Wings of Fire ship analysis

WinterWatcher

   WinterWatcher is the ship between MoonWatcher (Moon) of the NightWings & Winter of the IceWings.

   The ship was first introduced in Moon Rising/Winter Turning, when Winter was confirmed to have romantic feelings for Moon. In his inner dialogue, he talked about how he would do anything for her.

   This ship is popular among the fandom and was competing against Moonbli (which ended up being canon). The ship died down a bit after that but there's still plenty of fans of it.

   Let's start off with the pros. Winter uses Moon as a moral compass and thinks about her when in situations he doesn't know how to deal with. Moon cared a lot about him and trusted him to always do the right thing. She even complemented that he would've changed Icicles mind when she was planning to kill the DOD.

   Even when he didn't trust her at first, he genuinely starts to warm up to her. And in Winter Turning, there's lots of romantic tension between the two, especially on Winters side.

   But there's always a con to a ship.

   Like I mentioned earlier, he didn't trust her. Especially when they first met, he yelled at her and threatened her when she held his pet scavenger. He starts to warm up to her eventually... until the explosion at JMA.

That made him loose all trust he had for her. He confronts her and yells at her when she saved from the explosion. Although it is understandable that it was kinda suspicious that she knew about it, maybe she could've smelt the smoke? I think it was really unnecessary for him to talk to her like that.

It takes some time for him to start to trusting her again and he does. She and the rest of the winglet (except for Turtle cus he's a LOSER/J) offer to help him look for his brother. He starts to develop some feelings for her on their journey to finding Hailstorm.

But that all changes when he choose himself to leave her and Qibli for the place that mentally and emotionally abused him to bring back Hailstorm. When he finds out that the place he stayed loyal too wanted him dead, he decided to leave for good. Faking his dead and returning to the Jade Winglet, especially for Moon.

Their relationship isn't talked about in book 8 since it's about Peril, but we do see them in the background when they reunite with Turtle and Peril. When he complained about Darkstalker, he points out about his "terrible powers", according to him. Which, rightly, offends Moon cause she herself had mind reading and future visions.

In book 10, Darkness of Dragons, when he is freed from Darkstalkers spell, he argues with Moon for trusting Darkstalker. Granted, Moon didn't know about the plague or anything about Darkstalkers plans and his spells. Winter knew that but still got mad at her for seeing Darkstalker as trustworthy, although again, she didn't know about anything.

   When she comes to Darkstalkers defense, still not knowing about his spells, he shames her for defending him. It got so bad that he knocked over a vase and just yelled all of the things Darkstalker did instead of telling her in a more calm way. I can see why he's mad because he's seen the effects of animus magic and how it changed a dragon, his brother. But even so, I feel like he shouldn't have blown up at her like that.

   When the battle at Jade mountain occurred, he choose to fight for his tribe, the one that disowned him and didn't think twice about him. I feel like that was the nail in the coffin to signify where his loyalty lies. And that was what made Moon ultimately decide on Qibli.

   Their relationship isn't talked about after the Darkness of Dragons epilogue, but we see his character grown in book 14, The Dangerous Gift. He's a better dragon than he was before and is definitely mentally stable for a relationship. But Moon and Qibli are already dating then and their relationship is better than most of the couples in the series.

   Now my thoughts, I genuinely do not like WinterWatcher, I feel like their whole relationship was just "verbal abuse and then a sudden crush and, Woah, even more verbal abuse. Look he trusts her! Oh no he abandons her, he likes her again, verbal abuse!" Stuff like that. I can never see it happening cause Moon and Qibli are definitely in a way healthier relationship than he and Moon could've had.

   I feel like he only likes Moon because he wanted a way to rebel against his tribe, against the system he grew up with and shamed him constantly. I would rather have them be friends than an actual relationship. Their whole story was a roller coaster of emotions to say the least, I think that it's better if he were to move on from her and focus on the sanctuary rather than a relationship.

   My final thoughts? 0/10 for the ship (sorry WinterWatcher shippers), I just can't think of a way it could benefit them equally. Sure, he'll benefit from Moon but what about Moon herself? I feel like it wouldn't work out at all. Tell me your thoughts about them in the comments and have a good day.

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