Whirlpool

"But, you see, I do want to be king. So I thought if I got rid of you, I'd improve my chances of marrying a more agreeable daughter."

— Whirlpool to Tsunami about his attempt to kill her, The Lost Heir

Whirlpool was an adult male SeaWing who was introduced in The Lost Heir. He was a royal scribe, a friend and advisor of Queen Coral, and a member of the SeaWing Council. He was killed by Anemone when she accidentally knocked him into a moat of electric eels.

Description

Whirlpool had dark green scales and additional light green scales, dappled in wave patterns, along his spine. He had blobby, frog-like, pale green eyes that seemed too large for his eye sockets, and oddly small teeth. He wore a large, golden hoop earring in one ear and had dark ink staining his talons. He also wore several golden rings around his sharp, fishhook-like claws. His smile was toothy and did not reach his eyes, and he often strutted around. Tsunami viewed him as less handsome than Riptide.

Personality

Whirlpool was haughty, boring, patronizing, pompous, indignant, officious, ridiculous, and annoying. He never allowed Anemone to do anything other than move inanimate objects around during her animus lessons. He was also described to have an oily, oozing voice, and according to Riptide, he was "Queen Coral's favorite instrument of torture." Although Coral believed him to be a wonderful teacher, Whirlpool usually avoided more claws-on training in favor of traditional literature, even if the latter hindered his pupils. Whirlpool was also notorious for his greed, and the only reason he had any interest in marrying one of Coral's daughters was that he could obtain power and riches by becoming king. He slurped loudly while eating and droned on about things, even when no one seemed to be listening. Whirlpool always sounded like a know-it-all even with things he knew nothing about.

Biography

Pre-Series

Whirlpool was an overseer of the Talons of Power ceremony, which was a test to discover any animus dragons in the tribe. When Turtle was four, he was escorted by Whirlpool to this event. Whirlpool tested dragonets in groups of three, ordering them to make their coconuts hover. When Anemone's powers were discovered, he reluctantly ended it before he was able to test the remaining dragonets. Sometime before The Lost Heir, he had hidden a weapon on the very same island the Talons of Power ceremony occurred, hiding it in the sand for Anemone to use when she decided to challenge Queen Coral for the throne. The said weapon was a "large, wickedly curved dagger."

---

The Dragonet Prophecy

The Lost Heir

Whirlpool, a member of Queen Coral's Council, as previously mentioned, taught both Anemone and Tsunami how to speak Aquatic, trained Anemone in her animus abilities even though in Talons of Power, Anemone was pretty sure he wanted her to lose her soul. During the time when Tsunami came to visit the royal family, he attempted to teach her Aquatic, but this lasted only for one day. His method was to recite all of Queen Coral's work over a span of five years. Tsunami found this ineffective and swam away angrily. In the end, she learned more Aquatic from Riptide instead of Whirlpool. Whirlpool wanted to marry Anemone and become the king; he also threatened to tell Coral and Blister about how strong Anemone's animus power really was, claiming that they would be so grateful that they would grant him the SeaWing throne. He then thought out loud about marrying Auklet instead, saying Anemone probably would not survive the war. Queen Coral was quite fond of Whirlpool and often praised him, so much as to raise the possibility of Tsunami marrying him, although Tsunami showed no interest in Whirlpool and, in fact, despised him. He tried to murder Tsunami because of this since that would increase the chances of Anemone becoming queen, and he would have a better chance of marrying Anemone, making him king. He attempted the murder with a kelp sack and a suit of armor but Tsunami fought him off and he sped away before he could be discovered. After the dragonets were imprisoned, Anemone came to visit and enchanted a narwhal spear to search for the dragon that had attacked Tsunami. It herded Whirlpool into the prison, and Whirlpool exclaimed how impressed he was by Anemone's power, and threatened to tell Blister and Queen Coral. Then, Anemone struck him with the spear, causing Whirlpool to fall into the moat which surrounded the dragonets' prison. The moat was full of massive electric eels that gave off shocks strong enough to kill a dragon, charging the water with deadly force. When Whirlpool fell in, there was a blinding flash, and he was killed by the eels. Anemone, terrified that Coral would find out, went back to Coral moments before the palace was attacked by the SkyWings.

---

The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Moon Rising
Moonwatcher accidentally read Anemone's mind as she was swimming with her fellow SeaWings at Jade Mountain, and she was thinking about the death of Whirlpool and how strong her animus powers were growing.

Winter Turning
Whirlpool was mentioned in Anemone's thoughts in the epilogue. Anemone reflected on how she could do anything she wanted at the academy now that she was free from her mother's harness. She believed that killing Whirlpool taught her mother that she was the most powerful dragon in the world, and if it did not, she would teach her some other way.

Talons of Power

Turtle reflected on the Talons of Power ceremony. In the climactic battle, Anemone says, "If Whirlpool was wrong, I'll hunt down his drifting corpse and kill him all over again," and then she admits that she did not accidentally kill Whirlpool, but did it on purpose to protect her sister Tsunami, and to make sure her mother Coral and Princess Blister did not find out how powerful she was becoming. She also says to him that before his death, Whirlpool wanted to be king really badly, so he had tried to shape her into a darker dragon and told her about the hidden dagger buried on the beach of the Island Palace that she could use to kill her mother in hopes that he would be by her side.

---

Field Guides

A Guide to the Dragon World
Whirlpool was mentioned by Coral in her scroll about the War of SandWing Succession.

Relationships

Anemone

Anemone seemed hopeful when Tsunami was introduced to Whirlpool, as Anemone did not want to marry him and hoped that Tsunami might take her place. She considers him dreadful and despises the idea of marrying him, and he speaks to her patronizingly. She considers him awful, and often glared at him. Whirlpool did not like Anemone much, but would have preferred marrying her over Tsunami. Anemone suspected that Whirlpool wanted her to turn evil and challenge Coral for the throne in order to become king.

Coral

Whirlpool was Coral's most trusted advisor. Coral considered Whirlpool to be an intelligent, handsome, wonderful, brilliant young dragon. Whirlpool bowed to Coral elaborately when greeting her, and she considered him very clever; she was especially impressed by his invention of permanent squid ink. Whirlpool was fond of Coral's writing and would often talk about or praise her for her work. He spoke to her in a voice full of sincere admiration.

Tsunami

Tsunami would never marry Whirlpool, a feeling that is mutual. She considers him awful and annoying, and stated that he was a horrible teacher.

Quotes

"All knowledge can be found in the queen's writing. [...] If we recite three chapters a day, we should get through her entire body of work in about five years."

― to Tsunami about her aquatic training

---

"My goodness. Anemone, I had no idea you were capable of such powerful magic. I must be a brilliant teacher."

― to Anemone about her magic

---

"But I do want to be king. [...] So I thought if I got rid of you, I'd improve my chances of marrying a more agreeable daughter."

― to Tsunami about why he attempted to kill her

---

"It's not really up to you. [...] Once I tell Queen Coral and Queen Blister about what you can do, they'll be so grateful, they'll let me have anything I want. But of course, then you'll be very busy using your powers to win the war. And you probably won't survive that. So I should really ask for Auklet instead."

― to Anemone about his plan to become king

Gallery

• 
  Whirlpool from The Lost Heir (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes
• 
  Reference by SpaceshipEarth

• Art by Mike Holmes, from the Wings of Fire Graphic Novels
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

References

de:Whirlpool fi:Pyörre fr:Jacuzzi nl:Draaikolk pl:Wir ru:Мальстрём