Alcatraz Smedry

Alcatraz Smedry
by akolnoix
House Smedry Spouse Bastille Parents Attica, Shasta
Abilities	Smedry Talent, Oculator
Nationality	American
Homeworld	Earth (Alcatraz)

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This article is about the character. For the book series, see Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (series).

“This is my story—the story of a selfish, contemptible fool. The story of a coward. ”

—Alcatraz describing his books

Alcatraz Smedry is the protagonist and narrator of the Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series.

Appearance and Personality

by akolnoix

For more images, see /Gallery.

Alcatraz is a thirteen year old boy with dark brown hair. His most notable clothing item is a green jacket, which is destroyed in during the Siege of Mokia.

It is difficult to get an accurate sense of Alcatraz's personality, as he intentionally alters how he portrays himself as a way to get the reader to hate him. Despite this, it is fairly obvious that Alcatraz is protective of people he cares about, as evidenced by his willingness to risk his life for Bastille as the series goes on.

He is also clever, being the first to manipulate the Smedry Talents (specifically Grandpa Smedry's and Aydee's) in ways that go against their natural behaviors. In addition, as he gets to know Bastille and his Family, he comes to understand himself well enough to realize that he pushes people away because he is afraid of getting hurt. This allows him to open up more and form bonds with his family that he had not had before.

Aside from this, he is an incredibly unreliable narrator, given to manipulating the words and behaviors of the people around him in order to fit his narrative. Given to tangents and rambling, it is best not to take anything he says at face value, especially because his stated purpose for telling his story is to convince the people of the Free Kingdoms that he is not the hero they believe him to be.

Alcatraz loves macaroni and cheese. He hates fish sticks and refers to them as "crapaflapnasti". Alcatraz says that nothing is as "crapaflapnasti" as fish sticks, but the space underneath Brandon Sanderson's bed comes close.

Attributes and Abilities

Alcatraz has the Talent of breaking things due to his Smedry status. He is also a very powerful Oculator, and has shown the ability to manipulate silimatic glass in addition to Oculatory Lenses. He is excellent at noticing small details and thinking on his feet.

History

Alcatraz was left to the Hushland's foster care system when he was very young by his father, and spent most of his life being passed from home to home, unaware of his lineage or homeland in the Free Kingdoms. Because he has the Talent of Breaking, it was difficult for any family to deal with him for long, and he was often kicked out after accidentally breaking something important to his foster parents. Eventually, he develops a fear of being hurt, and subconsciously breaks things so that he is kicked out before he can form strong emotional bonds.

Meeting Grandpa Smedry

“Hyperventilating Hobbs! A Librarian! Quickly, lad, we have to go! Get dressed; I’ll go steal some food from your foster parents! ”

—Grandpa Smedry learning that Ms. Fletcher had stolen the Sands

On his thirteenth birthday, Alcatraz received a bag of sand, with a note saying it was from his parents. After burning down his foster parents’ kitchen, his caseworker, ms. Fletcher arrived and secretly stole the sand. He learned he’d be moving to a new family.

“Lad, might I point out that you have two choices right now? You can get in the car with me, or you can stay here with the man holding a gun.”

—Grandpa Smedry to Alcatraz

The next day, Leavenworth Smedry arrived at his house and introduced himself as Alcatraz’s grandfather. He tried to get Alcatraz to leave with him after seeing that the sands had been stolen, but Alcatraz didn’t go, thinking the man to be crazy. A librarian agent tried to kill Alcatraz with a gun, and Grandpa Smedry saved Alcatraz by crashing his car through the wall. Alcatraz joined his grandfather, who drove him to his base and explained about the Sands of Rashid to Alcatraz. Alcatraz learned more about talents and Oculatory lenses. At Grandpa Smedry’s base, he met Sing Sing Smedry and received a pair of Oculator’s Lenses. Alcatraz met other members of Grandpa Smedry’s team, including Bastille. After receiving a few more Oculatory lenses, Alcatraz joined the others in an infiltration of the local library, where the Sands of Rashid were being held.

First Library Infiltration

“My grandson will be leading this infiltraion. Our target is the central downtown library. ”

—Grandpa Smedry to Sing and Quentin

Sing Sing made a distraction so that they could sneak into the library’s upper floor, and went with Sing Sing and Bastille to find the Sands. Along the way, Alcatraz made shocking discoveries about the Free Kingdoms, and the depths of librarian lies. Alcatraz used a pair of lenses to identify the black, glowing footprints of a Dark Oculator, and followed them to find Radrian Blackburn, along with Ms. Fletcher. Blackburn noticed Alcatraz using lenses and knocked them unconscious with a lens of his own.

“I… didn’t really do that intentionally. I just kind of let my power go, and that’s what happened.”

—Alcatraz after defeating the Alivened

They got thrown in a dungeon, and Alcatraz came to realizations about himself personally, about how he destroyed stuff on purpose so that his foster parents would get rid of him quickly, allowing him to move on before he felt any affection for them. Grandpa Smedry arrived, and was captured and subsequently put under Blackburn’s torture. Alcatraz made his prison guard angry, and Bastille grabbed him from inside the bars and knocked him out, then freed them. They followed Grandpa Smedry’s footprints, having to face an Alivened on the way. They found both Grandpa Smedry and Quentin Smedry evading torture using their talents, and freed them. They fled to a room holding Blackburn’s lense collection, and Blackburn arrived. Blackburn and Grandpa Smedry dueled, but Blackburn won. Alcatraz tricked Blackburn by using his talent to break his Firebringer’s Lens. When Blackburn tried to use it, it fired backward into his single eye and blinded him. After recovering the newly-forged Lenses of Rashid, Alcatraz discovered that they were Translators Lenses, capable of translating any text or dialogue. After causing more chaos and escaping the library, Alcatraz got a note from his father, saying that he has another set of Translator’s Lenses.

Family

For more information, see House Smedry.

Alcatraz's father is the famous Attica Smedry, who was missing and presumed dead until Alcatraz rescued him from the Library of Alexandria. He has the Talent of losing things.

His mother is Shasta Smedry, a Librarian belonging to an unknown sect. In the Hushlands, she plays the role of Ms. Fletcher, who was Alcatraz's social worker within the foster care system. Because she is married to Attica Smedry, she shares his Talent of losing things.

His grandfather is Leavenworth Smedry, who rescues him from the Hushlands and is well known in the Free Kingdoms. His Talent is the ability to arrive late to things.

He is the twenty third Alcatraz Smedry. He was named after Allekatrase the Lens-wielder, the first Smedry, who also had the breaking Talent.

Quotes

“So, there I was, tied to an altar made from out-dated encyclopedias, about to get sacrificed to the dark powers by a cult of evil librarians. ”

—Alcatraz to the Reader

“Potatin Potato, grown and made in the fields of Potallia. ”

—Alcatraz in Crystallia

“Out of the frying pan and into the deadly pit filled with sharks wielding chainsaws with killer kittens stapled to them. ”

—Alcatraz to the reader

Trivia

• His name is a reference to the Alcatraz Federal Penitentary.
• Alcatraz has made up many words, such as: crapaflapnasti, stoopid, and stoopiderific

Notes

This article is still missing information. Please help The Coppermind by expanding it.