Magic in fiction: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 00:37, 28 December 2006

Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.

Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests. Magic has long been a component of fantasy fiction, where it has been a mainstay from the days of Homer and Apuleius, down through the tales of the Holy Grail, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and to more contemporary authors from J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis to Mercedes Lackey and J. K. Rowling.

Historical beliefs and fiction

The Alchemist, by Joseph Wright of Derby

Historically, many writers who have written about fictional magicians, and many readers of such works, have believed that such magic is possible -- in William Shakespeare's time, witches like the Weird Sisters in Macbeth and wizards like Prospero in The Tempest (or Doctor Faustus in Christopher Marlowe's play) were widely considered to be real -- but modern writers, and readers, usually deal with magic as imaginary.

Such magic may be inspired by non-fictional beliefs and practices, but may also be an invention of the writer. Furthermore, even when the writer uses non-fictional beliefs and practices, the effect, strength, and rules of the magic will normally be what the writer requires for the plot. There may be a well-developed system in fictional magic, or not, but when the writer does not systemize the magic, there is always the difficulty of ensuring that it is not merely used when convenient for the writer.

It is by no means impossible, moreover, for fictional magic to leap from the pages of fantasy to actual magical practice; such was the fate of the Necronomicon, invented as fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, who described it so well that there have been several attempts by modern authors to produce it as a grimoire.

Terminology

Magic is called by many names, usually derived from non-fictional terminology: magic, wizardry, witchcraft, sorcery. The usage varies widely, and terms have different meanings in different settings.

Enchantment is normally used in one of two senses. One is a permanent magical effect on an object, so that the object can be used without reference to any person who enchanted it. The other is a form of magic that affects minds, producing sometimes illusions but more often affecting thoughts and emotions.

Terms derived from more specific magics, such as voodoo, alchemy, or necromancy, generally remain closer to their real-world inspirations. Fantasy necromancers often work magic that has something to do with death, although the exact connections vary widely from work to work. Alchemy is the study of magical transformation of materials -- sometimes, as in Teresa Edgerton's Green Lion trilogy, using the actual historical terminology -- although fantasy alchemists tend to be involved with exactly those branches of alchemy that were not incorporated into modern chemistry.

The archaic term "gramarye" (in any of its various spellings) is sometimes used to indicate magic in fiction as it was historically, but generally in a context where it is as archaic to the characters as to the readers. Similiarly, Latin terminology may be used, as in ars arcana -- the arcane art, the art known by few -- to indicate magic as an exotic subject.

Terms for illusions

Related to gramarye, "glamour" is sometimes used to indicate magic that is illusionary in nature, causing changes only in appearance -- a historical usage, and in fact, the source of the modern meaning of the term.

The term "illusion" is generally used in fantasy, as it was not historically, to refer not to the illusion of having performed magic when none was performed, but to a magical effect that is not what it appears: a mist to look like a wall, but not to actually obstruct; a person to look like an ogre but lack its strength; or a horse to look like a donkey, but still need space enough to fit through as a horse.

Such magic, though not termed illusions, is common in the folklore from which fantasy magic derived. In The Tempest, Ariel can assume illusionary forms, and the fairy folk are notorious for their deceptive magics.

Features of magic

Users of magic

In some works of fantasy, anyone who can learn the arcane knowledge necessary can practice magic, but in many writers, the use of magic is an innate talent, equivalent to perfect pitch.

There is wide variation on how spontaneously a person (or other being) with such a talent can use it. Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy series at one point depicts a toy that will gradually lose its enchantment and teach any talented child using it to perform the magic instead; it is used to test for children who can learn it, in a process that takes months. Barbara Hambly depicts a character in her Darwath series attempting to practice magic on hearing how it is done, and succeeding. The unicorn in The Last Unicorn possesses her magical abilities without any effort on her part, as do magical girls in shōjo anime and manga; using such spontanously generated powers means that a character is seldom called a "magician" or "wizard" or such term, which is usually reserved for those who have to learn to wield magic (although in Xanth, magicians and sorceresses are people whose spontaneous power is very powerful).

Such variation can sometimes occur within the same work. In Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, wizards and magicians must study their magic, but a fire-witch can spontaneously have her hair burst on fire from her talent, and in Operation Chaos, a werewolf is dependant only a light trigger to master his powers, but his wife, a witch, must study to acquire hers.

Talents that occur spontaneously frequently need training to work more than sporadically, or at major effects, or in a controlled manner -- and sometimes all three. Harry Potter, first hearing that he is a wizard, remembers occasional odd things that appeared to just happen; school is necessary to have them happen at his intention, and to produce more effects. Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea novels were among the first to include a now-common fantasy trope: a school where magic is taught.

A third source of magic is the granting of it by supernatural beings. The personal nature of this distinguishes it from other types of magic: a being choses to grant the power. Joy Chant's Red Moon and Black Mountain depicts several classes of people whose powers are divinely granted: the Earth Witches, the Star Enchanters, the Wild Magicians. Sword and sorcery heroes may not only face sorcerers, but crazed cults where summoned demons grant powers. This type, owing to the cleric class in Dungeons & Dragons, is very common in RPGs, such as Final Fantasy, and Legend of Zelda.

The Pact with the Devil, in folklore and following it, fantasy, is not necessarily an instance of this granted power. The deal with the demon may be for the demon to give the wizard books or other knowledge that he can use to learn. Conversely, the pact may be for the devil to do the magic on the wizard's behalf, but the wizard must have first studied magic in order to summon it, and in some versions, to compel it to act.

A fourth way to use magic is to use an enchanted item. This may require that someone with the appropriate abilities create it, but the item may have been enchanted long before the work in which it appears, and the means of its acquiring its powers may be unclear.

Use of language and names in magic

Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea novels feature a magic driven by words. The true language can name things and by these names control them, an ability shared by both the wizards who study the language, and the dragons whose native tongue it is. Two aspects of this are common to other stories.

One is the notion of true names whereby a person's true name is a powerful magical weapon against them; this seldom applies to objects, but in works from Larry Niven's The Magic Goes Away to Andre Norton's Witch World, wizards and witches keep their names secret to keep from their being used against them, and even in the Discworld, the Librarian hides his name to keep from being turned back to a man.

Another is the use of a strange language to cast spells. Many works -- such as the Harry Potter novels, in which the spells are cast in a Latinate jargon -- use this without offering an explanation. Patricia Wrede, in The Magician's Ward, described it as a technique to prevent power from overflowing the spell; Poul Anderson, in Operation Chaos, explained it as a natural consequence of the laws of similarity governing magic, because a magician can not produce extraordinary effects from ordinary language.

Magical Objects

An often used plot generator is a powerful magical object or artifact, a thing so dangerous that it can defeat the hero, or allow the villain to conquer the world. This can ensure that the plot of a fantasy novel, or role-playing game, is the quest to obtain or destroy this terrible item. Perhaps owing to the defining influence of The Lord of the Rings and the One Ring it contained, this particular plot device is so common in fantasy as to be termed plot coupons.

Lesser magical objects are also common, more so in role-playing games than novels, to lend characters such abilities as they need. Besides the One Ring, The Lord of the Ring contained magic swords that did not determine the plot; the invisibility cloak in Harry Potter and the magical map of Hogwarts.

Such items may be created by magicians or powerful being, but sometimes in the past, with no such items being possible today. Many fictional magical objects have no explained past.

Magical places

Sometimes, too, a place will have magic; perhaps a certain location is "close to the spirit realm" or there are residues from powerful spells once cast here, or a place is magical by nature, as in the case of an enchanted forest. Ancient battlefields may be haunted. When the battles were fought by magic, on civilizations erected by magic, the location can be dangerous indeed; in Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy, the ruins left behind by the powerful Earthmasters contain dangers.

Such places are often the homes of powerful beings. The woods in A Midsummer Night's Dream is haunted by fairies, including Oberon and Titania, their king and queen. In Earthsea, the wizards hold their school on Roke Island, which contains such magical locations as Roke Knoll and Immanent Grove. Lórien in Middle-earth was also a magical location, but its magic stemmed from the powers of those who lived there. This is true of other apparently magical locations in many fantasies, and in many more, it may not be clear whether a place is magic because of its inhabitants, or its inhabitants have chosen to live there because it was magic. Within one work, as in Andre Norton's Witch World series, there may be all three types of apparently magical places.

One such magical place is Faerie or Elfland. Its location may not be fixed -- in some cases it acts as a parallel world -- but magic is both found and occurs there. Though it stems from folklore, it is found in such works of fantasy as Hope Mirrlees's Lud-in-the-Mist, or Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter.

Limits to magic

In any given fantasy magical system, a person must have limits to his magical abilities, or the story has no conflict: the magic can overwhelm the other side.

One of the most common techniques is that the person has only a limited amount of magical ability. In The Magic Goes Away, Larry Niven made it a factor of environment: once the mana is exhausted in an area, no one can use magic, and innately magical beings, such as centaurs, die or lose their magical aspects, such as werewolves, which revert to being entirely wolves. A more common use is that a person can only cast so many spells, or use an ability so many times, in a day, or use a measured amount of magic. This is the most common use in role-playing games, where the rules rigorously define them.

Powers can also be restricted to a certain kind of ability. This is more common for innately magical beings than for those who have learned it. The person can be rendered defenseless by a situation to which his powers do not apply.

Magic can also require various sacrifices. Blood or life can be required, and even if the magician has no scruples, obtaining the material may be difficult.

Harmless substances can also limit the magician if they are rare, such as gemstones.

The need for learning may also limit what spells a wizard knows, and can cast. When magic is learned from rare and exotic books, the wizard's ability can be limited, temporarily, by his access to these books. In Earthsea, the changing of names weakens wizards as they travel; they must learn the true names of things in their new location to be powerful again.

Various genres

In science fiction plots (especially the "hard" variety), while magic tends to be avoided, often extraordinary facts are portrayed that do not have a scientific basis and are not explained in that fashion. In these cases the reader might find it useful to remember Arthur C. Clarke's "Third Law": Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Magic has been portrayed in numerous games, in which magic is a characteristic available to players in certain circumstances.

Sorcerors and sorcery are a staple of Chinese wu xia fiction and are dramatically featured in many martial arts movies.

References

Orson Scott Card, How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, ISBN 0-89879-416-1
John Grant and John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
Michael Kern, "The Limits of Magic"
Philip Martin, ed., The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragon's Lair to Hero's Quest, ISBN 0-87116-195-8
Lawrence Watt-Evans, "Watt-Evans' Laws of Fantasy", Starlog
Patricia C. Wrede, "Magic and Magicians", Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 Terms derived from more specific magics, such as [[voodoo]], [[alchemy]], or [[Necromancy in fiction|necromancy]], generally remain closer to their real-world inspirations.  Fantasy necromancers often work magic that has something to do with death, although the exact connections vary widely from work to work.  Alchemy is the study of magical transformation of materials -- sometimes, as in [[Teresa Edgerton]]'s [[Green Lion trilogy]], using the actual historical terminology -- although fantasy alchemists tend to be involved with exactly those branches of alchemy that were not incorporated into modern chemistry.
-The archaic term "gramarye" (in any of its various spellings) is sometimes used to indicate magic in fiction as it was historically, but generally in a context where it is as archaic to the characters as to the readers.
+The archaic term "gramarye" (in any of its various spellings) is sometimes used to indicate magic in fiction as it was historically, but generally in a context where it is as archaic to the characters as to the readers.  Similiarly, Latin terminology may be used, as in ''ars arcana'' -- the arcane art, the art known by few -- to indicate magic as an exotic subject.
 ===Terms for illusions===