The Pen and the Sword

Have you ever noticed how in some fantasy settings, magic becomes the 'deus ex machina'? If the hero is about to get fried, he/she whips out a talisman, a potion, a mystic scroll or a mysterious (or not so mysterious) looking wand and hey presto! The day is saved.

It makes magic look effortless, instant, and without any consequence. I find myself to truly disagree with this view. In fact, I think that this is the reason why fantasy has been viewed at times as rather superficial for adult audiences.

I believe that magic can never be this way. Any world setting, any cosmos must obey rules, must have roots and boundaries that, while bent, cannot be actually broken. Only then does it seem real, only then can the reader actually connect to the story in a more profound way than usual. Magic involves energy, the spending of mental power, intent, skill or whatever have you, depending on the creator of the fantasy work. It can never be effortless, or instant, or without some toll that can range from light to almost unbearable.

And magic has logic. It really does! For one thing, how many times, even in real life, have things that have an actual logical justification been considered 'magic' simply because people did not know how to justify it at the time? 'Witchcraft' could at times have been just a synonym of 'I don't know why this is possible'. (And also occasionally a synonym to 'this is an easy way to have my hateful neighbour executed by the state )

So, back to fantasy. Magic in serious stories, must have logic. Must have purpose. The author/creator of the world must know why things happen the way they do. There has to be an underlying philosophy to the whole thing. And always, always there must be a strict, unyielding, unrelenting set of rules to what can and cannot be done by the friggin' magic!

In sort, magic must be just like every other thing we humans have had experience of: something that is a give and take, not to be used lightly, and for heaven's sake not something that will patch up everything and solve every problem that would otherwise create a gaping plothole.

Even in Alice in Wonderland, things had to be resolved within a set of rules. A warped set of rules, but rules they were.

There. View on magic all done. Comment and badger at will, or please, argue if you will. Or agree! That would be cool, too! Anyway, I'd like to see if that makes sense to y'all. Cos that is the rule of thumb I always use in my writing works.

Till next time! *sign off*