History Main / AnatomyOfTheSoul

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* '''Dreams --''' Believe it or not, Dreams are a valuable commodity. All you need is a few days of insomniac nightmares to realize the value of even the most mundane dream. Supernatural creatures seem to treasure human dreams a great deal. Perhaps they can't dream? More majestically, a character's dream's represent their hopes and aspirations, so their loss represent a loss of [[AmbitionIsEvil drive and ambition.]] Perhaps more dangerously, the ability to ''sleep.''

* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence Essence]]/TrueName --''' A philosophical and metaphysical concept that more or less is what makes something what it is. Both people, animals, and even inanimate objects have this. It's not usually directly named or addressed in fiction but a lot of stories reference it indirectly. Especially when related to magic systems that draw power from souls (or maybe even elements and nature). It's a connection with Essence that basically gives people the power to draw power from things because it defines what something can do and can become..

* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence Essence]] --''' A philosophical and metaphysical concept that more or less is what makes something what it is. Both people, animals, and even inanimate objects have this. It's not usually directly named or addressed in fiction but a lot of stories reference it indirectly. Especially when related to magic systems that draw power from souls (or maybe even elements and nature). It's a connection with Essence that basically gives people the power to draw power from things because it defines what something can do and can become. Can be simplified to the TrueName.

* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence Essence]] --''' A philosophical and metaphysical concept that more or less is what makes something what it is. Both people, animals, and even inanimate objects have this. It's not usually directly named or addressed in fiction but a lot of stories reference it indirectly. Especially when related to magic systems that draw power from souls (or maybe even elements and nature). It's a connection with Essence that basically gives people the power to draw power from things because it defines what something can do and can become. Can be simplified to the [[TrueName]].

* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence Essence]] --''' A philosophical and metaphysical concept that more or less is what makes something what it is. Both people, animals, and even inanimate objects have this. It's not usually directly named or addressed in fiction but a lot of stories reference it indirectly. Especially when related to magic systems that draw power from souls (or maybe even elements and nature). It's a connection with Essence that basically gives people the power to draw power from things because it defines what something can do and can become. Can be simplified to [[WordsCanBreakMyBones The Name]].

* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essence Essence]] --''' A philosophical and metaphysical concept that more or less is what makes something what it is. Both people, animals, and even inanimate objects have this. It's not usually directly named or addressed in fiction but a lot of stories reference it indirectly. Especially when related to magic systems that draw power from souls (or maybe even elements and nature). It's a connection with Essence that basically gives people the power to draw power from things because it defines what something can do and can become.

* '''ShadowArchetype --'' Everything a person rejects or denies about themselves, which they will often project upon others. Modern fiction equates it to evil, because Shadow Is Dark and DarkIsEvil, but the original Jungian concept can also contain positive aspects. Essentially, a Saint's Shadow will be a Sinner, and a Sinner's Shadow will be a Saint, but [[LiesToChildren that's an oversimplification at best.]]

* '''Inner Genius --''' Usually manifests as a GoodAngelBadAngel or SpiritAdvisor of some kind, [[MageTheAscension the owner's Divine Spark that can do magic]], or [[HisDarkMaterials as a "wizard's familiar."]]

* '''{{Avatar}} --''' Kind of a SpiritAdvisor, the avatar usually manifests as a [[GoodAngelBadAngel guardian spirit]] of some kind. Avatars are usually either a manifestation of one of these, or the owner's Divine Spark that can do magic. Think "wizard's familiar".

** NGE's souls are actually more along the lines of the Freudian Ego, with the AT fields filling in as the ego barriors. [[Spoiler: That's why Instrumentality can happen. The plan is to eliminate lonelyness by collapsing the ego barriors of all living things into one unified being.]]

** NGE's souls are actually more along the lines of the Freudian Ego, with the AT fields filling in as the ego barriors. [[Spoiler: That's why conception can happen. The plan is to eliminate lonelyness by collapsing the ego barriors of all living things into one unified being.]]

** Kaoru dubbed the Anti-Terror Field to be "the light of our souls".
** It's actually "Absolute Terror Field". Interestingly, ''ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'' had a slightly different take on it called "Absolute Territory Field" and explained it as sort of a region where the quantum observations of a consciousness collapsed wave functions in to certain states, therefore causing consciousness to actually change reality somewhat.

* SoulEater breaks it down into body, mind and soul, stating as one of its oft-repeated (moreso early on) phrases that "a healthy soul lives in a healthy mind and healthy body"; the implication being that the state of one affects the rest. The progress or lack thereof of all characters can to an extent be brought back to their state in relation to this concept. It's simplistic and neat in theory, though in practice gets some odd applications - Crona in particular.

* '''{{Soul}} --''' Pretty basic component. The soul is usually the MoralityChain of a person, and usually carries all good and bad karma... unless those are separate components. May or may not be synonymous with Mind. It also bears the part of a human that can create life and art, and its loss brings CreativeSterility.

** '''Split Personality --''' Well, not so much a part of the mind as a mind apart. [[SplitPersonalityTropes Split Personalities]] come in lots of shapes and sizes, but each generally represents a part of the character as a whole.

* '''Mind --''' The seat of consciousness. Generally, it's biologically based, but the number of FreakyFridayFlip stories out there implies otherwise.

* ''{{Persona}}'' uses a kind of Jungian Soul Anatomy, though it tends to focus primarily on the Mind. A Persona is a physical manifestation of the wielder's psyche. In the original, one character's consciousness is split in three, an "Ideal" version, an "Innocent" version, and a Malevolent "Id" version. In Persona 4, a character's repressed feelings manifest themselves as a Shadow, which can become a Persona when accepted. Igor does say that the power of Persona is the power to control one's Heart, which is why Social Links are so important in the later games. (When a character's without the Wild Card has a strong enough bond with the protagonist, their Persona literally evolves.) Dreams also extremely important in each game. (Igor or Philemon usually first contacts the protagonists through a dream.) Finally, Destiny plays a major role in each of the games. In Persona 4, it's explicitly stated that only those bound by a "contract" may enter the Velvet Room.

* [[Soul Eater]] breaks it down into body, mind and soul, stating as one of its oft-repeated (moreso early on) phrases that "a healthy soul lives in a healthy mind and healthy body"; the implication being that the state of one affects the rest. The progress or lack thereof of all characters can to an extent be brought back to their state in relation to this concept. It's simplistic and neat in theory, though in practice gets some odd applications - Crona in particular.

*** It is called "Absolute Territory Field" in the original series as well, at least in the Japanese version. Why it is translated into "Absolute Terror Field" is probably just a mistake by the producers.

So just how many 'pieces' is a normal humans' spiritual aspect made up of? What do they represent, and what happens if one gets lost or stolen? That is what this trope is about.

'''The common components for a humans' spirit are usually:'''