Magic in fiction and real life Wed, 6 Dec 2023 Fiction, Opinion ============================== Magic is a large part of very form of fiction, and -- for me at least -- also a large part of getting enjoyment out of everyday life. `Magic' in this case refers to a way of explaining certain phenomena in the world. Bad explanations go along the lines of: ``its magic, now be quiet''. The other end contains overly detailed explanations. Bordering on the edge of science, even if the science is fictional. When magic is well done in a work of fiction, it always fills me with the giddy sense of excitement. The explanations given dance just at the border of what I can understand, and this sets my imagination going like nothing else. So then, let us look at some examples of magical systems in popular fiction, explain why must of them are terrible at intriguing me, and follow all of this up with some real world magic. Harry Potter ------------ On of the most popular fictional works containing so-called magic is probably Harry Potter. Love it or hate it, the Harry Potter franchise has been extremely influential to fiction as a whole, and I can think of few people who have not read at least one of the books, or seen a single movie. That being said, the magic system in Harry Potter is terrible, truly amongst the worst, here is why: How does magic work in the Harry Potter universe? You say a spell, you flick a sick around, though sometimes you do not speak, and sometime you do not flick, oh and you need to be born a wizard, which is a largely random process. This system explains practically nothing, as most spell-based magical systems do. Harry Potter goes the extra mile in lack-of-explanation by not even explaining where the energy used to perform magics comes from. Let me first address spellcasting more generally. Spellcasting, in its most basic form is the utterance of a phrase. The main question that arises when you implement a system like this is: Why that phrase? What is it about that combination of sounds that causes the big magic to happen? Is someone or something listening? If not, why must the sounds be vocalized at all? Spellcasting can be implemented properly however, and the systems that do are often among the most satisfying, but Harry Potter is not one of them. Then there are wands and their movements. Magic, in Harry Potter, is seemingly an inherent trait you are born with, that much is explained to us. We know that wizards and witches can perform magic without a wand, though possession of a proper wand allows for the focussing of energy like a lens. This much I can accept, and I actually like about HP's system. I would still like to know where the energy comes from, but this is certainly a start. Thus wizards have or use energy through their wands, and making the right sounds either kills a guy, or makes him grow a bear. By not explaining the spells at all, there is very little room for the imagination to play. We know that mispronouncing the levitation spell can cause you to spontaneously combust, but there is not explanation as to why. Let us say we are speaking in a language where float and explode sound very similar, then we might have some room to fantasize. What if I used the hand motions of float, but instead I said boat, would that summon an aeroplane? That sort of thing. Avatar the last airbender ------------------------- Let's look at a slightly better system: Avatar (the one with the tattooed monk, not the blue aliens). In Avatar, it is presupposed that every person has some sort of life force or energy flowing through them. Some people, called benders know how to shape this life force in order to manipulate the elements: water air, fire, and earth. This manipulation functions by moving one's body and the energy within it, and we can see this in action both in the comics and the television show. If a fire-bender moves their weight forward and thrusts an open palm forwards, they might generate a large cloud of fire, whereas the same movement with two outstretched fingers generates a finely concentrated stream of fire, or even lightning. This system works so well at its core because it uses fairly commonsensical concepts and combines them in a way you can grasp, even though it is still fictional. We know a thing or two about energy, we feel it when we become excited or angry, we feel its absence when we are tired. We also know a thing or two about manipulating the word through moving our limbs around. The fact that Avatar borrows from Chinese folklore and martial arts only aids in our understanding and the air of mystery surrounding it. You can start to fantasise about certain motions combined with certain elements. The story even encourages this as certain characters use the motions of water bending with the energy of fire bending. You can envision your own moves and variations, you can think of synergies and strategies, either borrowing from martial arts, or simply letting your imagination run loose. When it comes to explaining why only certain people can bend certain elements however, the magic falls apart for me. In essence, it has something to do with reincarnation and giant lion turtles who granted certain people the ability to bend at some time in their past lives. But if the system is all about learning to manipulate energy and moving your body, then why do we need to be imbued with this gift? To me, some of the magic is lost in this explanation, as it makes the whole bending idea much more otherworldly then it otherwise was. Unsong ------ Now, let us turn to one of my favourite implementations of magic in all of fiction: Unsong. In the world of Unsong, there are two forms of magic: names of God, and placebomancy. In order to explain both of these, some background is needed. The world of Unsong adheres to the biblical story of creation for the most part. However, after a war between the hosts of heaven and the hosts of hell, one angel: Uriel, decided to reprogram the world into the probabilistic system of atoms and forces we know today. Before this time, everything in existence was a direct expression of God's numerous faculties. After the restructuring of reality, history progresses as we know it, up until the space race. During one of the Apollo missions, humans attempt to orbit the moon and end up crashing into the crystal sphere that surrounds the earth. This sphere kept out the divine light and kept the world functioning probabilistically and all that. With the sphere cracked, a tiny amount to divine light is let back in. This means that everything in existence is now a little more an expression of God than it was before. Words previously just expressed things in existence, but now they also express God. The things in existence these words used to refer to also express God, and so there is not a connection between the thing and its expression, between the map and the territory. These two influence each other in both directions. Founding a town will cause it to be put on a map, but putting a town on a map may just as well cause people to settle there. In the world of Unsong, that certain phrases express God's faculties more clearly than others. These are the names of God, and they have various effects, such as making you bulletproof, walk on water, or become invisible. They do so by clearly expressing God's indestructible nature, His weightless, His obscurity, etcetera. A name of God is an expression of ultimate reality, and an expression of reality is no different from reality itself. However, this is -- by far -- the less interesting system of the two form of magic in Unsong. The second system is called placebomancy and it neatly encapsulates all forms of magic. Spells? got those, potions? got those, Avatar-esque bending? yes sir. A placebomancer attempts to convince reality that a certain thing ought to happen. Placebomancers use the entire narrative for their acts, carrying a mystique, having mysterious backstories, and ensuring esoteric places to perform their rituals. The reason this works is that, since the sky cracked, reality is not as stable as it used to be, and if you can convince it somehow that what you are doing ought to make fire shoot from your fingers, then that is what will happen. The stories we tell each other are a part of reality, therefore: wearing a robe and waving a wand helps to convince reality that you are doing magic. What is great about this system is that it simply uses a facet of the fundamental functioning of Unsong's world: the way we express things is just as real as those things themselves. Furthermore, it is inherently limited, which explains nicely why everyone is not just placebomancing their way into paradise on earth. Sure you MIGHT be able to convince reality that the devil never existed, but the devil very strongly believes that he does, and so do many others. Then again, if you can find a convincing narrative, the world lies at your feet. Both of these systems are things you can grasp, but not quite fully comprehend, thus leaving space for your imagination to fill in the blanks. This is the real magic at play here. No words on a page can make magic to the same extent your own imagination can. Thus, let us finally move on to real magic. Magic in the real world ----------------------- With real-word magic, I do not mean spells of ice and fire, nor ritual magic or elemental bending. I simply refer to those things which have a magical air about them. Things which we can understand just well enough for them to instill a childlike wonder in us and set our imaginations working. These things excite and intrigue us. Too-simple and they are not magical at all, too complicated, and it is science. Let's start with a personal example: audio cassettes. Audio cassettes work by putting air vibrations onto magnetic tape and retrieving them in the reverse manner. Now: I understand air vibrations, when listening to music (especially loud music) I can feel the speaker and the ground shake, I understand that this is the essence of sound. I also understand magnets. That is not to say that I necessarily grasp magnetic fields and such, but I know how magnets work, I have seen and felt them work. Expressing the vibrations of air linearly as thousands of little magnets on a tape, and spinning that tape to get the vibrations back is the essence of an audio cassette. The fact that we can do this is absolutely incredible to me, and, though I fully understand the parts, I still find it amazing that we can bend reality in this manner. In short, it is magical to me. Staying on the topic of audio: I do not find digital music players magical in the slightest. I simply do not grasp flash-storage, digital-to-analogue converters, and transistors well enough. These are all elements squarely in the realm of science. You would not try to explain them to a child, and with an adult you would use complex theories, and a lot a math. This is neither exciting nor intriguing. Sure it is impressive, but impressive and magical are two entirely different things. There are also systems which are too-simple to be magical. I find nothing magical about a classic gas-stove. Propane moves from the tank to the stove, it it seeps out slowly and constantly ignites itself. It is too-simple. Induction stoves on the other hand are too complicated. This also shows how subjective this magical feeling can be. To you, maybe a propane torch is magical, or maybe you grew up with so much magnetic field theory that induction stoves occupy the same space for you as cassette tapes do for me. I honestly believe that keeping some of this magic in your life is a large part of being happy and curious about the world. These `magical' things are the first places where you can learn more. You can turn your basic grasp into full understanding, at which point new magics open up to you. If you had to start your journey into electronic by understanding modern chip architecture, I am almost certain your search would never lead anywhere, it would simply be too-overwhelming. For me, magic can be found in audio cassettes, chemical photography, fermentation, pregnancies, seed germination, and so much more. For you the list might be different, but I think the effect is the same. Fiction is one way of keeping magic in your life at least. And if it is done well, it can instill a sense of wonder for the world as a whole, not just for the fictional universe where the magic originated. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I will close with one recommendation for a work of fiction, that being ``The name of the Wind'' by Patrick Rothfuss. It is the first book of a as-of-yet unfinished trilogy. And I enjoyed reading it very much. It has a great an innovative system of magic, which spiked my curiosity many time throughout the book, and the general storyline is very engaging. Above all though, it has been a while since a book managed to arouse my emotions so well. There were times I got so upset and angry at the main-character's actions that I had to put the book down for a few days to read a different novel. There were many many times where I had to stifle a fit of giggling in the library or on public transport. And I even smiled on occasion, which is not particularly something I am known to do. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send me an email at , I am especially interested in your thoughts about real-world-magic, as well as any book recommendations you might have, especially is they are works containing ~good~ magical systems.