Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31729
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31729
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

You can make the guide a computerized teacher or companion; which can be any size convenient to your story: very small (a patch on the skin) or a robot as large as a person.

The value of using a computer is that readers will accept it as plausible if it lets the MC get into danger, or if it does not provide answers because the MC is supposed to learn something on its own, or if it does not provide answers because it just does not know.

Think of it as a child with an iPhone-like device that responds to voice commands. Such devices (IRL) have no common sense or judgment about what is safe or dangerous, what is appropriate or illegal.

Your device can be similar. An iPhone might give you good directions for getting around New York City, but it isn't going to try and stop you from wandering into parts of NYC where you can get mugged and killed.

It would be far more difficult for a living being to plausibly fill the same role. In Star Wars, R2D2 does a similar thing for Luke Skywalker. When Luke veers off to go find Yoda, R2D2 is along for the ride, and they have a one-sided conversation (beeps and whistles on R2's side) that makes it clear R2D2 is intelligent but just a robot that does as it is told and will not refuse Luke's commands, even if R2 thinks it is wrong.

(Of course you don't have to make your robot argue at all if you don't want that.)

Readers expect **_living_** beings (with adult intellect, like R2) to not just argue but at times show emotions and have concern about the harm an innocent might do to themselves, other people, or valuable property.

So a living being with the knowledge to explain the world and humans to your MC to interfere with the MC as well. It is implausible for such a living being to just watch the MC walk into high danger, or do something that might harm another person, set a building on fire, etc.

For the modern reader (IRL) the most plausible highly intelligent but non-interfering guide would be a voice from a computerized information system and instructor. Which may or may not be attached to a robotic body, depending on the needs of your plot (R2D2 takes a few actions as a 'hacker' to rescue our heroes, for example.)

Original score: 2