Inkling

**Inklings** are a sapient race of humanoid cephalopods who are the main protagonists and playable characters from *Splatoon* series.

## Background

Inklings are evolved species of squid that came to be after rising sea levels sunk human civilization. Circa 2000 years before the events of *Splatoon*, the Inklings crawled up to what little habitable land there was left on the planet. The lack of space forced the Inklings to fight for whatever territory they could find, and the Turf War as a concept was established. The original Turf Wars were overseen by Judd, who was cryogenically frozen by his human owner before the Earth was flooded. 100 years before the events of *Splatoon*, the Inklings and the Octarians engaged in a Great Turf War after otherwise having good relations, but rising sea levels caused them to fight over the remaining territory. A young Cap'n Cuttlefish and the Inklings won, forcing the Octarians to retreat into Octo Valley.

## Appearance

Inklings can alternate between a humanoid form and a squid form.

The squid form resembles a small, cartoony, monochromatic squid. They have some small arms in the middle of their bodies, with two large tentacles on either side, resembling the hair of their humanoid form. It has a short mantle with relatively large fins, and two upward-facing, human-like gray eyes. The undersides of their enlarged tentacle heads are always white, regardless of what color the rest of them is, and they have a single large sucker on each. In this form, they are largely incompetent outside of their own ink, but when swimming in it, they can completely submerge into it and swim at speeds far greater than humanoid form's running speed. They can even jump out of the ink to cover further distances and swim up ink covered walls. However, this form is also largely vulnerable, as being inside of enemy ink in this form will eventually splat an Inkling.

The humanoid form has a black marking that resembles a mask around their eyes, pointed ears homologous to the squid's fins, and tentacles that serve as "hair", which changes color according to their ink color and gradient down to a darker tone of the color near the tips of them. The color is randomly selected out of predetermined pairs, some of which can be found in Sunken Scroll 7. Their mouths contain two ridges similar in shape to human teeth, as well as three larger sharp points, two on the top and one on the bottom, which resemble a squid's beak. The inside of an Inkling's mouth matches their ink color as well.

## Abilities

     Both of the Inklings' forms have abilities associated with them. In humanoid form, Inklings can splatter a special type of colored ink by using various weapons, including guns, rollers, buckets and paint brushes. This ink can be quickly spread over many surfaces, with the exception of green barrel-like objects, black pavement, and Glass surfaces. This ink inhibits the movement of Inklings that do not have a matching color. When used as a projectile, ink can damage opposing Inklings, eventually "splatting" them and forcing them to respawn. In squid form, an Inkling can swim and jump quickly through ink of the same color, even using this mechanic to swim up walls and through wire fences and grates into areas that are not typically reachable. However, squids cannot travel past striped barriers, preventing them from swimming into inaccessible areas. While squid form Inklings are in their own ink color, they will be invisible if they stay still, and when moving only slight ripples will appear.

Inklings are unable to swim in water. When submerging, their body dissolved, leaving their clothes behind.

## Notable Inklings

* Agent 3
* Agent 4
* Cap'n Cuttlefish
* Callie
* Marie
* Pearl
* Goggles
* Specs
* Headphones
* Bobble

### Inksonas

* BeeMaister
* BruceBrush
* Clauds – Inksona of Splattuber, LizzietheRatcicle15.
* Ega– Inksona of DeviantArtist, Ega-Indo-Paint.
* Emily Mason – Better known as CuteYoshiLover (formerly 123emilymason) from the United Kingdom.
* Gracie Testaberger – Inksona of DeviantArtist, FlowersDontlovememes (formerly Flowershavemagic).
* Luke Salmen
* RangerBizmuth
* Spider – Inksona of a GModder/Splattuber, Alex Spider.

### Original Characters

*Main article: List of original Inklings and Octolings*
## Trivia

* According to the EDGE article, Inklings get full control of their squid and human forms at age 14.
	+ Despite this, it is possible that Inklings can control both forms at ages much younger than 14 as shown in Sunken Scroll 17 where the Squid Sisters are shown as children in their humanoid form, and in Sunken Scroll 1 in *Splatoon 2* where Pearl is seen in humanoid form as a child, much younger than the age 14. However, Pearl looks like a child despite being 21 years old, so she could have been over 14 in the photo.
* An Inkling's ink color is random online unless the Ink Color Lock option has been turned on, while in Octo Valley, it depends on the mission.
* The Inklings have multiple hearts, as implied by Cap'n Cuttlefish. This could be a reference to how real-life cephalopods have three hearts.

## Gallery

Inkling GirlInkling BoyInkling's Squid form*Mario Kart 8 Deluxe*