Category:Possession

From DC Database

Possession is the ability to take physical and mental control over another living being. Commonly, this power is employed by supernatural entities such as ghosts or demons. Unlike Mind Control, a person with this power displaces their own consciousness into a target body. The affected individual's actual consciousness is subsumed in favor of the more dominant mind or spirit. The longer a person is possessed by an outside presence, the more they risk losing their own consciousness forever. In which case, the possessing entity takes permanent residence inside their new surrogate body. While this may prove favorable for some, others such as Deadman, do not wish to cause undue harm to their host forms, and will abandon the body to protect it from undue risk.

There are a few methods for countering acts of Possession, the most obvious of which, is the death of the affected body. This is not an absolute rule however, and there have been instances where a possessor continued to function through a host body even after the host had expired. For example, the Lord of Order Nabu permanently displaced his consciousness into the body of Kent Nelson (the original Doctor Fate) after Nelson had died and continued to function through him for several months. ^[1]

Another means of countering possession is through an Exorcism. This is an occult ritual, which requires strong willpower, knowledge of the Rites of Exorcism and foreknowledge of the identity of the offending spirit. The Mage John Constantine has performed several exorcisms throughout his controversial career, not all of which have met with success. One exorcism in particular resulted in the loss of John's sanity whereupon he was committed to the Ravenscar Secure Hospital for a period of two years. ^[2]

In some cases, the victim of a possession may even call upon their own willpower and a psychic struggle for dominance erupts between the spirit of the victim and the spirit of the possessor. During the Sinestro Corps War, it took the combined willpower of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner to free Kyle from the dominating influence of Parallax. ^[3] Not all forms of possession are rooted in the supernatural. Some individuals may develop this ability as a side-effect of having a metagene. The Teen Titan Jericho has the ability to take possession of other people. When using this power, his body becomes incorporeal and he merges with the body of his intended target. If the target is conscious when the possession takes place, Jericho can only maintain control over the victim's body, leaving the mind free to resist him (though this rarely happens). If Jericho's victim is unconscious at the time the possession takes place, then he can supplant his own consciousness over that of his target and speak through them.

References

1. ↑ Doctor Fate (Volume 1) #4
2. ↑ Hellblazer #11
3. ↑ Green Lantern (Volume 4) #24

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