, and, anxious at this, decides to interrupt the party to go and try to save Foeslayer. When he gets home, Darkstalker reads in his father's, Prince Arctic's, mind that Arctic and Foeslayer had a fight. After this fight, she took off an earring that Arctic had enchanted to protect her, which allowed Queen Diamond's magic to get through to her. Darkstalker tries every enchantment he can think of, but nothing works. Later, when Queen Vigilance is with Clearsight, Vigilance sends an assassin after Darkstalker.

When Darkstalker arrives, he starts to share some of his ideas for what they could do to the IceWings with his magic. Most of them were brutal and Clearsight was horrified by all of his ideas that lead to the IceWings' genocide. Eventually, Darkstalker settles on the idea of a shield that kills only IceWings.

Darkstalker continued to mourn the loss of his mother for a few weeks. Eventually, Darkstalker asks Fathom if he wants to fly up to the Royal Tower and watch the lightning storm with him. Fathom gives Darkstalker a statue of a SeaWing that he had requested, which he takes and offers Fathom a goblet made of shimmering sea-green glass. Indigo smashes it before Fathom can take it, fearing that it is enchanted. Still fearing for Indigo's safety with Darkstalker around, Fathom decides that Wharf should come with him instead of Indigo.

Later on, Clearsight and Listener go to a festival being held in the Great Diamond. Clearsight and Listener meet up with Darkstalker, Fathom, and Whiteout who are all playing a board game. They invite Thoughtful, who is playing alone, to come join them. Before Listener can introduce herself, Clearsight introduces Whiteout first, who takes Thoughtful's talon and looks at his palm before saying "Words and glass, spun in flutes and verse. Waterfalls of language in fire-blown claws," and then told him that he was the one who made the Cascade of Dreams. Thoughful was surprised and amazed that she had noticed his art, and said, "No one -- you really saw the pieces of the scroll inside the waves?" Whiteout then confirmed this, and due to the strange grammar Whiteout was using and Thoughtful's ability to understand it, the whole conversation left Listener bewildered. However, before anyone could explain what happened to her, a spear was thrust into Darkstalker's heart.

Thanks to his invincible scales, he survived the attack, although he tells his friends that the assassin must have missed. Lionfish tackled the assassin, killing him quickly. The assassin turns out to be Quickdeath, an assassin for hire. Darkstalker wants to find out who tried to assassinate him and Fathom starts to become suspicious of Darkstalker. Later on, Darkstalker goes home and uses his scroll to find out who tried to assassinate him. He finds out, and then deems that who did it "has to pay".

Clearsight then encounters Queen Vigilance and Allknowing in the garden. Allknowing shares her vision, *Hatched of ice and hatched of night. Cursed with moons all shining bright. Longs for power not his own. Comes to steal your very throne*. Clearsight takes off her earrings after the Queen accused her of being enchanted by Darkstalker. Visions, all of which were dark and bad, came rushing back to her, and she realizes that Vigilance sent the assassin. The guards attempt to imprison Clearsight, but she escapes, with the goal of stopping Darkstalker before he reached the queen. When she finds him, Darkstalker revealed that he enchanted her earrings to keep her focused on the bright, positive futures and block out any of the dark ones.

Clearsight then has a vision that depicts Arctic taking Whiteout north to the Ice Kingdom. To track them down, Darkstalker enchants a beetle to bite off Arctic's shielding earring and then he enchants a dagger to lead them to Arctic and then stab him in one of his legs to render him immobile. Darkstalker starts to write something down in his scroll as Arctic explains that if she offers Whiteout's talons in marriage, then Diamond will release Foeslayer. Whiteout claims that she's going to be an "IceWing princess and have lots of baby IceWings". Whiteout then says that she wants to go back to Ice Kingdom before proclaiming that she didn't like Darkstalker in perfectly normal, understandable, and coherent sentences, instead of her normal way of talking.

Then, Darkstalker enchants his father to obey his every command. He orders him to stop talking and to release Whiteout from the spell he put her under. Arctic then crushes Whiteout's shell necklace in his talons, freeing her from his magic. Darkstalker then orders Arctic to follow him back to the Night Kingdom, where he makes his own father cut his tongue out after announcing how he had tried to betray the NightWings and was going to offer a detailed map of the kingdom so the IceWings could infiltrate it. Then, Darkstalker tells Arctic to "take his talons, rip open your stomach, and show us all what you're really like on the inside. Pour out your life on this stage". Arctic killed himself with his own claws.

While Darkstalker was distracted with Arctic, Clearsight stole his scroll. On her way to see Fathom, Clearsight warns Listener about Darkstalker and tells her to escape far away with her family. Then, she has Fathom enchant a bracelet for her, as they are too suspicious of the scroll to use it. When Clearsight leaves for Agate Mountain to meet Darkstalker, Fathom takes the scroll and holds it over a candle. Fathom discovers spells written in invisible ink, one of which trapped Indigo in the wooden SeaWing statue Fathom had made. Fathom releases Indigo from the statue with his own magic.

Meanwhile, Darkstalker sits next to Clearsight in front of a cave on the side of Agate Mountain. Clearsight tells Darkstalker that there will be an earthquake that'll make the whole side of Agate Mountain collapse and make Jade Mountain the tallest mountain instead. Clearsight mentions that Darkstalker had gotten out of control and was turning out like Arctic. Furious, Darkstalker grabs and twists Clearsight's wrist painfully, and while he's doing so, she slips the bracelet onto his arm. Before Darkstalker falls asleep, he sees how much Clearsight truly loved him and how much she worried about him.

A simple sleeping spell on the bracelet had taken the invincible, immortal Darkstalker down and as long as the bracelet remained on him, he would stay asleep. Clearsight moved him into the cave before covering the entrance with rocks before going to another mountain and waiting for an earthquake she predicted to bury him further. She then flew away from the mountain, heading towards the Lost Continent, never to be seen again by the dragons of Pyrrhia.

The book draws to a close as Fathom and Indigo are portrayed with their dragonets, Clearpool, Cowrie, and Ripple. Their dragonets ask them to tell them a story about how bad guys became bad guys. This reminds Fathom and Indigo of Darkstalker. Indigo reassures Fathom that "it's safe to be happy" and he responds with "I know".

Then, in the post-epilogue, the timeline skips 2000 years, it describes another earthquake coming after the Orb in the Sky flashed by. The rocks shifted up against the bracelet, breaking the copper wires and awakening Darkstalker.

## Personality

Darkstalker is a very cunning, humorous, and highly intelligent dragon, partly from his powers and partly from his natural self. He can even be seen as being too smart for his own good. He sealed his animus powers into a scroll, so that he would be able to use them as much as he wanted, and still be sane. This was his own downfall, as it required him to manipulate the "new dragonets" into freeing himself from his tomb. Darkstalker is also shown to be slightly childish, as he uses the popular excuse "she started it" before his attempt to kill Queen Vigilance after she had sent an assassin after him.

Also, when Darkstalker was talking to Moon in *Moon Rising*, she saw past his cunning voice and saw deep loneliness by reading his mind.

Tui revealed at a Washington event that Darkstalker has been selfish and greedy since birth, and this is also shown in the first part of *Darkstalker (Legends).*

However, in Escaping Peril it is revealed that he had tricked Moon about his whole character and personality when she realizes that he practically made his father his slave, and, unknowingly to Moon, made her believe that he was too dangerous to be released, leading to Peril accidentally freeing him by use of her fire scales. His use of words to make this process happen shows that he is very skilled in manipulating other dragons to do his bidding.

## Relationships

### Clearsight

Clearsight, Darkstalker's most trusted companion, and lover. Darkstalker cared about her deeply, even to the point of blind trust. He wanted only the best fate for Clearsight and him, though in the end of their relationship he admitted she must have had no faith in him, at least in the end, as she was also very powerful at seeing the future, more powerful than him, and could see the good and the bad paths that he could have taken, but chose not to believe that he could avoid them. In the end, he seemed rather upset about her betrayal, wondering what happened to her, since she disappeared the same night he fell into his "eternal" sleep. But in Talons of Power it is revealed that he forgives her for betraying him, and still loves her. He continued to show his love for her in Darkness of Dragons by using his magic to change Fierceteeth into Clearsight. But after many failed attempts to change her personality, he gives up, knowing she would never be the same Clearsight he loved.

### Fathom

Former mentor and best friend, he was very close to Darkstalker. However though, when the NightWing-IceWing hybrid showed no signs of understanding the dangers of animus magic, Fathom and Clearsight grew troubled about him. In the end, this caused Clearsight to convince Fathom to betray him. Fathom enchanted Clearsight's mind-reading shield bracelet that was to put Darkstalker into an "eternal" sleep. In *Talons of Power*he shows that he has not forgiven Fathom by conjuring a ghost of Albatross to scare his descendants.

### Indigo

Indigo is shown not to trust Darkstalker at all, going to such lengths as to destroy the glass that he gave to Fathom, (rightfully) thinking that it might be enchanted. Darkstalker sees Indigo as a threat to him and Fathom's friendship, and turns her into a small wooden dragon so she won't poison Fathom against him. Indigo seemed to irk and irritate Darkstalker often.

### Moonwatcher

The first dragon Darkstalker had talked to since his imprisonment, he seems to be very fond of her; and during the time that she was the dragon he can talk to, he mentored her. He took a rather friendly approach, and it seemed that he enjoyed teaching her how to deal with her powers effectively. However, it is later revealed that he may have been manipulating her for his own benefit. In Talons of Power he seems to really care about Moon and keeps mentioning how she is alike to Clearsight. He wants her to trust him.

### Foeslayer

Foeslayer is Darkstalker's mother. Darkstalker loved his mother and wanted to protect her in every way possible. He had an immense care for her, and often enchanted everyday items to bring her more comfort in her life. When she was taken by the IceWings, Darkstalker offered to kill every IceWing in order for revenge.

### Prince Arctic

According to Darkstalker, he was trained by him both in using his mind-reading and animus powers. Darkstalker practically hated Arctic when they first met. The only thing that kept Darkstalker from killing him at first was his father's shard of love for his mother. He killed his own father, backing this up by saying "I saved the tribe from him," although Winter thought it was so that the IceWings would lose their entire Animus heritage. He was said to be taught his animus magic by him, but Arctic really did not care for him, and he was mentored by Fathom instead. At the ending of *Escaping Peril*, it is revealed that he enchanted Arctic to do anything he (Darkstalker) told him to do, admitting that he used this spell to force Prince Arctic to rip his own tongue out and to disembowel himself. In *Darkstalker (Legends)*, it is revealed that Darkstalker forced Arctic to publicly admit all the treachery and treason that he had been planning (i.e. to go to the Ice Kingdom, give Queen Diamond all the NightWing secrets and plans that he had learned of while living with the NightWings, then lead an attack on the NightWing tribe [all in exchange for getting Foeslayer back, although Darkstalker did not mention that]), and then ordered him to admit that Darkstalker was the greatest animus of all time, before forcing him to apologize for being a bad father, and then finally making him cut his own tongue out and disembowel himself.

### Whiteout

Whiteout was Darkstalker's only sibling, and he was extremely protective of her. He made sure she was always content, this is shown when he uses his magic to give her her doll once it was lost. He thought she was the prettiest dragon in all of Pyrrhia, besides Clearsight, and would stand up for her when others picked on her for her strangeness. He was very upset and worried when Prince Arctic tried to take her to the Ice Kingdom

## Turtle

Darkstalker seems to dislike Turtle. This causes Turtle to enchant a stick, making it so that Turtle is removed completely from Darkstalker's awareness. The most probable explanation of Darkstalker's disliking towards the SeaWing animus is that he reminds Darkstalker of Fathom, who was a SeaWing animus as well who also tricked and betrayed him. In the last chapter of Talons of Power, he thinks Turtle is too unpredictable and takes away his animus magic.

### Anemone

Darkstalker acts as a mentor to Anemone. Her first reaction to his return is joy to meet another animus, rather than fear like Turtle expected. She is delighted to have someone understand her, and they form a bond, where Darkstalker helps her enchant objects to protect their sanity. He encourages her to use her magic, but tries restricting her to only use them with his permission. Due to her naturally rebellious personality and hatred of Moonwatcher, he eventually sends her off to the Kingdom of the Sea. Later on, once she (and the other animus dragons of Pyrrhia are summoned) to Darkstalker, he affirms his view of her as a tool by suggesting he runs tests on her and Stonemover to learn more about animus limits, even suggesting driving her insane. Anemone hates Darkstalker after the events of *Darkness of Dragons*.

### Qibli

Throughout the book, Darkstalkers shows signs of suspicion towards Qibli, seeing as he could get in the way of his plans, starting in Talons of Power when Turtle casts a spell in the room Qibli was in and Darkstalker came to see what happened. Darkstalker and Qibli are also very alike in the ways they think and Darkstalker points out that the only thing different about them is who has animus magic. Towards the end of Darkness of Dragons, Darkstalker thought Qibli would be able to lead him onto the right path and act as his conscience. He trusts Qibli enough to do this and even offers him animus magic but in the end, Qibli declined.

## Quotes

*"Hey, don't be mad at me for things I might do one day, all right? I'm not evil now. I haven't done any of that. And I probably won't. Stay in the present with me, please?"* - To Clearsight about her visions, *Darkstalker*

*"I am what I am. I can't help my noble heart and my generous nature."* - To Clearsight about helping Whiteout, *Darkstalker*

*"REALLY? It's like you can PREDICT THE FUTURE!"* - To Clearsight, *Darkstalker*

*"You are coming flying with us, because I have made you a present, and because there's a pack of delicious wolves running through the forests of Borderland Mountain, and because tomorrow is your hatching day, so Queen Vigilance can snort a bucket of worms for all I care."* - To Clearsight, *Darkstalker*

*"Enough with the self-doubt! You're our friend, and the present is partly for you, so let's go, let's go!"* - To Fathom, *Darkstalker*

*"All I see is darkness. All I can do is hope."* - To Moonwatcher, *Moon Rising*

*"I am not a monster. It seems history has painted me that way, but perhaps that's what happens when you disappear before you can tell your own story, and only your enemies are left to finish it. Or your best-friends-turned-into enemies, apparently."* - To Moonwatcher, *Moon Rising*, page 128

*"It's harder than you can imagine, figuring out what I should say to you and trying to help without getting you killed."* - To Moonwatcher about her trying to stop the explosions, *Moon Rising*, page 246

*"I literally cannot see a future where I can talk you out of this."* - To Moonwatcher about her trying to stop the explosions, *Moon Rising*

*"I could see the future, but not just any future- all the possible futures. Do you understand what that means? I could have guided the tribe along the best path to safety and glory and power and everything else. At each crossroad, I would have known the right thing to do. I loved my tribe, Moonwatcher. I would have been the best ruler they'd ever had. I know it; I saw the futures where I was king, benevolent and beloved, married to Clearsight with six little dragonets of our own. Those were possible. They could have happened if anyone had had faith in me."* - To Moon about one of his possible futures/pasts, *Moon Rising*

*"Three moons, you scared me. You vanished so completely. I thought you were dead."* - To Moon, *Moon Rising*?

*"Please keep in mind I'll be terribly offended if you believe this scrawny dragonet and his monster fantasies over me."* - To Moonwatcher when she is talking with Mightyclaws in the art cave, *Moon Rising*

*"I'm saying, nice to meet you, Moon. My name is Darkstalker."* - To Moon, *Moon Rising*, page 124

*"All right, I'll wait another two thousand years to make jokes about my evilness."* - To Moon, *Moon Rising*?

*"After a few years of reading minds, you'll see - it's often the most brilliant dragons who are the most insecure. And the ones are most afraid of having their minds read - because they think they must have the worst, lowest thoughts of anyone - are nowhere near as bad as the ones who complacently don't care because they assume everyone else is as terrible as they are"* - To Moon after Qibli gets mad at her for reading his mind, *Moon Rising*

*"Ah. That's infinitely better. Nice to finally meet you, Peril. Thank you so much for your help."* - To Peril after she burns the scroll and allows him to escape, *Talons of Power*

*"I'm nothing like my father. I don't need saving. I can choose my own future, and I like the one I see, and you're going to learn to like it too. Where is my scroll?"* - To Clearsight before she used the bracelet, *Darkstalker*

*"Cut out your tongue."* - To Arctic, *Darkstalker*

*"Now. Take your talons, rip open your stomach, and show us what you're really like on the inside. Pour out your life on this stage."* - To Arctic continuing to command him to kill himself, *Darkstalker*

*"I took all my animus power and I put it in here. It's not in me anymore. Now it's like I'm not an animus at all, so my soul is safe."* - To Clearsight about his talisman, *Darkstalker*

*"Shouldn't we all be like, wow, great idea, Darkstalker, we're so glad you're alive, now lets get on with hunting down the actual bad dragon in this situation?"* - Darkstalker opening up about his invulnerability after Quickdeath attacked him, *Darkstalker*

*"I'm not actually a monster, no matter what the scrolls and ghost stories say. Can't you tell?"* - To Moon after she read the scroll on animus history, *Moon Rising*

*"She started it"* - To Fathom and Clearsight about challenging Queen Vigilance after she sent Quickdeath, *Darkstalker*, page 310

*"This is my mother. Those are my full moons. This is my world now."* - Thinking to himself when he kept Whiteout's egg the way it was, *Darkstalker*

*"If you come back to me, I promise I'll never enchant your mind again. I promise I'll listen to you this time. We can choose the best future together. I could use your help with what you've left me. A ruined city, a weak and broken tribe. You'd be their Queen Clearsight, doesn't that sound all right now? When you can have the crown without anyone having to die? It was just waiting for us, Clearsight."* - To himself in the Lost City of Night, *Talons of Power*

*"Clearsight, I - I keep looking at all my new possible futures. Millions of possibilities, but they're all empty. They're empty without you. I have no one, Clearsight. All I can see around me, as far as the future unrolls, are slaves and soldiers."* - To himself, *Talons of Power*

*"I won't hurt you. I would never hurt you. I forgive you. I know you were scared. I saw everything you were afraid of in that last moment before you - when you put that bracelet on me."* - To himself, *Talons of Power*

*"OW! MOONFIRE AND STAR VOMIT! HEAL, by all the snakes!"* - After Kinkajou shot his eye with venom, *Talons of Power*

*"I'm surprisingly squishy"* - To Qibli about squishing through the Jade Mountain tunnels, *Talons of Power*

*"Fathom!"* - To Turtle, mistaken, *Talons of Power*

*"My apologies, Kinkajou. Although, in my defense, you did melt my eyeball."* - To Kinkajou about threatening to kill her, *Talons of Power*

*"I would never hurt a ball of fluff like her."* - About Kinkajou, *Talons of Power*

*"You won't be able to hurt Moon anymore. So don't even try."* - To Anemone about her forcing Moon to clean her room, *Talons of Power*

## Trivia

* In *Moon Rising*, when Moon first encountered Darkstalker in her dream, it said that she saw a quick flash of silver and black scales, which hints his appearance.
* Darkstalker is the second official hybrid character so far, the first being Sunny, the third being his sister, Whiteout, and the fourth being Typhoon, a SeaWing/IceWing hybrid who debuts in *Darkness of Dragons.*
* Peacemaker most likely counts as one of these hybrids, as he's been revealed to be half Rainwing and half Nightwing.
* Darkstalker's name can be taken two ways, which is shown in *Darkstalker* through Foeslayer and Arctic's perspectives. One is of a hero's perspective — that he chases away the darkness, while the other is that he stalks through the darkness as a villain. This is also a reflection of his own moral status—one can see him as both a hero and a villain if they look at both sides of the story.
* Even though he is a hybrid, he looks as if he is *almost* fully NightWing. However, his IceWing heritage can be found in his long, twisting horns, serrated wing claws, and a strip of white, cold scales below his wings.
* Darkstalker is one of the three dragons to be shown hatching. The others are Moonwatcher and Auklet.
* Darkstalker can literally shake the ground due to his massive size, as he demonstrates in the book *Talons of Power*.
* Darkstalker is the first male ruler of a tribe.
* Both Darkstalker and Sunny, his descendant, have shown a dislike for sleep. They both feel like they are missing something when they sleep.
* It's revealed that Darkstalker may have gotten several animus advancements to make him look less strange or ugly, as Clearsight and him are at an event where she tells him she doesn't like him with the enchantment on.
* Darkstalker and Sunny (his descendent) both are hybrids having almost no appearance of one tribe they are a hybrids of. It is unknown if it was something in Darkstalker's genes which caused it.