As I'm sure many have done in the past to the dismay of many on this wiki, I have been wondering about the notion of omnipotence, and here are my thoughts on the matter:
- No character in any story has ever proved to be truly omnipotent. Some have made the claim to omnipotence, some were said to be omnipotent, but none have ever been confirmed to be omnipotent. At best, some have done enough to merit attribution of nigh omnipotence, while most have done far less than that.
In the first place, how could one even prove omnipotence? Omnipotence Paradox is a very good example of how this is tricky; if the omnipotent being can lift the block-it-cannot-lift (BICL), then it could mean that the omnipotent being can truly do anything it wishes regardless of constraints, but it could equally mean that it simply failed to create the BICL in the first place--or that the BICL had to be first made into non-BICL--, and there is no way to tell which one is the case.
In other words, it appears that omnipotence cannot be proven, and therefore it seems odd to attribute it--at least with the standing definition of omnipotence (see below). - As this wiki and few other sources describe omnipotence, the very notion appears to be flawed, and here are the three most obvious flaws / shortcomings as far as I can tell:
- This wiki postulates "there can be only one in each fictional continuity, hence the "Above All"". Now, with all 4th Wall powers as well as powers like Fictional Transcendence included in omnipotence, it would seem that there can only be one omnipotence user in all of this wiki lest this rule is broken.
- Next, the name "omnipotence" does indeed mean "all power", but this doesn't absolve it from potential limitations. For instance, its name says nothing of the execution and constraints--there could be none, there could be many, and it seems rather close-minded to insist that there couldn't be some. After all, it merely says "all power", not "all power in any form, at all times, and under any circumstances"; even the most popular attribution of this power cannot resolve the contradictions associated with this notion, so it seems strange to go even further than that and extend it too.
- Finally, reoccurring issue--covered by fan speculations and paradoxes alike--is that the people who introduced the notion of omnipotence have most likely never even considered the notion of two omnipotent beings being at odds, or one omnipotent being trying to obstruct itself; after all, why would they? In other words, when people speculate about the confrontation of two omnipotent beings, or about the paradoxes, certain hard-line answers brought to the discussion are closer to blind faith rather than an argument.
Long story short, I propose that the omnipotence power should have no users (or one, if the person in charge feels religious), and it should be designated as the "unattainable root" of all powers on the wiki if we wish to keep it with the definition as-is. Subsequently, its former users and "interpretations" (e.g., Absolute Wish) would be delegated to an upper echelon of nigh omnipotence--which means the page on nigh omnipotence should be divided into tiers.
Let me know what you think, and enjoy!
PS: Even if you find my thoughts to be complete rubbish, please be kind with your reactions.