Silverwing

“The law keeps us safe at night, not by day. If we are obedient, we can at least avoid some of these needless deaths.”

This quote comes from Bathsheba, one of the elders in Shade’s colony. She would rather live a safe and law-abiding life instead of going against the owls’ unjust laws and risk death. She is in opposition to Frieda, who would rather stand up against the owls and risk retribution if it means there’s a chance to reclaim their lives in the sun.

“There was only Nocturna, the Winged Spirit, whose wings spanned the entire night sky, and were the night sky, and contained the stars and the moon and the wind. One by one Nocturna fashioned creatures […].”

Shade and his colony believe that Nocturna created all creatures, but her Promise is for bats alone. Their belief in Nocturna and her Promise gives some bats, like Frieda, hope that the owls’ unjust laws won’t always be in place. Other bats, like Bathsheba, think Nocturna and her promise are just a myth.

“I don’t know what part the humans will play in it, but I believe they’ve come to help us in some way.”

This quote comes from Frieda, and it’s directed at Shade. The humans play a mysterious role in the bats’ lives. Many of the bats Shade knows have been banded by the humans, but no one knows why. In Shade’s colony, no one seems to have much of an opinion about her band, but she and Cassiel believe that it’s a sign the humans might play a role in Nocturna’s Promise.

“But he would learn the secret of the Promise. And then he would bring his colony the greatest gift of all. He would bring them the sun.”

Shade’s anger against the owls and their unjust laws grows after they burn down his colony’s roost just because he saw the sunrise. He harnesses this anger into a sense of purpose. He realizes that he can’t defeat the owls on his own, but his belief in Nocturna’s Promise gives him the hope that he can somehow make a difference.

“I feel—I can’t explain it. Like something special has happened to me.”

This quote is from Marina, and she is telling Shade about how it felt when the humans put the band on her forearm. For her, it was a magical experience and made her feel special. The humans were kind to her and petted her fur, and they let her go afterwards. This makes her believe that the humans are good.

“Didn’t they realize who he was? A prince of the royal family, Vampyrum Spectrum, and a descendant of Cama Zotz, the bat god, and ruler of the Underworld.”

This thought comes from Goth. He’s trying to find a way out of the human enclosure, and he can’t believe the audacity of the humans. He considers himself to be of royal lineage, and this belief about himself causes him to be egocentric. He can’t believe that a human would dare capture him, just as he thinks that all smaller creatures are merely his food.

“From time to time he’d even thought of eating Throbb—that’s how desperate he was for bat meat. But even though he detested the other bat, he needed him. To help him escape.”

Goth is egocentric and only looks out for himself. Although Throbb is his own kind, he wants to use him for his own selfish gain and never considers him a friend. He never considers anyone a friend. Instead, he tries to use everyone he meets to get ahead in some way.

“The skies are now closed. This murder of birds by bats is an act of war, and we will respond in kind. The law is broken.”

The pigeons and owls believe that Shade and Marina conspired with the larger bats to kill a group of birds, and this causes them to declare war on the bats. This declaration demonstrates the owls’ unjust treatment of the bats. They don’t give them a chance to plead their case but instead immediately close the skies to all bats, which is impossible since the bats need the skies to feed.

“It was baffling. What did they pray for? Didn’t they already have everything they needed?”

Shade witnesses the humans praying in the cathedral, but he can’t fathom why they would pray. For him, prayer is an act of desperation—something to be done when you need help from a higher power. When he looks at the humans, it seems to him that they have everything he need. This demonstrates the chasm that exists between Shade and the humans, and it furthers the mystery of the bands. If he can’t understand why humans pray, he surely has no idea why they would band bats.

“The past, the future. It’s all a question of echoes. […] But if you have very good hearing, you can hear it coming from a long way off.”

Zephyr teaches Shade that he can access the past, present, and future if he listens hard enough. For Shade and the other bats, listening is done through their echo vision, and this creates pictures in their minds. Zephyr claims to be able to see time in all its forms. This is significant because Shade believes his claims, and his warnings foreshadow later events in the novel.

“He felt extraordinarily small. This bat was at least four times his size. As if the stone gargoyles really had come to life.”

Shade is in awe of Goth the first time he sees him, especially since Goth has just killed an owl. He’s never met a bat as big as Goth, and he’s struck by his strength and power. He wishes he could be like Goth because then he would never be afraid of owls or other birds. Shade’s wish to be bigger develops themes of belonging.

“I think they were studying us. They want our powers of flight, and our night vision. They band us to mark us as their prisoners.”

Goth tells Shade and Marina his story about being captured by the humans and banded. He believes that the humans just want to use the bats, and that they aren’t any help to them. This makes Marina upset because it goes against what she’s always thought about the humans. Here, Oppel emphasizes the way a point of view can change a narrative.

“If we had their help, we could fight them once and for all—all the pigeons and the owls and anyone else. Everyone who wanted to keep us banished.”

Shade is excited by the possibility that Goth and his family in the jungle could become their allies. At this point, he doesn’t realize Goth eats bats, and he sees a friend in the larger bat since they’re both the same species. He views the tensions in the animals’ kingdom as bats against the world, since it seems like every bird and creature are conspiring against the bats. Oppel uses dramatic irony here, as the reader already knows that Goth could eat Shade, and Shade sees Goth as a savior rather than a threat.

“They were pitiful creatures, Goth thought.”

Goth looks down on Shade and Marina because of their small size and the fact that they don’t eat meat. He believes that Zotz gave him the ability to eat meat as a gift so that he could absorb the strength of whatever creature he consumed. Rather than developing empathy in his feelings of pity towards Shade and Marina, it makes Goth despise the smaller bats more.

“Goth was perched silently at the back of a hollow, still gnawing on a bone. It seemed impossible to him that he’d felt safe with this bat, just hours ago. Now, the sight of him chewing made him sick to his stomach.”

Shade just witnessed Throbb eating a Brightwing bat, and he realizes that Throbb and Goth are cannibals. This terrifies him and makes him question his previous judgments.

“He wouldn’t be defeated by these little bats. He’d made a promise with Zotz.”

Goth is angry that Shade and Marina managed to get away. He believes that Zotz gave them to him as a gift to feed and sustain his colony in the jungle. This moment where Goth thinks about his promise to Zotz juxtaposes with Shade’s belief in Nocturna’s Promise, as both creatures are compelled by their beliefs, again emphasizing the importance of perspective.

“Before, it had given him comfort to think he might be with the Humans; now that was almost as horrible as imagining him with owls.”

After Shade realizes that his trust in Goth was misplaced, he begins to question everything he thinks is true. He no longer knows whether he believes that the humans are good, and he doesn’t know their role in Nocturna’s Promise. Shade’s questioning of internalized beliefs signals that his coming-of-age character arc is progressing.

“I wish I were like Goth. I’d kill them all, I really would. I’d just kill them […].”

Shade and Marina find a colony of Graywings that were murdered by owls. Shade wishes he had Goth’s size and strength so that he could murder all the owls. This moment demonstrates a similarity between Shade and Goth. While Goth uses his size and strength to kill and eat smaller creatures, Shade wishes he had Goth’s power to kill the owls. In both instances, there’s a desire to kill, and both perspectives justify this desire.

“Nocturna’s Promise is about to come true. We will return to the light of day. And we will become human.”

The leader of the bats in the house believes that the bands mean they were chosen by the humans to become humans. This demonstrates just one of the many theories about the bands that is rumored amongst the bats. It also shows the power of belief. Just as Shade’s journey is fueled by the hope that Nocturna’s Promise will one day bring them back to the sun, so too are the bats in the house driven by the hope that they’ll one day become human. The theories of banded bats is another example of dramatic irony, as the reader likely suspects the humans have banded the bats for conservation purposes or for scientific study. 

“What was she doing up there, Shade wondered, if she was even there at all? What did she have in mind for him, one runt bat, trying to find his own colony?”

Once Shade leaves Marina behind with the bats in the house, he feels lonely and begins to doubt his quest. Of all the answers he’s sought about the bands, he’s only found more questions. He wonders how he plays a part in Nocturna’s Promise, or if Nocturna is even real at all.

“We’re related, I think. […] I think that millions of years ago, we were the same creature.”

After revealing his wing-like appendages to Shade and Marina, Romulus tells them his theory that he thinks they’re genetically related. Romulus is an important character because he represents a biological unity between rats and bats. Bats are neither birds nor traditional mammals, and likewise Romulus is neither bat nor traditional rat. Shade, Marina, and Romulus are all outcasts who are looking for somewhere to belong.

“Seemed to think they were even going to turn into Humans. Pathetic. You’re not still waiting for them are you?”

Goth mocks Marina’s beliefs as he recalls how silly the bats in the house were as he was eating them. He thinks it’s ridiculous that they would believe they would turn into humans, but this moment calls attention to the theme of belief in the novel. Each character believes something about their own god, the bands, and the Humans, and each character views the others’ opinions as strange and unfounded.

“There’re bats and owls and rats and Humans, and the strongest wins, and it’s as simple as that.”

Shade says this out loud in front of Marina and Goth. Goth has just finished berating Nocturna’s powers, saying she must not be a very powerful god to have created such weak creatures, and Shade agrees out loud. While he may be questioning his own beliefs in this moment, he’s predominantly trying to gain Goth’s trust in order to eventually escape.