Brawnshanks

Brawnshanks is a male golden monkey. He is the leader of the Broken Forest Troop.

Appearance[]

Brawnshanks is a big golden monkey^[1] with a tear in his left ear, and a blue face.

Personality[]

Brawnshanks is initially mean, and Rain described him as an "annoying monkey." He made fun of the pandas for not being able to stop the great flood, sneering and laughing at them. Later in the books, Brawnshanks is shown to be sly, cunning, and self-serving, willing to make deals with other animals as long has they benefited him. He was willing to help Dusk pretend to be a Dragon Speaker, using dream leaf. He and his troopmates also organized an assault on Maple so Dusk could stage the young cub's rescue. He also met Lychee and fed him ideas of becoming the ruler of all the giant pandas, asking him to betray Rain and kill Pebble in return. When Brawnshanks' deals went wrong, he didn't hesitate to betray the one he'd made it with, smashing Dusk's stone and failing to give Lychee credit for his deeds.

He and his troopmates also tease Ghost when the latter is assigned to "look after" them by Sunset.

As revealed in the last two books, Brawnshanks wants to rule the entire Bamboo Kingdom and has a massive god complex. In The Dark Sun, he proclaims that "every last leaf and stone of this kingdom will be mine", and intends to destroy the Great Dragon and take its power for himself. He is also revealed to be able to look right into its eyes before splitting it, indicating that he thinks even the Great Dragon is beneath him and will never have its power. When the three Dragons escape, Brawnshanks is infuriated because he believed they should have been destroyed utterly. Upon realizing that they are still vulnerable, however, he changes his tune and orders his monkeys to hunt them. In The Lightning Path, Brawnshanks declares that now that he has Leaf's stone, the Dark Dragon inside will obey his orders. Much later in the book, Brawnshanks claimed to have conjured the forest fire using the Dark Dragon, unaware that he no longer has it, and asks his troop if he should use the stones to become a new Dragon, indicating his desire for omnipotence.

History[]

Creatures of the Flood[]

After Rain and Pebble trick Frog and Fir into doing their chores, the former pair are confronted by Brawnshanks. He teases the young bears for their inability to stop the great flood. Rain responds back and Brawnshanks backs off, leaving the pandas alone. Upon arriving at the river, Pebble laments the Dragon Speaker's absence, thinking the Brawnshanks had a point when he told him and Rain that no other animals will take them seriously anymore due to their inability to stop the flood. Rain, however, disagrees, reminding Pebble that everyone in the Prosperhill is doing fine without the assistance of a Dragon Speaker.

After Sunset returns to the Bamboo Kingdom, Rain becomes suspicious of the former's motives so when the Dragon Speaker leaves the Prosperhill Clearing, she secretly follows him and discovers that he and Brawnshanks are in cahoots. After Maple is recruited in the Prosperhill Community, Sunset visits Brawnshanks again and orders him to lead a fraction of his troopmates to harass Maple so he [Sunset] can stage a rescue. Brawnshanks agrees to do so on Sunset's behalf. When Brawnshanks and his troopmates harass Maple, they allege that the latter had siblings, which Maple denies and demands that he wants his mother. Rain, who overheard the commotion, arrives to confront the monkeys for picking on Maple, and demands that Brawnshanks and his troop leave the young cub alone. Rain is then joined by Sunset, who seemingly sides with her and Maple, however, Rain sees through Sunset's ruse after she spots Brawnshanks exchanging a look with the former Dragon Speaker. Realizing that Maple's rescue has been staged, Rain vows to keep a close eye on Sunset. After Sunset delivers a fake prophecy to the other Prosperhills, Rain is comforted by the knowledge that her own mother is looking after Maple, making it impossible for Brawnshanks to pick on him a second time. Rain then follows Sunset into the golden monkeys' territory to spy on them. There, she learns that Sunset allied with the monkeys in exchange for dream leaf. Sunset seemingly believes that the dream leaf will give him visions, or at least hallucinations that he can use for inspiration for false prophecies. After Rain consumes some of the dream leaf to see what happens, she realizes that the monkeys are taking advantage of Sunset, as Rain did not experience anything unusual after consuming it, no matter how much she ate. However, Rain cannot figure out Brawnshanks' motives for manipulating Sunset Deepwood.

When Sunset confronts Rain by the river, Rain acknowledges the so-called Dragon Speaker's role in sending Brawnshanks and his troop after Maple and staging his subsequent rescue.

River of Secrets[]

Sunset assigns Ghost to keep Brawnshanks' Troop in line. However Ghost finds that the monkeys appear to be watching him rather than the other way around. They mock him when he growls at them and tries to boss them around.

After Sunset banishes Rain and Peony from the Prosperhill, he sends Brawnshanks and his troop after the two bears. Rain and Peony are unable to fight the monkeys off and are taken prisoner in a pit.

Journey to the Dragon Mountain[]

Brawnshanks and his troop poison Sunset, and he figures this out and confronts them. He tries to remind them that he's in charge, but Brawnshanks still mocks him. He and his troop are later sent to kill Ghost because the latter is no longer useful to Sunset, but he escapes with the help of Shadowhunter. Rain and Peony escape from under the monkeys' noses.

Brawnshanks later returns with his troop to watch Sunset be exposed as Dusk. Brawnshanks orders a monkey to take Dusk's stone, and smashes it.

The Dark Sun[]

With his deal with Dusk in tatters, Brawnshanks concocts a new plan to destroy the triplet Speakers and bring the whole Bamboo Kingdom under his control. He has Curling Star captured and forces her to tell him of the Dragon's origin, figuring out that it can be destroyed. Once he gets the details from Spiral Moon, his plans are finalized. In the meantime, he holds a special Three Feats to grow his ranks of Strong Arms, all the while plotting with Brisk, Sleet, and Lychee to kill Ghost.

Brawnshanks brings a group of pangolin prisoners to the lava river, where he will divide the Dragon. Once it shows itself, he separates them. Unbeknownst to him, Nimbletail makes off with several of them. The Dragon divides into three, all of whom manage to escape. Brawnshanks is enraged, but Crookedclaw reasons that they are weaker now. Brawnshanks cheers up and orders his monkeys to hunt them down.

The Lightning Path[]

Dasher is captured under Brawnshanks' orders, once the troop realize he has Leaf's stone. Brawnshanks makes multiple attempts to destroy it, including throwing it into the lava, but to no avail, so he has Dasher imprisoned until he can help him. Dasher tricks him and swaps the stones with the help of the Dark Dragon. Soon, everyone in the tunnels is forced to evacuate during a fire, and Brawnshanks, after discovering that Ghost is alive, has several animals trapped in the flames.

Later, Lychee is revealed to have been plotting with Brawnshanks to be given power over all other pandas. Rain informs him that Brawnshanks will break that promise, which comes true when Brawnshanks celebrates the capture of Rain's stone, not realizing he no longer has Leaf's and boasting that he took both stones himself, with no assistance, and asks if he should become a new Dragon entirely. Lychee interrupts and asks Brawnshanks to keep his end of the deal, but he refuses and kicks him out. Lychee swears revenge on Brawnshanks for his refusal.

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ Creatures of the Flood

[1] Creatures of the Flood

[1]