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The ability to see spirits is fairly common in fantasy and horror. Though, each genre uses such a power for different effects. Horror is almost exclusively creepy and eerie while fantasy can have it be information gathering or simply a casual power. Either way, it’s one that doesn’t get much delving into. So, I’m going to try to look more into it.
I am saying ‘see spirits’, but it might be better to say interacting with them now. Typically, the first level of spiritual interaction is simply seeing them. That does allow a character to notice what is going on beyond their normal senses and avoid any dangerous ones, but nothing more. Speaking to the spirits is the next level followed by physically interacting with them. In most stories, this is being done by a psychic, seer, witch, holy cleric, or some person with mystical powers/training. There are times you get a natural, which tends to be an opener to have fun with trauma since they won’t know what to do. In the end, it’s all the same type of power and that is to see/interact with spirits.
Of course, the definition of spirits is another variable. I’m betting most people thought about spirits of the dead when they saw the title. Authors do tend to skew towards making this power exclusively about ghosts. Yet, spirits can also cover the categories of demons and natural entities depending on the lore. It might be best to think of ‘see spirits’ as being able to spot the invisible, incorporeal beings that exist in the world. This becomes easier to understand if one believes that everything has a spirit, including the wind, sun, water, and earth. Perhaps you can call it energy that has congealed into a being with some level of sentience. That gives you a broader area to work with when giving a character this type of power.
All this rambling and I really can’t say what the best way to use this power would be. You have exorcists, fortune tellers, holy adventurers, psychics, traumatized protagonists, and any number of examples with this power. Some were horrified by their abilities while others reveled in it. Some attempted to do good and others evil. So, I would say that the use of this power depends entirely on the character. If they are seeing spirits of the dead then they might want to bring them closure. If they are seeing nature spirits, they might want to control them for personal gain. This means that, as with any power, there is no right or wrong way to utilize ‘seeing spirits’.
Origins are another factor here. Is this a natural ability like in ‘The Sixth Sense’ (I had to mention it.) or a spell like in D&D? You might not think this is important, but it can influence the amount of control and calm the user has. If a person uses a spell to ‘see spirits’ then they are voluntarily giving themselves this power. They are ready for the effects and know what they are getting into, which means they can control it. Someone who gets it naturally will have an early period of fear and confusion. They are never given the option to have this power or not, so they will start off having very little control and understanding. How they handle their power will be what initially defines them and the rest of their story will be influenced by how they evolve with this ability.
I’m really making this sound like a complicated power to utilize in a story. It might not be that way though. I’m simply talking about using it to give your characters and story more dimensions. Many authors give this power or spell to a character without any repercussions or difficulty. They simply do it or have been doing it longer than the readers have known them. It’s very easy to do this with older characters who were born with the ability to ‘see spirits’. One can assume they went through training either with a mentor or on their own to wrest control of their powers. A few lines of dialog about how they had trouble as a youth covers the origin pretty well. This is one of those powers that readers won’t entirely question when it’s being used by an adult. Not sure why, but it could be that we assume children are too immature to handle the spiritual ramifications of this power while adults can wrap their heads around it.
So, what do you think about the ability to ‘see spirits’?
