Wednesday, December 2, 2015
KABLAM! Super Weapons!
Yeah, I let out my inner eight year old boy, what're you gonna do about it? Anyway, recently I've been watching a boat load of super hero movies. Everything from Guardians of the Galaxy, which is awesome by the way, to Captain America. Now I love me a good superhero movie, they're usually fun, unless it's a DC movie then it's just awesome, and I get to stare at a bunch of hot guys doing cool things. But one of the most interesting things about the entire premise is that there are characters who don't have powers. Instead they rely on their smarts, skills, and weapons to save the city/day/galaxy/universe/house.
And the same thing happens a lot of the time in fantasy books. Characters don't have the super woobly wobbly magic that other characters have, instead they have their very own weapons that does the woobly wobbly for them. Normally they're in the form of talking swords, ancient bows, or the automatic wizard staff. These babies could destroy whole armies, you know after the bad guy killed one of the hero's best friends. They always hit their marks, always stay clean, and they're sharper than a diamond that takes daily doses of badass steroids. More than likely you get them from a super secret cave, a little old lady who was missing her kitten, or the bottom of that ancient lake where virgins were sacrificed during the full moon. Basically they're super awesome dues ex machinas that will probably help solve the main story line. Heck, it might even get them a pretty pretty princess during the process.
I feel like it's all just a waste. If you know anything about nuclear missiles, then you know that there's plenty of consequences to using them. They don't really solve all problems, if anything they end up compounding them. Yes they're badass, yes they can't kill the Saint of Killers, but there's waaaaaaaay more cons than pros to those weapons of mass destruction. With this being said, wouldn't it make sense for the super weapons in fantasy to be just as destructive? And no, I don't mean killing the dark lord and all his super evil armies. I mean on the environment, the people in the vicinity of the attack, the person using them, even their psyche. The only mental problems that they ever seem to cause is corruption, but that's usually until the pretty pretty princess tells the hero that she believes in them. That's a ton of wasted material just cast aside because the writer wants to just show case all the super weapon's badass powers.
Now I'm gonna go drool over Fallout 4...
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Some very interesting points here. I must think about this and maybe use some of these ideas in a story sometime. Thanks for giving me food for thought.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I'm kinda just doin' my job.
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DeleteWell said. I think the key is balance. If the good guys have super weapons, the bad guys do too. And there do have to be consequences as you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteIt's much more fun to write the characters that have flaws and can't figure everything out.
You hit the nail right on the head. Balance is super important, and I think some writers forget that.
DeleteIn Dresden Files, the urban fantasy version of a nuke is described as humanity itself: letting the public or police in on any particular event is regarded as the same sort of move as launching a nuclear missile: everyone tends to lose.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The destruction and consequences you speak of are quite well portrayed in my opinion (weapons of mass destruction aren't really central to the story until the third book).
ReplyDeleteI also think there are quite a few other good books that deal with super powers/weapons and the fact that their power must be used sparingly, but I can't think of any specifics right now. The books are out there, you just have to find them. ;)