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.

Escaping the Hushlands

“Are you going to climb up here, or do you intend to hang there looking stupid for the entire trip?”

—Bastille after rescuing Alcatraz

After eluding Librarians for a few months, Alcatraz went to an airport to meet up with some other members of the Smedry family, and was discovered by a group of Librarians, including a strange man with one arm much longer than the other. Alcatraz contacted Australia Smedry with his Courier’s Lenses, who told him to get outside. Alcatraz briefly engaged the enemy Librarian, who was an Oculator, and escaped when Bastille lowered a rope latter from a flying glass dragon. ABoard the Dragonaut, Alcatraz met Bastille’s mother, and Australia. Alcatraz discovered that the others had been sent by Grandpa Smedry, who is at the Library of Alexandria, searching for Attica Smedry, Alcatraz’s dad. Though the Dragonaut had been initially heading to the Free Kingdoms, Alcatraz ordered the others to change their course for the Library of Alexandria. He met his uncle, Kazan Smedry, and made a bad first impression by insulting his uncle’s height. Later in the day, a Librarian fighter jet attacks them, and Draulin and Alcatraz attempted to fight it off from outside the Dragonaut, using special Silimatic boots. Alcatraz used his talent to break the jet, but in the process broke the Dragonaut as well. They managed to crash into a beach, and Kaz uses his talent to lose them in the jungle. They eventually ended up at the Library of Alexandria, whose exterior is just a one-room hut. Alcatraz learned more about the Library from the others, and learned that the creature chasing them is from the Scrivener's Bones sect of Librarians. Using a pair of Tracker’s Lenses, they saw that Grandpa Smedry already entered the Library before the others arrived there. Alcatraz found a note near the entrance. The note said that Attica had entered the library. Attached was a pair of Discerner’s Lenses that allow the wearer to tell how old something is. Alcatraz debated entering the Library, but when the Scrivener’s Bone showed up, the whole group ran into the Library.

In the Library of Alexandria

“Try not to break anything too valuyable if you come down here. The Curators can be a rather unpleasant bunch. Comes from being dead, I suppose. Don’t let them trick you into taking one of their books. ”

—Grandpa Smedry in his note to Alcatraz

After being separated from the others, Alcatraz met the Curators of Alexandria, undead ghosts who took all his possessions that contain writing on them. They said they could tell him how to find his father, but he would have to give up his soul and join them as a Curator. Such is the price of taking any book from the Library. Alcatraz found Bastille and Kaz, and learned more from Kaz about the nature of Smedry Talents. They got caught in a booby trap, which released quick-hardening black goo and completely trapped them. The Curators offered them books on how to get out, but Alcatraz figures out how to release the trap on his own. He asked for his confiscated items back, and the Curators reluctantly return copies. Alcatraz realized that the Curators were bound by rules, and gained information about their rules. He discovered that his father gave up his soul to read a book, and that his possessions have already been picked up by Shasta.

Alcatraz learned more about Shasta from Kaz, and he uses his Discerner’s Lenses to find booby traps before they trigger them. They discover an ancient tomb, and Alcatraz used his Translator’s Lenses to read the inscriptions on the walls. It warned about the dangerous Dark Talent, the Talent of Breaking. He found that there’s a bubble around the tomb’s coffin, and inside time has been broken to preserve the coffin and body perfectly. He finds the body of Alcatraz Smedry the First, who had the same talent. Alcatraz found a perfectly clear lens, and another warning about the dangerous power of the Breaking Talent. Outside, they found the Scrivener’s Bone equipped with Draulin’s Crystin sword. The creature, Kilimanjaro, offered to spare the captive Draulin’s life in exchange for the Lenses of Rashid. Kiliman tripped a wire, sending Alcatraz and Bastille into a pit, and Alcatraz gave Kaz the Lens to make the trade with Kiliman. While in the pit, Bastille told Alcatraz more about herslef and the Crystin. Australia found them, and went to go find rope at Alcatraz’s request. Alcatraz use a pair of Windstormer’s Lenses to blow them out of the pit. They headed for the center of the library, which is the oldest.

“You could say that watching over these books is his soul responsibility now. He’ll probably enjoy the soul-itary lifestyle.”

—Alcatraz joking about Kiliman’s transformation into a Curator

After making a plan with the others, Alcatraz and Bastille charge Kiliman in the center room. They use the Grappler’s Glass boots to distract Kiliman, who has a glass eye, and Australia used her talent to make herself look like a Curator. She freed Kaz and Draulin. Alcatraz and Bastille stayed to fight Kiliman. Alcatraz managed to steal his Translator’s Lenses back, and attached them to a tripwire trap, tying them to a scroll. When Kiliman took the lenses back, he inadvertently took a scroll off the shelf. The Curator’s took his soul, and Kiliman joined their ranks.Afterward, Draulin begged Alcatraz’s forgiveness for failing to protect him. Alcatraz found Grandpa Smedry in a side room, and saw a note from his father saying “I am not an idiot.” Alcatraz asked the Curators for anything written left behind by his father before joining the Curators, and found a note leaving his soul to Alcatraz in his will. Alcatraz demanded the return of one of his possessions, and one of the Curators comes back into life, Alcatraz’s father. Attica congratulated Alcatraz, but otherwise practically ignored him. They left the library victorious, and with the goal of heading to the Free Kingdoms.

Arrival in Nalhalla

“It felt right. Serene. That, of course, meant it was time for something to explode. ”

—Alcatraz right before the explosion

Alcatraz and the others headed to Nalhalla on another flying glass contraption, the Hawkwind. They approached Nalhalla, which was filled with castles. There was an explosion int he side of the Hawkwind, and Alcatraz and Grandpa Smedry fall out of the Hawkwind. Grandpa Smedry made him and Alcatraz arrive late to the fall in small doses, letting them survive. Upon arriving at Keep Smedry in the city, Sing Sing arrived and told them that King Dartmoor is meeting with Librarian ambassadors and is considering a treaty, giving up Mokia in exchange for an end to the war. They arrived at the meeting, interrupting the proceedings of the Nalhallan council with great fanfare. Alcatraz met his Aunt Pattywagon, and learned that Bastille is King Dartmoor’s daughter. Grandpa Smedry told Alcatraz that the clear Lens from Alcatraz the First’s tomb is a Truthfinder’s Lens, and argud with King Dartmoor about the treaty. After learning that one of his relatives, Folsom, has been gathering information on the Librarian ambassadors, Alcatraz and Aunt Patty go to find him. Along the way, Alcatraz learned how famous he was, and basked in his fame, enjoying every minute of it. They went to an ice cream parlor, and met with Folsom, along with a defector Librarian he was watching over, Himalaya Rockies. Alcatraz learned that Folsom is a renowned critic, and has the Talent of being a really bad dancer. Folsom said that the Librarains have been in Nalhalla for six months, and attend events with the social elite. Prince Rikers Dartmoor was holding a lunch party, so they decide to go there.

“That you’re self-centered. That you think you’re better than regular people, and that all you talk about is yourself. Now, this didn’t sound like the Alcatraz I knew. Not at all. So I came back here to investigate – and what did I find? A pile of Attica’s sycophants lounging about my castle, just like the old days.”

—Grandpa Smedry reprimanding Alcatraz

Rikers, who was a big fan of Alcatraz and wrote many fictional books about him, was excited to take Alcatraz around the party, introducing him to people. They discovered Alcatraz’s mother leaving the party, and they followed her. Shasta escaped, and Alcatraz returned to Keep Smedry. He met a group of sycophants who said they wanted to hang out with him, and afterwards Grandpa Smedry said that they didn’t actually care about him, and that Alcatraz should be with his real friends, like Bastille, who was on trial. Alcatraz used the Truthfinder’s lens to discover that Grandpa Smedry was right, and hurried to Bastille’s trial to testify on her behalf. After Alcatraz argued vehemently in favor of Bastille’s innocence, Bastille was sentenced to be cut off from the Mindstone for two days, and to be stripped of her knighthood for one week.

She Who Cannot Be Named, leader of the Wardens of the Standard, met with Grandpa Smedry, giving them a plate of cookies and making threats in a calm, pleasant manner. Alcatraz was suspicious of Shasta trying to steal Forgotten Languages texts from the Royal Archives (Not a Library!), so he went there with Sing, Folsom, Himalaya, and Bastille, while Grandpa Smedry went to go argue the treaty with Brig.

The Royal Archives

“That’s where my mother is going. I’m sure of it. She has the Translator’s Lenses; she’s trying to find something in there. Something important. ”

—Alcatraz to Grandpa Smedry

They went to the Royal Archives, and were joined by Rikers. Alcatraz determines that he can power up technological devices that use Silimatic glass. Alcatraz used his Truthfinder’s lens to determine that Himalaya is sincere, and that she is not a Librarian spy like Alcatraz thought. Inside they heard a scraping sound, and Alcatraz asked Himalaya to orginize the books in the very disorganized archives to find Forgotten Language texts. She refused until Alcatraz decided to burn all the books. They found one of Rikers’ novels, which played theme music when opened. It caused Folsom to inadvertently start attacking them, his Talent engaged. After Folsom was subdued, they found a Forgotten Language book on the Smedry Talents. Bastille was in an extremely bad condition from being cut off from the Mindstone.

Shasta arrived with a group of Librarians and a Dark Oculator. They escape the room, but then discover that outside the room, things are different. The Librarians had dug to the corners of the building, and swapped it out using Transporter’s Glass. Now in a Librarian base and completely surrounded, Alcatraz and the others surrendered. Alcatraz’s lenses were confiscated and they were tied up. Shasta used special rings to prevent them from using their Talents. Alcatraz managed to barely watch Shasta through his Truthfinder’s Lens, and saw her lie when she said she didn’t care about Alcatraz.

“You powered the glass, like you did with Riker’s’ silimatic music box! You initiated a swap! Shattering Glass, Smedry, How in the name of the first Sands did you do that?”

—Bastille after Alcatraz powered the Teleporter’s Glass

At She Who Cannot Be Named’s orders, Shasta announced that she was going to execute Himalaya. When Folsom struggled, Striker’s book was knocked over, and music started playing. Alcatraz asked Folsom and Himalaya if they love each other, to which they both say yes. He uses his ability as a Smedry to pronounce them married, making Himalaya a Smedry and giving her Folsom’s talent. Himalaya fought well using her new talent, freeing the others. Alcatraz manages to power the Transporter’s Glass, sending them back to Nalhalla. They hurried to the palace to stop the Librarian treaty. They arrived just in time to stop the treaty, and informed everyone of the Librarian deception. After a vote, King Dartmoor tore up the treaty. Suddenly, every Knight in Crystallia in the room collapsed, screaming in pain. Librarians attacked the King, and Archedis, one of the leaders of the Knights, revealed himself as a traitor. He attacked the King, but was stopped by Bastille. Bastille dueled Archedis using her mother’s sword. She was not knocked unconscious because she had been cut off from the Mindstone. After Bastille defeated Archedis, Alcatraz used his Talent to break Archedis’ sword, and She Who Must Not Be Named escaped. Afterward, Bastille was restored to knighthood, and Attica announced his intentions to give everyone a Smedry Talent. Alcatraz determined to stop him if necessary.

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.