Rogue draining Ms. Marvel

While Rogue of the X-Men wasn’t the character who triggered this idea, I think she’s a good example.  Although, she steals from other people while I’m thinking of characters who simply learn at a superhuman speed.  I’ll go into specific styles on Wednesday, but I wanted to discuss the general idea today.  So, what exactly do I mean?

I’m thinking of characters who find a way to learn new skills or gain knowledge without years of practice.  They absorb the abilities in some fashion either temporarily or forever depending on the story.  I’m not talking about powers here.  This is specifically about knowledge-based skills and information such as lockpicking, chemistry, writing, etc.  It can be born from a superpower that allows absorption of so many skills and knowledge, but that’s really it.  Seems rather simplistic, but it can give a character so many advantages as they progress.  After all, knowledge is power.

Typically, I find this ability in the genre currently called Isekai.  This is the Japanese name where the protagonist(s) are transported from one world to another.  They tend to gain some powers or even a new form when they are carried over.  Many also gain the ability to learn at an accelerated or automatic pace.  It isn’t always made clear, but you end up with protagonists that can swiftly break the laws of the new world to become incredibly powerful.  This usually stems from them gaining knowledge at either a fast pace or it’s something nobody else knows.

An alternative is they arrive with knowledge from our world, which they use to gain an advantage.  I find this one odd, especially when you have young heroes who seem to know high level tech.  For example, a high schooler is  brought to a fantasy world and suddenly knows how to craft themselves a gun from scratch.  It could be possible for a 15-year-old to be able to do this, but they usually don’t have any experience.  Stories go ‘they read about guns’ or ‘used guns’, which makes the audience go along with it.  Instead, it seems more likely that they absorbed some related knowledge and skills as they jumped over.

This ability comes with a downside too.  A character can become too powerful because they know everything.  This means they can mess with the overall system and get out of every problem.  A villain without this power wouldn’t be able to predict everything they know, so their traps will usually fail.  This is a common part of late-stage Isekai where the hero is never really in danger even when caught by surprise.  So, this internal library of knowledge and skills makes the hero unstoppable.  Even if they are physically weak, they can think and craft a way out of it.  I mean, look at how Batman is treated on the Internet as the Unstoppable God of Prep Time thanks to him always knowing exactly what he needs to win.

Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of this power when it’s a permanent thing.  I don’t mind a character borrowing skills and knowledge.  This can help them develop the basics and learn them for good through effort.  The other way makes things too easy and creates a temptation to have them learn everything.  I do understand if the story is moving quickly and you don’t want to waste time on education scenes or time passing.  It works solely as a plot device, I guess.  Still, I prefer to have such things gained slowly and spread throughout a group instead of one person knowing it all.

What do other people think about characters who can simply absorb and use knowledge and skills?