Wings of Fire Ship Thoughts, Critiques, and Overall Opinions

Cleril // Peril x Clay

So, lets get arguably the biggest ship in the fandom out of the way first! In this chapter we'll be discussing Cleril and our thoughts on it. We have pretty similar thoughts on it, but we will still be making two separate segments discussing our reasoning for why we... guess what, don't like it! Don't immediately yell at us in the comments, we have reasons.

And, well, just because a ship is canon doesn't make it good.

eaz's thoughts

Cleril is one of the ships nearly everyone likes. It's been there forever, due to the idea of it first popping up in book 1 of arc 1. The two have multiple canonical interactions, and Clay is the only one who can touch Peril and really understands her as a dragon, considering her a good friend. I can understand why people ship it- at the very least, they're the same age, and unrelated, and it isn't too toxic. 

But lets really get into the reasons why I don't like it. Ever since Peril discovered that Clay could touch her without being melted, she seemed to be infatuated with him- this is undeniable. But at points, most especially in Peril's book (Escaping Peril) the SkyWing seemed to be weirdly... obsessive over Clay. She was constantly thinking about him to a point where it got frankly annoying, and just seemed to be really thirsty for him. It begs the question, why? 

Now, of course, the main idea is this: "Oh, since he can touch her, he understands she is more than just a scary dragon and in turn looks passed it!" Now, this is nice and all, and does seem true. However, when it gets to a point where Peril shows obsessive qualities towards this dragon JUST stemming from the fact that they can touch each other? Really. Just because they can touch doesn't mean they must be lovers (this is more directed towards Tui...) Looking passed this at the aspect of him "understanding her more than anyone else," beyond the obsessive traits that Peril shows during her book, we don't really have much evidence of Clay returning any feelings. I suppose I don't really mind some ideas and scenarios with it, but the way it is portrayed in canon is frankly uncomfortable. I prefer them as friends, as I think it can work better. Remember, everyone- not everyone has to be in a romantic/sexual relationship!

gale's thoughts

one big reason why people ship clay and peril is because they "understand each other" or whatever. yes, clay is like, the only dragon peril can touch without getting ridiculed or harming them, but most people do seem to forget that clay's scales are fire resistant, not proof. just because she can touch him doesn't mean that he's completely immune to harm (plus, he needed mud anyways to activate said ability) 

 also, peril is pretty overly clingy to clay as well. this is most likely an effect of scarlet's abuse and her latching on to one of the only people that was nice to her, though peril can't live with such a mindset forever. one day she needs to realize that she can't only rely on one person 24/7, or to be constantly clinging to their side whenever they're around. and the way she thinks about him in her pov book is... really uncomfortable and unhealthy to some degree. she just needs to learn that she can make other friends instead of lusting after the one dragon that she can touch.

OVERALL RATING OUT OF 10 (for both of us)

4/10