Thread: Mirrors

I know, it's a strange thing that I'm wondering about. But my next story which I will be starting shortly involves mirrors. They're quite important to the story.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I will want to know about them yet for my story, maybe how they're made exactly? Just the basics I suppose, since it's not like I'll go into detail with it, but considering that this story is fantasy/sci fi and the people live in a world where mirrors are banned... it may become important.

Mirror - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hmm, I looked at that thoroughly and it isn't quite what I'm looking for. How could one produce a mirror on their own? Glass would have to be made, because reflective objects too are banned in my book. It does sound impossible, but this story is fantasy more than it is science fiction.

So you're saying you don't know what you want to know, and we should tell you about it...

LOL. I just wanted to know basics about mirrors. On my previous post, I thought it would be important to know how one could be able to produce glass/mirrors on their own, what materials that could entail. Think of it like making illegal drugs, kinda, except we're talking about mirrors since they're illegal in this world.

in the absence of modern manufacturing technology, it'd probably be along similar lines to how mirrors were made in ancient times. howabout using very shiny metal/alloys along with glass? metal is about the only naturally reflective substance that would also be easily obtainable. highly polished silver or brass or aluminum could feasibly create a basic mirror i would imagine.

Thanks! I don't think I would consider it an 'absense of modern manufacturing technology', though. I mean, sure, people could make mirrors that way, but in a novel that is in the future, I'm sure I could make some machine that could make it that doesn't need to be made in bulk. I guess that you could say that I didn't need an answer, then, but I just wanted to see what people would say.

I don't know what the point of banning mirrors is, but it could pose a dilemma depending on the purpose of the ban. The biggest issue is that in a futuristic setting, wouldn't there be tons of reflective materials available? You could even use mercury as a portable contraband mirror, pouring it on a surface to create a mirror, then back into a jar when you're done. But you'd have to ban things like polishing any metal surface too much, cars would need something to replace side and rear-view mirrors, and god forbid people have cellphones with the cam facing the user, you could just watch yourself on the display.

So, why no mirrors?

As for the reflection dilemma, this is mostly just fantasy so I can just say that metals are like stainless steel and never show a straight image. I could say they live in cities where no natural means to make mirrors is available and everywhere else is banned. I can find ways around that. Or, heck, I could just make it so that whenever she looks in a mirror, her face blurs.

As for the question why would mirrors be banned, an answer may be indirectly seen here (which I know is poorly written for now):

[Consider the world I am about to speak of as a different reality but is mostly like modern day]
(A girl's name I haven't decided) Lives in a world where mirrors are illegal and nothing shows her reflection. Of course, this also means that no one knows what he looks like. ___ doesn't know what she looks like at all, she's never seen her face in her life. Rarely in her life has she been able to see other's faces. Only her mother's and father's have been clear before and whenever she walks, the faces of others blur before her. A side effect of looking at faces makes her dizzy. She thinks she's insane that this happens to her: the few times she's seen others faces, she can tell they're looking straight at her. Later, something happens to her that changes her life...

What happens later is she falls in love, and then she can see everything. Mirrors were banned because it changes the image of oneself, and faces are blurry to anyone that hasn't fallen in love and when they do, the reason for not having mirrors no longer exists for them, but must still be in play because of the other people that haven't fallen in love yet.


It may still sound confusing, but that's it in a nutshell.

Originally Posted by WolfieReveles

You could even use mercury as a portable contraband mirror, pouring it on a surface to create a mirror, then back into a jar when you're done.

Super cool idea.

Here's an idea:
If this is achieved through hypnotic induction, it could be a sort of safety-mechanism. Seeing one's own reflection repeatedly could create such a strong visual input that it would overpower whatever renders humans unable to recognize faces. Love could be that other strong input.

Psychologically there are few things that can compare to the passionate swirl of emotions caused by love, and the constant impact of self-perception

PS: @KyleColorado, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll have to use that idea myself some day.

Thanks Wolfie, you have helped me sort through my thoughts, and I may just use that last idea. This is what I made this thread for, I needed someone to talk it through for me and I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted or how to say it.

When I was a kid, we had a bathroom with mutiple mirrors that faced each other. It used to freak me out when I would see my own reflection, and the back of my head, looking at my own reflection, and the back of my head, looking at my own .... while each image gets smaller and smaller, on and on, to infinity. And, just think if you saw something else in one of those reflections? Something that wasn't supposed to be there...(cue the scarey music)

Originally Posted by Kevin

When I was a kid, we had a bathroom with mutiple mirrors that faced each other. It used to freak me out when I would see my own reflection, and the back of my head, looking at my own reflection, and the back of my head, looking at my own .... while each image gets smaller and smaller, on and on, to infinity. And, just think if you saw something else in one of those reflections? Something that wasn't supposed to be there...(cue the scarey music)

LOL, I once had a dream like that. I saw my cat's head for my face... but it was the size of my head and chest.