EPT
Which is superpowers.
Yeah.
Enjoy!
I love people watching. In malls or parks or anywhere humans congregate en masse, taking time to observe humans doing their day-to-day activities is oddly comforting. Plus, it’s fun to guess at what passersby are thinking. I imagine there are also those who guess at what I’m pondering as I travel through populated spaces on my way to wherever I’m going.
The answer is superpowers.
If I’m walking around alone, there’s a high probability I’m daydreaming about the magic powers I wish I had. As a nerd with an affection for (read: addiction to) fantasy, there’s a massive catalog of superhuman feats which keeps my imagination occupied. In my most self-aggrandizing (and lazy) moments, I really want the ability to wish for anything or bring one’s imagination to life, but that’s a cop out. Being able to do pretty much everything is way too simple and doesn’t make for a great story (I’m looking at you, Superman). In the interest of giving myself a compelling fantasy narrative (because what else would I do with my time), I’m constantly trying to determine which supernatural or magical talents I’d want and why.
These are the powers that I want most.
One category of superpowers which is often on my mind is the biological and singular abilities of comic book and anime heroes. The mutants in X-Men are one example of this (usually) as they tend to possess a single specific superhuman speciality.* As a child, I always thought Cyclops’ powers were the coolest because eyeball lasers are awesome. Nowadays, I much prefer the Nightcrawler’s teleportation abilities, a far more useful (and less destructive) talent, which is much more interesting and variable anyways.** The Getbackers manga is chock full of intriguing abilities with my personal favorite being Ban Mido’s Jagan Eye. Powers of perfect illusion are terrifyingly awesome (see Bleach‘s Aizen) and Ban’s is definitely one of the coolest.
* You know, except for Scarlet Witch… and her kids.
** Plus, Scott Summers is a dick.
Within this category of fantasy endowments, control of the elements is my favorite by far. This originated from my love of the Runelords novels but is now championed by my love of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Earth is my least favorite element, though use vibrations to see or ripping solid metal to pieces would be incredibly awesome. On the other hand, it would be extremely egotistic of me to suggest that I could approach the awesomeness of any Beifong family member, and they’re the only reason to be an earthbender. I’d be more interested by firebending, if only for the flashiness of it or the practical ability of instantly boiling your tea (Iroh knows how magic talents should be used). Unfortunately, firebenders are so dogmatic and aggressive that I have a hard time seeing myself affliated with that element. I’m more attached the to flexibility of Water than the unsubtlety of these first two elements. Whenever I stroll near the Charles River, I picture bending it over the bridges, pulling it to catch me in a dive, running along its surface, or purifying it. I always want to bend the rain to create an umbrella of water or run up an ice floe to get into my office. Despite my love for Water, I’m the most interested in the airbending disciplinces. I’ve always loved the sounds and sights of storms, the push of a gentle breeze at my back, and the howling gusts which shake my windows, so manipulating that force of nature holds a favored place in my imagination. All the fast, tricky, and badass powers of airbending appeal to me, but none so much as flight. I’d love to fly. While I’d enjoy Superman or Goku’s gravity-defying hover, Angel/Archangel’s wings, or Vin’s Steelpushing leaps, I can’t conceive of a better way to take wing (so to speak) than by manipulating the wind itself to keep me aloft.
I also love to think about superpowers that emerge from the user’s identity. The zanpakuto from Bleach is usually the first example of this concept I recall: a weapon that is forged from your own spirit that reflects your power and self. When it comes to these weapons, I’m obsessed with guessing at what mine or anyone else’s would look like. Would it be a sword, a spear, a shield, or something even less obvious? Would someone with a strong will or convictions possess a tougher weapon than someone cowardly or malleable? What would happen if object made from your soul shattered? Instead of a weapon, what if your spirit’s physical avatar was a guitar, like in FLCL? What would your instrument sound like (and how hard would it hit)? In the same category but of a less martial nature are the daemons of Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series: familiars who are linked with you and reflect your inner self. With daemons too I’m curious about what mine and others’ would be. I try to be as introspective as possible, but I can’t even venture a guess as to my daemon’s appearance, much less anyone else’s. No matter what form it would take, I’d love to interact with a physical manifestation of my self/spirit/soul/being/whatever. Even more interesting, how would our interpersonal relationships change if they were represented by two pets frolicking, two instruments playing in unison, or two blades clashing? Airbending would be absolutely amazing, but there’d be so much to learn (and awesome to be found) in the kinds of powers that are centered in your being.
I’d love to have a single superpower, but I’m much more interested in the world of spells, staves, and sorcery. As someone who read Harry Potter in his tweens, I always hoped that my acceptance to Hogwarts was somehow misplaced or deferred (though a “more mature” version of myself realized if the wizards could get a letter to the cupboard under the stairs, they could easily get it to me. Sigh.) I love that wizardry is a technical art, something powerful and majestic and beautiful that requires intelligence, finesse, and study, unlike most standard superpowers. I mean, I can’t be the only one who thinks Potions class would be pretty awesome (right?). The wizardry of Dungeons and Dragons is the same: one needs a competent teacher, a spellbook of transcribed incantations, prepared casting components, and a comprehension of a secret language to use it. Another similar system of “magic” is Full Metal Alchemist‘s alchemy: a science like chemistry that has mystical outcomes. Of course, that complexity probably why I find magic so appealing: it’s not about strength or physicality but cleverness and comprehension. Let’s face it: nerds usually have more of the latter than the former and the former is far more important in middle school, so its no small wonder why my tastes fell where they did. Even now, I always choose the Raistlin over the Caramon, the Necromancer over the Paladin/Barbarian, the Gandalf over the Aragorn, and the Merlin over the Arthur. I often daydream about whispering some arcane conjuration to slow time for a deadline or chanting a spell of teleportation to return home from work. While jogging I envision doing so as a Transfigured wolf/cheetah/tiger or taking wing in the form of a polymorphed hawk or falcon. Needless to say, even though I’ve missed my Hogwarts entry by quite a few years, I’d love to suddenly discover I had an aptitude for sorcery.
My favorite superpowers of all are a more subtle kind of magic than potions, plants, and wands. It’s the magic of True Speech, a language which names every thing in the universe and where that name holds that thing’s essence. In these powerful lexicons, calling something’s name summons or controls it, and changing a name alters reality. A Wizard of Earthsea is the first book I read that featured a world where names are of utmost importance and understanding them confers power beyond measure. Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles‘ universe contains a secret language like this as well. A wizard who speaks the name of the wind summons the wind under their command and so do other words call other forces or ideas. A recent (and YA) retelling of this concept comes from the Inheritance Cycle, in which Eragon uses the Ancient Language’s word for fire for combat and survival (and sword-naming). Words hold such influence in real life that a world in which words possess a literal force resonates heavily with me. Similarly, the magic music of fantasies, from the Siren’s song in Ulysses to the Green Ranger’s dagger-flute to the Abhorsen’s bells of Sabriel, is an awesome reflection of music’s power to inspire, depress, and exalt in reality. There’s nothing I’d love more than to slowly uncover the names of everything in the world, learning how to speak with birds, sunlight, or anger, manipulating reality with a few choice words.
There’s a certain frivolity in this kind of daydreaming, but reflecting on it is wonderful. Of course it’s incredibly fun to imagine the cool things you could accomplish with the speed of the Flash or the Spiral Energy of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. But what’s more is that the fantasies in which you immerse yourself say a lot about who you are. I learned anunexpected amount about myself just by writing all of this down and ascertaining why each ability or power capivates me.
I encourage you to find the superpowers you’d love to have. You might actually learn something while considering why. And then you should tell me and the rest of the N3rd Dimension about them too.
You can read more of my assorted silliness at the N3rd Dimension.
