Animus magic

Animus magic is magic wielded by animus dragons that allowed them to enchant inanimate objects, plants, animals, and other dragons to do whatever the animus dragon pleases. Animus dragons have been recorded in five of the seven Pyrrhian tribes, yet none of the Pantalan tribes have previously had animus dragons. IceWings, SeaWings, NightWings, SandWings, and SkyWings have all previously had animus dragons.

As of The Dangerous Gift, all living animus dragons cannot cast new spells and very likely will never be able to again, due to the spell cast by Jerboa III. This does not, however, imply that animus magic itself is destroyed, as newborn animus dragons, by Jerboa III's phrasing, should be able to cast new spells, and previously enchanted objects still work.

You can view a list of all known animus dragons here.

Description

Capabilities

Animus magic is almost limitless, being capable of moving objects to controlling other dragons. Despite its capabilities, animus magic is unable to bring back the dead; however, it can be used to keep a dragon alive even if they are killed such as how Queen Diamond managed to resurrect Foeslayer with the Diamond Trial. If two animus dragons cast two spells directly in conflict with each other, the one who is older, more powerful, more practiced and experienced, and focused is likely to win, and what exactly was enchanted would have an effect as well. Sacrificing an object that an animus loves for a spell makes the spell more powerful.

Use

Animus spells can be cast through spoken words, thoughts, writing, and Aquatic. To ensure accuracy, the spell should be as specific as possible; otherwise the request could be interpreted another way.

Effects/Consequences

The power can be sensed and felt by a faint tingling in the claws. Anemone felt cold and strangely hard to the touch after casting spells, and her eyes were out of focus.

It was previously thought that using any animus magic could cause insanity, though it has been heavily implied that this only happens if an animus dragon uses their magic for evil. Turtle once mentioned that animus magic also hurts an animus dragon's soul if it is used for personal gain; however, the books imply that animus magic does affect the soul, as Stonemover enchanted his scales to turn to stone instead. Both Darkstalker and Anemone attempted to prevent this through enchantments, but this did not have any bearing on their eventual actions or the deterioration of their souls. Darkstalker had also tried this two thousand years ago with his talisman. However, no effects were physically showing.

Heavy use of animus magic can unintentionally alter the landscape where it was cast.

History

Different tribes have different methods of handling and using their animus dragons. Throughout time, some tribes lost animus magic while other tribes gained it.

IceWings have had animus magic longer than any other tribe, though there was no first animus dragon; the powers were believed to have originated from multiple dragons.^{[citation needed]} IceWings host a test similar to the SeaWings' Talons of Power ceremony to find animus dragons. IceWing animus dragons were only permitted to use their power once to benefit the tribe at a gifting ceremony. Prince Arctic's runaway caused the disappearance of animus magic in the tribe, which was bad genetic luck.

When Arctic ran away with the NightWings, he introduced animus magic to their tribe. The tribe received their first animus, Darkstalker.

The SandWings had an animus named Jerboa, who became a fugitive after creating the Eye of Onyx.

The SeaWings host a Talons of Power ceremony for SeaWings at the age of two after Albatross, their first animus, violently discovered his animus power. The test usually involves an object that the participants attempt to enchant. The dragon who successfully commands their object is deemed an animus.

Two thousand years before the events of the main series, Albatross went mad and killed most of the ancient royal SeaWing family. This event became widely known across Pyrrhia as the Royal SeaWing Massacre, and was used as a cautionary tale about animus magic. After the massacre, Queen Pearl outlawed animus magic in the Kingdom of the Sea, though the present-day SeaWings allow and use it.

SkyWings have had animus dragons in the past, but they tended to be killed as soon as they were discovered. During the reign of Queen Carmine, as soon as SkyWing dragonets could speak, they would place them in front of a small fire and have them tell it to go out to see if the dragonet was an animus.

Trivia

• In an interview at the Rochester Children's Book Festival, when Tui was asked for the inspiration for animus magic, she replied: "So with animus magic, it started with thinking, I needed some kind of magic in this world, but I didn't want it to be like anyone can have any magic at any time, I wanted it to be sort of specific, and have it be pretty rare. And then, especially with Book Two, the more I started thinking about what I could do with it, and how it could fit into the murder mystery, that's how sorta started developing like, the backstory of what it does to you and all of that."