I Think About Darkstalker And How Love Is So Closely Intertwined In It. His Love For Others (namely Clearsight,

I think about Darkstalker and how love is so closely intertwined in it. His love for others (namely Clearsight, Foeslayer, Whiteout, and Fathom) is a central part to his character and the choices he makes.

I think back to his earlier enchantments. He enchanted Whiteout's favourite doll so that it would always appear under her pillow if she ever lost it. He enchanted her paint set so that they would never dry out. A plate for Foeslayer so that her food would always be warm if she came home late. He made dreamvisitors so that, even when they slept, Darkstalker, Fathom, and Clearsight could make memories and have fun.

He wants them to be happy. His love language is using his magic to gift them things he believes they want.

But, of course, what he believes isn't often what is reality.

He observed and watched Fathom experience constant anxiety and guilt over his magic. His magic he rightfully saw as a curse, unable to see it as little more than a tool for destruction and harm after witnessing the SeaWing massacre. He felt pity and sorrow for Fathom, believing that his fear was preventing him from realizing his true potential. Darkstalker tried numerous times to convince him, but when that turned out as a failure, he moved to do it by force. He enchanted the goblet to make him forget about his oath, stop caring about Indigo (who Darkstalker saw as a pest that was trying to turn Fathom against him), and willingly use his magic. He loved Fathom and thought this was best for him.

He saw first-hand how affected Clearsight was by her visions. She would neglect sleep and fall into spirals of existential dread and panic over the overwhelming nature of it all. He created the earring because he believed that it would've helped her. It was definitely also because he wanted her to keep quiet about all of these terrible futures since it was an annoying distraction, but he convinced himself it was all okay and was helping her. He loved Clearsight and thought this was best for her.

His ideal world is one where he gets to reign supreme over all of the other tribes, with him and his loved ones remaining at the top. He thought that was what was best for them all. He was convinced that's what they wanted, and even if they didn't realize it now, they would come to see that he truly wanted the best for them.

A lot of people see Darkstalker's intentions of that as purely sinister. He wanted Fathom to use his magic so that he would have another animus dragon on his side. He wanted Clearsight to shut up about the horrific futures she saw. I don't disagree with there being darker undertones, he's definitely manipulative and self-serving, but I like thinking he did care about them. Could it be because he liked being praised? Yeah, obviously, I don't doubt that, but he cared about them. He loved them.

But his love was not healthy. It was inconsiderate and selfish. It was done mainly out of his own interests and projected ideas of what they "wanted", whether he was aware of it or not. He was a tar pit who dragged others in, thinking that what he was doing was best for them. That his love and protection above all else would help them. He was unaware of how much hurt and damage he was doing to them.

Chapters: 6/? Fandom: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Deathbringer/Glory (Wings of Fire), OC/OC Characters: Glory (Wings of Fire), Lapis Lazuli (OC), Acid (OC), Webspinner (oc), Fang (OC) Additional Tags: Fantribes | Original Dragon Tribes (Wings of Fire), Darkstalker did it Summary:

Darkstalker was bored. Bored out of his mind, just waiting forever for Moon to come or something interesting to happen. An idea popped into his head, an old one. Darkstalker was always fascinated with the differences between dragon tribes, and he wondered how far his magic could go. Those intrigues converged at one idea: create his own dragon tribe. Why not?

Or, Darkstalker created a new tribe during Darkness of Dragons, but nobody found out for 20 years. This book takes place 20 years after Darkness of Dragons, and its an au where Pantala kinda didn't happen also because it's my au.

not too fond of nightwings

Fennec contemplates ruining a sappy moment for the bit (she’s an animus)

turtle, thinking

like what you see? want your own dragon drawn? dm me to commission me, with prices starting at the low low amount of 15 USD! wow!!

Chapters: 9/? Fandom: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Deathbringer/Glory (Wings of Fire), OC/OC Characters: Glory (Wings of Fire), Lapis Lazuli (OC), Acid (OC), Webspinner (oc), Fang (OC) Additional Tags: Fantribes | Original Dragon Tribes (Wings of Fire), Darkstalker did it Summary:

Darkstalker was bored. Bored out of his mind, just waiting forever for Moon to come or something interesting to happen. An idea popped into his head, an old one. Darkstalker was always fascinated with the differences between dragon tribes, and he wondered how far his magic could go. Those intrigues converged at one idea: create his own dragon tribe. Why not?

Or, Darkstalker created a new tribe during Darkness of Dragons, but nobody found out for 20 years. This book takes place 20 years after Darkness of Dragons, and its an au where Pantala kinda didn't happen also because it's my au.