History Main / Silverwing

* For their AnimatedAdaptation, go [[WesternAnimation/{{Silverwing}} here]].

[[redirect:Literature/{{Silverwing}}]]

->''"Many of these animals had already been written about, and most of them were reasonably cuddly: [[BlackBeauty horses]], [[{{Redwall}} mice]], [[{{Babe}} pigs]], [[WatershipDown rabbits]], even [[CharlottesWeb spiders]]. But will kids be able to identify with bats?"''
-->Kenneth Oppel, "Author's Note" in ''Silverwing''

->''"At the dawning of the ages, the birds and the beasts banished us. We were forbidden from ever glimpsing the sun again..."''
-->Frieda's OpeningMonologue that starts each episode of the animated series

The ''{{Silverwing}}'' trilogy is a series of books written by Kenneth Oppel, which is a sort of {{Goth}}-esque fantasy adventure about bats. The first book appeared in 1997. The main character, Shade, is a small Silverwing bat, who is frequently mocked and called "Runt". After breaking one of the animal world's biggest rules and becoming a fugitive, and getting lost at sea during a migration, Shade goes on a wild adventure with a new friend, street-smart {{Tomboy}} Marina Brightwing. Things [[ItGotWorse get worse]] when Goth and Throbb, two giant carnivorous bats from Brazil, escape a research facility and begin killing birds and other creatures at will. The little bats get blamed for it, landing Shade and his colony in a battle for the rights of all their kind.

Also related to the trilogy is a fourth book, ''Darkwing'', which explores prehistoric bats. Dusk, a chiropter (a fictional name the author uses to describe the species) is the first of his kind who can actually fly instead of glide. During a time of evolutionary upheaval, he must lead his clan to safe new territory.

The series was also adapted into an animated series. See its page [[WesternAnimation/{{Silverwing}} here]].
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!!These books contain the following tropes:
* AerithAndBob: Shade and Marina, their son Griffin, and the villain Goth
* AirVentEscape: This is how Goth and Throbb got out of the artifical jungle. Justifed as they are much smaller than people and have to fly verticaly.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Played straight in the first two books with the Vampyrum Spectrum, Goth's race. However, in ''Firewing'' Murk is introduced.
* TheAmazon: The Vampyrum Spectrum specifically come from Brazil. [[spoiler: It is also where the bats and owls forced to carry bombs by humans are sent to destroy Rio De Janeiro.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Luna, Griffin, Goth]]
* BatOutOfHell: Averted (and still played straight, if you think about it)
* BigBad: Goth in the first two books, [[spoiler: Cama Zotz himself]] in the third.
* BigDamnHeroes: The rats and owls at the end of ''Sunwing''.
* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler:Used in ''Firewing''; see TheHeroDies.]]
* BlindSeer: Zephyr
* BloodyBowelsOfHell: ''Firewing's'' idea of the Bat Underworld is actually pretty nice. But piss off Cama Zotz [[spoiler:and you get a one-way ticket down his digestive tract.]]
* BodyCountCompetition
* BrokenBird: Marina, who was abandoned by her whole colony.
* TheBrute: Goth and Throbb.
* CarnivoreConfusion: The "Predators Are Mean" variant appears in the first two books, but in ''Firewing'' Murk lampshades and defies it.
* CatsAreMean: Not actual cats, but the cat-like predator ''Miacis'' in ''Darkwing'', which are given the nickname "felids". (More precisely, one particular band of ''Miacis'' who have acquired a taste for meat.)
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Zephyr and Shade's sound abilities.
* ChekhovsGun: The leaf used to help Shade go to sleep in the middle of ''Silverwing'' is used later in the story to drug Goth.
* TheChessmaster: Cama Zotz.
* ClearMyName
* ContinuityCameo: [[spoiler:Frieda and Throbb]] are seen again in the Bat Underworld in ''Firewing''.
** And in ''Sunwing'', [[spoiler:Shade isn't sure what to do next on his adventure, so he uses sound to call Zephyr from ''Silverwing'' to help. Note that Zephyr is ''on a different continent.'']]
* CreepySouvenir: Cannibals Goth and Throbb eat a group of bats and wear the metal bands as trophies.
* {{Cult}}: A group of banded bats led by Scirocco, who believe that the bands will allow them to transform into humans.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Murk
** In theory a good chunk of the good guys, since the main protagonists are bats.
* DavidVersusGoliath: Goth and Throbb are portrayed as big muscular bullies. Contrast with protagonist Shade, who often uses his intelligence to solve problems. For bonus points Shade is considered a runt even by his species' standards.
* DemotedToExtra: Despite having a very major role in the first two books, this happens to Marina in ''Firewing''.
* DisabilitySuperpower: Zephyr, an oracle, is a blind albino bat, has an uncannily acute sense of hearing. He can hear what happens in the past and future, and can even ''hear the stars''.
* DisappearedDad: Shade's dad, Cassiel.
* EnemyMine: The bats, rats, and owls [[spoiler: captured by the Vampyrum Spectrum in South America team up to fight their captors]].
* EverybodyHatesHades: Cama Zotz complains about this.
* EyeScream: The colony in ''Darkwing'' encounters a large nest of shrew-like creatures with paralyzing saliva called soricids. Two of the hyaenodons get bitten by them, and they collapse and are quickly stripped to the bone by the things. The FridgeHorror sets in when you really go through this scene in your mind: They are paralyzed. Not dead, paralyzed. Therefore, ''they can feel everything that is happening to them.'' Imagine little shrew teeth stripping your ''face'' away, including their teeth ''digging out your eyes.''
* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence[=/=]FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Quite a bit, although more concentrated in ''Firewing''. Examples include a bat having his heart ripped out and eaten, and a young bat being burned to death. ''Shade'' at one point attempts to cripple an enemy by biting his ears off.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler: Goth gets swallowed briefly by Cama Zotz as a YouHaveFailedMe. Goth doesn't stay there permanently, but for other bats this is their eternal punishment...]]
* FeatheredFiend: Birds in general tend to be antagonistic, though the bats make peace with the owls in ''Sunwing'', and a young bird in ''Darkwing'' warns Dusk of the felids.
* FireForgedFriends: Shade and Chinook
* GentleGiant: Java, a Foxwing. She has a wingspan of '''5 feet''', and she is the most mellow character in the series.
* GeniusBruiser: Goth.
* HalfBreed: Griffin, half-Silverwing and half-Brightwing. He doesn't get too much flak over his mixed heritage from the other bats, though.
* HaveYouSeenMyGod: Where's Nocturna? Oh, [[spoiler: Cama Zotz killed her]].
* [[spoiler:TheHeroDies]]: [[spoiler: Shade at the end of ''Firewing'', so his son Griffin and his friend could feed off his life force and become living beings again.]]
** [[spoiler:Combines with TheBadGuyWins: Goth stole Griffin's life force and used it to successfully return to life.]]
* HeroicAlbino: Zephyr
* HeroicBastard: Shade's missing father plays a big role in his motivations for the first two books. At the end of ''Sunwing'', [[spoiler: they are finally reunited]].
* HeroicSacrifice: Shade pulls this one off near the end of ''Sunwing'', where he tries to stop a bomb from falling ''using only sound''. [[spoiler:[[IGotBetter He gets better...]] only to do a real HeroicSacrifice at the end of ''Firewing''.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Goth and Throbb in ''Silverwing'', [[spoiler: when their metal bands cause them to be struck by lightning]]; Voxzaco in ''Sunwing'' [[spoiler: when his last-ditch bomb plan fails]]
* HumansAreCthulhu
* HumanSacrifice: The bat version!
* JacobMarleyApparel: {{Lampshaded}} in ''Firewing'', where one bat in the Bat Underworld, Yorick, died by smashing into a tree while strong gusts of wind were blowing, and he has to spend his eternity in the Underworld with a half-broken wing, and demands to know where the justice in that is.
* JokerImmunity: Goth. He survives [[spoiler:getting ''struck by lightning'']] in the first book, and [[spoiler:manages to ''literally [[DeathIsCheap cheat death]]'' in the third]].
* KillerRabbit: The soricids in ''Darkwing'' are first said to be harmless. [[spoiler:Then it turns out they're actually very aggressive. And have [[ItGotWorse venomous bites]]. And there are ''[[ZergRush a lot]]'' of them. They even end up killing ''two'' ''Hyaenodon'', which are large predatory mammals.]]
* KillItWithFire: How the owls [[spoiler:destroy Tree Haven.]]
* LeaveYourQuestTest: The banded cult offer one up to Marina. Luna also gets one in ''Firewing''.
* LikeABadassOutOfHell: Specifically, the second variation.
* LotusEaterMachine: In ''Firewing'' there is a cave where the dead bats see their past lives. Most of them eventually forget where they are and slowly turn into stone.
* MakeMeWannaShout: Shade learns to do this.
* ManipulativeBastard: Goth & Cama Zotz.
* MasterOfIllusion: Shade, eventually. Following Zephyr's example, he learns to manipulate sound. Since bats use echolocation, this ability translates to feats such as invisibility and projecting illusions.
* MeaningfulName: Many. To name a few, there's Marina, who's named such because she's introduced on an abandoned island, and Griffin, who's a HalfBreed Silverwing/Brightwing.
** Yet another example would be [[CainAndAbel Romulus and Remus]], two rat princes who don't quite get along. [[AncientRome Sound familiar?]]
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Murk.
* MysteriousAnimalSenses: Averted, all characters see a monochrome world, and as such, not one color is mentioned in the series.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: With names like Goth and Throbb, they ''have'' to be evil. Subverted with Murk.
* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: The city near Goth's home is obviously Rio De Janiero,(it even has the statue of Jesus) but is never named.
* NotQuiteDead: Goth ''should'' have died after [[spoiler: getting struck by lightning, but lucky for him ''a god'' was watching out for him]].
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Goth uses this.
* OneForSorrowTwoForJoy
* OwlBeDamned: Pretty nasty guys, the owls are.
* PossibleWar: America bombs Brazil. Why? [[RuleOfDrama Who cares?]]
* PrequelInTheLostAge: ''Darkwing''
* ProphetEyes
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Frieda
* ReligionOfEvil
* SequelHook: [[spoiler:Goth just can't stay dead, can he? At the end of ''Firewing'' he got out of the Underworld and began gathering followers for Zotz.]]
* ShownTheirWork: Bridge City is the real life bat colony in Austin, Texas, and Statue Haven is Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Cama Zotz was a bat god, worshiped by a real cult among the Zapotec Indians. (Camazotz was also used as the name of a planet in Madeline L'Engle's ''AWrinkleInTime'', making it a possible ShoutOut, or just plain [[NamesTheSame coincidence]]).
** It's mentioned on the author's website that colours are never mentioned in the Silverwing books, except for silver, black, and the like. That's because bats are colour blind.
* SlidingScaleOfAnthropomorphism: The series is on the low end. The bats understand why humans would want to study animals, how things like doors work and have religons yet they can see with sound and are colourblind. They also have difficulty crawling anywhere.
* SomewhereAnOrnithologistIsCrying: The owls can use echolocation for some reason. Real owls have good hearing and use it for hunting, but don't actually echolocate.
* SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying: In ''Darkwing'', it's said that dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) became extinct because they were cold-blooded and couldn't cope with climate change, when evidence points to dinosaurs and pterosaurs being to some degree warm blooded. On the other hand, some more up to date concepts such as birds being dinosaur descendants are also mentioned, so it's a mixed bag.
* TakenForGranite: The fate of the bats who stay in the LotusEaterMachine cave.
* TookALevelInBadass: Shade
* WarriorPrince: Goth and Orestes are pretty badass.
* WatchOutForThatTree: Yorick.
* WeakButSkilled: Shade and his sound tricks
* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Averted; the main characters are bats, which most people don't find cute at all.
* {{Xenofiction}}
* YouDirtyRat: Subverted. The rats are initially hostile to Shade and Marina, but they befriend Prince Romulus. Romulus would go on to become king and an important ally of the bats.
* ZergRush: The soricids in ''Darkwing''.

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<<|{{Literature}}|>>

The series was also adapted into an animated series in 2001 by Canadian studio Bardel Entertainment. See its page [[WesternAnimation/{{Silverwing}} here]].

The series was also adapted into an animated series in 2001 by Canadian studio Bardel Entertainment. However, the show was only a season long, and is a PragmaticAdaptation at best. YouTube user xRunningStarx has uploaded the entire series, which you can view via [[http://www.youtube.com/user/xRunningstarx#p/u this link.]]

!!The animated series contains examples of:
* AdaptationDecay: The show took elements from both ''Silverwing'' and ''Sunwing'' but left out the main plot of ''Sunwing'' entirely. As a result, the TV show was not as successful as the books.
* AdaptationExpansion: And how. To begin, the show added new characters that were never even mentioned in the books (for example, Ursa the white bear), new plots and sideplots were added, and scenes that were deemed too scary were taken out. Oddly, TheReveal of [[spoiler: Goth's cannibalistic acts]] remains in the show, though mostly toned down.
* AdaptationalBadass: Strangely enough, inverted with ''Orestes''.
* AnimeHair: Even on the owls, which is kind of weird.
* AscendedExtra: Bathsheba appeared only once in Silverwing as a strict elder antagonistic to Shade, but in the series she's promoted to Frieda's rival and [[spoiler: eventual traitor]].
* BadassSpaniard: Goth
* EnemyMine: In addition to the example listed above, the episode "Strange Batfellows"
* TheFilmOfTheBook: Originally going to be played straight, but then inverted: the ''Silverwing'' trilogy was going to be re-written into a film, with the original author serving as script supervisor. But after a while, the crew decided that making a film wasn't the best way to go, so they retooled it into a TV series.
* ItHasOnlyJustBegun: Dialog in the end of "Towers of Fire" episode.
--->'''Marina:''' It's over, Shade.
--->'''Shade:''' (grimly) No, it's just begun.
* LargeHam: Brutus. "''JUSTICE HAS BEEN '''SERVED!'''''"
* MythologyGag: At least once does Goth refer to Cama Zotz, a major player in the second and third books.
* NeckLift
* TheQuisling: [[spoiler: Bathsheba]] sells out the bats to Goth and Throbb.
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Said pretty much word for word by Frieda in one of the episodes.
* TheResenter: Bathseba to Frieda.
* UnusualEuphemism: The "guano" line above, and Marina's "Holy sunlight!"

The ''{{Silverwing}}'' trilogy is a series of books written by Kenneth Oppel, which is a sort of {{Goth}}-esque fantasy adventure about bats. The main character, Shade, is a small Silverwing bat, who is frequently mocked and called "Runt". After breaking one of the animal world's biggest rules and becoming a fugitive, and getting lost at sea during a migration, Shade goes on a wild adventure with a new friend, street-smart {{Tomboy}} Marina Brightwing. Things [[ItGotWorse get worse]] when Goth and Throbb, two giant carnivorous bats from Brazil, escape a research facility and begin killing birds and other creatures at will. The little bats get blamed for it, landing Shade and his colony in a battle for the rights of all their kind.

->''"Many of these animals had already been written about, and most of them were reasonably cuddly: [[BlackBeauty horses]], [[{{Maus}} mice]], [[{{Babe}} pigs]], [[WatershipDown rabbits]], even [[CharlottesWeb spiders]]. But will kids be able to identify with bats?"''

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Scirocco. Does he genuinly belive that banded bats will turn into humans or is he a WellIntentionedExtremist trying to protect bats shunned because of their bands with soothing lies? Or he is tricking other bats with his sound tricks for his own ends?
** Then there is Cama Zotz. [[spoiler: Is he an evil, ambitious god or is he WellIntentionedExtremist who wants to reunite the living and the dead, and punish those who have wronged his subjects (bats)? Judging by the end of Firewing, it is a combination of ''both''.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The book might be marketed to middle schoolers, but the series has scenes of cannibalism, ritual sacrifices, and suicide bombers

* HeyItsThatVoice: The TV series had {{Inuyasha}} playing Orestes, a wimpy owl. ...yeah.
** Also, [[MattHill Alex]] from ''XMenEvolution'' plays Chinook.
*** And, believe it or not, Goth is ''[[MichaelDobson the Blob]]'' from the same show.
** Bathsheba was played by Hexadecimal from ''{{ReBoot}}''.
** [[BeastWars Rhinox]] as Brutus and Throbb.

** Yet another example would be [[CainAndAbel Romulus and Remus]], two rat princes who [[{{Understatement}} don't quite get along.]] [[AncientRome Sound familiar?]]

->''"Many of these animals had already been written about, and most of them were reasonably cuddly: horses, mice, pigs, [[WatershipDown rabbits]], even [[CharlottesWeb spiders]]. But will kids be able to identify with bats?"''

* ShownTheirWork: Bridge City is the real life bat colony in Austin, Texas, and Statue Haven is Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Cama Zotz was a bat god, worshiped by a real cult among the Zapotec Indians. (Camazotz was also used as the name of a planet in Madeline L'Engle's ''AWrinkleInTime'', making it a possible ShoutOut, or just plain coincidence).

* ShownTheirWork: Bridge City is the real life bat colony in Austin, Texas, and Statue Haven is Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Cama Zotz was a bat god, worshiped by a real cult among the Zapotec Indians.

** Yet another example would be [[CainAndAbel Romulus and Remus]], two rat princes who [[{{Understatement}}don't quite get along]]. [[AncientRome Sound familiar?]]

** Yet another example would be [[CainAndAbel Romulus and Remus]], two rat princes who [[{{Understatement}}don't quite get along]].