Thornsong

Thornsong

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While many dragons from Shadow flight are the fools (by the “jester” definition), Thornsong is instead the foolish. Her coliseum partners, Sage and Smokewing, have been a couple the entire time and have made no attempt to hide it, and yet Thornsong remains completely oblivious, even after the pair raised a hatchling together. It took a long time for her and her own mate, Bramble, to get together because she remained so oblivious to his affection, and by the time they finally became a couple, they had ran out of time, and Bramble had to leave to serve the Stormcatcher not long afterwards. And Thornsong doesn’t really register that there even is a clan conflict; she just thinks Cadfael is really antisocial in general.

So Thornsong is more than a little ditzy. She’s absentminded and clueless and never notices the obvious until it is explicitly spelled out for her — and even then, she might not get the hint. But she uses this to her advantage in the coliseum. Between her witchy style and the “lights are on, no one is home” expression on her face, she tends to be underestimated, only to reveal her full strength and wipe the floor with enemies. She may not have the strongest magic, but she manipulates nearby brambles and thorns to add some extra bite to her attacks, and ends up shredding through the competition. What she lacks in smarts, she makes up for in power.

Thornsong’s ignorance of the obvious has hindered her in many respects, especially socially. However, it does give her an advantage in some aspects. For one, Thornsong has an unprecedented fascination with magic tricks, since she can’t see the workings behind them. Since she pays no attention to the clan conflict and Cadfael’s revolution, she can sleep easy at night without worry. She doesn’t care nor notice what other dragons think about her. Thornsong doesn’t pick up on anything, so she can’t dwell on anything bad.

Thornsong goes through life with her mind in the shadows. Ignorance is bliss, to her. There’s no suffering, pain, or worry to cloud her thoughts. But if one goes through life without those things, can they truly be happy, either?