Albatross

"You know I could easily kill you from a distance. It would barely take a thought. But you've been such a thorn in my side the last few years. Every chance she got — 'I don't really need you anymore. Perhaps Fathom will be better at this than you are. You're so expendable now that I have a replacement. What a pathetic creature you are, little brother, with your tiny teeth and oddly colored scales. Fathom is so much more presentable than you are.' ... So, no, I couldn't dispose of you from afar. That wouldn't be satisfying at all. I want to see your face as you die."

— Albatross to Fathom, complaining about Queen Lagoon, Darkstalker

Albatross was an elderly male SeaWing prince who was introduced in Darkstalker. He was the first known SeaWing animus dragon in SeaWing history and a member of the SeaWing royal family as Queen Lagoon's brother. He is the father of Manta and the grandfather of Fathom and Pearl. He committed the Royal SeaWing Massacre, in which he murdered most of the SeaWing royal family and Princess Sunset, a SkyWing princess, before he was stopped and killed by Fathom. Albatross is still mentioned in many texts and scrolls due to his status as the perpetrator of one of the most devastating cases of animus magic misuse in Pyrrhian history.

Description

Albatross was described to be nearly a neck-length taller than Lagoon, with powerful, long, majestic wings. His scales were oddly colored, being a bluish gray so pale that in some places they looked like they were almost white. His strange, fierce eyes were hooded and were of such a deep, dark blue color that they appeared nearly black. He was firm, wizened, stately, and intimidating. Albatross was compared to an old seagull by Fathom during the Talons of Power ceremony, due to the color of his scales and his shrewd expression. He also had small teeth and a long, hooked snout. His siblings noted that his tail was a funny shape and Fathom stated that he had a dry, warm, and "fish-smelling" laugh. Directly before the start of the Royal SeaWing Massacre, Albatross looked as though he was "carved from stone", like his emotions had been chipped away.

Personality

Albatross was untouchable and busy, even to fellow royalty. Fathom described his grandfather as "a kind but distant presence" in his life. He was the most respected dragon in the entire SeaWing tribe, and was second in power only to Queen Lagoon. He was beloved, respected, and important. Albatross was jovial, kind, mischievous, calm, and friendly. He was proud of his animus magic and the objects he created with it but did not often seem to be excited about much of anything. It was implied that he was fond of his daughter, Manta, and was also a loyal husband; Lagoon said that he stubbornly refused to consider remarriage following the passing of his wife. During the massacre, he went completely mad and was full of pure rage and hatred.

Biography

Pre-Series

Albatross was a dragonet when he accidentally cast his first animus spell. He was playing with an empty clamshell on the sunrise beach of the Island Palace, pretending it was a dragon mouth, when his older sisters, Sapphire and Lagoon, began teasing him; commenting on his appearance in specific, and saying things like "he was weirdly different from other SeaWings" and that he "swam like a feeble old duck". Sapphire grabbed the clamshell that he was playing with and told her little brother that everything in the kingdom would be hers when she was crowned queen; even "stupid beach trash like this". Albatross, now burning with fury, clutched the edge of the shell and told it to bite all of Sapphire's claws off, not thinking it would do anything. But, to his shock and horror, it did just as he told it to; and the shell ended up maiming her. Sapphire was driven insane by this event, and Lagoon ended up having to keep her isolated on an island, away from the rest of the tribe. Soon after Lagoon became queen, Albatross became her personal animus, and he performed enchantments at her will. Such spells included an animus-touched conch shell that pulsed with light whenever someone was lying, as well as the growth of the Summer Palace. It was thought that he never felt remorse for maiming his older sister, though the validity of such claims remain unclear.

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The Dragonet Prophecy

The Lost Heir
Anemone made references to Albatross several times, saying that she did not want to use her animus powers too much and go insane like him. Whirlpool mentioned he grew an entire palace before going insane, referencing the SeaWing's Summer Palace. Unfortunately, after thousands of years of service to the tribe, the palace was destroyed.

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The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Moon Rising
Albatross was mentioned in the scroll that Moonwatcher read to find out about dreamvisitors. The scroll described the Royal SeaWing Massacre, and how his insanity influenced Pearl to ban the use of all animus magic in the Kingdom of the Sea during her reign.

Winter Turning
Albatross was mentioned indirectly by Moonwatcher, who had read about a SeaWing animus who had gone insane and almost murdered his entire family.

Escaping Peril
When Turtle revealed his animus powers, Moon mentioned having read about what happened with Albatross.

Talons of Power

Albatross was mentioned various times throughout the book, serving as a parallel to both Darkstalker and Turtle. In the epilogue, a strange pale phantom appeared on an island where a class of young SeaWing dragonets was camping overnight for a field trip. It flew around the island, appearing and disappearing, and threatened the young dragons by hissing and snapping. At least five dragonets claimed it and glared at them with "beady black eyes." This was Albatross's "ghost," created by Darkstalker to frighten the SeaWing tribe.

Darkness of Dragons
The ghost of Albatross was confirmed to be a spell cast by Darkstalker to haunt the SeaWings. In the epilogue, Coral sent a letter that thanked Turtle for getting rid of the Albatross ghost that Darkstalker had sent.

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The Lost Continent Prophecy

The Dangerous Gift
Albatross was mentioned when Jerboa recalled all of the animus dragons that coexisted in ancient Pyrrhia.

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Legends

Darkstalker

Albatross was first introduced during a Talons of Power ceremony, although he seemed obviously reluctant to take on an apprentice and skeptical that any of the eight present SeaWing dragonets possessed any magical abilities. He then proceeded to roll eight coconuts down to the dragonets' talons on the beach below using his animus power. When Indigo asked Albatross how to enchant their coconuts, he explained that you used your animus powers. After Indigo questioned him again, saying "Wouldn't it be easier to just throw it at you?" Albatross laughed, replying that an enchanted coconut would never miss, no matter what he did to try to dodge or block it. Indigo shrugged and did as she was told, but as Albatross suspected, her coconut did not move. When Fathom ordered his coconut to strike his grandfather it did, striking his grandfather's chest hard enough to knock him backward. Albatross picked up the coconut, asking who had enchanted it. Pearl indicated that it was Fathom, and Albatross smiled, stating how it was "such happy news." However, out of view of the other dragons, a seagull that had been present for the ceremony was silently strangled to death by a vine that curled out of the jungle. A few days after the animus test, Albatross summoned Fathom for their first training session alone together, on the beach of the Island Palace. Albatross confessed that Queen Lagoon wanted him to show Fathom his most important project, and he took his apprentice to see it. After a bit of questioning from Fathom, Albatross quieted his apprentice and told him the gruesome story of how he found he was an animus, with a warning that Fathom must always be careful with his magic. Shocked, Fathom agreed and then asked his grandfather if they could practice actual magic. Albatross agreed, but as he and Fathom took to the sky, Indigo was revealed to be hiding nearby. When questioned, she retorted that she was only following Fathom to make sure he was safe. Fathom was excited to show her his powers when Albatross said that he was getting tired, and reminded Fathom that he was a wizened old dragon and that he must have heard something about respecting his elders. Three years later, Queen Lagoon threw a party to honor their SkyWing guests, Princess Sunset and Eagle. Albatross was noticeably late to the party, but he appeared after Lagoon explained a fountain to the SkyWings, which had been enchanted by Albatross. The SkyWings panicked when they saw him, and Queen Lagoon coldly told Albatross that he would never stop atoning for Sapphire's mutilation. Albatross then enchanted a knife to slit Queen Lagoon's throat, killing her. The knife then went for Sunset and Eagle. After killing all of the SeaWings he could reach, Albatross began to hunt for Fathom. He found him and Indigo inside a pavilion overlooking the water, hiding underneath a wooden boat, and threw the boat off of them. Indigo sprang at Albatross and attacked him. Fathom, knowing he would never let Indigo die, enchanted fishing spears to kill his grandfather. Albatross tried to counter his magic, but Indigo stopped him by seizing his snout and viciously biting his ear. The spears smashed into Albatross's side, killing him.

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Field Guides

A Guide to the Dragon World
Albatross's letters to and from Queen Lagoon were featured in the SeaWing chapter of the guide. He was later mentioned in the SkyWing chapter by Queen Carmine in her letter to Queen Pearl.

Relationships

Fathom

Fathom cared deeply about his grandfather's opinion of him, and wanted to show Albatross his ability to be smart and thoughtful. After Fathom was discovered to be an animus dragon, Albatross was quite jovial towards him, a stark difference from the kind but distant figure he had been for the majority of Fathom's life. He saw great promise in Fathom, and allowed him to design aspects of the Summer Palace. However, when the time came for the two of them to create the throne at the top of the pavilion, Fathom spent months drawing the template, right to the smallest detail, and then Albatross changed so much of it Fathom could barely recognize it as his own; despite this, Fathom did not seem to be annoyed. During the Royal SeaWing Massacre, he referred to Fathom as having a limited imagination, and taunted him about his family's newfound mortality. Fathom was eventually forced to kill Albatross after he attacked Indigo.

Lagoon

Lagoon saw Albatross as both expendable and less presentable than Fathom because of his odd coloring. She constantly mentioned Albatross maiming Sapphire, despite Albatross flinching away from mentions of the incident, as an excuse to continue abusing his animus magic for her own interest. Despite Albatross having animus magic, she ordered him around like she would any other SeaWing subject. Albatross killed Lagoon first in the massacre.

Sapphire

Albatross would flinch each time Sapphire was mentioned, and although Albatross knew that his enchantment was accidental, it haunted him until he died. As a young dragonet, Sapphire teased Albatross, making fun of the way he swam and his physical features; she also snatched a clam shell away from him as he was playing with it, stating that someday, the entire Kingdom of the Sea would be hers. Sapphire's teasing made Albatross very angry.

Family tree

Albatross

Sapphire

Lagoon

Humpback

Eel

Manta

Reef

Splash

Current

Scallop

Pearl

Fathom

Indigo

Clearpool

Cowrie

Ripple

More

Known Enchantments

Phrasing	Target	Intention
"Phrasing unknown."	A conch shell	To light up whenever someone lied.
"Phrasing unknown."	A dragon fountain on the Island Palace.	To function normally with water.
"Phrasing unknown."	The Summer Palace	To grow and expand like a living thing.
"Phrasing unknown."	A chef's knife	Kill whoever he ordered.
"Bite her! Bite all her claws off!"	An empty clamshell	To bite off all of Sapphire's claws.
"Phrasing unknown."	A vine	To strangle a seagull.
"Phrasing unknown."	A bush	To fling itself into the sea.
"Phrasing unknown."	Eight coconuts	To roll up to the dragonets at the Talons of Power ceremony.
"Phrasing unknown."	A spear	To reflect the attack of a user back to the user.
"Phrasing unknown."	Unknown	To create a light show at the Talons of Power ceremony.

Quotes

"Some of you may have heard of animus magic. It is a rare kind of immense power, and a dragon is either born with it or he isn't. What we are doing today is a simple test to see if you have that power. Almost certainly you do not. Pick up your coconut. Now, tell your coconut to fly over here and hit me."

― to several SeaWing dragonets during the Talons of Power ceremony

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"You use your power, if you have any. An animus dragon can enchant any object to do what he wants it to do. I can do it now without even speaking, but saying it out loud is the way to start. Simply whisper to your coconut that you want it to fly over here and hit me."

― to Indigo, during the Talons of Power ceremony

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"Another animus in the tribe. [...] I'm so very, very pleased."

― Albatross, about Fathom

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"It's a new palace, grandson. Entirely grown by animus power. I call it the Summer Palace — a place where royalty can escape to enjoy the warmest weather of the year. Here's what it will look like when it's finished."

― to Fathom, about the Summer Palace

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"That's the plan. I check on it regularly, making adjustments and adding features. It's been growing for more than seven years, so it shouldn't be much longer."

― to Fathom, about the Summer Palace

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"I enchanted it to grow carefully and precisely, like a tree. Anything faster and wilder could have damaged the ecosystem of the whole island."

― to Fathom, about the Summer Palace

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"The first lesson about being an animus is that you must always be careful. Remember this is powerful, powerful magic. It can go wrong very easily. It's so powerful that you can do almost anything, except bring a dragon back from the dead."

― to Fathom, about animus magic

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"Grandson. Hiding like a nervous hermit crab. Interesting choice. One I should have expected, though, from such a little dragonet with such a limited imagination."

― to Fathom, during the Royal SeaWing Massacre

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"You know I could easily kill you from a distance. It would barely take a thought. But you've been such a thorn in my side for the last few years. Every chance she got — 'I don't really need you anymore. Perhaps Fathom will be better at this than you are. You're so expendable now that I have a replacement. What a pathetic creature you are, little brother, with your tiny teeth and oddly colored scales. Fathom is so much more presentable than you are.' [...] So, no, I couldn't dispose of you from afar. That wouldn't be satisfying at all. I want to see your face as you die."

― to Fathom, about Lagoon

Trivia

• Albatross's name is a reference to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in which the albatross symbolizes a psychological burden that feels like a curse.
• Albatross is the first known animus SeaWing in ancient Pyrrhia.
• Albatross is most likely not an IceWing-SeaWing hybrid. His colors are likely natural pigmentation.

Gallery

• 
  Albatross from The Lost Heir (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes
• 
  Reference by Spirit978

• Art by Mike Holmes, from the Wings of Fire Graphic Novels
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• Art by Jake Parker, from Darkstalker (graphic novel)
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References

cs:Albatros de:Albatross fi:Albatrossi fr:Albatros nl:Albatros pl:Albatros ru:Альбатрос