Clay

Clay is a young male MudWing and the main protagonist of The Dragonet Prophecy. He was sold to the Talons of Peace for some cows. Clay was born from a blood red MudWing egg, so he has fireproof scales. It is implied he has a romantic interest in Peril, who is also known to reciprocate these feelings. He loves his students and teaches Herbs and Healing at Jade Mountain Academy. He is considered the bigwings of the Dragonets of Destiny (although he is the oldest and biggest of his biological siblings, they are currently led by Reed, the second oldest of them).

Appearance
Clay is a strong, broad, and muscular MudWing with thick brown scales that seem to be richer and deeper when in direct sunlight, like the bark of a healthy mahogany tree with undertones of glowing amber and golden colors. He is large and powerfully built (due to his bigwings nature) and has warm hazel-tinted brown eyes. He appears to be tough on the outside but is sweet and kindhearted on the inside. He has a flat, wide snout and thick, powerful jaws. His horns are small and dark brown as well. He has been mentioned by a couple of other

dragons to be very handsome. Clay was also said to have very large talons and thick brown claws, as well as a large sloping back topped with dark brown spines. Ever since Peril burned the venom of a dragonbite viper out of his veins to save his life in the Brightest Night, he has a large burn scar on his right hind thigh and walks with a distinctive limp, as the wound was too deep for his fireproof scales to heal over his scales.

Personality
Clay is a sweet, caring, brave, and protective dragon. He is seen as a bigwings by most of his friends due to his selflessness and kindness. He's willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but he will stand up for himself and his loved ones at all costs, even willing to guard them with his own life. He's loyal to a fault, honest, open, and would never intentionally hurt someone's feelings. He's also very patient and empathetic, as shown in Moon Rising when he calmly separates Pike and Carnelian during a heated argument. He also has a love for food that Sunny calls "adorable."

Tsunami
Tsunami is one of Clay's close friends. She found and cured him when Clay was drenched in the white ooze in the underground river and his scales were burning with pain. In addition, she stabbed Scarlet's tail to give herself and Clay the opportunity to fly away from the SkyWing queen. Later, she calls Clay a "handsome idiot" and gives him a hint that Peril likes him, though it goes right over his head. 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. After she and Clay escape from under the mountain, Clay notices how beautiful and shiny her scales were. In The Lost Heir, she states she had feelings for Clay and Starflight but had gotten over her crushes when she realized Clay thought of her as a sister and that Starflight was "too annoying." She was also the second one to hatch, and the first egg Clay tried to ‘attack.’

Glory
Glory is also one of Clay's friends. He refers to her as beautiful once in the book, and feels bad about thinking that Glory was actually asleep when she was displayed as "artwork." When Glory comes into view after Kestrel said she's going to kill her, Clay twines his tail with hers. When Glory goes missing, Clay is very worried about her(goes to save her); in Escaping Peril, he was devastated when he believed she'd been killed by Scarlet.

Starflight
As with the other dragonets, Clay considers Starflight a brother and states that he dreams of being lectured by the NightWing. He took the dragonbite viper bite meant for Starflight and protected him when the volcano from the NightWing Fortress exploded.

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. 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 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. Clay is one of the only dragons to actually take Sunny seriously, as shown when Clay paid attention to the "weird crab" Sunny found.

Peril
Clay befriended Peril while trapped in the SkyWing arena by Ex-Queen Scarlet. They quickly became friends and Peril developed feelings for him because he was the only dragon that liked her the way she was. Queen Scarlet had only been using her for entertainment. After Clay fights Fjord, Peril brings hot mud to treat his scratches and wounds. He soon finds out that Scarlet ordered Peril not to talk to him, but she defies those orders. Peril seemed jealous of the other dragonets because she wanted Clay to herself; when she helps the dragonets escape and later betrays them, Clay touches her and discovers that he's immune to her firescales. This helps when he fights Peril against his will in the arena, leaving Peril to admit that she wanted to save him after Kestrel and for him to like her more than the other dragonets. She says she does not want to kill him, and Clay says she has to.

Their fight ends after Queen Scarlet is sprayed with Glory's venom, and they escape in the ensuing chaos. Glory says Peril might be the missing SkyWing, but that is proved false. Peril chose to stay behind and distract the other SkyWings from the escaping dragonets, where she states that's all she's good for. But then Clay delivers the award-winning line when he finally gets it, saying that it's not all she's good for and giving her a dragon equivalent of a hug. Peril leaves but sees the dragonets again in The Brightest Night and Moon Rising. Peril saves Clay's life in the fifth book by burning out the dragonbite viper's venom in his thigh. In the sixth book, he invites her to the Jade Mountain Academy. In Talons of Power (Book), Qibli tells Peril that Clay likes her but just doesn't know what to do about it. In Darkness of Dragons, Peril and Clay go flying together. In this scene, it is likely that Clay reciprocates Peril's feelings for him, although the ending is vague.

Siblings
Reed, Marsh, Crane, Pheasant, Sora and Umber are Clay's siblings, who he met when he tried to visit his mother. Glory went with Clay disguised as a MudWing. Crane died before Clay came back. If his egg was not taken by the Talons of Peace, Clay would have become the bigwings. So instead, Reed became the bigwings. Clay is shown to appreciate this because he's glad to have Reed protecting his siblings when he can't. When Starflight used his dreamvisitor, he saw Clay dream about his siblings. Starflight said, "More dragons we have to save in this war." He seemed shocked and saddened when Sora set a bomb off in the school.

Students
Clay cares deeply 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.

Trivia

 * Clay is named after a real-life material of the same name, which is a stiff, sticky fine-grained earth. This material is also used in art, and can be used to make cups, bowls and more.
 * Clay has the desire to eat many different types of foods and enjoys trying new types, a common trait among MudWings.
 * Clay appears to have a liking for more meaty meals. In The Dragonet Prophecy, he loves cows. In The Hidden Kingdom, Blaze wants to plan a party with the Dragonets of Destiny and offers Clay a camel. Glory then assumes that Clay would love to be offered a camel.
 * In The Hidden Kingdom, Clay is upset that he can't hunt and has to eat fruit, further confirming that he prefers to eat meat.
 * Clay was actually dreaming about food when Starflight visited him in The Dark Secret.
 * Clay sometimes dreams about Starflight giving him lectures.
 * Clay seems to be skilled in first-aid as shown in The Lost Heir and Moon Rising. He also teaches Herbs and Healing at Jade Mountain Academy.
 * Clay, Tsunami, and Sunny are the only original Dragonets of Destiny who have met their mothers.
 * Clay is the sixth dragon to appear in the series, the second MudWing, and the first dragonet.
 * In the annotated version of The Dragonet Prophecy, Tui revealed that she had originally wanted him to have a crush on Glory, but decided that didn't work at all.[1]
 * Clay knows of Peril's crush on him, and Qibli says that Clay likes her back but doesn't know how to feel about it.
 * Clay never did truly believe in the powers of the NightWings.
 * Clay currently has a limp in his leg resulting from Peril saving his life from a Dragonbite Viper’s venom by burning it out with her firescales.
 * Clay is the second dragon known to be bitten by a Dragonbite Viper and the only dragon known to have survived the bite.
 * Clay has displayed his concern for the safety of young dragonets, such as the students attending Jade Mountain Academy.
 * Clay, alongside Starflight, are the only Dragonets of Destiny whose lineage past their parents is unknown.
 * Clay is the only Dragonet of Destiny who doesn't have green eyes.
 * The orange-brown dragonet in Moon's vision in Moon Rising may be the future dragonet of Peril and Clay; however, no clear evidence has confirmed this.
 * It is very likely that Clay loves Peril just like she loves him throughout the series and knows of her love for him. This is mostly displayed during the epilogue of Darkness of Dragons in Peril's point of view, and when Peril left at the end of The Dragonet Prophecy.
 * Clay is the second known dragon to have survived being burned by Peril, Kestrel being the first and Prince Winter, the third.
 * Tui has said that Clay was one of the easiest characters to write just because she adores him, and she says "affable/kindhearted/loyal/hungry is exactly my type of hero".
 * Clay is one of the five dragons whose cover does not match the book description. The others are Tsunami, Anemone, Qibli, and Blue.
 * In The Dragonet Prophecy (Graphic Novel) cover, his eyes are yellow when in the book they are hazel.
 * In The Dragonet Prophecy (Graphic Novel), it shows that Dune is the one who named him.
 * Clay was the first Dragonet of Destiny to meet one of their parents.