Description of Magic

[Bullgrit]

This description of magic, (and magic use), makes me smile:

...it was why farmers grew crops and fishermen trawled nets. Oh, you could do it all by magic, you certainly could. You could wave a wand and get twinkly stars and a fresh-baked loaf. You could make fish jump out of the sea already cooked. And then, somewhere, somehow, magic would present its bill, which was always more than you could afford.

That's why it was left to wizards, who knew how to handle it safely. Not doing any magic at all was the chief task of wizards---not "not doing magic" because they couldn't do magic, but not doing magic when they could do and didn't. Any ignorant fool can fail to turn someone else into a frog. You have to be clever to refrain from doing it when you knew how easy it was. There were places in the world commemorating those times when wizards hadn't been quite as clever as that, and on many of them the grass would never grow again.

What descriptions of magic from fantasy fiction do you like?

Bullgrit

 

[Hand of Evil]

Always liked Zelzany's Madwand, that it was threads to be woven. Magic-user could see it and then grab it to weave their spells. You saw this later in the Earthdawn game system, with threaded magic. This caused spell casting to be a weave roll and a casting roll, which I like.

Some of the plusses I saw in the system, increase damage, duration, effect, etc. just by adding additional weave rolls. This would cause the casting roll to become more difficult. The system also could be used to explain locations that had limited magic, easier or harder to grab the threads. Hooking the spells to fetishs and compents, just another plus.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Always liked Zelzany's Madwand, that it was threads to be woven. Magic-user could see it and then grab it to weave their spells.

Actually, that was simply how our protagonist saw magic. The series illustrates that each wizard sees magic differently, and that they can impose these differences on opposing magi to give themselves advantages in a wizard duel.
Since the protagonist was a "madwand" (unschooled sorcerer) he didn't understand the advantages of the different approaches. But his method (and talent) gave him a lot of raw power, allowing him to overcome the subtle skill of his more experienced and formally trained opponents. And, since Zelazny never did explain magic in the setting, we'll never know what the benefits and drawbacks of the differing methods really were.

But yes, it was an excellent presentation of magic in fiction.



I'm fond of Steven Brust's difference between Sorcery and Witchcraft in his Dragaeran novels. Sorcery is powerful, flashy, and very direct. Witchcraft is slow, ritualistic, and a lot like cooking; it is also more draining to the witch and generally utilitarian, with almost none of the direct abilities of Sorcery. An awesome differentiation.

 

[Hussar]

I love Steven Erikson's presentation of magic. Magic is the blood of an Elder God flowing through the veins of another Elder God (or goddess I suppose) that is the world that we live on. Wizards access magic by opening portals to the veins and letting the flavor of the blood do things. Priests access magic by petitioning greater beings to direct the blood in certain ways.

Very cool. (and a LOT more complicated than I just presented).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I prefer to think of magic as sufficiently advanced technology.

 

[steenan]

I love the way magic is presented in Brandon Sanderson's books, especially the Mistborn series.

It definitely feels magical, but, on the other hand, follows very clear and strict rules. The magic is really simple, but simple in a way that leaves a lot of space for creativity - and a big part of fun in reading these books is seeing how the protagonists (and antagonists) get creative with what they have.

 

[howandwhy99]

I prefer to think of magic as sufficiently advanced technology.

I prefer to think of magic as sufficiently misunderstood phenomena, technology included.

It doesn't need to be advanced, we just have to be dumb.