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Also spelled alternately as geis * Geas is a Scottish Gaelic word pronounced as "gas" in English, and its plural is Geasa. Geis is the Irish equivalent, is pronounced "gesh", and its plural is geisi. , a geas is a form of magical compulsion or curse that originates in Celtic mythology. Those under a geas are required to fulfill certain conditions or are otherwise changed. One of the most famous is that of Cuchulainn, who was under numerous geasi such as that he must never eat the meat of a dog or refuse food offered by a woman. When an old hag offered him dog meat, he was forced to break one geas or the other, which eventually led to his death.
A geas usually takes the form of either a command or a prohibition: "You shall do this," or "You shall not do this." In practical terms, the geas may be prophetic, bringing about its own fulfillment either through manipulation of cosmic events or by simply instilling into the subject a compulsion which he cannot resist. If the geas can be broken, doing so will bring about the death of the subject, either directly or by cosmic retribution.
Compare: Magically-Binding Contract (which can have similar effects but is more of a deal rather than a spell or curse), Restraining Bolt (where an object produces similar effects)
Examples:
Anime
- In Code Geass (the title of which this trope inspired), Lelouch has the ability to place a person he makes eye contact with under a geas, as they have to do whatever he tells them to do once Lelouch's "Geass" power kicks in (though it only works once per person). The "Geass" powers in this series often work more like a psychic power or ability (such as making people fall in love or mind reading), which makes the majority of those powers unrelated to this trope. Only Lelouch appears to have the ability to lay a proper geas on people.
- A very interesting case in Bleach is Giriko and his Time Tells No Lies ability. Essentially, it's a contract he envokes on himself or on others, with the spirit of his watch. It can take multiple forms; increased strength, the power to kill by line of sight, and so on. The catch is that no party involved can violate this contract, or they'll be incinerated—the part that makes it a Geas. Wonder what ever happened to Giriko's eye? Sadly, Giriko doesn't see much action.
- In more of a direct mind control example, Zommari the 7th Espada can hit you with a spell from any one of his 50-something eyes, controlling whatever he hits. If he hits your head, he gets your whole body.
Comic Books
- Dunstan in A Distant Soil is a Fair Folk, and he says he is under a Geas that he can't tell a mortal soul who he really is while he's on mortal soil. However, it applies more when he's on soil - when he's on a cruise ship or a spaceship, he can actually mention this without violating it.
Literature
Mythology
- This is over the place in Celtic Mythology, from which it originates. Diarmuid, Cuchulainn, Lleu Llaw Gyffes and more.
- Several heroes, including Cuchulainn and high king Conaire Mór, found themselves in situations where they were forced to choose between either breaking their geas or violating the customs of Sacred Hospitality. They chose the former, leading to their inevitable death. Normally in the form of a particularly heroic Last Stand.
Tabletop Games
- There is a spell called geas in Dungeons & Dragons that forces the character to fulfill the terms. Clerics call the same spell "Quest", and also have a "Mark of Justice" that places a curse on a character who breaks the conditions of the Mark.
- The powers of Wu Jen and characters under the various Vows of the Book of Exalted Deeds have specific behaviors or tasks they must perform to maintain their powers.
- Geasa were used in 3rd edition Shadowrun to recover points of magic that had been lost by shaman/magicians/adepts. Your character had to accept some sort of condition to recover a point of magic. Usually anything the GM wanted/was willing to allow but classic ones were some sort of talisman that you had to keep on your person, having to fast on a regular basis, spend time in meditation, or only use magic in certain circumstances. Breaking the geas reduced your magic back to it's normal level.
Video Games
- Lancer in Fate/stay night, whose true identity is Cuchulainn himself , has a geas that if a man from Ulster uses Caladbolg against him, he must lose the fight, but it never happens. The sequel, Fate/hollow ataraxia has Shirou play a trick on him involving his original two geas, though they are never stated outright: Three female friends of his from school offer Lancer a hot dog, an offer he can't refuse and (were it actually dog meat) something that could potentially kill him. This is actually related to how he originally died.
- At one point in Unlimited Blade Works Rin threatens to use Geas on Shirou.
- The Halo novel Cryptum has a technological variant that can be imposed by Forerunners on other species (the term geas being the closest word in human vocabulary to describe the condition). The Librarian imposed one on the entire human race to make sure her husband was found and awakened at the proper time, the compulsion being that the humans present at his location would unknowingly sing a song that contained the codes needed to allow his reviver passage. Some Forerunners believe that their forerunners, the Precursors, had imposed a geas on Forerunners as well.
- Primordium takes it farther. One character has to deal with rejecting a geas that forces her to go to the dreaded Palace of Pain, which would ensure her and her companions' deaths. Turns out, gei are subject to change via nearby beacons, and the ones on that particular Halo have been hijacked by the less favorable side in the Enemy Civil War.
- Another aspect of the human geas is that the memories, and eventually entire personalities, of ancient humans are carried by many humans, "germinating and blossoming" as they do/see/hear/etc. something that triggers it. It gets to the point where the "old spirits" can hijack their host's body to communicate. None of this is considered a pleasent experience, to say the least.
- In Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark, as a way of avoiding the But Thou Must faux-choice, the player character gets a geas to kill the evil sorceress Valsharess.
- Yoshimo in Baldur's Gate II is under a geas to betray you at a certain point of the plot.
Web Comics
- In The Order of the Stick, Belkar is put under a spell which prevents him from dealing lethal damage (a D&D rules term, basically meaning any damage that isn't the kind you'd use in a sport fight — and Belkar never bothers with sublethal damage when he can get away with lethal) to any living thing within the bounds of a settlement. He also cannot travel more than a mile from Roy, on pain of suffering from a sickening curse. The curse is eventually invoked when Belkar stabs the Oracle, who had established a village around his tower for exactly that purpose, and then removed by a cleric who needed Belkar to protect him from an invading horde of goons.
Web Original
- In The Gamers Alliance, the archdemon Malphas ends up under a geas when he kisses fellow archdemon Nina Heeate's enchanted ring, and the geas forces him to serve Nina's every whim. It turns out that Nina was using magic and her female physique to mess with Malphas's mind, which confused Malphas enough to make the geas take effect. Nina doesn't keep Malphas on a tight leash, however, and instead lets him do what he wishes as long as he doesn't stand in her horde's way. The geas also requires Malphas to keep his mouth shut about the whole endeavour, further ensuring that Nina's part in the whole mess stays out of the limelight.
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