Literal Genie: Difference between revisions

** Inverted when the lead, Megumi, gets the ''opposite'' of what he wished for from a spirit in a book given to him by an old man. He wished to be the most "manly man" in the world, but now ''[[Gender Bender|she]]'' is the most "womanly woman" (the spirit claims to have misheard the wish, but more is more likely just a trickster).

** In the manga, Megumi actually {{spoiler|was a girl all along; the genie didn't mishear the wish, but wasn't powerful enough to make her male, so changed her memories so she thought she was male instead.}} The anime has a character suggest this without resolving it at the end.

* ''[[Code Geass]] R2''

** [[Magnificent Bastard]] Lelouch pulls one of these to his advantage in episode 8. {{spoiler|1=While discussing the terms of his exile from Japan, he gets the Britannians to agree that Zero is not a specific person, but rather anyone who accepts his ideals. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei1Gv4w3ATw When things were set in stone, a million Japanese rebels appeared, all dressed in Zero costumes. As per the terms of their agreement, every single one of these people counts as Zero and therefore must be exiled -- giving Lelouch an army one million strong]. Part of this banked on the knowledge that Suzaku wouldn't let a massacre take place, because anyone else would have just killed them all without a thought. Even ''Suzaku'' was waffling on that point.}}

** In another Zero example, Schniezel winds up obeying Zero in the end because Lelouch geassed him to "obey Zero" rather than "obey me"

* {{spoiler|''[[Inverted Trope]]''}} in the Suruga Monkey arc of ''[[Bakemonogatari]]''. {{spoiler|The rainy devil [[Deal with the Devil|grants its host three wishes in exchange for the host's soul]]. However, it follows the ''spirit'' of the wishes, ''not'' the letter. Suruga's true desires just happened to be ''much'' darker than the way she worded them.}}

** Yuuko, early on, grants a wish for a woman to stop using her computer, so she cuts it in half {{spoiler|''with a red baseball bat''}}. It was even stated that she's free to buy another.

** In one episode, there's a woman who buys a monkey's paw from Yuuko. Even when warned of its danger and reminded that the original story ("[[The Monkey's Paw|The Monkeys Paw]]") ended badly, she carries it around and uses it to her convenience. On wish number two, she wishes for an antique mirror that the owner wouldn't sell to her. It's granted by {{spoiler|giving her the mirror, but without anything to cover for the fact that she effectively stole it.}} On wish number three (of five), she wishes for help writing her thesis, and it gives her {{spoiler|someone else's research, which ruins her chances of getting published once the plagiarism is discovered}}. On wish four, she finds herself late for an important day of work and casually thinks about how her lateness would be excused if {{spoiler|the train system had an accident}}. Naturally, the paw interprets it as a wish and causes {{spoiler|a passerby to be thrown in front of a train}}. On wish five, shaken up from the last two, she basically wishes for {{spoiler|her ordeal to end by "erasing everything"}}, so {{spoiler|the paw kills her}}.

'''{{spoiler|Father}}''' ''(flashback) Humans who would dare to play God must pay a steep price for their arrogance. That is Truth.''

'''Truth''': And now I will bestow upon you the despair you deserve. }}

* In ''Asuka Hybrid'', Asuka is a guy who got assigned to the girls dorm. While in the park depressed about this, a mage lands on him, and as an apology, she agrees to grant Asuka a wish. Asuka then says "I'm a boy, but I'm supposed to move into a girl's dorm...", so the mage fixes the problem. [[Gender Bender|By turning him into a girl.]]

* In ''[[D.Gray-man|D Gray Man]]'', The Millennium Earl promises good folk to reunite them with their loved ones by just yelling their name. The downside? They get turned into evil Akuma, and are forced to do the Earl's bidding, normally by stripping the skin off of their loved one who brought them back to wear, so that they blend in with humans.

'''Sorcerer:''' A-heh! I wasn't planning on staying...

'''Demon:''' Ah, then perhaps thou should have asked to be returned to Earth. A pity thee only gets one wish, no? }}

{{spoiler|Incidentally, the wards he had prepared to keep any demon from harming him worked this way as well, allowing the demon''ess'' who gave him the nickel to... come to an agreement about freeing him.}}

** Also in the short "Wish Fulfillment", a rare positive example of this trope. The protagonist has used her three wishes, is usurped by [[Evil Chancellor|the general of her forces]] and becomes the general's slave. The general declares that "henceforward you shall be my captive flower", and the genie chooses to see that as a legal name change, giving the protagonist [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|access to three new wishes]]. This does [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|not turn out well]] for the general. After that... [[Hilarity Ensues|sex happens]].<br />Ironically, she asks about [[Freeing the Genie]], but due to restrictions, it's not that easy... the only way to free this particular genie is to make a wish that he '''truly''' wants to fulfill, but cannot. She asks if "Making a rock so big you can't lift it" would work, and he says, "I have no wish to give myself a hernia." She solves this by {{spoiler|having wild sex with him until he's exhausted and then wishing for him to do it all again, IMMEDIATELY. He'd like to, but can't due to exhaustion; [[Wishplosion|thus, she's set him free]]. "Can you wait five minutes?"}}

** Yet another version has the guy yell the F-word. Let it be known [[Out with a Bang|he died a happy man]].

** And then there's the version that's told to kids, in which it's instead a magic slide and the third man yells "WHEEEEE!" Eew.

* Another joke has an old woman get three wishes from a fairy godmother. Her first two wishes are to be rich and a young, beautiful princess, respectively. The fairy godmother grants them somewhat nicely, though she only makes the woman rich by making her rocking chair solid gold. The last wish is for the woman's dog to be turned into a handsome prince. The dog is turned into the "most handsome man anyone had ever seen", and the woman is immediately smitten with him. But then he whispers in her ear, "Bet you're sorry you had me neutered."

* There is a joke that plays out something like this: A man and an ostrich walk into a diner. The man orders a burger, fries, and a coke. The ostrich does the same. When the time comes for the man to pay for his meal, he reaches into his pocket and produces exact change. The next day, the man returns to the diner and the exact same scenario plays out. After a few more days of this, the waitress becomes curious and asks the man "Sir, how is it that you always have exact change?" and he answers "I once met a genie who granted me two wishes. For my first wish, I wished that whenever I had to pay for something, I would reach into my pocket and have the exact amount of money I paid." When the waitress eventually asks him about the ostrich, he says "For my second wish, I wished for a tall chick with long legs who agrees with everything I say."

* In ''[[Anansi Boys]]'', Fat Charlie asks the Bird Woman to get rid of his brother Spider. At least that's what he ''thinks'' she's agreed to do. {{spoiler|The Bird Woman never promised that she'd get rid of Spider specifically; her exact words were that she wanted "Anansi's bloodline," which includes Spider ''and'' Charlie. Yikes.}}

* In the [[Mercedes Lackey]] book ''One Good Knight'', a dragon is summoned to ravage the land until presented with routine virgin sacrifices. {{spoiler|Of course the [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon is a]] [[Lawful Good|noble/knightly]] sort, and while he cannot fight the spell he is able to limit the ravaging to destruction of property and decimation of livestock... and finds the spell does not require him to devour or even harm the maidens he carries off. Imagine the surprise of the Dragon Slayer and the princess more or less rescued by same when they track it down and find the "victims" arrayed in defence of the "monster".}}

* [[Gary K Wolf]]'s ''[[Who Censored Roger Rabbit? (Literature)]]'' offers an interesting twist: a genie so embittered at having to grant everyone's wishes without once getting his own way, he sets the wishes he grants up in such a way that they'll naturally dissipate with time, such as {{spoiler|Roger's wife Jessica (yes, ''that'' Roger and ''that'' Jessica) losing interest in him}}. He does take things literally on some occasions, though, such as transforming a deep-sea diver into a fish after he wished he could stay underwater indefinitely. He does this not out of contractual obligation, though; he's just a bitter jerk.

* A short story had a man making a [[Deal with the Devil]] to be with his old crush. Realising that the woman might no longer be the beauty she was in college, he insists that the Devil make her "exactly the same" as she is in a particular photo. The Devil complies and the woman is exactly as she is in the photo, including being two inches tall.

* In an [[Expanded Universe]] novel of the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' franchise, ''The Stone Rose'', the culprit behind all unusual events was a genetically-engineered lizard/platypus hybrid with the ability to grant any wish spoken aloud starting with "I wish...". The ability of the GENIE is limited by the laws of physics. He can [[Time Travel]], [[Teleporters and Transporters|teleport]], and transmute matter, but it required enormous amounts of energy, which it took from any available source, including [[Nightmare Fuel|people]]. Transporting a person from the 24th century to Ancient Rome is easy, since the GENIE is able to use the 24th century power grid for this purpose. Going back, however, is a different matter.<br />It should be noted that any wish that was impossible to fulfill would be interpreted in its own way by the GENIE. For example, wishing for something "never to have happened" would be impossible to fulfill, as the GENIE is unable to alter the past. Instead, he might create an illusion for the person as if the wish was actually fulfilled.

* An example from the ''[[Belisarius Series]]'': After the titular general escaped the Malwa capital by bluffing his way through a gate guarded by low-ranking conscripts while disguised [[Dressing as the Enemy|as an officer who could kill them with impunity]], Lord [[Complete Monster|Venandakatra]] threw a tantrum and demanded the Rajput general [[Worthy Opponent|Rana Sanga]] have the gate guards flogged before setting out after Belisarius. Rana Sanga, bound by oaths of obedience, personally took his own horsewhip to each of them. Twice (the plural "lashes" were specified). With enough force to ''possibly'' kill a particularly frail fly.

* There was a short story in one of [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s anthologies where a demon sorcerer (who is under a binding that he must always fulfill his offers, once made) crashes a village celebration, picks the least popular and most-abused girl in town, and offers her a [[Sadistic Choice]]: he will kill any one person in the room for her, but she must choose someone, or else he will kill her. The demon's intent was for the girl to damn her soul by having someone murdered for vengeance, and then die at the hands of the rest of the village. Cue [[Oh Crap]] expression from the demon when the girl points out the obvious: the demon himself qualifies as "one person in the room".

* One of the stories in ''100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories'' concerns a scientist who builds a machine which can create anything that he tells it to. To test it out, he decides to start with some simple commands. His first request is “drink,” and he gets a puddle on his desk (he hadn’t specified a glass). His next request is “girl,” and a girl appears. She is naked (he hadn’t specified clothing) and nine years old. His reaction to this is “Hell!” {{spoiler|He then dies when his house explodes in a giant fireball.}}

* Giving this trope a hilarious twist, in one of the Witcher short stories, Geralt and his friend find a Genie who they accidentally unleash. Geralt tries to banish him by saying the words of an "exorcism", in a language he didn't understand. The Genie indeed left, only to later return, as noted by the characters, furious beyond words. Turns out that {{spoiler|the "exorcism" is just a prank someone played on Geralt, and roughly translates to "go and fuck yourself". The Genie had to go and do exactly that.}}

* Australian children's author [[Paul Jennings]] likes afflicting his characters with strange curses, sometimes as a result of this trope. The short story "Santa Claws" involves a teenage boy who wakes up one day with no memory of the last day and his mouth has shrunk to the point where he can't eat anything that won't fit through a straw. He goes to a hypnotist, who tells him to write down what happened while under hypnosis. He tells the story of he and his younger and older sisters finding a genie who grants them each two wishes. The kids are on a steep learning curve and find that whatever they wish for goes awry, whether it be due to poor phrasing, the wish being granted in an unexpected way or just a poorly thought out wish. Mayhem has ensued by the time he and his younger sister have exhausted their wishes. His older sister then wishes that they had never discovered the genie. This erases the previous events, but doesn't change the fact that she still has one wish left. The boy and girl later have a fight which culminates in her yelling "I wish you didn't have such a big mouth!"

{{quote|Victoria...remember, that I have been thy willing instrument, and that literally I have performed to thee the promises I made.}}

 

'''Genie:''' Yes, say the words "I wish" with the caution you would normally reserve for "Please castrate me." }}

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'': LaForge tells the holodeck to create a Sherlock Holmes mystery "capable of defeating Data." The result is a hologram smart enough and powerful enough to take control of the ship.

* In ''[[Weird Science (TV series)|Weird Science]]'', Wyatt wants to be the chess club president and accidentally wishes for it in front of Lisa, although she doesn't hear the whole story, and he forgets to mention the "chess club" part. So, she makes him the President of the United States. Gary's mismanagement and Wyatt's obsession with the chess club results in Wyatt's impeachment.

* ''[[Rentaghost]]'': The Perkins are given a magical amulet that grants all their wishes. They do not realise this, however, and persist in expressing odd wishes, which the amulet then proceeds to grant, usually in a fairly literal manner.

== Music ==

* Andrew Pants, who runs a website where people can recommend things for him to write songs about, sometimes responds to these like a [[Literal Genie]]. A person asks for a song about hot girls, he gets one involving flame-throwers and microwaves. Someone else asks for a song in which every word has an "o" in it, and he gets a song that's completely instrumental, except for the end, when he says "potato".

** Another song of his asks him to have the lyrics in alphabetical order, and for bonus, after reaching Z, heading backwards. The lyrics ended up being "A zebra, aah!".

* [[Savatage]]'s album ''[[Dead Winter Dead]]'' treats ''God'' this way in the song "This Isn't What We Meant". The people of Bosnia had prayed for a change from Yugoslavia's cruel regime and to their distress, God's response is a brutal civil war destroying the newborn nation.

* There's a legend, later made into a Fleischer cartoon, about a miser who managed to catch a leprechaun. As per the usual terms, the leprechaun had to lead the miser to his pot of gold, which happened to be under a stump. The miser realizes he needs a shovel, puts his coat on the stump, and orders the leprechaun not to touch the coat, stump, or treasure. When he gets back, he finds the leprechaun gone, and dozens of identical stumps with identical coats on them.

* The classic three-wish fairy tale (example: ''The Farmer and the Sausage'') is a folk tale staple that can be found in many cultures: invariably the third wish must be used to repair the damage caused by the first two.

* Another [[Older Than They Think]] example: In one version of the Prague [[Golem]] story, a 16th century Jewish tale, the Golem is asked to fill a barrel with water from the river. Left alone, the Golem overflows the barrel with water until the entire house is flooded because he is only capable of following literal instructions, not thinking for himself.

** This also happens in ''[[Older Than They Think|The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'' and the Disney adaptation of it.

* Joka's ending in ''[[Klonoa]]: Beach Volleyball'' features him casting a spell to make the prize money he won 10 times greater. He ends up making the individual bills 10 times ''larger''. When he tries to spend the money, the shopkeeper assumes it's counterfeit and calls the police.

* In the ''[[Twisted Metal]]'' car combat game series the winner is granted a single wish. Most of the wishes end up getting corrupted such as a soldier who wishes for a young body but keeps his old head and a couple of men who wish to be able to fly and are given plane tickets revealed after they jumped off of a roof and died thinking they could fly.

*** Also worth pointing out, Calypso wasn't actively trying to screw them with the flying wish; the ending text notes that they ''assumed'' they could fly and jumped off the roof as a dumbfounded Calypso looks on.

** One ending in ''Twisted Metal 2'' shows that the winner anticipated this. In the first game, Outlaw (a police officer) confronts Calypso and gets sent into space. In the second, Outlaw's sister asks to be taken to her brother, which gets ''her'' sent to space...at which point it's revealed her car doubles as a spacecraft, allowing her and her brother to return to Earth safely.

** Another level to this: Candace meant "what her brothers did" as the Supercomputer that they had built, but the computer interprets it as the nice thing they did for Mom (fixing her bad hair day by exploiting the show's use of [[Contrived Coincidence]]) that they had built the computer to get the idea for.

* In the ''[[Animaniacs]]'' special ''[[Wakko's Wish|Wakkos Wish]]'', the Warners Brothers (And Warner Sister) try to convince the [[Big Bad]] that the Wishing Star is one of these. They succeed, but get sent to the death row when he gets fed up with their antics.