The Lost Heir

The Lost Heir by Tui T. Sutherland is the second book in the New York Times best-selling high fantasy series Wings of Fire, which spans over 15 volumes, with multiple spin-off series and adaptations. A prolific American author of New Zealand descent who grew up in Venezuela and Paraguay, Sutherland writes fantasy and fiction for middle grade and young adult audiences. She contributed to the Warriors and Seekers series as part of the Erin Hunter team. Her other works include the Pet Trouble series and spin-offs for Pirates of the Caribbean and Little House on the Prairie. She has worked in theater and publishing.

Wings of Fire is set in Pyrrhia, a world populated by dragon tribes with distinct traits and cultures. The Lost Heir is the second book in the series’ first arc, The Dragonet Prophecy, which centers on the intertribal war for the SandWing tribe throne. According to a prophecy, the chosen dragonets of destiny will end the war and bring peace to Pyrrhia. These dragonets of destiny include Clay the MudWing, Tsunami the SandWing, Starflight the NightWing, Sunny the SandWing, and Glory the RainWing. The Lost Heir centers on Tsunami and continues where the first book, The Dragonet Prophecy, ends. Each volume includes a map of Pyrrhia, the Dragonet Prophecy, and an introduction to the dragon tribes. It discusses themes of Adoptive Family Versus Birth Family, Intrinsic Culture Versus Belonging, and War and Peace and explores symbols of story as legacy, eggs as change, animus magic as self and power, and language as identity.

This guide refers to the 2012 Scholastic Press edition.

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

Plot Summary

The Lost Heir opens with the SeaWing, or aquatic dragon, named Webs, who previously led a SkyWing (a fire-breathing, mountain-dwelling dragon tribe) attack and encountered the Talons of Peace, a rebel group composed of dragons from different tribes, working to end the ongoing war. The Talons deem Webs a failure and attempt to kill him. Webs escapes, aided by a MudWing (an earthbound dragon) named Crocodile, and returns to his homeland.

The dragonets, meanwhile, flee SkyWing troops. They travel to the SeaWing kingdom to find Tsunami’s royal birth family. Struggling with the trauma of killing Gill the SeaWing in the SkyWing arena, a gladiatorial combat pit, Tsunami, the narrator, bickers with the dragonets and fears that they are ostracizing her, especially after a surprise scuffle with a SkyWing patrol.

Tsunami longs for her birth family, whom she imagines will welcome her. She encounters two SeaWings conversing in the SeaWing language Aquatic, which Webs never taught her. One of the SeaWings is Riptide, an outcast who leads the dragonets to the SeaWing Summer Palace (a palace near the ocean’s surface) so that Tsunami can meet Queen Coral, her mother. The SeaWings view Tsunami with cold curiosity and are openly hostile to the other dragonets. Tsunami is shocked to learn that Riptide is Webs’s son.

Queen Coral arrives. Her younger daughter, Anemone, is the heir to the SeaWing throne and is kept harnessed to her mother. Coral initially welcomes Tsunami, expressing superficial interest; she shows Tsunami her prolific publications and introduces her to the obsequious councilor Whirlpool. They are interrupted by the discovery of Kestrel’s murdered corpse. Tsunami conceals her relationship with Kestrel, wanting to discuss it with the dragonets first.

During a rare private moment, Tsunami bonds with Anemone. The sisters share their frustrations with parental figures and consider how to help each other. Anemone tells Tsunami about Orca, Coral’s eldest daughter, who challenged Coral for the throne and died.

The next day, Tsunami accompanies Coral and Anemone to the SeaWing court but commits several unintentional gaffes. Coral learns that King Gill died in the SkyWing arena; Tsunami conceals that she killed him but learns that Gill was her birth father. Shaken, Tsunami is later pulled into a challenging Aquatic lesson with Whirlpool. She flees and encounters Riptide, who offers a practical Aquatic lesson instead. When Tsunami leaves, she is ambushed by an unknown assailant. By the time Riptide arrives, the dragon is gone.

Tsunami reports this to Coral, but instead of panicking over Tsunami’s well-being, Coral rushes to the Royal Hatchery to check on her two eggs. Many of Coral’s eggs died mysteriously; Anemone and Tsunami are the only survivors. One of the two eggs is dead. Enraged, Coral executes the nursemaid; Tsunami volunteers to protect the last one. Coral reluctantly agrees.

Concerned for the dragonets, Tsunami returns to the SeaWing Summer Palace alone with the egg. Lost in a storm, she depends on Riptide to get back. The dragonets were imprisoned and abandoned to the storm floods; they are shackled and can’t escape. Though enraged, Tsunami uses persuasion rather than force to free the dragonets and wins support from the commoner SeaWings. Tsunami asks Sunny to incubate Coral’s egg, and Sunny is delighted.

The next morning, Coral panics at finding her egg with Sunny. Blister, one of the SandWings vying for the throne and allied with the SeaWings, arrives. She is manipulative, pressuring Starflight (and the dragonets) to support her. He is immediately overruled, to her disgust. During the feast for Blister, Kestrel’s murder is revealed. Tsunami and Starflight discover that Blister is involved.

Blister asks about the SeaWings’ secret weapon for the war. Anemone includes Tsunami in the demonstration. Anemone is an animus mage, a dragon born with rare magical ability to enchant objects, though she hides the extent of her powers. Whirlpool is her tutor. She begs Tsunami to free her before Blister’s demands destroy her. The demonstration is interrupted when Blister discovers an intruder, Webs, and rips the camouflage palace canopy when she attacks. Both Blister and Coral want Webs dead. They attack Webs, injuring him, and Riptide is captured. Blister manipulates Coral into believing that Riptide and Webs are the egg murderers, and Coral imprisons them.

Convinced that her egg is safe, Coral sends it back to the Royal Hatchery. Tsunami accompanies it, determined to catch the real murderer. The real culprit, a memorial statue of Orca, comes to life in the hatchery and attacks Tsunami. She defeats it, deducing the spell: Orca cursed it to eternally kill off her succession competitors, Coral’s daughter-eggs. It secretly animates only when the hatchery door is closed and the room is unattended. Tsunami freezes the statue by opening the door; the room is unattended because of Coral’s misplaced overconfidence. The egg hatches safely.

With the case closed, Tsunami and Auklet, the hatchling, return to the Summer Palace. Tsunami’s assailant is still at large, but the trail is cold. Riptide, now proven innocent, must be released but is now considered an exile. Tsunami offers to take him, inadvertently revealing that the dragonets want to leave. Blister, displeased, manipulates Coral into imprisoning them in cells formed by water-charged electric eels. As the dragonets plot their escape, Anemone arrives. She is temporarily freed from Coral. Anemone can’t spring the dragonets, but she enchants a spear to find Tsunami’s assailant, Whirlpool. He wants to become king and threatens to reveal the truth about Anemone’s powers. Panicked, Anemone accidentally knocks him into the electric eel pool, and the eels electrocute him. To protect her, the dragonets send Anemone away before escaping their cell. The palace is suddenly attacked by SkyWing firebombs.

The prison guards rush to defend the palace, and the dragonets free Riptide and Webs. Riptide confesses that he joined the Talons of Peace, and Tsunami is angry that he lied to her again. Crocodile appears; as a SkyWing spy, she had followed Webs to find the SeaWing palace. Glory kills her with her venom. As they escape, Tsunami sees Coral sacrificing her flammable publications to protect her people. Tsunami feels hopeful for Coral’s character growth. Riptide decides to stay and protect his SeaWing home.

Blister suddenly attacks the injured Webs. Although the dragonets fend her off and protect him from a fatal injury, she still poisons him. The dragonets flee south with Webs. When they stop to rest, Tsunami makes up with Glory and Starflight. She suggests that the RainWings’ knowledge of venom might save Webs. Glory is touched.

In the final chapter, Morrowseer the NightWing, Blister’s secret ally, summons the Talons of Peace. They are displeased with recent events. The Talons offer an alternate set of “chosen” dragonets, though they may not match up to the originals. Blister plans to use the new set to twist the prophecy in her favor.