Snow Wraith

"It was vicious, relentless, and impossible to see in the white out. The Snow Wraith."

- Gobber translating Gothi's text.

The Snow Wraith is a Strike Class dragon that appears in Dragons: Race to the Edge. It debuted in the episode "Dragon Eye of the Beholder, Part 2", where the dragon riders went to Glacier Island in search for a tooth of the Snow Wraith. They returned in "Snow Way Out".

Official Description
"Snow Wraiths have no known vulnerabilities, making them a supremely formidable force to be reckoned with during battle. The Snow Wraith has proven to be crucial to the Dragon Riders, as their teeth are the sole tool that can unlock the informative Dragon Eye device. These dragons were first discovered by Gothi during an expedition to Glacier Island, the only known habitat of the Snow Wraiths. Over time, Snow Wraiths have adapted to these desolate conditions in surprising ways, such as their all-white coloration that allows for natural camouflage in snowy conditions and an ability to grip ice using claws on their wings and tails.

Thermal vision: Snow Wraiths have thermal vision that allows them to track prey even during the most blustery blizzard."

- Dragonpedia "This dragon has notoriously poor eyesight and uses thermal sensors to locate it's prey. It camouflages itself in the snow because if it can't see you, it doesn't want you to see it! The Snow Wraith uses it's thermal vision to find it's prey. So if things get heated, find some snow to take cover and cool off!"

- Dragons: Rise of Berk

Development
The Snow Wraith was originally known as the Snow Fury because the producers wanted it to be related to the Night Fury. However, they decided that having multiple "Fury" dragons would not be a good idea.

Egg
In Dragons: Rise of Berk, a Snow Wraith's egg is pale white in color. It has little protrusions on it and larger ones on top. They are tipped with dark brown. The egg looks as if it was carved out of wood. Those in School of Dragons, however, are smoother though a little rough.

Hatchling to Adult
The Snow Wraith has a snowy white body and blue eyes. It possesses two legs and broad wings. The Snow Wraith is the only Strike Class dragon to have significantly different types of teeth. Sharp, pointy teeth that are used for biting and tearing cover most of its mouth, while two prominent tusks used for grabbing protrude from its lower jaw. The teeth that are the key to open the Dragon Eye are known to be found just in front of the large tusks. Also, this dragon has a long ledge under its chin and what resembles thick eyebrows. The Snow Wraith has a long tail covered with spikes and a thick, fleshy tongue with bump-like features on it. It has two claws and toes on its feet. The Snow Wraith's wings are unique in terms of structure. The humorous (part of bone connected to the body) is the only part of the wing connected to the body, with the rest of the wing structure is hanging outside of the body. This allows the Snow Wraith to easily walk on four limbs as the wing fingers that stretch to the back of the wing are placed in a very unique way, some of them are close to each other, while the next one would be further apart. This also makes its humorous very strong; while most dragons require extra support from the rest of its wings for speed and stability, the Snow Wraith is still able to fly at very high speeds.

Titan Wing
Titan Wing Snow Wraiths have a grayish blue body color with some grey spots and stripes on its back. Large spikes protrude from its back and down to its tail. The ledge under its chin has developed into two sharp horns and the this titan has developed some protuberances near its chin. Two longer canines protrude from its lower jaw and it has massive large claws.

Abilities
Like all Strike Class dragons, Snow Wraiths have blazing speed, extreme intelligence, unique firepower, and are masters of stealth. The Snow Wraith's teeth are the primary tool that can unlock the Dragon Eye.

Thermal Vision
The Snow Wraith has thermal vision (sees heat) that allows it to track prey even during the most blustery blizzard. It has the ability to detect body heat in the form of heat signatures, which is similar to a pit viper. Cold temperatures appear as green while warmer ones appear yellow to dark pink. Snow Wraiths can also distinguish shapes from their thermal vision, similar to seeing visually, which helps it identify objects. This is shown when it singled out Hiccup and Toothless amongst a group of burning effigies, despite them all having a similar temperature.

The reason that the Snow Wraith has to rely on thermal vision is because it has notoriously poor eyesight and can't see visually.

Firepower
The Snow Wraith's fire type is frost fusillade, which can blast objects multiple times at one succession. When having a fusillade in its firepower, the Snow Wraith hardly ever misses. These blasts have been known to eject in 3 charges, as shown in the School of Dragons. They have a short range but are extremely powerful.

Speed and Stealth
Snow Wraiths are incredibly fast, and are one of the fastest dragons. Snow Wraiths are able to circle an entire island (size of Glacier Island) at high speed (with the help of the wind) after one attack attempt has failed. They can fly through powerful blizzards without much resistance. Its snowy white scales allow it to blend in well with its surroundings, making it nearly impossible to see in a white-out. They can walk on the snow before ambushing without being noticed.

Sharp Claws and Spikes
The Snow Wraith has sharp hooks on its wings and a tail full of spikes that allow it to cling onto ice without falling or slipping.

Burrowing
The Snow Wraith is able to burrow through ice and snow with its claws. They are able to burrow very fast, as fast as a Whispering Death, even through solid ice. It is a very effective method and can be used for flanking enemies in an ice cave. Snow Wraiths dig up an ice cave in order to hibernate during the summer.

Strength and Combat
The Snow Wraith is shown to be able to grab another one of its kind and fly through a tunnel with no struggle.

According to Dragons: Rise of Berk, the Snow Wraith may be powerful enough to take out Skrill

Intelligence
Like all Strike Class dragons, Snow Wraiths are highly intelligent. Though normally solitary, a pack of related Snow Wraiths is shown to be able to operate as a great team. They will retreat when member of their own is hurt and will carry the injured Snow Wraith away from harm.

Endurance and Stamina
According to the dragon stats, the Snow Wraith has stronger armor than the Night Fury, but it's been shown that a Plasma Blast from Toothless is able to take Snow Wrath out.

The Snow Wraith has high stamina just like any other Strike Class dragon. It has been shown to able to fly at high speeds for long periods of time to hunt their prey.

Behavior and Personality
The elusive Snow Wraith is tough, highly aggressive, and a relentless hunter, known for its vicious and predatory nature. It likes to attack when it cannot be seen. As such, it often strikes when a snowstorm approaches, which are quite frequent in Glacier Island. Snow Wraiths also attack in ice caves. It can burrow through the ice to flank enemies or take cover. Snow Wraiths are very adapted to this kind of attack; they are very fast at firing, flanking and burrowing. They can also work efficiently in a group.

The Snow Wraith is described as being "to winter as the Night Fury is to night. It senses the fall of each snowflake, hears the glacial movement of every iceberg, and feels the slightest change in even the most frigid of temperatures."

In "Snow Way Out", it is revealed that Snow Wraiths hibernate in the summer. They are also shown to be willing to help each other, abandoning a fight if one of them is injured, but they are usually decidedly solitary creatures, failing to form relationships with humans or dragons.

Dragons: Rise of Berk indicates that Snow Wraiths may be powerful enough to take out Skrills. They may be seen as rivals to Skrills.

Weaknesses
Even though it is stated that the Snow Wraith has no known vulnerabilities, it does have a weakness: it is unable to see its prey if it is at the same temperature as the environment around it. For example, Snotlout could not be seen when he was buried in snow and his body temperature dropped significantly. In the Snow Wraith's point of view, Snotlout would blend in when with the green receptors that indicate a cool temperature.

In addition, they are said to have incredibly poor eyesight and have to rely on the heat signatures of their prey and opponents to tell where they are. This makes the Snow Wraith the only dragon that is close to being (visually) blind.

Season 1
When Hiccup asked Gobber to open the mysterious Dragon Eye in "Dragon Eye of Beholder, Part 2", some traps on the device were deployed, and Tuffnut was the only one affected by them, e.g. toxic dragon gasses. They then took him to see Gothi. While they were talking about the Dragon Eye, Gothi saw the key marks and thought for a moment. When Hiccup asked Gothi about the problem, she showed him her scars on her arm. Hiccup stated that they exactly resembled the holes of the key lock. Gothi then departed, and Hiccup and the others followed her. Soon after, Gothi started to tell her story about her encounter with the Snow Wraith on Glacier Island. Gothi said that she would never want to see that dragon again. But Hiccup pleaded with her to show them the way to the island. Gothi then agreed, and Gobber took over her role on Berk while she was gone. They flew to Glacier Island, and soon after they arrived, a snowstorm covered the island. The group split up to find the Snow Wraith, and as they left, the dragon awakened.

As they regrouped, the storm became stronger and the Snow Wraith attacked the campsite. After a few attempts to defend themselves, Toothless shot three blasts at it. Though the Snow Wraith dodged all of them, one made a chunk of snow to fall on its head, and the dragon retreated for the time being.

Hiccup then thought of the idea that the Snow Wraith sees body heat and thought of a plan to distract the dragon. The dragon riders built "statues" of themselves and placed them in an open area. Toothless then lit them on fire. In a few moments, the Snow Wraith returned to the area. The Snow Wraith snatched Snotlout's statue first, which made him angry, causing him to fire up Hookfang. The ice from the ceiling that they were hiding in started to melt. Toothless quickly grabbed Hiccup out of the area before the ceiling could collapse.

As the ceiling collapsed, the other dragon riders and Gothi were stuck in the cave. Hiccup and Toothless were out in the open, forced to face the Snow Wraith alone. The Snow Wraith nearly hit Hiccup and Toothless but missed and it circled the island. Hiccup and Toothless went to the flaming statues to obscure their body heat with the heat of the fires. Hiccup then told Toothless to use his echolocation to find the Snow Wraith. As he was echolocating in different areas towards the sky, the Snow Wraith detected them and landed silently behind them. The Snow Wraith then stalked toward them slowly. As it revealed itself, Toothless was about to fire at it, but Gothi had broke out of the cave, and she ran to the Snow Wraith and started to smack it with her staff. The Snow Wraith bit the staff and shook it. Hiccup told Toothless to fire at the dragon but not at "the crazy little women with the staff." Toothless fired three multiple blasts at the Snow Wraith, which made it throw Gothi away. Soon after, the dragons broke out and the Snow Wraith was outnumbered by five dragons to one. The Snow Wraith panicked and flew away. Gothi showed them that there was a Snow Wraith tooth implanted on her staff. They then flew back to Berk with the Snow Wraith tooth.

Season 2
In "Snow Way Out", The Dragon Hunters set out to Glacier Island to capture a Snow Wraith to get one of its teeth. Heather told Astrid of their plan, which she told the Dragon Riders, who soon traveled there as well to relocate the dragon.

At the Snow Wraith's cave, the Dragon Riders are sealed inside by the Hunters to deal with the wild dragon. They soon discovered that actually three Snow Wraiths were in the cave. Due to Tuffnut's talking, the dragons woke up and attacked the Riders. Toothless managed to stun one of the Snow Wraiths, causing the others to retreat.

While they tried to burrow out to safety, this led to the Snow Wraiths being captured by the Dragon Hunters. Before they got to their ship, the twins caused an avalanche to distract the Hunters, giving the Dragon Riders a chance to grab the Snow Wraiths and hide them on another island.

Dragons: Rise of Berk
Several Snow Wraiths appeared in Rise of Berk, along with the Titan Wing. They include Gothi's Frostfright, Frostfright's Big Bro, Frostfright's Lil Sis and Skrill Chiller.

School of Dragons
The Snow Wraith became available in School of Dragons in the summer of 2015.

Trivia

 * The Snow Wraith is the second addition to the Strike class since the first film, the first being the Woolly Howl.
 * The Snow Wraith is one of the seven dragon species that doesn't have forked tongues. The others are the Flightmare, the Woolly Howl, the Razorwhip, the Death Song, the Triple Stryke and the Snaptrapper.
 * The Snow Wraith's roar is similar to that of a Flightmare, just deeper.
 * The Snow Wraith's tail looks very similar to that of the Deadly Nadder and the Hackatoo.
 * The Snow Wraith makes a sound that resembles a baleen whale's song when it uses its thermal sensing.
 * The Snow Wraith has green eyes and tan scales in Dragons: Rise of Berk. This is done to differentiate it from Gothi's Frostfright in the game.
 * Despite the Snow Wraith being claimed to be untrainable on Hiccup's Interactive Map, Eret still managed to train Skrill Chiller. It is possible that it is just extremely hard to train one, just like a Skrill or a Speed Stinger.