Changewing

"Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."

- Hiccup reading from Book of Dragons. The Changewing is a Mystery Class dragon that has large wings on its back, horns on its face and an antennae-like appendage on top of each of its eyes. This gives the Changewing an unique appearance. This dragon appeared in "Gem of a Different Color". It also had a cameo in the film, along with a section in Book of Dragons.

Dragon Appearance
Changewings are usually found red however their colors may vary. They have teeth protruding out their lip from their lower jaw and yellow eyes. They possess These horns are blue, together with a small pointy ledge on the top of its snout.

A row of sharp, blue spines run down their neck to their tail. Their wings are red with blue edges.

Behavior
Changewings nests in large, tall forests in packs. They group together for common goals, or in other words, they are team players, and will stop at almost nothing to remain in possession of their eggs. Also, Changewings are very curious creatures, and like to mimic everything that they see.

A Changewing's egg has gem-like qualities and are green in base, but its aura glows in multiple colors. Some Vikings will mistake these for "Stones of Good Fortune".

Changewings are known to be very cooperative and work together to accomplish their goals. Multiple Changewings help one another acquire one of their eggs, and do not rest or leave until all of their eggs have been found.

The way a Changewing pack works, is very much like how a lion pride works. The females do most of the hunting and fighting, as well as defending their territory.

Changewings are very maternal dragons, and will protect their young at all costs. However, they have also been known to raise Vikings as baby Changewings. This has only been seen once, when a particularly maternal Changewing captured Snotlout and cuddled and played with him until Hiccup and Toothless got her to drop him.

Abilities
With two of their well-known abilities, Changewings are possibly one of the most dangerous and effective hunters to Vikings. Their acid is only effective at close range.

Camouflage
The Changewing's most noticeable attribute is the ability to change the color and texture of its scales to match that of their surroundings. The only body part that Changewings can't change are their eyes, which they use to hypnotize victims before an attack.

Firepower
Unlike most other dragons, the Changewing can launch concentrated streams of acid at victims. The acid is green in color, are extremely corrosive This acid can burn through most, if not all, materials in seconds. However, in Riders of Berk "We Are Family Part II" Alvin introduced Hiccup to a caged Changewing which shot hot acid at a metal bar, but the bar did not burn. This was also demonstrated in Race To The Edge, episode Night of the Hunters Part I when Snotlout's helmet got hot Changewing acid on it but did not burn through. This means that the Changewing's acid cannot break down metal.

Strength
They have been shown to be very strong, capable of holding young people with their claws and tail with no struggle.

Intelligence
They are also very smart, as they can work in a team to achieve their goals, like retrieving their eggs from Berk.

Speed and Agility
Their agility and speed has shown to be quite good. As they're shown to be able to prehensile tail to grip also being a flexible body. They even shown to have good reflex to dodge some attacks in battle. They are relativity fast, though they mainly rely on their camouflage.

Climber
Due to their long claws they are shown to be great climbers that can climb on any type of surface.

Prehensile tail
Changewings have flexible tail for gripping as they are able hold objects.

Weakness
The Changewing's skin is vulnerable to attack, as it is softer due to its color-changing properties. They can't hide if nothing is in their area for them to camouflage against, such as the sky.

When Changewings get threatened, injured, or scared, they can't control their color changes, making them easier to see.

How to Train Your Dragon
It made a cameo appearance in the film when Hiccup was looking through the Book of Dragons.

Book of Dragons
In the Book of Dragons special, they are listed as one of the Mystery Class dragons, and it is confirmed that not only can Changewings spit acid, but change colors and hypnotize as well. It is also shown that Changewings are very curious dragons. They are seen in a 2D animation where one burns Bork the Bold while he is making a campfire. The Mystery Class symbol resembles one.

Dragons: Riders of Berk
The Changewings were found on a island. Fishlegs, on his own "secret" island, finds a strange glowing gem while with his beloved dragon, Meatlug. Taking it back to Berk, Gobber identifies it as a "Stone of Good Fortune, (as Gobber gets "Stones of Good Fortune" and Changewing dragon eggs mixed up) causing the citizens to swarm Fishlegs, offering him valuable trades. Overwhelmed, Fishlegs, after refusing to give it to Snotlout, Fishlegs asks Hiccup to help him return it, so that he can forget all about it.

The teens, excluding Snotlout, who is secretly trailing, take it to the island, where they find many of them in nests, and Hiccup realizes that they are truly dragon eggs. Fishlegs returns it, realizing that it must've fallen from its nest and that he had seperated it from its mother. When they attempt to leave, the Changewings trail them, invisible, trying to attack them using their acid. They escape, but Snotlout enters undetected and steals many of the eggs. The next day, Snotlout auctions them off, and the gang tries to convince him something terrible will happen if the eggs remain here. He ignores them and declares a "No returns" policy. The Changewings gradually show up, getting their eggs back, but destroying the village in the process. Stoick and Gobber try to fend them off, but realize that it would be impossible to attack things they can't see.

Hiccup and the gang scramble to return the eggs, and they end up with giving them all back, but the Changewings don't leave. Fishlegs realizes Snotlout has kept one and confronts him, displaying anger and strength that scares Snotlout into giving it back. Fishlegs then nervously tries to find them, and the Changewings surround Fishlegs and reclaim their egg from him. Afterwards they roar and terrify the unfortunate Viking but leave him completely unharmed. Hiccup later claimed they would need to find one so they could train it, possibly infering they will later appear again.

A Wild Changewing was found where it hid an entrance to Bork's cave and "held Snotlout hostage" until Hiccup freed him. The Outcasts had one kept in a cage on their island which along with a caged Whispering Death and Scauldron was later used on an attack on Hiccup, Mildew, and Flystorm. The Outcasts then used a herd of wild Changewings during a diversion, where the dragon riders chase them back to Changewing Island.

Dragons: Defenders of Berk
In Free Scauldy, while searching for the Screaming Death, Hiccup, Fishlegs and the twins discovered a Scauldron that had been washed ashore on Changewing Island and been trapped by one wing under a pile of rocks. Despite the threat posed by the Changewings, their dragons refused to leave the Scauldron to die of dehydration, forcing Ruffnut to tame the dragon - which she named Scauldy - so that the others could remove the rocks and fashion a splint for the damaged wing.

Titan Wing
Source: Dragons: Rise of Berk.

Titan winged Changewings look relatively similar to that of a regular adult one. However, the edges of their wings become sharper and their colour turns. They are dark green and their wings have a red edges and splotches of black. The blue spines turn red and the blue horns at the side of their head turn green.

Appearances

 * (Wild Changewing)
 * (Wild Changewing captured by tge Dragon Hunters)

Known Changewings

 * Changewing that Bork met (see Book of Dragons)
 * Group of Female Changewings (see Gem of a Different Color)
 * Wild Changewing (see We Are Family Part I)
 * Outcast Changewing (see We Are Family Part II)
 * Group of Outcast Changewings (see Live and Let Fly)
 * Group of Changewings (see Free Scauldy)
 * Group of Changewings (see When Darkness Falls)
 * Changewing that attacked Hiccup and Daggur (see Enemy of My Enemy)
 * A Changewing captured by the Dragon Hunters (see Defenders of the Wing Part I)
 * Edgewing (see When Darkness Falls)
 * Phantom (The Legend of Ragnarock comic)
 * Melting Wing
 * Incognito
 * Tuffwing (see Night of the Hunters Part I)
 * Wild Skies Changewing

Trivia

 * Strangely, according to Book of Dragons, the Changewing breathes acid instead of fire while the special shows one burning Bork the Bold. It could be that their fire is greatly reduced compared to other dragons.
 * It is shown that the Book of Dragons doesn't contain a picture of the Changewing, but in the movie, there was a picture of the Changewing in the same book.
 * The Changewing's facial appearance is similar to that of the Diplocaulus, an extinct, prehistoric amphibian from the Permian period.
 * The Changewing appears to be similar in size with the Monstrous Nightmare.
 * The Changewing's ability to mimic its surrounding in the episode of Gem of a Different Color is different from what's shown in Book of Dragons. Its color mimicry in Gem of a Different Color is fixed on every part of its body while in Book of Dragons, Changewings mimic different colors for different parts of its body, even if it's not in contact with Changewings body making it truly invisible with a little distortion.
 * Changewings are similar to RainWings from the Wings of Fire book series. Both can change color, have "Wing" in their name, and spit acid.
 * A Changewing's ability to hypnotize is most likely based on the books, where dragons have a hypnotic gaze.
 * While Changewings in the animated short, Book of Dragons, camouflage themselves in a chameleon-like way by changing color, in Riders of Berk they disappear completely. In Wild Skies they disappear almost completely, however a faint outline of the dragon is still visible.
 * In Book of Dragons, it was said that Changewings display mimicking behavior and love to copy whatever they see. These dragons never show this behavior in the TV Series, most likely because they were defending their territories when the riders encountered them.
 * The Changewing is the first dragon species that can change its color.
 * Changewings were the first dragons to almost make every Viking on Berk abandon their homes.
 * Changewings are mostly nocturnal, so that they can hide more easily.
 * Changewings are actually more similar to an octopus than a chameleon due to the fact that chameleons change color to show mood rather than for camouflage. Octopi change both color and skin texture to camouflage themselves, much like a Changewing.
 * If this is the case, the Changewing's ability to hypnotize may be based on the color-changing ability of a cuttlefish, which it uses to distract its prey.
 * In Book of Dragons, Changewings are shown to change their skin to a more realistic solid color similar to chameleons but in the show they camouflage in a more unrealistic invisible "see through" manner.
 * The wings of a Changewing are shown to not be double-jointed similar to that of a Thunderdrum.
 * In a piece of concept art, a Changewing is seen inflating, which might be a scrapped ability of this dragon.
 * According to Hiccup's Map the Changewing can breathe blue fire.