Othermind


 * "I am the rightful owner of this continent. It was mine, all mine, every insect and blade of grass and grain of sand. I ruled it all. And then you came, with your outsized brains and your clumsy crushing talons and your fire. And you stole it from me."
 * —The othermind, The Poison Jungle

The othermind, also known as the breath of evil, is a sentient plant acting as the main antagonist of Arc Three. The othermind can infect hosts, whose minds it can take over. Hosts are created when an organism ingests (or inhales the smoke of) the breath of evil; hosts can also create their own hosts by injecting the plant into them (as with Queen Wasp). Although a host has total control over others it infects, capable of controlling any number at once, they ultimately answer to the othermind itself.

Most HiveWings, with the exception of Cricket, Bumblebee, HiveWing Royalty (such as Jewel and Scarab), and some old dragons hatched before the Tree Wars, were infected by Queen Wasp.

As of The Poison Jungle, the othermind has gained control of most of Pantala, with those uninfected fleeing the continent towards Pyrrhia.

The othermind now takes control over Queen Wasp after Hawthorn fed it to Wasp during a peace treaty in order to take control over her and use her strengths and powers for good. Instead, she only became more powerful and used the othermind as a source of power to control the HiveWings. The breath of evil is now trying to take revenge and retake Pantala by controlling the dragons and push them off the continent or kill them.

Appearance Edit
The breath of evil has green leaves shot through with red, a stem that is red with streaks of lighter green and a cluster of flowers that are white and conceal a dark red seed. Cricket notes that the plant "would have looked perfectly creepy" if it wasn't for the flowers. Hawthorn, a LeafWing sent to study the plant, trained one of its shoots to only affect HiveWings, but the othermind gained enough control over him to convince him to reverse this. The breath of evil is mentioned to have thrived in all ecosystems.

Personality Edit
The othermind is shown to be determined, tenacious, and quite patient, as it waited, hiding in the Poison Jungle, for thousands of years after its defeat for a chance to reclaim Pantala. It is also intelligent and opportunistic in its effort to retake Pantala, deceiving multiple dragons (such as Hawthorn and Sundew) into unknowingly aiding it. Its nature is to possess and take control of others, as it did to all the organisms that had lived on Pantala, and tried to do with dragons later. As a plant, the othermind has a primal instinct to grow, demonstrated by its tone when Sundew is tricked into growing it with her leafspeak. Although it is somewhat egotistical, childish, and easily angered, the othermind also seems to find great joy in intellectualism, explaining to Cricket the details and mechanics of infection to great length.

Hawthorn Edit
Likely its only real companionship since it was nearly destroyed thousands of years earlier, the othermind showed an odd, twisted affection for Hawthorn, claiming that it would use him as an outer shell until his bones rotted. He was also incredibly useful to the othermind itself, having some of the most powerful leafspeak on Pantala. However, it holds a grudge against Hawthorn for altering the breath of evil to only work on HiveWings and made Hawthorn stab himself in the neck.

Wasp Edit
The other preferred host of the othermind, Wasp was mentioned as a great ally as she was "poisonous to the core". It seemed amused that Wasp thinks she is in control and lets her do evil things freely, as those evil things pleases the othermind. However, it still maintains control and knows that she ultimately answers to it.

Sundew Edit
The othermind dislikes Sundew for helping Willow destroy Hawthorn but doesn't want her dead, knowing that her extremely powerful leafspeak could help it take over Pantala in a matter of days.

Quotes Edit

 * "Grow wild spread far … […] Grow far spread wild …"
 * ―  (The Poison Jungle, page 256)


 * "I know, I know, […] You'll do something terrible and violent to me. But it will be too late, because then she'll be dead. So how about you stay on your side of the river while we have our little talk, and maybe she'll survive this, more or less. You too, little gnat. And you, disposable LeafWing. I can still see you; don't even think about sneaking away."
 * ― to Sundew and Mandrake as he threatens Willow (The Poison Jungle, page 260)


 * "There. […] After all, it would spoil everything if you went to warn Sequoia. My whole brilliant plan, ruined by a trio of idiots? I think not."
 * ― to Sundew, Cricket, and Mandrake (The Poison Jungle, page 261)


 * "Oh, I know how strong this jungle is. It's been my home for thousands of years, after all. It came so close to killing me at last, after so many had failed … but then Hawthorn came along and rescued me. Gormless lovely dragon husk. He's been so useful. I think I'll keep him forever, or at least, until his bones rot and I can't move him anymore."
 * ― introducing himself (The Poison Jungle, page 261)


 * "Hee hee, […] the outer bark is Hawthorn, yes. All these years, he thought he was in control. He thought I was merely one of the voices in his head, his beautifully carved seed whispering back at him. […] Such a clever scientist. Left to test his experiments on himself, poor fellow. Imagine what he might have figured out if he'd had more test subjects. Aren't I lucky he didn't."
 * ― talking about controlling Hawthorn (The Poison Jungle, page 262)


 * "Wasp, really. No, no, no. She's a perfect ally, all poison from her core out. But in the end, she's my puppet, too. I let her do all her great evil things because it pleases me. But one day she'll realize I've hollowed out her brain and she has no more control than her lowliest worm of a subject."
 * ― in reply to when accused of being Queen Wasp (The Poison Jungle, page 262)


 * "All these thousands of years. I've waited to recapture my home and destroy you all. I bided my time and planned my vengeance. Even trapped in the jungle, I knew I'd find a way one day. I had no idea how easy it would be, in the end. You foolish, shortsighted dragons. You came looking for me! You fed me to your enemies! You let me spread and infect you, and soon you'll be no more trouble than my obedient snakes here."
 * ― to Sundew, Cricket, Willow, and Mandrake (The Poison Jungle, page 263)


 * "Hee hee hee. You are pleasantly stupid. You really haven't figured out the next stage of my plan? Let's see, how did you put it? 'when the bonfire does nothing.' But of course the bonfire does something, you splintery twig."
 * ― to Sundew (The Poison Jungle, page 263)


 * "Well, Hawthorn did have very powerful leafspeak. He almost managed to put a cage around me. He took advantage of one of my weak little shoots, who would have done anything to survive, and he really did adapt that branch of me to only work on HiveWings. Aggravating monster. I could work with it, though. It was a good start, but not what I needed. Not what I wanted. I wanted everyone. So once I was inside him, I had him fix me. All his little chains are gone. And now … I will have what I want."
 * ― about Hawthorn trying to control him (The Poison Jungle, page 264)


 * "The fire has been lit. The smoke is rising. They are breathing it in, and me along with it. All those brave LeafWings, ready to fight. Oh, there's your mother, Sundew. The queen will be mine soon. It's too bad the Chrysalis didn't make it in time … but I will get to them eventually. For now, at least I have these two sweet little SilkWings to infect. Next important question. Which of you four should I infect first?"
 * ― to Sundew, Cricket, Willow, and Mandrake (The Poison Jungle, page 264)


 * "Maybe I don't need one more HiveWing. Especially a deceitful, inquisitive one who won't shut up!"
 * ― to Cricket after she attacks him (The Poison Jungle, page 270)


 * "I know you are. But you will be useful to me. I'm going to use your leafspeak to retake my continent. Between you and Hawthorn—and this feeble worm over here—, we can spread across Pantala in a matter of days."
 * ― to Sundew about her and Mandrake's leafspeak (The Poison Jungle, page 270-271)

Trivia Edit

 * Willow initially called it the "Othermind", as Sundew just spoke of it as the "Breath of Evil", but it had no name previously.
 * In The Hive Queen, it is said to smell horrible, as if it was rotting. It is also noted to smell slightly peppery. Its roots smell like old oranges.
 * The breath of evil can grow on any terrain and soil. It is described to be like a weed, and will spread faster than normal plants.
 * The breath of evil may be spoken to via leafspeak, but it has to talk through a host to communicate verbally to dragons.
 * When Sundew tried to reach out to speak to one of the Othermind's little shoots, it seemed to block her leafspeak a little bit, only showing what was on the outside. However, this might be the cause of Hawthorn's leafspeak.