@pancakewithacravat Great questions!!!
And no worries! A lot of the jokes and comics in Wisdomverse aren’t only jokes— they’re also meant to give readers a little bit more exposition about how the characters and the world work.
So please do feel free to think through things! I’ve already thought about all this stuff, and I love when readers do the same! And nothing you’ve asked is a spoiler, so I’m happy to answer now. :)
NOTE: The following speculation is all entirely optional, of course. If things become necessary to the plot, I’ll do my best to bring it up organically. Feel free to carry on!
How does Phantom kill herself on command without physically killing her body? Can she force her soul to leave her body, or does she stop her heart through sheer force of will?
Either way works here, so anyone can feel free to consider the nonviolent approach (she ejects her soul from her body) to be canon to WV if you wish! I figure some people may prefer to think that.
However, I personally write her as literally killing herself through sheer force of will. She stops her heart until she dies, and then her spirit leaves her body. It’s a bit of a struggle and kinda painful, but she’s gotten used to it, and the perks of being in ghost mode are worth it to her.
What would it take for her to fully die, seeing as getting killed just makes her spirit appear?
Hinted at the answer in Phantom’s design page, but I can go into more detail now!
Phantom is unique: the connection between her body and soul is very tenuous. This means, funnily enough, that her soul doesn’t die when her body does. So she always has one free revive, kinda like she always has a fairy around. (For the Fire Emblem fans in the house, this also functions like the “Miracle” or “Hold Out+++” skill; for the Triangle Strategy fans, she operates kinda like Maxwell; for the XCOM fans, this is very similar to Stasis.)
In short: If Phantom’s soul is in her body when she dies, dying puts her body in stasis and ejects her soul.
While in ghost mode, Phantom’s soul is invisible and intangible to most people. She can only fight and talk by possessing something like the Phantom armor. Phantom’s soul itself is pretty much invincible, and cannot be killed through normal means. Phantom was correct in the comic— even if Artemis had cut off the head of the armor, it wouldn’t have done anything to her other than inconvenience her (she’d have to go get her head back). If the armor got destroyed, she’d be out of the battle because she’d have to get a new one, but it wouldn’t do any damage to her actual soul.
However, while in ghost mode, Phantom’s body is incredibly vulnerable. She’s unconscious and defenseless, and in stasis between life and death.
Killing her body while her soul isn’t in it would kill her for good.
This means, despite how strong her ability seems, she’s not totally invulnerable or anything. I’ve written her powers to be balanced this way so that it’s always possible to keep the stakes high.
Really, all you need to do to kill Phantom is stab her twice.
Is Wind seeing Phantom a nod to him seeing ghosts in Phantom Hourglass?
Answered before here, but I’ll go into more detail with this one as well: Wind proves he can see ghosts in Phantom Hourglass, where he can talk to the corpses in the Ocean Temple and various other islands. There are also a few ghosts he can see in Wind Waker, though those guys can clearly make themselves visible to others as well (Medli and Makar can see the sages, and a few different people can see KoRL— while it’s possible that all of them have the ability to see ghosts; I prefer to think those ghosts simply have the ability to make themselves visible to the people they need to).
Spirit has the same ability, and can see and talk to Phantom in ghost mode. Tetra does not, and therefore gets pranked by Wind and Phantom. >:)