When magic occurs in stories it has various flavours: here are three of them.
One is the low magic of "sword and sorcery" stories, and indeed most stories that feature magic - in which magic functions as a technology of power. This ranges widely across spells, and conjurations, summoning of powerful beings, seeing the future, controlling others etc.
But this is not a very "magical" use of magic - indeed it reduces the magical to the mundane.
Indeed, such stories are often cynical, reductionist, intended to dis-enchant.
There are also stories in which magical elements function to indicate a hidden world - the magic enables perception of what would otherwise be imperceptible or hidden: this is the "occult revealing" function of magic.
Such magic may reveal a world of spirits behind the material world, that "the dead" are alive and can be communicated with, that there are invisible manifestations (such as auras), that telepathy is real - and such like.
The general impression is that there is more to life than commonly acknowledged, and this can impart an enchanted atmosphere.
The third kind of magic is pure enchantment - and this is (pretty much) how the magic of elves is depicted in The Lord of the Rings.
There is very little use of magic as a technology - although there is some (the Mirror of Galadriel; and elven swords, cloaks, and ropes for instance). There is also the occult trope, in the hobbits often comment that the world turns-out to contains much more and strange phenomena and entities than the commonplace experiences of the Shire would suggest.
But the main use of elf magic is related to an atmosphere of enchantment; a different quality of attitude, experience, motivation among elves; a feeling that is both joyous and sad, supremely good and perilous - here-and-now and yet backward looking across vast expanses of time.
As implied - these uses of magic have somewhat different narrative functions in stories, and presumably different intent. When magic is used as a technology, there may be an element of intending to induce wishful thinking in the reader; but on the whole the magic is just a narrative device, among many.
When magic is used to indicate occult realities, this may have the intent of indirectly encouraging the reader to take the same attitude to his ordinary life - the story may be encouraging the reader to assume that behind the mundane world is another reality... if only a different attitude were adopted to perceiving it, or particular abilities were available.
The purpose of pure enchantment in a story is - I take it - religious - in the sense of a whole-world view.
The magic of enchantment in a story carries - to some degree - the implication that "reality" - our life, nature - really is a more wonder-full and inspiring thing than we generally assume.
6 comments:
I remember many years ago trying to explain something like this to the kids, with reference to Harry Potter contrasted to the works of Alan Garner!
@william a - Harry Potter is mostly technology, but there is also some of the occult aspect (although not as much as Garner) - especially in the aspects to do with death and what comes after, and also the reality of prophecy and providence.
Interesting. I think I prefer my fictional magic to be of types 2,3 with type 1 used only sparingly. Having said that type 1 may be necessary.
For example, Darth Vader crushes the trachea of an opposing officer during a meeting, using the force, and having just talked about the force. This is pretty much type 1 and establishes the bona fides of the force as powerful magic.
However from then on in that film the force is of types 2,3. Ben tells the guards, ‘You don’t need to see his identification’ and they relent. Maybe it was just his tone of voice. After some impressive saberwork Ben says to Luke, ‘You’ve taken your first step into a larger world’, though Han dismisses it as luck.
These instances serve to create an atmosphere of enchantment. By the time we get to the next film the force is being used to move objects around remotely (1), Luke receives a message from departed Ben (2). Han has his blaster pulled (1) from his hand (hard to attribute *that* to luck!) Leia receives a telepathic communication from Luke (1) containing precise information.
The last one I watched was called Rogue One and was quite enjoyable but by now completely devoid of the original enchantment. The impressive appearance of Vader at the end did nothing to restore matters. Rather his force ‘moves’ (1) were just that.... moves, as in a video game.
Anyhow this is all very interesting and perhaps explains why I couldn’t get into Dungeons and Dragons.
@Ron - To be fair, D&D type games are what the Dungeon Master and players choose to make of them. Participants sometimes collaboratively create enchanted worlds. In other words, they may emphasize "world-building" and role-play, rather than treasure-seeking and combat.
This is a thought-provoking classification.
All too often, magic as a tool degenerates magic into just another means of manipulating the world according. Though magic as a tool can also be used differently. For example, the elves waking up the ents rather than forcibly animating them with a spell. Magic viewed as useful can be seen as part of a larger order, which should be used properly, or purely as a means to power.
Tolkien had some good quotes relating to this in "On Fairy-Stories":
"At the heart of many man-made stories of the elves lies ... the desire for a living, realised sub-creative art, which (however much it may outwardly resemble it) is inwardly wholly different from the greed for self-centered power which is the mark of the mere Magician."
and
"there are ... old ambitions and desires ... to which they [fairy-stories] offer a kind of satisfaction and consolation. Some are pardonable weaknesses or curiosities: such as the desire to visit, free as a fish, the deep sea; or the longing for the noiseless, gracious, economical flight of a bird, that longing which the aeroplane cheats, except in rare moments, seen high and by wind and distance noiseless, turning in the sun ... There are profounder wishes: such as the desire to converse with other living things."
@NLR - Thanks.
I suppose that (as so often) the categories are not cleanly divisible - and that (for example) even magic as technology usually has some aspects of occult and enchantment, when the writing is of high quality, or when the reader is very responsive.
For instance, some children (including myself) seem to derive enchantment from what are apparently rather "mechanical" fairy stories. The idea that there might be magical power can itself be a bit enchanting!
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