Alcatraz Smedry
| Alcatraz Smedry | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Abilities | Smedry Talent, Oculator | ||||
| Nationality | American | ||||
| Homeworld | Earth (Alcatraz) | ||||
“ This is my story—the story of a selfish, contemptible fool. The story of a coward. ”
— Alcatraz describing his books[1]
Alcatraz Smedry is the protagonist and narrator of the Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians series.
Appearance and Personality
Alcatraz is a thirteen 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.
Alcatraz loves macaroni and cheese. He hates fish sticks and refers to them as "crapaflapnasti".
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.
However, on his thirteenth birthday, he receives a bag of sand in the mail,[2] and meets Grandpa Smedry and Bastille. They teach him about his family and life outside of the Hushlands, and accompany him on a number of adventures, including library infiltrations and stopping the Siege of Mokia.
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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, 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. She is not an oculator.
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.[3]
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[2]
“ Potatin Potato, grown and made in the fields of Potallia. ”
— Alcatraz in Crystallia[4]
“ 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[5]