Rain - is a female giant panda, and a main character in the Bamboo Kingdom series. She is the speaker of the waters and the moon.
Appearance[]
- Rain is a young adult female panda with a white grip pad on one of her paws. The rest of her paw pads are black. She has large paws[2] and scars across her eyes[3]
She is the daughter of Orchid and Root, and the sister of Leaf and Ghost. She, along with her siblings, are destined to be Dragon Speakers. Knowledge of their destiny would endanger the trio, if word of their destiny got to animals with selfish intentions. Because of this, Orchid chose to separate Rain and her siblings from one another for their own safety. Orchid entrusted Rain to her close friend Peony before leaving with Leaf and Ghost. Growing up, Rain was told by Peony that she was her biological daughter, and that her father died shortly before her birth.
After Rain returns to the Prosperhill, Peony confesses that Rain was not her cub by birth, but adopted by the former. She explains that Orchid was in fact her and Leaf's true mother.
Rain and Peony attempt to expose Sunset to their community, but Sunset discredits the pair and has them imprisoned by the monkeys.
A few days later, Peony and Rain escape from the Prosperhill with help from Shiver. Soon after, Rain reunites with Leaf who escorts her to the Darkpool, after Rain tells her that she foresaw Sunset's death. At the Darkpool, the sisters discover that Sunset had died a year earlier and his brother had taken his place. Realizing that Dusk is their true enemy the sisters expose the former with their newfound discovery forcing Dusk to flee into the White Spine followed by Ginseng and Blossom. However this wasn't the last of Dusk. After Rain and Leaf reunited with their brother, the triplets are confronted by Dusk and co. at the Dragon Mountain. With unexpected help from Blossom and Ginseng, the triplets engage in their final battle with Dusk. Even with Blossom and Ginseng's help, the triplets struggle to subdue Dusk. However the tides turn into the triplets favor when Shadowhunter arrives to finish the False Dragon Speaker off. However, Shadowhunter is killed in the process. After paying their respects to their former Watcher, Rain and her littermates enter the Dragon Cave to be inaugurated as the next Dragon-Speakers. Following the Dragon-Speaker ceremony, the triplets foresee a Storm threatening the Bamboo Kingdom and send a prophecy warning about the coming storm to the Kingdom's residents.
Personality and Traits[]
- Rain is a hot-headed panda who enjoys swimming. Rain's swimming skills are shown to surpass Leaf's. When Sunset Deepwood arrives at the Prosperhill and assumes leadership in Rain's community, she grows suspicious of Sunset.
- In contrast to the other Prosperhills, Rain is the only one who detects Sunset's suspicious behavior. This shows that Rain is quite observant and is not gullible. Rain is shown to lack faith in The Great Dragon, thinking that it is make believe. However, Rain begins to believe in the Great Dragon after reuniting with Peony.
- Despite her ill temper, Rain cares deeply for the other Prosperhills and despises bullies like Brawnshanks. This is demonstrated when Rain confronts Brawnshanks and his troop head-on when she finds them picking on Maple. Rain cares very deeply for her adoptive mother, Peony. However, Peony never told Rain that she was adopted, so she had trouble believing Leaf when the former acknowledged the latter as her long-lost sister and Orchid as their biological mother. However Rain discovers that she is in fact Leaf's sister and Plum's niece when Peony confesses that Orchid was her true mother and that Peony adopted her after Orchid gave her up. Rain is initially shocked that Peony had lied to her, but immediately forgives her foster mother and continues to regard Peony as family.
- After her near-drowning at the paws of Sunset, Rain is determined to stop him, going so far as to abandon Plum so the latter wouldn't slow her down. Once receiving a vision of Sunset drowning, Rain sets out to make it happen, only to discover that he was an imposter the whole time. Rain instantly redirects her hostile feelings toward Dusk, Sunset's identical twin, and decides that she would have liked the real Sunset.
- In The Dark Sun Rain struggles to reconcile with Pebble but has developed a crush on a panda named Lychee.
History[]
Early Life[]
- Rain was born, alongside Ghost and Leaf, to Orchid and Root in Shadowhunter's cave in the Southern Forest.
- Orchid gave her cubs away to for their own safety, as they were destined to become Dragon Speakers. So, she left Rain with her close friend Peony, who subsequently joined the Prosperhill pandas.
Creatures of the Flood[]
- Rain is indirectly mentioned by Leaf when she tells Dasher how Orchid left her with the Slenderwood pandas.
- Leaf expresses desire to cross the river bordering the Northern and Southern Forests, in order to reunite with Rain. Leaf and her friends wonder how Rain is doing.
- In the Southern Forest, Rain wakes up and gathers some bamboo for breakfast. However, her bamboo stalk is snatched by a female panda named Blossom, who is a year older than her. Rain mentally notes how she has a poor relationship with Blossom due to the latter's arrogance and tendency to pick on the former. Rain confronts Blossom, who claims that, because she is Rain's senior, her claim over Rain's stalk is legitimate. Rain is infuriated by Blossom's ridiculous excuse. However, Rain is soon joined by Pebble, who sides with the former in her feud with Blossom. Then Rain and Blossom engage in a tug-of-war over the stalk. Their struggle ends when the stalk breaks in half. However, Rain does not mind having access to half of the stalk, as Blossom's half was not as good as Rain's own. As soon as Blossom departs, Rain's adoptive mother, Peony, arrives to scold Rain for her actions and behavior against Blossom. Rain argues that she would have been much nicer to Blossom if the latter was not picking on her. While Peony does agree that Blossom could have behaved better, she believes that Rain should cut Blossom some slack, as the latter wasn't used to living in a group of other pandas. But Rain still thinks that Peony wants her to be too nice.
- Soon after, Rain tricks the two panda cubs that live in the Prosperhill community, Frog and Fir, into doing chores for both herself and Pebble. Rain and Pebble leave for the river after a feud with a golden monkey, and Pebble watches as Rain takes a dive into the river. The pair are soon interrupted by news of a new panda that has arrived in the Prosperhill territory. The other Prosperhills recognize the newcomer as Sunset Deepwood, who was presumed to have perished in the great flood.
- When the Prosperhill pandas tell Sunset about their own experiences during the great flood. Rain listens to the other pandas from a tree. When Peony has her turn to speak, she acknowledges that Rain's father died before the latter was born, but claims that Rain's father was her own mate. Rain mentally notes that, even though she never knew her father, she already misses him. Rain then overhears Peony finish her story by claiming that following the death of her supposed mate, she climbed into a tree where she supposedly gave birth to Rain soon after.
- When Sunset selects Blossom and Pebble to recruit more pandas into the Prosperhill community, Rain is suspicious of the Dragon Speaker's motives, so she volunteers for the mission in order to protect Pebble. However, Rain quits the mission, following an unresolved dispute with Pebble about Sunset's intentions. After Sunset announces that Pebble and Blossom have completed their quest, Rain is shocked that the pair were back so soon. Sunset reveals that Pebble and Blossom found a cub named Maple. Sunset explains that Maple lost his mother and was forced to fend for himself before Pebble and Blossom found him. Rain mentally notes that other pandas might need the Prosperhill's help after all. However, Rain is still not entirely convinced that Sunset means well. Nonetheless, Rain knows that Maple's rescue would reinforce Pebble's idea that he was right. So she chooses to apologize to Pebble for her doubts for the latter's sake, if not Sunset's. Despite telling Pebble what he wanted to hear, Pebble refuses to accept Rain's apology much to the dismay of the latter.
- Rain is awoken by a commotion nearby. She observes her surroundings to find what is going on; There, Rain spots Brawnshanks and his troop picking on Maple. Furious, Rain confronts the monkeys, and is immediately joined by Sunset. Although Sunset appears to be on Rain and Maple's side, Rain soon realizes that Sunset was secretly on the monkeys' side after noticing Brawnshanks give Sunset a look. Rain then realizes that Sunset ordered the monkeys to harass Maple so he could stage a rescue. Rain is now certain that Sunset Deepwood is up to no good, and decides to remain wary of him. When Sunset leaves to negotiate with Brawnshanks' troop, he is secretly followed by Rain, who learns that Sunset does not have the ability to see the future, so he formed an alliance with Brawnshanks in exchange for striped bamboo, that Rain assumes Sunset believes will give him visions for fake prophecies, though Rain can tell that the monkeys are also manipulating Sunset. After Rain takes a bite of the striped bamboo, she finds that it does not affect her at all, and likely does not work for Sunset, either.
River of Secrets[]
- Plum asks Rain to tell her more about the Prosperhill Community. Rain explains that there are a lot of Pandas within her community.
- Leaf mentally notes that Rain still has trouble believing that she could be related to Leaf or Plum as Rain was taken in by Peony who never told Rain about her true heritage. Leaf wouldn't have blamed Rain if the latter thought that she was dreaming. Plum asks Rain if she's certain if Sunset tried to drown her. Rain asks Plum if the latter is accusing her of imagining Sunset trying to harm her. Plum reassures her niece that she believes her but doesn't understand why Sunset Deepwood would do such a thing as she once met the Dragon Speaker when she was a cub herself. Plum states that she found Sunset to be kind and wise with no indication that there was anything wrong with him. Rain states that none of her neighbors are suspicious of Sunset's motives because the prophecies he makes up are vague, and bargains with Brawnshanks troop behind their backs. Rain states that her neighbors don't think about how little sense Sunset lies make, they just believe whatever nonsense they're told. Plum reassures Rain that they'll figure out why Sunset changed. Rain however isn't entirely convinced that Sunset was good to begin with but doesn't care. Rain wants to stop Sunset for manipulating anyone else. Leaf tells her sister that in order to do that they must perform a ritual in the Dragon's Cave and be accepted by the Great Dragon. Rain asks Plum what kind of ritual she and Leaf need to perform. Plum states that it's between the Dragon and Dragon Speaker. Rain jokes that once they complete their journey, she and Leaf will discover whether or not they're Dragon-Speakers. However the group turns back after escaping from a rockslide. The sisters part ways the following day. Leaf and Dasher follow the bats that had flown from Dragon Mountain. Rain and Plum return to the Slenderwood. However, Rain is worried about the other Prosperhills so she abandons Plum but not before leaving her aunt some bamboo. When Rain returns to the Prosperhill, she sneaks back in so she doesn't attract unwanted attention from Sunset. When she spots her mother, she explains that contrary to Sunset claims, she didn't drown nor did she make any attempt to cross the river. Instead Sunset was at fault for her disappearance. Rain explains that Sunset is no longer a Dragon-Speaker and is taking advantage of their community. Rain however, didn't believe Sunset's lies which why he attempted to kill her. Rain then introduces Peony to Plum and Leaf who told her that they were her relatives even though they were unrelated to Peony. Peony then confirms that Plum and Leaf were telling the truth when they acknowledged Rain as their kin. Peony reveals that she wasn't Rain's real mother but a friend of hers. Peony states that while it was true that Root (Rain's father) died shortly before Rain's birth, she should've also mentioned that Orchid bore Rain and her sister. Rain asks Peony if Orchid mentioned her third cub. Peony denies this but doesn't think Shadowhunter was wrong or lying about the third triplet if Rain and both her littermates were the next Dragon Speakers.
- The pair decide to confront Sunset and attempt to rally the other Prosperhill Pandas to their side, however Sunset has enough sway over their neighbors to keep them on his side. Sunset then exiles Rain and Peony from the Prosperhill. As Rain and Peony leave, the latter warns their former neighbors that they'll be sorry for doubting Rain when Sunset shows his true colors. As the bears depart, Rain feels bad for dragging Peony into her feud with Sunset as she mentally notes that her adoptive mother was a popular panda among the Prosperhill and rarely got in trouble as a cub.
- They soon find that Sunset has sent Brawnshanks' troop after them. Rain and Peony try to fight the monkeys off but are eventually overpowered and imprisoned in a pit. Sunset arrives with Ghost in tow. Sunset introduces Ghost to Peony and Rain and states that Ghost will be serving alongside the monkeys as a prisoner guard. Unbeknownst to everyone, including Ghost, he is the third triplet. Due to his unresolved feud with Plum, Rain accuses Ghost of being the monster Plum accused him of being. Ghost is apparently indifferent towards Rain's remarks and the idea that Ghost is a monster is reinforced when he makes no attempt to defend himself. In reality, Ghost is on Rain and Peony's side. His apparent loyalty to Sunset is actually a ruse to ensure that Sunset doesn't grow suspicious of his true motives.
Journey to the Dragon Mountain[]
- Coming Soon
The Dark Sun[]
- Rain is shown to be chatting with a panda named Lychee when Pebble informs Leaf that his actions may have permanently stained his relationship with Rain. Leaf ensures that Rain will forgive Pebble sooner or later if he really regrets his poor decisions.
- When The Dragon Warns Leaf about "The Dark Sun", she recounts her prophecy to Rain and Ghost. Later Rain is playing in the river with Lychee when Ghost summons the pair to the feast clearing. There the Triplets host a vote where the pandas decide who will leave and who shall stay within the Prosperhill.
The Lightning Path[]
- Coming Soon
Kin[]
- Mother: Orchid Risingtree (Deceased)
- Father: Root Risingtree (Deceased)
- Adopted mother: Peony
- Sister: Leaf
- Brother: Ghost
- Aunt: Plum (Deceased)
- Cousin: Cloud Slenderwood (Deceased)
Trivia[]
- Rain is not the best at climbing and seems to have a fear of heights.[4]
Gallery[]
Rain and Leaf on the cover of Journey to the Dragon Mountain
Rain and Leaf on the cover of Fire and Ash
Rain in a Chinese event video
References[]
- ↑ [[The Lightning Path]
- ↑ pg. 240, Chapter 19, Fire and Ash
- ↑ pg. 241, Chapter 19, Fire and Ash
- ↑ Creatures of the Flood, page ???