Worldbuilding: A Cure for Happiness - Mirror Spirits

Worldbuilding: Mirror Spirits in A Cure for Happiness

Someone wanted to know more about mirror spirits over on tumblr, so here's the response:

This is a type of domestic spirit that “haunts” a house or other location. In Brieuc’s family home, there is a mirror spirit that tends to pop up and take control of their reflections, much to his irritation. It’s not a scary spirit - just a thing that happens to share their home - and it’s been there for generations, but it can be a bit annoying to be brushing your teeth and have your reflection start doing weird things.

Bit of a playful, mischievous creature. Sometimes lonely, so it likes to have the company, and it likes to strike up conversation. A mirror spirit isn’t necessarily anchored to the mirrors, but it can only show itself through reflective surfaces like mirrors. Like any other domestic spirit, however, it is anchored and restricted to the house or other location which it haunts.

I’m still working on the characterization of Brieuc’s family house’s mirror spirit, but I know for sure there’s going to be a bit of an almost sibling dynamic happening between the two, maybe? Brieuc grew up with it, after all. But then… maybe a bit of a cooky uncle or grandpa dynamic? We shall see!

But the mirror spirit, having been around for so long, also knows many family secrets…

The mirror spirit that lives in Brieuc’s house is called Espel, and he’s been around since the house was built. He likes to refer to himself as “practically an ancestor” of Brieuc’s and would like him to respect him as such, thank you very much! Espel has pretty much designated the attic as his space, and over generations, it’s stuck. He’s particularly grumpy that the hobgoblin Mawna has been cluttering up his attic by using it as a storage space.

 

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