Dragonslayer

Published in 2020, Legends: Dragonslayer is a young adult fantasy novel by Tui T. Sutherland, the author of the #1 New York Times best-selling Wings of Fire series. The novel is the second installment in the Legends companion series, which provides new perspectives on major events from the main Wings of Fire book series. Set in the world of Pyrrhia, which is dominated by warring dragon tribes, the Wings of Fire series is primarily told from the point of view of dragons. Dragonslayer inverts this convention by focusing on the lives of three young humans—Wren, Leaf, and Ivy—whose paths are shaped by a fraudulent hero and the pervasive threat of dragons. As their separate journeys unfold, their stories intersect in ways that challenge the established order and offer a new future for both species.

Legends: Dragonslayer explores themes such as Greed as a Source of Corruption, Deception as a Tool of Power, and Empathy as a Bridge Across Cultural Divides. The novel subverts traditional fantasy tropes by presenting dragons as complex, intelligent beings and recasting the archetypal dragonslayer as a self-serving fraud. Sutherland has extensive experience writing animal-centric fantasy, having contributed to the best-selling Seekers and Warriors series as part of the Erin Hunter author team. The immensely popular Wings of Fire series has sold millions of copies and has been adapted into a graphic novel format. An animated television series is also in development with Amazon MGM Studios, with Sutherland attached as a co-writer and executive producer.

This guide refers to the 2021 Scholastic Inc. paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, child death, and animal death.

Plot Summary

Twenty years ago, three siblings—Stone, Heath, and their 16-year-old sister Rose—attempt to steal treasure from the palace of the desert dragons, called SandWings. Rose slips inside and passes sacks of gold out to her brothers. As they prepare to leave, the SandWing queen confronts them. Heath and Stone attack her, but the queen unleashes a blast of fire that kills Rose. Enraged, the brothers kill the queen, and Heath severs her venomous tail as a trophy. As other dragons approach, Heath grabs the treasure and flees, leaving Stone to abandon his sister’s body and follow.

In the present, in the mountain village of Talisman, seven-year-old Wren is taken by her parents and the village’s three dragonmancers—self-styled clerics who claim to know the will of the dragons—to be sacrificed to the dragons. Feeling betrayed, she escapes her bonds after they leave her tied to a stone slab. Having previously stolen and read the dragonmancers’ secret books, she knows they are corrupt. Deciding to reject all humans, she flees into the wilderness. By a river, she discovers a small, pale-orange baby mountain dragon who is cold and lacks the ability to breathe fire. A large, rust-colored dragon flies overhead, seemingly searching for the dragonet, who trembles in fear. Wren decides to protect the baby, naming him Sky. Elsewhere, Wren’s eight-year-old brother, Leaf, is told his sister was eaten by dragons due to her disobedience. Filled with rage, he is inspired by the legend of the Dragonslayer, a man who supposedly killed the SandWing queen. Leaf vows to become a dragonslayer to avenge Wren. In the underground city of Valor, Ivy, the young daughter of the Dragonslayer, Heath, grows up hearing his heroic tales. She notices inconsistencies in his stories and the unfairness of his rule, particularly when he banishes a young Wingwatcher named Pine for visiting the ruins of their old village, a place Heath himself frequents. Ivy and her friends, Violet and Daffodil, form a secret club called the Truth Seekers to uncover the truth.

Over the next seven years, the protagonists’ paths diverge. Wren and Sky live in the wilderness. Wren learns that Sky is a vegetarian and confirms that he has no fire, which is likely why he was abandoned. At age nine, she begins visiting the outskirts of the Indestructible City, where she trades Sky’s shed scales with the young prince, Undauntable, for supplies and books. When Sky is large enough, Wren learns to ride him, and they explore the continent. Meanwhile, Leaf secretly trains in combat with his older sister, Rowan, determined to become a dragonslayer and avenge Wren’s supposed death. At 14, he reluctantly becomes an apprentice to the head dragonmancer, Master Trout. Suspecting that the dragonmancers are hiding something, he and a friend, Grove, discover and copy a blueprint of the mountain dragon palace from Trout’s study. Ivy, now eight, begins taking secret trips outside Valor with a sympathetic Wingwatcher named Foxglove. At 13, she and her friends officially join the Wingwatchers. Violet suspects that many of the older Wingwatchers are plotting a revolution against Heath.

At 14, Ivy witnesses a wounded IceWing crash. Her uncle Stone appears, having used an invisibility necklace to ride the dragon back to Valor. He reveals that he has been searching for Rose, whom he now believes may have survived. He tells Ivy the truth about the heist, explaining that Heath’s actions provoked decades of dragon vengeance against human settlements. The Truth Seekers resolve to return Heath’s stolen treasure to the dragons. They search the ruins of their old village but find only a single large blue sapphire. In the desert, Wren allows Sky to visit a dragon city, but he is captured by General Sandstorm’s soldiers to be presented as a gift to their queen, Burn. Wren persuades a black dragon she nicknames “Murderbasket” to fly her to the SandWing palace. There, she meets a human woman, Rose, who has lived in the palace for 20 years. Wren poisons Sandstorm, but he is called to battle before it takes full effect and dies in the desert, taking the key to Sky’s chains with him. Back in the mountains, 15-year-old Leaf’s friend Mushroom steals the copied map and heads to the mountain palace alone. The dragonmancers discover the plan and take Grove hostage, forcing the others to retrieve treasure for them. The group pursues Mushroom, but he betrays them to the dragons to secure his own escape. Leaf and his friends are captured and imprisoned in a pit.

During a feast at the mountain palace, Leaf and his friend Thyme are taken from the pit. Leaf sees that the mountain queen has been attacked and is then abducted by SandWings. A kind brown dragon helps Leaf escape the palace grounds. He sneaks back inside and frees Rowan, Cranberry, and Thyme. Rowan confesses the full truth, that the dragonmancers sacrificed Wren years ago for reading their secret books. Disillusioned, Leaf abandons his friends and their quest for treasure, deciding to find the real Dragonslayer for answers. In Valor, Heath becomes paranoid after Leaf delivers a message from the hostile Invincible Lord of the Indestructible City. Citing a conspiracy with an enemy lord, he begins arresting Wingwatchers, including Violet and Foxglove, for conspiracy. Ivy and Daffodil escape Valor with the sapphire. In the ruins, Ivy saves Leaf from a mountain dragon. A small golden dragon appears, drawn by the sapphire. Ivy’s mother, Lark, helps Leaf steal the rest of the treasure from a hidden cabinet in Heath’s home.

Leaf returns the treasure to the golden dragon, who takes it and flies away. Stone arrives with stolen horses, and he, Ivy, and Leaf ride to the SandWing palace to find Rose. They sneak inside and discover that Rose is alive and does not wish to be rescued. She tells them she recently met a girl named Wren, and Leaf realizes his sister is alive. Rose helps Leaf get a ride on another dragon, Sweetface, to find her. Leaf finds Wren and Sky, and the siblings have an emotional reunion. They fly to Valor, where Sky terrifies Heath into confessing his lies to the entire city. Commander Brook is named the new leader, and the prisoners are freed. The group then travels to Talisman, where Wren uses the dragonmancers’ own record books to expose their history of murder and theft to the entire village. Rowan and her friends decide to use the dragonmancers’ hoard to build a new, safe village. Ivy, Leaf, and Wren depart together, determined to find the golden dragon and work toward peace.

In the Epilogue, Prince Undauntable’s father, the Invincible Lord of the Indestructible City, learns of a “girl who controls dragons” (484). Realizing this must be Wren, he becomes determined to find her and use her power to conquer the world.