| Spoiler Alert! This page contains details about the plot which may lower your enjoyment of the books and/or movies. Reader discretion is advised. |
Total is the Flock's mutant hybrid terrier. He is later found to be able to talk and is also a mutant.
| Total | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Title | ||
| Vital Statistics | ||
| Gender | Male | |
| Family | Akila (first wife, deceased), unnamed second wife, Io (daughter) | |
| Status | Alive | |
| Eye Color | ||
| Hair Color | Black fur | |
| Height | Unknown | |
| Other | ||
| Affiliation | The Flock | |
| Weapons | ||
| Species | Mutant dog hybrid | |
| Home | ||
| Appearances | The Angel Experiment,
School's Out - Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, The Final Warning, MAX, FANG, ANGEL, Nevermore, Maximum Ride Forever HAWK |
|
History[]
The Angel Experiment[]
Angel rescued him from the Institute for Higher Living in New York during the liberation of the mutants there, saying that he looked like Toto from The Wizard of Oz. Later, Max noticed her carrying him. She didn't want Angel to have a dog because they had a hard enough time feeding themselves, and it would be much harder to feed a dog as well. However, Fang agreed to let Angel have the dog, but only if she took care of him at all times.
School's Out - Forever[]
Total seems like a typical dog, and the Flock has to carry him while they fly. Although Angel is attached to him, Max sees him as disposable. Angel keeps Total with her throughout their visit to the hospital, sharing a muffin with him at one point. Anne Walker is surprised to see that she was able to get a dog inside. While exploring Anne’s property, the Flock encounters another dog which Total begins to bark at. Max overhears Total calling the dog a putz, but assumes it’s just Gazzy using ventriloquism. A few days later, she hears him talking again while the Flock is playing in the pond. When she asks why he kept it a secret, he replies that it's not like he was lying, and he's still getting used to the idea of flying bird kids. Total begins talking more openly, and mentions while being carried by Iggy that he loves flying. When Max discovers her ability to fly at super-speed, Total says he wants to ride with her. He likes to ride inside her jacket for warmth. However, she still prefers to leave him at home.
He’s happy to stay home while the Flock attends school, but during breakfast stares at Max until she fixes him coffee in a bowl. In other ways he acts like a normal dog, licking the Flock’s faces and sleeping on Angel’s bed. They have to return to Anne’s house one last time to pick up Total; they find him running from Erasers, and he jumps thirty feet into the air, where Angel catches him. As they travel, carrying Total continues to be a problem, as when Gazzy and Iggy collide in midair while goofing off and Iggy drops Total. Max dives through the clouds to catch him, narrowly avoiding being hit by a glider. Badly scared by the event, Total remarks that he needs his own wings. Though Angel and Total are clearly attached to each other, Max still isn’t sure if they can truly trust Total.
While at Disney World, he poses as Iggy’s guide dog in order to be allowed in. A child overhears him talking and gets suspicious, but Max manages to shrug it off by claiming that it was a ventriloquism trick by Gazzy. Later, one of the clues that Max II is an impostor is that she assumes Total is an ordinary dog. Total’s worst fear seems to be a bowl of generic dog food.
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports[]
While the Flock is in the School's custody, they are told that all of their adventures, including finding Total, were a dream, and that Total never existed. However, when Ari and Angel implement the escape plan, Ari brings Total hidden in his coat.
Total accompanies the girls to Europe and eventually to Itex 's headquarters in Germany.
The Final Warning[]
On the Wendy K, Total meets Akila, the pet Alaskan Malamute of one of the scientists. He is smitten. Total called her a goddess and was highly offended when Max called her a regular dog. Total also begins to grow wings. Total and Akila go with Angel to catch a penguin and get stuck in a crevasse under a thin layer of ice. Max and Fang rescue them only to end up in the middle of a snowstorm, and eventually in the hands of the Uber-Director and his robots. Total just started to understand that Akila didn't make it, just as she falls on top of Max. Total licks Akila's face, which she enjoys.
MAX[]
Total is now capable of flight and can perform with the Flock in airshows. The sniper's bullet grazes his tail, and he is very dramatic about it. Max says that Total still needs to improve on take-offs and landings and that his flying is a little bit wonky. Total later shows his wings to Akila with a flourish.
FANG[]
In the epilogue, Total celebrates his wedding to Akila.
ANGEL[]
Total returns to the Flock after his honeymoon with Akila.
Nevermore[]
Total gets separated from Akila when he went with the Flock. Fortunately, later Total gets his own tree house on Paradise, where Akila is waiting for him.
Maximum Ride Forever[]
When Akila dies of wounds inflicted by the Cryenas and smoke inhalation, Total is heartbroken. He later chooses to remain with Nudge and the Aquatics in the underwater city. He is apparently killed by Horseman, but this is part of the plan.
At the end, he helps give Phoenix flying advice, and it is mentioned he calls her Fifi.
Abilities[]
Speech[]
Total is capable of human speech. In School's Out - Forever, the Flock was at Anne Walker's house when they found out that Total could speak. At first, Max believed that Gazzy was testing out his latest voice-throwing trick, but then saw that Gazzy was high up in the air and about to dive-bomb into the pond, so therefore he was not making Total's voice. Angel had known prior to the rest of the Flock finding out, but she didn't tell anyone until then.
Flying[]
In The Final Warning, Total began to develop black feathery wings. By the time of MAX, they have developed enough for him to fly.
Leaping[]
Close to the end of the first book, the Flock was hiding from a rainstorm in an abandoned band shell when they realize that Total could leap to extreme heights of up to fifty feet.
During part of School's Out - Forever, in which Anne Walker's home was being swarmed with Erasers after chaos at the Flock's temporary school, Total leaped three stories high to get into Angel's arms.
Relationships[]
Angel[]
Angel discovered Total and brought him along, and she is the Flock member he is closest to.
Akila[]
In The Final Warning, Total met a normal non-mutant dog, a pure-bred Alaskan Malamute, named Akila. He claimed that she was the most beautiful dog he had ever seen, and immediately believed her to be the perfect match for him. They married in an elaborate wedding ceremony in FANG. Upon Akila's death in Maximum Ride Forever, Total was heatbroken.
Io[]
Io is Total's young daughter with an unknown wingless dog. She was born sometime after Maximum Ride Forever.
Trivia[]
- He won't eat dog food and insists on eating at the table.
- He admires modern artwork.
- He loves France because dogs are allowed everywhere
- In MAX, it is shown that he can be very melodramatic; Max later said regarding him being shot in the tail, "He'd gotten more mileage out of that weensy flesh wound than I've gotten out of broken ribs."
- He wants to be treated as a human; however, he still falls for a normal dog.