History Literature / Silverwing

* TheAmazon: The Vampyrum Spectrum specifically come from Brazil. It is also where the bats and owls forced to carry bombs by humans are sent to destroy Rio De Janeiro, despite Brazil joining the Allies in real life.

** Griffin, who's [[MixedAncestry half-Silverwing, half-Brightwing]].

* MixedAncestry: Griffin, [[spoiler:half-Silverwing and half-Brightwing]]. He doesn't get too much flak over his mixed heritage from the other bats, though.

The ''Silverwing'' trilogy is a series of books written by Kenneth Oppel, which is a sort of {{Goth}}ic-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 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 ''Silverwing'' trilogy is a series of books written by Kenneth Oppel, which is a sort of {{Gothic}}-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 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.

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 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.

* HeroicAlbino: Zephyr

* HumansAreCthulhu: Most bats fear humans.

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: 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.

* TheAmazon: The Vampyrum Spectrum specifically come from Brazil. It is also where the bats and owls forced to carry bombs by humans are sent to destroy Rio De Janeiro.

** 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]]).

* LikeABadassOutOfHell: Specifically, the second variation.

** In ''Silverwing'', [[spoiler:Goth and Throbb, when their metal bands cause them to be struck by lightning

* InterspeciesRomance: Shade is a Silver-haired bat. [[spoilers: He eventually becomes mates with Marina, an Eastern red bat.]]

* FirstTimeInTheSun: Played with: The whole plot of the first book is set in motion when Shade dares to stay up long enough to see the sun (which, as a bat, he is not allowed to do). [[spoiler: When the owls burn down his home as punishment, he decides to give the sun back to all bats. Later he and his fried Marina fly in bright daylight and they are amazed about how different the world looks and how warm the sun is. However, they do have [[DayHurtsDarkAdjustedEyes some problems]].]] Also, the darkness is not shown as something horrible and Shade is described as a creature of the night and he is happy with it. Other bats even question the necessity of seeing the sun and the young ones are afraid the sun will blind them or turn them into dust.

* ActionBomb: [[spoiler: The ultimate purpose of the metal bands is to turn a bat into one]].

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: [[spoiler: Yes, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the U.S. Military actually tried to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb turn bats into flying suicide bombers]] and guide them to targets using echolocation]]. This crosses over into NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer territory, as Oppel spends the afterword of the second book explaining the minutiae of [[spoiler: Project X-Ray]] and why it failed in RealLife.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Luna, Griffin, Goth]]
* [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins]]: [[spoiler:A borderline example, in that Goth comes back from the dead while Shade does not]].

* [[spoiler:BittersweetEnding]]: [[spoiler:Used in ''Firewing''; see TheHeroDies]].

* ChekhovsSkill: In the very first chapter Shade is hunting an insect who confuses him with some sound tricks. [[spoiler: At the end of the first book, Shade is attacked by an owl and he tries to confuse it by imitating the moth. It works. Over the course of the second book Shade becomes very good at using sound to fight his enemies.]]
** It the second book, this trick allows him to realize that [[spoiler: the bands are tricking them into becoming suicide bombers]].

* ContinuityCameo: [[spoiler:Frieda and Throbb]] are seen again in the Bat Underworld in ''Firewing''.
** And in ''Sunwing'', 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.''

* DarkIsNotEvil: Murk
** In theory a good chunk of the good guys, since the main protagonists are bats.

* EverybodyHatesHades: Cama Zotz complains about this.
** Played pretty straight too, given the role he plays. Then again his portrayal in the Mayan myths is not all that flattering either.
* TheEvilPrince: Goth, until later when he becomes king. Averted with Orestes.

* 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...]]

* [[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]].
** Combines with [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins: Goth stole Griffin's life force and used it to successfully return to life.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Goth and Throbb in ''Silverwing'', when their metal bands cause them to be struck by lightning; Voxzaco in ''Sunwing'' when his last-ditch bomb plan fails.]]
* HumansAreCthulhu

* 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. He demands to know where the justice in that is.
** Though not all dead bats get this - a bat who was eaten is whole, which especially annoys Yorick.

* LeaveYourQuestTest: The banded cult offer one up to Marina. Luna also gets one in ''Firewing''. Dusk in ''Darkwing'' [[spoiler: meets an other flying chiropter who asks him to join her colony, but he declines. At the end of the book he decides to visit her.]]

* 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 [[MixedAncestry half-Silverwing, half-Brightwing]].
** Yet another example would be [[CainAndAbel Romulus and Remus]], two rat princes who don't quite get along. [[AncientRome Sound familiar?]]

* MixedAncestry: Griffin, half-Silverwing and half-Brightwing. He doesn't get too much flak over his mixed heritage from the other bats, though.

* ProphetEyes

* 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]]).

** [[spoiler: That crazy "bats drop bombs" plot? That was actually considered in WWII by the U.S, but the idea was quickly dropped thanks to a test run that failed spectacularly.]] And the soricids way of hunting via paralyzing their prey and eating it? That’s how most shrew species today hunt
* 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.

* WeakButSkilled: Shade and his sound tricks.

* [[spoiler:UsefulNotes/WorldWarII]]: The setting for the first two books. [[TakeOurWordForIt Yes, the setting needs to be spoiler tagged.]]

** Played pretty straight too, given the role he plays. Then again his portrayal in the mayan myths is not all that flattering either.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Played straight in the first two books with the Vampyrum Spectrum, Goth's race. However, in ''Firewing'' Murk is introduced.

** That crazy "Bats drop bombs" plot? That was actually considered in WWII by the U.S, but the idea was quickly dropped thanks to a test run that failed spectacularly. And the soricids way of hunting via paralyzing their prey and eating it? That’s how most shrew species today hunt

* 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.

* OneForSorrowTwoForJoy: Poor thing wanted those metal bands from this weird half dead giant bat so badly...

* TakenForGranite: The fate of the bats who stay in the LotusEaterMachine cave.