Seawing

SeaWings, also known as Sea Dragons or Ocean Dragons to humans, are an ocean-dwelling Pyrrhian dragon tribe with bioluminescent scales that cover their underbellies snouts, backs, legs, necks, tails, gills, webbed talons, and sometimes wings. They are currently ruled by Queen Coral (as of Darkness of Dragons). They currently reside underwater in the Kingdom of the Sea's Deep Palace after losing the Summer Palace in an enemy attack from the SkyWings and MudWings, who destroyed the palace with burning logs and dragonflame cactus bombs.

The SeaWings were allied with Blister in the War of SandWing Succession. However, Blister could not locate her allies after the attack and destruction of the Summer Palace, which made her furious, as the SeaWings had fled to the inaccessible Deep Palace, which is located in a trench very deep underwater, the location of which is currently only known to the SeaWings. Their alliance broke after the Summer Palace was attacked and destroyed by the SkyWings with the help of Crocodile, a MudWing spy/infiltrator pretending to be a member of the Talons of Peace, who had followed Webs to the Summer Palace. Once, the SeaWings were allied with the MudWings during the war, but the assassination of one of the top SeaWing generals, Commander Tempest, caused the alliance to be fractured and later, destroyed (see Assassin).

The Island Palace was the SeaWings' original above-water palace until the Royal SeaWing Massacre. After that, the SeaWings decided to abandon the Island Palace and relocate to the Summer Palace. Queen Coral recently sent a letter to Turtle (found in the epilogue of Darkness of Dragons), saying that she intended to build a new palace that was not hidden.

Description Edit
SeaWings commonly range from a scale color of blues, greens, aquamarine, cyan, teal, (rarely) yellow-green, indigo, blue-gray, blue-green, and blue-black although Anemone is pale blue with pale pink webbing like the inside of a seashell. She is said in The Lost Heir to resemble the pink dolphins that swim near the palace. In the sunlight, SeaWing scales look like glossy emeralds and sapphires according to Clay in The Dragonet Prophecy. SeaWings usually have green or blue eyes, with some exceptions, like Fathom, having gray-green eyes. SeaWings have webbed talons with hooked claws, as well as long, thick, powerful tails, which makes them excellent swimmers and can even be used for self-defense. It is also said that they can make powerful waves with one splash of their tails. SeaWings have gills on the side of their necks that allow them to breathe underwater. SeaWings are considered small in height and have long, compact bodies with short legs. They have curved horns, a slender and curved snout, and two short tendrils coming from the bottom of their chin, which could help with blending into their environment or could just be a decoration. They have webbed spines along their chest and the backs of their necks to the tips of their tail. Like all dragons, they have five claws on their front talons and four on their back talons.

The bioluminescent stripes on a SeaWing's body are used to attract other SeaWings when choosing their mates or during Aquatic conversation. Members of the royal family, such as Queen Coral, are hatched with and have glowing spiral markings as well as starbursts on the underside of their wings. Non-royal SeaWings do not have spiral patterns on their wings, and their starburst patterns are smaller. Most SeaWings are shown to have glowing stripes on the wing arms and a starburst on each knee on the cover of The Lost Heir. They can control when the stripes on their bodies glow and can light up each one individually. They can be born with birthmark glow patterns as well as the traditional patterns, such as long, spiraling patterns under their eyes.

SeaWing eggs are green or blue and are kept underwater in hatcheries.

The tribe's appearance is changed somewhat in the graphic novel series. The crest on a SeaWing's head is shown as being ribbed with three prongs, and each dragon has a unique glow stripe pattern, such as Shark's thin lines compared to Whirlpool's blob-like patterns. They also have longer, thinner tails, necks, and legs.

Diets Edit
Coral has forbidden the consumption of dolphins because she thinks they are related to dragons, but Tsunami privately believes it is because of the fact Anemone "looks like one." SeaWings mainly eat fish (served raw due to their lack of fire) as well as several different aquatic plants, such as seaweed or mushrooms, thus making the diet of a SeaWing primarily piscivorous in nature. The presentation of this fish varies from social class to social class, with aristocrats eating it deboned and artistically arranged and the lowborn eating it whole. They also eat other underwater animals, such as whales, octopi, turtles, and sea snails. In The Missing Princess (a scroll written by Queen Coral) it was mentioned that they ate a whale during a feast. It is hinted that classes are divided by their diet as lower-class SeaWings are mentioned to eat eels, but this may just be an insult of sorts. They have also been shown to eat soup, as when Blister arrived in The Lost Heir, she was offered some.However, this may be a courtesy they extend to guests only, similar to when they prepared roasted seagulls for the SandWing guests in The Lost Heir. In Darkstalker, SeaWings also appear to have some culinary talent similar to humans. During a feast celebrating the diplomatic visit of two SkyWings, coconut rice, tuna rolls, and macadamia treats are served, as well as a sort of mango-lime drink. A SeaWing was also seen chopping coconuts. Additionally, Turtle and his brothers were often served fish stew. How they eat this underwater is unknown, although it may only be consumed in the Summer Palace or similar areas.

Abilities Edit
SeaWings have the ability to breathe underwater because of their gills, which no other dragon tribe can do, have excellent night vision (if it is pitch black, however, they only see black and white), light up their glow-stripes to blind an enemy momentarily (or to converse in Aquatic), and they are excellent swimmers. They also have long, thick, powerful tails, which can be used as dangerous weapons, creating huge waves, and for swimming faster. No dragon tribe can surpass their speed through the water. They often use currents to increase their speed when traveling underwater (by angling their wings), and having webbed talons helps them swim. To attract mates at an older age, they can light up a special pattern on their bioluminescent scales. However, they have also been used as signals above the water and to communicate in an underwater language called Aquatic. Unlike all the other Pyrrhian tribes, they cannot produce any form of attack from the mouth (such as fire, frost breath, or venom).

SeaWings can be driven mentally insane by dehydration. This torture method was used by Scarlet to punish Gill in her arena during a battle with Tsunami in The Dragonet Prophecy. It is a cruel and savage method that causes the subject to lose all sense and do anything to get water even if it means drinking their own or another dragon's blood. In The Dragonet Prophecy, it is said that Gill had cuts all over his wings and body, perhaps from battle or perhaps from self-harm. Clay described that he looked "completely insane."

SeaWings are one of four known tribes to have animus dragons, the others being the NightWings, IceWings, and SandWings. As for SeaWings, the animus gift has only ever been seen in the royal family, with some known animus dragons being Orca, Anemone, Turtle, Fathom, and Albatross.

The Royal Family Edit
The SeaWing royal family has a violent and tragic history, marked with much strife, violence, and bloodshed. It is headed currently by  Coral. She and her deceased husband, Gill (who was killed by Tsunami in a gladiator fight in the arena of Queen Scarlet), had multiple eggs, but most of the female eggs were crushed by Orca's statue. The only surviving eggs were the eggs of Tsunami, Anemone, and Auklet. Coral protected Anemone's egg by staying with the egg until she hatched, Tsunami's egg was taken by Webs to become one of the dragonets of destiny after he drugged the hatchery guards, and Auklet was protected by Tsunami once she found out about the animus-touched statue. Orca's statue was enchanted by the infamous SeaWing princess, Orca. The statue of herself was enchanted to murder all female heirs to the throne so she would have no sisters when she took the throne. The eggs containing male dragons survived the wrath of Orca's statue because they can not inherit the throne. According to Coral, Orca's last words were "You're going to rule forever, aren't you, Mother? … You should thank me … no one can stop you now."

After countless SeaWing princesses were murdered, Orca's statue and its curse were finally broken. The deadly piece of artwork was disarmed by Tsunami to protect Auklet, the new princess. The statue was destroyed afterward. Currently, three male SeaWing eggs are unhatched in the Royal Hatchery, and there are thirty-two living princes.

The royal family is also commonly known for having a fierce temper and a fiery spirit (with the few exceptions being King Gill, Prince Fathom, and Prince Turtle). Tsunami, for example, is usually very brave, competitive, and ferocious, while Anemone tends to be more assertive and outgoing with a streak of lightning temper.

Animus dragons also seem to run in the royal family, such as Albatross, Orca, Prince Turtle, Prince Fathom, and Princess Anemone. Queen Coral also said they had not had an animus in a few generations when talking about Anemone.

A male royal hatchling, Turtle, first appears in Moon Rising. It is said in Moon Rising that Tsunami has thirty-two brothers (including Turtle). But their mother, Queen Coral, doesn't care about her sons as much as her daughters because they can't inherit the throne. Anemone was enough for her, but ironically Turtle was the one who made Anemone an animus in the first place.

Much earlier on in SeaWing history (3,000 years after the Scorching), Prince Albatross gradually lost his soul by using his animus powers excessively. After Albatross enchanted a rock to turn into the Summer Palace, he turned insane and killed nine dragons including his sister, Lagoon. (See Animus History for details.)

Animus History Edit
Animus Magic is often found in the Royal SeaWing lineage, starting with Albatross.

Known Animus SeaWings Edit

 * Albatross
 * Fathom
 * Turtle
 * Anemone (artificial animus, enchanted to be one by Turtle)
 * Orca

Known History Edit
Albatross was the first SeaWing animus mentioned in the books. Prince Fathom was later discovered to be an animus when he was two years old and was therefore mentored by Albatross. After using his animus powers too much, Albatross revealed his madness at a party when he arrived late, and his sister Queen Lagoon scolded him for being late. He then became angry and murdered Queen Lagoon along with eight other members of the Royal SeaWing Family. He was finally stopped when Prince Fathom killed him with enchanted spears.

Pearl, who was Fathom's sister and one of the only royal survivors of Albatross's attack, ascended to the throne peacefully and outlawed animus magic in the SeaWing kingdom. Her brother, Prince Fathom, made an oath to her that he would not use his powers and never have children. Later, he chooses to use his powers to stop his friend, Darkstalker, after he killed his IceWing animus father, Arctic, and return Indigo from being trapped in a wooden statue. Fathom then had three dragonets (two sons and one daughter) with Indigo, passing the animus gene on.

Two thousand years later, Queen Coral had a dragonet whom she named Princess Orca. At age seven, Orca challenged her mother for the throne. Unfortunately for Orca, she lost, accidentally being impaled by a narwhal horn on the end of Queen Coral's tail. Before she died, she told her mother that she would reign forever and should thank her. This was because before she challenged her, she had carved a statue of herself, enchanted it, and donated it to the Royal Hatchery. The enchantment made the statue come alive every time the royal hatchery's doors were closed and the only objects inside were heirs to the throne (either grown or in their egg). Then, it would destroy all the heirs it possibly could and return to its pedestal in the same position as it previously was. Orca probably wanted to kill off all her heirs so she could be queen as long as possible. Orca's last words befuddled the queen, as she had no idea of the powers her daughter held.

Queen Coral had another female dragonet, who only hatched because she'd stayed with the egg the entire time in the hatchery—therefore, Orca's statue was unable to kill her. Her name was Princess Anemone, and soon, they learned that she was an animus. Ever since, Queen Coral's favorite tutor, Whirlpool, had attempted to give her lessons. Anemone enjoyed annoying or ticking off her teacher and frequently did so. Princess Blister (Coral's ally in the war of SandWing succession) intended to use Anemone's powers to win the war. After Tsunami arrived, she was attacked by an unknown dragon. Anemone (being Tsunami's sister) enchanted a spear to locate and retrieve the culprit, who turned out to be Whirlpool himself. Anemone accidentally killed Whirlpool after he explained everything to them (including his plot to marry one of the SeaWing princesses to become king) by knocking him into a pool of electric eels. Her animus powers made her more unstable, then, she was enchanted by Darkstalker. She attempted to murder her mother and sisters and become queen, but she was stopped by her brother, Turtle, who talked her out of it. Later, Qibli and Winter found her and used Turtle's enchanted earring to take off  Darkstalker's spell. In her early years, she lived with a rubbery leash that grew with her, attached to her mother so she could not get hurt. She finally was released near the middle of book two because of Tsunami and Auklet and before she attended Jade Mountain Academy the first time. It is also said by Turtle in Talons of Power that he was the one that gave her powers and she was not born with them.

Prince Turtle's first appearance was in Moon Rising, and it was not immediately known that he is an animus. However, this was revealed in Escaping Peril when he uses an enchanted river rock to heal Prince Winter's burn wounds from a fight with Peril. In Talons of Power, he uses his powers to remain hidden from Darkstalker's awareness, then ultimately battles with his sister Anemone, who was under the influence of Darkstalker, to prevent her from killing off the royal family like their ancestor Albatross. All two-year-old dragonets take the Talons of Power test. SeaWings can cast spells using Aquatic.

Names Edit
SeaWings are named after sea-related items or wildlife like Nautilus, Anemone, Orca, Shark, Snail, Octopus, and Turtle. They also have names related to shades of blue colors, like Indigo and Cerulean, similar to SkyWings having names related to shades of orange or red. Some may have names of gems that have SeaWing colors, like Sapphire, and some may be forms of water such as Lagoon. Other names may be ways to measure the sea like Fathom. They can also have names relating to SeaWing anatomies, like Fin or Gill, or have their names be ocean events, such as Tsunami, Riptide, Whirlpool, Current, and Typhoon.

Click here for a list of known SeaWings.

Students at Jade Mountain Edit

 * Anemone
 * Barracuda
 * Pike
 * Snail
 * Turtle

Teachers at Jade MountainEdit

 * Tsunami
 * Webs

Trivia Edit

 * SeaWings have the most known dragons in their tribe, having 52 known members.
 * SeaWings, dolphins, whales, and porpoises are alike because they have their underwater language. SeaWings have luminescent stripes and gestures while dolphins, whales, and porpoises have clicks and whistles to communicate. Aquatic may have been inspired by this. The key change is that Aquatic is silent, making long-distance communication slightly easier. Whirlpool said it can take up to five years to master, although his teaching involves reciting the words in all of Queen Coral's scrolls without learning what they mean, which is unreliable.
 * All of the SeaWing protagonists of the main books so far are part of the royal family, excluding Webs in the prologue of The Lost Heir and Indigo in the epilogue of Darkstalker. Indigo had dragonets with Prince Fathom, technically making her a member of the royal family, except for the fact they never had an official wedding.
 * Animus magic is commonly found in the Royal SeaWing Family. The SeaWing tribe has also had the most confirmed animus dragons out of the tribes.
 * In Talons of Power, a tale about an abandoned SeaWing dragonet that was raised by a pod of orcas is mentioned. This is similar to Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, as in that book a boy is raised by a pack of wolves.
 * On average, SeaWings have 180 bioluminescent scales on their bodies in total.
 * Most SeaWings appear to dislike rain. The first mention of this is in The Lost Heir when Tsunami complains about "being splatted one annoying drop at a time." Later, in Moon Rising, Turtle was complaining about the rain, as well as Wharf complaining about the weather when Darkstalker and Fathom went to a tower in a thunderstorm in Darkstalker: Legends.
 * The SeaWing tribe has had the most known palaces: The Island Palace which was abandoned after the Massacre, the Summer Palace, which was destroyed in the war, the Deep Palace (still intact), and one unnamed palace mentioned by Queen Coral in a letter to Turtle.
 * SeaWings are typically stereotyped as cowardly and artistic.
 * As revealed in Darkstalker: Legends, SeaWings use toothpaste. However, this may just be an item used by SeaWings in 3000 AS.
 * It would be impossible to wear a ring as SeaWing since they have webbed talons. However, Whirlpool was described to have golden rings on his talons. It is unknown if this was a mistake or not.

Gallery Edit
A typical SeaWing (colored), by Joy Ang

A typical SeaWing (lineart), by Joy Ang

A typical SeaWing from the German publication, by Max Meinzold Add a photo to this gallery

References Edit

 * 1) ↑ The Lost Heir, page 194