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namesareweird579 · 3 months ago

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Ochre is an interesting character based on the fact that he's not interesting. I think about how the books treat him compared to the other false dod, his personality, his tribe his role in the story, and most importantly, his lost potential.

The design:

Let's start off with Ochre's design. Ochre is a dark grayish brown, with a darker grayish brown topside, a dark peach stomach and wings, and gray horns. Compared to other dragons, Ochre uses dull, unappealing colors in his character design in order to make him stand out less compared to more vibrant characters in a way by using these dull colors to describe him it in a way has the opposite effect makes him stand out compared to the more vibrant characters. Additionally, by using these colors, it allows him to parallel Clay as Clay is a character who's way more warm and inviting than Ochre. By being a parallel it to Clay, it allows him to be a foil to him and thus the dod as a whole and their relationships with each other.

The personality:

Ochre is gluttonous, apathetic, and incapable of thinking anyone but himself, especially when it comes to food. Compared to the other false dragonets of destiny, he's generally less aggressive than Flame and Viper, less Cowardly than Squid, and less kind than Fatespeaker. As a result, Ochre just kind of appears to be there. However, as you look into his personality, you find yourself wondering why he's like this? For the other false dod, you get hints or answers for why they are the way they are, Flame and Viper are lashing out over being taken away from their parents and want to go home, Squid as the son of the leader of the Talons of Peace was sheltered and unprepared to deal with Morrowseer and the volcano and Fatespeaker is coping with the fact that she has nobody in her life who supports her so she copes by telling herself that these dragons that are being so horrible to her are actually her friends. What about Ochre? There's no hint as to why he's so apathetic, and he's portrayed as gluttonous because he's a mudwing, and it's easy to just portray them as gluttonous. It's hard for Ochre to properly be a character when it's not explained why he is the way he is. Additionally, while the false dod(except Fatespeaker) are portrayed as horrible, there's scenes in the story that show they aren't completely unreedemable and that they were suffering too, Squid being sent into the skywing kingdom, Viper yelling at Fatespeaker about how she could've still been with her parents before brutally dying, and Flame crying in his mother's arms. What does Ochre get? Being beat up by Flame? Maybe, but the plot doesn't really linger on it, and you don't see Starflight feeling bad for Ochre like he does for Squid and later Viper. Starflight forgetting Ochre in the volcano? Once again not really since the book doesn't make Ochre seem to care. It feels a little unfair that Ochre doesn't get a chance to be vulnerable like the other false dod and it makes him harder to connect with him, you don't get to see more than his surface level traits and thus he'll always be seen as an Apathetic glutton, as a result it forces you to look way deeper to see Ochre as an interesting character, luckily for Ochre due to the tribe he's from there is a plothole in his story.

Being a mudwing:

Ochre is a mudwing. The most notable thing about mudwings is their society, where they're raised by their sibs. The oldest mudwing who hatches is the bigwings and takes care of the other sibs. From the little we know about mudwings, the sib groups do everything together, and from what we see, mudwings seem to be a little lost without their bigwings. Now, back to Ochre, the only family member he's mentioned to have is his mom, who doesn't seem to care about him. Ochre is never mentioned to have any sibs, which means that for all his life, he potentially had no one who ever really cared about him as a result it could've molded him into the apathetic character he is now. Additionally, besides eating a lot, Ochre never seems to get to experience the life of a mudwing. We're unaware of how Ochre could potentially react if he had mudwingish life (like Clay getting excited about mud and learning that he was just trying to help the other dragonets hatch). It makes me wonder if Ochre was in the mud kingdom if it would give him the chance to explore other parts of himself and highlight more potential character traits. Additionally, if Ochre does have sibs, if he meets them, it could demonstrate his dynamic with other dragons he doesn't potentially loathe.

What does he even do?:

When we first meet Ochre, he's scrapping with the other false dod (though in the graphic novel he's seen eating a pig). Later, he's seen being ill after eating rotten food on the nightwing inland. In book 4, when he's introduced, he talks about food and comments on how Starflight is quieter than Fatespeaker, then he tries to kill Starflight with the rest of the false dod, then he gets himself and Flame captured by nightwings. Later, when Morrowseer leads Starflight and the false dod to the skywing outpost, where he makes a comment about how'd never go a month without eating. Then, when they get to the outposts, Ochre is visibly afraid of going to the outposts. When he does, he starts to eat the food there. Afterward, he does nothing to convince Morrowseer to keep Squid. Later, when Morrowseer brings the group back to the nightwing island Flame and Ochre spar until Ochre wails not wanting to fight anymore. Afterwards, when Viper falls into the lava, Starflight tries to get him to save Viper, but he refuses to budge and grumbles about not being born on the brightest night before going off to get food. Ochre then appears again to go to the rainforest. In book 5, Ochre sits in the rainforest eating fruit, until he begrudgingly leads Sunny and Tsunami to the talons of peace camp, and that's his last physical appearance, but he does get indirectly mentioned in book 9. That's Ochre's relevancy. Ochre doesn't do anything to move the plot along besides heading to the talons of peace camp. Something I found interesting was Ochre being convinced to go to the camp, previous instances of his character make me think that he'd sit there gorging messily on fruit until Sunny and Tsunami went away, but he didn't. Why is that? Could it perhaps be a semblance of hope? That his life could change for the better? (I know it's because they needed Sunny to get to the ToP and plot's gotta plot, and he was the most convenient but shush) In a way it also shows that even if he's actually terrible at and he wasn't doing it to be a hero and mostly because he felt like he had to but it shows that he can do good and he can make atleast okay decisions. Something I noticed that Ochre's the only false dod to not appear in arc 2 (besides Viper because of well, uh y'know), which makes you wonder what happened to him? Could he have possibly grown as a character since then? Unfortunately, we may never know...

How he's treated:

From reading the books, I get the impression the books really don't want you like him, no redeeming qualities, no moment of vulnerability, the only good thing he does is bogged down by the fact he was unpleasant the whole time he was doing it, not appearing in arc 2, and finally everything single character having a negative opinion on him, even Sunny. If your whole cast of characters doesn't like this character, then it's pretty hard to like said character. It seems a little unfair that this mediocre character is kinda treated like dirt. Even some of the most hated and/or evil characters or had someone who saw them at least somewhat positively. (Coral found Whirlpool endearing, Sunny mourned Kestrel when she died, Foeslayer loved Arctic even when he was horrible to her, Burn had a decent relationship with Oasis, Qibli wanted Cobra's attention for years no matter how horrible she was to him, Snowfall feels a little bad for Tundra in the beginning when Narwhal dies, etc) Nobody sees Ochre positively so it makes sense that Ochre is seen in a negative light all the time. In a way, it makes me kinda like him out of spite for that. It makes me want to see him as a deeper character.

(Bonus) How might I rewrite him?:

I feel like Ochre's foundation is good, he can start out the same way, but what would change is that he's slightly nicer to Fatespeaker. In this rewrite, he would have sibs that he was taken away from at a young age, and as a result, it stops him from being able to forming relationships with other dragons, Fatespeaker being nice to him makes him uncomfortable because he doesn't know how to express that he wants to be friends with her too, and that he wants to form a genuine relationship with her, cause what if he loses her? What would change is after his fight with Flame when Fatespeaker tells Morrowseer, Ochre should stop fighting, something resonates with him, and when he sees Viper falls into the lava, he still hesitates when Starflight tries to get him to save Viper but upon seeing how distressed she is goes to rescue her, but to his shock he's not actually fire proof and violently burns his talons fishing her out, afterwards he collapses on the ground in pain as Fatespeaker goes to check on Viper (Ochre's story doesn't change if Viper survives the lava or not but let's say for fun she does). Starflight and Fatespeaker lead Viper and Ochre to the nightwing medical place (I forgot what it was called) and see the state Flame's in, Starflight makes a comment about how Flame won't survive without the brightsting cactus and Viper makes fun of him. While the rest of the plot is happening with Starflight and Fatespeaker, Ochre, Viper, and Flame are stuck talking about their lives, and they spend the entire time arguing, then Ochre complains about being hungry. Starflight and Fatespeaker come back to take Flame to the rainforest, Viper and Ochre demand to go, but Starflight suggests that they shouldn't go as that would make them more suspicious but promises to come back for them. Starflight also mentions that they should try to distract Morrowseer if they can. They want to argue, but Viper is in too much pain to argue more and begrudgingly agrees. In the meantime, Viper and Ochre bicker with each other until Viper makes a comment on about her parents and comments on how Ochre would never understand, Ochre pauses for a bit which surprises Viper and decides to tell her about his sibs and how much he missed them and that he wants to see them again, Viper mentions that she wanted to see her parents again is very vague about it, not being in the mood to be emotional with Ochre. Eventually, Morrowseer comes storming into the medical den, and Viper and Ochre have to do their best, being critically injured and dying impression, Morrowseer comments about how useless they are in this state and how he has to get the stunted sandwing and the other mudwing. He tries to dispose of them but gets interrupted before and storms off. Afterward, Viper and Ochre start to feel a small shake, and then it feels like the room around them is falling apart, and then they both realize that the volcano is erupting. Ochre runs off, feeling his talons burn every time he does, then he pauses and turns around to see Viper struggling to follow him. Ochre pauses and thinks to himself before begrudgingly walking up to her and lifting her on his back. She hisses and tells him she doesn't need saving but doesn't try to get off him. He flies off trying to find Starflight and Fatespeaker when he sees a group of terrified nightwings running into a tunnel. Ochre heads towards them and sees Starflight, who express extreme remorse for not being able to find them in time, Ochre doesn't respond, and Viper hisses that it's better than dealing with Morrowseer, Starflight then tells them to just head into the tunnel and that he'll explain everything later, before heading into the tunnel Viper and Ochre take a glance at Sunny and Clay. Upon entering into the rainforest, Viper and Ochre get knocked out before waking up in the medical hut

In book five, Ochre, Viper, and Flame sit in the medical hut for most of the book. Viper hates being pampered by the rainwings, Flame is more withdrawn, while Ochre is living the good life gorging on fruits. Eventually, Starflight and Fatespeaker joined them, but Starflight's mostly unconscious, Despite this, the other false dod are not thrilled to hear that the prophecy is fake. They are a little amused that Morrowseer is dead, though. Everyonce in a while, Clay comes to check up on them, and Ochre is a bit enamored with Clay. Clay seems to be everything he's not, and he reflects on how horrible he's been to the others, especially Fatespeaker. He doesn't quite know where to start, so he offers Fatespeaker a piece of fruit when she's waiting for Starflight to wake, Viper taunts him for having to make the grand sacrifice of giving up one piece of fruit. The rest of book five plays out the way it does in the original, but when the dod needs to get the ToP, Ochre willingly volunteers this time, he still doesn't believe in the prophecy but he wants to do right by someone, he's not sure who though. The trip to the ToP stays the same, the only thing changing that he doesn't eat anything because it hurts his talons to do so. When Ochre gets back to the ToP, He decides to stay and awkwardly wishes Sunny and Tsunami good luck. And that would be the end of Ochre in arc 1. Eventually, I imagine Viper goes back to the ToP and gets reunited with her parents. In arc 2, Ochre would make a cameo in book nine, where he would be in the mud kingdom where Turtle briefly confuses him for Clay, he would be sitting with his sibs with a smile on his face.

Tl;dr: I like him because so little is said about his character that I like to speculate why and how that affects him

Fans of Squid and Ochre from the false DoD. Tell me why that is your opinion /gen

I miss Viper.

#wings of fire #wof #ochre wof #ochre

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