'Mightyclaws' is a male NightWing dragonet who was introduced in The Dark Secret. He owns a small diamond earring,
Animus magic|enchanted by Darkstalker, to transform anything he
illustrates into reality. He formerly attended Jade Mountain Academy as
a member of the Quartz Winglet and currently resides in the NightWing
village, helping his tribe renovate their home with his Animus
enchantments|animus gift.

## Description

Mightyclaws has black scales and is rather small. According to
Moonwatcher, he has a round belly with a lean face, sharp jawbones, and
deep hollows under his eyes, like he has not been filled out quite
right. He wears a tiny silver diamond stud earring and has a hint of a
rasp to his voice.

## Personality

When Starflight first met Mightyclaws, he said that he was the nicest of
the NightWing dragonets, referring to him as "the friendly dragonet".
Mightyclaws seems comfortable sharing NightWing information with
outsiders, such as when he told Fatespeaker about the collapsed part of
the NightWing island#Fortress|NightWing Fortress. Like most of his
tribe, he was initially opposed to accepting Glory as his queen, but
presently seems to be honest and loyal, being among the first to bow to
her. He cares deeply for his tribe and currently uses his enchanted
earring to help rebuild their home.

Although more mature and friendly than most NightWing dragonets, he
judged and resented Moonwatcher for her upbringing in the Rainforest
Kingdom. He is highly envious of a life he regards as easy in comparison
to his own.

## Biography

### The Dragonet Prophecy

left The Dark Secret
Mightyclaws appeared at the dorm cave with Fierceteeth, Mindreader,
and a few other unnamed NightWing dragonets. He seemed to be a bit more
outwardly friendly than some of the other dragonets. He interrogated
Starflight with the others about the outside world because he was not
old enough know the NightWing secrets and keep them a secret, thus he
could not leave the NightWing island yet. Fatespeaker said they often
chatted and Mightyclaws had told her about the fortress. He was the
first to switch loyalties over to Glory while the other NightWings
hesitated.

left The Brightest Night

Deathbringer suggested that Mightyclaws could go to the new
school for dragonets at Jade Mountain in the epilogue.

-----

### The Jade Mountain Prophecy

left Moon Rising

Mightyclaws was mentioned in the prologue by Secretkeeper as being the
only NightWing dragonet that had hatched in the last year.

Moon visited Mightyclaws in the art cave of Jade Mountain Academy to ask
questions about Darkstalker and the NightWings. He asked Moon why she
would ask him about such a thing. He was one of the NightWings who
thought Darkstalker would come back to the NightWings seeking revenge.
He appeared to have some problems with a trauma that he was supposed to
solve by using art as a therapy, which was recommended by Starflight;
however, Mightyclaws personally could not see how it would help. Moon
described him as an outwardly friendly dragon with dark thoughts on the
inside. In the art cave when he asked Moonwatcher why she was asking him
so many questions and she responded that she thought that it would help
her be "more like a NightWing," he threw his painting of the volcano on
the floor to show her that it was why she would never be a true
NightWing, and he furiously stormed out of the art cave, thinking about
how unfair his upbringing was compared to hers.

left Winter Turning

Mightyclaws made a brief appearance painting in the epilogue whilst
Darkstalker is reading the thoughts of students across the school. He is
shown to be thinking about the escaped prisoners planning a rebellion
against Glory, wondering whether his mother would align with them or not
and what his own choice would be. Darkstalker mentions that the young
dragonet will have to make a decision, and only one of them will end
with him still being alive.

left Talons of Power
Mightyclaws had arrived at an inconvenient time, in which Tsunami,
Sunny, Starflight, and Turtle were discussing the return of Darkstalker.
He panicked, said he had to warn the others, and bolted out of the room.
This annoyed Tsunami, as she said, "Oh, good. School-wide panic. We
haven't had any of that in at least two days."

He was later given an enchantment on his earring by Darkstalker that
gave him the ability to turn whatever he draws to become real. He
hurried to the art room to test it out. He was one of the fifty or so
NightWings that decided to stay with Queen Glory, along with his mother.

left
Darkness of Dragons
Mightyclaws was
mentioned to have been one of the few NightWings that refused an earring
from Qibli and chose to keep the powers Darkstalker gave him. He
currently uses those powers to draw up houses for the NightWing village
in the rainforest under Queen Glory and Deathbringer's supervision.

-----

### Winglets

left
Prisoners
Fierceteeth mentioned
Mightyclaws as the only other NightWing dragonet she knew who has a
sibling.

## Relationships

### Darkstalker

When he was a dragonet, Mightyclaws's father would use threats of
Darkstalker as a method of training him and would tell Mightyclaws
stories about how Darkstalker was going to get revenge on the NightWings
someday. Thus, Mightyclaws had an intense fear of Darkstalker. In Talons of Power, Mightyclaws accepts a gift from
Darkstalker, making him able to draw whatever he wants, then make it
real. However despite the gift he received from Darkstalker, he still
chose to stay in the rainforest and continued to remain loyal to Glory
instead of going with him to the lost city.

### Moonwatcher

Mightyclaws seemed resentful to Moon over what he saw as her
comparatively easy upbringing. Moon noted that he was a good painter.

### Starflight

Starflight referred to Mightyclaws as the 'friendly dragonet' when they
first met. Mightyclaws mentioned offhand to Starflight that he also had a bossy, envious older sister. In Moon Rising, Moon
overheard in Mightyclaws's mind that Starflight had suggested painting
to 'help him', presumably with his trauma from the island.

## Quotes

That's Fierceteeth, […] Don't mind her. Older sisters always
think they can do whatever you're doing better than you can. I know,
I've got one too. I'm Mightyclaws, by the way.
to Starflight

The Dark Secret
7

-----

Dragonets aren't allowed to leave the island until we're ten
years old, […] Apparently we can't be trusted to keep all the
NightWing secrets until then.
to Starflight
The Dark Secret
10

-----

No idea what I'm doing. Why does Starflight think this will
help me? Would it be weird to go back to the prey center again tonight?
Maybe there'll be some sheep left tonight. Three meals in one day; will
anyone notice? Or yell at me? Why is Moon here? Maybe Starflight sent
her, too. Although she doesn't have any trauma to work through. With her
perfect life in the rainforest, always as much as she wanted to eat, no
adult dragons yelling at her, no classes on lying, no death smoldering
right over her head all the time …
thinking about painting

Moon Rising
150

-----

The looks the other dragons give me here — like I either ate
their favorite scroll or I might suddenly burst into flames, and they
don't know which.
thinking Moon Rising (book)|Moon
Rising
151

-----

No, he's definitely real, and he's definitely coming back to
kill us all one day, […] My father used to tell me about him while he
taught me to fly. He'd say, 'Flap harder! Imagine the Darkstalker is
chasing you!' or 'If you can't twist into a dive faster than that, the
Darkstalker will catch you and rip off your claws and eat your brain!'
He told me about how the tribe buried him a long time ago and then ran
away to hide, but he's slowly clawing his way out, and one day he'll
break free and come to kill us all for revenge.
to
Moonwatcher, about Darkstalker Moon Rising

152

-----

Because everything was awful, and you escaped, and it is not
fair.
thoughts toward Moonwatcher
Moon Rising
155

-----

Like, if I draw a sword, then I touch it and it would become a
real sword. And if I drew a pond, I could touch it, and then it would
become a real pond. Or if I drew a banana, then I could touch it, and,
and … um, I would have a real banana to eat.
to Darkstalker,
about the animus gift Talons of Power

70

## Trivia

  - Starflight recommended painting as a method to heal Mightyclaws'
    trauma from his time spent on the NightWing island. However, this
    method has proved somewhat unsuccessful so far.