Template:SpoilerDoD
- "Maybe losing your soul isn't the right way to describe it. Maybe it's more like ... the more you use your power for bad things, the more you feel like you're entitled to use your power for anything. It makes it harder to go back - only forward into more bad things. But ... I think you can go back. I think anyone can choose to do good, or be good, no matter what happened before. I think you just have to try really hard. And that means stopping yourself before you do even worse things."
- — Turtle to Anemone in Talons of Power.
Template:Charbox Prince Turtle is a male SeaWing dragonet and a student attending Jade Mountain Academy in the Jade Winglet . He is one of Tsunami's thirty-two brothers and the protagonist of Talons of Power, book nine in the Wings of Fire series. He hid his animus powers from everyone at first, but revealed them later in Escaping Peril to save Winter. He then lost them in Talons of Power, due to Darkstalker. However, he gets them back in Darkness of Dragons thanks to one of Qibli's enchanted earrings. He was speculated as the "talons of power" in the Jade Mountain Prophecy until Vulture presented his group of SandWings called the Talons of Power. He and Kinkajou may be in a relationship. Anemone helps that by putting a love spell on Kinkajou.
Appearance
Turtle has rich, dark green scales[1], like an emerald hidden in a cave, with flashes of brighter green underscales[1] and hints of gold[1] in his dark green eyes[2]. Moon thinks he has a sweet curve to his snout and upper arms and that he is a little plump. His only accessory is a gold armband studded with glittering black pieces of skyfire, originally six of them before he handed some to his friends. His glow-in-the-dark scales emit a pale greenish light, and luminescent spirals and shapes like webbed talonprints light up all along his green[3] wings. He was noted to have huge talons and a low, rumbly voice.
In Talons of Power, when Darkstalker sees Turtle after he gave up his hiding stick, Darkstalker attacks Turtle, later stating that Turtle looks exactly like Fathom (his old friend that betrayed him). This is mostly understandable because Turtle is a great-grandson of Fathom.
Biography
Moon Rising
When Moon first sees Turtle, she is confused as to why she can't read his mind. The only reception she receives from his brain is described as a fuzzy, cozy kind of sound. When Turtle smiles at her outside of Jade Mountain Academy, she sees a vision of a sunny beach, with him pinning Anemone down as she writhes in pain. This makes her believe that Turtle is evil in some way. When the vision ends, Anemone, Turtle, Queen Coral, and Tsunami have all disappeared into Jade Mountain Academy. Moon takes this vision as a sinister attempt to murder Anemone that will happen sometime in the future and keeps a wary eye on Turtle afterwards. After the tumult of an explosion in Jade Mountain Academy that leads to Moon revealing that she is a mind-reader and prophet, Turtle is the only one who keeps his secretary his head, taking Moon to the lake in the caverns of Jade Mountain and helping her wash off her seed pod wound on her shoulder in the explosion of the dragonflame cactus. Moon tells Turtle that she can't hear his thoughts, to which Turtle laughs and Moon pleadingly asks Turtle to lead her to her clawmate's room. On their way, they pass the history cave and hear voices that they realize belong to Tsunami and Sunny. After listening to half of Tsunami and Sunny's argument, Turtle decides to reveal himself and tells Tsunami about the dragonflame cactus. He notes that this particular cactus was used in the Summer Palace when it was attacked by Burn's forces, and informs them that his mother, Queen Coral, tortured a SkyWing prisoner until she found out what they were. He was surprisingly casual about this subject.
When Moon meets him, she notices that she can't read his mind, due to the fact that he has an armband with skyfire stones. At the end of Moon Rising, he gives one stone to each member of the Jade Winglet.
Winter Turning
Winter convinces Turtle into going back to the Jade Mountain Academy to tell Sunny, Tsunami, and the other Dragonets of Destiny to not worry about the Jade Winglet, which in actuality, according to Glory, made them worry even more, and to watch over his sister, Anemone. He is also shown in the epilogue of Winter Turning with Anemone, Pike, and Barracuda in the underground lake.
Escaping Peril
Turtle appears very early on in the book, surprising Peril with how little caution he has around her. He encourages her to spy with him on the conversation between a couple of the Dragonets of Destiny, Queen Ruby, and her accompanying dragons. Peril quickly begins seeing him as a prospective friend.
Later, he insists on traveling with Peril on a hunt to bring down Ex-Queen Scarlet, and the two's friendship develops even more. Turtle convinces Peril to travel with him to meet up with the Jade Winglet in the town of Possibility to further investigate Scarlet's location. After meeting a few Talons of Peace, a Dragonflame Cactus is kicked by a SandWing wanting to buy them, most likely Sirocco or Rattlesnake, Qibli's older siblings. It brushes against Peril, and, of course, blows up. It knocks Peril temporarily unconscious, and at least three other dragons had burns on their scales. Turtle also has thorns in his scales, however, Peril burns them off. It attracts the conscious remnant of the Jade Winglet: Moon and Qibli. Around this time, Turtle has aching wings from flying to Possibility, so he enchants a rock to heal outer wounds. Peril is shocked at how fast he could 'heal in water' until when Winter is burned by Peril and Turtle uses the rock to heal Winter. That's when he exposes his animus magic the first time.
After Peril leaves in a fit, Turtle heads to the Sky Kingdom to try to release her from Chameleon's spell, and he reappears after Scarlet is killed. He says he has come to save Peril, but that she seems to have done that by herself. Turtle is also present when Chameleon writes the enchantment for Tourmaline to become Ruby again. When Chameleon tries to escape with Darkstalker's Talisman, Turtle temporarily enchants the case to bash Chameleon on the head with it and go to Turtle. He leaves with the rest of the winglet to find Moon before she releases Darkstalker.
One notable fact is that he appeared very distraught about Kinkajou's state, and seemed to want to see her very badly. This is because he has a crush on Kinkajou; Peril even noticed it herself, thinking, "He likes Moon and Qibli, but he's really here for Kinkajou".
Talons of Power
He first appears in a prologue set around three years before the events of the rest of the book. He is sent to find Snapper, one of the hatchery guards along with Abalone, by his father. He fails, and the eggs are destroyed, and Abalone and Snapper are executed.
Part One picks up right after Escaping Peril ends, when Darkstalker emerges from the mountain. Turtle notices that Darkstalker seems to hate him and enchants a stick to hide him, and later, completely from Darkstalker, making him nonexistant to Darkstalker. Darkstalker reveals that when Peril burned his talisman, his magic returned to him. Winter argues with him, but Darkstalker 'wins' him over, which is later revealed to be from a spell cast by Darkstalker. Despite Moon and Qibli's concerns, both dragons deny Darkstalker using magic. Eventually, Darkstalker goes to hunt with the rest of the Jade Winglet, and Turtle goes to warn Jade Mountain Academy on suggestion of his clawmates.
He splashes into the underground pool and is immediately found by his sister, Anemone. He tries to talk to her alone but she waves him off. He tells her about Darkstalker's awakening in public, but Anemone grows excited at the prospect of meeting another animus besides Stonemover. Turtle accidentally reveals to Tamarin that Anemone is an animus, leading to a brief discussion about the pros and cons of animus magic.
The three part ways, and Turtle goes to warn the Dragonets of Destiny. Before he does, he hears Sunny and Tsunami discussing the escape of Fierceteeth and Strongwings and whether Thorn should replace the guards with Outclaws or not. They end the discussion and then discover Turtle. Sunny then questions Turtle about the whereabouts of the rest of the Jade Winglet. Turtle warns her about Darkstalker's awakening then. Mightyclaws overhears them and bolts to warn the other NightWings. Turtle fills Tsunami in about everything including Moon's powers, except his own powers.
After this they go to the library and ask Starflight about Darkstalker. Starflight tells them that Darkstalker was a very powerful NightWing animus who disappeared over 2,000 years ago after being betrayed by Fathom and Clearsight, and that nobody knows what happened to him. A trio of IceWings provide them some IceWing superstitions about Darkstalker, which are that he spent years in the shadows killing IceWings and that he killed his father, an IceWing prince. Darkstalker then tells them that the legends had been simplified. One of the IceWings fails to kill Darkstalker, and then all three bolt. He asks Starflight for scrolls on Fathom and Clearsight, and when he leaves he is immediately dive-bombed by NightWings. By then most of the school had gathered. Darkstalker reassures Clay and Sunny by saying he is Sunny's distant ancestor. A storm then gathers, and Anemone descends. Darkstalker announces that he was looking for her, and that he was impressed by the storm her enchanted copper armbands caused.
Turtle apologizes to his friends that he couldn't stop Darkstalker, but they don't mind. Qibli tells him to keep an eye on Darkstalker. Turtle watches as Darkstalker enchants Anemone's soul to be safe. He also notices Darkstalker has an earring and wonders if it is animus-touched. He also watches Darkstalker heal Flame's face and give the remaining NightWings powers. He then sees Darkstalker save Stonemover and declares Flame as the darkness of dragons and the stalker of dreams before trapping Flame in the academy.
Turtle then goes to the cave shared by Qibli and Winter and asks if he can stay there. Qibli agrees, and Turtle tells them about Darkstalker's activities. Qibli is slightly suspicious, but Winter is irritated by this and leaves the cave. Then Qibli asks Turtle to cast a spell on him to make him immune to Darkstalker's spell. Turtle agrees and casts the spell. However, Darkstalker senses the spell being cast and visits the cave. Qibli convinces him that it was probably Anemone, but Darkstalker is still suspicious. Turtle realizes that Darkstalker can tell when another animus casts a spell, and decides to set out to the rainforest to watch Darkstalker.
Turtle, Anemone, Moonwatcher, and the other NightWing students at Jade Mountain follow Darkstalker to the RainWing kingdom, where Darkstalker wishes to challenge Glory for the throne. They eventually decide that NightWings can go with Darkstalker if they want to. To ensure that most of the NightWings follow him, he grants more dragons powers before he and most of the NightWings set off for the Lost City of Night.
While in the Night Kingdom, Anemone uses her magic against Moon and is then banished by Darkstalker. Turtle follows her to the ruins of the Island Palace, where they have an animus fight. Darkstalker then summons all of the animus dragons in Pyrrhia using a spell. Turtle is then revealed to Darkstalker and fights Darkstalker while Anemone escapes. Darkstalker decides to put Turtle in the dungeon, as Moon had forbidden him from hurting her friends, but he takes away Turtle's powers with a spell.
Darkness of Dragons
Turtle is shown after he gets out of the dungeon that Darkstalker put him in. He is shocked that Qibli says that it was him that saved everyone from Darkstalker. Qibli gives him one of the earrings to reverse the spell Darkstalker put on him to take his powers away. Turtle says he doesn't deserve magic, but when he realizes that he's the hero he always wanted to be, he puts on the earring and looks up at Qibli with cloudy eyes, almost crying. He leaves with the other dragonets toward Jade Mountain with his powers back.
Later, he tries to help end the battle with the NightWings and the IceWings, but Darkstalker hurls a boulder at him and Anemone, but he survives, although something did still hurt. He is horrified when Qibli is taken by Darkstalker.
He is shown with his part of the epilouge, reading a scroll by Queen Coral, and then Kinkajou shows up, talking about the love spell, and Anemone's crush on Tamarin.
Personality
Turtle seems to be laid back and complacent at first, happy to go along with what others want. He calls himself 'boring' and others might agree with that. Qibli described him as "used to being invisible" and "easygoing". He acts like this to blend in and hide his animus powers. Turtle describes himself as "not interesting", but Moon believes that he is more than he seems. He is also undisturbed by violence, casually talking about how his mother tortured a captive SkyWing and treating the dragonflame cactus with curiosity and interest despite the horrible things it was used for. Also, Turtle seems to have self-esteem issues.
He is very cautious, shown by his reluctance to fly through a thunderstorm. He is also kind and caring, helping Moon even after she was revealed to be telepathic. Some dragons, like Prince Winter and Princess Anemone, think Turtle is boring, and "barely acts like a prince". He tells Peril that just because he doesn't like exercise doesn't mean he wouldn't be useful in a fight.
Winter says if Turtle were an IceWing, he'd be put in the Seventh Circle; stuck there forever. This is due to the fact that he thought he caused the death of his unhatched sisters, although in actuality it was not his fault.
During Moon Rising, just after the Jade Winglet finds out Moon's precognition and telepathic powers, the winglet deserts her, whilst Turtle stays back to comfort her and get her wound washed. This may be because Turtle has animus magic which he understands when dragons are afraid of them because of their powers.
Sometimes while thinking about using his animus power to hurt other dragons, he looks down and sees his talons covered with blood, and he quickly shakes his talons to get the vision away. This seems to show that Turtle is very insecure about his power and worries about hurting and killing other dragons.
Relationships
Princess Anemone
The SeaWing princess and his younger sister. Before the Talons of Power ceremony, he had only ever seen her from a distance. During the ceremony, he turned her into an animus to draw attention away from his own animus abilities so he could keep his secret hidden and to fulfill the biggest hopes of his mother. (he later felt horrible for this.) Upon going to the Academy, they did begin to spend more time together, but she still treated him like another subject to order around. She finally started paying attention to him when he started following her and Darkstalker around, but the attention was not positive. After their duel on the beach and Turtle hiding her from Darkstalker, he seems to regard her more as his younger sister who he should protect and she seems to respect him as an older brother.
Kinkajou
She is a friend and a love interest. They meet in Moon Rising, although little interaction was shown between them. During Escaping Peril, Peril notices that he is happy to see Moon and Qibli but he was really in Possibility for Kinkajou, indicating that he has a crush on her. In Talons of Power, Turtle asks Anemone to use her animus powers on Kinkajou to wake her up from her coma. Anemone agrees and notices that Turtle holds romantic feelings for Kinkajou. When Anemone casts the spell to wake her up, Turtle also secretly casts a spell to hide Kinkajou from Darkstalker. Anemone, however, casts an additional spell to "make Kinkajou love Turtle as much as he loves her" much to Turtle's dismay. When Kinkajou wakes up, she acts no different to Turtle then before Anenome cast the love spell, with Turtle hoping the love spell didn't work. Kinkajou offers to come to the lost city of night to spy on Darkstalker with Turtle. When Turtle wakes Kinakjou up on their first morning, when she was half asleep she muttered "Turtle" dreamily while her scales turned pink, showing that the love spell was working. At the end of Talons of Power, Kinkajou says that she loves Turtle, unknown that she was under a spell. Turtle then sadly replies that it was only a spell and she didn't really love him. At the end of Darkness of Dragons, the love spell is removed. Kinkajou most likely developed her own romantic feelings for Turtle as shown in the epilogue in Darkness of Dragons. It is unknown if her and Turtle will ever get together.
Peril
Turtle first interacts with Peril in Escaping Peril when he stumbles across her in his sleeping cave. At first, Peril is angry with him, but as time goes on he seems to warm up to her. This is shown when he follows Peril to the Sky Kingdom to help defeat Scarlet. After Peril succeeds in turning Ruby into Tourmaline so Ruby/Tourmaline can kill Scarlet, Turtle appears and claims that he was "coming to rescue her". In Talons of Power, Turtle describes Peril's company as "unpredictable and hilarious". He sees himself as a friend and sidekick to Peril.
Queen Coral
Turtle tries to stand out from his brothers. He tries to become an author, like his mother. However, on one fateful day, Turtle had a very important duty. King Gill, Turtle's father, was visiting the Royal SeaWing Hatchery. When he arrived, he was horrified to find one of his top generals and friend fatally sick in the Hatchery. Due to rumors of an assassin killing any SeaWing princess heirs, Gill was worried about leaving the eggs alone while he took his general to the healers. Panicked, Gill rushed out of the Hatchery and called to the first dragons he saw, which happened to be Turtle and two of his brothers. He told Turtle to find Snapper, his co-general, and returned to the Hatchery to watch over his sick friend. However, Turtle could not find Snapper that day, and Gill gave up waiting, knowing that if he waited any longer his general would surely die. He sprinted to the Healers, and however fast he may have swam, when the Healers and the king returned to the Hatchery, the two princesses were in fact dead. Turtle was horrified by this and felt that their deaths were his fault, until Queen Coral told him that Snapper wasn't in the Deep Palace that day and he has no reason to feel bad for it. Turtle then devolops warm feelings for his mother.
Family Tree
| More | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shark | Coral | Gill | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moray | Fin | Cerulean | Turtle | Octopus | 28 Dragons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 Dragons | Orca | Tsunami | Anemone | Auklet | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Quotes
- "Well, thirty-two." - To Tsunami about how many brothers she has in Moon Rising
- "Pyrrhia is at peace now. There are no more enemies." - Turtle
- "Whatever you guys decide."- Turtle to his friends in Moon Rising
- "Three moons. It was a vision, wasn't it? You can see the future." - To Moon about seeing the history cave explode in Moon Rising
- "Is that it? Or is there anything else we should know? Can you read our minds?" - To Moon after he finds out her secret in Moon Rising
- "Kind of a cool evolutionary adaptation if you're a plant trying to survive on a mountain with fire breathing dragons, right? [...] But, uh, horrible, obviously." - Turtle talking about the Dragonflame Cactus
- "Well, that's just sad. Here, open your mouth and I'll throw some in." - Turtle to Peril in Escaping Peril, trying to make Peril eat fish
- "Thanks? I think? I'm not that interesting anyway." - After Moon tells him she can't read his mind in Moon Rising
- "It's different. Swimming is not the same as trying to fly while getting blown about and whacked with little balls of water and also the lightning - have we talked about the lightning?" - Turtle to the Jade Winglet about finding Winter in Winter Turning
- "You're a MIND READER. All you have to do is walk around until you hear someone's brain going: well done me. Tip top explosion I caused today! Aren't I a clever arsonist." - To Moon when she says she doesn't know how to find out who caused the explosion in Moon Rising
- "I thought about it. I mean, not the crocodile. Definitely not in the reptile-throwing business, me." - When meeting Peril in Escaping Peril
- "My murderous ancestor, I know. But my enchantments have been so small, and I feel exactly the same as I always have. I think you'll notice if I start turning homicidal." - Turtle to Moon about his animus powers in Escaping Peril
- "Moral fiber? A coherent philosophy of life? - Turtle surprising Peril in Escaping Peril
- "I, uh… came to rescue you? Well, to find out what was going on anyway. I heard there was a spell or something?" - Turtle to Peril in Escaping Peril
- "You're a loon. Of course I like you, even when you're scary- and let's be fair- is most of the time." - Turtle teasing Peril in Escaping Peril
- "I can beware you and still like you at the same time," - To Peril in Escaping Peril
- "Besides, if I have a choice, I think I'd rather be on the side WITH any talons of power and fire, frankly." - To Peril in Escaping Peril
- "Aww, you big sap. And I can't even punch you to shut you up." - To Peril in Escaping Peril
- "Just because I don't particularly like danger or uncertainty or... or exercise... doesn't mean I couldn't be useful in a fight." - Turtle to Peril in Escaping Peril
- "I have younger brothers. You're not going to win this argument." - Turtle stopping Peril and Cliff from arguing in Escaping Peril
- "Maybe losing your soul isn't the right way to describe it. Maybe it's more like ... the more you use your power for bad things, the more you feel like you're entitled to use your power for anything. It makes it harder to go back - only forward into more bad things. But ... I think you can go back. I think anyone can choose to do good, or be good, no matter what happened before. I think you just have to try really hard. And that means stopping yourself before you do even worse things." - Turtle to his sister Anemone in Talons of Power
Trivia
- He is the POV in Talons of Power, the ninth book in the Wings of Fire series.
- He is the second SeaWing POV and the fourth male POV in the series.
- He is the 4th animus POV, preceded by Darkstalker, Fathom, and Prince Arctic.
- According to Winter, if an IceWing acted like he did, he'd be put in the seventh circle forever.
- Turtle has a fear of heights, as well as storms.
- It is confirmed in Escaping Peril that Turtle has animus powers when he heals Winter's burns completely, also saving his life. However, those powers were taken away by Darkstalker in Talons of Power, because he thought Turtle was just too unpredictable. He got his powers back in the epilogue of DoD (but it is possible that his invulnerability spell was removed).
- He has a crush on Kinkajou, but due to Anemone's love spell on Kinkajou, she is unsure wether her feelings are current or after math of the spell.
- He was the third dragon to learn about Moon's powers, the first being Secretkeeper and the second being Darkstalker.
- Turtle, earlier in his life, wanted to be a writer and a hero. After the death of one of his sisters, however, he gave up on these goals and thought of himself as a 'hapless sidekick'. However, his "destiny" was fulfilled in DoD, where he "saved the day".
- In Talons of Power, Turtle is shown to think of Umber as a brother.
- A turtle is a slow-moving reptile with a shell, scaly limbs and a scaly head.
- Tui said that Turtle was one of the hardest characters to write because she purposely made him enigmatic in Moon Rising and had completely figured him out by Talons of Power. She said he is not a typical hero, but he has a heart of one.
Gallery
Canon
Fan Art
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Moon Rising, page 5
- ↑ Moon Rising, page 145
- ↑ Escaping Peril, page 107
| SeaWings | |
|---|---|
| Queens | |
| Royalty (Present) |
Anemone • Auklet • Cerulean • Fin • Gill • Moray • Octopus • Orca • Shark • Tsunami • Turtle |
| Royalty (Historical) |
Albatross • Clearpool • Cowrie • Current • Eel • Fathom • Humpback • Manta • Reef • Ripple • Sapphire • Scallop • Splash |
| Jade Mountain | |
| Other Dragons (Present) |
Abalone • Flounder • Herring • Kelp • Lagoon • Nautilus • Pearl • Piranha • Riptide • Snail • Snapper • Squid • Tempest • Tortoise • Urchin • Webs • Whirlpool |
| Other Dragons (Historical) |
|
| Hybrids | |
| Folklore | |
| Kingdom | |
| Kingdom (Historical) |
|
| Society |
Aquatic • Royal SeaWing Massacre • SeaWing Council • Talons of Power ceremony |