CONCLUSION
The Dark Side has many devices to lure people onto the Left Hand Path. Use these processes to add depth to your villains, pathos to your heroes, and danger to your story situations.
V
CONFRONTING
THE DARK SIDE
If we were at Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School we’d float off to a class on Defenses Against the Dark Arts. But your heroes need to battle more than just wicked wizards, they need to go up against everything life and beyond can throw at them. No matter the genre or style, once the conflict has been engaged, once the heroine is on the journey, the rest of your story is all about confronting the Dark: her own Dwellers on the Threshold; the Dark Forces of inertia, time, etc.; or the really big bad guys. No matter what form any of that takes — a seduction, an abduction, a deluge, a demon, or a diabolical corporation — we relish watching our heroine go up against the forces of evil.
12.
DEFENSE AGAINST THE
DARK SIDE
Charms and chants
Therapy, drugs, self-help
Ignore it
Laughter
Education
Deception and diplomacy
Exposure
Nonviolence
Civil disobedience
Fight fire with fire
You say you want a revolution?
Cut to the chase
Seek sanctuary
Trials, truths, and reconciliations
The Primrose Path
The Road to Damascus
Get a sense of perspective
There are as many philosophies about how to combat the Dark Side as there are explanations for how it came about. That’s good news because you’ve then got worlds and times enough from which to draw your inspiration and examples.
In this section we’ll explore diverse ways people have fought the Darkness within and without. Winning is great, but sometimes losing is more effective dramatically. Ancient Greeks used this approach with Oedipus Rex, a man who mistakenly kills his father and marries his mother, and with the cursed Atriedes family who indulge in vengeful cannibalism. Then there’s Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Othello, MacBeth, and more. Though with a note of hope, Gone With the Wind ends sadly with carpetbaggers invading the South and Scarlett separated from Rhett.
Whether your story ends happily, tragically, or leaves us wondering, we demand an exciting struggle up to that point. So check out this list, choose your weapons, and let the battles begin.
CHARMS AND CHANTS
In our search for order and meaning, and realizing our own frailty against time and nature, humans often call for outside assistance. The ancients read goat guts before setting out to battle. Tombs in Egypt contain scores of blue glass figurines, thought to be protective talismans; however, some think they’re batteries: Imagine if modern batteries were shaped like pink bunnies. A common figure across the Middle East and North Africa is the open hand with an eye in the palm to guard against the Evil Eye.
Magic of the Caribbean involves icons made more powerful if they contain bits of the person to be spelled or cursed, such as hair, nail clippings, or clothes. Some Buddhist shrines have digits or hair from Buddha, just as some Catholic Churches have reliquaries (special containers) containing body parts (relics) of their saints.
Esoteric science explains that the vibration of something is carried in all its parts, so like a remote-activated chip, or a baby-minder walkie-talkie in the nursery, you can take the connection with you, or transmit power from afar. Whatever the mechanics or effectiveness, we love our charms and chants and continue to use them for protection.
A. IN ACTION
In post-WWII Philippines, American Colonel Lansdale used their own superstitions against the Huk rebels. Playing on local lore, rumors were spread that a soothsayer was predicting “men with evil in their hearts” would fall prey to the asuang (vampire). American troops then lay in wait for a passing Huk patrol and snatched away the last fellow in line. His neck received two puncture wounds and he was bled to death. The blood-drained corpse was placed back on the trail for the returning Huk patrol to find. News of vampire attacks spread, and support for the rebels fell off dramatically in that area.
In many cultures, a typical protective charm is to symbolically cut you up, toss you in a bubbling cauldron of magic brew, and when you come out all in one piece again, you are invincible. (Some people try to reenact this with tequila, but the results are dubious.) This is similar to Achilles’ mom dipping him in the river Styx, all except for his heel. The Catholic Church uses Holy Water for regular blessings as well as for exorcisms.
Today in Africa, some soldiers get rubbed with magic oil or have their bullets blessed so they’ll be invincible — despite all evidence to the contrary.
B. IN MEDIA
Talismans and magic weapons feature in the earliest myths, be it Thor’s hammer or Athena’s invisible helmet. Zombie, werewolf, and vampire movies use charms and crosses, silver bullets, and wooden stakes. Charmed swords such as King Arthur’s Excalibur show up in fantasy and action-adventure stories.
The Mummy and Scorpion King movies use ancient Egyptian curses and talismans. A St. Christopher medal was significant in the 2006 Oscar-winning movie Crash.
In the TV series Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, characters use charms, spells, and concoctions to counter the Dark Side, though sometimes they themselves misuse them and go bad.
Sword-and-sorcery games, movies, and books run on spells and magic. In the Age of Mythology game you can send villagers to worship and receive god-points. See the “Witches, Warlocks and Wizards” chapter for more details.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation - Solar Plexus: connection to the astral/emotional planes.
Unless you’re using a very familiar talisman such as a cross, you’ll need to show us its connection to the power source. In the book and movie Nightwatch, the spiked dog collar that protected Anton from the Dark Side came straight off the neck of the Dark Side Biggie.
Have your heroine follow Colonel Lansdale’s lead and use the enemy’s beliefs as weapons against them; it’s cheaper and easier.
Put a time limit on the effectiveness of your chant/charm, or maybe it only works when a child holds it, when the moon is full, or only with the right magic words. These items are like software programs: they must be used absolutely correctly or they simply won’t work at all.
Make sure the talisman remains a tool the heroine uses and not a deus ex machina, as that would drain power from your heroine.
If your story is really scary or tragic or follows the Pygmalion-Frankenstein theme, having the stuff go wild and take over is quite appropriate.
Throw out the laws of physics and have fun — or scare us silly.
THERAPY, DRUGS, SELF-HELP
Given that your characters aren’t actually possessed by demons (though they may claim to be), these treatments can be effective on Dwellers on the Threshold such as getting caught up in a cult, suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, multiple personalities, etc.
Ancient disciplines used meditation and mantras, confessions and penance, special exercises and diets — all intended to change body chemistry and, hence, the mind, emotions, and actions. Modern science offers quicker tools via chemistry. But the change has got to occur in consciousness before it’ll stick; “acting as if” only goes so far.
There’s a concept that all illness is psychological and one’s physical condition just reflects one’s consciousness. The good news here is we have free choice to select perfect health, abundance, joyous relationships, etc. The bad news is that if we are not manifesting those, it’s our own fault. This viewpoint fails to take into account simple physics and inertia of the stuff of the world. For most of us, changing our attitude about a disease or situation will not necessarily bring overnight changes: there is a lot of heavy resistance out there.
A. IN ACTION
Ex
orcisms can fall in this category or the previous one about charms, depending on the belief system. The Catholic Church still trains Exorcists, Western-based Scientology and Eastern-based Okyomi both claim to remove “attaching spirits,” called dybbuks by Jewish Rabbis also trained in removing them.
Bio-feedback, talk therapy, and support teams produce good results in helping people deal with their Dwellers. Antidepressants have a dicey record of helping many but addicting others. Some claim they’ve caused suicides.
Confessional radio and TV shows offer public forums to release one’s inner demons, but ewwwwwww.
Combat veterans, survivors of natural disasters, and people involved in violent situations are vulnerable to PTSD. Esoterically it’s said these people’s etheric bodies have been shattered and must be repaired. Eastern medicine addresses this with acupuncture and other energy-balancing techniques.
B. IN MEDIA
Girl Interrupted, 21 Days, Sybil, The Three Faces of Eve, and The Sopranos all feature therapy. The TV series House centers on a misanthropic doctor addicted to pain pills.
On the funny side are the movies Postcards from the Edge, High Anxiety, Analyze This/That, and TV’s Monk, an obsessive-compulsive who solves mysteries.
Long-running TV series Frasier featured a talk-show shrink, TV psych Dr. Phil offers tough-love advice, and real-life trash-TV confessor Jerry Springer even inspired an opera(?!). Then again, the best opera poster I ever saw read: Men cheat, women cry, people die — that’s opera.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – Lower Solar Plexus: issues of identity, individuation, and psychic phenomenon.
Therapy is usually like peeling an onion: Each layer reveals a new wound or misconception. Chart revelations about your character’s problem with increasingly disturbing aspects, leading to a painful core wound. Ordinary People and Equus both investigate a troubled teenage boy with serious mother issues.
The complex relationship between therapist and patient is dramatic by its very nature; plus, it offers opportunity for conflicting perspectives on the same events. Recall the famous scene in Annie Hall when Diane Keaton tells her shrink they have sex constantly — at least three times a week – and Woody Allen tells his they hardly ever have sex — only three times a week.
Show the effects of a character’s treatment on people around him as he changes and confronts his inner demons, his persecutors, and the status quo.
In a supernatural story, reveal how identity issues and letting down one’s barriers via alcohol or drugs can open the doors to possession.
IGNORE IT
Recognition creates relationship, so sometimes ignoring something can actually be effective. This tactic usually works best with merely annoying but not dangerous people. It doesn’t work at all with the Dark Forces: ignoring gravity, fire, or time can hurt.
Detachment and harmlessness (“Be in the world but not of it”) are central tenets in Buddhism, Christianity, Wicca, and many other spiritual systems. Self-improvement gurus advise us to turn our attentions away from what we do not want to continue experiencing.
Ignoring things can sometimes work, but too often this tactic is simply naïve and ineffective, like the child covering her eyes and saying, “You know I can’t see you, so don’t pretend you’re there.”
A. IN ACTION
“Whatever…” is the quintessential, maddening word of dismissal.
The challenge of many unions and social change movements is simply to get recognized by the rulers, since public policies often ignore the unaccepted and disadvantaged, hoping they’ll disappear.
Common wisdom is not to negotiate with terrorists lest you validate their existence or their cause.
New states strive to be officially “recognized” so they can do business in the broader world. Likewise, withholding validation via licensing can doom an out-of-the-mainstream movement, such as healing practices.
The U.S. military developed invisibility cloaks that take images of what’s in front of you, then project that on onto your back, so it looks like you’re not there at all.
B. IN MEDIA
Greek hero Perseus used a magical helmet of invisibility to sneak up on the gorgon Medusa and slay her.
The Romulan cloaking device was a favorite Star Trek counter-weapon, and the Star Wars Jedi Knights are trained in illusion — those are not the droids you’re looking for.
A charming ignore-reality character is Jimmy Stewart with his giant white rabbit in Harvey. In The Mists of Avalon the ancient fairy world fades as people’s attentions turn towards Christianity.
Dr. Pangloss in Voltaire’s satire Candide believes “All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.” Similar airhead characters include Pollyanna, Edith Bunker from All in the Family ‘70s TV series, Karen in Will & Grace, and Joey in Friends. Cynics note this may indeed be the best possible world.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation - Aspirational Solar Plexus: “It’s all good.”
Since individuals do create their own reality by interpreting actual reality, show different characters interpreting the same events in very different ways.
Give us three to five steps in the progression as a character greatly troubled by a problem or a person first disengages and becomes more detached, until they are finally free of the old habit or old boyfriend — or not. If not, show them trying and why it does not work.
Show how sometimes a positive attitude really can change reality by altering other people’s attitudes and actions.
Illustrate the downside of not facing reality.
Demonstrate that the first “No” is the best “No” by showing what happens when you do engage with something rather than ignoring it. Then have your character face a similar situation and with what she’s learned, do better.
Define the boundary of effectiveness for your character’s attitude: works on fellow students, not on teachers; works on people, not on thunderstorms; works for a short while, then consensus reality prevails.
LAUGHTER
Activist Saul Alinski advised that ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It infuriates bullies to be laughed at because it trivializes them. If driven by low self esteem in the first place, to plug right into that weakness may eventually deflate them to impotence.
Tyrants use fear to manipulate others. If you remove their fear tools, they become ineffective. Of course, it’s hard to laugh at a foolish dictator who still has the power to kill you.
Humor saves our sanity in times of Darkness. It’s a measure of our humanity that very quickly after a disaster, the jokes begin. The 1986 space shuttle Challenger disaster spawned morbid jokes just a few days after it exploded and plunged into the sea. 9/11 took a bit longer because of the impending shadow of more hits and rabidly serious patriotism, but it was perhaps five weeks after irony was declared “dead forever” that jokes started reappearing.
A. IN ACTION
Zen koans use absurdities to break through analysis-paralysis: What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Court jesters, always poking fun at the pretensions of power, were a clever immunization device against royal hubris, presuming the royals listened and learned.
In Robert Graves’ I, Claudius novels, many autocratic Roman emperors were pathetic jokes to the people, yet because of their extreme power, fear ruled. Some assassinations seemed fueled by palace guards fed up with being laughed at by the people, particularly around Caligula and Nero.
Speakers often begin with a joke to open the audience’s minds and hearts. Medical science has shown us that the physical act of laughing releases feel-good endorphins.
The theater of the absurd, satire, and irony have always been used to bring down the self-important or oblivious. Editorial cartoons lance hot-air politicians and pretentious artistes are flummoxed by audience laughter at their “serious” art.
B. IN MEDIA
The Producers and that quirky tune “Spr
ingtime for Hitler,” the TV series Hogan’s Heroes, Young Frankenstein, the Scary Movie series, Dogma, and Patch Adams apply humor to traditionally humorless situations. In the old Saturday morning cartoons the good cat/mouse/roadrunner used slap-stick humor to defeat the bad dog/cat/coyote.
The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live’s newscasts, and media pundits all wield humor as socio-political weapons.
Stand-up comics and some sitcoms poke fun at societal conventions. And then there’s The Simpsons and South Park, which absolutely skewer them.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Terry Pratchet’s Disk World, and Borat all satirize social systems.
C. IN YOUR CREATIONS
Inner Drives Center of Motivation – Throat: cleverness.
Humor is about exaggeration, so select some trait of the baddie to mock and caricature. Laughter is contagious; once fearsome is turned into funny, the baddie’s power will soon erode.
Laughter seldom converts a bully, but it can convert their followers. Once they’re an object of ridicule, it’s hard for a baddie to make a comeback.
Power of the Dark Side Page 17
