I’d like to imagine I know how I would react if I suddenly, at 34, got magical abilities. Since there’s no way to actually do a psychological study of an adult human’s reaction to such an event I’m here asking all of you. If you one day realized that you had magic like from The Belgariad, Eragon, Harry Potter, Constantine, or any number of others what would you do? How would you use it? Would you assume you had a purpose and were given it to be a hero?
How would you react?
- Thread starter Ambriel
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Harpo
Getting away with it
Pranks and hoaxes (etc etc) upon those who think themself untouchable or above everyone else.
So you’d use your power to humble others? Would you remain humble yourself?
I don’t believe in fate so I wouldn’t believe I had any sort of purpose or destiny. As for being a hero, magic doesn’t automatically do that. People who run towards danger, even if they have no protection are real heroes. I have more respect for the powerless who refuse to bow than the powerful with the capacity to eliminate their opponents on a whim.
I would use my powers depending on my mood. Sometimes I might use them to help others that need help. If I were in a dark mood, I’d probably use them to gain revenge on anybody who annoyed me.
I would use my powers depending on my mood. Sometimes I might use them to help others that need help. If I were in a dark mood, I’d probably use them to gain revenge on anybody who annoyed me.
Excellent thoughts, I appreciate your mood based use of power. I completely understand stand that working where I do.
To your comment about respecting the powerless more than the powerful. What bout of their opponents are more powerful than they are?
Harpo
Getting away with it
Yeah, I’m not hero material, me. And those others would otherwise remain in their Golden Asshat Tower Of Superiority otherwise.
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I think if I suddenly had powers that I could be sure of (so, I'd practiced with them to the point of knowing they would always work) - and knowing who I am as a person - I would't want world domination (or even regional domination), I wouldn't intentionally set out to humble people just because I now could, I wouldn't want to be, visibly, a hero.
I'd just go out more. I go to places I'd never seen... places I hadn't the money or the nerve to visit. I'd have it in my mind that I would be very happy to help the people we see in daily life who are having problems... who are being harassed by someone, or who are having trouble, say, handling getting the kids in the car at the same time they are trying to get 6 bags of groceries in, too. I hoped I'd stay humble.
I think a lot of people would still want to live the quiet lives they are leading. Not everybody wants to be a hero, or a supervillain. But how nice it would be to be able to quietly help your neighbors, your fellow citizens.
I just want to, hopefully, give a different perspective. It's possible - I hope/think - for a person to receive powers, and then to just want to be a bit more than they were, without actively setting the world on fire. Of course, some people would want fame, wealth, power... but there are a lot of stories like that. Just my 2 cents, CC
I'd just go out more. I go to places I'd never seen... places I hadn't the money or the nerve to visit. I'd have it in my mind that I would be very happy to help the people we see in daily life who are having problems... who are being harassed by someone, or who are having trouble, say, handling getting the kids in the car at the same time they are trying to get 6 bags of groceries in, too. I hoped I'd stay humble.
I think a lot of people would still want to live the quiet lives they are leading. Not everybody wants to be a hero, or a supervillain. But how nice it would be to be able to quietly help your neighbors, your fellow citizens.
I just want to, hopefully, give a different perspective. It's possible - I hope/think - for a person to receive powers, and then to just want to be a bit more than they were, without actively setting the world on fire. Of course, some people would want fame, wealth, power... but there are a lot of stories like that. Just my 2 cents, CC
I love it, that’s how I imagine I’d be too or at least how I would try to be. I knew this thread would be helpful. I’m actually trying to write a novel about this very scenario happening to a character based on myself. Of course wanting a quiet life after gaining magical powers and having one are two different things.
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I'd say they can be two different things, and maybe they are for your MC. But I wouldn't say it's guaranteed that they are two different things.
Maybe your MC meets a person, at some point in your book, who is absolutely anonymous, even though they have power.
Maybe your MC meets a person, at some point in your book, who is absolutely anonymous, even though they have power.
That’s a very interesting idea. Just another average person who isn’t a spot lighter.
Harpo
Getting away with it
The trouble with suddenly acquiring magic powers, without having done summat to get ‘em, is you do not know how many other people got em as well. Don’t reveal yourself lest you attract Supervillains
An excellent point, and a potential point for my book.
Funny you should say that...
back when i was in my thirties I had a lucid dream that I had telekinetic abilities. I woke up one morning and found that objects moved at a thought. I went through a whole day with this ability, keeping it quiet and demonstrating to a few close friends. Towards the end of the day I was walking through our local park with one such friend, discussing how to use my ability and if I should keep it secret. I was demonstrating by getting flowers to bloom on demand as we passed when a young child with dark hair approached and said "Not yet." I awoke in bed and immediately wondered if it had been a dream. i found I could still move objects but not so easily, then I wondered if that too was a dream and woke up in the "real" world without any TK abilities.
How wonderfully mysterious, the dark haired child with the cryptic message!! To quote Caesar Flickerman (more for the voice than the words) “I love it!!” That’s a genius plot point for a mystery.
smellincoffee
Browncoat in Good Standing
Immediately abuse them, a bit like Jim Carrey's character in Bruce Almighty.
Not in a way detrimental to society just some selfish self benefitting acts. Lol
I eventually used the child as an avatar of the triple goddess figure in my novel the Dark Heart
One thing you need to think about is the character's immediate reaction on discovering they have powers.
Since (like most people, I think) I sometimes have dreams that I can fly or do other impossible things, I would wonder if I was dreaming and try to wake up. When I am dreaming and try to wake up, it usually works. Since it wouldn't work in the case that it is true, I might need more convincing. Am I sick? Did I absent-mindedly take too much of one of my medications and am therefore hallucinating? And so forth.
It wouldn't really be difficult for me to believe in magic, but it would have to be the kind of magic that people who really HAVE believed in magic have believed in, magic that requires knowledge and effort, not the cheap, easy kind of magic you see in games and quite a number of fantasy novels. Since the kind of magic you are talking about is that kind of magic, I would not be easily convinced.
But once I was convinced, I would probably want to test it. Your idea to make action figures fight each other sounds like a reasonable test. But you know, just about anyone can make action figures fight each other even without magic. All it takes is two hands and a voice. To do it with little more than a thought would have a certain novelty factor at first, but it wouldn't really impact my quality of life, so I think I would soon grow bored. (To make the statues and statuettes of dragons and other mythical creatures I have around the house and garden move and talk appeals more to my imagination and I think would bring me more pleasure, but even that would be something I'd only want to do occasionally, as I wouldn't want to spoil it by making it too commonplace.)
Once I had convinced myself and experimented, I would definitely want to be discreet in how I used those powers. History tells us that other people don't deal kindly with those they believe have magical powers. Also, I can see how people with other kinds of power (politicians, crime bosses, etc.) would want to use me for their personal ends. In the case of criminals, if I refused they might try to convince me by hurting or threatening my loved ones. There might be other reasons to keep my powers secret, but these are the ones I thought of at once. I'd have to be amazingly powerful to keep myself safe from a large group of people trying to do me harm, and I would have to spend a lot of time being vigilant to keep those I care for safe . . . so, yes, my best choice would be to keep my powers secret.
I would be much more interested in trying to provide secret help to people in need. Although even there, there is a danger of unintended consequences, so I would want to be careful and think things through . . . except in cases where the need is immediate and urgent and I am right there at the time.
It might well occur to me that if I have such powers, other people might have them too. If they have had their powers for quite a while they would be more experienced and therefore (I hope) more wise in how they use them (having learned from any mistakes) so I would try to find them in the hope that they could provide valuable advice. And maybe we would work together. Especially if there was a group of them. Yes, that would appeal, to be part of a secret society with the power and experience to make a positive difference. But then I would consider there are probably bad people with the power, so I'd have to be careful who I trusted.
Really, it doesn't sound like a lot of fun. There would be satisfaction in helping people and yes wielding the powers could be an amazing experience with the potential for mind-blowing moments of wonder and adventure, but on the whole it sounds like a huge responsibility and one full of moral dilemmas, and so many dangers to myself and my family. Until I came to terms with all that, I suspect I would have moments of sheer terror just thinking about the possibilities for things going wrong.
You know, people are usually scared when faced with the supernatural. It is a basic human fear. Like in the Bible, when people are faced with God or his messengers and they are "sore afraid." I remember as a child after Sunday School when I'd think, "What if Jesus were to walk in through that door." The idea filled me with terror. We'd sung all the songs about Jesus loving all the children, and I had no thought that he would do me harm, but just the thought of him actually being before me, it was frightening. And for centuries, ghost stories were terrifying not because of things the ghosts might do (because in a lot of the stories the ghosts did nothing overt) but it was just the idea of meeting them that caused a chill to go down the spine. So while some brave and curious people would be thrilled at the thought of meeting something unnatural, or finding that they had magical powers, I think most people would be appalled, at least at first. So which group would your character belong to? (And if you decide that he is brave and curious, how has that been manifesting in the rest of his life? If it hasn't, then he isn't, and so you need to think about how he will overcome his natural fear.)
Since (like most people, I think) I sometimes have dreams that I can fly or do other impossible things, I would wonder if I was dreaming and try to wake up. When I am dreaming and try to wake up, it usually works. Since it wouldn't work in the case that it is true, I might need more convincing. Am I sick? Did I absent-mindedly take too much of one of my medications and am therefore hallucinating? And so forth.
It wouldn't really be difficult for me to believe in magic, but it would have to be the kind of magic that people who really HAVE believed in magic have believed in, magic that requires knowledge and effort, not the cheap, easy kind of magic you see in games and quite a number of fantasy novels. Since the kind of magic you are talking about is that kind of magic, I would not be easily convinced.
But once I was convinced, I would probably want to test it. Your idea to make action figures fight each other sounds like a reasonable test. But you know, just about anyone can make action figures fight each other even without magic. All it takes is two hands and a voice. To do it with little more than a thought would have a certain novelty factor at first, but it wouldn't really impact my quality of life, so I think I would soon grow bored. (To make the statues and statuettes of dragons and other mythical creatures I have around the house and garden move and talk appeals more to my imagination and I think would bring me more pleasure, but even that would be something I'd only want to do occasionally, as I wouldn't want to spoil it by making it too commonplace.)
Once I had convinced myself and experimented, I would definitely want to be discreet in how I used those powers. History tells us that other people don't deal kindly with those they believe have magical powers. Also, I can see how people with other kinds of power (politicians, crime bosses, etc.) would want to use me for their personal ends. In the case of criminals, if I refused they might try to convince me by hurting or threatening my loved ones. There might be other reasons to keep my powers secret, but these are the ones I thought of at once. I'd have to be amazingly powerful to keep myself safe from a large group of people trying to do me harm, and I would have to spend a lot of time being vigilant to keep those I care for safe . . . so, yes, my best choice would be to keep my powers secret.
I'm not drawn to this idea. Who am I to think I can teach these people a lesson? Could I even teach them a lesson, really? It sounds good to humble bullies and make them feel small, but many people who are bullies already feel small and it is by bullying that they feel big and powerful, so "humbling" them might make them act even worse. Unless my powers included mind-reading so that I could tell the difference between these people and those who do the same sort of things because they are selfish and cruel, the malignant narcissists. But by using my powers against those I judge deserving of such treatment . . . well, it's a slippery slope, and I can see it bringing out tendencies to malignant narcissism in myself, so better not to do it.
I would be much more interested in trying to provide secret help to people in need. Although even there, there is a danger of unintended consequences, so I would want to be careful and think things through . . . except in cases where the need is immediate and urgent and I am right there at the time.
It might well occur to me that if I have such powers, other people might have them too. If they have had their powers for quite a while they would be more experienced and therefore (I hope) more wise in how they use them (having learned from any mistakes) so I would try to find them in the hope that they could provide valuable advice. And maybe we would work together. Especially if there was a group of them. Yes, that would appeal, to be part of a secret society with the power and experience to make a positive difference. But then I would consider there are probably bad people with the power, so I'd have to be careful who I trusted.
Really, it doesn't sound like a lot of fun. There would be satisfaction in helping people and yes wielding the powers could be an amazing experience with the potential for mind-blowing moments of wonder and adventure, but on the whole it sounds like a huge responsibility and one full of moral dilemmas, and so many dangers to myself and my family. Until I came to terms with all that, I suspect I would have moments of sheer terror just thinking about the possibilities for things going wrong.
You know, people are usually scared when faced with the supernatural. It is a basic human fear. Like in the Bible, when people are faced with God or his messengers and they are "sore afraid." I remember as a child after Sunday School when I'd think, "What if Jesus were to walk in through that door." The idea filled me with terror. We'd sung all the songs about Jesus loving all the children, and I had no thought that he would do me harm, but just the thought of him actually being before me, it was frightening. And for centuries, ghost stories were terrifying not because of things the ghosts might do (because in a lot of the stories the ghosts did nothing overt) but it was just the idea of meeting them that caused a chill to go down the spine. So while some brave and curious people would be thrilled at the thought of meeting something unnatural, or finding that they had magical powers, I think most people would be appalled, at least at first. So which group would your character belong to? (And if you decide that he is brave and curious, how has that been manifesting in the rest of his life? If it hasn't, then he isn't, and so you need to think about how he will overcome his natural fear.)
smellincoffee
Browncoat in Good Standing
Pretty much, yeah. Like if I was going into town, I'd be doing things like magicking potholes out of existence, putting cars using boomboxes on mute, etc.
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