Words Can Break My Bones: Difference between revisions

 

A subtrope of [[Language of Magic]]. Compare to [[I Know Your True Name]] (which was split from this). Contrast and compare [[Magical Incantation]]. Compare to [[Brown Note]], which includes sounds, images and larger written works that have powerful negative effects on the audience. See also [[Ritual Magic]]. [[Harsh Word Impact]] is a metafictional version. Also compare [[Speak of the Devil]] and [[The Scottish Trope]].

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* In the 4th arc of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', the character Koichi gets various forms of this as his stand power. What happens is that if his stand hits another person words get written on him or her which start to call out whatever the word is in an increasing volume. Next is when he makes a word and throws it onto something if someone touches the word the effect will take place. (Touching the word Whooosh blows someone away, touching Burn cause someone to catch on fire, and touching Bounce will cause someone to bounce off of whatever the word is one regardless of how sharp the object is normally without harm.

* In the anime (and original manga) ''[[Loveless]]'', characters participate in Spell Battles where words do exactly what they say, restraining, cutting, burning, or banishing opponents. The effectiveness of an attack seems to be directly related to the floweriness or complexity of the spoken "spell".

** Before that, it was shown that there are spells based on chanting which will backfire on the caster if the target doesn't hear the words being said.

* Levy and Fried in ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' have this power, except their words must be written rather than spoken. Levy writes in English, while Fried writes in a made up rune language. As a result Levy's effects are simple but quick (instantly create a block of metal, or a trap hole, or fire, or wind) while Fried's are complex ("Nobody in this space can use magic." "Nobody can leave the space until everyone else has been defeated") but take time to set up. Levy later learns Fried's language, giving her the ability to rewrite his spells to cancel or change their effects.

* {{spoiler|Yuu}} from ''[[Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?]]'' is so powerful that she [[Cute Mute|never speaks]] because her very words can [[Reality Warper|effect reality]]. She can even kill someone just by speaking the word "die".

* Arias can kill lesser demons in ''[[Blue Exorcist]]'' by reciting a "Fatal Verse", a segment from the bible and other holy scriptures. The problem is that there is a different verse for each type of demon (thus you must memorize which verse kills who), and the Aria becomes defenseless until finishing reciting.

 

 

*** He also explicitly told his mother he didn't want to cheat... It was an honor-bound duel.

*** IIRC, it wasn't the voice at all his mother expected him to use in the duel, rather a trigger word that would cause Feyd to go limp due to mental conditioning. And the reason he didn't resort to it wasn't honor, but rather that he did not want to owe his victory (and thus his life) to the Bene Gesserit, giving them leverage over his authority.

** And are themselves hurt by the word "it".

** You said it! And now I said it! I said it again! I said it again! [[Tethercat Principle|I SAID IT AGAIN!]]

* Miranda Windwood Rose, from the short story of the same name by Janni Lee Simner, is a magic name, letting the owner hear and see magic. This leads to the main character being an outcast.

* In [[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]], those who study Earthpower learn various words of power that the cause pain to anything "wrong."

* In the ''[[Myst]]'' novels, the backstory of the "magical books" is fleshed out; we learn about "mighty words," which if used in the proper context (that is, with the right ink and on the right paper) can modify the linked world. And Earth was originally reached by the D'ni through such a Book.

** Though the linking process works more akin to a magical search engine, the book seeking out the world that best fits the description given, the words used can also change a world once the link is made, and are described in terms of this trope. In ''The Book of Atrus'', Anna explains about 'levels' of words, the simplest being a description of a thing, the next being a modifier of such a description, i.e. a meta-word. She never says what the third level is, but it's implied to be the performative word, one which alters what it describes.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'', "The Shakespeare Code": The Carrionites use words to shape reality; the right words said in the right way at the right time have dramatic effects. Unfortunately for them it works both ways and The Doctor's enlisted the best wordsmith around: ''Shakespeare''. They get an assist from [[J. K. Rowling]] too, via Martha: turns out that ''Expelliarmus!'' just happens to fit the end of his incantation to banish them nicely.

* An episode of ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]''/''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]'' has a monster that can read a person's mind, find the most derogatory and damaging insult that person has ever been called, and repeat it to them, converting the emotional pain they suffer from the insult into physical pain. He's only defeated when it's revealed one of our heroes has gotten so used to being insulted in her life that the monster's power can't affect her. Interestingly, the monster is based on a Japanese [[Obake]] that, itself, suffers from [[Words Can Break My Bones]]...in reverse: it "feeds" off of a person's inner thoughts, repeating them in the open when they latch onto someone, and only by emptying your mind of all thoughts can you drive away (or even ''kill'') the creature.

* A variation on ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Telepaths, in addition to scanning minds and planting thoughts or visions, can also effectively hit the target's "pain button", making every nerve in their body burst with blinding pain for a few moments. This is typically accompanied by them simply glaring at the other person and hissing ''"Pain!"'' It is only allowed to be used in self defense, and it is only used when more effective means, such as [[Muggles Do It Better|guns]], are unavailable.

 

** And then there's the parodies. In the beginning was the Word...

*** [[Discworld|"And the word was 'Hey you!'"]]

*** [[Illuminatus|"And it was written by a baboon."]]

*** [[Hyperion|"Then came the]] [[Precision F-Strike|fucking]] [[Hyperion|word processor."]]

** Oh, and the dark speech, as introduced in the ''Book of Vile Darkness'' - capable of damaging solid objects and driving people insane, as well as forming a component of seriously nasty (by D&D standards) magic.

** The power words are just the most famous examples. The Various Splatbooks feature tons of variants on this trope. Warlocks can shatter objects, disable flight, and turn people into frogs just by saying single words of the black speech. The Dracolexi Prestige Class can light people on fire just by speaking Draconic. But the one class that takes this trope to the extreme is the Truenamer from Tome Of Magic, who can temporarily ''reprogram the universe''.

** Fourth Edition introduced the bard power "Vicious Mockery", which causes psychic damage and is described in fluff as a string of vulgarities and insults, allows a player to literally talk someone to death.

** [[Order of the Stick|I prepared Explosive Runes this morning.]]

* The Words of Power from ''[[GURPS]]: Thaumatology'' are described as "the ultimate symbols of which all others are merely shadows". Despite their enormous power the Words are cheap (in game terms) to learn because they're ''impossible'' to control. "Fire" might do anything from inspire poetry to create a massive explosion or even do both at once.

** The rules also note that a word of power has a reasonable chance of doing the speaker a serious mischief on the way out.

 

 

* The game ''[[Bookworm Adventures]]'' - makes sense given that it's a word game to begin with.

* The game ''[[Mischief Makers]]'' also takes the literal approach: you shake negative words to turn them positive and attack with them.

* Ditto ''[[Psychonauts]]'': in the boss fight against [[Straw Critic]] Jasper Rolls, he attacks you with the physical embodiment of derogatory adjectives like "tedious" and "monotonous". (It's a [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]], this stuff can happen there.)

** And all this happens after Raz remarks that "sticks and stones might break my bones, [[Tempting Fate|but words will never hurt... me...]]"

** Which turned out to be {{spoiler|the normal spoken language of the Gargoyles}}. Which can give you a headache if you think about it too much.

** In addition, ''Ultima V'' had magic words ''called'' [[Words of Power]], magical triggers that undid the sealing spells on the dungeons.

* ''[[VVVVVV]]''. Words can literally kill you.

* Towards the end of ''[[Alan Wake]]'' you go into a weird abstract world with a bunch of typewritten words that hover in mid-air. Shining your light on them cause them to manifest the things they represent. For instance, "Exit" will create a way out of the area, or "Red Box" will spawn a supply chest. In the DLC they introduce considerably more dangerous ones, like "[[Mooks|Taken]]", "[[Goddamned Bats|Birds]]", and "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|BOOM!]]"

Necromancy: ''"Vita, Mortis, Careo"'' {{=}} "Life, and death, I am without" }}

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' Many Thu'um shouts are capable of harming foes, with things like sending them flying through the air, freezing them with cold, or summoning a storm to fry them with lightning. The Greybeards, an order of monks who have mastered this ability, have to have their least powerful member speak for them so they don't ''accidentally kill people by uttering a single word''.

* In Ultimate ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'' [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright]] can use his iconic "Hold it!" and "Objection!" as attacks that can stun opponents. His level 3 hyper combo consists in him accusing the opponent of being "the one who actually comited the crime", finalizing with a "Take That!" Balloon. This happens to be the second most damaging move in the whole game, only losing out to [[Devil May Cry|Vergil's]] Level 3.

 

 

* In [[Rice Boy]], the titular character learns to speak a word in the Thrill language. {{spoiler|It allows him to ''cut anything in half''.}}

* Gordon Frohman of [[Concerned]] only survived falling down from the Citadel because he had Buddha mode on (apparently he could use Half-Life 2 cheats by saying them out loud). It didn't prevent him from getting fatal injuries, only from succumbing to them. Of course, saying "buddha" again in such a situation is ill-advised. He learned this the hard way...