Plot hole involving nature spirits

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

This is for a work-in-progress story I mentioned earlier in this thread:

I've just outlined a fantasy story that is supposed to take place in a fictional era of gods and magic within our world's past, similar to the ancient Greek concept of the "Heroic Age" as well as Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age or Tolkien's Middle Earth. The civilizations of this world are almost all inspired by those from our own world's history, with one nation called Kemet being based on ancient Egypt and another called Nihon being based on feudal Japan. The main plot of the story is about a Kemetian Medjay warrior (basically a sort of professional guard) and a Nihonese ninja having to put aside their differences to retrieve a stolen crown with magical powers from an evil shogun who was the ninja's former mistress.

I've done the first four chapters of this story, with a total word count nearing 5k, but I've realized a possible plot hole.

The main plot of the story has our two heroines, the Medjay warrior and the ninja, setting out to retrieve the stolen crown from the ninja's original mistress, a shogun who wishes to use the crown as a sort of weapon of mass destruction. However, after these nature spirits called kami inform the shogun of this, she sends the kami over to impede our heroines' progress through the manipulation of nature in exchange for a blood sacrifice. For example, in the fourth chapter I've written, the kami send a pack of hungry hyenas after the heroines.

This is where I'm a little stuck. If the shogun is able to use kami like this, why would she need the crown in the first place? Could she not simply use the kami for her purposes at all times? In addition, since kami as a concept are from the Japanese Shinto religion, I've started to feel a little uneasy using them for my story. I'm not Japanese myself, and I don't want to misrepresent a concept from a religion that is still very much around and has a ton of adherents to this day. On the other hand, I really do need our protagonists to be facing difficulty on their journey from Kemet to Nihon, and it would be preferable if the shogun and her minions played an active role in this.

What is a way I could patch up this plot hole? Or are there any preferable alternatives?

 

[Kallisto]

This is for a work-in-progress story I mentioned earlier in this thread:

I've done the first four chapters of this story, with a total word count nearing 5k, but I've realized a possible plot hole.

The main plot of the story has our two heroines, the Medjay warrior and the ninja, setting out to retrieve the stolen crown from the ninja's original mistress, a shogun who wishes to use the crown as a sort of weapon of mass destruction. However, after these nature spirits called kami inform the shogun of this, she sends the kami over to impede our heroines' progress through the manipulation of nature in exchange for a blood sacrifice. For example, in the fourth chapter I've written, the kami send a pack of hungry hyenas after the heroines.

This is where I'm a little stuck. If the shogun is able to use kami like this, why would she need the crown in the first place? Could she not simply use the kami for her purposes at all times? In addition, since kami as a concept are from the Japanese Shinto religion, I've started to feel a little uneasy using them for my story. I'm not Japanese myself, and I don't want to misrepresent a concept from a religion that is still very much around and has a ton of adherents to this day. On the other hand, I really do need our protagonists to be facing difficulty on their journey from Kemet to Nihon, and it would be preferable if the shogun and her minions played an active role in this.

What is a way I could patch up this plot hole? Or are there any preferable alternatives?

Personally, I tell people that they just write their story how they want to and when people on the internet try to point the "plot holes" out to them, just responde the way JRR Tolkien did which is as follows: "Shut up!"

And I say this because I don't see a plot hole. I really don't! Because if the price is a blood sacrifice in order to get the kami to do what you need them to do, you're going to run out of blood eventually! That's the problem when you have magics that require a price. She doesn't really control the kami, so depending on them is a bad strategy. It would be much more convenient to just have, I dunno, a weapon she can control and deploy without having to do a blood sacrifice. Thinking maybe a crown that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction or something?

So, you don't have a plot hole. At all! And anyone who is telling you that you do, is lacking critical thinking.

And this is an issue with the internet age of people who overthink plots.

 

[Brandon S. Pilcher]

And I say this because I don't see a plot hole. I really don't! Because if the price is a blood sacrifice in order to get the kami to do what you need them to do, you're going to run out of blood eventually! That's the problem when you have magics that require a price. She doesn't really control the kami, so depending on them is a bad strategy. It would be much more convenient to just have, I dunno, a weapon she can control and deploy without having to do a blood sacrifice. Thinking maybe a crown that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction or something?

So, you don't have a plot hole. At all! And anyone who is telling you that you do, is lacking critical thinking.

Thanks, you have a good point there.

 

[X Equestris]

First, define what the crown can do. What kind of mass destruction can it cause, what makes it a better or more desirable tool than the kami, etc. Second, set out some limits for the kami and their abilities.

For example, does the blood sacrifice need to be from the summoner/binder or a sacrificial victim? If it’s the former, you’ve good a pretty low ceiling on what you can do as a sorcerer. Meanwhile, if it’s the latter, the supply of blood offerings may be effectively unlimited if human sacrifice isn’t abnormal in this culture. On the other hand, if it’s something your villainess needs to hide, it would make for an even lower ceiling than offering your own blood.

In addition, since kami as a concept are from the Japanese Shinto religion, I've started to feel a little uneasy using them for my story. I'm not Japanese myself, and I don't want to misrepresent a concept from a religion that is still very much around and has a ton of adherents to this day.

Here, I think research would be key. You’ll want to look closely at Shinto beliefs about kami, what sacrifices and rituals are offered to them, and what those are believed to accomplish.

From what I recall, while there were some human sacrifices in ancient Shinto, they weren’t focused on blood but on live burials in the establishment of large structures. So while your use of blood sacrifice is a genre convention, it may may feel out of place in a Japanese-inspired setting. I’d suggest looking into Japanese folklore and traditions of witchcraft for ideas that might fit this niche more naturally.

 

[Naomasa298]

This is where I'm a little stuck. If the shogun is able to use kami like this, why would she need the crown in the first place? Could she not simply use the kami for her purposes at all times? In addition, since kami as a concept are from the Japanese Shinto religion, I've started to feel a little uneasy using them for my story. I'm not Japanese myself, and I don't want to misrepresent a concept from a religion that is still very much around and has a ton of adherents to this day. On the other hand, I really do need our protagonists to be facing difficulty on their journey from Kemet to Nihon, and it would be preferable if the shogun and her minions played an active role in this.

Look up onmyodo, the Japanese art of divination, which also involved the manipulation of spirits and kami. That will give you an idea of how kami fitted into the wider realm of Japanese folklore. There are many levels of kami and other spirits. A rock might be a kami - but so is Mount Fuji. The rock kami can only influence its local region. Mount Fuji can influence the whole country, particularly through its influence on the capital, Edo. And in a lot of stories, being able to influence Kyoto was also important, because Kyoto was the Imperial capital, the source of the nation's spiritual power.

Onmyōdō - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Japanese folklore is not without magic items either. The sacred Imperial regalia had magical and spiritual significance. They were the Kusanagi no Tsurugi sword, used to (supposedly) slay the serpent Yamata-no-Orochi, the mirror Yata no Kagami and the jewel Yasakani no Magatama.

Imperial Regalia of Japan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Although "kami" does mean gods, there is a distinction between the nature gods, and the heavenly gods, which you may not want, but you could draw a distinction between nature kami and primordial ones, the ones older than mankind itself.