Clay is an adult male MudWing and the main protagonist of The Dragonet Prophecy. Formerly a dragonet of destiny, he was also partially responsible for ending the War of SandWing Succession and is one of the five founders of Jade Mountain Academy where he currently teaches herbs and healing and helps with battle training. He also runs the prey centre. He currently resides within Jade Mountain.
Description[]
Clay is muscular, large, burly, and stocky, with a sloping back, a thick, lengthy neck, a large, broad head, and white teeth. He is the largest of the dragonets of destiny, and has a rumbly, deep, warm voice. He also has fire-resistant, mud-colored scales, and he hatched from a bloodred egg. Clay's scales are a warm brown in the shades of rich mahogany and tree bark, along with undertones of glowing amber, clay, and gold glinting between and beneath his scales.
He has enormous talons and thick brown claws, as well as mud-colored, massive, strong brown wings and wide, warm brown eyes. His right thigh is scarred from a dragonbite viper bite, and he has a permanent limp.
Personality[]
Clay often smiles at others, and is challenged by academic study; it once took him an entire day to realize that the palace of the SeaWings was underwater. He is thoughtful, baffled, accidentally heroic, and sounds kind no matter who he talks to. He is earnest, goofy, loyal, sweet, agreeable, easily confused, curious, thick-minded, and does not want to hurt dragons who could be possible allies. He almost never complains, except about being hungry — even then, he is hungry in a sweetly embarrassed way, instead of in a pushy way. He is trustworthy, and every thought he has is written all over his face. Tsunami described him as being the heart of the dragonets of destiny and stated that they would not be able to fulfill the prophecy without him. He has an open heart, and he loves his friends so deeply that he is willing to die for them; even as a young dragonet, he was willing to take the blame for his friends' mistakes and face Kestrel's punishments. Peril describes his soul as a torch that never went out; burning clear all night long.
Clay seems to be skilled in first aid and medical knowledge, and he teaches healing at Jade Mountain Academy, where he is responsible, protective, and worried towards his students. He also appears to have an excessive liking for food. He believes that prophecies are not like instructions, but rather are hints in the right direction; he believes it is a dragon's choice on what to do with these hints.
Biography[]
The Dragonet Prophecy[]
| ExpandThe Dragonet Prophecy |
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| ExpandThe Lost Heir |
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| ExpandThe Hidden Kingdom |
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| ExpandThe Dark Secret |
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| ExpandThe Brightest Night |
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The Jade Mountain Prophecy[]
| ExpandMoon Rising |
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| ExpandWinter Turning |
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| ExpandEscaping Peril |
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| ExpandTalons of Power |
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| ExpandDarkness of Dragons |
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The Lost Continent Prophecy[]
| ExpandThe Hive Queen |
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| ExpandThe Poison Jungle |
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| ExpandThe Dangerous Gift |
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| ExpandThe Flames of Hope |
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Legends[]
| ExpandDragonslayer |
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Winglets[]
| ExpandPrisoners |
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Relationships[]
Glory[]
Glory is one of Clay's closest friends. In The Dragonet Prophecy, Glory was upset when Clay started saying that Peril might be their 'wings of sky', seeing it like she was being replaced. He describes her as "just as important and smart as any SkyWing" and feels bad about thinking that Glory was asleep when she was displayed as "artwork." Clay was willing to risk his own life saving Glory by braving the underground river himself. When Glory went missing, Clay became worried about her and went with Deathbringer to rescue her from the NightWing island. Glory was overjoyed when he came to rescue her. While Glory was training for the RainWing Royal Challenge, Clay helped calm her down and prompted Glory to take a nap that she needed. In Escaping Peril, he was devastated when he believed she had been killed by Scarlet.
Peril[]
Upon initially meeting him, Peril was oddly excited to discover that Clay believed he had tried to kill his nestmates during hatching, but after Clay admitted that he hoped he was not the same as Peril, she became hurt. She enjoys talking to Clay, and regards him as "blazing"; Peril believed that Clay liked her how she was, and although Clay was hesitant towards her, he found that Peril was not entirely awful, and possessed an awkwardness and sadness that he understood. He is honest with her, and she disobeyed Scarlet's orders in order to talk with him in addition to bringing him mud and food to help him heal from the arena. When talking to her, Clay's guilt about Fjord's death and his friends' capture seemed lighter, and he regards her as kind, outside of the arena. She avoided Clay after Osprey's death because she wanted to keep him out of danger, but she easily became angry and jealous when Clay mentioned how important Glory and Sunny were to him, and later betrayed Clay and his friends to Scarlet because she was afraid of him leaving. Clay felt sadness at her betrayal and guilt over trusting her afterwards, although he felt sympathy for Peril because she had no other friends. After escaping the Sky Kingdom, Clay invited Peril to join him and his friends on the journey to the Diamond Spray Delta, and although Peril refused, she did so on the grounds that until she could become safer and better, she believed she did not deserve to come with them.
Whenever Peril sees Clay in present-day Pyrrhia, she often becomes startled, and then tries to casually brush it off. She becomes violent towards those who hurt him, she often intentionally appears in locations where she knows Clay will be, and her heart gives small bounces when she sees him. She hopes she does not imagine the extra bit of sweetness in his smiles towards her, and he often is physically affectionate towards her, to Peril's delight. Clay is reassuring towards her, and all Peril wants is to be with him. She is willing to obey everything he says, and is often held back from violence by thinking about him; he sees good in her, and believes that she is more than Scarlet's killer, encouraging her to become better. His voice feels like wings spreading inside her heart, and although Peril wanted to wrap her wings around him when he was reminded of Sora's betrayal, she knew it would only hurt him more. She thinks of his soul as a torch that will never go out, burning clear and true all night long. Clay says that Peril can be whoever she wants to be, and although all she wants to do is take care of him, she felt jealous over the thought of him mourning Glory's passing. She was worried that he and Sunny shared secrets she might be unaware of, thinking "Doesn't Clay know he can tell me anything?", and felt an intense stab of jealousy when he twined his tail with Sunny's. The idea of leaving him is heart-wrenching to her, but she was still willing to separate from him in order to kill Scarlet.
She cares for his safety and bases many of her decisions upon his wellbeing, but she becomes jealous when he acts supportive and reassuring to other dragons besides her. She wants, above all, to take care of him, but often feels jealous of his other relationships; something she is often ashamed of. Clay speaks to her in a soft, warning voice when Peril is apt to hurt others, and gives her sweet, grateful smiles when she restrains herself from violence. His smile lights candles in her heart, and he wants Peril to make her own choices. Peril, however, was completely willing to become a dragon completely changed to Clay's tastes, and she doubted if he would miss her if she disappeared. Ruby was baffled at the effects of Soar's spell, stating "Peril would never just forget about Clay." In Peril's own words, Clay is the dragon who changed her, and was the only dragon willing to give her a second chance. Her heart sang when she removed the enchantment and was able to remember him again, but she also worried that without him, she went straight back to being a monster.
Clay sees the good in her and believes that she is more than Scarlet's killer, encouraging her to become better and wanting her to make her own choices. However, he winces when she touches him, and he watches her wings carefully whenever she is near anything flammable; Peril is unsure if he would change her firescales if he could. When thinking about what she wanted most, an image of Clay wrapping his wings around her and never letting go flashed through her mind; however, Peril believes she is a long way off from getting or deserving that, and is worried that she might not be able to accept it if Clay did not love her back.
Siblings[]
Clay has six siblings: Reed, Marsh, Crane, Pheasant, Sora, and Umber. He met them all but Crane, when Clay and Glory — who was disguised as a MudWing — went to go meet his mother. Crane had died in the sibling's first battle, between Burn's and Blaze's forces, before Clay visited. If his egg was not taken by the Talons of Peace, Clay would have been the troop's bigwings. In Clay's absence, Reed became the bigwings. He asked if Clay wanted to be their bigwings, but Clay turned Reed's offer down, knowing that Reed would do a much better job, having grown up with MudWings and having the complete trust and loyalty of all their siblings. When Starflight used his dreamvisitor, he saw Clay dream about his siblings. Starflight said that Clay's siblings were "more dragons we have to save in this war." Though he had only met them once during the war, he still thought of them often and had wondered out loud about them for the last few weeks. Clay seemed shocked and saddened when Sora set off a dragonflame cactus in the school.
Starflight[]
As with the other dragonets, Clay considers Starflight a brother. He took the dragonbite viper bite meant for Starflight and shielded him when the volcano of the NightWing Fortress exploded. Although Clay gets bored of Starflight's lectures sometimes, he cares about him a lot, so much that he would risk his life to keep him safe. Starflight sees Clay as his bigwings, as the rest of the dragonets do. All in all, Starflight and Clay have a good relationship.
Students[]
Clay cares about the students at Jade Mountain Academy and their safety. He is regarded as a hero among them due to his limp caused by his wound from the dragonbite viper. He is good at defusing arguments between students and is shown to take their suggestions, such as when Tamarin and Peregrine suggest herbs and healing class. He has also claimed that he tries to write as little as possible, due to him not being very good at spelling, as he mentioned to Peril in Darkness of Dragons.
Sunny[]
Sunny is like a little sister to Clay, and he treats her as such. When Clay decided to travel down the river under the mountain, Sunny said, "Don't you dare die!" Clay also wanted to go save Sunny when she was trapped in a cage in the Sky Kingdom as soon as he learned where she was, after badgering Peril for the information. When Sunny wants to explain her idea about the darts in the RainWings' attack, she turns to Clay because she thinks he will listen. He seems to be the dragonet she confides in and trust the most. Clay takes a poisonous viper bite to save Sunny's life and says he would do it over and over again if he could. He is one of the only dragons to take Sunny seriously, as shown when Clay paid attention to a "weird crab" Sunny found in the underground river.
Tsunami[]
Tsunami is among Clay's closest friends. He considered her brave and tough like a hero should be. Later, she calls Clay a "handsome idiot" and gives him a hint that Peril likes him, but he does not understand. Throughout the book, Tsunami often interjects when Clay talks about Glory and Sunny in front of Peril because she appears to understand that Peril gets jealous. In The Lost Heir, she states she had feelings for Clay but had gotten over her crush when she realized Clay thought of her as a sister. She was also the second one to hatch, and the first egg Clay tried to help with hatching.
References[]
Information sourced from the Wings of Fire Wiki
