Animus magic

Animus dragons are able to enchant things, such as objects, animals, and dragons. Some examples of animus powers are disguising dragons, creating dreamvisitors, finding a specific dragon, or controlling another dragon. Sometimes, an animus dragons are not aware of their powers. The only confirmed limitation of animus magic is bringing back the dead, although Tui mentioned there are more^{[citation needed]}. However, every time an animus dragon uses his or her power, they lose a bit of their soul, bringing them closer to insanity. 

Animus History

• Albatross: Albatross built the Summer Palace over the course of a decade before going insane and attempting to kill everyone in sight, including his family. This event was known as the Royal SeaWing Massacre.
• Princess Anemone: Anemone, a daughter of Queen Coral, used her magic for various things, including a spear to find Whirlpool (after he attacked Tsunami), a spell on Auklet's harness, and the weather bracelets Qibli used during Darkness of Dragons. She was enchanted to be an animus dragon by her brother Prince Turtle.
• Prince Arctic: Darkstalker's father was an IceWing prince that fell in love with a NightWing named Hope (Foeslayer). He knew he could never be with her unless he ran away from his tribe. He used his animus power to enchant an earring that would keep Foeslayer warm in cold climates and safe from danger as long as she wore it. A few days before his "Gifting Ceremony", Foeslayer and Arctic slipped out of the Ice Kingdom together. He used his power again to help Foeslayer escape with him. The two ran away to the Night Kingdom, and they had two eggs: Darkstalker and Whiteout. Darkstalker claims that his father used his power behind the backs of the other IceWings and was already insane. He also claims he had no choice but to kill him.
• King Darkstalker: He was a half NightWing, half IceWing animus, born with strong powers of mind reading and seeing the future. Although he put all of his animus power in a scroll or talisman, he also created the three dreamvisitors, and eventually became obsessed with power and attempted to take over the tribe as a king. He killed his father, Arctic, by enchanting him to follow his commands and then ordered him to disembowel himself. His beloved, Clearsight, and his best friend, Fathom, tricked him with an animus-touched bracelet and was put to sleep for 2,000 years. He later awoke, buried underground, when the earthquakes caused the bracelet to break. In Moon Rising, he attempted to show Moonwatcher that he wasn't evil as everyone else thought. In Talons of Power, his power returned to him, and he proceeded to give many NightWings superpowers. In Darkness of Dragons he tried to make Clearsight "alive" by enchanting Fierceteeth. He also made Vulture's emotions change, horrifying Qibli greatly which led to his denial of Darkstalker's offer for animus magic.
• Queen Diamond: She created the chains to Foeslayer's prison. She also gave the IceWings the gift of healing. She created five narwhal horn spears that, if touched to a frostbreath injury, would heal it. She was an IceWing Queen that ruled approximately 2,000 years ago. She enchanted Foeslayer's shackles so that she could be killed multiple times over and over again. The chains could be set free though, but only by the frostbreath of a member of the royal IceWing family.
• Prince Fathom: An Animus SeaWing, best friend of Darkstalker until he tricked him into an enchanted sleep. He swore to his sister never to use his powers after the Royal SeaWing Massacre. However, he used them once to stop Darkstalker, and another time to save his other best friend, Indigo, both incidences breaking his oath. He was fearful about using his power due to the effects it might have on him.
• Princess Frostbite: An IceWing princess that made the Moon Globe Tree, the Gift of Light. According to Winter , she painstakingly carved the tree with her claws instead of enchanting it to grow that way, and often went outside the Ice Kingdom to study trees. 
• Jerboa: Jerboa, a SandWing from the time of Darkstalker was the first known SandWing animus. She ran away after she was sentenced to death by Queen Scorpion because of the lack of knowledge on animus dragons. She enchanted her daughter (mentioned below) to be safe from harm.
• Jerboa II: Daughter of the first Jerboa, she appears in the epilogue of Darkness of Dragons and The Lost Continent. Her mother enchanted her so nothing could ever harm her. This seems to have defeated death, as well, making her the second dragon to be shown in the series to be immortal.
• Princess Orca: An Animus SeaWing, she had enchanted one of her sculptures of herself to kill other female dragons in her bloodline, so she could rule forever. After challenging her mother, Queen Coral, for the throne, she died. Queen Coral put her enchanted sculpture in the underwater Royal Hatchery, where it proceeded to crush the Queen's female eggs.
• Penguin: An animus IceWing who created the Gift of Diplomacy, a dome that possessed a warm climate on the inside for foreign guests, as well as the set of three bracelets that kept the guests warm and safe from the Great Ice Cliff.
• Stonemover: A NightWing animus, Stonemover figured out a way to transfer the soul loss into his scales, gradually turning them into stone. He described it as "turning the magic upon itself". However, he was already weak from creating tunnels that lead to the Kingdom of Sand and the RainWing Kingdom. Stonemover enchanted a fox named Dinner to bring him the food he needed for he was too weak to do it himself. He may have created the Obsidian Mirror, and did something to it when he left so that it didn't work as well.
• Prince Turtle: Keeping his powers a secret like his deceased sister, Orca, he claimed he only enchanted small things, like a river stone he enchanted to heal flesh and muscle wounds in Escaping Peril. In Talons of Power Darkstalker takes away Turtle's Animus power, claiming that he was too clever to have animus magic, having hidden himself with his magic from Darkstalker. However he can still use his powers by wearing a duplicate of Qibli's earring that was enchanted to protect the wearer from Darkstalker's spells.

Effects

It was thought that using any magic could cause insanity, though it was later confirmed that only using magic for evil did. However, this does not explain Albatross. Stonemover enchanted his body to slowly turn into stone when he used his powers, instead of him losing his soul. Orca proved her insanity and hunger for power when she enchanted her statue that was supposed to kill any female eggs and female dragons of royal blood so she could rule forever. Princess Anemone went partly insane in Talons of Power, although she was reverted to her normal self again, thanks to Turtle. Dragons going insane were described to have "hooded eyes"^{[citation needed]} The number of enchantments an animus dragon can make before going insane may vary, shown in the case of Princess Anemone and Prince Turtle.

Known Animus Dragons

• Prince Albatross (SeaWing)
• Princess Anemone (artificial animus, enchanted by her Turtle) (SeaWing)
• Prince Arctic (IceWing)
• King Darkstalker (NightWing/IceWing hybrid)
• Queen Diamond (IceWing)
• Prince Fathom (SeaWing)
• Princess Frostbite (IceWing)
• Jerboa (SandWing)
• Jerboa II (SandWing)
• Princess Orca (SeaWing)
• Penguin (IceWing)
• Stonemover (NightWing)
• Prince Turtle (SeaWing)

Trivia

• There was no first animus dragon; they originated from multiple dragons^{[citation needed]}.
• The actual definition of animus is motivation to do something (to enchantment of objects in the books), a hostile or ill feeling (the effect of the use of powers on an animus dragon), or a theory by Carl Jung describing the unconscious masculine part of a female's personality. The term animus is also Latin for mind or heart.
• Animus power feels like a "faint tingling in [the] claws".
• Princess Sunset has confirmed that SkyWings have had animus in the past.
• RainWings have never had any animus dragons.^{[citation needed]}
• It is unknown if an animus dragon has ever existed in the MudWing Kingdom.
  • The only suggestion that a MudWing animus could exist is the defective MudWing shown in Burn's tower, whose egg was supposedly animus-touched.
• MudWings and RainWings not caring for their young may be why they never have any animi.
• On June 2nd, 2018 in Winchester MA, Tui confirmed that ancient Icewing animus dragons had their gifting ceremonies when they turned 7 years old.
• Animus genes formerly ran in the IceWing royal family. This is because the IceWings purposely bred their animi into the royal family, to gain more power.
• It is said that all animus dragons are part IceWing, which makes sense in several different cases. For example, any NightWing animus would be related to Darkstalker, who was half IceWing. This would also work for SeaWings because Albatross was confirmed as part IceWing. This would affect the rest of the SeaWing animi as only royals have magic, and Albatross was a prince of the royal SeaWing line. This is also in the SandWings, since Stonemover was a NightWing and had an egg with Thorn, creating Sunny. However, this only continues if Sunny has eggs.
• The IceWings genetically bred animus magic into their dragons and set up a system so every animus only uses their power once, so they don't go insane. However, Queen Diamond and Prince Arctic did not follow this law, resulting in the Ice Kingdom's loss of their animus dragons.

Gallery

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• Prince Arctic, the last IceWing animus.
  Prince Arctic, the last IceWing animus.