'Albatross' was an elderly male SeaWing prince who was introduced in Darkstalker. He was the first known SeaWing Animus
magic|animus Dragons|dragon in SeaWing history and a member of the
SeaWings#The Royal Family|SeaWing royal family as Lagoon (L1)|Queen Lagoon's brother and Fathom and Pearl's grandfather. He
committed the Royal SeaWing Massacre, in which he murdered most of the
royal family and Sunset|Princess Sunset, a SkyWing princess, before he
was stopped and killed by Fathom. Albatross is still mentioned in many
texts and scrolls due to his status as the perpetrator of one of the
most devastating cases of animus magic misuse in Pyrrhian history.

## Description

Albatross was described to be nearly a neck-length taller than Lagoon,
with powerful, long, majestic wings. His scales were oddly colored,
being a bluish gray so pale that in some places they looked like they
were almost white. His strange, fierce eyes were hooded and were of such
a deep, dark blue color that they appeared nearly black. He was firm,
wizened, stately, and intimidating. Albatross was compared to an old
seagull by Fathom during the Talons of Power ceremony, due to the color
of his scales and his shrewd expression. He also had small teeth and a
long, hooked snout. His siblings noted that his tail was a funny shape
and Fathom stated that he had a dry, warm, and "fish-smelling" laugh.
Directly before the start of the Royal SeaWing Massacre, Albatross
looked as though he was "carved from stone", like his emotions had been
chipped away.

## Personality

Albatross was untouchable and busy, even to fellow royalty. Fathom
described his grandfather as "a kind but distant presence" in his life.
He was the most respected dragon in the entire SeaWing tribe, and was
second in power only to Queen Lagoon. He was beloved, respected, and
important. Albatross was jovial, kind, mischievous, calm, and friendly.
He was proud of his animus magic and the objects he created with it but
did not often seem to be excited about much of anything. It was implied
that he was fond of his daughter, Manta, and was also a loyal husband;
Lagoon said that he stubbornly refused to consider remarriage following
the passing of his wife. During the massacre, he went completely mad and
was full of pure rage and hatred.

## Biography

left
Pre-Series
Albatross was a dragonet
when he accidentally cast his first animus spell. He was fiddling with
an empty clamshell on the sunrise beach of the Island Palace, when his
older sisters, Sapphire and Lagoon, began teasing him; commenting on his
appearance in specific, and saying things like "he was weirdly different
from other SeaWings" and that he "swam like a feeble old duck". Sapphire
grabbed the clamshell that he was playing with and told her little
brother that everything in the kingdom would be hers when she was
crowned queen; even "stupid beach trash like this". Albatross, now
burning with fury, clutched the edge of the shell and told it to bite
all of Sapphire's claws off, not thinking it would do anything. But, to
his shock and horror, it did just as he told it to; and the shell ended
up maiming her. Sapphire was driven insane by this event, and Lagoon
ended up having to keep her isolated on an island, away from the rest of
the tribe.

Soon after Lagoon became queen, Albatross became her personal animus,
and he performed enchantments at her will. Such spells included an
animus-touched conch shell that pulsed with light whenever someone was
lying, as well as the growth of the Summer Palace. It was thought that
he never felt remorse for maiming his older sister, though the validity
of such claims remain unclear.

-----

### The Dragonet Prophecy

left The Lost Heir

Anemone made references to Albatross several times in The Lost Heir, saying that she did not want to use her animus
powers too much and go insane like him. Whirlpool mentioned he grew an
entire palace before going insane, referencing the SeaWing's Summer
Palace. Unfortunately, after thousands of years of service to the tribe,
the palace was destroyed.

<File:The> SeaWing Massacre GN.jpeg|247x247px

-----

### The Jade Mountain Prophecy

left Moon Rising

Albatross was mentioned in the Scrolls#List of Known Scrolls|scroll
that Moonwatcher read to find out about dreamvisitors. The scroll
described the Royal SeaWing Massacre, and how his insanity influenced
Pearl to ban the use of all animus magic in the Kingdom of the Sea
during her reign.

left Winter Turning

Albatross was mentioned indirectly by Moonwatcher, who had read about a
SeaWing animus who had gone insane and almost murdered his entire
family.

left Escaping Peril

When Turtle revealed his animus powers, Moon mentioned having read about
what happened with Albatross.

left Talons of Power
Albatross was mentioned various times throughout the book, serving as
a parallel to both Darkstalker and Turtle. In the epilogue, a strange
pale phantom appeared on an island where a class of young SeaWing
dragonets was camping overnight for a field trip. It flew around the
island, appearing and disappearing, and threatened the young dragons by
hissing and snapping. At least five dragonets claimed it and glared at
them with "beady black eyes." This was Albatross's "ghost," created by
Darkstalker to frighten the SeaWing tribe.

left
Darkness of Dragons
The ghost of
Albatross was confirmed to be a spell cast by Darkstalker to haunt the
SeaWings.

In the epilogue, Coral sent a letter that thanked Turtle for getting rid
of the Albatross ghost that Darkstalker had sent.

-----

### The Lost Continent Prophecy

left
The Dangerous Gift
Albatross was
mentioned when Jerboa recalled all of the animus dragons that coexisted
in ancient Pyrrhia.

-----

### Legends

left Darkstalker

Albatross was first introduced during a Talons of Power ceremony,
although he seemed obviously reluctant to take on an apprentice and
skeptical that any of the eight present SeaWing dragonets possessed any
magical abilities. He then proceeded to roll eight coconuts down to the
dragonets' talons on the beach below using his animus power. When Indigo
asked Albatross how to enchant their coconuts, he explained that you
used your animus powers. After Indigo questioned him again, saying
"Wouldn't it be easier to just throw it at you?" Albatross laughed,
replying that an enchanted coconut would never miss, no matter what he
did to try to dodge or block it. Indigo shrugged and did as she was
told, but as Albatross suspected, her coconut did not move. When Fathom
ordered his coconut to strike his grandfather it did, striking his
grandfather's chest hard enough to knock him backward. Albatross picked
up the coconut, asking who had enchanted it. Pearl indicated that it was
Fathom, and Albatross smiled, stating how it was "such happy news."
However, out of view of the other dragons, a seagull that had been
present for the ceremony was silently strangled to death by a vine that
curled out of the jungle.

A few days after the animus test, Albatross summoned Fathom for their
first training session alone together, on the beach of the Island
Palace. Albatross confessed that Queen Lagoon wanted him to show Fathom
his most important project, and he took his apprentice to see it. After
a bit of questioning from Fathom, Albatross quieted his apprentice and
told him the gruesome story of how he found he was an animus, with a
warning that Fathom must always be careful with his magic. Shocked,
Fathom agreed and then asked his grandfather if they could practice
actual magic. Albatross agreed, but as he and Fathom took to the sky,
Indigo was revealed to be hiding nearby. When questioned, she retorted
that she was only following Fathom to make sure he was safe. Fathom was
excited to show her his powers when Albatross said that he was getting
tired, and reminded Fathom that he was a wizened old dragon and that he
must have heard something about respecting his elders.

Years later, Queen Lagoon threw a party to honor their SkyWing guests, Princess Sunset and Eagle. Albatross was noticeably late to
the party, but he appeared after Lagoon explained a fountain to the
SkyWings, which had been enchanted by Albatross. The SkyWings panicked
when they saw him, and Queen Lagoon coldly told Albatross that he would
never stop atoning for Sapphire's mutilation. Albatross then enchanted a
knife to slit Queen Lagoon's throat, killing her. The knife then went
for Sunset and Eagle. After killing all of the SeaWings he could reach,
Albatross began to hunt for Fathom. He found him and Indigo inside a
pavilion overlooking the water, hiding underneath a wooden boat, and
threw the boat off of them. Indigo sprang at Albatross and attacked him.
Fathom, knowing he would never let Indigo die, enchanted fishing spears
to kill his grandfather. Albatross tried to counter his magic, but
Indigo stopped him by seizing his snout and viciously biting his ear.
The spears smashed into Albatross's side, killing him.

-----

### Field Guides

left
A Guide to the Dragon World

Albatross's letters to and from Queen Lagoon were featured in the
SeaWing chapter of the guide.

He was later mentioned in the SkyWing chapter by Queen Carmine in her
letter to Queen Pearl.

## Relationships

### Fathom

Fathom cared deeply about his grandfather's opinion of him, and wanted
to show Albatross his ability to be smart and thoughtful. After Fathom
was discovered to be an animus dragon, Albatross was quite jovial
towards him, a stark difference from the kind but distant figure he had
been for the majority of Fathom's life. He saw great promise in Fathom,
and allowed him to design aspects of the Summer Palace. However, when
the time came for the two of them to create the throne at the top of the
pavilion, Fathom spent months drawing the template, right to the
smallest detail, and then Albatross changed so much of it Fathom could
barely recognize it as his own; despite this, Fathom did not seem to be
annoyed. During the Royal SeaWing Massacre, he referred to Fathom as
having a limited imagination, and taunted him about his family's
newfound mortality. Fathom was eventually forced to kill Albatross after
he attacked Indigo.

### Lagoon

Lagoon saw Albatross as both expendable and less presentable than Fathom
because of his odd coloring. She constantly mentioned Albatross maiming
Sapphire, despite Albatross flinching away from mentions of the
incident, as an excuse to continue abusing his animus magic for her own
interest. Despite Albatross having animus magic, she ordered him around
like she would any other SeaWing subject. Albatross killed Lagoon first
in the massacre.

### Sapphire

Albatross would flinch each time Sapphire was mentioned, and although
Albatross knew that his enchantment was accidental, it haunted him until
he died. As a young dragonet, Sapphire teased Albatross, making fun of
the way he swam and his physical features; she also snatched a clam
shell away from him as he was playing with it, stating that someday, the
entire Kingdom of the Sea would be hers. Sapphire's teasing made
Albatross very angry.

## Known Enchantments

Phrasing unknown.
A conch shell
To
light up whenever someone lied.
L1
24

Phrasing unknown.
A dragon fountain on the Island
Palace.
To function normally with water.
L1

67

Phrasing unknown.
The Summer Palace
To
grow and expand like a living thing.
L1
26

Phrasing unknown.
A chef's knife
Kill
whoever he ordered.
L1
70

Bite her! Bite all her claws off!
An empty
clamshell
To bite off all of Sapphire's claws.
L1

31

Phrasing unknown.
A vine
To strangle a
seagull.
L1
9

Phrasing unknown.
A bush
To fling
itself into the sea.
L1
33

Phrasing unknown.
Eight coconuts
To
roll up to the dragonets at the Talons of Power ceremony.
L1

5

Phrasing unknown.
A spear
To reflect
the attack of a user back to the user.
L1
89

Phrasing unknown.
Unknown
To create
a light show at the Talons of Power ceremony.
AGttDW

50

## Quotes

Some of you may have heard of animus magic. It is a rare kind
of immense power, and a dragon is either born with it or he isn't. What
we are doing today is a simple test to see if you have that power.
Almost certainly you do not. Pick up your coconut. Now, tell your
coconut to fly over here and hit me.
to several SeaWing
dragonets during the Talons of Power ceremony
Darkstalker
5

-----

You use your power, if you have any. An animus dragon can
enchant any object to do what he wants it to do. I can do it now without
even speaking, but saying it out loud is the way to start. Simply
whisper to your coconut that you want it to fly over here and hit me.

to Indigo, during the Talons of Power ceremony

Darkstalker
6

-----

Another animus in the tribe. […] I'm so very, very pleased.

Albatross, about Fathom
Darkstalker
9

-----

It's a new palace, grandson. Entirely grown by animus power. I
call it the Summer Palace — a place where royalty can escape to enjoy
the warmest weather of the year. Here's what it will look like when it's
finished.
to Fathom, about the Summer Palace

Darkstalker
26

-----

That's the plan. I check on it regularly, making adjustments
and adding features. It's been growing for more than seven years, so it
shouldn't be much longer.
to Fathom, about the Summer Palace

Darkstalker
27

-----

I enchanted it to grow carefully and precisely, like a tree.
Anything faster and wilder could have damaged the ecosystem of the whole
island.
to Fathom, about the Summer Palace

Darkstalker
27

-----

The first lesson about being an animus is that you must always
be careful. Remember this is powerful, powerful magic. It can go wrong
very easily. It's so powerful that you can do almost anything, except
bring a dragon back from the dead.
to Fathom, about animus
magic Darkstalker
28

-----

Grandson. Hiding like a nervous hermit crab. Interesting
choice. One I should have expected, though, from such a little
Dragons|dragonet with such a limited imagination.
to Fathom,
during the Royal SeaWing Massacre
Darkstalker
93

-----

You know I could easily kill you from a distance. It would
barely take a thought. But you've been such a thorn in my side for the
last few years. Every chance she got — 'I don't really need you anymore.
Perhaps Fathom will be better at this than you are. You're so expendable
now that I have a replacement. What a pathetic creature you are, little
brother, with your tiny teeth and oddly colored scales. Fathom is so
much more presentable than you are.' […] So, no, I couldn't dispose of
you from afar. That wouldn't be satisfying at all. I want to see your
face as you die.
to Fathom, about Lagoon
Darkstalker
93

## Trivia

  - Albatross's name is a reference to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,
    in which the albatross symbolizes a psychological burden that feels
    like a curse.
  - Albatross is the first known animus SeaWing in ancient Pyrrhia.
  - Albatross is most likely not an IceWing-SeaWing hybrid. His colors
    are likely natural pigmentation.