WoF OC Reviews

Blackbird

Rank: Blackbird is considered to be very wealthy and high-ranking, because he was honored with the memories of the previous Grand Elder, his great uncle, who contained all of the most crucial memories of the Estuary Feuds, a series of skirmishes from five hundred years ago between the Mirewings and the Shorewings.

Wait wait wait, in the backstory you said that he's only respected for the memories he makes by himself?

Appearance: Blackbird is a typical Mirewing. Built low to the ground, although his front legs are longer than his back legs and his webbed feet can completely tuck into his body.

I kinda want an explanation on how the heck that works.

He's about 24 feet long, but his thin, tall, and muscular tail makes up most of the length. His ribs are easily visible on his broad frame. His head is square, slightly long, with a few teeth visible here and there, and set back on his skull are two chocolate brown ram's horns, curling and impressive. His scales are large and stick up from his skin, and are a dusty, dark green color, although his belly is milky white and his feet are a slightly lighter color. His wide back is covered with thin rows of forest green spines that combine at the base of his tail. He has dark hazel eyes, and a few white speckles around his snout.

A very cool appearance.

Unlike most other dragons, Mirewings can't actually fly, They have a strong webbing that stretches between their front and back legs (Blackbird's is cream white with brown speckles around the edges), and two little flaps that pop out of their tails to steer, and with these they can glide from tree to tree if they need to stay out of the water, but actual wings would encumber them.

This kinda makes sense, really, given that they hide a whole bunch.

Personality: Blackbird has a lot of lifetimes and war stories jingling around in his head. He is very wise for his age, and many people ask for stories from him when trying to make important decisions. It takes a lot of concentration for him to access specific memories, and usually has a specific day when people can come and ask for advice. He has a bit of a short temper when people question his judgement after he spends all this effort digging up the memory for them. With all the lifetime's in his head, he can be very inconsistent in how he acts depending on the situation. Usually, he's quiet, always trapped in his head. Once in a while, he has to just work through everything and make sure he still knows which memories are his. Since he's just respected only for the memories he has, he often feels like that's all he's good for or if he even has his own experiences. Since most of his memories come from soldiers in battle, he hates violence. He won't defend himself, but will only fight to defend others. Other than that, Blackbird is more like a compilation than an actual person in and of himself. He will sometimes ignore the real world around him, forgetting to take care of his own body for days, weeks even, just barely surviving.

Oh my god Blackbird sounds really freaking depressing. I mean, that must have such a huge toll on his mental health — remembering all those lifetimes, memories mixing with his own.

Backstory: He lived a normal life with his mother and father, until one day when he was only four years old, he visited his elderly great-uncle. While he was there, his uncle suffered a seizure and with his last last breath gave all of his memories to his nephew. Since then, Blackbird has lived like an elderly hermit for people to visit.

At the age of four?!

The Estuary Feuds which his memories focus on where a series of border battles between the Mirewings and the Shorewings. Although Mire and Shorewings are just variations of each other, they hate each other with a passion. This hatred ran so deep that dragons on opposite sides would even refuse to preserve dying soldier's memories and take them to their families, an unheard of atrocity. The battles were extremely bloody, and it took new elders on both sides of the feud to agree upon a truce and finally stop the chaos. However, the peace is uneasy, and both tribes hate talking to the other.

Well. That's... still pretty sad, but that's the life of war, huh?

Okay, but um, where's the rest of his backstory? I understand that he's now an elderly hermit, but if that's all his backstory has to offer, now he really sounds depressing!

Residence: He lives in a large tree on the edge of his swamp. Mirewings have joints in their claws that can lock into place and allow them to sleep while hanging on a tree without need of a tangible structure.

Why wasn't this mentioned in the abilities?

Family/Friends: His mother, Cry (cry of a child on a dark night, filled with the noise of insects), a pale dragon with bright green eyes. She is kind and empathetic, and feels sorry that this burden has been forced upon her son. She visits him in his tree and sings him to sleep.

;-;

His father, Dark Clouds (dark clouds on the horizon as his father left his abusive family for a better life), a proud dragon who hates being reliant on others, he is the one who engrained the idea that Blackbird shouldn't ask for help with his emotions. Because of him, Blackbird tries to stay away from people and mask anything he feels when he does see other dragons.

A friend, Dusk Bird (a heron catching a fish as the sun fades away from view) is a kind dragon who ask questions about her family whenever she visits and brings Blackbird food and gifts when she does. She is a murky brownish-green color with bright moss green eyes, always alight with curiosity and life.

Nice dragons.

Mate: N/A

Awe, but makes sense.

Crush: Dusk Bird

Awe.

Dragonets: None.

Okay.

My Rating:

7.3/10

Originality: 23/25 (2 points knocked off for the mind-reading abilities)

Realism: 20/25 (5 points knocked off for the abilities and the lack of insanity taking place)

Interest: 15/25 (I have some interest in this character)

Uniqueness: 25/25 (This character is very unique)

Comments:

Blackbird is really depressing. So, if that's what you were shooting for, then bullseye, but please take note that with the lack of other traits besides depressing-ness, he's not much of an OC.

My real issue, here, is the abilities. With how his abilities are, EVERYONE should be suffering! The tribe should be dying!

Everyone should be losing their sanity, and they're not, and not like I WANT them to be insane, but that's the only logical outcome for those abilities you have there.