Let's Talk about Ghosts!

[Sheilawisz]

Inspired by the recent thread about Dragons, I wanted to start my own about Ghosts.

Maybe ghosts are not very common in our Fantasy genre, but I think that they have the potential to be interesting characters and also important parts of a story. Ghosts are unique in the fact that they do not have a physical body, so that opens many new possibilities for them.

So, please tell us: Do you have ghosts in your Fantasy worlds? What are your ghosts like? What special powers do they possess, and what are the limitations for them? What is their role in your story? Do you have any important characters that could be classified as some form of ghost?

Are they deceased people, or perhaps they are something else?

What about how ghosts are viewed in your world? Does everybody accept and believe in ghosts, or maybe their existence is controversial? Are they feared by ordinary people?

 

[Ireth]

I only have ghosts (well, one ghost) in one of my stories, a historical fantasy set in Scotland during the 1360's. The ghost is a supporting character, the soul of a young woman named Aileen who was murdered by a vampire (he intended to sire her, but was driven away before he could give her his blood) back in 1215.

Aileen's father and several others died trying to reach her in time to prevent the murder (they were killed by a second vampire whom the first was working for), so Aileen's soul is trapped in a time loop for the next 145 years, forever reliving the night she was killed and no one was there to save her. The other residents of the castle Aileen lived in couldn't help break the loop, since ghosts are invisible and inaudible to humans, meaning no one even knew she was still around. Eventually the other residents died of natural causes, leaving the castle abandoned.

Then, in 1360, the protagonist -- a vampire named Olan -- arrives at the castle, seeking solitude and safety from humans in the wake of his very recent transformation. Since vampires CAN see and hear ghosts, being partly dead themselves, Olan hears Aileen screaming and is able to reach her room, thus breaking the time loop. Aileen lingers around the place for Olan's sake, and they become friends as they work to bridge the language barrier between them.

Ghosts are not a widely known phenomenon in this story; the closest accepted belief stems from the real-life customs around Samhain, the festival of the dead, during which the spirits of the deceased were said to return to the mortal realm from the Otherworld to visit their families. The spirits were never seen or heard, and the visits were marked with a Dumb Supper, a meal at midnight held in complete silence.

I haven't quite hashed out what causes a ghost to linger in the mortal realm rather than passing on to the Otherworld. Ghosts are intangible and transparent, and they look like smoke when they move. If they pass through a person, said person feels a chill and the affected body or body part goes numb for a little while. Aileen uses this to Olan's advantage during the climax of the book, to delay the villain and other lesser antagonists reaching Olan.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Hmm, yes I have ghosts, and there is a distinct reason for their existence based on the magic/religious mythology. Ghosts able to interact with the living are fairly scarce, but their existence is mostly accepted on some level. Fear them? Mostly not, at least in a rational sense. But some ghosts could be worth being terrified of, but they are a rarity. To effect the living world, a ghost would need be able to manipulate the Elements, possible, but scarce. What would differ a good deal is how different peoples believe ghosts come into being.

In the world, no one believes gods aren't real. Their motives, what they really are, etc may be questioned, but gods and an afterlife are just a fact. In book, I have a couple POV characters who die, one goes ghost while the other proves the existence of the culture's mythology by passing toward their afterlife before leaving the book. The mythos of the world and series of books kind of demands the reader eschew any modern questioning of gods and faith and afterlife, so by the end of book 1 I wanted the reader to know in this world, it's all real... for good or ill, heh heh.

The corporeal undead also exist for specific and logical reasons based around the world's magic, although readers will really only get hints of the hows and whys, clues to piece things together over time.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

I have ghosts, but they are not present in the real world. To contact and properly communicate them one needs to go to the Other Side. The Other Side is a realm between the here and the hereafter. It's a lobby, sort of. This is where a person using spiritualist magic can contact the dead or the demons. The dead have long since promised to not interfere with the living world without forming a contract. The only time that a dead person can cross to living world is by contract between the dead person and a person using spirit magic. The dead person can do any of the following while in the living world: 1) benevolent possession of the magic user. (Meaning that the magic user and the ghost share the same body but the ghost does not superimpose their own will. Rather, the ghost guides the actions of the magic user according to the terms of the prior contract.); 2) malignantly possess another as directed by the magic user (This is bad ju ju though.); 3) be a poltergeist. Now, I would like to add it is possible for a ghost to get stuck in the living world but they are normally exorcised back to the other side in short order.

 

[Brithel]

There are ghosts present in the world, but none (save one special case) that could be conceived as a unique character. Most would manifest as mere half heard whispers in the wind or slight poltergeist activity.

Now the special case; in my world there is a race of subterranian Lizard-ish people named (atleast before I change the language at some point the Dracarice, and one of their cities/kingdoms was constructed partially under the ocean floor (of course near the coast). Now this leads to a classic tale of hubris were they delve to far and the ocean breaks in and floods, drowning the entire kingdom. The sudden death of millions, all experiencing pain and fear, leads to their souls remaining and coalescing into one being: Drencflod. Amongst the Dracarice the fear of this being prevents many from interacting with any large body of water (which is problematic due to the fact underground lakes/oceans supply a good deal of food for their kingdoms), and those stationed to guard the ancient tunnels to the city must not be stationed there for long else they fall under Drencflods influence (usually they drown themself in madness). There are some who worship Drencflod, as its power seems far more real than the long deceased god(s) they usually worship, but such belief is usually punished by death. The coast above the flooded city (and rivers leading to it) is renouned for tales of sea monsters that drag people under water and sink ships. Such monsters are merely 'projections' of Drencflod that (usually) posses the corpses of the people who drowned in the city, but can posses sea creatures or sunken ships. Ghosts usually fade overtime as the spirits weaken and memories fade, but the constant mourning for the drowning of the city, and its relatively high power compared to other ghosts means that it has and will endure far longer than others.

Most other ghost encounters in the world are at the site of old battles and usually you can just hear the screams on the wind if you listen hard enough. At times these aparations grow stronger (such as in the presence of magic) meaning that you may even see the ghosts visibly, or that they may attack you to carry out their old battles. Most normal deaths do not leave spirits strong enough to be seen except by those intune with the spirits.

The ordinary population believes in ghosts because they all hear stories of ghosts or maybe have even experienced them first hand. The 'educated' of course believe them to be nothing but peasant superstition, but they are of course real (as noted by spiritualists, witches, wizards etc.).

The elf equivalent to my world could also be considered ghosts, for the oldest (who have abondoned their bodies) fade overtime, some to the extent of spirits who can barely interact with the world, and they would be lumped in with ghosts by ordinary people who don't know better. Of course from a worldbuilding perspective (and from those of magic users) they are distinct as they still posses free will and personality, whereas ghosts are sort of imprints of moments (again with Drencflod being the exception as strong magic/'power' can spontaneously form consciousness, which is how the 'Elves' were conceived into the world).

 

[Sheilawisz]

Thanks everyone for sharing your Ghost stories and concepts.

Ireth, I find the story of Aileen particularly intriguing. I can feel the tragic nature and sadness of the story just by reading your description of it... That sounds like a really good Ghost character, and the setting attracts me a lot too.

In case that you would like to share the story, I would love to read it =)

I have ghost characters in some of my stories, too. The more recent one is Jennifer Lindgren, in Winter Hollow. Jennifer met a dramatic and untimely death, which allowed her to first fall back to Earth (she was being taken away by some invisible force) and second to anchor herself to the planet, so strongly that later she was unable to depart by herself.

The concept is that when somebody dies they are taken away to some unknown realm ahead, carried by an invisible force that is almost impossible to fight against... Only those souls that are truly determined to return to Earth for some powerful reason can manage to fall back, and they become ghosts in the physical world.

As a Ghost, Jennifer discovered that she could steal electricity in order to power herself up. This allowed her to do things like inducing dreams and even nightmares in her victims, cause a sensation of cold in the air, open and close locked doors and also make herself heard as she walked around inside of a house.

After absorbing energy from fire, Jennifer became even more powerful and she even apparated in front of a victim.

Jennifer needed the help of a happier and less traumatized ghost in order to abandon Earth eventually, and they traveled together towards a happier place somewhere in the stars.

 

[Smajdalf]

There are much types of ghosts, so I use them in many ways. They are mostly ecthoplasms, half-matter beings, poltergheists, wraiths and many more. Mostly, they live in the Spirit Realm, the other reality. They get to the Material Realm/real world through many ways. Cracks between realities, rituals, magic, portals, gates and some of their own will.(only the ones with The Final Choice)

 

[SeverinR]

I have spirits that are not at rest.
I have several undead beings that are ghost like.
In lore there are so many names of ghost like beings that strike fear into people, beings that can cause harm to the living.

So basically, a ghost can be a nuisance, like Moaning Myrtle of Hogwarts, to a ghost looking to tell someone something, to have someone complete a task, a being that can control a living person for a time(possession, more commonly a demon trait)
To an avenging spirit-a reverent, an undead that hates the living, seeks to kill (headless horseman), a sad ghost to a homicidal ghost that is still seeking something it lost while alive such as in the movie "Momma".

A ghost can be almost anything to a story, it can as interesting as any other beast in a story.