Petrie

Petrie (a.k.a. Panicky Petrie) is one of the original main characters in The Land Before Time franchise. He is a supporting character in The Land Before Time, a major character in the sequels, and the main protagonist of The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers. He is also one of only three characters to appear in every movie and TV episode. He is a type of pterosaur known as a Pteranodon, which is one of many creatures called a "flyer" by the characters in the series. When the main characters are listed in order, Petrie is usually listed between Ducky and Spike, but if Spike is listed immediately following Littlefoot and Cera, Petrie is listed after Ducky but before Chomper and Ruby.

Petrie is raised by his mother, together with his siblings, and has an uncle named Pterano, who appeared in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire. Petrie is very timid and nervous most of the time, and was afraid to learn how to fly in the original film until the very end. The character's most notable aspect is his improper grammar usage.

He was at first intended to be the comic relief for the original film, but the critical reviews on the character's comedy were relatively negative. They have since improved, although concerns over Petrie's broken English and the way it could affect children have persisted. Though with a minor cultural impact, Petrie is popular with fans of the series, and his relationship with both the main character Ducky, and his uncle serve as inspiration for many fanfiction stories on The Land Before Time.

## Character

### Personality

Petrie is very gentle and kind-hearted, but is also naive and nervous. He panics easily, and fears doing anything new or dangerous; thus he is often dependent on his friends for support and encouragement. He is constantly shown trying to find ways to exercise his bravery, though often to no avail. He therefore tends to idolize or admire people whom he thinks are very strong and brave, a particular example being his uncle Pterano up until the end of the seventh movie. Another example is in the TV episode "The Brave Longneck Scheme", when he expresses interest in Rhett upon hearing of his supposed defeats of multiple Sharpteeth. Despite his reluctance, he always pulls through when his friends need his help.

It is also shown on several occasions that Petrie is superstitious. In "The Canyon of Shiny Stones", Petrie is reluctant to go past the smoking mountain which lies next to the Canyon of Shiny Stones, because he believes it "does not like flyers". Later, when he tries to fly over it to prove his bravery, and the mountain begins to spew, he cries "Me never should have tried it, me make the mountain mad!" In "The Meadow of Jumping Waters", he frets over the red tickly treestars which Spike devoured, claiming that his Uncle Pterano told him he heard of someone having bad luck when they had eaten treestars of that sort. Petrie then blames every misfortune which befalls the children during their search for the Meadow of Jumping Waters on the treestars.

In the TV episode "The Days of Rising Water", Petrie reveals that he's had what he calls a "snuggling stick" ever since he and the other original main characters first arrived in the Great Valley. He uses it to comfort himself when nervous, or when sleeping.

Petrie has a fear of clouds (referred to as "Sky Puffies", by the characters), as seen in 12. This is referenced again in the TV episode "The Mysterious Tooth Crisis", when Chomper's tooth falls off a cliff and Petrie flies down to catch it. When he returns, Ducky and Littlefoot remark that he just flew through the clouds, to Petrie's shock.

Petrie's naivete has been noticeable on multiple occasions. He is often manipulated to do or believe something by the other characters; most notably in The Stone of Cold Fire, when his uncle convinced him of his bravery and wisdom, and later got him to inquire Littlefoot on the estimated whereabouts of the stone. Petrie also tends to trust others very easily.

### Flying

Petrie was afraid of flying in the original movie, and though it embarrassed him, he still refused to try, although he would eagerly inquire to his friends if he had flown upon having fallen to the ground. However, when the Sharptooth attacked them for the final time, he ironically helped Petrie to fly by blowing air out his nose, where then Petrie managed to summon the courage and breath to start flying again.

Petrie becomes, more or less, the central character in 12}}, when he and his siblings have to complete a flight ordeal to show that they have become adults. He prefers flying by himself, however, and thusly has trouble flying in group formation and staying so. His uniqueness ends up being the "key" to completing the day, changing the Great Day of the Flyers forever.

### Linguistics

Petrie speaks in a sort of broken English. For instance, he tends to use "me" when "I" or "my" would be grammatically correct (ex. "Me hungry" rather than "I'm hungry" or "Me mother" rather than "My mother"). Also, he usually omits linking verbs, and may say things such as "He so nice" instead of "He is so nice". Petrie has also been known to refer to himself in a third person, meaning that he calls himself by his own name. It is uncertain why he speaks in this manner, as all of his siblings appear to speak normally.

He also has referred to himself by his name, a characteristic that he shares with Mo and, in the TV Series Episode, Tippy. He has said "All right, Petrie go, but first, Petrie need help." when he was hugging a tree very tightly, trying to stay put, fearing the Great Valley residents were going to split up after the Leaf Gobblers ate all the green food, and had found out that they were leaving together, but he was stuck to the tree.

Petrie isn't the only character to refer to himself in third person as Mo does this constantly, even more than Petrie does.

## Role in the series

Petrie reprises his roles in the movies, though one change is that he also has a great-grandfather named Pteranus, who lives in the Great Valley with him and his family. Unknown to him, Pteranus may have ulterior motives.