Possession

Sometimes confused with "Mind Control", Possession is a term used to describe the ability of some characters 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.

Possession can also include characters that can possess inanimate objects in order to use them for themselves. Such as ghosts open drawers and doors. In these cases a consciousness cannot be transferred only extended.

Some examples of possession include:

• 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]
• 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]
• 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]

See also:

• Mind Control
• Intangibility
• Magic

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

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