Moonwatcher

Moonwatcher, preferring the nickname “Moon”, is a young female NightWing and the main protagonist of Moon Rising. The first known NightWing in over a century to possess prophetic and telepathic powers, she delivered both the Jade Mountain Prophecy and the Lost Continent Prophecy.

Unknown to the rest of her tribe, Moonwatcher was raised in the rainforest by Secretkeeper until the age of four, when she began attending Jade Mountain Academy as a member of the Jade Winglet. She is currently in a relationship with Qibli.

Appearance
According to Secretkeeper, Moonwatcher has shiny, gleaming scales, claws like miniature curved crescents, a perfect tail, and she is more healthy and well-fed in appearance than every single NightWing living on the island.[1] She has a silver scale shaped like a teardrop on the outside corner of each dark green eye, and, in Secretkeeper's exact words, they are “odd but beautiful."[2] The teardrop scales on the corner of her eyes show her status as a mind-reader. She has deep purplish-black scales with shades of dark blue  and green mixed in, and wears a soft black leather pouch around her neck.[3] According to Qibli, she is "Too pretty to be evil."

Personality
Moon is a somewhat shy, independent dragon. Due to being by herself for most of her life, she has trouble interacting with others, sometimes stammering when trying to talk, and it doesn't help that she can read minds. She gets easily scared by loud and hectic situations, as shown by her anxiety about the prey center at Jade Mountain Academy. She often tries to avoid being around others by going off and reading scrolls. Moon is very anxious about what others will think of her and doesn't open up easily to her peers.

She's admitted to herself at one point that she doesn't want anyone to be able to see her subconscious side because then they would never like her. She is even shyer and more nervous when she can hear someone's thoughts, though her mind-reading and precognition have helped her several times, from listening to Scarlet dream-visiting Icicle, to knowing when the history cave would explode. In Winter Turning, she seemed to become bolder and less scared. This is most likely because of not hearing everyone's thoughts.

As the second arc progresses, Moon has less trouble with stuttering. She also has multiple conversations with others, particularly with Winter, where she doesn't seem to be as scared as she was in Moon Rising. Moon has also been shown to be stubborn, especially regarding her belief that all dragons have some good inside. As the second series progresses, Moon doesn't let herself get pushed around as much, standing up to Winter when he's yelling at her in multiple books and confronting Darkstalker with her new knowledge of his wrongs in Darkness of Dragons. Moon becomes better at expressing her feelings, controlling her fear and letting go of her worries as the series progresses. She also handles her visions better, able to control the pain and keep flying in Darkness of Dragons instead of panicking as she did in Moon Rising. Moon also shows her determined side on many occasions, such as when she convinces Winter of his good qualities, advocates for her belief that all dragons have some good in them, or seeks out Qibli at the end of Darkness of Dragons to ask if they can be together.

Secretkeeper
Secretkeeper is Moonwatcher's mother. During a hunting patrol in the rainforest, Secretkeeper lied to her companions about having stomach cramps, the egg coming out cracked, and wanting to bury the eggshells alone. She, however, later gave birth to Moonwatcher's egg and hid it among the rainforest foliage. Secretkeeper cares about her daughter very much, and was willing to risk everything - even, perhaps, her own life - in order to keep Moonwatcher safe and healthy from the volcano. She even refused to tell her partner, Morrowseer, about their dragonet, fearing that he would take Moonwatcher back to the Island if he ever found out about her existence. When Moonwatcher hatched, Secretkeeper was in awe and believed her to be the most perfect and healthy dragonet she'd ever seen. After Secretkeeper found out about Moonwatcher's mind-reading and prophetic powers, she was very worried, and warned Moonwatcher that she must always keep her power hidden in order to appear normal. She cares very much for Moonwatcher's safety and happiness, and although she sometimes becomes exasperated with Moonwatcher's nervousness and paranoia, she loves her nevertheless. In the epilogue of Darkness of Dragons, it was confirmed that Moonwatcher visits Secretkeeper in the rainforest often.

Morrowseer
He was Moonwatcher's father, but they never knew each other; Morrowseer never knew that Moonwatcher existed, as Secretkeeper hadn't told him about their dragonet for fear that he would demand she be returned to the island. Even after Morrowseer's death, Secretkeeper refused to talk about him; Moonwatcher had only learned of his name from reading her mother's thoughts. He was killed in the Night Kingdom by the volcanic explosion before she met him. In The Dark Secret, when Moon would have been about three and a half years old, Mastermind asked Morrowseer if he had any dragonets, and the only response was a stony glare.

Qibli
Qibli is one of Moonwatcher's closest friends and a confirmed love interest. Moonwatcher respects his intelligence, bravery, and honesty, and loves him for being kind and humble. In Moon Rising, she admired his ability to gain information just by looking and analyzing a dragon, and it was confirmed near Moon Rising's conclusion that after giving Qibli skyfire, she would miss listening to his thoughts. Qibli began developing feelings for Moonwatcher very early on, though he was always very subtle and polite with his feelings for her.

The two act more like best friends than a couple, often joking and rarely being serious with each other. Qibli has proved to be a patient, loyal and respectful partner for Moonwatcher, and it was this that led her to choose him over Winter in the epilogue of Darkness of Dragons. However, Qibli often believed that he could never measure up to Winter, believing Winter to be too handsome and serious for Moonwatcher to choose anyone else - he even reprimanded himself for joking with and "acting like her goofy friend" instead of behaving romantically, as Winter would. In Winter Turning, he was also shown to be protective of not only her, but all of his friends, when he instinctively jumped in front of Moonwatcher in order to save her by a flaming spear.

Winter
Despite his icy exterior, Moon sees him as a friend and is hurt when he yells at her or calls her names. Winter admits many times that he's in love with her. She is very confused about his thoughts and doesn't quite understand what they mean, describing them as "mirrors, reflecting self-hate and guilt." In Winter Turning, Moon was distraught when Winter made the decision to leave. In Darkness of Dragons, However, Moon chose Qibli over him to be her partner. Winter was heartbroken over this decision, but came to realize in the end that it was himself who drove her away.

Darkstalker
Darkstalker was the first dragon after Secretkeeper to learn about Moonwatcher's powers. Darkstalker was very upset that Moonwatcher hadn't received any training in how to use her powers without getting overwhelmed. He and Moon became good friends after he taught her to block out other dragons' thoughts, and she becomes the only dragon he truly cared about since Foeslayer, Clearsight, and Fathom. He asked her numerous times if she could retrieve his "talisman" - the scroll that held his animus power - and she tries to bring it to him in Escaping Peril. After Peril accidentally frees him, Moon accuses Darkstalker of lying to her. He defends himself, saying that he was desperate to escape his imprisonment, which may have been true. However, Moonwatcher doesn't seem to fully trust him after that.

Kinkajou
She is Moon's best friend and has been shown to care much about her. Moonwatcher and her were clawmates in the Jade Winglet. Moon was distraught when Kinkajou was injured severely by a mysterious companion of Scarlet's (Chameleon, in his NightWing form, Shapeshifter), showing the strong bond between them. At first, Moon was put off by Kinkajou's energetic thoughts and actions, but realized that Kinkajou really did care about her.

Anemone
Princess Anemone appears to show a great deal of jealousy towards Moonwatcher throughout Talons of Power. This is because of Moon's closeness with Darkstalker. Moon seems oblivious to this until Anemone enchants a mop to attack her out of rage. Moonwatcher seems to forgive the SeaWing princess, as she defends Anemone when Darkstalker is furious with her for hurting Moon. Anemone, Princess of the Sea Kingdom, gives Darkstalker an enchanted snake shaped earring to make him like her more than Moon. Darkstalker, enraged, harshly refuses the offer and states that he "doesn't accept gifts from animus dragons."

Peril
When Peril first comes into Jade Mountain Academy, Moonwatcher senses fear among all the dragonets and is confused until she finds out exactly who Peril is. She realizes that she cannot read Peril's mind very well, due to some kind of constant fiery wall that seems to hide her thoughts, although a feeling gets through here and there. However, she does not think of Peril much in this book and only really starts to think about her more in ''Escaping Peril. ''After Peril accidentally burns Winter, Moon is concerned. She shows suspicion of Peril, which adds on to Peril's insecurities about other dragons not liking her and causes Peril to fly away. However, later when Peril proves herself to have good intentions, she trusts her and views her as a friend.

Trivia

 * She enjoys scrolls with contents of history, adventure stories, ancient legends, and encyclopedias. [9]
 * She is one of five characters in the series to go by a nickname, the other four being Admiral (Ad), Ex-Queen Magnificent (Maggie), Snowfox (Fox), and Sunny (Beetle).
 * Her egg hatched under two full moons and gave her two powers: mind reading and prophecy.
 * Moonwatcher and Winter are the only two dragons in their series to have a mantra so far. Moonwatcher's is "Stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe," given to her by Secretkeeper.

by Tui T. Sutherland called The Menagerie.
 * In Moon Rising, when Winter is yelling at Moon in the prey center, demanding her name, one of the names he guesses is Mooncrusher. Mooncrusher is the name of a yeti in another series written


 * Moonwatcher has had a few visions, including:
 * Prince Turtle fighting Princess Anemone on a sun drenched beach, which later came true in Talons of Power.
 * Qibli yelling at three SandWings, shouting "Where is she?" This vision is probably a reference to how Qibli had to rescue Ostrich from Onyx and Vulture in Darkness of Dragons.
 * Jade Mountain burning during an earthquake, then collapsing, sending falling rocks everywhere and crushing and burning screaming dragonets.


 * The history cave exploding, with her winglet, among other dragons, smoldering.
 * A tree falling, most likely somewhere near her. This had saved her from her eventual fate.
 * Dragonets (most likely the offspring of Clay and Peril, Tsunami and Riptide, Glory and Deathbringer, and Starflight and Fatespeaker respectively) playing in Jade Mountain.


 * The cover of the book Moon Rising is most likely the scene in which Moon is flying in an underground lake after the explosion with Turtle watching nearby after he asked her if she could still fly.


 * Moonwatcher is one of the four dragonets' hatching described in the books, the others being Darkstalker, Auklet, and Bumblebee.
 * Moonwatcher is named thus because when she hatched, Secretkeeper thought Moonwatcher looked like she wanted to grab the moons in her talons and roll them around.


 * Both she and Fatespeaker are described as “having her own treasure.”
 * Moonwatcher shows signs of having anxiety, most likely social anxiety. This lessens later in the arc, likely because of her newfound friends.


 * As well as being the main point of view in Moon Rising, she is the POV for the prologue of The Hive Queen.
 * Moonwatcher is the youngest protagonist so far in the series.
 * Moon is the third POV to have never met her father.
 * Moon is one of the only two POVs to have a parent witness her hatching, the other being Darkstalker.
 * Moon is the second pure NightWing POV, and the third NightWing POV overall.
 * In Moon Rising, Secretkeeper calls her “moon bud”
 * Moon is the first dragon to have her mouth closed on the book cover, the second being Darkstalker and the third being Cricket.
 * Moon blames herself for Darkstalker's rise to power.