Spirit Advisor: Difference between revisions

Character which can only be perceived by one or a small number of other characters. This character's purpose is most often to provide advice, act as a moral compass (see also [[Closer to Earth]], [[Noble Savage]]) or substitute for [[Mr. Exposition]]. This character may also sometimes act as a [[Tricksters|Trickster]], however; if so and he has super-powers then he's usually The [[Great Gazoo]]. In many cases he also acts as [[Mission Control]]. If there are two with opposing viewpoints, then you're probably dealing with [[Good Angel, Bad Angel]] instead.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* [[The DCU]] hero Firestorm was created by atomically merging student Ronnie Raymond and scientist Martin Stein. In practice, this essentially resulted (at least initially) in a super-powered Ronnie with Stein acting as a Spirit Advisor.

* The protagonist of Paul Pope's graphic novel, ''[[Heavy Liquid]]'', sees a "shadow self" whenever he uses a drug made from the titular material. It guides his escape from the [[The Men in Black|spook]] that captures him at the end of the story, and soon after, S concludes that {{spoiler|the shadow is a non-corporeal extraterrestrial's attempt to communicate. S refers to the alien as a "radiowave spaceman" and the Heavy Liquid as his "little metal car".}}

* The Doctor, the shaman of the Planet Earth in ''[[The Authority]]'', can journey to the Garden of Ancestral Memory, where the spirits of all past Doctors (save one evil one) dwell.

* [[Shazam]] often counseled Billy Batson as a shade.

* The Ancient One, [[Doctor Strange]]'s mentor, becomes this after his death.

 

* In Sharon Lee's and Steve Miller's [[Liaden Universe]], the witches of Sintia have a formal Spirit Advisor system - each young witch has an old soul. It's not entirely clear how this works in practice, because none of the point-of-view characters has been a witch of Sintia except Priscilla, and she only becomes a point-of-view character after she leaves the order. (Officially, she was cast out for blasphemy; actually, it was because she - with her Spirit Advisor's encouragement - did the Right Thing when her superiors would have preferred her to do the Politically Convenient Thing.)

* Hettie and later {{spoiler|Marlan and Sun-dao}} in Karen Miller's ''[[Godspeaker Trilogy]]''.

* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Nation]]'', the Grandfathers play this role for Mau, while the Grandmothers play it for Daphne.

* The Mademoiselle loads a beta-level sim of herself into Ana Khouri's brain implants in [[Alastair Reynolds]]' Revelation Space.