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Charmed Dragons
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The Charmed Dragons have access to magic - or 'Charm' as it's called in the story - via a connection to a strange otherworld called The Realm. The Realm is becoming harder to access and the Charmed are finding it harder to access it.
Tropes for Charmed as a whole
- Amazing Technicolor Population: One of the perks to being a Charmed dragon is that you can turn your scales any colour you wish.
- Brought Down to Normal: Towards the end of the story, when Charm becomes completely inaccessible. After that, all they are, are strangely-coloured, strangely-shaped Naturals.
- Glory Days: Feeling bitter about the glory days of Charm is part of the problem between the Charmed and the Naturals, whom they tend to scapegoat over the issue.
Brutus
- Ax-Crazy: He's a heavy, experienced soldier on the verge of madness.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Grey. Cold and unimaginative, much like Brutus himself.
- Combat Pragmatist: He's the leader of the Aether's Cross garrison.
- Dungeon Bypass: Brutace is in one part of a rocky labyrinth, Cumber in another. He uses magic to galvanize his wings so that he can fly through the rock, straight to Cumber's location.
- Meaningful Name: Brutus is most certainly a brute.
- The Cynic: He doesn't believe Cumber's explanation of why he's come to Aether's Cross, nor why he's travelling with a Natural.
Cumber
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Fortune. He has plenty of reason to feel bitter or fearful towards Naturals (which Fortune is), but the pair of them have a lot in common and look after each other.
- Big Brother Is Watching: Cumber watches one of Wraith's sentries from a distance... and it has no idea.
- Big "NO!": He does one when Pander tries to body-swap with him.
- Break the Cutie: Cumber's just an eager student who loses his tutor in a riot, embarks on a journey to tell the dragon leader of the destruction of his home only to discover that the same is happening all over the world, and realises en route that he has access to power that could tear the planet apart.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: He has a special place in the story, and is gold to start with. Later, he turns himself white.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: The inherently pacifist Cumber finds himself fighting Hex to the death. He finds a way.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: He has to pull this on Fortune in the South Point caves, when Fortune doggedly insists that there must be a decent-sized population of Charmed there.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: When Cumber has to cross a small battlefield of Charmed and Natural dragons, he coats himself in ice and then storms through them. 'Charge' might be pushing it.
- Forgets to Eat: During his recovery from Realmshock.
- Great Escape: Cumber's mission is at Aether's Cross is to locate and free Fortune, and then find the exit before any of the Charmed garrison find them.
- Guile Hero: Cumber pretends to be one of Wraith's officials so that he and Fortune survive their capture at Aether's Cross.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Scales instead of hair, but the same rule applies.
- Heroic BSoD: Realmshock: the shock that comes from realising you possess power intense enough to tear the planet apart beneath your feet.
- High-School Sweethearts: There is no school in the Dragoncharm universe beyond some tutoring from older dragons, but Cumber is in late adolescence when he meets, and falls in love with, Velvet.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Cumber has to teach himself how to use Charm.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Develops one with Scoff.
- Martial Pacifist: Cumber goes to the ends of the earth (almost literally) to prevent war, and the one time he has a true tantrum, he storms through a group of dragons in mid-battle surrounded by a flexible bubble of ice so they can't hurt themselves while trying to hurt him.
- Meaningful Name: 'Cumber' is an old word for burden, and Cumber is burdened with a tough task early in the story.
- Mind Rape: He is the victim of this when Realmshock strikes. The charms in the Realm whisper to him, tempting him to use them. Scoff reveals that this never stops so the only way to overcome Realmshock is to learn to ignore them.
- Mistaken for Badass: half-qualifies when trying to convince Brutace he's one of Wraith's messengers.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He mainly does this in private after he kills Hex, but his Realmshock makes it even worse.
- Nice Guy: Cumber strives to be this and succeeds, despite his unexpectedly ruthless approach to self-defense.
- Slipped the Ropes: Kind of. Charm allows him to escape Wood's clutch.
- The Charmer: He doesn't realise it, but his disarmingly Adorkable personality neutralises at least two characters' opinions that all Charmed dragons are monsters.
- The Chooser of the One: He's roughly the same age as Fortune and Wood, but he has to figure out which of them is the One.
- The Comically Serious: This is the first thing about him that Gossamer and Velvet both notice. Gossamer has always believed that the Charmed were terribly grand creatures, but when she sees him he's just a harrassed dragon politely trying to herd her towards the exit to the Aether's Cross prison. Velvet has been taught that the Charmed are monsters, but instead she finds him to be good, and... funny.
- Through His Stomach: Charmed dragons traditionally cook rabbits and fish for dinner. Because most of the Naturals he meets have never met a (friendly) Charmed before, this becomes one of his most effective ways of winning them over to the benefits of Charm. Fortune and Velvet both approve very much of the taste of cooked meat.
- True Companions: With Fortune, Scoff, Gossamer and Velvet.
- Voice of the Legion: Cumber temporarily invests his voice with this to shock Wood and Fortune from going into the same cavern as the Charmed during their cave-adventure in South Point.
Halcyon
- Empty Piles of Clothing: The dragons of Dragoncharm don't wear clothes, but after Wraith takes Halcyon into the Realm and returns with him, he is only carrying Halcyon's skin.
Hex
- Ax-Crazy
- Barrier-Busting Blow: He wants to retrieve a Natural dragon from a cell in Aether's Cross, so destroys one wall using magic.
- Insane Equals Violent
- Meaningful Name: A hex is a bad-luck charm. Having Hex around is generally bad news, although that's got more to do with the fact that he's almost lost his grip on reality.
Insiss
- Cruel and Unusual Death: When he chooses to follow Halcyon instead of Wraith, Wraith punishes him by throwing a charm at him that makes his head fall off.
- Death Is Dramatic: Averted. Neither of the two dragons present at his death pay Insiss' actual death any attention.
- Light Is Not Good: He's got white scales but is somewhat sadistic.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Played with, to Wraith and Halcyon.
- The Dragon: Zigzagged. Starts out as this to Wraith, but as his campaign goes on, Wraith decides to deal with his followers himself.
- Would Harm a Senior: He amputates Scoff's wings.
Lapse
- Smug Super: Until he's picked to pathfind for Wraith, that is: that's a task that is known by this point in the story to be lethal.
Mantle
- Meaningful Name: This dragon bears the mantle of escorting the Seed of Charm to its necessary resting place.
- Threshold Guardian: Mantle is the keeper of the entrance to the Maze.
Ordinal
- Devoured by the Horde: By the Naturals of South Point.
- Living Emotional Crutch: She was this to Cumber, until she died in the riot of South Point.
Pander
- Ceiling Cling: As part of his desperate attempt to survive the riot of South Point.
- Death Wail: Provides his own.
- Insane Equals Violent: He's prepared to use magic to swap his mortally-injured body with Cumber's, despite having known Cumber his whole life.
Scoff
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Has shades of this. Brilliant might be too strong a word, but he's an ambassador for Halcyon and proud of his role.
- Cool Old Guy
- Hates Small Talk
- Honorary Uncle
- Ineffectual Loner: At first.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Develops one with Fortune and Cumber.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: He may have spent a big portion of his life in the cushy role of ambassador for the leader of the Charmed, but he makes a good scrapper
- Meaningful Name: Such an appropriate name for such a cynic.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya: with Cumber and Stition.
- Nice Guy: Once you get beyond the gruff exterior, he is this.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside
- The Charmer: Before the madness starts to overcome the Charmed population, Scoff was an ambassador for Halcyon. Despite being a dragon of few words, he does come over as having a stately quality.
- The Cynic: Scoff's an older dragon who enjoyed a comfortable life until the events leading to the Turning uprooted him. He's partly upset that his life can never be the same as it was, but he has an obvious, underlying cynism beyond this.
- True Companions: With Fortune, Cumber, Gossamer and Velvet.
- Tsundere
Spar
- Meaningful Name: For a warrior-dragon? You betcha.
Stition
- Angry Guard Dog
- Insane Equals Violent: He's awfully willing to pick a fight with Cumber. Thankfully, his insanity also gives him such a short attention span that he forgets to carry through on his threats.
- The Hyena: The insanity gradually infecting the Charmed has not been kind to him.
Volence
- Decapitation Strike: Volence isn't decapitated, but when Barker approaches him and tries to strike him, he discovers that Volence is already dead, reduced to dust.
Wraith
- Alas, Poor Villain: When Wraith dies, the author goes out of his way to make sure the reader knows to feel sorry for him. "So lonely. Lost dragon."
- Bad Boss: Sacrifices his own followers for pathfinding reasons, after first stirring them up to an almost religious fervour for his cause.
- Berserk Button: Being reminded of Welkin has this effect on him.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Black. He's as dark on the inside as out.
- Control Freak
- Crazy Cat Lady: A male example. He wants to resurrect a long-extinct, non-dragon Charmed species called the Zirafe.
- Dark Is Evil
- Determinator: He's managed to stir up a huge amount of enthusiastic support among the terrified and resentful Charmed... which he undermines by using them as living minesweepers.
- Last Villain Stand: With Fortune.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome
- Villain Ball: He's plainly holding it in both claws in the heart of the Maze. He could just go ahead and kill Fortune and Wood, but instead he makes a long speech to Fortune, tells him all about the Seed of Charm, and then has a meltdown when Wood arrives.
Natural Dragons
The Natural Dragons began to hatch from the eggs of Charmed dragons when Charm first started retreating from the world. They were uanble to use Charm and were considered crippled. As their numbers grew and it became clear that being a Natural wasn't a disability but a species/subspecies, the Naturals left the Charmed populations. Over time, the two groups became untrusting of each other.
Natural 'Dragons' are actually wyverns and can be coloured anywhere between reddish-brown to dull green, although some grey ones may turn up and some strains are patterned.
Tropes for Naturals as a whole
- Brought Down to Normal: An offscreen example, in that this is why the Naturals exist in the first place.
Barker
- Blind Obedience: Zig-zagged. Barker starts off this way with Shatter, but disagrees with Shatter's plan of action on one occasion. Only one. He doesn't do it again.
- Meaningful Name: Barker's known for being a bit shouty.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: He's the ideal fundamentalist foot-soldier to Shatter.
- Parental Abandonment: When his mate Eleken died, he retreated into himself and more or less left his son, Wood, to cope by himself. They still live together at the start of the story, but their relationship is stone-cold.
Brace
- Almost Out of Oxygen: While in the Aether's Cross prison, Cumber accidentally causes a magic glitch that sends drinking water to enter Brace's cell but doesn't give it anywhere to escape.
- Aloof Ally: When Brace and Gossamer are reunited, at first he won't warm to any of the other dragons, only showing any warmth to Gossamer.
- Caught in a Snare: Soon after being released from his cell at Aether's Cross.
- Character Development: In spades!
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Brace gets a lot of character development throughout this story. He starts off as a chubby little brother and ends up as a stocky but proud adventurer and protector.
- Declaration of Protection: At the end of the book, Brace makes one of these to save his community, who are currently trapped at Aether's Cross.
- Desperately Craves Affection: The poor guy is one of two siblings, the other of which was the favourite. When they have to grow up overnight, i.e., when their home is pillaged and they are thrown in prison, and subsequently broken out of said prison he's the least-liked member of the group.
- Dirty Coward: Decided to offer knowledge of Fortune and Cumber's friendship to the leadership circle of the Naturals, thinking it will make other dragons respect him.
- His Own Worst Enemy: His desire to be liked and to be strong and brave enough to rescue his sister leads him into all sorts of scrapes.
- Ineffectual Loner
- Inferiority Superiority Complex
- Informed Flaw: He is introduced as being a big eater and that this is responsible for his chubbiness, but we never see him eating, and he only says he's hungry once.
- Irrational Hatred: He goes from being an enthusiastic Charmed dragon-spotter to hating them.
- My Beloved Smother: His mum used to feed him too much because he was such a strapping hatchling and seemed to hope he would grow into an exceptionally big adult.
- Not Worth Killing: During the raid of Aether's Cross he hears one of the Charmed attackers saying of him, “We'll pick up fatty later”.
- Rising Water, Rising Tension: When he's stuck in his cell at Aether's Cross.
- The Corruptible: He falls in with a group of dragons called Sleet, Whittle and Dredge, but that happens off-screen and we get very little detail about what passes, except that Brace realises after that he was blinded with the desire for revenge against Fortune and Cumber, and the Charmed overall.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: As the least popular member of the group that escapes Aether's Cross, he is this.
- The Load: He is this when he is first rescued by Cumber at Aether's Cross. Soon after, when he and Fortune meet, Fortune has to rescue him, too, giving him the reputation of being not just a Load, but a belligerent Load.
- The Resenter: To Fortune. In fact, Fortune's getting the share of Brace's resentment that would have been directed at Gossamer.
- Tsundere: He is quite cold and prickly early in the story, only thawing out as he gets more secure in himself.
Caprice
- The Charmer: She certainly got Wood's attention.
- Meaningful Name: The one, fleeting scene we see of Caprice, she's shown as having a short attention span.
Clarion
- Obi-Wan Moment: In the epilogue.
Eleken
To be completed.
Fortune
- Action Survivor: When South Point burns, Fortune hasn't even had flying lessons and can only glide a little. He has no choice but to learn - fast - because the whole of South Point is in flames below him. He learns with Cumber by his side, telling him not to panic.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Cumber. The Charmed have a reputation for being mysterious, but Fortune is curious rather than fearful from the outset. By the time they reach Aether's Cross, it's clear that their friendship has long-since transcended their race differences.
- Badass Normal: Fortune is a magicless dragon who changes the course of the future, even when Charmed dragons try to stop him.
- Birds of a Feather: With Wood. Both knew, and miss, Welkin, Fortune's late father. It's their very similarity that causes Wraith's Sanity Slippage.
- Bold Explorer - played with. He thinks he's this and then gets so much more than he bargained for.
- Break the Cutie: Fortune has some of the best character development in the trilogy. He starts out as an adventurous, but innocent, youngster, intent on getting to know the Charmed because his late father was so involved with them, so they could tell him more about his father than his mother did. His home is burned to the ground early in the story, he falls in love with Gossamer only to be separated fro her and soon after, has reason to believe she is dead, and has to face the ultimate dragon warlord to save the world.
- Claustrophobia: Natural dragons are described as having a wide gait, so when Cumber first leads him down into the South Point caves (likely the first time he's been in a tunnel system) he's understandably conscious of how close the walls are.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Natural dragons who demonstrate warmth towards the Charmed have a tendency to be a little more richly-coloured. Fortune isn't notably bold in colouration, but has a richness and lustre to his scales.
- Dare to Be Badass
- Decoy Protagonist: It was meant to be Cumber, but Fortune ends up just as pivotal to the events of the story, if not more so.
- Disappeared Dad: His father, Welkin, died the morning after he hatched.
- Guile Hero: He pretends to be a giddy juvenile to throw Shatter's sentries off the scent.
- High-School Sweethearts: There is no school in the Dragoncharm universe beyond some tutoring from older dragons, but Fortune is in his late adolescence when he meets, and falls in love with, Gossamer.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Develops one with Scoff.
- Just a Kid: This is Werth's first impression of Fortune.
- Literal Cliffhanger: Averted, since Fortune can fly.
- Love at First Sight: The first time he sees Gossamer.
- Meaningful Name: Fortune plays a pivotal role in securing the future of dragonkind.
- Pretty Boy: Fortune is established as being rather pretty.
- River of Insanity: Fortune half-drowns in a torrent and believes he is about to die.
- The Charmer: Fortune has an innocent quality that wins over several characters throughout the story, including the Flight.
- The Chosen One: According to the book's blurb, he 'holds the key to a new race of dragons'.
- The Precarious Ledge: He wakes up on one after leaving the Maze of Covamere and is found one by Tallow. Partly averted as he is a dragon and could fly off.
- True Companions: With Cumber, Scoff, Gossamer and Velvet.
Gossamer
- Ascended Fangirl: Gossamer had always been fascinated by Charmed dragons, but never expected to end up with several as friends.
- Big Sister Instinct: When she meets the much smaller Velvet in the forest, she quickly develops a protective instinct towards her.
- Break the Cutie: Being separated from Fortune comes close to this.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Gossamer has always believed she had an affinity for Charm, and is more colourful than most Naturals, having dapples on her back. Later in the story, she turns white. This is for camouflage reasons, but sets her up as a 'pure/good' character.
- High-School Sweethearts: There is no school in the Dragoncharm universe beyond some tutoring from older dragons, but Gossamer is in her late teens when she meets, and falls in love with, Fortune.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: This is the gist of Gossammer. She doesn't seem at all prone to rage or dishonesty, and helps Fortune overcome the basilisk's psychological warfare on him while he holds the Seed of Charm.
- Meaningful Name: Gossamer, according to the book, is "as slender and graceful as her name."
- Shipperon Deck - for Cumber and Velvet
- The Pollyanna: Gossamer has a very positive attitude, especially when Velvet needs to her to after the torching of her native forest.
- True Companions: With Fortune, Scoff, Cumber and Velvet.
Kale
To be completed.
Loom
To be completed.
Mulch
- The Cynic: Mulch is very suspicious of Fortune, the one time he meets him, assuming that he's probably a member of the Flight. He even doubts Tallow, who is present at the time and who has spent off-screen time cajoling Mulch into believing he's politically inert.
Piper
- Family of Choice: With Weft, Volley and Tallow.
- Non-Action Guy: We hardly see any of Piper during the story, but he seems to be this, at least compared to his companions.
Poon
To be completed.
Shatter
- Can't Take Criticism: Shatter does not like his point of view being challenged.
- Cycle of Revenge: He deliberately causes one of these by destroying Natural eggs and a hatchling, and blaming it on the Charmed.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Moderation is not Shatter's strongest suit.
- Hypocrite: Shatter will not fight in a mass battle, although he will certainly take the credit.
- Meaningful Name: It's fair to say that Shatter has a broken mind.
- The Chosen One: Due to his serious issues with mental stability, he believes he is.
- Would Hurt a Child: Destroys two eggs and a newborn dragon, and frames it on the Charmed to encourage a riot.
Tallow
- Acquainted with Emergency Services: He is known by Shatter's 'police' to be associated with the Flight, who don't want the war Shatter's preparing for.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Averted. Although Tallow has both brains and brawn, he doesn't use them for power.
- Family of Choice: With Weft, Piper and Volley.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Tallow deliberately downplays his brains to appear harmless during some politically volatile times, but shows during Fortune's speech to the Flight that he has a good brain. He also demonstrates a first-rate capacity for pathfinding, and proves himself to be one of the most expert fliers of his time, constantly teaching himself more about dragon biology, the effects of altitude, temperature etc. on flight, and doubtless far more.
- Guile Hero: Tallow is not above being deceptive to keep himself in one piece.
- Hidden Depths: Tallow would much rather fly under the radar (no pun intended) as a simple forest dragon, but is in truth a self-taught flying specialist.
- Rebellious Spirit: Not the most obvious one, since Tallow is rarely hot-headed, but he knows what he thinks and he thinks war will bring disaster.
- The Big Guy
- The Smart Guy
Tillery
To be completed.
Torque
To be completed.
Tumely
- Combat Pragmatist: Is one of the eager participants in the riot of South Point, and survives because he turns up later in the story as part of Shatter's closest.
- The Cynic: If it means that he doesn't get to fight, he won't believe it.
Tongue
To be completed.
Velvet
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Velvet develops a crush on Cumber.
- True Companions: With Fortune, Scoff, Gossamer and Cumber.
- Action Survivor: When Velvet first enters the story, she's just a simple forest dragon. Just thinking about living without the forest is enough to blow her mind. When the forest burns down, she suddenly has no choice.
Volley
- Family of Choice: With Weft, Piper and Tallow.
- Meaningful Name: Volley is enthusiastic, athletic and energetic.
Weft
- Family of Choice: With Volley, Piper and Tallow.
Welkin
- Good Is Not Dumb: Welkin is the only Natural dragon ever to negotiate the Maze. Bearing in mind that the Maze isn't you're average labyrinth and makes its own choice about who to let through, it's obvious he lined things up to succeed, long before he set foot inside.
- Obi-Wan Moment: In the epilogue.
Werth
- Action Girl: An older example. She's an activist protestor against Shatter's plans to fight the Charmed, and is the leader of the Flight. Later, she makes up part of Brace's team to rescue the trapped dragons of Aether's Cross.
Wood
- Birds of a Feather: With Fortune. Both knew, and miss, Welkin, Fortune's late father. It's their very similarity that causes Wraith's Sanity Slippage.
- Combat Pragmatist: Wood's angry, and he isn't above getting into a fight.
- Disappeared Dad: His biological father, Barker, is more interested in political protest than in him, and his surrogate father, Welkin, died when he was very young.
- Family of Choice: In the absence of loving parents, he chooses Welkin as a surrogate father.
- High-School Sweethearts: There is no school in the Dragoncharm universe beyond some tutoring from older dragons, but Wood is still a youngster when he develops a shine for Caprice.
- Meaningful Name: Ever heard the rhyme, Quality wood never grows with ease//the brisker the wind, the stronger the trees? Wood's a tough cookie.
- Parental Abandonment: Has a triple-whammy of this. His mother wanted a daughter so was frosty towards him for being male. When his mother died in a storm, his father avoided him and spent a lot of time out of the nest. And finally, Wood sought comfort in Fortune's father, Welkin, only for Welkin to die of old age.
Non-Dragons
Most of the Dragoncharm characters are dragons, but a few other species turn up on occasion.
Ant
To be completed.
The Basilisk
To be completed.
Earth Giant
To be completed.
The Faery Queen
To be completed.
