Scirocco

Scirocco is a character in Silverwing. He is a banded bat residing in a human cabin in the mountains.

Appearance
Scirocco is an older adult bat with pale fur. He has large, long ears that make his head look small in contrast. He has a band on his forearm. In the TV series, he is depicted as having grey-green fur.

Personality
Scirocco is the acting leader of the group of banded bats living in the abandoned human cabin. He is curt and self-assured in his beliefs about The Promise and the secret of the bands. He has little interest in bats without bands, who he deems to be excluded from The Promise.

In the TV series, Scirocco is portrayed as being much more smug and outwardly hostile.

Silverwing
Scirocco greets Marina when her and Shade arrive at the cabin, informing them that there is no bat named Cassiel in the group. He inspects Marina's band, noting the shape and markings and inquiring if it is less than a year old. He asks Marina if she knows the importance of the band in relation to The Promise. When Marina tells him about Goth and Throbb, he reasons that they were banded by the humans, but not as part of The Promise. He suggests that the humans captured them to keep the northern bats safe, and that their black bands meant they were cursed to never leave the night.

Scirocco explains that Nocturna's Promise entails the bats returning to the light of day as humans. He believes that the banded bats would transform into humans and purports that the transformation had already begun. To demonstrate, he moves to the middle of the cabin's floor and forces himself to stand up on his hind legs while the other bats chant and cheer. He loudly recites a manifestation describing the transformation from bat to human as he walks on his hind legs, imitating the posture of a human standing upright with his wings plastered tight to his body. Suddenly, he appears to molt his own skin and in his place stands an echo-projected impression of a humanoid figure with some lingering bat features. After a moment, the impression disappears and Scirocco is back standing on all fours.

Triumphantly, Scirocco declares that the transformation into humans is in progress and that it won't be long before they shift permanently. He invites Marina to join the group and wait with them until the transformation comes, but bluntly states that Shade is not allowed to stay. Citing his lack of a band, he believes he is not part of The Promise, suggesting that Nocturna may angrily withhold the transformation from them all if they allow an unbanded bat to stay with them. He sternly tells Shade that he will never become human and will remain trapped in the night with all the other bats who were not chosen, and Shade subsequently leaves the cabin.

Shade and Marina briefly ponder after escaping the cabin if the humanoid illusion was a sound picture sung by Scirocco or if it was a collective illusion cast by the chanting of all the other bats in the cabin. It is implied Scirocco was killed along with the other banded bats by Goth and Throbb after Shade and Marina leave.

Etymology
Scirocco, also spelled sirocco, is the term for a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara desert.

Trivia

 * Scirocco is one of few bats in the series whose species is not specified. Based on his visual description, he is likely based on the genus Corynorhinus, which includes three species of North American long-eared bats - Townsend's big-eared bat, Rafinesque's big-eared bat, and the Mexican big-eared bat.