Genie in a Bottle: Difference between revisions

[[File:djinn.jpg|frame|"{{smallcaps|What wouldst thou have? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of all those who have that lamp in their hands; I and the other slaves of the lamp.}}"]]

 

 

In Arabic tales, most popularized in the west in the book ''[[Arabian Nights|1001 Tales of the Arabian Nights]]'', the ''djinn'' were a variety of spiritual species, somewhere in between Angels and mankind, capable of great acts, both good and evil. Some of the greatest magicians in Arabic lore were able to capture djinn to their service, and tied them to items such as lamps or rings. Usually [[Djinn]] didn't ''have'' to [[Make a Wish|give wishes]] to whoever helped them; if they did, it would be out of gratitude. Some Djinn get impatient and settle for just leaving if freed, or killing/tormenting whatever stupid human releases them. Also originally the wish was simply the djinn using their incredible powers. If their master wished for a castle, they built one. It may just take seconds because of the Genie's mystical powers and servants, but he still directly did the task. If they wanted money, the genie pulled it [[Bag of Holding|out of their own coffers]]; a human's mind being unable to comprehend how much they had.

 

 

 

Most Genies often have a [[Magic A Is Magic A|rule]] that they can ''only'' give their master [[Three Wishes]] (and [[Aladdin (Disney film)|ixnay on the wishing]] for [[Game Breaker|more wishes]]!). If this is the case, expect a none-too-bright master to [[Wasteful Wishing|waste the first one or two]] on [[Mundane Wish|pointless fripperies]] before learning their lesson and using [[Rule of Three|the third]] to make some meaningful change to their lives.

 

 

This association of "genie" with "slave" means that we don't, generally, see free genies anymore, and that the intrinsic nature of genie "slavery" can be used as a plot point, as in Disney's ''Aladdin'' (You wished to be an all-powerful genie? [[Hoist by His Own Petard|Now you're stuck in that lamp!]]). Given the U.S.'s history with slavery, Western depictions of heroes who acquire genies will almost always [[Freeing the Genie|free them in the end]] (provided that they're [[Benevolent Genie|good]]). What the genie was imprisoned for originally is typically not mentioned.

Another interesting change is how the nature of [[Make a Wish|wishing]] has become [[Reality Warper|a kind of reality warp.]] The genie activates some kind of command written into the fabric of existence, and *poof*, the universe is that way. Just as a Genie is slave to the Lamp, the Wish seems to be something more complicated and powerful than they themselves are; they just facilitate its invocation. While they may have some magic tricks they can use for themselves, they cannot consciously use the same powers the Wish facilitates.

 

 

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Makun from [[Nagasarete Airantou]], in direct competition with [[Azumanga Daioh|Penguin Chiyo]] for title of "cutest damn thing to exist in a manga".

** In ''Dragonball GT'', we see a version of the Jackass genie when the Evil Dragons appear from the dragonballs as a result of all the wishes made over the years plus the dragonballs being contaminated when a portal to Hell is opened.

** There is also [[Reality Warper|Majin Buu]]. A magical creation who waged war on the gods, and was [[Sealed Evil in a Can|trapped in smoke form and sealed in a ball]]. Babidi spends years trying to release him, in the hopes that Buu would use his immense strength and reality-warping powers to help him dominate the universe.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' from the [[Disney Animated Canon]] is almost a [[Trope Codifier]] for the less-historical genies.

** In the 2011 stage musical, he actually sings a [[Shout-Out]] to the [[Christina Aguilera]] song of this trope's name.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[American Gods]]'' has a more traditional kind of djinn, an immortal man made of smokeless fire. He drives a cab for a living, and wears sunglasses so that people don't see the fire in his eyes. He ''does'' grant a wish, though, giving an unhappy passenger the chance to slide into his life. In return for some [[Fan Service|gratuitous]] fiery sex.

* ''[[Enchanted Forest Chronicles|Dealing with Dragons]]'' has a djinni stuck in a bottle as part of the dragon Kazul's hoard. What happens when it gets loose is far too neat to deserve being casually spoiled in a wiki bullet-point.

* This is what [[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]] is all about. It deals with the relationship between the magicians (masters) and the djinn (slaves). The djinn tend to be rather bitter and malicious, due to the fact they live in another dimension and are strictly bound as slaves whenever they are summoned to Earth. They are perfectly willing to kill someone trying to summon them if the magician messes it up.

{{quote|"On one occasion I pushed my master too far during his breakfast and found myself imprisoned in a jar of raspberry jam."}}

* [[Children of the Lamp]] pretty much sums this up.

* [[Jack Chalker]] 's ''Dancing Gods'' series featured the Lamp of Lakash, whose genie was the last person to make the mistake of making more than one wish. The wish would be granted, but the wisher would become an all-powerful genie bound to the Lamp, and the previous genie would revert to his original state. (Presumably the original genie was from the home dimension of the Djinn, to which the Lamp had a link.)

* Interestingly done in Robert Louis Stevenson's story ''The Bottle Imp''. The titular creature resides in a magic bottle and will grant wishes. Unfortunately, the caveat is that if you die without having sold the bottle for less than you paid for it, you [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|burn in hell for all eternity]]. There's also the problem that if you are dissatisfied after selling the bottle, the [[Jackass Genie|imp]] will do something nasty to you to pressure you into buying it back. Differing from a traditional genie, the imp only appears once, when the owner wishes to see it, and never speaks, and is otherwise a shadow occasionally seen floating in the bottle. Basically, the story has a genie which is combined with elements of both [[Deal with the Devil]] and [[Artifact of Doom]].

* Skeeve of the ''[[Myth Adventures]]'' series meets a genie (Djin) from the dimension of Djinger. Djins in this Verse are only three inches tall, they hire themselves out for Bottle Duty because their dimension is severely in debt, and their powers aren't anywhere near as great as the salesmen claim.

* A hoary old [[Bar Joke]] involving [http://www.askmehelpdesk.com/humor-comedy/1-million-ducks-133989.html a foot-tall piano player] is predicated on a genie of a beer bottle {{spoiler|who happens to be hard of hearing}}.

* One of the [[Bailey School Kids]] books involved the four friends opening a bottle and supposedly freeing a genie who granted them three wishes each.

* Jim Knee in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'' was formerly a woman who opted to become a Jinnee.

* Titular story of ''[[The Last Wish]]'' was deconstructing the concept - Genie doesn't have to grant your wishes unless you {{spoiler|hold the seal to his bottle}}. And genies ''hate'' being ordered and try to murder potential master before he have a chance to speak. And once you manage to get a genie under your control, he will harass you until you'll use all wishes, so he can finally be free.

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

 

== [[Television]] ==

* ''[[The X-Files]]:'' Mulder followed a case regarding a rather jaded Genie. He eventually freed her after a rash of [[Literal Genie]] incidents to get the wishes to stop.

* ''[[I Dream of Jeannie]]'' was a series of yesteryear about an astronaut who found a female genie and was given unlimited wishes. She [[Happiness in Slavery|didn't want to be freed]], due to the [[Reactionary Fantasy|appeal to those resistant of the feminist movement]].

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* [[The Sims]] (Livin' Large) has a lamp that can be bought. Every 24 hours it can be rubbed, and a wish can be made. However the genie inside isn't very good, and occasionally messes up, such as granting a wish for money, but instead filling the house with overdue bills.

** In The Sims 2: Free Time, the matchmaker NPC can bring a genie lamp to a household whose sims are accomplishing great things, and the genie will grant the household members three wishes chosen from a small list of options. Your sims can take their time making these wishes.

* In the video game [[Final Fantasy V]], there is a "magic lamp" item. Instead of a wish-granting genie, it releases one of the game's Summons (even ones that the characters have not obtained yet); however, every time it is used, the Summon provided is weaker. Taking the lamp back to the place it was found "recharges" it so that it starts with the most powerful Summon again.

** In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' the "magic lamp" summons the demonic-looking Guardian Force Diablos, who immediately attacks. If defeated, he becomes a party summon.

* There's also [[Sonic Riders]], which had {{spoiler|the Babylon Rogues be descendants of genies. And Babylon Garden had a security system that was a huge (probably) holographic genie.}} They don't go into much detail about it since they find out near the end, but it does say that they had a flying carpet {{spoiler|that was really a prototype of a [[Hover Board]]}}, and that only getting three wishes seems to have been a life philosophy for them.

* King Graham from [[King's Quest]] encountered two different genies. The first genie automatically gave Graham free [[Plot Coupons]] every time he rubbed the lamp and disappeared after three rubs. The second genie was a less benevolent genie who would imprison whoever rubbed the lamp into the lamp. His son Alexander also met up with a genie named Shamir Shamazel who was the [[Big Bad]]'s sidekick. He fulfilled as many wishes as the owner of the lamp wanted, and his personality would match the owner's. Stealing the lamp is therefore one of the two ways to defeat Shamir.

* Outright subverted in the description of one of the pieces of treasure in ''[[Wario Land]] Shake It'', with a magic lamp that... just lets out thick smoke when rubbed. The description even says so: ''This lamp issues a thick smoke when rubbed. That's all. What were you expecting?''.

** Played straight with the Genie as the final boss of ''[[Wario Land]] 1''.

* ''[[Dark Cloud]]'' has two of these. One was [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed in an urn]] centuries ago, and does not at all grant wishes. Its master uses him to rain destruction on the earth. The other is a humanoid female freed when Toan {{spoiler|''breaks'' a lamp, and instead of granting wishes, she simply joins the party after he explains the situation at hand.}}

* An early [[Sidequest]] in ''[[Baldur's Gate]] 2'' involves freeing a djinni from his lamp. A fan-made [[Game Mod]] adds a second one in an extension of the circus side quest. Certain spells and items can also [[Summon Magic|summon djinn or efreet to fight for you]].

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening|The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening]]'' has this as the second dungeon boss. First you have to destroy the bottle before you can defeat the clownlike Djinni.

* In ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]] 3: [[One Game for the Price of Two|White]]'' has MistMan.EXE who's very obviously djinni based.

* The ''Cataclysm'' expansion of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' introduces the Djinni: air elementals that are currently aligned with Deathwing.

* Genies can be used as soldiers in several games in the [[Heroes of Might and Magic]] games, often aligned with the 'wizard' faction. Some games give them the ability to bestow a random 'buff' spell on another friendly stack of troops (or a curse on an enemy), and they often vanish inside a lamp as part of their death animation.

* [[Shantae]] is the eponymous heroine of her series. She's a sexy female djinni of Arabesque design, lovable, clumsy, sassy and has limited magic powers.

 

* Adult webcomic ''[[Ship In A Bottle]]'' runs on this trope for wacky hijinks and sex. Notable differences include that the wish count is unlimited, just long as someone's hands are on the bottle, and Miss Ship wants to get it on with her new master.

* ''[[I Dream of a Jeanie Bottle]]'' is about an ''I Dream of Jeannie fan'' who finds an empty genie bottle and [[Literal Genie|accidentally becomes the bottle's new genie himself]] via a poorly worded wish. "I would totally so do her" indeed.

* In [[Minions At Work]], one minion [http://www.minionsatwork.com/2007/03/minions-52-immigrant-labor.html warns another]:

{{quote|''Let the genie out of the lamp, and we just have to let him join the union''}}

* [[Akinator]] is a typical genie in a lamp, but he doesn't grant wishes; instead he forces people to play "twenty questions" games about real and fictional characters with him.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Disney Animated Canon|Disney's Aladdin]]:'' Genie was freed, but stuck around to help out with his weakened powers. The evil Jafar was also turned into a genie, and proved that his lamp was both a prison and a [[Soul Jar]], as he was killed when it was destroyed in the [[Direct to Video]] sequel ''The Return of Jafar''. There was also a female genie named Eden, who lived in a bottle.

* ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' had an episode with a Genie, too. He lured Monty into the lamp to be free, and the whole episode eventually got so messed up that a [[Reset Button]] wish was required to revert things to normal.

** He also stated that the "only three wishes" thing was a lie; Genies naturally come with three wishes, but humans can wish for more.

** Oddly enough, he also [[Our Genies Are Different|wants to be a fairy.]] He claims it's so he can make children happy, but in reality it's because a genie's wishing power stops at three (since he's actually not allowed to tell that you can wish for more wishes) but a fairy's is unlimited.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Print]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

[[Category:Magic Items Index]]