The Power of Creation

The power to create. That marvelous ability to make something under your own power.

It can go one of two ways in fiction. The first and more frequent type is simply having the power to take something (a basic material like atoms, dirt, rock, Mana, etc.) and create something else with it (a more complex object). The other version has the character make something out of thin air, or, more accurately, nothing. The created object in question may be permanent or temporary, depending on the character's ability and/or intention. Likewise, the scale, complexity, and other traits of what was created varies as well.

More advanced users may also be able to create life, which might or might not make the character a Mook Maker.

Contrast The Power of the Void. Compare and contrast the Reality Warper, whose power is "merely" altering realty, rather than adding to it. Though there is some overlap if the Reality Warper can shape reality into more complex structures, or make it whole cloth for those who are exceptionally powerful. Often the mark of a god. The Maker almost always exhibits this as well.

Please note: This only for people who have this as a power. Someone who creates something in a mundane fashion is something else entirely.

Examples of The Power of Creation include:

Anime and Manga

• The most powerful Rewriting Reality character in Princess Tutu is able to make characters spring out of existence through his stories.
• The thing that distinguishes Haruhi Suzumiya from Yuki and other Data Entities is that she can create data (which translates to physical matter and energy) from nothing, while they can only alter existing data. So she's a Reality Warper with The Power of Creation.
• Mahou Sensei Negima has the Lifemaker, former leader of Cosmo Entelecheia. Also known as "The Mage of the Beginning", his known accomplishments include creating Fate Averruncus, fathering the Ostian royal family millenia ago, and... creating the whole of the Magical World and almost all of the people who live in it. Said people are intelligent, alive, and even possessed of souls. He also appears to be immortal. Some characters even go so far as to call him the god of the Magical World.
• Rustyrose from Fairy Tail uses the Arc of Embodiment which allows him to materialize anything from his imagination to use as he wants.
• In Naruto the Sage of Six Paths used Reality Warping to split the power of the 10 tailed beast into 9 parts which are then brought to life as sentient beasts made of energy.
• Sakura Kinomoto in Cardcaptor Sakura using The Create can ... well ... create.

Comics

• All of the Green Lanterns have the ability to create anything with their power rings, only limited by their imaginations.
  • Kyle Rayner took this Up to Eleven when he became Ion the first time. It was implied that he had pretty much became a Reality Warper.
• Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan can create things out of thin air, or the sands of Mars. At the end he leaves Earth for a less complicated realm, and to try to create new life.
• The Beyonder from Marvel Comics can create anything he imagines.
• Captain Atom has the ability to create and manipulate energy and matter. In one story arc, "Quantum Quest," he took these abilities to their logical conclusion and created his own universe. He does a terrible job governing that universe, unfortunately.

Literature

• Little Pete from the Gone (novel) series.
• The disciples of Aldur from the Belgariad. Technically, they can do anything but destroy,^[1] but they create a lot.
• The Dangerous Days of Daniel X: Daniel has the power to create real objects with his mind, including people. Some of his creations include his own dead parents.
• Poncho the dog from the Young Wizards series. He can create whole universes.
  • Wizards can give some active spells "virtual mass" to grant them a tangible form.
• Discworld
  • Eric: The Creator, who creates the Disc itself, and also created Rincewind a sandwich ("Let there be egg and cress, sort of thing").
  • The Last Continent: The Man Who Carries The Universe In A Sack, who added FourEcks to the Disc later, including kangaroos as a sort of trademark.
  • Sourcery: Sourcerers also have The Power of Creation, being able to conjure things with just a thought which would take wizards ("mere" Reality Warpers) exactly as much effort and time as it would take to get them normally.
• Ella from Shade's Children can either create or summon objects she envisions.

Live Action TV

• In the Twilight Zone episode "A World of His Own", anything the protagonist, Gregory West, says into his dictation machine becomes real, including living beings. If he destroys the tape onto which they are dictated, they vanish. The end has a funny Breaking the Fourth Wall scene with Rod Serling.

Mythology and Religion

• Every. Single. Creation Myth. It's kind of necessary.

Tabletop Games

• Prestidigitation allows the user to create small rude objects that last a hour.
• Villains and Vigilantes has "Solid Energy Illusions", which are a generic way of implementing powers like Green Lantern's ring or Pyro's ability to shape fire. The resulting constructs last for as long as the super keeps pumping Endurance into them.

Video Games

• Amaterasu in Okami has this ability, though since she's been Brought Down To Badass Abnormal at the start of the game, we don't see the full extent of her power. One of the first things she does, though, is recreate a river where one has disappeared.
• Geneforge. A Shaper is an army.
• Most god games let you have this power, like Black and White.
• Arceus from Pokémon. Although you cannot actually use the ability in the games, it did create the entire Pokemon universe.
  • And that one event in HeartGold/SoulSilver allows you to use it, in a limited sense, in-game, and gives you a Level 1 Palkia, Dialga, or Giratina, holding its respective Orb no less, as a bonus.
• In The Elder Scrolls, the main difference between Aedea and Daedra, at least according to the book Aedra and Daedra, is that only the Adrea can create (but are killable) but the Daedrea can only alter the existing (but can be banished at best). This may not actually be true, as at least one Daedra has a "daughter", and another book suggests the existence of Daedra human cross breeds, and if the Big Bad of Oblivion is to be believed the Aedea and Daedra are the same class of beings, and Nirn is just another plane of Oblivion (TES lore is purposefully of ambiguous reliability like real books).

Web Comics

• In the Girl Genius verse, only people born with the Spark (simply called Sparks, or Madboys/Madgirls) are capable of constructing functional technological devices. Agatha, the heroine, has the unique gift to create constructs, which can create constructs (i.e. also have the Spark), which can create constructs etc. Each generation is a bit worse than the previous though.
• Minus: minus herself is a literal creator, and could probably do anything. Unfortunately, many of her doings caused problems.
• El Goonish Shive: Susan has a natural talent for this. In fact, confirmed two spells, one borrowed power and one synergy effect she had so far were all about spawning magical constructs out of thin air.
• The protagonist of A Beginner's Guide to the End of the Universe has the power to do that, in addition to modifying existing objects to suit his whim, though he needs to spend CREATIVITY points every time.

Western Animation

• Everybody with an imagination in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, but mainly the kids. Once an imaginary friend is created, their existence is permanent, and it's implied that at least one of them has outlived his/her creator. A particularly extreme case can be found in Goo, who has a hyperactive imagination and created friends constantly. She later learned to control herself, but she still creates some imaginary friends by accident.
• Aelita, in Code Lyoko. Her power is even called "Creativity."

Other

• The Mask of Creation worn by Artakha in Bionicle, which works under the first type.

1. ↑ They're allowed to break things, note