Magic
January 12th 2009 22:03
I personally don't think magic is a requirement for fantasy. To me, it's magical enough to have otherworldly creatures and lands that don't exist or are impossible to exist in the real world. But nevertheless, it seems that in almost every work of fantasy, whether it's set in the real world or an imaginary one, magic has been involved somehow.
I don't know what the dictionary definition of magic is; and quite frankly, I don't care. I define magic as any controlled processes that result in scientifically inexplicable or otherwise impossible phenomena. The keyword here is 'controlled.' There are plenty of fantastic things that happen in the real world that no one has any control over (well, God, but a lot of people would contest that). For example, well, anything that ever happens in nature.
The problem with magic in fantasy (and many authors don't even call it 'magic' in their stories, since they don't want it to be associated with tired cliches or to become predictable) is that, in this modern age, people like to know how things work; they want the specifics, the details. In the days of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (and before them), they could get away with just saying that someone 'used magic,' or 'special powers.' But nowadays people like to know the details: what exactly does this magic do? Why do these people get to use it and others don't? Where does this power come from? Of course not all of these questions are answerable, logically or illogically...the mystery of magic, in my opinion, is part of the reason it's so addicting to write about and read about.
I'm not sure if this obsession with specifics and rules has come about because of our culture's advancement into this highly technological and informed era, or because certain fantasy writers introduced specifics and rules into their magic, or whether it's a combination of these things.
For example, in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy (great books: READ THEM), she outlines the system of magic in her world quite nicely. She gives specifics and rules, but she doesn't explain it completely, maintaining the mystery of it all. Now I haven't nearly read all the fantasy there is to read, but in all the fantasy I have read, she was the first author to really stress the importance of words in magic, or at least in her version of magic. A wizard in Earthsea must know a thing's true name and be able to speak a long lost language to change or manipulate things. The catch is that whatever is done affects the world somewhere else. A simple yet deeply serious rule that adds an interesting dimension to the use of magic as well as giving a subtle almost environmentalist type lession.
But then when you look at The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf didn't use magic much; but despite this it was well known that he was ancient and powerful beyond mortal reckoning. When he did use magic, it was a practical type usually based on light; if you look closely, you'll see he never actually physically harmed anything with his magic. He used it to ward off evil beings or to create light in a dark place. Very poetic and it mirrors his personality, but we never (at least in the base trilogy) get an explanation of how it works or where it comes from. This leaves Gandalf shrouded in mystery and open to a million interpretations (again, judging from the base trilogy).
It's okay that Tolkien did it, since he was a pioneer in the modern fantasy genre and his books spearheaded the revolution that still grips our literary culture today. But if a fantasy writer tried to use magic like that today, with no explanation of where it comes from or rules that govern it, a lot of fantasy aficionados might scoff at him. It's getting tougher to think up an interesting magical system that people will enjoy that isn't cliche or boring.
Whether it comes from the power of words and language, or from the strength of the soul, from God (or a god), or from the Earth itself, magic plays a big role in the modern fantasy genre. For well-planned and executed diverse magic systems, I recommend taking a look at the Earthsea trilogy, The Prince of Nothing trilogy, and Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Although some people don't like the narrative elements of these stories, all of their magic systems are very thoroughly planned and executed in a realistic way that fits in with the fabric of the world and the stories taking place in it.
Next Monday I'll discuss my plans and ideas for magic in Argul, my fantasy world in which my major story projects take place.
Tomorrow, for the first edition of Wordy Wednesday, I'll take a look at and discuss the word which, by this time, has universally become recognized as one of the terms used to describe a practitioner of magic: the mage. A fascinating word that has a lot of different roots and meanings that might not be so obvious to the casual fantasy fan. See you tomorrow, and have a great night!
I don't know what the dictionary definition of magic is; and quite frankly, I don't care. I define magic as any controlled processes that result in scientifically inexplicable or otherwise impossible phenomena. The keyword here is 'controlled.' There are plenty of fantastic things that happen in the real world that no one has any control over (well, God, but a lot of people would contest that). For example, well, anything that ever happens in nature.
The problem with magic in fantasy (and many authors don't even call it 'magic' in their stories, since they don't want it to be associated with tired cliches or to become predictable) is that, in this modern age, people like to know how things work; they want the specifics, the details. In the days of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (and before them), they could get away with just saying that someone 'used magic,' or 'special powers.' But nowadays people like to know the details: what exactly does this magic do? Why do these people get to use it and others don't? Where does this power come from? Of course not all of these questions are answerable, logically or illogically...the mystery of magic, in my opinion, is part of the reason it's so addicting to write about and read about.
I'm not sure if this obsession with specifics and rules has come about because of our culture's advancement into this highly technological and informed era, or because certain fantasy writers introduced specifics and rules into their magic, or whether it's a combination of these things.
For example, in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy (great books: READ THEM), she outlines the system of magic in her world quite nicely. She gives specifics and rules, but she doesn't explain it completely, maintaining the mystery of it all. Now I haven't nearly read all the fantasy there is to read, but in all the fantasy I have read, she was the first author to really stress the importance of words in magic, or at least in her version of magic. A wizard in Earthsea must know a thing's true name and be able to speak a long lost language to change or manipulate things. The catch is that whatever is done affects the world somewhere else. A simple yet deeply serious rule that adds an interesting dimension to the use of magic as well as giving a subtle almost environmentalist type lession.
But then when you look at The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf didn't use magic much; but despite this it was well known that he was ancient and powerful beyond mortal reckoning. When he did use magic, it was a practical type usually based on light; if you look closely, you'll see he never actually physically harmed anything with his magic. He used it to ward off evil beings or to create light in a dark place. Very poetic and it mirrors his personality, but we never (at least in the base trilogy) get an explanation of how it works or where it comes from. This leaves Gandalf shrouded in mystery and open to a million interpretations (again, judging from the base trilogy).
It's okay that Tolkien did it, since he was a pioneer in the modern fantasy genre and his books spearheaded the revolution that still grips our literary culture today. But if a fantasy writer tried to use magic like that today, with no explanation of where it comes from or rules that govern it, a lot of fantasy aficionados might scoff at him. It's getting tougher to think up an interesting magical system that people will enjoy that isn't cliche or boring.
Whether it comes from the power of words and language, or from the strength of the soul, from God (or a god), or from the Earth itself, magic plays a big role in the modern fantasy genre. For well-planned and executed diverse magic systems, I recommend taking a look at the Earthsea trilogy, The Prince of Nothing trilogy, and Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Although some people don't like the narrative elements of these stories, all of their magic systems are very thoroughly planned and executed in a realistic way that fits in with the fabric of the world and the stories taking place in it.
Next Monday I'll discuss my plans and ideas for magic in Argul, my fantasy world in which my major story projects take place.
Tomorrow, for the first edition of Wordy Wednesday, I'll take a look at and discuss the word which, by this time, has universally become recognized as one of the terms used to describe a practitioner of magic: the mage. A fascinating word that has a lot of different roots and meanings that might not be so obvious to the casual fantasy fan. See you tomorrow, and have a great night!
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