Non Fiction: A discussion on Magic

by Nasabeast

A discussion on magical theory. I find it wrong that this site has not yet accepted academic analysis on aspects of a fandom. My personal protest to this is a piece on the nature of magic and worldbuilding in fiction. I hope no one reports it.

Magic: A discussion on theory and aplication.

When considering magic many different views and deptictions come to mind. Some heavily calculated, each wand movement and syllable essential to the casting of spells, others much more intuitive, intent and determination driving the result.

During the course of this examination in too the magical worlds that we as readers inhabit I will be focusing mainly on the two depictions of which I am most knowledgeable. The first 'The inheritance Cycle' by Christopher Paolini, where in magic is depicting as having an oxymoronic quality of unavoidable consequences and rules, constricted to a magical language in all but the direst of circumstances, but also situations where one might use a word as simple as 'water' to shape matter in too a saphire through the mastery of perception.

The other magical realm I would like to say I have enough familiarity with to examine in depth is that of the Potter Verse and it's seemingly infinite collection of fanfiction works. The world first created by J.K Rowling is so incredibly useful in a discussion of this nature because of the hundreds of thousands of works which all have their own takes on the magic contained within. Ranging from the beautifully emotional forces described in 'The Life he Leads' by General Starfox, all the way to the numerical deconstruction found in works such as 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Summer' from Mountain907 and its later adoption/adaptation in too 'Harry Potter and the Magic of Life' by Kate Carpenter.

In the intrest of transparency I feel I must divulge some of my own background. I grew up having the 'Harry Potter' series read to me. It holds a sentimental place within me, despite that of the two main canonical series which i will be examining in this piece my favourite would have to be 'The Inheritance Cycle'. Having said that I have read comparitively little work based in Algaesia simply because there is less availability. I spend most of my days immersed in to various author's takes on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, when I say I have read millions of words worth of Harry Potter fanfiction im not exaggerating. Having recently finished 'A Cadmean Victory' for the fourth time I can safely say I have read two million words of HarryxFleur alone.

I have of course read more than two series in my life, Titles such as Percy Jackson, Rangers Apprentice, Narnia, Macbeth, Dr Faustus and Lord of the Rings spring immediately to mind, but I cant claim to have pondered on the nature of the forces at work within those curated universes in the same way. The comparisons which can be drawn so easily between the elves in the works of Tolkien and Paolini must be made and the effect that might have on how the supernatural forces found in the later work might be defined and analised.

Now, with that out of the way let us embark upon our first avenue of intrigue.