Alcatraz Smedry
| Alcatraz Smedry | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Abilities | Smedry Talent, Oculator | ||||
| Nationality | American | ||||
| Homeworld | Earth (Alcatraz) | ||||
“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[1]
Appearance and Personality
Alcatraz is a fifteen year old boy, described as having brown hair and blue eyes. His most notable clothing item is a green jacket, which is destroyed in Book 4.
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) in ways that go against their natural behaviors. In addition to this, as the series progresses 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.
Family
Alcatraz's father is the famous Attica Smedry, who was missing 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.
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.
Alcatraz also has a myriad of cousins.
He is the twenty third Alcatraz Smedry.[2]