JohnSnow said:
Well, it all depends on whether "magic" is something anyone can do, or whether it's something you have to have some form of "gift" for. IF anyone can do it or learn to, you're right that magic is just a career.
I don't think it depends on that. It depends on whether magic is useful or not, no matter who can use it.
But, if you have to have a gift, magic is more likely to be viewed differently. People are mistrustful of that which is strange. Combine this with the old adage: "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," and you have the makings of a world where most people don't want to hear about "magic users," have no interest in going to them for help, and are more likely to turn them over as dangerous threats than go to them for help raising the town. These are people who, at the heights of their power can read your thoughts, get into anything you own, and basically TAKE anything they WANT. It's not a stretch of human nature to assume people would mistrust letting ANYONE have that power.
Of course, it would assume that people expect wizards to do that, even ones "on their side". People also fear nuclear weapons, at least those in the hands of their enemies. On the other hand, most people want (or at least believe it is necessary to have) nuclear weapons in the
hands of those friendly to them. Sure, you fear powerful out-of-control wizards, but the only reliable way to stop them is to have your own.
And, of course, this doesn't even begin to consider the usefulness of having a wizard around on a day to day basis. People accept all kinds of danger if it makes their life better. We have coal mines and power plants that blast carcinogens into the air, cars that kill thousands of people a year, and we pump highly explosive natural gas into our homes. We do this because we like having electricity, easy transportation, and heated homes. Despite the fact that these things kill many thousands of people every year. Wizards are useful like that.
As such, most peasants would avoid them. Most people in power would try to control them, suppress them, or kill them before they became a threat.
Or, peasants would go to them to get problems solved. The people in power would ally with them (or wizards would
become the people in power), and nations that educated and cultivated their wizards would dominate their neighbors. Suppress and kill off all your wizards, and the next door country, who has spent time educating and developing their wizards will invade and destroy your nigh helpless armies.
I won't go into ALL the fictional examples, but consider just a few:
1. In the Wheel of Time series, only some people can channel. Men who can have a tendency to go crazy. As a result, while commoners recognize that channeling is real, they don't go seeking channelers out for help - unless they have no choice. The Seanchan go one step further and leash ALL channelers (wilders anyway) so they can't be a threat. They don't acknowledge that those who can control channelers could learn to channel. It's anathema to their society.
2. In the X-Men comics, only some people have mutant powers. Those who don't have them react very naturally by distrusting those that do. To the extent that they can, they try to persecute those people before they can become a real threat. They figure that what can't be brought to heel should be eliminated. A few mutants with really scary powers is enough to convince "the powers that be" that ALL mutants are dangerous.
3. In Star Wars, only some people have the necessary connection to use the Force. As a result, when the Jedi are hunted down and killed, it takes only a generation for people to conclude it's a "hokey" "ancient religion." Belief in it is more a matter of faith than fact, as few people have ever really SEEN anyone do" jedi stuff." Those who are old enough to remember are dismissive of the force because acknowledging its power is inherently dangerous.
All of these examples, being drawn from the tradition extant in the real world where magic is feared and sitrusted, are entirely irrelevant to the question of how magic would likely be treated in a world in which magic is a normal part of existence. If magic were real, they would likely react differently than they do in the fictional worlds in literature rooted in popular perceptions built up over centuries of magic free history.
Plus, your arguments are wrong. People in the
Wheel of Time series don't fear spellcasters because they are rare. They fear them because many such figures in history have gone nuts and killed massive numebrs of people. In the X-Men series, it was generally renegade elements of "the powers that be" that targeted mutants, and many people thought the mutants were okay. And using the silly nonsenical cosmology of
Star Wars to justify anything is a dangerous area to get into. For example, during the Republican era, Jedi were loved and respected in many areas, despite being rare and unusual.
Once it's "restricted," basic human nature makes magic rare and less likely to be used. Even if a wizard seems benevolent, who hasn't heard stories? How can you trust anyone with this level of power and moreover, why should you?
This is true of
anyone with a character class and enough levels in D&D. It is not unique to spellcasters in general, let alone arcane spellcasters. Plus, consider that sorcerers and bards, as arcane spellcaster, are likely to be among the most
likable people around. The friendly personable guy down the street, he's a sorcerer. Not the misanthropic hermit who lives in the marshes.
