As someone who writes superhero/superpowered stories Iâve noticed a funny quirk with âkineticâ like abilities lol. It kinda circles back to etymology. No it fully circles back to etymology. Of all things. As well as standard for superpowers.
First I must establish: Kinesis means âmovementâ or âmotionâ. It isnât the farthest thing from âmanipulationâ I guess. Considering kinetic abilities are types of manipulation. They do involve using the mind to trigger some kind of motion or effect.
In this post I am specifically calling out âTelekinesisâ for its absolute bullshit of an etymology though xD. Let meâŠlet me explainâ
so it is a superpower mostly known as Telekinesis. Depending on the story they might settle for the better term of Psychokinesis. But itâs most infamous name is the most inaccurate one. âTelekinesisâ. And in fiction it is the power to manipulate objects/items with the mind.
The word âteleâ in its roots quite literally mean âFar offâ âdistanceâ or âAt a distanceâ
the etymology of a name for a fictional superpower that allows one to manipulation objects I kidya not literally means âMOTION AT A DISTANCEâ
So either âTelekinesisâ is manipulation of motion (debatable) or just needs to be turned into a blanket term for kinetic abilities lol.
now the other term for it âPsychokinesisâ is uhhh not much better. Considering where the word âPsychoâ is commonly used in nowadays; however:
âPsychoâ as a word has its roots in the ancient greek word âPsychÄâ which meant âSoulâ, âmindâ or âbreathâ.
so we have a few different ways to skin this metaphoricalâŠbut it is probably intended to be âMind movementâ which I guess is more accurate, right? Like moving shit with the mind that is what the power does yet it still feels like it could be a blanket term.
Next we have the weird standard of certain kinetics being able to make what they manipulate but not ALL and it is the weirdest double standard (in my eyes).
I bring back Telekinesis and its lovely etymology probably one of a handful of powers that come to mind that stay STRICTLY as a manipulation superpower. That and Thiriokinesis also comes to mind (the power to mentally manipulate animals. Also known as âzookinesisâ in some sourcesâ) and neither creates what they manipulate. Technically aerokinesis (manipulation of air) doesnât either. If it does then you certainly cannot tell LOL air/wind is invisible after all and it is everywhere so I am working off the assumption to create air is just not needed.
then you got shit like Hydrokinesis (water manipulation), Pyrokinesis (fire manipulation) SO ON where they just summon shit instead of just ya know manipulating.
âBut Dixie ! Hydrokinesis users could just be manipulating the water particles from the air to gather it into a ââ I feel like there should be a consequence to that if so, and scientifically there should be. As that is removing moisture from the air itself. That all living things need. Including we humans.
and the thing is? The creation of those things are expected in media! But only for those specific superpowers!
for powers like Thiriokinesis or Telekinesis (and a handful of others iâm forgetting) there just isnât that kind of expectation. You see a character manipulate a fleet of ducks. But you donât expect them to create new ones (what would the creation of animals even look like? Do I wanna know? Wouldnât this give someone an experience?-) I wish it was more common for âManipulationâ and âCreationâ aspects to be separated.
âŠTO CLARIFY THIS IS JUST MY NORMAL TRAIN OF THOUGHT WHEN WORLD BUILDING. THIS ISNâT TO SHAME THE MEDIA FOR POWER PORTRAYAL (THATâD BE WEIRD) JUST A BUNCH OF MISSED OPPORTUNITIES AS A FAR AS WORLD BUILDING IS CONCERNED THAT I TAKE ADVANTAGE OF XD
