Anya Forger

I mentioned on Monday that ‘Spy x Family’ has a girl who is a telepath, but nobody knows it.  Meet Anya Forger.  She knows her adopted father is a spy and her adopted mother is an assassin.  By the way, the dog they adopt is a precog.  Again, only Anya knows, which means she could be considered the pivotal character.  She is aware of everything and doing her best to help.  Of course, she’s only 6 (but probably younger), so you know a lot is going to go wrong.  Plenty goes right too.  Hence, her popularity and why I want to write about the pros and cons of secret telepaths.

Pro– You have a character that can act as a narrator.  They are part of the action and know what is going on, so they are able to tell the audience.  This can reduce the amount of dialog and info dumps.

Con–  There are very few, if any, secrets from the audience if you have the telepath be the POV character.  They will act as a spoiler and mean that big reveals are only for the other characters.  The audience will know whatever they know because you need to show when they’re using their power.  You can’t always say ‘they read this person’s mind already’ whenever you want.  So, the audience will have limited ‘shock events’ when compared to a story without a telepath.

Pro– An increased chance of comedy and disaster because telepath’s are still human on some level.  Just because they read a mind, doesn’t mean they understand what is being thought of.  So, a telepath might take action to help or stop a person’s plan only to realize it was something else.  Maybe the target was thinking about ice cream, but the telepath only starting listening when they talked about a stash in the freezer.  Next thing you know, the cops are at the target’s home looking for a body or drugs when there’s nothing more than a secret collection of sweets.

Con– For the author, they always have to remember this character exists and is listening to thoughts.  Eventually, their telepathy can become part of the background for the author like breathing and blinking.  So, they might have this character react in a way that they wouldn’t since they know what is coming.  Keep in mind that they should be hard to surprise if they are constantly using their powers or can’t block thoughts.  Slipping up can make the character come off as fickle and unpolished.

Pro– The telepath can help clarify the intentions and plans of other characters.  With only a formless narrator or the author giving this information, there can be misunderstandings.  That is because those entities are typically portrayed as limited in scope to maintain some secrecy.  It can backfire if you’re being too elusive and careful.  So, a telepath can clear this up by exposing the thoughts of the other characters to the audience.  As stated, it sacrifices some secrecy, but you gain the ability to firmly establish facts.  It also means you can do the ‘thought’ portrayal without having to make it the italic dialogue sections or whatever you use, which can throw some readers off.

Con– The author can end up using this character as a crutch.  By having them know everything, an author might routinely use them to clear up plot holes.  This makes the telepath too central and powerful in terms of storytelling.  They are still characters, so they need limits and faults.  If they are now there to save the author from their own mistakes then they’re now a literary safeguard instead of a three-dimensional being.  It can also cause its own plot holes when the telepath is reacting to information from a character they rarely interacted with.  The idea that the telepath is constantly deep-probing for information turns them into a villain.  So, an author needs to limit the use of this power while making it active enough to be a factor in events.