#whirlpool wof

[ravewing]

whirlpool — is he really as awful as the fandom makes him out to be ?

a wings of fire character analysis. minor content warning for mentions of abuse, grooming, pedophilia, and the likes.

whirlpool is, indubitably, the most universally disliked wings of fire character (and by a long shot, too). in the seven years that i've been an active wof fan, i think i've only seen two, maybe three, people say that they can even stand him. ask anyone in the fandom who the "worst character" is; nine times out of ten, they will probably answer, "whirlpool." ask the reason for this, and they will probably reply with something along the lines of him being a pedophile.

but is he?

i would like to note that i am in no way defending whirlpool. he is by no means a morally good, nor redeemable, dragon. i recently reread the lost heir, so i'm trying to approach this with an unbiased, strictly objective viewpoint. this is just my analysis of his character based on what i've heard people say about him compared to his actual character in the novel.

for a character that appears only in one book (two, if you count turtle's brief flashback in talons of power), whirlpool is a character that wings of fire fans just cannot seem to let go. for countless years, whirlpool has been the subject of a wide array of jokes, memes, and is overall used as the fandom's punching bag—and with good reason (at least, to an extent). however, this has, in recent years, quickly downspiraled into blatant pedophilia jokes.

pedophilia is something that, as i've noticed, is seen as "funny" or "quirky" in certain niches of the wings of fire fanbase, especially so on reddit. make a post asking for people to share their favorite ships, and you'll get at least five people saying something like "clay x bumblebee" or "burn x auklet" to be funny. perhaps it's just the fact that most of the people cracking these "jokes" are teenaged redditors, but the fact that pedophilia is watered down to nothing more than "Boiii!😂😂Cursed funny joke🗿🍷" is, without a doubt, an issue. this downplaying of such a heavy topic not only leads to people just blatantly saying insensitive things for a bad jest, but it also results in the people making those jokes becoming desensitized to the severity of the issue.

when something as serious as pedophilia is treated as nothing more than meme fodder or a buzzword to casually throw around, it diminishes the real harm and suffering experienced by victims. and over time, this normalization will blur the line between satire and genuine endorsement and create spaces where predatory behavior is either ignored or, in the worst cases, subtly encouraged under the guise of just being “dark humor.” this kind of discourse can also alienate victims of a genuine real-world issue, which inevitably makes it harder for them to speak out or feel supported in these communities. and while yeah, humor can be a tool to cope with difficult topics, there’s a stark difference between using it to challenge harmful behaviors and using it to trivialize them.

but i'm getting off track.

whirlpool is not a good dragon. he's manipulative, concerned with nothing more than his personal status and wealth, lacks proper seawing etiquette and self-awareness of his patronizing, annoying personality, by all accounts, an awful teacher, and is just overall a condescending know-it-all. he was a one-off pretentious antagonist, and that is all he was ever meant to be.

he serves as queen coral's most trusted advisor in magic and publishing in her council, and, since he's practically bending over to kiss the ground that her talons walk on like a well-trained circus seal, she finds him to be absolutely delightful, intelligent, and just overall a brilliant gift to all the world. considering this, it's no wonder why coral arranged for him to marry anemone in the future.

that's a detail that most people seem to forget. coral is the one who set up the whole anemone and whirlpool thing. of course, this doesn't mean that whirlpool didn't want to marry anemone; it's just that he was only in it so that he could become the future king of the seawings. he is never shown to have any sort of attraction to anemone (nor to tsunami or auklet); he simply views them as pawns in a game that will ultimately result in his seat in a throne. obviously, this is not a good thing. it's implied by anemone that he was essentially manipulating her to use her magic more, thus becoming "evil" and more susceptible to challenge her mother for the seawing crown (and i'm pretty sure that blister was encouraging this, too; the only difference is that her ideal end result would be using anemone as a war weapon to secure her reign over the sandwings). he is a manipulator, but not a pedophile.

when i first read the lost heir in third grade, whirlpool was nothing but just an annoying side character who's only trait was being a boring "erm, ackshually" kind of guy who spent his every waking moment praising queen coral's literary works. obviously, as an eight year old, i didn't fully pick up the more serious underlying tones of manipulation for power, but after re-reading the book many, many times over the course of seven years, i've gathered a much more comprehensive grasp of his character.

the thing is, he just... doesn't have that much depth to him. that's the whole point; he's meant to just be a one-off antagonist that the reader isn't supposed to like. think about it. why would tui intentionally put a pedophile in a book directed towards elementary and middle schoolers? she wouldn't. he's literally just supposed to be annoying and die.

compare him to coral, for instance. yes, whirlpool was awful. but unlike coral, he did not write a scroll about eugenics, treat and harness a dragonet like a literal dog, publicly torture and execute loyal subjects for an accident (that was really coral's brother's fault), threaten to KILL his own daughter (okay, well, he did attempt to murder tsunami, but i think it's also pretty bad to tell your kid that you're going to kill her), neglect over 30 other of his own children, among a bounty of other not-so-great things? no. what i'm trying to say is, people often bash repeatedly on whirlpool with the same three jokes (like, come on, at least make a new joke. like whirlpoop or something i haven't heard that one before) while overlooking awful things that other characters do as well.

people love scarlet, blister, burn, darkstalker, vulture, mastermind, and countless other villains, despite the fact that many of them have done the exact same things as whirlpool or worse (elaboration in like two paragraphs). and there's nothing wrong with liking villains at all (personally i love a ton of wof's villains; i mean, come on, who doesn't?), so long as you're not trying to justify/redeem/defend their actions!!

what i'm trying to say is this:

this extreme vilification of whirlpool relies on literally nothing but exaggeration or outright misinformation. while yes, it is absolutely true that he was manipulating anemone to serve his own ambitions, his interest in marrying her had nothing to do with attraction or pedophilia—it was calculated power play, one arranged by queen coral herself. many people conflate his manipulative tendencies with predatory behavior, but his treatment of anemone was no different than how many other power-hungry characters in wings of fire have used young dragons as pawns in their schemes. this does not make him any less of a bad person, but it is important to distinguish between the two accusations.

another major issue with the fandom’s treatment of whirlpool is the sheer inconsistency in how different villains are perceived. as mentioned earlier, characters like darkstalker, scarlet, and even queen coral have committed arguably worse acts than whirlpool. darkstalker, for instance, manipulated young dragons like moonwatcher, fathom, and his own girlfriend, placed magical compulsions on his own friends, and tried to commit genocide—yet he has a massive fanbase, with many people willing to justify or romanticize his actions. scarlet is a tyrant who tortured innocent dragons for entertainment, but she is often seen as a charismatic, even beloved villain. (i can't lie, i love her too) coral, despite being directly responsible for the forced betrothal of anemone and whirlpool, does not receive nearly as much backlash as he does. why, then, is whirlpool singled out as the worst villain when he is hardly unique in his cruelty?

the answer likely lies in the nature of his character. unlike other villains who are powerful, charming, or entertaining, whirlpool is pathetic. he is not a fearsome warlord like burn or a tragic antihero like darkstalker is meant to be—he is an annoying, self-important sycophant whose ultimate goal is to climb the social ladder by cozying up to queen coral. he is the kind of villain who is easy to mock, easy to laugh at, and easy to pile hatred onto without deeper discussion. it’s the same reason why villains like mastermind or vulture don’t inspire the same level of vitriol—they are manipulative and amoral, but they aren’t written to be particularly cool or interesting in the way that characters like darkstalker or scarlet are.

at the end of the day, whirlpool is a terrible dragon. he is an opportunistic manipulator, annoying, a pathetic wet cat, and an overall detestable character. however, the way the fandom fixates on him, and exaggerated or misrepresents his crimes while ignoring worse actions from other villains, makes me wonder: why do some villains get a "pass" while others are relentlessly mocked? why do people misrepresent certain characters in ways that turn serious topics into joke fodder? and most importantly—why are we still talking about whirlpool, a one-off side villain from a book released over a decade ago, as if he’s the worst thing to ever happen in wings of fire?

side note: i couldn't figure out how to work this in there, but i don't know where the misconception that whirlpool is a super old decaying man came from. is he far too old for anemone? without a doubt. but from what i gathered from reading tlh, it seems like he's implied to be only slightly older than tsunami; somewhere around riptide's age, perhaps. anyhow, thank you for reading my chaotic mess of a character analysis! as a treat (or an abhorrent punishment, depending on the kind of person you are), here are some funny whirlpool expressions. the last two are my favorites .. he looks like he has eyeliner on in the last one lol

[mountainsofewoks]

peril and whirlpool uh.. I’ve got nothing new to post. . .

[falling-skyzz]

self-defense

[wings-of-fire-confessions]

Whirlpool is not a pedo he didn't want to marry Anoenome because he was attracted to her he just wanted the power of being king and would have taken Tsunami as well. It wasn't supposed to be a marriage of love or attraction it was a diplomatic thing. He doesn't deserve the amount of attention or hate we give him. He's just a really meh villain. His plan to become king was stupid because he would only get the amount of power that Anemone would allow him to have and even if Coral forced a marriage between them. Anemone could get just rid of him once she became queen.

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[sombrathedragon]

Day 65 of drawing random Wof dragons from the wiki…

Whirlpool!

“Whirlpool was an adult male SeaWing who was introduced in The Lost Heir. He was a royal scribe, a friend and advisor of Queen Coral, and a member of the SeaWing Council. He was killed by Anemone when she knocked him into a moat of electric eels.” -The WOF wiki.

@mythos321 here’s the final pose!

Bonus!

Whirlpool get the Ukulele..

Reblogs mean more than likes!

[ciphercorgi]

I drew Whirlpool during music class today

[glimmerspirals]

[some-pers0n]

I keep seeing people say "nonononono Whirlpool wanting to marry the Actual Child is not him being a pedophile, but rather him wanting to shape her so that, when she is an adult, she marries him and let's him have all the power" which like. that's still grooming. Even if we ignore the fact that Whirlpool went after what is essentially a six year old child and immediately wanted to start the same process he did for Anemone when he saw Auklet (LITERAL NEWBORN), like that's textbook grooming. What you described is grooming. Whirlpool is grooming Anemone into being a submissive and weak dragon who only obeys him and let's him gain control of the throne. He's not a good dragon at all, pedophile or not

[syntashii]

Old fanart of Whirlpool from WoF!

[wofpolls]

whose death was more embarrassing, Burn or Blister

if needed you can add other embarrassing villain deaths

*I know Darkstalker's death is somewhat debated in the fandom, but I'm counting him regardless.

[ravewing]

character doodles

[darlaisconfused]

One of my friends asked me to draw whirlpool, so, I did.

Took me a couple days to do since I’m also balancing school with my art.

I’m also taking drawing requests for your favorite Wings of Fire characters! Just ask me and if I’m not too busy I’ll get to almost right away.

It takes me around 3-4 days to complete something like this.

[mad-raptorzzz]

[ID: A drawing of two SeaWing dragons from Wings of Fire facing each other. Tsunami has her back to the viewer and is smirking with her ear tipped forward. She has mostly medium blue scales with dark blue along her spine and snout. Some of her aqua blue bioluminescent face scalers are lit up. She is smirking at Whirpool who floats in front of her. He looks stunned by the audacity of what she is saying in aquatic. His green-yellow scales are lighter on his belly and darker on his back. He has large ears for a SeaWing, which are adorned with several large hooped earrings each. Over his left eye, he has a small golden monocle which is suspended in place by a fine metal chain attached to one earring and one eye brow ring. Between them, in glowing and floating letters, it spells 'Squidface'/ End.]

The scene that made me laugh is when Tsunami learns how to speak Aquatic and the very first thing she learns how to do is basically swear. Headcannon that squidface is the SeaWing swear that functionally means dickhead. Which I think fits Whirlpool well. I tried to make him as oily as possible. His ears normally droop under the weight of all the hoops. But he's so surprised that they're sticking up quite a bit. He also has some big ears for a SeaWing. All the better to put more hoops in. I may do a bit of a redesign at some point and give him gages because that would be sweet.

Love Tsunami. Next up is a scene that made me cry.

[wings-of-fire-confessions]

im def going to get hounded for this one, but i like whirlpool honestly not in the way that 1 creepy person on tumblr is, you know who u are. But i think he was super icky and creepy in a good way. Tui was writing him with that intention, and did super well on it! i dont like the grooming stuff though. Im not gonna call him a pedo because he showed no romantic interest in any children, but was deffo a groomer

.

[mythos321]

Part 2 of my WoF x Persona Au!

Chapter Two:Leap Through Fire!

As Clay emerged from the flames of his Persona, he now wore a black tailcoat over a high necked waistcoat and black pants, which hid most of his muscular body, with the white bird like mask upon his face once again, now worn with pride, as His Persona continued its introduction from before.

“I am The Dark Son of Gaia, Obsidian, I am the soul of the rebel within you! If you so desire, I shall grant you the power to relieve yourself of this crisis”

“Give me your power, and destroy them all, Obsidian!” Clay said with a strengthened resolve and confident aura around him, as he destroyed what was left of the guards, and Clay grabbed Tsunami and threw her onto his back and began to hold her there with his wings.

“Wh-What’s going on!” Tsunami shouted on top of him, still haven’t fully taken in whatever is happening

“I don’t know! But it feels amazing! Let’s get the hell out of here now!” Clay yelled as he ran out of the cell door and saw the cowering Shadow Whirlpool

“H-how could you! who do you think you are stepping to The King!” Before He could finish, Tsunami jumped off of Clays back and socked the so called king in his froggy eyes

“Yeah! you like that you son of a Batfish?!” Tsunami yelled, as Clay then picked the “King” up by his tail and threw him into the back of cell they were previously in with zero effort, then burning the lock with his fire so it wouldn’t budge

“Get back here! you can’t do this to me!” King Whirlpool shouted helplessly as Tsunami hopped back onto Clays back, and the duo ran off.

“So, what was that anyway?! that strange serpent(?) thing, and clothes, why are you wearing clothes now?! fancy ones at that!” Tsunami kept questioning, and Clay couldn’t even hope to give her an answer, as it was all as confusing for her as it was for him…though also a lot more fun.

as they kept running however, Clays attire suddenly changed back to normal, the duo both looked completely bewildered while still keeping on the run, until they finally found a large gate and without thinking, Clay tried to run into it, and though they made it momentarily budge, the gate stayed up, and instead Clay was left with a mild pain as Tsunami herself fell off from his back after the impact

“Maybe if we slam it the same time it could break down?” Clay asked Tsunami, who seemed to be in a sudden massive pain, which Clay saw was mostly in the area of her wing joints

“Your wings…did Whirlpool do something to them?…it’s not my fault right?”

“As if that bastard could, and no, it ain’t because of you…but, I don’t wanna talk about it…” Tsunami seemed to become surprisingly depressed in a quick time, and Clay decided not to push on the obviously painful subject.

“I understand, I’ll keep carrying you then, and we can find another way.” Clay offered, and put Tsunami back on him, with her clearly still in pain at her wings lower joints.

As the two continued through the dungeon area, Clay nearly walked into a hallway when it suddenly bursted with flames.

“Shit, that’s not good! how the hell do we get out now!”

“…Do you trust me?”

“I mean, a little? I don’t see how that factors right now”

“Just get under me, and I’ll wrap you with my wings for the next part, hold em tightly u like a blanket if you have to!”

“Wait…are you going to launch yourself through the fire?!? are you insane! you’ll turn into a crispy mess and I’ll end cooked alive!”

“Just trust me! I can easily get us through this!”

“…alright, just….don’t get us killed, okay?” Tsunami said, as Clay covered her under his wings, and he launched through the fiery pathway, going 3 quarters through before rolling them through the end

“Three moons, we’re actually okay!”

“Told ya!” Clay stated as his body quickly cooled off from the leap through fire

“Wait, did your persona give you some fire immunity or something?”

“Not at all! I was just kinda born with it!”

“Wait, you were born from a blood red egg! That’s badass!”

“Thanks!

“…huh, guess so! y’know you’re way better than I thought you’d be…can I be honest? I completely thought you’d book it back there, at the cell, before you summoned that ghost thing, so, thanks for not leaving me to die!”

“Bah, you’d have done the same for me!” Clay gave Tsunami a smile, as she seemed to glow on part of her scales, and Clay now looked a little confused and curipus

“Oh, forgot other tribes don’t know those, um, that was aquatic for- eh, it doesn’t matter much.” Tsunami seemed to let whatever she said, as the two then saw a group of shadows approaching, and Clay jumped into a small hiding spot for them both, until the guards finally went away, and they continued their trek through the dungeon area.

“Damn it, if we don’t find a way out of here soon, I feel like we’ll be done for!” Tsunami voiced her frustration, as the two suddenly heard a clanking sound near one of the cells up ahead, almost like something, or someone, was trying to get their attention

As the two slowly made their way to the cell, Tsunami noticed multiple prisoners in various cells, all various young seawings that seemed to be void of consciousness, just standing in their cells, void of any emotion. The worst part of it all, was Tsunami could almost recognize each face as they passed through.

“Hey, everything alright?” Clay asked as he saw Tsunamis discomfort

“It’s…it’s nothing, I’ll tell you in a second I guess, let’s just find out what the hell is over there.”

As the duo creeped upon the final cell, they kept their guard up in case it was some sort of trap.

“Hey, you two! you’re the ones who started rushing through the castle dungeon right?” said the voice in the cell as Clay and Tsunami continued to etch towards them, before jumping forward and looking straight ahead…and seeing no one.

“huh? where are they? Shit, was it actually a trap!” Tsunami wondered out loud, even though she was clearly in no condition to fight it wasn’t gonna stop her from trying if she has to.

“Hey! Big Guy, Jacket Gal, I’m down here!” The two heard the voice once again, and looked down to see a small seawing like creature, wearing something similar to bandit clothing, and physically looked about 4 and a half years old, but was only the size of a 2 year old Dragonet. The strangest part though were his dark green eyes, which not only had what appeared to be traces of gold apart of them, but also shaped similarly to a cats!

“Woah! what’s with your eyes!” Tsunami blurted out

“You’re not castle soldiers right?” The Green Dragonet asked, more scared in tone

“As if we’d ever work with this shitheel! We’re trying to get the hell out of here! If anything, you look more like an enemy! you ever got creepy eyes like Whirlpool!” Tsunami stated

“How can I be an enemy you dunce! I’m locked in a cell!” The Seawing pointed out, now a mix of scared and angry

“Hey, don’t worry. You want us to help you out right?” Clay comforted them, though slightly thrown off initially by their eyes, he could tell they’re a kid just like him or Tsunami, though younger by a year or two.

“YES! please! They threw my key away, so I really need your help out!” The Seawing pleaded, and Clay tried to figure out a way to get them out

“Perhaps I can be of assistance?”

Clay heard Obsidian in his mind once again, and after a moment of concentration managed to bring it forth, momentarily freaking out Tsunami yet making the young Seawing excite

“You have a persona! great! just have it take off the door!” The Seawing instructed

“…you may want to back away for this one” Clay stated, as an image came forth in his mind, and he pointed towards the doors lock. Obsidians head then began to morph, changing into that of a shotgun, and blasted off not only the lock, but most of the cell, leaving The Seawing shocked yet intrigued while Tsunami was baffled at what Clays persona just did.

“I’m sorry, did that thing just turn its face into a shotgun?!” Tsunami asked, as The Younger Seawing jumped through the hole in the door

“Must be a power of your Persona! Truly impressive for someone I can tell is just starting out!”

“…So, what’s up with the eyes?” Clay asked, now that The young Seawing was free

“I’m not sure, far as my memory goes, I’ve always had these golden greens!” The Seawing State stated, clearly proud of them

“No, he meant why are they like a cats.” Tsunami stated. “Also knowing why you’re so small would be nice.”

“That’s none of your business!…well, now that I’m free, what do you say to a partnership? you helped me out, and now I’ll help you out!” The Seawing offered, holding out his hand to shake

“Sounds good to me.” Clay shook the young Seawings hand, and they shot each other a smile.

“Turtle.” The Young Seawing told his name

“Moose.” Clay said back, making Turtle and Tsunami both look confused

“Wait, um, no, my name is-” before Turtle could explain, Clay began snickering

“Oh my moons, I’m just messing with you two, I know how Seawing names work.” Clay kept laughing, as the three now continued through the dungeon, finding a drawbridge over a large abyss with a statue of Whirlpool next to it.

Clay was about to suggest flying, until he realized 2 things. First was that since Whirlpool himself was a dragon, why would he imagine a drawbridge if he himself could fly over it, meaning it may be another trap. The second was that Tsunamis wings were not in good shape to put the strain of flying on them. Clay then looked towards Turtle for answers, with which he delivered

“Well, Clay, since you seem to know things better than Jacket Gal over there, I’ll mainly show you how to go about something like this.” Turtle said, with Tsunami looking angry at the insult. “As you’ll seen soon enough, this statues mouth contains a secret button! press on that, and you’ll make this drawbridge lower in no time!”

Clay did as Turtle instructed, and the drawbridge lowered itself just as they hoped.

“How the hell were we supposed to know that?!?” Tsunami questioned

“Pff, you’re such an amateur, Jacket Gal, now let’s keep going!” Turtle stated, and the 3 ran across the drawbridge, only for them to suddenly be surrounded by castle soldiers, and Clay suddenly went back into his Phantom Thief attire

“SHIT ITS THEM.” Tsunami shouted, clearly frightened as she grabbed a random candlestick to defend with

“You really are amateur! as if that would do anything to them! Just stay still and don’t get hurt.” Turtle said as he jumped off of Tsunami and next to Clay. “Say, you can fight right? Let’s do this!” Turtle then concentrated, as he then became surrounded by a beam of green light.

“Come forth, Honu!” Turtle shouted, as he manifested a giant emerald colored being that seemed to be partly turtle and partly dragon like in its appearance, with a large powerful golden brown shell upon its back that also sprouted a set of long dragon wings. It also powerful arms that had flippers partially stick out from the forearms and legs. and held in its claws a gigantic fishhook with a sharp edge to it. It wore a slightly open coat fitted with long shoulder pads fitted with a green cape with golden edges, and its head was similar to a seawings, but with long white horns similar to that of its hook replacing the normal seawing horns. To top it all off was a pair of black pants held by a massive belt buckle shaped similar to a Turtle.

“This’d be light work for even one of us! but with us both? It couldn’t be easier!” Turtle declared as he and Clay prepared to face the shadows.