this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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This is a fascinating world building question. Genies are supposed to be magical, extremely powerful beings, but they only become interesting when bound by rules - either set by the limitations of the world, or of their magic.
A "fuck you I do what I want" genie isn't interesting because there's nothing to figure out in the context of the world the genie inhabits. And that world's context and structure ultimately dictates what makes sense to an audience, and what seems jarring or out of place.
The way a genie fulfills wishes and how it tries to worm out of it can tell you much of the fictional world it inhabits!
This is exactly my point. The genie, and by extension this post, isn't interesting unless the genie is bound by his own magic somehow. So why assume he is not?