For the real-world competition based on this one, see Community Spiral Cup.
- "The Ravenwood School of Magic must send a student Wizard to participate in a Spiral-wide tournament of magic! This tournament is a very prestigous event: a chance for students across the Spiral to compete for their schools' honor!"
- ―Mr. Lincoln to the Wizard[src]
The Pigswick Tournament of Magic, otherwise known as the Spiral Cup, is an annual[1] magical tournament hosted by Pigswick Academy in the world of Wysteria. Single representatives of different schools of magic from across the Spiral are invited to duel each other for the chance to win the Spiral Cup, a symbol of skill and magical supremacy. The competition was devised by Pigswick founder Bainbridge Pigswick, who intended for it to be a way to spread the word about the educational innovations of his school.[2]
The tournament consists of four rounds of duels, each duel consisting of pitting a representative of one magic school against another. A representative must win each round to advance and ultimately, win the Spiral Cup for their school.[3]
History[]
- "To spread the word of Pigswick's educational innovations, Headmaster Pigswick started a magical tournament. Students representing all of the different schools of magic from across the Spiral were invited to compete. The Spiral Cup was selected as the grand prize, a fitting symbol of magic supremacy and skill. Though in the past it has been won by Ravenwood and MooShu schools, for many years the Cup has been claimed by Pigswick. Coincidentally, the years Pigswick won the Spiral Cup were also years in which no other schools appeared to compete."
- ―Volume IV: Tournament, part of The Pigswick Papers[src]
The Pigswick Tournament of Magic was started by Pigswick Academy founder and former Ravenwood student Bainbridge Pigswick in order to spread the word of his school, which he believed to be innovative. He invited students from all of the magic schools across the Spiral to compete and selected the Spiral Cup as the grand prize for the tournament, a symbol of magical supremacy and skill.
For many years the tournament was won by Pigswick Academy themselves, though Ravenwood and a magic school from MooShu both claimed the Spiral Cup at least once in its history. The years in which Pigswick won the tournament, no other schools appeared to compete, something The Pigswick Papers considered to be a coincidence.[2]
Tournament with the Wizard[]
Introduction and qualifying round[]
Impressed by their performance at Ravenwood, Merle Ambrose and his school's faculty sent the Wizard to compete as the representative of Ravenwood in the Spiral Cup.[4] The decision to choose the Wizard as Ravenwood's representative came after a review of all eligible students from Ambrose and the other professors.[5]
The Wizard traveled through the Spiral Door to Wysteria, was set up by Pigswick's registar Mrs. Dowager with their Ravenwood school ring in hand, and soon visited the Tournament Hall on Pigswick's campus to view the Spiral Cup itself before demonstrating their skills in a qualifying match against Bleys Flamerender within the Chamber of the Basilisk at the order of Master of Arms and tournament judge Benedict Glendemming.[3] After the Wizard won the duel and it was determined they would stay to compete, Mrs. Dowager sent them to the Student Dormitory so that they could meet roommates Beatrice Wildwind, Kisai Shugenja, Nalia Dunestrider, and Randolf Spellshine.[6] The Wizard then met Pigswick's Headmistress, Belladonna Crisp,[7] who made their first order of business meeting Pigswick's professors; Tempest professor Thaddeus Price, Earth professor Chester Droors, Ember professor Ankhu, Spirit professor Edna Fuligin, Chaos professor Heironimus Bunch, Frost professor Quentin Burble, and Equilibrium professor Velma Pepper.[8] The tour of the classrooms was followed by a visit to the Fount of Magic, a fountain on the campus of Pigswick Academy that the school believed to be the source of all magic rather than Bartleby.[9]
Trouble on Pegasus Place[]
Pigswick Academy had heard from Merle Ambrose that the Wizard was good at solving problems, so Crisp took advantage of this and told them to go speak with Captain O'Hare outside Pegasus Place and inform him that they're there to help.[10] The street was taken over by a band of Goblins, with Pigswick not knowing their place of origin or how to make them go back. Captain O'Hare tasked the Wizard with going into Pegasus Place and thinning the ranks of the Wood Goblins in an attempt to scare them away.[11] When this was done, O'Hare had the Wizard check on Verne, the head groundskeeper of Pigswick Academy, as he had gone missing.[12] Verne was safe, and told the Wizard about the recency of the Wood Goblins and Hobgoblins' arrivals. As they were not native, Verne wished to know where they came from. He tasked the Wizard with collecting three samples of the "Strange Plants," flora that had recently popped up on Pegasus Place and Verne suspected to be tied in with the Goblins. He then compared the samples to his field journal, Plants of the Spiral, to see what he could learn.[13]
With the guards afraid to enter the Aerie, Verne informed the Wizard that the area - the stables where Pigswick raises pegasi - was undefended. Because of this, Verne had the Wizard check on Lapin Wingtamer, the stable-master of the Aerie.[14] Wingtamer was okay, but was concerned about the well-being of the pegasi under his care, so he asked the Wizard to help with their feeding by getting five bags of pesasus feed, since all of the food had been stolen by the Goblins.[15] After this, he wanted to lock the doors of the Aerie from the Goblin horde, but the Hobgoblins had stolen the keys when they ransacked the area, so the Wizard went and retrived the keys from the Hobgoblin that stole them.[16] Wingtamer told the Wizard that when the Goblin horde first arrived, he did some scouting to see what was happening and learned that they had come from a magical portal. He suggested taking a look at it and telling Verne, which the Wizard did without interfering with it for safety.
Meeting back up with Verne, he informed the Wizard that the plants they had collected earlier were native to the Weirwood. He also believed that if the Goblins arrived through a portal, that they could be from the Weirwood as well. With the Wizard's fellow representative Beatrice Wildwind also being from Weirwood, Verne suggested the Wizard speak with her to see if she knew anything about the portal. Wildwind knew of the portals,[17] and identified the plant that had sprung up in Pegasus Place as Wild Viridian, a native of the Weirwood and a plant the Goblins use for seasoning, planting it wherever they go. To dispel the portal, Wildwind had an incantation in mind, but needed the Wizard to gather ingredients from the merchants on Merchant Street, giving them a list.[18] Once the ingredients were collected, Wildwind looked at her spellbook and realized she had the ingredients but not the incantation to dispel the Goblin portal. The Wizard spoke with Pigswick Library librarian Hugo Chatterly to try to get the incantation, but Chatterly informed them it was in the restricted section and that he could only hand it over with a permission slip from Headmistress Crisp. The Wizard got the permission from Crisp and returned to Chatterly, who had copied the necessary incantation from the book and written it on a strip of parchment paper.[19]
With the Wizard being the only one with permission into Pegasus Place, they returned to Verne,[20] who inspected the ingredients and incantation and deduced that the final ingredient still needed was the soul-stone of the Goblin horde's leader, Lord Graustark, the source of his magic. The Wizard fought and defeated Graustark in the Crystal Tower, claiming his soul-stone. Following the instructions of the incantation with the ingredients gathered and the soul-stone to power it, the Wizard succesfully dispelled the portal.[21]
Trivia[]
The Spiral Cup Gauntlet bundle gift card
- In 2014, KingsIsle Entertainment released a bundle for Wizard101 with a gauntlet based on the tournament. The Spiral Cup Gauntlet bundle, which was available at Target and Walmart stores in the United States, contains the Spiral Cup Attire (Spiral Cup Cowl, Vestment of the Spiral Cup, and Spiral Cup Boots), the Mystic Grimoire wand, permanent Tanglewood Vine mount, Pegasus Pony pet, the housing item for the Spiral Cup Gauntlet itself, and your option of either 1 month of Membership or 5,000 Crowns.[22]
- The Pigswick Tournament of Magic shares some similarities with the Triwizard Tournament from the 2000 fantasy novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire written by J.K. Rowling and its 2005 film adaptation directed by Mike Newell.
- Both of the tournaments are competitions in which wizards compete against each other on behalf of their school of magic.
- Both of the tournaments have a cup as the prize for winning which stays on the campus of that school until the next tournament. While the prize for the Pigswick Tournament of Magic is the Spiral Cup, the prize for the Triwizard Tournament is the Triwizard Cup.
Appearances[]
Sources[]
Game Worlds: Wysteria on Wizard101.com (backup link) (Indirect mention only)
Notes and references[]
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