Touched by Vorlons: Difference between revisions

** Similar but not quite the same: Potential Others could discover their powers by interacting with Others who had already discovered their powers.

** The third book also shows that members of the Inquisition are able to appeal directly to either the Light or the Dark (depending on what kind of Other they are) for a temporary boost in power, if necessary to carry out their duties.

* In Karen Miller's book ''[[Godspeaker Trilogy|Empress]]'', main character Hekat dedicates herself to the (uncapitalized)god and uses her perceived holiness as unquestioned justification for such niceties as murder, rape, more murder, child abuse, mass murder, power-and-land-grabbing, baby murder, the exile of her child and any people who disagree with her, the [[Lolita]]-licious public banging of a fifty year old man when she's twelve or thirteen, and murderous racism.

* In the ''[[Xanth]]'' book ''The Source Of Magic'', the demon Xanth (the titular source) thanks Bink for freeing him - even though Bink [[Honor Before Reason|knew Xanth probably would fly the coop and take all Xanth's magic with him]] - by ensuring that every one of his direct descendants would have a Magician-class talent. (So, in a sense, Bink's ''kids'' were touched).

* Telzey Amberdon, of [[James H. Schmitz]]'s ''[[Federation of the Hub]]'', starts out with latent powers being awakened by aliens who need her to learn to communicate in a hurry. However, the learning process continues for longer than intended, eventually turning her into one of the most powerful telepaths we meet.

* In [[China Mieville]]'s ''[[Iron Council]]'', Judah Low learns [[Sufficiently Analyzed Magic|how golem magic works]] by studying a race of creatures born with this ability, but {{spoiler|is only able to use it himself after being touched by the Stiltspear chief.}}

* In ''[[Journey to the West]]'', any animal within earshot of a practicing Taoist or Buddhist, whether the religious figure intends it or not, ''will'' gain some degree of the same powers as the travelers. {{spoiler|This is what led to the incident with the Scorpion-Woman, as even Buddha and Guanyin didn't want a damn thing to do with her.}}

* In ''Blue Light'' by Walter Mosley, a blue light comes from space and magically enhances anyone it comes into contact with. It makes them the best at what they are doing at the time.

== Live Action TV ==

* This happens a few times in the [[Star Trek]] franchise.

** This is how Wesley Crusher is given his final send off from TNG.

*** If you believe the [[Star Trek: Nemesis|movie that didn't exist]] apparently [[Unexplained Recovery|he gets better]] and re-joins Starfleet.

*** This is just a repeat of what happened before, when a pre-Federation ship ended up in the Barrier, causing one of the crewmembers to gain godlike abilities and forcing the captain to self-destruct the ship.

** [[Star Trek]] loves this trope. [[Butt Monkey|Lieutenant Barclay]] (temporarily) gets an IQ in the thousands after an encounter with a Cytherian probe in ''The Nth Degree.''

* The [[Trope Namer]] would be commercial telepath Lyta Alexander of ''[[Babylon 5]]'', who disappeared after the events of the [[Pilot Movie]], only to reappear in season three, vastly empowered by the Vorlons. Before, she was a P5 rating (on a scale of 0, non-telepath, to 12, the Psi Cops), but afterward she's just plain off the scale. She says later that she thinks she was made to be the Vorlons' ace in the hole.

** Technically, ''all'' telepaths might qualify, as it is eventually revealed that telepathy was induced in the younger races by the Vorlons so they could be used as weapons against the Shadows.

** Captain Sheridan was literally touched by a Vorlon; it left a piece of itself inside his head. That piece gave him telepathic resistance and guided him to encounter Lorien, {{spoiler|who's even more powerful, and kept John from dying.}}

** On the opposite side were Bester's "weapons components," rogue telepaths that Earth sold to the Shadows in exchange for powerful technology, whom the Shadows modified to be living computer cores.

*** and the Techno-mages, who {{spoiler|were originally created by the Shadows}}.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** The fourth edition has the Warlock class which, are usually described as having made a [[Deal with the Devil|deal with a fiend]] or a [[Eldritch Abomination|lovecraftian entity from the stars]], but sometimes are described as this trope, especially if their powers were granted by [[The Fair Folk]]

** [[Eberron]] provides an entire race Touched by Vorlons. The Kalashtar started out as human mystics untill they merged with extraplanar beings known as Quori.

** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' after Time of Troubles has "Touched mages"—wizards who agreed to perform for the goddes of magic (but ''don't'' need to be Mystra's faithful) a "little" service—help to erase a dead-magic zone, drop a "funny" surprise on local Cult of the Dragon cell and so on. They receive a temporary granted power (which may change mid-quest). When the mission is complete and this power vanishes, the wizard is left with a little, but useful spell-like ability (like Feather Fall or Light at will) and is a bit less vulnerable to one school of spells. Naturally, this also stimulates the faith more often than not.

** ''Book of vile Darkness'' (D&D 3.5) introduced a disease known as Warp Touch, a result of overexposure to raw magic/eldritch energy, which may result in the development of all sorts of [[Red Right Hand]] attributes...unless the 1d100 roll is a critical failure, in which case the victim simply [[Body Horror|melts into a puddle of goo.]]

** Played more straight with Astropaths, a class of Psyker and the main means of interstellar communication in the setting. In order to survive sending messages through [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place|the Warp]] they undergo the Soul Binding, exposing them for a brief second to the mind of the God-Emperor. As a result, their eyes burn out, leaving them blind.

** Aside from the [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos Gods,]] there's also the [[Physical God|C'tan]], [[Blessed with Suck|Psykers]], and [[Abusive Precursors|the Eldar Gods]]. In general, getting Touched by Vorlons in [[Crapsack World|this]] [[Darker and Edgier|setting]] is never a good thing.

** ''[[Persona]] 4'' plays the trope similarly, with {{spoiler|the goddess Izanami}} granting the power to enter the TV universe and summon Personas to the main character {{spoiler|and two others}}, more or less just to see what they would do with it. More relevant to this trope, {{spoiler|the power is granted via contact-- in this case, Izanami's disguised form as the gas station attendant giving you a friendly handshake.}}

* Jak from ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' is blessed with Light Eco abilities by the Precursors, god-like figures of his world. While his [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Dark Eco powers]] were a result of being experimented on by [[Evil Overlord|Baron Praxis]], the Precursors help him to gain control of them.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' has this trope at the core. All six main characters are l'Cie, humans who have been given a task by inscrutable alien beings called Fal'cie and superpowers to help them fulfill it. The downside of this is if they fail, they turn into mindless monsters. The upside? [[Blessed with Suck|If they succeed, they turn into crystals for eternity.]]