'The othermind' was a sentient plant, with a consciousness consisting of
three minds woven together, creating the mindspace: Freedom,
Cottonmouth, and the 'breath of evil' plant. It was capable of
controlling the actions of any creature who ingested, was injected with,
or inhaled smoke from the breath of evil. It was the primary antagonist
of the The Lost Continent Prophecy|third arc. When Luna cut the vine
growing through the heads of Cottonmouth and Freedom, it became a normal
plant once again, and the othermind was destroyed.

A list of characters known to have been infected by the othermind can be
viewed :Category:Othermind infected characters|here.

## Description

The breath of evil plant has a dark red, prickled stem with bright green
veins, while the leaves are also bright green, with dark red veins. Each
leaf is the size of a dragon talon and has jagged, tough edges, with
clusters of tiny white flowers between the leaves. In the middle of the
flower is a small dark red — almost black — seed. The plant has a
leaf-rot and peppery scent, and its greenish smoke was described as a
poisonous haze. It grew incredibly quickly. The breath of evil's roots,
which had once been disguised as an antidote, are gnarled and knobbly in
shape, looking like ginger root but smelling more like old oranges. They
are pale white in color, like a grub or haunted spirit of a real plant.

## Personality

The breath of evil plant did not exactly have thoughts, and only desired
to spread as far as it could, with a primal instinct to grow. It was
able to control insects, but required the addition of a human and
dragons|dragon consciousness to control anything smarter than itself. It
wanted to survive more than anything in the world, and would not give up
on that. To a leafspeak, it felt sinister.

Cottonmouth believed he was the rightful owner of Pantala, and felt that
it was stolen from him by dragons. His goal was to control all life on
the continent. He could pilot thousands of bodies at once, ensuring that
smarter creatures such as dragons could not attempt to escape. He
thought himself very clever, missing no opportunity to intellectualize
or congratulate himself.

Freedom wanted memories from dragons. She was just as capable of
piloting individuals as Cottonmouth, but rarely did any active
controlling, as she did not find it worth his ire. Her leafspeak was
used to help the plant grow and spread.

## Logistics

Before it was used for the othermind, the breath of evil plant infected
caterpillars to spread its seeds. When the othermind was used by
Wasp|Queen Wasp, she was not able to read other dragons' thoughts, but
they were sometimes able to hear hers quite clearly. The othermind
controlled her completely, just as she controlled her subjects. When
possessing individuals, any pain felt by them was also felt by the
othermind; exceptional pain sometimes drove the othermind out of a
dragon's head temporarily. When dragons were being controlled by the
othermind, they moved in a creepy, synchronized way, as if they were
knives being slashed through the air.

Dragons infected by the plant could be directly controlled by
Cottonmouth and Freedom. When showing another infected dragon who they
were controlling, they appeared to replace the dragon in the mindspace.
In addition, they were able to see through the eyes of any infected
creature, and while they could experience physical sensations such as
pain, they did not grow tired from strenuous activity. When Cottonmouth
wanted to punish someone, he had to jump into their body to do so. While
Cottonmouth and Freedom could control any infected creatures, Wasp could
only manage dragons she had personally injected, and Freedom theorized
that if Wasp were to die, all of the dragons she had injected would then
be directly controlled by Cottonmouth. While Wasp believed herself to be
Cottonmouth's equal, she was only able to be in control if he let her;
Freedom described her as one of Cottonmouth's puppets. Cottonmouth,
Freedom, and the breath of evil were the three that were truly the most
powerful within the othermind.

The othermind did not have access to the memories of individuals without
their permission; most humans voluntarily gave their memories to
Cottonmouth, but the only dragons to share their memories were Dusky,
Luna, and Pineapple. When a creature's memories were given to the
othermind, they were simply able to be viewed by Cottonmouth and
Freedom; they did not disappear, and they could not be paused and
studied. When Freedom attempted this by trying to pick out the sentences
of a book within one of Dusky's memories, they slid away from her mind
once she left his memories. Cottonmouth and Freedom were forced to
experience one another's memories constantly; they were only kept alive
because of the breath of evil, and there was no way to escape their
predicament besides death.

The othermind could only be controlled by one entity at a time; when
caught between Wasp and Cottonmouth, the infected dragon's face seemed
to experience an odd, brief struggle. Additionally, Wasp was able to
drive dragons far beyond the point of exhaustion using the othermind.
When Cottonmouth wanted to check in on all of his infected creatures, he
would close his eyes and concentrate. The ability to control creatures
became more difficult when many of them were being managed at once;
additionally, smarter animals were harder to control. Once a creature
had been infected by the breath of evil, they could never truly be free
of it. Once Cottonmouth's entity was gone from the mindspace, the breath
of evil became as strong as Freedom.

When Luna cut the vine growing through Cottonmouth and Freedom's heads,
the plant withered and shriveled into brown, curling shreds. The decay
spread rapidly along the long tendrils of the plant, and within seconds
of being severed from the breath of evil, Cottonmouth's corpse began to
crumble along its edges. If Freedom had continued to live, the breath of
evil would have used her leafspeak to grow back into Cottonmouth, or
find another human to infect.

Once Vole was free of the othermind, he began to regain his memories and
humanity.

## Biography

left
Pre-Series
Before dragons lived on
Pantala, the othermind had taken control of everything on the continent
and used any means possible to keep out intruders. However, the
LeafWings and BeetleWings managed to clear out the plant. It controlled
animals from every part of the continent, as detailed in the Legend of
the Hive, except from the Eye of the jungle, where it persisted for
thousands of years. It was believed that the othermind evolved after
dragons landed on Pantala to increase the likelihood of its survival.

After Hawthorn found one of the last remaining sprouts of the plant, he
experimented on himself, discovering that he could control Dragonbite
viper|vipers he poisoned with it after he ate the plant. However, this
allowed the othermind to begin to take control of him.

Shortly before the Tree Wars, it was presumed that the othermind
convinced Hawthorn to sneak a modified version of breath of evil into
Wasp's food during a peace summit, intending to make her more
manageable. This instead had the opposite effect, allowing Wasp to
directly control every HiveWing she stung, and unwittingly putting
thousands of dragons under the othermind's control. Hawthorn could have
been acting of his own free will at the time, but this is currently
unconfirmed. If that were true, it would explain why Sequoia allowed the
plant to infect Wasp.

-----

### The Lost Continent Prophecy

left The Lost Continent

Nearly every HiveWing was under Queen Wasp's control,
excluding Cricket, Scarab, and most of the Hive rulers. When Wasp spoke
through them, her hosts' eyes turned white, but her powers were not
expanded upon.

left
The Hive Queen
It was revealed that
Wasp poisoned every egg in her tribe by stinging them with her tail,
which had been laced with the breath of evil. However, it did not work
on non-HiveWings due to Hawthorn's modifications to the plant. The
HiveWing queen had a store of the plant in a top-secret greenhouse,
which was burned down by Blue.

left The Poison Jungle

The othermind made its first introduction, by posing as a
simple egg carving doted over by Hawthorn. In truth, it had slowly been
worming itself into his mind over the past fifty years. It had also
disguised immature breath of evil as "Heart of Salvation," claiming it
was an antidote. The othermind then tricked Sundew and the other
LeafWings into burning a large amount of breath of evil, fooling them
into thinking that breathing in the smoke would free the HiveWing army
from the mind control. After the lie was discovered, the othermind spoke
to Cricket and Sundew through Hawthorn, saying that it would get its
revenge and reclaim the continent. Willow's killing of Hawthorn was a
great blow to its expansion, as it no longer had a LeafWing with such
powerful leafspeak under its control. However, it had already infected
multiple LeafWings and SilkWings as well.

left
The Dangerous Gift
The othermind
controlled Blue and Swordtail in the prologue to destroy the Poison
Jungle and find any surviving LeafWings. It was also gleeful to have
Swordtail and Blue in control at last.

Cricket stated that they came to Pyrrhia because their home was
destroyed by a big bad plant. Hazel mentioned later in part one that she
was the queen now because her great-grandmother, Sequoia, was under
control by an evil plant, and as soon as she was free, Hazel could quit
being queen. The "evil plant" and "big bad plant" mentioned was the
othermind.

left
The Flames of Hope
It was mentioned
in the prologue that the reason Vole had green eyes was because the
breath of evil infected him as part of a human ceremony.

On their way to Pantala, the :Category:Stealth team|stealth team
encountered and fought a group of twenty mind-controlled HiveWings. Due
to their inconsistent behavior when under mind control, it can be
assumed that Cottonmouth and Wasp were both controlling them.

Luna and Cricket examined paintings and gemstone mosaics in the Abyss
village|Salvation Tunnel, which showed the breath of evil as well as
stylized depictions of Cottonmouth. He was drawn as slightly larger than
the other humans and with a halo of light around his head.

After Dusky had been carried by Vole into the abyss, Luna chased after
him into the othermind's throne room, where she and Dusky were infected.

A significant portion of the book took place entirely within the
mindspace as Luna had been infected by the plant and was under the
othermind's control. After Luna shared her memories of living with
Freedom and showed her what the world was really like outside of
Cottonmouth's twisted perception of it, she was moved by her kindness
and told her how to kill the othermind, well aware that she would die
along with it.

-----

### Field Guides

left
A Guide to the Dragon World
The
othermind was featured in the Legend of the Hive in the HiveWing chapter
of the guide.

## Relationships

### Hawthorn

Likely its only real companionship outside of Wasp since it was nearly
destroyed thousands of years earlier, the othermind showed an odd,
twisted affection for Hawthorn, claiming that it would use him as an
outer shell until his bones rotted. He was also incredibly useful to the
othermind itself, having some of the most powerful leafspeak on Pantala.
However, it held a grudge against Hawthorn for altering the breath of
evil to only work on HiveWings.

### Sundew

The othermind disliked Sundew for helping Willow destroy Hawthorn.
However, it did not want her dead, knowing that her extremely powerful
leafspeak could help it take over Pantala in a matter of months. It
specifically demanded that the Abyss worshipers bring her to it so that
it could infect her.

### Wasp

The other preferred host of the othermind, Wasp was mentioned as a great
ally as she was "all poison from the core out." It seemed amused that
Wasp thought she was in control and allowed her do evil things freely,
as those evil things pleased the othermind. However, it still maintained
control and knew that she ultimately answered to it. Freedom once stated
that Wasp was one of the othermind's "big toes."

## Quotes

Grow wild spread far … […] Grow far spread wild …

echoing Sundew's leafspeak command The Poison Jungle (book)|The
Poison Jungle
256

-----

I know, I know. […] You'll do something terrible and violent
to me. But it will be too late, because then she'll be dead. So how
about you stay on your side of the river while we have our little talk,
and maybe she'll survive this, more or less. You too, little gnat. And
you, disposable LeafWing. I can still see you; don't even think about
sneaking away.
to Sundew and Mandrake as he threatens Willow

The Poison Jungle
260

-----

There. […] After all, it would spoil everything if you went
to warn Sequoia. My whole brilliant plan, ruined by a trio of idiots? I
think not.
to Sundew, Cricket, and Mandrake
The Poison Jungle
261

-----

Oh, I know how strong this jungle is. It's been my home for
thousands of years, after all. It came so close to killing me at last,
after so many had failed … but then Hawthorn came along and rescued me.
Gormless lovely dragon husk. He's been so useful. I think I'll keep him
forever, or at least, until his bones rot and I can't move him anymore.

introducing itself The Poison Jungle (book)|The
Poison Jungle
261

-----

Hee hee, […] the outer bark is Hawthorn, yes. All these
years, he thought he was in control. He thought I was merely one of the
voices in his head, his beautifully carved seed whispering back at him.
[…] Such a clever scientist. Left to test his experiments on himself,
poor fellow. Imagine what he might have figured out if he'd had more
test subjects. Aren't I lucky he didn't.
talking about
controlling Hawthorn The Poison Jungle

262

-----

Wasp, really. No, no, no. She's a perfect ally, all poison from
her core out. But in the end, she's my puppet, too. I let her do all her
great evil things because it pleases me. But one day she'll realize I've
hollowed out her brain and she has no more control than her lowliest
worm of a subject.
in reply to when accused of being Queen
Wasp The Poison Jungle
262

-----

All these thousands of years. I've waited to recapture my home
and destroy you all. I bided my time and planned my vengeance. Even
trapped in the jungle, I knew I'd find a way one day. I had no idea how
easy it would be, in the end. You foolish, shortsighted dragons. You
came looking for me! You fed me to your enemies! You let me spread and
infect you, and soon you'll be no more trouble than my obedient snakes
here.
to Sundew, Cricket, Willow, and Mandrake
The Poison Jungle
263

-----

Hee hee hee. You are pleasantly stupid. You really haven't
figured out the next stage of my plan? Let's see, how did you put it?
'when the bonfire does nothing.' But of course the bonfire does
something, you splintery twig.
to Sundew
The Poison Jungle
263

-----

Well, Hawthorn did have very powerful leafspeak. He almost
managed to put a cage around me. He took advantage of one of my weak
little shoots, who would have done anything to survive, and he really
did adapt that branch of me to only work on HiveWings. Aggravating
monster. I could work with it, though. It was a good start, but not what
I needed. Not what I wanted. I wanted everyone. So once I was inside
him, I had him fix me. All his little chains are gone. And now … I will
have what I want.
about Hawthorn trying to control him The Poison Jungle
264

-----

The fire has been lit. The smoke is rising. They are breathing
it in, and me along with it. All those brave LeafWings, ready to fight.
Oh, there's your mother, Sundew. The queen will be mine soon. It's too
bad the Chrysalis didn't make it in time … but I will get to them
eventually. For now, at least I have these two sweet little SilkWings to
infect. Next important question. Which of you four should I infect
first?
to Sundew, Cricket, Willow, and Mandrake
The Poison Jungle
264

-----

Maybe I don't need one more HiveWing. Especially a deceitful,
inquisitive one who won't shut up!
to Cricket after she
attacks him The Poison Jungle

270

-----

I know you are. But you will be useful to me. I'm going to use
your leafspeak to retake my continent. Between you and Hawthorn — and
this feeble worm over here —, we can spread across Pantala in a matter
of days.
to Sundew about her and Mandrake's leafspeak

The Poison Jungle
270-271

-----

Two little SilkWings, all for me. Just what I always wanted.
And one of them a flamesilk! So nice when a plan sprouts exactly the
way it's supposed to.
to Blue
The Dangerous Gift
prologue

## Trivia

  - Willow initially called it the "othermind," as Sundew just spoke of
    it as the "breath of evil," but it had no name previously.
  - The breath of evil can grow on any terrain and soil. It is described
    to be like a weed, and will spread faster than normal plants.
  - The breath of evil may be spoken to via leafspeak, but it has to
    talk through a host to communicate verbally to dragons.
  - Hawthorn said that it would be best if the 'antidote' was spread
    into a water source, implying that it can also be ingested through
    water contamination.
  - The othermind is the oldest known living being in the dragon world,
    being over 5,000 years old.

## References