Why Magic Systems don't feel Magical

in a lot of fiction magic is pretty mechanical  sure it may be weird and volatile but it more or   less Works how and when you want it to drink  a health potion your wounds heal recite the   magic words summon the monster unsheath your fire  sword fire more or less predictable outcomes some   stories even take that to the extreme and make  an entire system out of their magic this table   you're looking at right now describes just  one type of magic from Brandon sanderson's   mistborn series look how intricate this  is and this is just a basic surface level   breakdown it gets far more complicated than  this as creatives it's pretty easy to think   of magic this way a lot of fantasy authors do  but when you break out of the conventions of   high fantasy and think more broadly about what  magic really is what we mean by using this word   confusing phenomenon reveals itself throughout all  of these systems fantasy Rule books magical laws   it almost seems like the more you know about the  magic you're using the less magical it is [Music]   foreign [Music]   got a really great idea for a story but don't  quite know how to put it all together well there's   a 12-part class you can take for free that I  think will really help it's certainly helped   me creating unique and Powerful worlds taught by  many time author and professor of fiction Lincoln   Michelle check the description to see how you  can get access to it and finally get your story   project going without spending a dime a big thanks  to skillshare for sponsoring this video and giving   us the opportunity to tell you about it this class  has been a really special one for me and I feel   really lucky to get to share it with you this way  definitely check it out when you have the chance   here let me paint you a picture four little  Hobbits Frodo Sam Mary and Pippin have found   their way to La valorian the realm of the elves  they stand astonished surrounded by the ancient   empowering trees the Ethereal silver lights  swaying from the bows The Impossible depth   of the night the countless stars shining down  on them through the leaves there's not an elf   in sight but their magic can be felt everywhere  taken with all of this Sam utters that he'd like   to see some true elf magic for himself first hand  and fortunately for him galadrion the lady of the   wood is happy to oblige one evening while they're  staying as guests in her realm Frodo and Sam are   beckoned to look into what she calls her mirror a  mysterious Basin of water which according to her   will show them each a vision meant only for  them perhaps it will show them their beloved   home the Shire which they are so very far away  from perhaps it will show them something to come   on their Journey prepare them for when they  must once again leave the safety of the wood   it's a gift she's offering them miraculous  and Powerful but the two Hobbits hesitate   they are only Hobbits after all they aren't used  to such things and galadriel's power scares them   did you not say you wish to see Elf Magic  she says turning to Sam for this is what   your [ __ ] with call Magic I believe though  I do not understand clearly what they mean   they do end up looking by the way and what they  see impacts their Journey deeply but that's not   what I want to talk about here what's always  stood out to me about this sequence is this   strange thing Galadriel says this moment where  one of the most powerful magical beings in their   world admits to them that she doesn't know what  magic is something even Hobbits the smallest of   all the world's peoples understand intuitively  it's a fleeting detail in the three volumes in   more than a thousand Pages which make up the  Lord of the Rings but also one of the most   poignant to me because I think this is how most  people see magic think of a magician performing   a trick for a child with a sparkle in his eye  and a theatrical flourish he removes his top   head the child watches as he demonstrates that  it is in fact empty in sight she watches as   the magician puts it down on a table nearby and  then she watches in pure Wonder as the magician   reaches his hand in a bit further than he should  be able to and pulls out a live rabbit magic right   that was magic it had to be at least through  the child's eyes to her this guy just shattered   the laws of physics a complete impossibility hats  aren't that deep and a rabbit definitely wouldn't   be able to live inside of one for very long  everything she knows about the universe thus far   tells her that what she just witnessed cannot be  yet there it was magic for that moment this child   is a hobbit in the elves wood but like Galadriel  the magician doesn't see it although he's the one   performing it to him it's less magic and more  trick because unlike the child watching he   knows how it all works he knows about the hole in  the table and the compartment underneath just big   enough for a rabbit he knows how to push open the  bottom of the hat to reach through he knows that   the laws of physics are in fact still perfectly  intact for him there's no leap of logic no seeming   contradiction in the nature of perception and  the nature of reality he experiences no magic   both of these little case studies lead me to  an interesting conclusion about the nature of   this thing that we call Magic it seems to me that  magic is not just a matter of perspective but also   a matter of understanding the more empirical  rational systematic it is in the mind of the   beholder the less magical it appears to be the  trick is just an allusion to the magician but a   breach of physics to the child the mirror is just  a powerful tool to Galadriel but Elf Magic to the   hobbits even the most mundane things can appear  magical to someone who lacks context imagine if a   creature from some tiny isolated Woodland came  to visit your modern industrialized world and   started calling things like water fountains  and mechanical pencils human magic as Arthur   C Clarke famously put it any sufficiently  advanced technology is indistinguishable   for Magic a phrase underpinned by the idea  that magic represents a gap in understanding   but I also don't think that's the whole story it  makes sense to mean that magic requires a gap in   our understanding but that also just kind of seems  like a condition for it to exist rather than what   it actually is if not getting it where enough to  make a thing magical then every beginner at every   task would technically be a wizard in training  every student who ever failed a math problem or   a science experiment would technically be having a  magical experience think back to our magician what   if he were to perform the same trick but this time  for an adult he might wow them sure evoke a moment   of Wonder surprise curiosity Fascination but  after that moment passes they'll almost certainly   immediately ask themselves how did he do that how  is the trick performed they assume that this thing   that they just witnessed works that it makes sense  that it's somehow possible even if they don't get   how it was done they know implicitly that it  was done within the laws of physics unlike the   child unlike the hobbits the adult rejects the  impossibility of what they've just seen out of   hand this time when the trick is performed between  the magician and the adult there is not one single   Speck of magic and that's because magic is  not a phenomenon it's not a thing you do not   an action or a system or a set of laws magic is  acceptance the moment of true belief that you are   witnessing something which by your established  systems of understanding should not cannot be   a gap in understanding can make that more likely  to happen because a smaller less inclusive system   is easier to violate but the Gap itself is not  the magic if you assume there's some rational   explanation for a thing you don't yet understand  it's not magical it's just thus far unknown   but when you accept that you've genuinely  observed something that really does   violate any model or system that you would  otherwise use to explain it that is Magic   and that kind of puts magic systems in a weird  spot because if what we've come to here is true   then that means magic cannot exist in a system  magic is fundamentally system breaking that's   what makes it magical of course we also love a  good magic system we've done a few videos on them   already and we're probably going to do a whole lot  more in the future but if magic and systems are   kind of Polar Opposites that does make things a  little awkward for these very explicit systemized   hard magic Brandon sandersonian approaches to it  they are a fascinating spectacular narratively   they can do almost anything as softer less  structured magic system like the one in Lord   of the Rings can do heck sometimes they can do  a whole lot more but the one thing they can't   really do be magical any sufficiently advanced  technology may be indistinguishable for magic   but likewise any sufficiently advanced magic is  also indistinguishable from science these hard   magic systems with their rationality and rules  and detailed inner workings are really a lot more   akin to an alternative secondary World science the  story surrounding them tend to be a lot less about   experiencing magic and a lot more about exploring  the fascinating what-ifs these alternative rule   sets enable and it really is a blast to watch the  characters figure it all out turn these new rules   to their advantage it's a similar feeling to the  one you might get when figuring out how to employ   a magical power in a video game it's not the  Wonder of the hobbits in La Florian or the child   watching the magic trick we're feeling in these  moments it's the very real moving gratification   of solving a puzzle if you do want to feel  that magic look to less systemized approaches   soft magic instead of hard magic that has some  like to call it when you leave the workings of   these new rules and Powers vague when they're  allowed to be a little less rigidly defined and   a little more fluid it puts the audience in a  headspace a little closer to that of the child   watching the magic trick in Harry Potter we're not  following Dumbledore or Voldemort we're following   a child encountering Magic For the First Time  In The Wizard of Oz We're not following the good   witch Glinda or Oz himself we're with Dorothy  looking at this fantasy world with fresh eyes   most of the time in Lord of the Rings we're not  following Gandalf or Galadriel we're experiencing   things as a hobbit would through eyes which see  Elf Magic is strange and rule-breaking and awesome   enjoy World building enjoy magic systems  enjoy finding clever ways to explain   all the weird stuff that happens in  your stories but also remember that   the most powerful magic happens when we  simply accept that it cannot be explained   however even an inherently magical world still  has some rules being okay with magic just being   magical doesn't necessarily answer the question of  complexity with all your other World building does   it it can be hard to figure out how this whole  fictional World thing works but fortunately I   recently found something that will absolutely  help you it's a 12-part video series called   creating unique and Powerful worlds taught by  many time author and professor of fiction link and   Michelle he walks you through how to begin your  new world what the Ripple effects of that starting   idea will be like across your world how to create  themes within your world how to create characters   to experience the world you've made and then  finally how to put all of these things together   the prospect of creating an entire world can be  really paralyzing but it doesn't have to be this   course will absolutely help bring the size of the  task down to something you can really understand   and manage I can say from personal experience that  it is so liberating just to have a road map for   a project like this and thanks to our sponsors  skillshare you can actually watch it for free I   personally would sign up for this course alone but  you also get access to thousands of other classes   as well experts from pretty much every discipline  have gathered there to share their knowledge and   experience there are classes on creative writing  illustration Fine Art animation graphic design   film and video pretty much anything you can  imagine you can even join in on live classes   connecting with other creators and teachers while  you learn after talking to them about it it seems   like the people over at skillshare can see why  we're so excited about this writing class so   they've decided to give you the opportunity to  experience it and any other skills share class   that catches your interest for free this month  the first 1000 hail boundary fans who join the   skillshare community will get not just the usual  15-day trial for free but a full 30-day trial an   entire month of free learning and expert guidance  on all the creative things you ever wanted to do   click the link in the description or the link  right at the end of this video to get started   and I would definitely hurry because those  slots are going to fill up fast once you've   finished this class creating unique and Powerful  worlds please come back and tell us the impact   it's had on you as a Storyteller I cannot wait  to hear the success stories anyway that's all   for this one thanks for watching and keep  making stuff up I'll see you next week bye [Music] [Music]

Channel: Tale Foundry

Views: 1,736,036

Keywords: Tale Foundry, Talefoundry, Writing, Fiction, Literature, Storytelling, Stories, Writers, Write, Fiction Writing, lore, crafting, magic system, jrr tolkien, fairytale, mistborn, brandon sanderson, lord of the rings, worldbuilding, magic, patrick rothfuss, name of the wind, king killer chronicle, fantasy, world-building, magical

Id: Jeb_mSOgrVg

Length: 14min 41sec (881 seconds)

Published: Wed May 31 2023