Akiko Yosano (Bungo Stray Dogs)
Healing characters in fiction is always a challenge. You don’t want to make it too easy or you lose tension. Too hard and there’s no point in having the option. The methods are a challenge as well because you have spells, potions, powers, etc. We tend to box ourselves into the established norms as well since healing can feel secondary, especially in fantasy stories. Just plop a priest down and have them pray the damage away. That can get boring. Then, there’s the following question
What does the woman with a chainsaw have to do with healing?
Akiko Yosano is from the series ‘Bungo Stray Dogs’ and she has a healing ability. She brings her companions back from the brink of death all the time. Unfortunately, ‘brink of death’ is the key phrase. She can only heal people when they are on the verge of death, which means some injuries require that she . . . Well, you see the chainsaw. This is all implied and not shown, but it got me wondering about unique methods of healing characters. Never heard of this version before, which got me wondering if there are more ways to pull off this rather basic action.
I can’t think of any other strange ways to heal others. I’ve seen healing kisses and characters with blood that acts like potions, but that might be it. The genres of fantasy, superheroes, and science-fiction tend to be where you find people willing to try something new. Even then, it’s usually a technology that is fairly easy to understand or a spell/ability that is simple. The more complicated the healing ability, the harder it might be to rationalize using it so often. ‘Bungo Stray Dogs’ went the route of implying or casually mentioning Akiko used her ability after the initial introduction. This made it that limbs were restored within a scene or two. This is why I think complication can be an issue, but it might be a way to stand out.
A question that should be asked is if going so far with a healing ability is necessary. The presence of these skills opens the door for characters to take risks because there is a certain level of damage that will be erased. They might not do it consciously, but the author will have them get hurt just to rationalize having the unique skill. You can lose tension and suspension because the audience no longer thinks the characters are in danger of death. As long as their healer is around, they’re fine. This can result in eliminating the healer, which gets rid of the skill that an author put so much work into crafting and establishing. Doesn’t seem worth it if that’s what you have to do.
Personally, I don’t think I would go too far with the healing abilities in my stories. I established auras and their manipulation as the source of magic, which includes healing. The healer uses their energy to repair the damage of another and the success depends on the strength of those involved. The more complicated the spell, the higher the chance of failure or the need for a second requirement. For example, resurrection in Windemere requires some of the dead’s aura and a person who has a strong mental/emotional connection to them. That person needs to remain focused on the ritual to make it successful, which is difficult. It’s why the spell isn’t used often. It sounds complicated, but it’s fairly standard and simplistic to avoid confusion.
So, what’s the weirdest method of healing you’ve ever seen in fiction? Any methods that you can come up with for your own stories?
Legends of Windemere 
You have great topics! I have a character who heals by touch. Another heals by a painful skewering method, which probably seems fitting with the chainsaw. 😄 (I’ve never seen this anime.) The healing methods in Harry Potter seemed painful, particularly the regrowing of bones.
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Stabbing the injuries away. Sign me up for that power.
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My Bad Boy Wizard uses a lesser-known method of healing in the final book of the series when he finds his niche and stops being bad, but since it is the last book and won’t be published for a while, I don’t want to give it away just yet!
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Teaser of ultimate character development. Nice.
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I have to be honest and say I haven’t read a lot of books where healing takes place. I think the stabbing method sounds pretty weird to me.
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It’s definitely strange, but it stands out. Guess that works.
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You are talking about physical healing, it seems? What about mental/spiritual healing? That is much more interesting, to me.
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Not many spells or special abilities to handle that in fiction. Always thought doing so was kind of a cheat since it’s more interesting to see a character recover from that type of pain through experience and reflection. I was really focused on how authors will come up with strange ways for characters to heal physical injuries.
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Yes, I realise that.
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I remember way back, in the first few years of the Elfquest comic, Leetah was a healer and they encountered another chief named Khavi who was disgusted because she thought people would be dependent on the healer and it would weaken the tribe. Basically, fighters would take risks, knowing a healer could help them later.
The thing I disagree with there is that, even when you know there’s a healer nearby, being wounded still hurts. Most people avoid being hurt. And in the case of a battle with mass casualties, the time it takes for healing one person could mean others are suffering or dying.
As an author, there always have to be limits on healing, as with any other power the characters have. What if they can treat wounds but not disease? What kind of disease? As Petchary said, are mental illnesses something a healer can help with? It depends on how the author sets it up. Again thinking of a fantasy army, there could be a whole corps or healers or priests to save the wounded and keep the army strong. But then you’d think the enemy army would target the healers, just as in modern warfare some nations seem to target ambulances and hospitals.
A specific example from my work is, in The Seven Exalted Orders, an older woman mage was a healer. She could heal someone who got kicked in the head by a horse, but her arthritis continued to develop all the while.
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I always thought enemies would target the healers. That was always a strategy in fantasy stories and games that I’ve interacted with. Not the nicest thing to do, but it is a strategy. As far as healing mental illness with magic, I’ve always been iffy on that. Seems like it would come off as an insult to anyone who is suffering through mental health issues. Not to mention lazy writing since those situations are what we can get character development and flaws from, so why erase them with the flick of a wand? Might as well not even use mental illnesses as character traits if they’re so easy to get rid of.
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The only one I remember is Barry Allen, The Flash. He had to eat massive amounts of food after running. I believe they did away with that, but it was kind of cool. It’s not a specific method, but the Deadpool scene, post being torn in half, was awesome.
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I think they did that with Quicksilver too. Might come up for speedsters from time to time.
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