Anatomy of the Soul: Difference between revisions

** '''Inner Genius --''' The conscience, essentially. Usually manifests as a [[Good Angel, Bad Angel]], [[Spirit Advisor]] of some kind, [[Mage: The Ascension (Tabletop Game)|the owner's Divine Spark that can do magic]], or [[His Dark Materials|as a "wizard's familiar."]] Sometimes all of these at once.

* '''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Essence |Essence]] / [[True Name]] --''' A philosophical and metaphysical concept that more or less is what makes something what it is. Both people, animals, and even inanimate objects have this. It's not usually directly named or addressed in fiction but a lot of stories reference it indirectly. Especially when related to magic systems that draw power from souls (or maybe even elements and nature). It's a connection with Essence that basically gives people the power to draw power from things because it defines what something can do and can become.

* In ''[[Inuyasha (Manga)|Inuyasha]],'' "soul" can refer to the power to animate the body ([[Life Energy]]) or your true consciousness (what most would call a soul, but fits Mind better on this page.) Until the time it was explained, the word had been used interchangeably for either. (This makes Kikyo look like much less of a dick than she did when it seemed that she was condemning innocent young women to eternal oblivion to keep herself going.)

* ''[[Shugo Chara]]'' has eggs inside of people, their "would-be selves", that appear to be some form of dreams. They overlap with this and [[Ghost in Thethe Machine]], as not only do they give a person their ambition, they also take the form of little people.

* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'''s Saginomiya family uses the blood of others as they're close to dying (essentially their Life Energy) to keep their powers. Ginka, Isumi's great grandmother uses it to maintain her youth. Isumi uses it to restore her powers. Hayate is the subject of both, and Ginka's attempt leaves him shrived for a while. Isumi just sips from the blood from a head injury, so there's no real effect on him.

** Interestingly, ''[[Shinji and Warhammer 40 K (Fanfic)Warhammer40K|Shinji and Warhammer 40 K]]'' had a slightly different take on it called "Absolute Territory Field" and explained it as sort of a region where the quantum observations of a consciousness collapsed wave functions in to certain states, therefore causing consciousness to actually change reality somewhat.

* Philip Pullman's ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' has a clear distinction of Mind, Body and Soul. The body is self-explanatory. The soul, in some worlds, lives outside of the human host as an animal-shaped dæmon. As a child, the dæmon's shape changes with moods and thoughts, but around puberty, a person's dæmon "settles" into one shape, that reflects the mature temperament and character of its owner. The mind is self-explanatory, and is the only part of the three that "survives" death as a ghost, but a ghost can also [[The Nothing After Death|fade away into nothing.]] Pullman has said that the dæmon is "the part of a human that leads us towards wisdom."

* In [[The Dresden Files]], minds can be manipulated by psychomancy, and souls can be manipulated by necromancy -- bothnecromancy—both are considered [[Black Magic]]. The soul is known to be necessary for life, and can be seen through a "soulgaze" by wizards; it also ''seems'' to be tied to free will. Exactly how it interacts with the mind isn't yet clear, though. Later in the series, Harry is granted the ability to use "Soulfire" to augment his magic, and it is described as being fueled directly by his soul (Bob assures him that the part of his soul thus consumed will effectively "grow back.")

** [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Ghosts]] aren't souls, but imprints left by powerful emotions of a dead person, a fact which Harry uses to his advantage in ''Grave Peril''; ''Ghost Story'' further establishes that all of the powers ghosts can display are fueled by memory, since that is more or less all they are composed of. ''Ghost Story'' also demonstrates that it is possible for an actual soul to exist in a state almost identical to that of being a ghost, under special circumstances {{spoiler|such as in Harry's case, which involves interference from a queen of [[The Fair Folk]], an ancient and powerful [[Genius Loci]], and (separately from the other two) an archangel}}.

* ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' had an episode where a Las Vegas casino owner stole the destiny of important guests and sold them on the black market. Anyone who lost their destiny would have literally "nothing" happen to them-- withoutthem—without a destiny, they were incapable of affecting or being affected by worldly events. Eventually, the plot was foiled thanks to some celestial intervention helping a de-destinied Angel win at a slot machine, or have "something" happen.

* Chinese philosophies divided the soul into [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Hun_and_po:Hun and po|Hun and Po]] (Japanese: ''Kon'' and ''Paku''). To put it simply, the Hun is the "ethereal" soul that leaves the body after death and reincarnates, while Po is the "corporeal" soul that resides in the body after death for some time before returning to Earth. The number isn't equal; there are 3 Hun and 7 Po. There is also Qi, the [[Life Energy]].

* The tabletop RPG ''[[Exalted]]'' --inspired—inspired by Chinese mythologies, amongst other things-- usesthings—uses Body, Essence (fundamental building block of what you are), and Soul (divided into two parts; the Hun, or higher soul-which is the seat of reason and rational thought and is also what ordinary ghosts come from...and the Po, or lower soul-the seat of passion, destructive impulses, and instinct. Wild hungry ghosts can come from the Po, and it's also where a Celestial Exalt's shard of Exaltation resides).

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' sourcebooks first divided the soul into anima and animus (similar to the ''[[Exalted]]'' example)) and later declared that it comprises seven different parts (see the egyptian system below) as a means of classifying the varieties of [[Undead]].

* Most RPGS where death is common and reversible (such as [[Dungeons and& Dragons]]) have a soul, a body, and a mind -- themind—the mind can be subject to magical or psychic events, the body is subject to physical events, and the soul is usually ignored until death, when it separates from the body and needs to be retrieved if the character is to be resurrected. Any magic that fools around with souls, such as necromancy, is usually considered evil.

* ''[[Changeling: The Lost (Tabletop Game)|Changeling: The Lost]]'' has perhaps the most unusual variation in a tabletop game. A character's shadow is a metaphor for their soul. The shadow always appears as the real body, [[Glamour Failure|rather than the Mask]]. To make a [[Evil Twin|Fetch]], the Fae remove a small strip of the shadow and bind it into the creation ritual. This is a metaphor for taking a bit of the soul, but to the Fae, a metaphor is as good as the real thing. Whether or not they've actually torn off a bit of your soul is [[Shrug of God|up to the individual storyteller.]]

* The importance of the soul in ''[[Mage: The Awakening (Tabletop Game)|Mage: The Awakening]]'' means it gets a fair bit of attention. Besides describing what the soul is (the source of inspiration, will to live, curiosity, empathy for others, and sense of connection to the world) and the effects of its loss, the soul is also the basis of magic, and manipulation of the soul can be used to gain powers. The soul is also the basis for an individual's Mental World, which contains worlds which personify their personality, experiences, and dreams, and is inhabited by [[Anthropomorphic Personification|beings]] such as their daimon (personification of their desire for self-improvement, and personal criticism) and goetic demons (personifications of vices and flaws). Individual souls are also connected to the soul of humanity as a whole, and the earth itself.

* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' introduced the Egyptian flavor in the Mekhet clanbook with the option of "Hollow" Embraces, wherein a person is Embraced after they're already dead. Thing is, their Ka has already been wandering around for a while, and it gets ''pissed off'' when it finds out it's going to be shackled to this plane again. Hollow vampires can't appear in reflections or on tape, and their voice doesn't carry over the phone; the Ka gets all that, and if it's not properly sated, it will use those abilities to terrorize the vampire and turn people against it.

** [[Kudzu Plot|Just to complicate things further]], the more recent games increase the prominence of Memory as part of the soul's anatomy. Replicas (Creatures made of pure memory) and Sentiments (imprints left behind when someone is {{spoiler|absorbed into another. Or something.}}) have appeared in the most recent games. [[Word of God]] says that {{spoiler|Xemnas's obsession with memory stems from his desire to be a complete being. His memories are just as important as his heart.}}

* In ''[[Saga Frontier (Video Game)|SagaSaGa Frontier]]'' {{spoiler|Blue and Rouge are one person separated into two beings so that all magic can be mastered without problems when the more dominant personality wins, hence why he cannot learn Mind Magic until both halves reunite.}}

* ''[[Persona (Videovideo Gamegame)|Persona]]'' uses a kind of Jungian Soul Anatomy, though it tends to focus primarily on the Mind. A Persona is a physical manifestation of the wielder's psyche. In the original, one character's consciousness is split in three, an "Ideal" version, an "Innocent" version, and a Malevolent "Id" version. In ''[[Persona 4 (Video Game)|Persona 4]]'', a character's repressed feelings manifest themselves as a Shadow, which can become a Persona when accepted. Igor does say that the power of Persona is the power to control one's Heart, which is why Social Links are so important in the later games. (When a character's without the Wild Card has a strong enough bond with the protagonist, their Persona literally evolves.) Dreams also extremely important in each game. (Igor or Philemon usually first contacts the protagonists through a dream.) Finally, Destiny plays a major role in each of the games. In ''[[Persona 3 (Video Game)|Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4 (Video Game)|4]]'', it's explicitly stated that only those bound by a "contract" (the contract in P3 reads "I chooseth this fate of my own free will,") may enter the Velvet Room. Both ''[[Persona 2]]: Innocent Sin'' and ''Persona 2: Eternal Punishment'' has Shadows similar to the kind found in P4, though they don't seem to have the same relation to Personas. ''Innocent Sin'', meanwhile, also has Shadow Selves, who have lost their dreams.

* ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'' has the "Heart Vault" where one can lock away or (more difficult) unlock aspects of the personality. Ah...be careful, as any changes or things killed will have radically effects on the owner..

* In ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game)|Pokémon Platinum]]'', the Lake Trio brought about and seem to represent the makeup of soul. Uxie, the being of Knowledge, has elements of Mind, While Azelf and Mesprit, the beings of Will and Emotion, hold Dreams and Heart, respectively.

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', the Heart and sometimes Mind portions of a person's soul can be {{spoiler|suppressed by use of a [[Power Crystal|Cruxis Crystal]], apparently depending on how it's equipped.}} The entire soul can also potentially survive outside a person's body through use of {{spoiler|any kind of Exsphere, Cruxis Crystal or otherwise}}, and indeed this fact is key to understanding the motives of the [[Big Bad]] - {{spoiler|his [[Dead Little Sister|Dead Big Sister]] is trapped inside hers, and he's trying to find her a new body.}} [[And I Must Scream|It's not a pleasant existence, though.]]

* ''[[Touhou (Video Game)|Touhou]]'' occasionally delves into the matter of the soul. Hourai immortals drank elixir that caused them to separate their soul from their body, and their soul then able to generate physical body on their own that aren't subject to aging and will regenerate if damaged. On the other hand, Youmu Konpaku (whose family name is taken from the concept of Hun and Po in Chinese mythologies) is a half-ghost, part of her soul ([[Fan Nickname]]'d Myon) is ''outside'' her body.

* One of ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]''' early episodes involves Beast Boy and Cyborg falling into Raven's mind and the three having to battle with one of Raven's many [[Split Personality|emotions]]. Later on in the ''Teen Titans Go!'' comics, Raven ends up having all her emotions escape her mind, only for the group to have to recapture them again. A later issue has it turning out that they missed one (Of course, Rage), and though Raven is happy with this, since it's the first time in a while where she's been able to really feel emotions without worrying about things taking a turn for the worse, she realizes that she needs to have all her emotions and takes Rage back into her mind.

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