Failsafe?

Green Lantern is being subconsciously controlled by evil inter-dimensional aliens. How can we tell?


Aside from the very obvious fact that maybe these evil aliens should perhaps be a bit more subtle in their mind control--after all, Tom's not even fooled for a full minute--this raises a pretty interesting question--what's up with the oath?

It's pretty clear that you don't have to say the exact words of the oath. Hal muffs it (evilly!!), yet still gets fully powered!! No warning sign, no top secret message sent to Oa, no lockdown...nothing!

Alan Moore did a story where the oath was rewritten completely on the spot to accommodate a particularly alien Lantern (and if Alan Moore did it, it must be canon and genius, right?). And many a Green Lantern has used variations of the oath over the years.

So my question is, why don't you have to say the exact oath? Wouldn't that be a pretty good security measure to keep imposters or ring thieves or mind-controlled Hal Jordan's from tapping the battery's power?

But instead of functioning as a password, the oath appears to function merely as a time-marker: just hold the ring up there for the length of the oath, and you've got power! As far as I can tell, you could recite gibberish, hum to yourself, or just say nothing...and you could still power up the ring.

So, Guardians Of Oa, you've created the "most powerful weapon in the universe"...and essentially you've left the password set as "password." Sigh, nobody ever listens to the IT guys...

BONUS HAL JORDAN HEAD-WHACKING:


Oh, Hal...no wonder you're worshiped as the greatest Green Lantern ever...

From Green Lantern #13 (1962), as reprinted in Flash #232 (1975)