In fiction, especially of the magical kind, human anatomy ain't got nuthin' on the anatomy of a soul. And hearts. And minds.
So just how many 'pieces' is a normal human's soul made up of? What do they represent, and what happens if one gets lost or stolen? That is what this trope is about.
There are many basic components for a human's soul, without which the soul cannot live or even exist:
•Spirit / Life Energy — Pretty self explanatory. If the Body is an engine that the Mind drives, then the fuel is the Spirit. Those who want it do so for Immortality Immorality. Its loss may manifest as Rapid Aging, becoming very sickly or just plain death.
•Mind — The seat of consciousness; the logical, thinking, planning decider. Generally, it's biologically based, but the number of Freaky Friday-like stories out there implies otherwise.
◦Split Personality — Well, not so much a part of the mind as a mind apart. Split Personalities come in lots of shapes and sizes, but each generally represents a part of the character as a whole.
◦Inner Genius — The conscience, essentially. Usually manifests as a Good Angel, Bad Angel, or an Advisor of some kind, the owner's Divine Spark that can do magic, or as a "wizard's familiar." Sometimes all of these at once.
•Body — Last but not least, the body serves as the vessel for all of these things. However, not all bodies are created equal, and there are dangerous things out there that want a human body so they can wreak havoc and indulge their vices. Some are simply incapable of being used for some truly powerful souls, usually ending in either the destruction of the body or forcing the soul to lose a lot of its power.
Other components for a human's soul can include:
•Heart — Generally, it's almost always the core component of the soul (hence the name; sometimes it's even what's mean with "soul", with the greater whole being called "spirit" instead), and also the one that is capable of love and emotion. Heart is also attributed with the nature of motion and the activity of life. It is usually the Morality of a person, and usually carries all good and bad karma... unless those are separate components. It also bears the part of a human that can create life and art. Its loss can have varying effects, turning people into cold, dead husks, evil monsters, or makes one emmotion less, unless the heart was deliberately removed for putting into a Soul Jar, however, whereupon the usual result is some form of Immortality instead.
◦Light — If a heart has parts, expect them to be Yin and Yang. The "Light" half usually represents the positive, caring aspects of a person. Its loss will usually make someone a very... dangerous person to be around, if not at least very unpleasant.
◦Darkness — Oddly, the "Dark" half isn't a good thing to lose either. It's not always evil, and generally contains all those useful survival instincts that turn to mushy pink feelings if it's absent. That said, an empowered dark side generally leads to a Super Dark Side and release of The Corruption.
•Dreams — Believe it or not, Dreams are a valuable commodity. All you need is a few days of insomniac nightmares to realize the value of even the most mundane dream. Supernatural creatures seem to treasure human dreams a great deal. Perhaps they can't dream? More majestically, a character's dream's represent their hopes and aspirations, so their loss represent a loss of drive and ambition. Perhaps more dangerously, the ability to sleep.
•Wavelength — Each soul gives out a sort of energy wave, called a Soul Wavelength. Each soul has its own Wavelength of a particular frequency, Deitys or highly trained people can ability can identify a person by sensing their Wavelength. Some types of people, like criminals or Witches, all share a distinct Wavelength and can thus be easily identified.
Here is a Physical Demonstration:
Here are a list of Wavelength's:
■ Madness Wavelength — Wavelengths of Godly level that emit a strong Madness pull. The These wavelengths rouse the insanity that lay deep within people's souls and magnifies it. This MAKES PEOPEL NUTS spreads like a sickness, and eventually grows to fully envelope the enitre world in Madness. These wavelengths also have the capability to summon Monsters who originally were dormant, and allows them to feed off the Madness emitted. They can also cause horrific natural disasters and unusual weather phenomena. Anyone who eats pure souls has one that encompasses the entire planet
■ Anti-Demon Wavelength — This wavelength is a counter wavelength to Madness. A person who has this wavelength is intensely resisted to Madness, and has the ability to purify and transfer such resistance to other people's souls. It is among the most dangerous threat to any being who follows the path of the Kishin, as a strong enough version of this wavelength can have the ability to totally eradicate Madness.
■ Exorcism Wavelength — An exorcism wavelength has the ability to liberate any in darkness from an individual and even return a evil human back into a human by removing all of the consumed pure souls from this individual. It is a branch of the Anti-Demon wavelength, however, it cannot be used for anything other than what has been stated.
■ Healing Wavelength: A healing wavelength is a wavelength in which can save an individual from madness. This is it's only known capability, besides a suggested capability to cure possessed souls or do harm to a Witch. It is believed to be a branch of the Anti-Demon Wavelength.
■ Bravery Wavelength A bravery wavelength is the complete an utter opposite of a Madness wavelength, in which an individual has no fear but does not follow Madness.
•Perception — It is shown that Soul Perception can only be used by those of a particular personality, mostly those who are sensitive to the waves in the air, serious, and have good concentration. By focusing on an individual soul, a skilled Soul Perception practitioner can actually 'read' a soul and make VERY accurate judgments about the person's characteristics, personality and Soul Wavelength. Knowing the Wavelength of a soul can allow a skilled meister to match or disrupt the opponent's Wavelength in or outside of combat, making it a valuable skill in analysing the opponent. It is used on Both Living and Dead Souls
Here is a Physical Demonstration:
•Protection — To neutralize their soul's wavelength, effectively camouflaging it and making it appear as if it were a normal human soul. This particular magic was used by witches to counter Soul Perception. While a witch using Soul Protect is generally safe from being detected, the downside is that so long as the magic is in effect she will be unable to perform any magical abilities, leaving her effectively helpless. Only by dispelling Soul Protect will a witch be able to again use her powers. Criminals who don't use magic aren't effected. However, Soul Protection can be broken and their Wavelenght will be revealed instantly.
Here is a Physical Demonstration:
•Internal Parts — As well as containing a person's thoughts, emotions and personality, a soul also seems to contain a sort of spiritual dimension within itself.
These spiritual dimensions seems to reflect the person's personality. In their soul's spiritual dimension, the owner of the soul resides inside it as a sort of spiritual avatar. Both the physical person and this avatar seem to be linked and of one and the same. The avatar in the spiritual dimension takes on a certain appearance and wears a certain attire, to match the environment around it. So you can end up in your own world wearing a black pin-striped suit with a red dress shirt and tie when in this spirit world. However, in some rare casess the avatar's appearance sometimes changes, and is sometimes the same as the person in physical form. It is possible for a separate entity or person to exist in a person's spiritual dimension. Also, depending on the person's situation, mental state or mood, the spiritual dimension is shown to alter in appearance from time to time, although almost always reverting back to normal.
• Consuming Souls- Souls can eat another one (common with various soul eating demons and villains). Usually this is done by villians or to gain a (very evil) powerup. Weapons of a Grim Reaper only can consume evil souls and souls of Witches. They are prohibited to eat souls of a normal human. Evil Human and Witch Souls give a these Weapon power and energy, and if a Weapon consumes 99 Human Souls and 1 Witch Soul, his/her power grows tremendously and will be classed as a Death Scythe. A Weapon who is a Death Scythe is more powerful than an ordinary Weapon, and is granted special abilities, influenced by the magical power that a Witch Soul has.
Here is a physical demonstration:
However, Weapons of a Grim Reaper are not allowed to eat innocent human souls. Although the purity of a human soul grants the Weapon a massive amount of power, this power will run the risk of turning the Weapon insane and this can lead to havoc.
Weapons absorb souls in different ways. Most of them collect them in Weapons form. However, Some weapons consumes souls by eating them directly.
Grim Reapers have a unique ability which lets them store souls in their body without actually consuming them.
It is worthy to note eating the Souls of innocents has a very negative side-effect on the person and eventually will turn actually become a Corruption or if they eat more than one, a Humanoid or Cosmic Abomination. However, it is possible that the person who can do this is not actually human to begin with. The person is more like the embodyment of something that lies deep with in the person's heart such as Fear, Greed, Wrath, Hatred.......you get the point right.
• Resonance — A Special comat technique used by two or more people synchronize their Souls wavelength. By doing so, they can release highly powerful techniques and, more often than not, change the tide of a battle. Resonating requires both people to be calm and of one mind. Should one of the souls not be in sync, techniques can not be performed. If a technique is being used and one soul loses focus, the technique will lose power or direction. Common reasons for souls not to sync are fear, arguing, stress, or other problems. In addition to those factors, arguments will make wavelengths to become out-of-sync.
Here is a Physical Demonstration:
There are somethign unclear about souls though what happens if someone loses their soul, Here is a list of the possibilties:
• You die.
• You go into a coma.
• You become evil.
• You become emotionless and uncreative, maybe even sterile.
• You become one of a Corruption.
• You become a soulless monster.
• You act brainless.
• You can be easily mind controlled.
• You become an easy target for Demonic Possession.
• You become a Person who's smile is an utter lie.
• You become an Empty Shell.
• You lose your reflection.
• Any of the above, with the additional addendum: your consciousness goes wherever your soul is. (and whether that's a ghost or glowing ball of light is a whole different story.) Meanwhile your body/shell may show the previous symptoms.
• Nothing happens immediately, but you go to the Underworld when you die.
• Nothing happens immediately, but you go "nowhere" when you die, or worse, cease to exist entirely.
There is also another thing unclear about Souls for example:
• Whether or not souls can be destroyed.
• Whether the mind and the soul are separate, and whether they can be willingly or forcibly separated, divided, or transplanted.
• Whether robots and such have souls, or can earn them.
• Whether a ghost of a person is their soul or some other aspect of them.
• Whether more than one soul can inhabit a body (and which controls it).
• Whether a soul can be "sold" for power, and who would benefit from this.
• What happens to the soul of characters who are resurrected.
Whatever you think regarding this subject Let me know
Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:37 pm
