The Ghostly Wail is an extremely powerful vocal attack. The user releases a sonic blast comprised of a highly destructive stream of pure ecto-energy from their vocal cords and mouth, accompanied by a sounds like a legion of tortured souls all moaning and groaning at once or simply a distinct ghostly moaning sound. This is arguably the most powerful ghost power of the series. This power is unique to Danny Phantom and his dark future self.
History[]
Dark Danny[]
At one point during his 10 years of rampage, Dark Danny developed the Ghostly Wail and used this to destroy Ember's vocal cords. Dark Danny is able to know how much energy to put into the attack so it does not to run out of energy too quick. He used this power to destroy Future Amity Park's impenetrable ghost shield, that withstood all of his other attacks until then and also apparently caused an huge earthquake, crumbling buildings, and shattering glass before the ghost shield broke. When Danny, Sam, and Tucker ended up in Clockwork's lair, he was seen on a screen using it on an whole army of tanks by overturning tanks and cars, blowing away helicopters, blowing them all away. He later uses it against Sam and Tucker, but they escaped by taking off their time medallions to return to Clockwork's lair and return to their normal time period.
Danny Phantom[]
In "The Ultimate Enemy", Danny was able to unlock the Ghostly Wail that freed him of his ghost-proof restraints Dark Danny created and apparently killed all his old enemies in the Ghost Zone at once, damaging Skulktech 9.9's suit, Shadow, and even breaking Ember's Guitar. However, for some reason only his head reverted to human form. He later uses it twice in his final battle to defeat Dark Danny and blasted him into a building where he was weakened enough to trap him in the Fenton Thermos. However, it ended up rendering him unable to go ghost and he almost lost his friends and family, if Clockwork didn't intervened.
In "The Fright Before Christmas," Danny was in the middle and surrounded by an entire army of ghostly Christmas trees sent at him by the Ghost Writer. Danny use it three times to destroys/disintegrate the entire Christmas tree army. (In additionally Danny Phantom's body "fades" back into Danny Fenton, when his human form coat appeared but he managed to stay ghost until he actually stopped the wail, fell to his knees and changed back with the usual movement of two light blue rings). But later he and Desiree fixed the damaged trees and presents.
In "King Tuck," Danny tries to use his Ghostly Wail against King Tuck's stone sphinx, but his attack appears not to harm the sphinx at all, but it did sent various of Hotep RA Egyptian soldiers/minions flying. In this case, the Ghostly Wail actually failed to defeat the target, which meant Danny reverted to human form, but Danny was able to transform to ghost a few seconds later, unlike in The Ultimate Enemy, indicating he is possibly evolving the drawback.
In "Kindred Spirits," Danny was preparing to use his ghostly wail when he was fighting his hulking clone, but the clone grabbed him by the mouth before he could even charge it up. Later in Vlad Colorado cabinet, Danny uses his Ghostly Wail to easily defeat Vlad quickly and destroy his whole lab. (Vlad also comically watches his Maddie program go corrupt and tells him she never loved him and that she like the Jack program better Jack appears and he watches them kiss much to his horror). Vlad was briefly able to hold against Danny's Ghostly Wail, but it was proven too much for Vlad and forced him to revert to human form. Despite this Vlad was able to get up and transforms without a scratch on him or a single sign of weakness, as if the attack didn't even happen. Granted, in the latter, Danny had been knocked out twice, overshadowed and shocked, so he may not have been using the Ghostly Wail at full power.
In "Phantom Planet," once Danny regains his powers, he uses his Ghostly Wail to repel all the enemies who were ganging upon him in the Ghost Zone. Danny appears to overcome his drawback and become more resilient to using it, like three times in a row. Or Danny could of have learned how much energy to put into the attack so it does not to run out of energy too quick.
It is unknown why he did not use such a powerful technique against Undergrowth (in "Urban Jungle"), Vortex (in "Torrent of Terror"), or Nocturn (in "Frightmare"). It is possible that he didn't want to risk his attack not having any effect against these extremely resilient ghosts who could possibly be immune to his Ghostly Wail, since he would be rendered defenseless and exhausted if it failed, like he did in King Tuck after he used it against the Sphinx.
Capabilities[]
The Ghostly Wail is Danny's most powerful technique. A common use of this power is to create a powerful sonic blasts to attack an enemy omnidirectionally or redirect/repel objects. With it, Danny can cause massive damage to ghosts and humans alike and can destroy solid objects, shattering windows, breaking a normal eardrum, or any kind of technology or beings, send them flying. It is also effective against multiple targets or to defeat a large group/army of enemies all at once. Danny often uses his Ghostly Wail in extreme cases; against a really powerful foe he is unable to defeat by other means. It is incredibly powerful and it can also nullify a ghost's level of regeneration[1] and incapacitate them or even completely destroy the ghosts that are too weak to withstand it. Even a ghost with high durability cannot withstand it. Several cases had Danny's Ghostly Wail as in "King Tuck" and "Kindred Spirits" there was a transparent green color between each wave, while in every other episode, there is nothing between the waves.
Dark Danny's ghostly wail was powerful enough to destroy the artificially ghost shield that protected the future Amity Park and due to being underground he also caused a huge earthquake effect that caused destruction on the inside, which none of his other powerful attacks couldn't do. This is presumably it's maximum power as his ghostly wail was able to cause earthquake-like tremors and was powerful and devastating enough to destroy all of the future Amity Park's ghost shield generators, causing them to explode. It is also so powerful that when his younger self uses it against him, it's the only attack that visibly injures him.
Limitations[]
- Whenever Danny uses this power, it often drains his energy extremely quickly. Just one use can leave him with no energy left at all, forcing him to revert to his powerless human form. This makes him vulnerable to enemies who might be immune to it and why he uses it at last resort. Inexplicably, he doesn't suffer this drawback in "Phantom Planet"; it is possible he may have become much stronger and more resilient by this time.
Known users[]
Trivia[]
- The way Danny reverts to human form thanks to this ability seems to be different throughout the season, though mainly he simply changes back with his normal transformation, sometimes his body "fades" back into Danny Fenton, like in "Frightmare Before Christmas" when his human form coat appeared but he managed to stay ghost until he actually stopped the wail, fell to his knees and changed back with the usual movement of two light blue rings.
- It should be noted that in "The Ultimate Enemy", he was unable to go ghost after using the Ghostly Wail no matter how long he waited (probably not for a long time), but later on in "King Tuck", he is able to transform to ghost form a few seconds after reverting back to human form.
- It unknown why only Danny's head reverted back to human form in the "Ultimate Enemy", though it is possible it might be because he was in the Ghost Zone, because when he first used it only his head reverted to its human form, and in "Phantom Planet", he was also in the Ghost Zone but didn't revert to human. However, this could be because of his increasing power.
- Two ghost in the beginning of "Fanning the Flames" comment on Ember's music calls it a ghostly wail, which foreshadows Danny's new and ultimate power he gets in "The Ultimate Enemy".
Sightings[]
Season 2
- 208. "The Ultimate Enemy"
- 210. "The Fright Before Christmas"
- 215. "King Tuck"
- 217. "Kindred Spirits"
Season 3
- 304. "Torrent of Terror"
- 312. "Phantom Planet"
References