#Kinda sucks we only see IceWings from the perspective of upper-class dragons discovering the joys of being a decent person

[some-pers0n]

Tui was doing something with the IceWings. A society in which children are taught from a young age that their only value and worth is their strength and ability to serve the kingdom. They are put through rigorous testing where only the best of the best will get through and live a half-decent life, whilst the ones deemed "weak" get pushed to the side. The sensitive. The disabled. The ones who wish to live in a place anywhere else. They are put out of sight, in small villages at the cusp of the borders. They get ignored and are left to rot without care or support from the upper-class. Why should they? To the higher circles, they're lazy and weren't hatched with such talents like them. Not to mention the wall, which further isolates them. IceWings are taught that anybody different than them are uncultured. That they aren't as sophisticated or regulated as they are. Practically animals, those other tribes. It keeps them contained in a bubble where they're blind to others, continuing to believe that their life of circles and strict rules is the best way to live.

Then, we see Winter and Snowfall. They were both victims of this system. Winter, a kind and loyal soul, had his feelings be repressed and beaten out of him. He developed a cold exterior as a means to fit in with the others. Yet, as he learns more about the Jade Winglet and the other tribes, he softens. Warms up. Drops that facade of some haughty and noble IceWing prince and shows that he is quite sweet and caring. Snowfall has to try and lead this warped and distorted world. She's paranoid and an anxious wreck since the death of her mother, scared and afraid that she'll let everyone down. In a system like this, the fear of failure is very real as even the slightest mistake will be punished. In the end, through learning through others and realizing the flaws in her tribe's society, she decides what's truly best is breaking down those walls that they put up and destroying it all entirely. They will build a new society from the ground up, one where dragons are seen as more than simply tools to exploit for war.

It's a very on the nose metaphor, but honestly I do kinda love it a lot.