Ask the Captain: Confidence!

Editorial note: this week’s question was forwarded to the Captain by William F. Edwards of The Warthog Report.

Hello and welcome to our weekly advice column by Captain Happily Married, Edison City’s heroic defender against evil, injustice, and inter-personal conflicts! Today’s topic: power control!

Dear Captain,

I'm from another world, but was told this letter would be sent to yours for advice and translated into your language. For context I am a dragon with the power to control light, and currently trying to live a quiet life in a small village. My village had previously been destroyed by the Dark Lord's army, and well, the rays of light I unleashed as retaliation on those soldiers didn't even leave corpses behind. After my anger passed I decided it's better for everyone if I don't throw around that sort of power, we already overthrew the Dark Lord that destroyed my village after all. 

However my friends don't agree and are rather insistent that I continue using my control of light, asking what I'll do if my village is endangered again. Even when I agreed to go to a fighting tournament my friends all insisted I should use it to practice my power over light, but I don't want to bring in something that dangerous to what's supposed to be a fun event. I feel that as a dragon, my physical strength and the fact that I can fly are enough of an advantage in battle. I'd rather ignore the control of light entirely.

I'm told your main abilities are also flight and super strength, and that you help keep the peace in your world. Do you have any advice on convincing my friends that those abilities are enough to protect my village? And that I don't need my light powers to do so.

-Signed, Hyperion

Dear Hyperion,

This is definitely a serious problem! I have faced a similar dilemma myself; besides the strength and flight powers, I also have the ability to conjure a unity candle and hurl it with deadly accuracy. I was once engaged in a combat with two particularly powerful supervillains, Behemoth Bob and Tempestuous, and they were on the very verge of defeating me! I was just about to whip up a storm of unity candles and bury them in a massive pile of fire and candlewax when I managed to land a fortuitous blow on Behemoth Bob’s spleen, and thus gained the upper hand. It was still a hard go after that, but eventually I won out!

All that to say this: what you need to convince your friends is confidence! Confidence in your own strength and flight powers! I’d suggest two ways of going about this. First, are your friends in the tournament themselves? If not, are they perhaps dragons or do they possess some other power? If so, I might propose a side challenge of sorts; that way you can demonstrate to them without shadow of doubt that you are more than capable of using your non-light powers to defend your village. That done, and once they’re convinced, you can participate in the tournament with whatever tactics and powers you like!

Secondly, even if your friends aren’t dragons themselves or won’t agree to a side challenge, you need to have confidence in yourself! You, my dear Hyperion, are a DRAGON! You defeated a Dark Lord! Believe in yourself! Do you have any bards or other composers in your area? Commission them to compose a battle song, and then sing that proudly as you charge into the arena! You can do this, my friend! Be brave! Fly high!

In justice,

Captain Happily Married

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