Peculiarities are special powers or unusual traits peculiars are gifted with.
Overview[]
As said in Library of Souls, a peculiar's soul (containing their peculiarity) is precious. Peculiarities manifest in their own time; some in infancy, others not until they are quite old. Peculiarities seem to be similar in families, such as with the Portmans, and there are several examples of siblings having the same peculiarity. Jacob and Abraham Portman are the only peculiars explicitly said to have inherited their peculiarity from ancestors as far back as ancient times.
Peculiarities can be active or passive. Peculiars with active peculiarities can choose whether to use their ability, such as Emma Bloom's pyrokinesis. Passive peculiarities are always there and cannot be "turned off," such as Jacob Portman's ability to sense and see hollowgasts, or most invisibles' inability to turn themselves visible again. Like muscles, a peculiarity can atrophy if it is not used for a long time.
Wights in the book series do not retain their peculiarities from their past lives with the exception of Caul, but wights in the film adaptation do.
Peculiarity Categories[]
Not all peculiars can be neatly categorized, with there being exceptions and edge cases. However, there is a general list explained by Miss Peregrine in Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders that shows the most common peculiarities.[1]
Elemental Peculiarities[]
These peculiars have peculiarities related in some way to the elements, and not always as simple as being able to manipulate one: for example, there is a boy who is literally rooted to the earth but cannot control it (cannot be called an earthworker, but it is the closest category).
Subcategories of elemental peculiarities are earthworkers (Fiona Frauenfeld, Desdemona Frump), fire-starters (Emma Bloom), galvanizers (Slemina Gray), glaciators (Althea Grimmelwald), water-tamers (Fergus), light-shapers (Noor Pradesh, Julius Purcell), and zephyrs (Olive Abroholos Elephanta). Some peculiarities fall into more than one subcategory.
- Pyrokinesis (Emma Bloom, Olive Abroholos Elephanta - film)
- Fire breathing (Human Volcano)
- Flame extinguishing saliva (Ham Pegotty)
- Fire resistance (The Matchstick Men)
- Agrokinesis (Fiona Frauenfeld, Amazonia loop peculiars, Desdemona Frump - daisies)
- Earthmoving (Ellery)
- Rooted literally to the earth (Unnamed boy)
- Quick excavation of holes in the ground (mentioned in Museum of Wonders)
- Ride waves of sand (mentioned in Museum of Wonders)
- Mud manipulation (Unnamed girl)
- Water-flooding (Yeth-faru)
- Sea manipulation (Fergus, Roy Chao)
- Summon grasshopper rain (Latoya Smith)
- Levitation (Olive Abroholos Elephanta, floating baby, Emma Bloom in film only, unnamed peculiars in Atlas Mountain loop, Harald Beckner)
- Flight (Unnamed girl, unnamed little girl, unnamed peculiar)
- Lesser hold of gravity (Ulysses Critchley)
- Cloud control (Wolsenwyrsend)
- Wind-shaping (Smith)
- Wind manipulation (Cesaria)
- Electricity/Lightning Manipulation (Unnamed Californio boy)
- Battery-like body (Slemina Gray)
- Cryokinesis (Althea Grimmelwald, Mr. Gleeson)
- Light absorption/manipulation (Noor Pradesh, Julius Purcell, Sebbie Mayfield, Hadi Akhtar, 2 unnamed prophesied peculiars)
- Cloud coming out of ear that can rain, snow, and hail (Angelica Minervis)
Communicator Peculiarities[]
Types of communicators are animal communicators (Abed Rahman, Jolene Foy, Hugh Apiston, ymbrynes, Lillian Link), mentalists (Horace Somnusson, Bernard Bagstock, Lavinia), plant communicators (Sweedlepipe), and spiritists (Mae and Jane).
Some ymbrynes consider diviners (Paul Hemsley, Alene Norcross) as a type of mentalist, though Miss Peregrine considers them in a category of their own.
- Bee control (Hugh Apiston)
- Sheep-speaking (Unnamed peculiar shepherd, unnamed peculiars in Mongolia loop)
- Part deer and deer-speaking (Abed Rahman)
- Dog-speaking (Jolene Foy, Francis Egerton)
- Snake communication (Lillian Link, Snake-charmer girl)
- Prophetic dreams (Horace Somnusson, Merrill)
- Mind reading (Bernard Bagstock)
- Extraction of dreams/nightmares (Lavinia, Cyrus)
- Telepathy (Twin girls at the beach, Bone Brothers)
- Plant-speaking (Sweedlepipe, Fiona Frauenfeld)
- Seeing and talking to ghosts (Hildy)
- Communication with the dead through phone (Mae and Jane)
- Finding water in a desert (Alene Norcross)
- Finding lost people (Fern Mayo and June)
- Finding loop entrances (Paul Hemsley)
- Hearing supernatural frequencies (Hawley)
- Reading hearts (Miss Annie)
- Peculiar-Hollow connection (Jacob Portman, Abraham Portman, H, unnamed Hollow Hunters)
Morphological Peculiarities[]
Morphological peculiars have some sort of a unique form, or are able to change it. Types of these are invisibles (Millard Nullings, Radi Bekhmanatov), the anatomically unique (Claire Densmore, Sergei Andropov), and shapeshifters (ymbrynes).
- Invisibility (Millard Nullings, Radi Bekhmanatov)
- Disappear and reappear at will (Courtice Pounds)
- Backmouth (Claire Densmore)
- Extreme flexibility (Sergei Andropov, contortionist child)
- Transform into bird (some ymbrynes, Caul)
- Transform into human (some ymbrynes)
- Person shapeshifting (Mr. Barron)
- Donkey transformation (mentioned by Miss Annie)
- Metal skin (Styl-hyde)
- Forked tongue and scaled skin (Princess of Frankenbourg)
- Half-simian (Miss Edwards)
- Long legs (Javier)
- Mouth on hand (Raj Agarwal)
- Third eye on forehead (Farish Obwelo, Miss Blackbird)
- Dissocios, who have the ability to remove their head from their body and reattach it (Kate and Bess, Englebert)
- Binary (Unnamed Asian girl)
- Cocobolos
Strength Peculiarities[]
These peculiars are, as the name suggests, stronger than normal either physically (Bronwyn and Victor Bruntley) or mentally, which are telekinetics (Melina Manon, John Parkins).
- Superstrength (Bronwyn Bruntley, Victor Bruntley, Derwitt Vanderflunke, Pauline Giamatti)
- Telekinetic (Melina Manon, John Parkins, Roberto Popplin, Moss Parker - limited to foodstuffs, Caul after stealing power)
- Mind control (Unnamed ambrosia addict)
Necrological Peculiarities[]
Subcategories of these are dead-risers and bone-menders. The latter subcategory has several subcategories of its own, including the dust people (Mother Dust) and the regenerators (Don Fernando). Some ymbrynes think Librarians (such as Abraham and Jacob Portman) also fall under necrology, though Miss Peregrine disagrees and believes the talents of Librarians are poorly understood.
- Dead-risers (Enoch O'Connor, Josep, other Hopewell children, Ernie Childress)
- Bone menders (Rafael, W.H. Schmidt, George, Lionel Partridge)
- Healing lick (Pompey)
- Dust people (Mother Dust)
- Regeneration (Don Fernando, Sam, Farmer Hayworth)
Other Known Peculiarities[]
- Time Manipulation (Ymbrynes)
- Omnilingualism (Benteret)
- Echolocation, mental bond, sonic scream (The Bone Brothers)
- Opening locks (Unnamed boy)
- Petrification (The Twins in film only)
- Transmutation (Unnamed boy)
- Turn day into night (mentioned by Miss Annie)
- Memory recovery (Reggie Breedlove)
- Constant sweating (Cindy Keating)
- Constantly freezing (Ted)
- Blow out a vast amount of smoke (Damian Squirrley)
- Powerful vision (Leonora Hammaker)
- Living in mirror (Robert)[2]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (A Necessarily Incomplete Taxonomy of Peculiar Abilities)
- ↑ Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders (Photography: A Peculiar Art Form)