i don't want to be... like other dragons. i just want them not to mind that im different.

moonwatcher's powers as a representation of neurodivergence.

(TLDR: why i think moon is autistic)

I'm sure I'm not the first person to make this observation, but, having recently re-read 'Moon Rising', I find that, intentionally or not, the way Tui wrote NightWing powers could very easily be interpreted as a kind of dragon-neurodivergence (specifically autism, but I'll get there later...). Tui has dabbled in canonical neurodivergence before, in 'Legends: Darkstalker' with Whiteout experiencing associative synesthesia, and I do love Whiteout, a lot, but I find myself returning to NightWing powers, mind-reading in particular, over and over.

Some of my main evidence for this is how Moon's powers effect her interaction with other dragons. Moon suffers from pretty severe social anxiety(). Moon also visibly stuggles with social cues as a result of her mind-reading. For example, when she's not actively masking the fact she has powers, she often responds aloud to other dragon's thoughts - when she first arrives at Jade Academy, Moon responds conversationally to her mother's thoughts, and when her friends discover her powers, she responds to them too in the same way:



I would assume that not responding to thoughts is an unspoken rule of conversation, and from Secretkeeper's reaction to Moon doing this, I can also assume this is a rule she breaks often. We only see Moon display this behaviour around dragons that know she's a mind-reader (aka: dragons she isn't actively masking around). I'll end the rambling about this here, but essentially, what I'm trying to say is that social cues and communication with other dragons don't come automatically, clearly or easily to Moon. Honourable mention to this scene:

My next point of evidence is how Moon's powers affect her ability to interpret sensory input - often leading to sensory overload / overstimulation. For any readers who arent super aware of the psychological definition of overstimulation - recent virality of the term on platforms like TikTok has definitely diluted the term a little - it refers to when an individual recieves more sensory input than their brain is able to process, resulting in emotional and physical strain.

Here's an example from the prey centre: in ths scene, Moon becomes so overwhelmed as a result of Qibli's thoughts that she forgets what's actually been said out loud. She then becomes increasingly overwhelmed upon receiving more social input, panics, and struggles to talk, leading to Kinkajou stepping in to defend her (although Kinkajou may have been motivated by her admiration of a 'glittery' Winter than protectiveness... lol).



Another, similar, scene in the library has Moon overwhelmed and potentially feeling pain as a result of a sudden onset of sensory input (we know Moon can feel pain like this, as she does so when hearling certain thoughts in th prey centre, so I wouldn't think it too much of a stretch to consider the possibility of moon 'clutching her head' in this scene being a result of the sensory input causing her pain). TLDR, As a result of her powers, Moon struggles to interpret multiple sensory inputs at once, often leading to overstimulation.


The final point I want to have a ramble about is the stigma Moon experiences as a result of her powers, and her masking of said powers beciase of this stigma. I guess the risk of having a supernatural power be representative of neurodivergence is that there may be more of a justification in-universe for any existing stigma - however, we have evidence in the form of NightWing society in'Legends: Darkstalker that society without a stigma towards mind-reading ability can exist, so for the purpose of this, I'll consider the stigma-justification-complication a moot point.

Anywho - from the get-go, Moon is terrified of poeple finding out about her mind-reading. I think this is best encompassed by Secretkeeper's mantra 'stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe'. Moon constatly hides the fact she's a mindreader, and masks her abilities out of a desire to seem normal because she fears other dragons will see her differently. In the scene featured here, the second she makes friends, she's already worried she'll lose them if they find out about her powers. I could definitely go into more detail about this idea, but I don't want to yap too much - mostly I want to point out how much of a standard experience this stuff is for every neurodivergent person I know (including me).

Anyway, all this is to say - a lot of Moon's experiences are reminisent of neurodivergence. If I had to pinpoint it, I'd guess that Moon has autism... or, whatever the dragon equivalent of autism is, I guess - I wrote this essay with the idea in mind that most of the experiences I was describing were pretty autistic experiences. I want to point out this isn't an 'woah autism is a superpower!!!' type of thing, becuase that would suck - the way Moon's powers are treated are appropriate as a representation of neurodivergence. Sometimes she struggles, sometimes she appreciates her powers, but her powers always affect her life and change the way she interprets the world. But perhaps most importantly: she never wants rid of her powers. Moon expresses multiple times that she doesn't want to be just like other dragons. All she wants is for other dragons to accept that she's different, and support her for that. And I think, in the end, she gets that :)

Thank you for reading!!