Super Powers and Magic in Christian Fiction

On Tuesday we took a look at Heather Rhodes, a main character from my Black Earth series. Today we'll take a look at one of the themes surrounding Heather - super powers. Or magic. They both kind of go hand in hand, because both seem to have origins in the mysterious or impossible, and both give one the ability to use these powers for good or for evil.

The Bible is very clear about God's stance against divination, witchcraft, or sorcery, but the Bible also promotes the gifts of the Spirit. I'm not promoting divination or sorcery. I'm not promoting witchcraft or other satanic taps into the spiritual realm. But what if instead of just spiritual gifts - such as love, peace, paticence, kindness, etc - God granted humans special powers, almost magical in nature, both to defend from and attack the forces of evil? It's an interesting concept that can easily be explored within the boundaries of fiction.

When I was growing up, magic was heavily frowned upon in all forms of entertainment. Magic was, by default, assumed to originate from Satan himself. Mirrors were evil portals that stole people's souls, magic wands were the devil's utensils, and viewing anything to do with witchcraft had the uncanny ability of turning viewers into witches or warlocks themselves. Now, it's true that much of the magic I experienced through screen or books growing up did have strong elements of witchcraft and the occult, which is clearly in opposition with Christianity.

Our culture has changed somewhat since those days, though. Harry Potter brought the theme of magic into a more innocent  and dazzling realm, showing how magic could be used against the forces of evil as well as originating from them. Although if one stretched it, one could find minor themes of occultism in the Harry Potter films. That's probably one reason why everyone went up in arms over the movies when they first come out, because young folk can't always discern between fantasy and reality. But the themes weren't strong enough to cause kids to go out and begin chanting to the devil to have him grant them special incantations.

In the same token, super powers have grown wildly popular with the slew of super hero movies that have graced the screen and comic book shelves in recent years. Maybe there's just a feeling of heroism going around lately. Strangely enough, super powers were never frowned upon the same way magic was while I was growing up. Maybe there's just something more innocent about a man in a cape flying through the air, shooting lasers out of his eyes than there is with a decrepit old woman sailing around on a broomstick shooting magic beams from her wooden stick. 

In End of the Innocence, the first novel in my Black Earth series, Heather Rhodes realizes she has the ability to create a shield or barrier made of light. She questions this ability at first, wondering if it is something Satan has granted her. Little does she know it is a gift bestowed upon her as a Wedge, triggered when she hit puberty, the time when all Wedge gifts become apparent. Later in the series, it is revealed that Wedges believe their powers are bestowed upon them by the Ravencroune, a sort of deity among Wedges, when in fact it is God who has bestowed the gifts upon them and the Ravencroune is simply a mortal worshiped for her martyr death.

Throughout the series, Heather uses her light shield to protect herself, her friends, and other innocents from Legion's dark attacks. She uses the power for good. But what if she were to use it for evil? What if she were to use the gift for other means - either to protect evil minions, or protect herself after committing heinous crimes? What if she could find a way to use the light shield to harm others?

The parallel here is that God has given everyone specific gifts. Yes, He doles out and cultivates fruits of the Spirit, but He also gives us gifts. The gift of writing, of eloquent speech, of technical prowess. Some of these things come naturally to us, others are traits or skills that we have to work harder to perfect, but benefit us and others in the long run. Translating gifts to fiction and terming them as powers or magic isn't too much of a stretch.

And each character is given the choice to use these powers for good or evil, just as each of us are given gifts to use for the Kingdom, ourselves, or the powers of darkness. It takes discernment to look at something and decide if it has origination in darkness or light. I already discussed something close to this in my post about entertainment and exploring great movies for the themes they present, even if they might have content questionable to Christian prudes.

In fiction though, I think magic and super powers and the like can be conveyed in a meaningful and responsible way that portrays evil for what it is, good for what it is, and fantasy elements for what they are.

I was going to add Heather's profile to the Compendium on Friday, but I'm a little behind on my design goals, and the Compendium's new look won't be ready until next week. So her profile will go up sometime next week. I'm also going to be running a side series next week that explores the last 7 years of my NaNoWriMo adventures. Each of 7 posts will explore the projects I did for NaNo each year and maybe give some hints as to where these projects fit into my writing portfolio in the future.

Black Earth Character Spotlight - Heather Rhodes

This has been a pretty long blog series, but I'm enjoying giving you all a deeper glimpse into some of the characters from my Black Earth series. Today we're going to take a look at Heather Rhodes, one of the main characters from the novels.

Heather was conceived on Rhodenine - the Wedge home world that was destroyed in a massive attack by Legion and the Dark Army. Before Rhodenine was destroyed, Heather was sent to Earth where she was taken in by an orphanage through which she was adopted by a loving couple who raised Heather through adolescence.

Heather's childhood on Earth was as normal as any other - until she reached puberty. At a routine checkup, an anomaly was discovered in one of her blood samples. She was placed in extensive testing, but doctors were unable to identify the strange substance in her blood stream and what its purpose was. Little did they know the substance was rhodenine, or that later in Heather's life, the rhodenine in her bloodstream would grant her abilities beyond her imagination.

While Heather's gifts lay dormant, she attended high school and eventually met Nathan Pierce, with whom Heather fell in love. For reasons unknown to her, he wouldn’t return her romantic advances, and instead he insisted they be friends. She agreed, knowing she cared about him on a level deeper than just physical intimacy. And as Heather went through her high school life, she fell more and more in love with Nathan even though her love went unrequited.

Despite the lack of returned feelings, Heather continues to be Nathan's supporting character - always there for Nathan, with an ear to listen and a hand to help. She would clearly die for Nathan, if only to prove her love and unwavering devotion to him.

Shortly before Black Earth: End of the Innocence begins, Heather and Nathan are involved in a horrific car accident that takes the life of a newborn child, and leaves Heather's face horribly scarred from airbag burns. Since she was the one driving at the time, Heather blames herself for the infant's death.

When the Black Earth series starts out, Heather is attending a church camp in California. Her first scene has her rushing out of a church worship session to be alone in the woods, haunted by reoccurring flashes of memory from the car accident. Tripping, she catches herself with a light shield conjured from her hands, wondering where the mysterious power originated from. Little does Heather know that she is a Wedge, an alien race imbued with special 'gifts' - or superpowers. Once Heather realizes her light shield isn't a hallucination, she begins to question where her newfound powers came from, and if they are considered magic or a sinister trick by Satan.

And this is where the argument begins of whether or not magic or super powers can have a place in Christian fiction. We'll dive into that on Thursday. And on Friday, Heather's character profile will be added to the soon to be new and improved Compendium.

The Great Witch Evanescence - A Character Profile

Since I like to post on aspects of writing on Fridays, I figured I'd take some time out today and introduce everyone to one of the villains from my stories - Evanescence. Also known in some circles as the Great Witch. She is a character found in my current scifi/fantasy series, Black Earth, and will be found in my young adult series - Expired Reality - debuting this summer. As a side note, Expired Reality takes place 100 years after the events of Black Earth, just so everyone is clear on the chronology of events in regards to the references made in this post.

Evanescence is a powerful, nefarious witch who first made an appearance in the original drafts of my young adult novels years ago.Her birth came when I attempted to create a dark, mystical character who had, at one point in the past, fought for Earth's destruction and almost perished because of it. During this great battle - which will be told toward the end of my Black Earth novel series - Evanescence is drained of most of her magic and health and is forced to go into hiding on the planet of Anaisha. There, she enchants one of Anaisha's richest men, Jerad Montlier, using his money and power to gain herself sanctuary in his home while she regenerates her dark powers.

Magazine ad that served as inspiration for Evanescence

A lieutenant in Satan's own army, Evanescence is currently found in my Black Earth series as a lieutenant in the merged armies of Satan and the alien entity known as Legion. Together, these forces travel through the universe, smothering planets in darkness and emptying them of life before destroying them completely.

Evanescence is more than a witch, she is also mother to an immortal girl named Pearl. Pearl can be found in the Black Earth books, at first trying to kill herself in a desperate attempt to avoid having to watch what will become of the Earth at the hands of her evil mother. Despite Evanescence's attempts to gain Pearl's assistance in destroying the earth, Pearl refuses and quickly becomes enemies with her mother. This feud is only agitated when Pearl decides to pursue romance with a mortal.

In the Black Earth series, Evanescence's character is usually always presented with blue color schemes. She is seen in the novels wearing a bright blue corset and gown. Her eyes glow cerulean and her black hair is streaked with blue. She wears a necklace that carries a sparkling blue gem - possibly one of the sources of her powerful magic.

Evanescence's weapon of choice is a silver staff that she uses both to attack her foes with dark magic and to control the black mist of Legion. The staff also enables her to call forth terrible creatures - such as hellhounds - which she looses upon the planets she is conquering. Although in the Expired Reality series she is first seen as a somewhat decrepit woman who lacks any powers at all, she is still able to enchant and deceive almost any mortal she comes across.

Look for Evanescence in Black Earth: End of the Innocence, Black Earth: The Broken Daisy, and throughout the upcoming Expired Reality series debuting this summer.