How to Stop the Deus Ex Machina: Difference between revisions

* One of your characters has awesome magic powers? Knock 'em out. Worked in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' and ''[[Gargoyles]]''. Alternatively, someone sticks a [[Restraining Bolt]] on them, or they lose their powers for a bit (recurring fun in ''[[Inuyasha]]'').

 

* ''[[Inuyasha]]''{{'}}s Miroku has what is basically a miniature black hole in his hand which can suck in and destroy even ridiculously powerful beings. For no reason besides the fact that he's not the main character, he is poisoned if he sucks in venomous insects or toxic gas. It is also established that if he uses this too much, it will eventually swallow him whole. Immediately after he joins the main cast the villain calls up a swarm of giant wasps that protect basically everything that has to do with the main plot.

* Lina Inverse from ''[[The Slayers]]'' can perform the Giga Slave, a spell which is literally capable of destroying ''anything'', including gods. She doesn't perform it more often because destroying anything is just a small subset of what the spell is truly capable of doing, which is [[Apocalypse How|destroying ''everything''.]] This is generally handled fairly well in the story, with the spell and Lina's ability to cast it introduced surprisingly early on, and its use is a central plot element to the first three seasons. In season one, {{spoiler|after she performs it, a [[Cloning Blues|Copy Rezo]] wants it cast at him so that he can prove he's stronger than the original. She manages to find an alternative solution, however.}} In season two, {{spoiler|the entire point of the events of the story was to manipulate Lina into casting the spell so that one of the settings strongest demons can bring about [[The End of the World as We Know It]].}} In season three, {{spoiler|it is never actually cast, but a large portion of the season is built around finding another way to defeat the [[Big Bad]] that isn't nearly so risky to existence. Even as they are preparing their 'safer' alternative, it's still mentioned that if their plan doesn't show any sign of working, she's ready to cast the spell as a last resort.}}