Everybody loves magic. Okay, maybe not everybody. Most fighters, barbarians, berserkers, and others don’t love it because they can’t use it and don’t understand it. But for us readers, we love it.
Magic is commonly found in a lot of popular fiction. From Gandalf to Harry Potter, many of our favorite characters are spellcasters.
But why do we love it? What is it about magic that draws us in and revs up our imaginations? That’s what we’re going to explore in this post. But first, let’s take a look at what magic is.
What is magic?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, magic is “the power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.” In fiction, this can come in many forms: spells, charms, talismans, incantations, and others.
In most fiction that incorporates magic, only some characters are able to use it. Wizards, warlocks, and mages are examples of magic users. Usually, through some sort of special training and/or by birthright, these characters develop supernatural powers.
But being able to use magic doesn’t give a character unlimited power. In all fiction, magic has its limits – it has to. If it didn’t, there’d be no story. The spell caster could just use his or her magic to defeat all the bad guys right from the start. This, obviously, wouldn’t make for a very good story.
Magic comes in many forms. Most commonly, a spell is used to invoke some sort of supernatural power. Sometimes, like in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, magic comes from an item – a ring in this case.
Some fiction has detailed magical systems with clearly-defined rules. Others are more broad and vague. There are virtually no limits to how magic can be used in fiction. Now that we’ve defined magic, let’s explore why we love it so much.
Why we love magic in sci-fi and fantasy
What is it about magic that we love so much? What is the psychology behind our insatiable desire for magic in the stories we read?
I think there are a lot of different reasons why we love magic in fiction and they probably vary from person to person. However, there are a couple reasons why we all love magic.
The biggest reason that we love magic in the fiction we read is that it levels the playing field. With magic, a weak, skinny, shy character can hold his own against a strong, muscular warrior.
In our world, it’s survival of the fittest where only the strong survive. A ninety-pound weakling has no chance going up against a two-hundred-and-thirty-pound musclebound monster in a bar fight. But, give that scrawny dude some magic and, all of a sudden, they’re evenly matched.
We often like to root for the little guy, the underdog. In our reality, the sad truth is that the little guy rarely wins. In fiction, though, the little guy can win if he has magical abilities.
The other reason why we all love magic in fiction is that it opens up the doors to unlimited possibilities. In our world, there are clearly-defined limits to what is possible and what is not. With magic, anything’s possible.
If someone pulled a crossbow out on you in our reality, there’d be little you could do to stop him from launching a bolt right into your chest if he wanted to. But in a world with magic, a spell caster could freeze the guy with the crossbow, fire off a magic missile, or come up with another supernatural way to defend himself.
The possibilities with magic are virtually unlimited and not just confined to fighting. All the crazy things we often fantasize about doing become possible with magic.
Ever wished you could fly? Of course, you have and so has everyone else. Ever actually flown? Not without being in a plane, helicopter, or some other flying vehicle. But with magic, all it takes is a few words or maybe a magic ring and, all of a sudden, you’re soaring through the sky Superman style.
Magic makes everything possible. It allows you to do things you’d never be able to do otherwise. That’s why we love it in the stories we read and in the elaborate fantasies we construct in our own minds.
Conclusion
These are two reasons why we are all drawn to magic. But there are plenty of other individual reasons why we love it, too.
So, why do you love magic in sci-fi and fantasy?
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