Pyrokinesis

Pyrokinesis, derived from the Greek words πυρ (pûr, meaning "fire, lightning") and κίνησις (kínesis, meaning "motion"), was the name coined by horror novelist Stephen King for the ability to create or to control fire with the mind that he gave to the protagonist Charlie McGee in Firestarter. The word is parallel to telekinesis, though arguably the "tele-" (meaning "from afar") rather than "-kinesis" is the part that ought to have been preserved. Critic S.T. Joshi describes it as a "singularly unfortunate coinage".

Pyrokinesis is popular in fiction, with numerous examples in films, books, and television series. These include the episode "Fire" from The X-Files, the Beyond Reality episode "Enemy in Our Midst", the One Step Beyond episode "The Burning Girl", the Fringe episode "The Road Not Taken" and the Charmed episode "Lost and Bound". Several such works, such as "The Burning Girl" pre-date Firestarter, and have direct parallels with King's work. (King himself wrote that "Firestarter has numerous science fiction antecedents".) It is King, however, that first named the idea "pyrokinesis", this name not occurring in prior works.

Theories

Several works of fiction explain pyrokinetic powers as being the ability to excite or speed up an object's atoms, increasing their thermal energy until they ignite, not necessarily objects, but also air particles. In The Science of Stephen King, authors Gresh and Weinberg argue that this is "vaguely possible", but characterize it as "generally the stuff of comic books", such as Marvel Comics' Human Torch and Pyro. Without some form of electromechanical device, such as a device to release several of the compounds that do spontaneously ignite upon contact with the oxygen in air (such as silane, a pyrophoric gas, or rubidium), or some form of triggering device located at the source of the fire, there is no scientifically known method for the brain to trigger explosions and fires at a distance.

Examples of claimed pyrokinesis

In the case of A.W. Underwood, a 19th-century African-American who achieved minor celebrity with the purported ability to set items ablaze, scientists suggested concealed pieces of phosphorus may have instead been responsible. White phosphorus ignites in air at about 30°C; as this is slightly below body temperature, the phosphorus could be readily ignited by breath or rubbing.

In March 2011, a 3 year-old girl in Antique Province, Philippines gained media attention for mysteriously producing and predicting fire. The town mayor himself witnessed firsthand how a pillow burned after the girl said "pillow... fire." Many other people including the local chief of police and fire officers saw how the girl caused fire without physical contact to the objects.

Examples of pyrokinesis in fiction

The following fictional characters are explicitly identified as having the power of pyrokinesis:

Literature

• Charlene "Charlie" McGee, main character of Stephen King's novel Firestarter
• Junko Aoki of the Miyuki Miyabe novel Crossfire and the film Kurosufaia (Pyrokinesis in English) [1]
• Taranee from W.I.T.C.H
• Morgan Rowlands of the Sweep Series
• The Toa of Fire of Bionicle
• Philip "Torchie" Greg from the Hidden Talents series
• All Elemental magicians in the Skulduggery Pleasant novels
• Queen Akasha and various other characters in The Vampire Chronicles
• Dustfinger and Farid from the Inkheart Trilogy
• Leo Valdez has the rare gift among children of Hephaustus to manipulate fire in the Heroes of Olympus Series: The Lost Hero.
• Mia Cooper gains the abiity to control fire after she burns Catherine Reader. Shapeshifter; Dowsing The Dead.

Comics

• Human Torch of Marvel Comics team, the Fantastic Four
• Ghost Rider of Marvel Comics
• Super-Skrull of Marvel Comics
• Legion, mutant in X-Men comics.
• Red Hulk of Marvel Comics
• Rusty Collins, a fire-generating mutant in X-Factor and X-Force in Marvel Comics X-Men
• St. John Allerdyce, alias Pyro, fire-manipulating mutant in X-Men comics and films.
• Min Li Ng, the Marvel comics villain also known as Silk Fever
• Volcana in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited
• Fire from DC Comics
• Liz Sherman, young woman from Hellboy comic books and film.

Television

• Ember McLain from the Nickelodeon cartoon Danny Phantom
• Heatblast from the Cartoon Network series Ben 10
• Volcana from Superman: The Animated Series
• Firebenders in the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, including major characters Zuko and Iroh
• Father from the Cartoon Network series Codename: Kids Next Door
• Meredith Gordon, Claire Bennet's biological mother in the TV series Heroes.
• Kimiko Tohomiko in Xiaolin Showdown
• Hades from Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series
• Nancy Lewis, Susan Pratt, and Sally Clark from the Fox series Fringe
• Walt Arnold, the coach of the Smallville Crows from the CW series Smallville
• Hotstreak from Static Shock
• Ash from Superjail!
• Wheeler from Captain Planet
• Rikki Chadwick from H2O: Just Add Water

Film

• Wilder and Wallace, brothers in the film Wilder Napalm
• Warren Peace from the film Sky High
• Matthew Patel from the film Scott Pilgrim vs the World
• Ghost Rider and his mentor from the film Ghost Rider
• Lisa from the film [[Hellboy and [Hellboy 2:Golden army]]

Anime & Manga

• Ryo Sanada from Ronin Warriors
• Rei Hino from Sailor Moon
• Hikaru Shidou from "Magic Knight Rayearth"
• Portgas D. Ace/"Fire Fist" Ace from One Piece
• Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha, and Itachi Uchiha, among others from Naruto
• Shishio Makoto from Rurouni Kenshin
• Karen Kasumi from X/1999
• Kyoko Kirisaki from Black Cat
• Ayano Kannagi and the Kannagi Family from Kaze no Stigma
• Recca Hanabishi and Kurei from Flame of Recca
• Shayla-Shayla from El-Hazard
• Tajima Takahisa from 11eyes
• Momiji Teruyama from Needless
• Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail
• Totomaru from Fairy Tail
• Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist
• Frederica from Psyren
• Natsume Hyuuga from Gakuen Alice
• Robin Sena from Witch Hunter Robin
• Okahara Ryouta from To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
• Shippou from Inuyasha
• Hao Asakura from Shaman King
• Gamma Akutabi from Zombiepowder
• Zelman Clock from Black Blood Brothers

Video games

• Dario Bossi from the video game Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
• Aya Brea from Parasite Eve 2
• Kyo Kusanagi, Saisyu Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Mai Shiranui, K', and Ash Crimson of the King of Fighters series of video games by SNK Playmore.
• Marlena, a boss in the video game Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, specializes in pyrokinesis.
• Blaze the Cat from the Sonic the Hedgehog series of games
• Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series
• Razputin and other characters from Psychonauts can develop pyrokinesis.
• Jack in BioShock
• Subject Delta and Eleanor Lamb in Bioshock 2
• Alexia Ashford in Resident Evil
• Nick Scryer in Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
• Char, one of the 25 unlockable characters in Maxis's Action RPG Darkspore
• Mario, Luigi, and Bowser from the Mario series.
• Captain Falcon from the F-Zero series, although he only uses his pyrokinetic abilities during the anime and Super Smash Bros. series.
• Ness and Lucas from the EarthBound series, though they only have this ability in the Super Smash Bros. series.
• The Magician in the house of the dead,the house of the dead 2 and the house of the dead 4 special has the ability to throw fireballs at the player which is similar to pyrokinesis.
• Nix, and, with proper Karma, Cole MacGrath in inFamous 2
• bombs from Final Fantasy Series

• Pyromancer from the computer game Heroes of Newerth
• Fire-type Pokémon from the Pokémon series.
• Fire Adepts in Golden Sun Dark Dawn have the ability to create and control fire. In the game its called Psyenergy.
• Gill in Street Figher III:3rd Strike.
• Pyromancies in Dark Souls
• Psionists in Allods Online