'Battlewinner' was an adult female NightWing who was introduced in The Dark Secret (book)|The
Dark Secret. Before the NightWing Exodus, she was the queen of the
NightWings and was described in A NightWing Guide to the Dragons of
Pyrrhia to be "a closely guarded secret." She was the mother of
Greatness and froze to death after leaving her lava cauldron in an
attempt to attack Glory and Starflight.

## Description

Battlewinner had black scales that gleamed like polished ebony and
seemed to emit white steam. Her eyes were dark with a glint of icy blue
in their depths, and two of her teeth were also pale blue, appearing
more like icicles than regular teeth. Her throat and black tongue were
lined with pale blue frost, in patterns that glinted and swirled and
were feathery or sharp. She had heavy shoulders, a thickset neck, a
battle-scarred snout, glistening claws, and a thick head. She was
massive, as big as Morrowseer, and had a creaky, quiet, rough, and eerie
voice, like claws scraping on ice several caves away, as well as a
barking laugh. Whenever she emerged from her cauldron, she glowed
horribly, with lava dripping between her scales and claws.

## Personality

Battlewinner could be considered cunning and manipulative, as she helped create the The Dragonet Prophecy in order
to find a new home for the NightWings. She was also shown as cruel when
she ordered Vengeance to be thrown into lava for upsetting her. She
would have done anything to save the tribe, even if it meant killing all
the RainWings and meddling with the prophecy. She was possessive over
her throne as she did not want to hand over the NightWings over to
Glory, despite it being the only way for the tribe to survive.
Battlewinner does not like her orders questioned. She was wrathful, and
her punishments were consistently swift and severe.

## Biography

left
Pre-Series
At one time, possibly
after the initial eruption of the NightWing volcano that destroyed part
of the fortress, Battlewinner led expeditions to find a new home for her
tribe. During one such venture, she was attacked by an IceWing, possibly
due to the two tribes' bitter rivalry. She escaped alive, but the
IceWing blasted her in the mouth with frostbreath, which should have
frozen Battlewinner from the inside out. The only reason that she did
not die immediately was her ability to breathe fire: her internal fire
reservoir counteracted the ice long enough for her to fly back to the
island. In desperation, she dove into a lava pool, hoping to die
quickly, but instead, it created a balance where the external heat
prevented the ice from killing her. However, this left her unable to
ever leave the lava without the ice completely encasing her body and
causing her to become an ice statue, then dying.

To prevent other dragons from learning of her weakness, Battlewinner had
a hidden room created behind the NightWings' council chamber and lived
in a cauldron filled with lava as big as two Morrowseers. This way, she
could watch her tribe and make her image more mysterious and powerful.
When she "spoke," she used her daughter, Princess Greatness, as a voice.

-----

### The Dragonet Prophecy

left The Dragonet Prophecy (book)|The Dragonet
Prophecy
She had only been mentioned, not by name, when
Scarlet spoke to Morrowseer, suggesting that the NightWing queen should
come to discuss the matter of Starflight with her. Morrowseer then
hissed and told her not to anger the NightWings. Morrowseer and
Battlewinner, the authors of the prophecy, had written the prophecy so
that the NightWings could join the war. The part saying "Darkness will
rise to bring the light" refers to the NightWings winning the war and
taking over, which they personally see as the only meaningful line.

left The Lost Heir

Battlewinner was indirectly mentioned by Morrowseer when he talked to
Blister and Nautilus about how "they didn't often kill off NightWing
dragonets", refering to him and Battlewinner.

left The Hidden Kingdom

She was mentioned by name for the first time by the
NightWings that captured Glory.

left The Dark Secret
Starflight and Fatespeaker crept into Battlewinner's private chamber
from behind a map in the NightWing island#NightWing Fortress|NightWing
Fortress and found that she lived in a cauldron of lava. After
Starflight burst out about the scientific impossibility of surviving
these conditions, the queen explained more about her reasons for keeping
herself hidden. Starflight said that he could hear the ice breaking as
she tried to talk. She was planning to wage war on the RainWings in
lava-filled armor designed by Mastermind so she could lead the battle.
When she left her lava cauldron to attack Starflight and Glory, the
balance between fire and ice in her body tipped. Despite Mastermind's
efforts to save her using the special armor, Battlewinner froze to death
within a matter of seconds.

left The Brightest Night

Fierceteeth mentioned Battlewinner, saying that her only
relative was Greatness.

-----

### The Jade Mountain Prophecy

left Moon Rising
In
the prologue, Secretkeeper gave the excuse of hunting food for
Battlewinner so she can go through the tunnel.

left Winter Turning

Battlewinner was mentioned, though not by name, when Winter thought of
how Moonwatcher was raised. He compared the NightWing queen to Glacier,
noting that compared to the IceWing queen, Battlewinner could not have
cared for her subjects to have allowed them to remain there, a somewhat
inaccurate observation.

-----

### Winglets

left
Prisoners
Battlewinner was mentioned
when Fierceteeth wrote about how she died in the volcanic eruption.

left
Assassin
Battlewinner was mentioned
much by Deathbringer as the dragon actually in charge of making the
decisions instead of Morrowseer. She eventually agreed that Deathbringer
could be included into Quickstrike's assassination mission only if he
successfully murders either Vengeance or Slaughter.

-----

### Field Guides

left
A Guide to the Dragon World

Battlewinner was depicted in her lava cauldron in a portrait at the
beginning of the NightWing chapter of the guide. Later in the chapter,
she was mentioned several times by Mastermind when he explained how life
was on the NightWing island.

## Relationships

### Greatness

Greatness was Battlewinner's only daughter and heir to the NightWing
throne. Battlewinner was not impressed by Greatness, calling her
cowardly and a terrible queen. This was true, however, as Greatness was
one of the first who fled into the tunnel, ahead of the rest of her
tribe.

### Morrowseer

Morrowseer was Battlewinner's most trusted advisor as shown in The Dark
Secret and Assassin. They came up with the dragonet prophecy together.

## Quotes

Funny [that the RainWings would attack us].
to
Glory The Dark Secret
257

-----

I see one [possibility]. […] You die.
to Glory

The Dark Secret
258

-----

NEVER! […] We'll never bow to the RainWings.
to
Glory, about Starflight's plan The Dark Secret (book)|The Dark
Secret
260

-----

You never wanted to be queen. […] You're a pathetic heir.

to Greatness The Dark Secret

260

-----

I am their queen. I am.
to Glory and Starflight

The Dark Secret
260

-----

I will lead my tribe to safety.
final words

The Dark Secret
262