Saturday, May 11, 2019

It Occurs to me Suddenly

It occurs to me suddenly that Middle Earth is not a high-magic world. Magic is important, but very loosely defined; key to the plot in the sense that the One Ring is obviously very powerful, but not in the sense that it's much used or even particularly necessary for the heroes to complete their task. Compared to other stories and other worlds where the comprehension and mastery of magic is vital to the main characters' success, Lord of the Rings has very little magic.

I have no doubt that this is deliberate. I have no idea what it means. But it does make me wonder whether we--that is, all of us fantasy authors trying to follow in Tolkien's footsteps (let's be honest)--are missing the point with magic.

On the one hand, magic is wonderful to have around. It's beautiful, and helps with the escapism aspect of fantasy. It helps us feel transported, gives us wonder and joy, creates amazing fantasy worlds. But on the other hand, that wasn't Tolkien's intent, and that must be for a reason. Maybe that reason was simply that before his writing, the modern "fantasy world" with its elaborate magic systems just wasn't a thing; it arose out of imitation, probably misguided, of his work. But why haven't we realized this? How much he seems to try to keep "magic" out of Middle Earth? Going against that feels like going against the master, missing the point somehow. And significantly.

But if we're missing the point, I don't know what the point is. And there isn't anything bad about writing other worlds where magic is strong and present, is there? If it contributes to the escapism, must that be a bad thing? I want to say that it doesn't have to be, as long as the author knows what the reason for their world's magic is from a literary standpoint. But does everything in writing have to have a reason? Can't the reason be something as simple as "because I like it"? Or does that leave the realm of what can be considered "art"? Do books have to be art? If they aren't, what's the point of writing them, and how can we tell whether they're well-written, good books, worth reading?

And, of course, it must be remembered that Tolkien didn't invent the concept of magic. If you're writing a book based off of, say, Arthurian legend, things are going to be different. If you want to incorporate old-world faeries into your works, you've got different source material, though it would do to keep in mind those stories' origins and intents as well--perhaps magic there was made up for the wonder of it, but probably (this coming from someone who's done zero research on the subject) it was just superstition, and believed to be real. Those saying "don't disturb that grove because bad things happen to those who do", in the context of old faerie stories, probably weren't trying to create wondrous legends of otherworldly creatures, but were simply explaining the reality they knew as best they could.

...is "magic" a new concept? The way we think of it, at least? Is it misguided?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhhh it's not even midnight this is way too early for a writing crisis...

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