Ex-Prince Winter

Prince Winter is a male IceWing dragonet and the main protagonist of Winter Turning. He is a member of the IceWing Royal Family as the cousin of Queen Snowfall and the nephew of the late Queen Glacier. He attended Jade Mountain Academy with his sister Icicle until after the events of Darkness of Dragons. Up until the events of Winter Turning, Winter kept a pet scavenger named Bandit with him at the academy. After the events of Darkness of Dragons, Winter settled in Sanctuary with The Talons of Peace, where he currently studies and examines scavenger behavior as a pass time/occupation.

Appearance
Winter has glittering blue scales the color of a frozen ocean; wintry blue and white with scales like overlapping chips of ice that become slightly darker along his spine and the edges of his wings. He has dark blue eyes that were described as "arctic pools" by Moonwatcher in Moon Rising, luminous, silver-blue wings, and razor sharp silver claws. Winter has been noted to be broader than Qibli, but not any bigger. He wears a small wolf skin pouch tied to one of his ankles that contains a small skyfire rock, given to him by Turtle at Moon's request to block his mind from being read by mindreaders.

Personality
Winter's exterior has shown to be curt, short-tempered, sarcastic, and judgmental, though it was revealed he actually criticized and hated himself more than anyone else underneath his haughty mask. Winter is more than capable of feeling compassion and is naturally kind and heroic. However, he struggles when it comes to expressing affection towards others, and letting his guard down.

Due to his heritage, Winter is at first shown to be apt to snobbish tendencies and believes that he deserves special treatment because of his royal status. However, in the seventh book, he abandons that status so he can return to his friends. He is also greatly interested in scavengers and their behavior, and it was mentioned in Winter Turning that he would have created a terrarium for them had he been an animus.

Winter often felt incompetent during his childhood, especially when compared to Hailstorm. Because of this, he began to hate himself and believed he wasn't everything an Icewing prince should be. He was very aware that his parents disapproved of him, and although he tried his hardest in the rankings, he usually fell short of their expectations. He was emotionally abused by his family, and taught and conditioned so he would act and present himself in a certain way in an attempt, to meet their standards.

Moonwatcher
Winter was first introduced to Moonwatcher in Moon Rising when she rescued Bandit from a group of hungry dragonets. Winter was initially abrupt and rude towards Moonwatcher, but he soon began developing romantic feelings for her, respecting the way she stood up to him in order to protect his pet. Although he admires her compassion, bravery, and determination, Winter immediately distrusted Moonwatcher because she belonged to the NightWing tribe, and Winter was taught from a young age that all NightWings were deceitful and cruel. Even when Winter began to accept that Moonwatcher was not like the rest of her tribe, he couldn't seem to forget what his parents and the rest of the IceWing royal family would think about him and a NightWing being friends, much less romantic partners. It was mentioned in Winter Turning that "...[Moonwatcher] saw dazzling mountain peaks where [Winter's] parents saw nothing but a lump of gray ice." Winter knows that Moonwatcher cares for him and respects him, but cannot seem to faze his hostile and angry nature towards her. Time and time again Winter will yell or become angry with Moonwatcher or her decisions, and will become irritated at any simple disagreement. Winter truly loves Moonwatcher, but can't seem to express his emotions lovingly. After the events of Darkness of Dragons, when Moon rejected him, he eventually accepted it, although he stated it would take a long time for him to heal.

Qibli
He was Winter's clawmate and friend. He also has a crush on Moon. Before they were mutual friends, Winter referred to Qibli as "my idiot clawmate" when Winter was hassling Moon about Bandit. He then stepped in and tried to help the situation. He was by Winter's side most of the time in the books and was there to make sure Winter didn't get himself or anybody else hurt. He became increasingly close to both Winter and Moon and kept naming himself as Winter's best friend, though Winter denied having any relationship with him until Darkness of Dragons where Winter first used the term "friend," but just claimed he was saving syllables. At one point during their imprisonment at Vulture's compound, when explaining Winter to his mother Cobra, Qibli joked, "We'll probably end up married someday." Qibli continued to tease Winter, bringing out his better side, allowing their friendship to grow. At the end of the book, Winter claimed that he liked Qibli and said he was his best friend.

Kinkajou
Kinkajou considers herself to be Winter's friend, but he appears to not acknowledge her existence. As of Moon Rising, Kinkajou has a small crush on Winter. Kinkajou admires his "sparkly scales" but he doesn't seem to notice. In Winter Turning, she showed multiple acts of kindness, none of which he seemed to care. After the attack from Chameleon, he realizes that he would never leave her behind, even though it makes it harder for the group to travel onward. When the dragonets take Kinkajou to Possibility, Meerkat states that the doctor in the town was a MudWing. When Winter hears that, he recalls how other tribes say that MudWings would be too dumb to be doctors, and briefly wonders whether Possibility would be the right place to bring Kinkajou. When Kinkajou falls into a coma, he peeks inside the hospital window, only to be shooed by Mayfly. By the epilogue of Darkness of Dragons, however, he is happy to see Kinkajou and considers her a friend.

Princess Icicle
Icicle is Winter and Hailstorm's sister and the niece of Queen Glacier. She was always around him and other IceWings in school. When Winter found his sister trying to kill Starflight, he tried to stop her. He refused to help her when she asked him to kill the other dragonets of destiny after finding out about Hailstorm. She called Winter weak and worthless multiple times in the book, though this could be because she blames Winter for what happened to Hailstorm in the first place.

Prince Hailstorm
Hailstorm is Winter and Icicle's older brother. He allowed himself to be captured by SkyWings to save Winter, saying that Winter was "weak and basically useless" and would be of no value as a prisoner in Queen Scarlet's dungeon. Winter has berated himself about what he feels was himself allowing Hailstorm to be taken and hated the NightWings ever since they killed all the trapped IceWing prisoners in the SkyWing Arena, thinking one was his brother. He was called not being as smart or brave as Hailstorm by Icicle multiple times. Hailstorm often feels sorry for Winter, as seen in the prologue of Winter Turning.

In the book, it is revealed he was put under an animus enchantment and transformed into a female SkyWing named Pyrite. He fully recovers once he's back in the Ice Kingdom. Later, when it is revealed Hailstorm was to kill Winter to recover his rank in the first place, he admits he does not want to kill Winter because he cares for his brother. Winter suggests that he waits, and then he will sneak out of the Ice Kingdom. Hailstorm accepts, and thanks Winter, and exits the maze so that it will only appear that he killed Winter. In Darkness of Dragons, he meets Hailstorm again, shortly before their father is killed.

Prince Narwhal and Tundra
Narwhal and Tundra are Winter's parents and they are very harsh towards him, critical of his skills and often compare him to his brother, Hailstorm, and his sister, Icicle. Narwhal is shown to be angry whenever Winter fails to obey his orders. Winter feels like a disappointment to his parents, and this is shown to be true in Winter Turning. They despise him so much that they're willing to sacrifice him to restore Hailstorm's place at the First Circle. Narwhal also states that he never expected to see Hailstorm again and never wanted to see Winter again after Winter saves Hailstorm. However, when Winter brought back Hailstorm to the Ice Kingdom, Tundra said, "Thank you for bringing back Hailstorm. It was the least you could do." Though said coldly and laden with disdain, it was the nicest thing his mother had ever said to him. He seems to not really care about them, saying that they "can't be as bad as his family," in Darkness of Dragons, but when Narwhal is killed he is devastated. This could indicate that even though he now knows they treated him horribly, he still has some form of Stockholm syndrome or unrequited love for his family.

Queen Glacier
Winter seems to greatly respect Glacier, stating many times that she's "a great queen." When Winter sees Glacier in Winter Turning, on their way to the Diamond Trial, Queen Glacier has a polite conversation to Winter about Icicle and Queen Glory. She even appears to be sympathetic to Winter before the Diamond Trial. In Darkness of Dragons, he is very upset and horrified when he finds out Glacier and the rest of the IceWings are sick. He appears devastated by her death.

Lynx
Winter seemed to have a crush on Lynx before going to Jade Mountain and it is unknown if he still holds romantic feelings for her. When he returned to the Ice Kingdom and saw her during the First Circle rearrangement, Winter mentioned that he'd always thought her different colored scales were pretty, but they now just reminded him of Moon. He also trained with her on the morning of the Diamond Trial. Winter was shown saving an IceWing dragonet in the Battle for Jade Mountain. The dragonet was described to have blue freckles on her snout and was a young but skilled fighter. This was most likely Lynx however it has not been confirmed.

Trivia

 * When he was one year old, Winter performed a ranking test in which he was to survive in a blizzard alone.
 * Before every meal, Tundra made Winter practice his guarding stance until she approved.
 * When he was two years old, Winter's ranking was lower than anyone in his family's had ever been.
 * In the Scholastic forums, Tui wrote, "OK, dragging myself away to work now . . . there’s an IceWing in GREAT TURMOIL who kind of needs a hug . . ."
 * If Winter were an animus, he said that he'd create enchanted dens so that scavengers could survive in the freezing cold as well as have a safe place for them to live, so he could observe them more closely.
 * Winter is the second dragon to have been shown with a pet scavenger, the first being Ex-Prince Smolder. However, it is possible that Prince Vermilion also has a scavenger.
 * Winter is one of two dragons to have been given a mantra by a parent, which is "Be strong, be vigilant, strike first. Trust nobody". The other dragon is Moonwatcher.
 * Winter is the third known dragon that has survived Peril's burns, the others being Kestrel and Clay due to his fire-proof scales.
 * Since Winter is related to Prince Arctic, and Arctic is related to Whiteout, and Whiteout is related to Stonemover, and Stonemover is Sunny's father, Winter is very distantly related to Sunny. He is also related to Darkstalker.
 * Because he's related to Darkstalker, it's extremely ironic because how Winter hates Darkstalker.
 * It is shown in Darkness of Dragons that Winter can draw and might have it as a hobby, as Qibli walks in on Winter drawing Moonwatcher.
 * Winter is the second of three dragons in the series shown with scientific aspirations, the first being Mastermind and the third being Cricket.