The Evil Genie
| “ | As you wish. | „ |
| ~ The Djinn granting wishes to his unsuspecting victims. |
Evil Genies are a common archetype of fiction, especially fantasy and horror genres - though versions of them exist in almost any genre you can think of: an evil genie is an individual who can grant the wishes of others (whether by magic or by wealth/power) but almost always ensures the wish turns out bad for their victims.
In Middle Eastern folklore and later in the traditions of the religion of Islam, genies (jinn, Arabic for "hidden") were created out of the four elements including fire by God before he created the First Man (Adam) out of all of the elements such as earth. They are (usually) invisible beings that are actually more like humans than we realize — they are born, grow up, marry, have children and eventually die. They are said to be made of "smokeless fire", perhaps something along the lines of energy beings. They are also extremely long-lived and highly efficient in magic. However, they can be killed by rather mundane means, if the tales of Arabian Nights (also known as One Thousand and One Nights or One Thousand and One Arabian Nights) is any indication. (At least a couple of genies have been done in by a rock to the head). They were sometimes trapped in a bottle. They might grant you a wish if you let them go. Or they might have been bound to something like a ring or a lamp and forced to obey the orders of anyone who summoned them. Genies are creatures of free will; they can be good or evil and may even be religious or not. There are even various types of djinn, not unlike how the Fair Folk trope comprises many different monsters. Belief in genies is still common in the Middle East to this very day. In Islamic theology, God decreed the demon spirits Djinn that they should bow to the superiority of mankind, but one among them, Iblis, refused to do so; thus, a third of them ended up being imprisoned by Suleiman and other holy men within lamps and such and forced to grant wishes. Genies in Islam can also possess humans for a variety of reasons — they might become romantically involved with humans, or they might just be obnoxious, even mischievous as one can say. During exorcisms, the genie is given the option to convert to Islam, leave the body of the human or die. Iblis, by the way, never repented, and in fact swore that he would corrupt mankind. In other words, he is the Islamic version of Satan (and in fact he is sometimes called Shayṭān or Shaitan).
In popular Western media, genies are immortal beings almost invariably trapped inside a lamp or a bottle, often materializing through a puff of smoke. (Originally, at least part of those items only acted as a means to summon the genie and didn't actually contain it). They must grant you three wishes, which they may or may not screw up horribly. (In the Arabian Nights, this number ranged from one to infinity).
More often than not, a wish-granting entity (a genie, a vengeance demon, a holodeck, a leprechaun, and so on) has some sort of contractual clause stating that they have to give a person exactly what he or she ask for — just not in the way he or she were thinking of when she or he made the wish. Ask for a ton of money, and it will appear. Ask for X-ray vision, and your eyes will start shooting harmful radiation. Anything one's heart desires beyond your wildest dreams. Mostly in media and popular culture, all it takes is one verbal phrase "I Wish". One gets around this by wording her or his (rhetorical) request as carefully and explicitly as possible. Or wish for the genie to grant the following wishes according to their interpretation, if one is allowed three wishes. Of course, there is but remarkably little plot conflict when things can go this well, so one must never ever expect very many characters to actually think of this.
They are not the same as a literal genie, who will grant a wish to the exact specification - whether good or bad - an Evil Genie will normally deliberately try and make the outcome as horrible as possible, for example: A man wishes to be left alone, a literal Genie may transport him to a remote island or desert - away from others with little chance of being found: an Evil Genie would take the wish to a more extreme measure such as transporting the man into the depths of space, allowing him to be alone while drifting haplessly in the void or alternatively leaving him as the sole survivor of an apocalyptic disaster, again leaving him alone in such barren world, making their worst and wildest nightmares come true.
Example
Theology
- The Devil: Many countless tales abound of Satan tempting people and giving them their hearts desires for a terrible price. He even tried (and failed) to tempt Jesus by offering him the entire world in exchange for worship.
Live-Action
- Lubdan (Leprechaun): Ventured into this archetype when he was forced to grant 3 wishes to someone who stole his gold - it did not turn out well for them.
- Djinn (Wishmaster): The whole character of the Djinn is about tricking mortals into asking for wishes so he can corrupt and twist them in gruesome ways.
Cartoons
- Genie Jafar (Disney's Aladdin): Upon gaining genie-level powers after he foolishly wished for it it, Jafar could not kill - however he could grant wishes and made certain they were as unpleasant as possible for those who dared ask him for them.
- Puck (Gargoyles): Normally a trickster by nature, Puck ventured into this archetype once when he twisted Demona's wish to be immune to sunlight - via turning her into a human by day (the one thing she hated more than anything else).
- Whisp (Monster High: 13 Wishes): A good friend/sister figure to Gigi Grant who became evil as she grew jealous of Gigi's position as a genie and is able to make friends while Whisp could not as she was just a living shadow.
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