Magical realism is an approach to literature that incorporates elements of magic, the supernatural, and even the surreal into everyday life. It is a Latin-American narrative strategy that involves the inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into a world almost entirely identical to ours. In this genre, the heroes are ordinary people whose lives clash with the extraordinary.
Magical realism is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into the story. It often involves an entirely fictional world with its own rules and laws. In the landscape of literature, both magic realism and fantasy involve supernatural elements coexisting. Real magic involves harnessing the power of jinn and the supernatural to do things we can’t, using means such as sacrifices and self-humilion.
Magic in fiction is mysterious and otherworldly, exploring the bizarre and the unknown. It can still count as fantasy, but it doesn’t have to include magic. Fantasy doesn’t have to include magic, but it can include elements that don’t naturally occur in the real world. Magic in fantasy is often a force that can be controlled by individuals within that world, sometimes by all, but more commonly by a select few.
There are nine types of magic systems found within fantasy and science fiction. Magic, sometimes spelled magick, is the application of beliefs, rituals, or actions employed in the belief that they can manipulate natural or supernatural forces.
📹 Why Magic Systems don’t feel Magical
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Is magic just an illusion?
Magic, performed by magicians, is an illusion, but scientific evidence suggests a deeper, more mysterious form of magic. As we ponder magic in our lives, we may find ourselves in a sea of uncertainty, buffeted by skepticism and belief. However, by questioning and seeking answers in our minds, we draw closer to the truth and embrace the possibility that magic, in all its enigmatic forms, may indeed be real. This act of questioning and seeking answers in the face of life’s struggles is crucial for understanding the reality of magic.
Can fantasy be without magic?
Fantasy novels can be written without magic if the story is character-driven and focused on issues. Magic may not be necessary if the story is built around a theme or premise, or if it contradicts the intended message. However, it is important to consider other considerations when writing fantasy novels without magic. For example, a character-driven plot may not require magic to explore the intricacies of magic systems, while a theme or premise may not require magic to be present.
Is magic a fantasy or supernatural?
Fantasy and supernatural fiction are often confused, but they differ in key ways. Fantasy takes place in a world with magical creatures and magic, while supernatural fiction focuses on real-world supernatural happenings and mystery. It often combines supernatural elements with detective fiction tropes.
The origins of supernatural fiction can be traced back to Britain in the second half of the 18th century, with accounts of the Cock Lane ghost and an interest in Spiritualism. This period saw a need for people to see real ghosts and experience them through fiction, as people sought to experience them vicariously through the writings of the supernatural. The genres often blend supernatural elements into stories about characters’ internal conflicts and dramatic conflicts between the protagonist, human and supernatural world, society, and groups.
Is fantasy real or fake?
Science fiction and fantasy are two distinct genres that differ in their approach to reality and science. Science fiction, like J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, is based on reality and science, while fantasy invents what may not exist in our world. Examples include Middle-earth, where powerful rings and a single Ring could control all others. Other fantasy realms include vampires, as explored by Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles.
Some novels, like science fiction, may not fit neatly into one category, while others debate the appropriate classification. While categories are important, writers should focus on the characters and action on the page.
Is magic a fantasy?
Fantasy is a speculative fiction genre with roots in oral traditions, which evolved into fantasy literature and drama. It has expanded into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations, and video games. Anglophone literary critics often use the term “fantastic literature” to refer to this genre, which is also archaicly spelled as phantasy. The genre has evolved into various forms and forms throughout history.
Is magic real or not?
The art of magic is a captivating phenomenon that requires a combination of skill, creativity, and showmanship. Regardless of one’s personal inclination toward the subject, the domain of magic will undoubtedly continue to captivate and engage audiences for years to come. Magicians are adept performers who utilize a combination of techniques and illusions to create captivating performances, thereby exemplifying the art form.
Is Harry Potter a fantasy or fiction?
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling, set in the world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story revolves around Harry’s conflict with Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who plans to overthrow the Ministry of Magic and subjugate all wizards and non-magical people. The series, published by Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholastic Press in the US, explores various genres, including fantasy, drama, coming-of-age fiction, and British school stories. Major themes include prejudice, corruption, madness, love, and death.
Since its release in 1997, the books have gained immense popularity and commercial success worldwide. As of February 2023, they have sold over 600 million copies, making them the best-selling book series in history. The last four books have set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final installment selling around 2. 7 million copies in the UK and 8. 3 million copies in the US within 24 hours of its release.
What is the difference between magical and fantasy?
Fantasy is a distinct genre from magical realism, which is grounded in a realistic world with real characters. J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a prime example of fantasy, featuring characters like Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, Fairies, Ents, and Wizards. The trilogy also introduces a powerful ring that corrupts those who possess it. Fantasy creates unique places and species outside our world, unlike magical realism which remains grounded in our reality.
Can anybody learn magic?
Magic can be learned by anyone, and the ability to learn magic depends on the skills one has initially. However, there are many ways to improve and become a good magician. Some essential skills include manual dexterity, which is crucial for sleight of hand style magic, and presentation and theatrical skills, which are essential for performing art in the outside world.
Manual dexterity is essential for sleight of hand style magic, but there are many types of magicians who do not rely on manual dexterity. Presentation and theatrical skills are also essential for performing magic, and improving these skills can be achieved through theatre skills or clowning courses.
In summary, learning magic is a skill that can be improved through regular practice and dedication to improving one’s skills. It is important to be aware of the different types of magicians and the importance of public speaking and theatre skills in the world of magic.
What did Einstein say about magic?
The speaker issues a cautionary statement against the acceptance of magical or mysterious beliefs, asserting that those who do not adhere to this perspective are, in effect, as good as dead. Despite devoting himself to the study of the material world and the universe, the speaker discovered an increasing degree of magic and mystery as he pursued a deeper understanding of the theory of relativity. He posits that reality is, in fact, an illusion, albeit one that persists.
Why do we believe in magic?
Anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski posited that magical beliefs and superstitious behaviors help reduce uncertainty and fill the void of the unknown. New research on magical thinking challenges traditional views of cognition. Eugene Subbotsky, who has studied magical thinking for over 40 years, suggests that in adults, magical beliefs can be suppressed and reactivated under certain conditions. His research also suggests that when denial of a magical belief is costly, adults may be willing to give up their belief in physical causality and view the world through magical explanations.
📹 Magic Is Real, And It’s in This Apartment – Key & Peele
Levi unveils the strange and magical objects he keeps around his apartment. About Key & Peele: Key & Peele showcases the …
Full Metal Alchemist embraces this article’s message pretty well I feel. Alchemy is just a form of science, no matter how magical it seems to the uninitiated. When Ed and Al were in Reole, perusal Father Cornello perform miracles for a crowd, they saw alchemy that broke the rules, theorizing that it was done with a Philosopher’s Stone, while the crowd saw divine will of their god.
I just had this thought: this might be the reason or at least on of the reasons why the ‘there used to be much more powerful magic but it got lost’ is such a often used trope. It is a way to make unexplainable, magical things available even in a universe where everything else is very defined and sciency
Yeah the irony of a great magic system is that if they’re written well enough, the mere notion of even calling it magic feels weird. Bending in Avatar the Last Airbender is probably one of the best examples of this. It feels weird to even call Bending a magic system because of how well understood its rules and limitations are and well incorporated it is into the world. Everything about it is so well realized that it just feels natural like the laws of physics. I think they even literally call this out in the first episode with Sokka calling Katara’s bending “Magic” and her scoffing at the idea. And I mean it makes sense. We only call things magic or miracles in the real world because of that gap in understanding like you said. Whereas if we existed in a world where people could just learn to levitate rocks with their mind, and we understood the process behind that, then we would almost certainly classify it and understand it more thoroughly and it wouldn’t be supernatural anymore. It would be merely… natural. Just like how at one point people may have thought Magnets to be magical, but even if they didn’t know the exact reasons why they worked the way they did, the fact that their effects were consistent and understandable was enough for us to learn how to exploit them and use their effects to our advantage, and thus they became a tool that we no longer think of as magic.
I feel the opposite I understand pretty well how a microwave oven works, and I use them often without thinking But every time I stop and actually ponder it, it feels magical to me I feel this way about a lot of technology, when you actually understand how it works on a fundamental level, especially if it’s something complex, it becomes amazing and wondrous Things are magical when you don’t understand them, and they are magical when you understand them in great detail, it is only that area in between, when you know enough to accept it at face value but not enough to see the feats necessary for it to work, where the magic is lost
An interesting thing in Brandon Sanderson’s books is that the characters typically don’t see what they can do as “magic”. To them it’s just a natural part of the world like electricity or gravity. It’s only when someone from another world shows up that has access to abilities they’ve never seen before that they consider something “magical”
personally, i think what makes things feel “magical” is when the system is built around ideas/concepts/meaning instead of mechanics/physics/abilities. they need to function on a sort of poetic/dreamlike logic, but not in a way that shows the hand of the author like “just do whatever you want idk it doesn’t matter”
I think the best way for magic to feel both consistent and magical is to keep any particular type of magic consistent in its theming, but esoteric in its uses. For example, take fire. Fire burns, yes, but it can also bring warmth and comfort, and in addition is a common metaphor for emotions and their intensity. All of these can fall under uses for fire. Likewise, darkness. Mystery, concealment, and embodying the unknown. The dark is not just where monsters and evildoers lurk, it’s the unknown, the birthplace of imagination, be it positive or negative. Consistency in theming, broad in application. And before anyone else comments, I have had absolutely ZERO exposure to Homestuck.
6:27 this actually brings to mind one of my favorite lines from the Disney series Gargoyles, when Titania refers to “the human magic that men call science.” Not only does it imply that science is as strange and wonderful to practitioners of magic as magic is to practitioners of science, but that magic is on some level bound by laws and principles, even if we don’t understand what they are.
This actually reminds me of the Fate series magic system. All supernatural phenomena are the product of ‘Mystery’ The less you know about the nature of these phenomena the more powerful they will be as a form of “Magic” The proper term for the arcane arts “studied” by the Mages of the series is actually called ‘Magecraft’
This is actually something that is covered in a fair number of scp foundation work, in the modern writing community many stories are written with the anomolous having measurable values and many stories take that and begin to ask, then what is an anomaly? if we can describe how it works it isn’t really still anomalous. One of my favorites is SCP-3844. A dragon that loses its magical powers as it is studied.
I love witch hat Atelier cause even though the magic is explained and has a very grounded system, it still feels magical. I think it’s due to how magic is also an allegory to art, or at least the author could relate it to art, and you can see how magical it feels through its method and crafting, it’s treated like an art, not just a science
Lovecraftian Horror tackles this issue in the most effective way, I believe. Characters in Lovecraft’s work are often scholars, who spend time and effort studying these things as though they were a science. However, while they can sometimes learn how to do an action to produce a result, they never understand why that happens. The forces at work are explicitly stated to be unknowable, and any attempt to understand the magic leads, inevitably, to MADNESS. A great example of this outside of Lovecraft’s own work is the Fallen London universe of articlegames (Fallen London, Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies). Bizarre, utterly supernatural things are pretty much a daily fact of life within these universes; but there is almost no explanation of how or why it all works the way it does. Once again, there are methods to replicate various outcomes, and plenty of science-minded people trying to solve the problems by studying them, but there are never any answers, only ever-increasing, life-threatening TERROR as one approaches anything resembling a “truth”. In this sense, modern magic is essentially a mockery of science – it has the trappings of a “system”, but any attempt to actually study it is futile. There is always a risk, and always a wonder, no matter how much you know.
Im a sleight of hand magician and this article resonates with me because I can do things that some people accept as magic and I get to see the looks on their faces as they experience “real” magic for even a brief moment. I never get this feeling anymore from perusal other’s do magic which kinda makes me feel a little sad. It is nice bringing that to other’s though 😌
A book that I love which blends magic with systematic and fluid elements is Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it features a battle between an eldritch horror terrain while the characters are constantly trying to make sense of it, whereas the protagonist has a less structured and academic outlook that mixes nicely with more technical elements and allows for new and old magic to be discovered.
This made me think about my experience with Sea of Thieves. As a new player, the world felt alive and magical, with adventure around every corner. The possibility of victory against impossible odds, or defeat when the encounter was in our favor was always possible. As I learned the mechanics, spawning and loot that each encounter had, the world felt less and less alive. It became more of a numbers game, and the reason I played switched from exploration and adventure to beating other pirates in PvP. I also noticed that when new encounters came in updates, I got that child-like wonder when I first encountered it, and did it over and over to milk that feeling until I learned the mechanics of the encounter and it became a numbers game.
I think age/experience of the reader is a huge factor in this. I noticed that as an adult, I’m not able to simply read a story about a boy with magic without expecting the book to explain how it functions. I’ve also read a whole lot of fantasy books now, for better or worse I’ve become more picky and harder to please.
The thing I don’t like about soft magic systems is that they present a huge temptation to the author to take the easy way out when they wrote themselves into a corner and just make up some sort of magic on the spot to solve a problem. I do like the creativity hard magic systems (and rules of the world they built in general) forces on the author.
I think there’s more to what Galadriel says to the hobbits than just that she understood the “magic”. I don’t recall if it’s in the same excerpt, but I remember that the elves were said to be quite shocked that men (and hobbits) used the same word, ‘magic’, to refer to both the elvish craft and the “machinations of the Enemy” (Sauron). One could say the elvish magic and Sauron’s ‘dark’ magic are two vastly different magical systems: elvish ‘magic’ is art and craftsmanship freed of all material and technical limitations, achieving perfection through natural means, i.e. the nature of living and inanimate things. It is somewhat similar to the real world notion of ‘natural magic’, advocated primarily throughout Renaissance times. Sauron’s magic, otoh, does not work through nature but against it, twisting and torturing it, seeking to dominate and coerce it. Interestingly, there’s more overlap between the two than the elves would care to admit; indeed, the forging of the One Ring felt like an utter betrayal to them precisely because Sauron fused elvish with dark magic in forging it, therefore tricking them into participating in a despised craft. For all intents and purposes, it was a rape of their culture.
I find that the best thing to do is to create a hard magic system and then use it as a guide for yourself as the writer but then don’t tell the reader all of it, so that they’re exposed to understanding the magic in your world slowly, and maybe never completely. Keep them guessing, keep the magic alive. Much the same as in relationships.
The novel I’m currently writing has two separate systems of magic- a music based hard magic system used by the sirens and a soft emotion driven one that’s more similar to the force in early Star Wars. I’m finding that it’s really nice to get to have the best of both worlds so that different characters end up with different experiences with magic entirely and ensuring there’s always an unpredictable element to the world.
Admittedly I only just started the article, but I think there’s a pretty simple reason that magic systems don’t feel magical these days. A LOT of it focuses on the idea of magic as a power system for its characters to use to solve problems. The idea that a Wizard is an actually reliable part of the party rather than a strange outsider who disappears at the most inconvenient time when the soft, do-anything magic system could easily solve all of your problems. (As you can tell, that’s a dig DIRECTLY at Gandalf.) As such, the idea of magic as something ephemeral and unreliable has somewhat fallen out of fashion in exchange for using harder, more specific, more reliable magic systems with more specific rules and spells as to facilitate this “Powerset” without breaking the story.
An interesting thing for me about Brandon Sanderson’s work in the two currently existing Mistborn series (some spoilers ahead, be warned) is that some of the potential power that was available in the first trilogy is removed in the second. In the first series, there were those called Mistborn that could harness all the available attributes of the primary magic, and we follow one of them through all three books. In the next series, the Wax & Wayne tetralogy, there are no more Mistborn, and we follow a character who can only access one aspect of the magic and specializes in it, adapting to more situations with his relatively limited toolset. It was always fascinating to me while I was reading to see them reflect on that previous age, now centuries past, when there were effectively demi-gods running around leveling buildings and such with almost no effort. It retroactively gave me that sense of awe and wonder, yet at a system both myself and the characters already largely understood. It put the actions of the Mistborn characters in slightly more ‘hobbit-like’ perspective, using time and access to the magic instead of characters’ limited understanding. Sanderson has a very good understanding, imo, of what makes the two extremes of ‘magic as science’ and ‘magic as wonder’ (hard vs soft magic, as he calls them) work, and he enjoys playing with how to achieve the effects of both, and slowly slide you along the spectrum from one to the other
I think the problem arises when you want your POV characters to do magic. You HAVE to explain it to some degree, because the characters need to understand enough of it to be able to use it. Galadriel’s magic feels magical because we’re not seeing it from her perspective. But if the story were written from her point of view, it would need to include a little bit of explanation of what she’s doing, the same way as a story about hobbits need to explain the ways they use their swords to defeat a band of orcs. The plot doesn’t make as much sense if you don’t understand how they won the fight.
At first chemistry lesson the teacher (btw she was my favourite teacher, very nice and her lessons were always interesting) showed the class few simple experiments. Even if it was basic chemistry – barium chloride + sulfuric acid, both clear liquids, but when she pours one to another there’s white out of nowhere. Same with phenolphthalein and alkali, two clear liquids made beautiful crimson colour when mixed together. Back then i didn’t know nothing about that liquids and how they work together, it was like magic, even if it’s evident to me now how chemical reactions working. And my physics teacher always said “if you didn’t learn about science, everything would be magical” (Also my english is not very fluent sorry about mistakes)
Well, the word “magic” in itself is meant to signify something we can’t explain so if in fiction it is written as a systematized and studied subject, it is no longer magic and is instead “science”. In Japanese fiction they try to go about this subject by using different words like “Majutsu” and “Mahou”, both of which pretty much refer to “Magic”. Not to forget “Tejina” which is referring to the the stage magic type of magic. What they often do is instead have both Mahou and Majutsu exist in the same fictional universe, but one is a “science” which the current civilization uses within the setting, while the other refers to “unexplainable miracles” and other such feats.
You don’t necessarily have to use soft magic to get that magical experience. Some of the very best written works of fiction can easily merge the two, although often it comes in the form of it being magical at first and then you gradually learn what it’s all about. Even then though, the really good ones really make you feel the wonder of the joy of discovery. I think Ascendance of a Bookworm is quite likely the best known among the available titles out there that really manages to handle magic right, having a very solid hard magic system and yet presenting it in a way where it seems mystical and baffling to the reader viewing the world through Mine’s perspective. And yet, at the same time, it is actually her view of this world as all magical and wonderful that allows her to reach heights far beyond what others can, because in her mind, there is absolutely no difference between the magic of men and the magic of gods. They are both equally fantastical to her. And therefore, when she learns about divine miracles, she just takes it for granted that of course the gods can grant magical miraculous effects, and therefore she prays to the gods in the full-hearted faith and knowledge that they can use powerful magic to grant blessings. As a result, the gods come to grant far more powerful blessings through Mine than they do through anyone else.
What I find interesting is that fantasy and sci-fi had been the same genre of speculative fiction. Both of these genres can have stories placed onto the hard to soft system spectrum. It’s often only setting and themes that differentiate fantasy and sci-fi, but many modern shows like Love Death + Robots and Arcane feel like they blur that like as they take elements and ques from across the entire speculative fiction genre.
I think Ursula Le Leguin’s Earthsea series does this so well. The books fill their audience with so much wonder.Even though it is systematic in that you can’t transform themselves into something else for too long for fear of losing your own name and having to learn the names of all the trees, rivers etc, yet they conserve a sense of mystery especially when it comes to the “higher” magic. Like how in the first book we can feel the tension that all the characters feel because nobody fully understands what is following Ged.
Anther great article! Would you say what makes Lovecraft so frightening is that his cosmic horror is sort of like a hard magic system in reverse, being a universe of science but one were the system in the edges is breaking down into the unknown? I would think that would be terrifying and maddening to those in that system.
I think that Witch Hat Atteliere has a really fun balence of these two: Coco, a novice to magic and its society, acts as the audience surrogate so charmingly. To her, the systemised magic of the world she lives in is a perpetually unfolding wonder of new mechanics extrapolated from the old ones. For an earlier example: magic is written through runes and inks. She constantly experiences new ways the mages in the world hide their runes under the guise of ‘magic’.
To be honest, I have zero qualms with making the magic systems of my universe and stories follow certain laws. That’s almost part of the fun, to me; having certain societies see some force or object as supernatural when other societies understand it completely. If you took a gun or a smartphone and brought it 1000 years into the past, nobody would understand the science behind it, but that doesn’t mean the science doesn’t exist, and I’m fine with portraying magic the same way. Maybe I will just stop using the word ‘magic’ to describe the system at all, though of course the people in my fictional world are still going to call it magic because they don’t understand it themselves. Other writers can evoke this ‘magical’ feeling with their work; that’s just not what I’m trying to do. Edit: I was made aware that guns were actually invented closer to 1000 years ago than now, so just scratch that bit.
This is just my personal read on a story, but I think it fits really well with the theme of this article. To most characters in the Lord of the Rings, magic is, well, magical. Mysterious, impossible to categorize or define, incapable of being reproduced in its effects and incomprehensible in its means. Of course, LotR does actually have a soft magic system of sorts primarily based on authority, but the specifics are unknown. One of the most recognizable villains, Saruman, was a student of the Quasi-god of craftsmanship and described as being deeply fascinated in the lore and arcane aspects of the world, being obsessed with studying them. In my opinion, it was part of this futile attempt at understanding and classifying a free flowing, almost mythological world which led to him objectifying nature and human life, as they were just lesser fools who knew not of the secrets of Arda as he did, and were merely useful as numbers, pawns in his grand design. A similar thing could be said of Sauron, who also elevated himself to the comprehension of a world which was only meant to be fully understood by its Creator.
I found that using both in a world kind of enhances each. like if you have a systemized hard magic system the world revolves around it gives it a flavor and then introduce some unknown eldritch magic the known becomes comfortable and accepted while the unknown feels even more unknown. its a sort of “if you could understand that why cant you understand this???” moment
I think magic can both be hard and mysterious. It’s hard because the author has it all thought out, and all of its manifestations will abide by the same rules–but only in retrospect, after the readers have been told (or better, after they’ve figured out) the rules. Meanwhile, the characters who don’t have the same amount of information as the author and the readers are allowed to form their own (wrong or incomplete) theories about how magic works. And because readers are meant to connect to the characters emotionally, they will naturally share the characters’ bafflement and wonder. I see no contradictions there. Nature is hard. Murder mysteries are hard (you know, unless specifically noted, that the murderer uses mundane means to achieve his killings. You just don’t know how). Hell, stories are hard in that you aren’t given the full picture at the beginning, but instead clues, foreshadowings, and exposition, yet the “full picture” is always there from the beginning. Doesn’t make them less interesting in the slightest.
From the perspective of a software engineer, I feel what I do is magic sometimes in of itself. there are more complex things that I still percieve as wizardry (like PLC). The approach you describe here in the article is one that I’ve felt myself for years, and I appreciate that you have created this article. Thank you
I love the magic in Eragon because, while large parts of it are given explanations and clear mechanics, the system is never fully explained or limited. The largest part of the magic comes from a language, you cannot lie in this language, promises made are binding, and someone who knows what they are doing and has the correct talent can use it to command the world; however, we are never given a comprehensive dictionary of the language, simply told some of the ways to use it
I haven’t felt genuine draw to magic since I recently rewatched Howl Moving Castle. The last time I watched it was close to a decade ago when I was a child. It truly felt magical and spontaneous, it felt like there was rules in the world, but still that it was unknown to me as the viewer, and it kept that spark throughout.
One example I would think fits this article is the Fate series from TypeMoon. You may think magecraft and magic is the same but in that world, it is two different applications. Magecraft is what human mages are capable of, stemming from mysteries and myths of the ancient. Magic is miracles, ones that cannot be explained, the system of its magic is there is no system for that branch because it is the root of the original. I love how they also use concepts to perform magecraft and not the basic elements.
Thank you! So many people who write and teach about worldbuilding talk like hard magic is somehow obviously better because it “makes more sense,” but I’ve always preferred soft magic because, to me, NOT “making sense” in that way actually makes my experience of the fantasy world much more magical. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so!
For me, magic does not have to be a break, but merely a bend, or exception. In Misborn for example, only certain people can use alomancy, making it a super (exceeding the ordinary) power. My favorite stories are the ones were everyone has a unique power, because no one is necessarily weaker than anyone else, it just depends on the situation and the skill of the user.
One of the things I find that makes a magic system feel “magical” is when it’s a system that acknowledges that it has rules, but those rules aren’t set in stone but rather what’s safest to the caster. Sure you can write out the runes for a fireball to cast it, but if you play with the shapes even alittle, suddenly things could get dangerously out of hand. It let’s those constrained by the rules bend them in a moment of great need without it being an otherwise “impossible act only the chosen one could do”.
Some years ago, I watched America’s Got Talent with my parents, and the winner was a guy named Shin Lim, who specializes in card magic. As in… REALLY advanced card magic. In all of his performances in the competition, he kept wowing the audience, judges and us viewers perusal TV. And I could not figure out or imagine at all how he did those tricks. Usually in card magic, the magician wears long sleeves, I think, which helps making cards disappear and appear and stuff. But Shin Lim wore short sleeves, meaning he could not use that kind of trick. Plus his speed is simply INCREDIBLE, he moves the cards so fast you can’t see where they go, not in his palm or the back of his hand turning away. I think maybe also the tables he used did not have any tablecloths, if I remember correctly, so he couldn’t hide them in any way with the table. But the SICKEST trick was the last performance he gave in the competition, where he was holding a card, and then IT CHANGED LIVE RIGHT IN FRONT OF EVERYONE! As if it was a screen, but it was just a card! I don’t care much for musical performances like many competitors do, you see it all the time. But magic like this? Even his first performance was enough that I hoped he would win, and he did, which was awesome! I don’t know how Shin Lim did his tricks, and I don’t want to know how, because that is definitely the closest thing to real magic that I, and probably most other people, will have ever seen. In fact, I am ready to believe that what I saw was true magic, and that Shin Lim is a true magician.
Part of the reason for the rise of systemic magic over ‘wonder’ magic is that, after Tolkien, wonder magic tends to feel very much like a narrative cheat–to paraphrase Lucy Lawless, “Anytime you need something to happen, a wizard does it.” The one place where such an approach to magic is most satisfying is in modern, updated fairytales, since most magic in those has some sort of internal logic, but no explanation beyond “This is how it is”. So the movie Labyrinth, or the comic book series Fables, or the novels of Neil Gaiman, all draw upon that sort of approach to magic, and you just accept it. But it can cause issues. “Why didn’t Gandalf just…” becomes a common refrain, since he clearly has the power to do a lot of things. Sure, he doesn’t dare bear the Ring himself, but it seems like he should be able to whip up some sort of magical transportation to get everyone there faster. And if you explain WHY he can’t do this or that, then you’re on the first step of creating a systemic magic approach, instead, since delineating limits is part of any system design.
Funnily enough, this is why I love high-fantasy settings. An example I’ll use is a favorite anime of mine, “Knights & Magic.” The setting is a world of swords and magic, where man is oft at war against large monsters. To combat this, they used magic to create giant robots called Silhouette Knights. The main character even compares the magic of this world to be very similar to computer programming, which allows him to be VERY proficient with magic and allows him to revolutionize the world of Silhoutte Knights. Low fantasy adds this element of wonder, yes, but high fantasy is my personal bread and butter because I love science, and an extensively explored magic system is basically a new and alternate form of science. Whats impossible in this world with our current technology is common place in this alternate world and its magic like system of technology.
I really like how Terry Pratchett builds it. No one really knows how it works, even the most eminent wizards. There’s always some kind of apprehension when magic is used, which insures that sense of wonder, both for the characters and the reader. The fact that it most often ends up in a magistral failure is the cherry on top 😂
I liked The Owl House for having one of its most important plot points be about how a Magic System is extremely reductive, flawed and oppresive (it was imposed by a human over the magic users, the witches, to make matters worse) so it’s actively fought against, until it is eradicated and all witches are free to practice their magic without labels. So they live without a system because it repressed their nature.
I love the hard-magic type of worlds because they deal with a power that can be wielded individually by people, although it does have a lot of rules and kind of mimics how science works sometimes, it still feels like a breeze of fresh air because science in most cases cannot be done entirely by ourselves and without proper equipment, but the magic in these worlds can be explored by a single person and reach stages unimaginable to most people at the end of the road. It deals with the feeling of being shackled by society in the real world, which doesn’t let you do anything without relying on someone else, and instead lets you imagine individuals who can wield anything in the palm of their hands.
I want to point out that there’s still many things that can remain magical even if it is explainable. In science there are many amazing phenomenon that still impress me every time I see them even if I understand how it works. Take magnets as a good simple example. No matter how many times I play with them I still find it crazy how they pull and repel eachother. Just something to think about.
I have practiced Magic system building for quite a while thanks to inspirations like FMA and Brandon Sanderson. The more intuitive and frankly worldbuilding-harmonious method I’ve been drawn to is to make it so that whilst the uses and patterns of casting magic are somewhat steadily agreed upon, most people can only rely on belief or rational deduction for where it originated. It’s quite common practice and study for multiple fields and paradigms to debate and challenge one another, and the closer one may get to the truth, the less believable and more eldritch it appears. Bending the laws of reality is tricky, but can be obtained through practice. Creating and breaking laws is far more complicated, and it seems there are multiple ways in which a law can be broken.
Before I start perusal, I want to say something. I think I’ve said this before but the reason some magical systems don’t feel magical is because 1) there isn’t an air of impossibility to them, a feeling that it is something that anyone can achieve or do. 2) there isn’t a air of mystery to it, that it isn’t esoteric and difficult to understand that only the brightest minds who have studied and mastered this power can do. And 3) that it isn’t grounded in some sort of reality or rule set, that the results of invoking magic is without limitations that the caster knows and understands and can do anything he or she desires. I think that is why when you build a magic system you have to set the rules, limits, and boundaries of the system and then the author must choose what to tell the audience. Much in the way a practical magician knows the trick and purposely does not reveal the secret. I think the beat way to present magic is a hard magic system that appears to be soft. Edit: 5 minutes in and I am dang near close.
Sometimes in games I get the “feeling of magic”, and I think it has to do with mastering something that doesn’t want to be mastered. Either it’s deliberately hard or attempting to be deliberately impossible. One of the strongest and most long lived “feelings of magic” I got in a game was when learning (on my own) to climb geometry in World of Warcraft. Climbing Mount Hyjal long before it was actually a playable area, climbing outside lands and finding strange WIP areas or just huge empty spaces. I found and mastered a hidden power that had no tutorial, no interface, no intention of even existing. I have no idea of how to implement something like that, as it would require intent, obviously.
One of my favorite depictions of magic comes from a series called The Ancient Magus’s Bride. Part of why it feels so fresh and interesting is that, for the most part, it draws heavily from old, old European folk magic. Stuff like how a ring-shaped stone from a riverbed can protect you from the allure of faeries, or how faeries will often exchange gifts with humans in the form of performing magic for them in exchange for some food, a flower, and things like that. There are rules, but a lot of those rules have more to do with how humans interact with the Fae. Lots of depictions of magic, I’ve found, really pull more from alchemy or ceremonial magic of the kind Aleister Crowley and his contemporaries developed. Given how alchemy was a precursor to science, and given how ceremonial magic (Thelema, et cetera) arose in the same era as modern science’s rise to prominence, it’s natural that a system which pulls from these will be colored by the same assumptions that underpin Western science: that all observable phenomena are governed by absolute laws that are the same everywhere and through time, and that humans have the power to directly observe, quantify, and utilize those laws and their outcomes. Not to say that such a system can’t “feel” magical. While the magic system itself isn’t especially magical or based on this science-magic, Jujutsu Kaisen does have a very rule-based magic system in jujutsu sorcery, but nevertheless introduces characters who give this feeling of awe and wonder at what they’re capable of through sorcery.
An interesting intersection between determinism and irrationality is the Chaos Theory, as well as the Laws of Probability. All these are empyrical rules, yet we understand by experiencing them, not by understand its fundamental mechanics (even the fact of understand the Chaos Theory leads us to ultimately recognise the impossibility to understand the Chaos Theory at its full extent – or rather, complex systems with… infinite variables). So an approach perhaps would be to make a magic system with infinite variables (like secret tables) and let the players experience the developement of new spells by combining from certain “standard” combinations set on a spellbook or in an academy of magic? Very inspirational this article thanks! 😀
My and my friend had a discussion about the line between “science” and “magic” and my like starting point was that if magic was real it wouldn’t be magic, it would be science. Our consensus ig was that if we can fully explain something and how and why it works it’s “science”, but if we don’t know the how or the why it works but simply that it “does” then it is magic.” Something we argued was that what about the beginning of the universe, we don’t truly know how or why but rather that it happened and he said then it might as well be magic (within the space of topic) but if we could make fire out of thin air with our hands but be able to perfectly explain it then it would be science. I haven’t thought of that convo in a while and this article just happened to remind me of it and I appreciate that
An interesting thing to look at in this topic is the concept of potions. On one hand, potion brewing can just look like normal medicine making but when you add arbitrary things like live frogs and hair of an old woman, it feels like magic without any scientific explanation. Often potion brewing could just be the process of harnessing the magical properties within, but like I said, the reasons could just be arbitrary
Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronical has a nice mix of magic. Sympathy, sigildry, and alchemy are all pretty well established as magical sciences. However, there are also things like naming and the other as-of-yet unspecified magic of the Chandrian and others, which are much more nebulous and perhaps even unknowable forces.
For me the soft vs hard thing boils down to: is magic art or science primarily? They overlap (craft) by necessity, but you prioritise one based off your aims in telling the story/personal taste. I also think soft magic tends to work best when built as a way to reinforce the themes of the story- in discworld, a series about taking the mundane, stupid, yet absurd bits of the world and pointing out the humanity behind them, we have magic that is literally stated to being “how we expect the world to work based off story tropes”- which is intentionally a big string of plot holes, but one the reader, who understands fundamentally this is a story, follows the logic of. Then you have Mistworld, which is more plot driven, where magic is literally a plot mechanic- its a story about finding out the rules and limits of the magic basically. It says very little about the themes, but drives the story. Im always gonna prefer soft magic to hard, but I find the themes of a story more intresting then the plot, and understand the reverse perspective
this article put things into perspective for me. i’ve been sitting with this story idea for four years now, more or less developing it in increments. because of that, i have a good, clear grip on what everything is about, what the path is from A to B, not to mention the overarching conflict. nonetheless. when you said that phrase about the intrinsic system-breaking quality of magic, it all magically (pardom me) clicked. my story is about many things, it’s about power and deception, above all it is about complacency. but it is also exactly about that—what happens when you try to build a system to house a thing that isn’t supposed to be within one lest it end up imprisoned. what are the consequences of that? what are the measures people are ready to take to keep that system alive, and the thing it keeps at bay, dead? thank you very much for my personal aha! moment! it’s priceless what you do. that said, get that bag with the skillshare spon! from writer to writer, much love.
Really love this article, really helped me rethink a lot about anime. A Certain Magical Index and The Ancient Magus’ Bride specifically. Index has both traditional Magicians and Esper. Esper originate their power from scientific experiments/development where everyone has a unique power and level. On the other hand, although magic is explained as a separate rule it is viewed by the magicians as “a method to achieve the talented can naturally do” (not the exact quote, but IIRC that was the idea). Unlike the common magic system, Magical Index uses references from religions, folklore, or epics to structure out a method to produce a supernatural occurrence (e.g. conjure fire) that can be used by anyone. It is not specifically made for the naturally talented (like Esper) so Espers who use them might die and even magicians overuse them can fry their brain. It is simultaneous less structured (not simple like fire, water, wind, and earth) but also more structured (every magic has a source reference). This magic system is still very magical, at least much more magical than regular common elemental magic systems. As for Ancient Magus’ Bride, they differentiate between a Mahou (Magic) and Majutsu (Alchemy*). Mahou is borrowing the power of faes, spirits, ghosts, or demons to affect the law of nature. Majutsu is a science that study on turning one’s internal energy to mana and produce similar results that magic would. I am not sure why the English translation is Alchemy but I guess there isn’t an equivalent word for it in English.
Magic is science we don’t understand yet. I like the idea that as you start learning magic, you feel absolutely lost and don’t know where to start. You grasp at basic concepts, but are still bewildered by the big picture. But eventually, it all slides into place and makes sense. If it’s chaotic and uncontrollable, can one really master it? And is something uncontrollable really worth using?
The authors who best captured the ‘feeling of magic’ for me were Andre Norton (Witch World), Jack Vance (The Dying Earth), Ursula LeGuin (Earthsea), C J Cherryl (Rusalka), and Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell), though the ‘Magic’ children’s book series by Ruth Chew captured that feeling pretty well, too.
One magic system I love is the Warrens from the Malazan books. They’re volatile and have a will of their own. You can open them for a magical effect, if they’re willing; you can travel through them, at your risk; they might possess you, drive you mad, turn you into an agent of indiscriminate destruction. There have been attempts in the world to categorize and map them, and they have names; but they are entities unto themselves, older than mortal understanding, and defy such things.
The Irregular in magic highschool immediately popped up into my mind. It’s a tricky anime/light novel series that somewhat explores what it’d be like if Science becomes an integral part of using magic. Magic certainly exists, there are even some characters who use an “older method” of casting magic such as using charms and things. But, it does stop feeling like magic once they start explaining how the magic works in theory. They use terminologies that makes the magic confined in the laws of physics, with the only magical thing being that “only magicians can draw from what allows these phenomena to occur”. It’s certainly an amazing series with cool magics but really, it feels more like a science-fiction most of the time than this fantasy magic story.
Gonna toss my $0.02 here! To quote Sir Terry, “It doesn’t stop being magic just because you know how it works.” Magic systems to me are more of a spectrum between “comprehensive and detailed limits to power” (like Sanderson’s many examples), and “mysterious powers that mortals cannot fully grasp” (like Le Guin or Wynn-Jones, or the Ghibli films). That’s WHY the idea of hard vs. soft magic exists, as a gradient scale of how strange and wondrous you want the arcane to be. A detailed magic system isn’t LESS magical due to being explained, no more than something like the Force (especially in the original 3) is MORE magical for being unknown and inexplicable. To me, it’s about the MYSTERY of the power, and how much/little you want the audience’s own imagination to fill in the gaps!
I think the best use of magic system is both. Wheel of Time series is a great example of where magic is treated like science, but also a mystical force that can’t be understood. It’s also one of the major inspiration for my magic system where non-magic users cannot see or sense magic, but those that are magic users can see and sense magic because the year long training and opening to the world’s untapped source. Too much rules in a magic system makes it feel like science than straight up magic.
I’m going to bring up Equestria Girls: Friendship Games again, because trying to understand and analyze magic like a science is exactly what gets Twilight in trouble in that movie. In fact, almost the entire series is about humans experiencing magic from a foreign world, that they’re not psychologically prepared to deal with. They have no trouble understanding what it does, for the most part (sometimes it even comes with instructions), but the sudden expansion in perspective of what is possible, combined with the vulnerable state these characters find themselves in to begin with, causes them to make some pretty regrettable decisions. It’s sort of like the Ring of Gyges.
This is also described in Rothfuss’s Kingkiller chronicles. As Kvothe learns about the academically applied “magic”, the more he learns, the less he regards it as magic and becomes bored with it as a result. Which is why he becomes a lot more interested in the naming of things, as it really represents a more intuitive and irrational type of magic that is impossible to understand.
There are 2 of my favorite renditions of magic, one is Wild Magic which adds a more natural uncontrollable element to magic which to me makes it seem so truly magical in a childlike sense, plus it spices up DnD. The other is type the Fullmetal Alchemist’s version of “magic” where it’s all science, and I’ve seriously come to appreciate it more since I started perusal Dr. Stone, it really appeals to my logical sense of discovering how magic works.
In a series I’m working on, I created a mage whose main power is control over plant-life, even has little plant-like familiars that aid him. However, if he tries more complex spells, it shortens his lifespan. So in my case, I guess I’m playing with both soft and hard magic. Side note: Those little Tale-loids at the end are so darn cute! ^_^
Eragon’s magic system is to me, the gold standard. It has heavy costs that discourages beginner mages from attempting dangerous experiments because if you cast a spell then you can’t stop it midway. You need both an understanding of the Elvish language, the language that magic is spoken in, and an incredible understanding of how the world works aka, Science. Eragon himself almost dies trying to turn sand into drinkable water.
My favorite system is a hard and strictly defined ruleset of magic. The reason being that the more rules the world follows the more tools I have to work with and the more stable of a foundation. Nothing upsets me more than a character suddenly using a “I win” card, not because of a hither to unknown facet of the world but because the world was never defined enough to set it up to be reasonable. To me, the vagueness just screams an unfinished system like a wonderful tapestry where looking too close or far reveals nothing but frayed threads that was never worked on. It’s probably the main reason I love isekai stories, since it brings a more scientific mind to explore a world of magic. A character discovering the hidden mechanism behind the supernatural doesn’t erase the magic to me but creates a layer of believability to help bridge the gap from reality that would otherwise just remain akin to dream logic.
I like to point back to the Young Wizards series as one of my favorite Hard Magic examples. In the second book the main characters are taking some people to the moon, and their passengers are confused as to why they have to worry about things like calculating the amount of energy needed for the 4 of them + Oxygen to reach escape velocity if it’s magic. The response is that ultimately magic is just another way of manipulating energy, they just get that energy from places that we don’t understand and utilizes mystic principles (bring along a moon rock because it remembers the way back to where it came from) to keep it from becoming too bogged down in itself and making magic still feel magical. I read Young Wizards around the same time I read Harry Potter, and I was almost so much more enchanted with Young Wizards because I felt like I could be a Wizard if I could somehow learn the Speech.
This actually made me rethink how magic works in my story, the reason I like fantasy so much is because of how removed it is from reality. By deciding on hard rules for my magic system I removed what made things fantasy and made it just reality with a few differences. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s not what I want and I didn’t realize it
My favorite trick in stories with magic is that the magic the protagonists use is well defined, understood and follows rules… then theres a villain or other antagonistic character who just breaks all the rules and they just scramble trying to understand understand what’s happening and failing. (It sets up an interesting conflict that can be solved in a few ways)
One of my favorite magic ‘systems’ is the one used in Pact and Pale by Wildbow. It’s based on old folklore, and somehow manages to evoke both the wonder of Tolkeinesque soft magic and the desire for the characters to use it in a clever and interesting way. Forswear lies and broken oaths, let your word be bond, and the very world will listen when you speak.
Honestly, for me it’s more about the result. I love to know about how a given magic system works, and it doesn’t stop being magic because… Well, you can throw fireballs, you can shoot lightning, you can fly through the air unnassited, you can turn invisible, etc. Knowing how magic happens doesnt make it less magical to me because what is happening is still awe-inspiring.
As much as I love doing philosophical analyses of fiction and media like this, I really hope the discourse doesn’t turn into an argument over definitions, or placing value judgements on stories because “boo hard magic equals bad” or something similar. My thought is that if the magic, whether hard or soft in structure, serves the narrative, then it’s doing its job. Narratives can have all different kinds of experiences, including feeling lost in a “magical” world or feeling empowered by coming to understand the magic in the world. But if readers are enjoying a story, and then get caught up in “Well, can I call it magical if I understand it better?”, then I think we’re detracting from what fiction is all about. The goal of fiction, at least for me, is to wish something were real. No matter how well I may come to understand Sanderson’s magic systems, there will always be some point where I will simply have to accept that it exists in the Cosmere and not in the real universe. I will eventually have to accept that there are no more answers and that it simply is. So, to some degree, it is magical according to your definition. But now I’m arguing definitions–see how easy it is? My point is that no matter how magical or scientific a story is (if you adhere to that dichotomy), if we’re willing to suspend our disbelief, engage with the story, and wish it were real, then the story has succeeded.
That’s why I find some of the best magic stories as ones that have a thorough magical system, and then later on a few people show up with a different kind of magic that completely breaks it and should not be possible at all. Those people feel truly magical as you’ve already accepted the normal magic system.
I love the magic system in Diane Duane’s Young Wizard series (starting with So You Want To Be A Wizard). It is a hard magic approach, to the point where the spells are set up like equations, and it actually meshes quite well with the physics that we know (if you’re going to the moon, you have to take your air with you, account for the differing trajectories through space, and provide enough energy to get out of Earth’s gravity well). But, as you go through the series, there is still some of that unexplained magic at the very bottom of things.
I was very excited to see this article in my recommendations because I am absolutely OBSESSED with magic systems in media and their, as you mentioned, lack of magic. I’m always searching for games and movies that manage to make their magic actually FEEL magical and figuring out what makes it work and what doesn’t Interestingly enough I found that magic in its mystery still requires some sort of rules within the worldbuilding to feel truly magical, which sounds like a paradox in of itself. But magic quickly loses its value and becomes boring to the audience if there are no limitations to it. If you for example are able to do anything with it on a whim, shrinking people, shape-shifting, creating objects and creatures out of thin air – not to mention solving every possible problem the protagonist might be facing – then it falls flat and loses all its meaning due to a lack of rules and limitations. The magic lies in there still being a system, but one that is beyond our comprehension. It can be powerful, yes, world-destroying even. But can everyone achieve it? Is it hard to take a hold of? Does it have a conscious on its own? It is a delicate balance of knowing something and nothing at all at the same time, creating a magic that feels REAL within its own world while still being otherworldly. The worldbuilding plays a huge role in my opinion if the magic ends up feeling convincing. Establishing the role of the magic, how it is intertwined with the world while still feeling Alien, ceating guidelines, limits, traits, while still keeping a sense of mystery, having a vague idea of what it is capable of or how it works without ever fully understanding the why and how – All of this is incredibly hard to balance, which is why there’s only a handful of movies or games I’d be able to think of off the top of my head, that have a convincing sense of magic.
I think this is an excellent description of why I like “soft magic” systems more than “hard magic”. To truly feel magical, you need to know less about how it works rather than more. Because the more you know about how it works, the more you understand what it can and cannot do. But in fiction, I feel a true feeling of magic is the idea that “anything is possible”. Anything and everything, unbound by explicit logic and rules. Often I find that when you focus too much on how magic works, you lose the essence of it.
my favorite magic system of all time is from the manga “witch hat atelier” by kamome shirahama. basically, magic is performed by drawing symbols using specific ink. you can build your own magic sigils by combining and rearranging the symbols into different formations that make them perform different things. the kicker: ANYONE able to make a mark on paper can perform magic; “witches” are just secretive normies and gatekeep how magic works from the rest of the world (supposedly to protect magic from falling into the wrong hands, but it also means magic that can help a lot of people is limited, such as purifying water). theres hard rules for the magic, and youd think that that would make it less fantastical, but the “magic” feeling coming from the system is the creativity that witches must have to innovate. the whole system is a great metaphor for drawing actually, you hone your skills with a pen, starting small, getting creative, making mistakes and learning. it deals with art block and burnout, and the feeling that youre not doing good enough compared to your peers.
This is assuming that the feeling of magic can only come from a lack of understanding of something. This the most common misunderstanding about that feeling of something being magical and is also the same reason why people think science is boring or that it “takes the magic from the world”. In reality, if you ask any scientist or engineer about this, they would wholly disagree. Understanding something to the point of knowing just how vastly complex or marvelously simplistic it is generates the same magical feeling. The feeling of magic dies not when something is understood, but when you think you understand something enough to go “ah that’s all it is? boring”, which is not a sign of understanding but the lack of it.
I really like this. I made my magic system more like science in my world. The two go hand in hand, but to those who don’t use or study it, like some science, it’s absolutely fascinating or terrifying. To those who use it all the time, it’s definitely cool, like a scientist who’s made a breakthrough, but much of it is just a process they regularly do day after day like a scientist going through the scientific processes (and trials and errors) in order to make a breakthrough
I really like this because I think this concept also fits with our idea of aliens or magical creatures, I feel like many of the modern day animals we have would be alien to anyone who’s never seen it before like a frog or a scorpion, and I remember hearing that this same phenomenon may have happened in the bible with theories that the behemoth was just a hippo and the leviathan was an aligator, if a real extra terrestrial came to earth then to us it would he alien, but after only a few generations it would just be another animal
I haven’t seen much talk about Tolkien’s Mythopoeia, where, aside from various interesting topics, he explores the idea of fantasy and how the more you try to describe it, to capture it, the faster it will go away. It was very inspiring, and I think it connects strongly with this article. Walking through the world of fantasy is hard. Especially the older you become and the more knowledge you gather. However, it’s still very possible! Indeed, I find it extremely rewarding when I’m able to walk around in the world of fantasy. But to enjoy it, I must behave properly by not judging or thinking more than necessary so it doesn’t run away. And after it, like after a dream, trying to explain what you perceived there with accurate descriptions is both pointless and disrespectful. No words can ever precisely describe what lies in the world of fantasy. So beware if you try and do your best to use enough words and expressions, and let fantasy fill the rest. Great article, as always!
Plausible progression is a nice way to keep magic engaging for children and adults. If a character performs a magic act that is more powerful or different from what they’ve been shown to do before but is connected in some way, it feels like the system has some sense to it. Otherwise, it is hard to feel like the story has any stakes. If a magical character can presumably do anything, it makes it suspicious when they do not.
The biggest problem with magic for me is the concept of mana. Whenever mana or some other name is used, it feels not as a wonderful phenomenon, but rather a trade, I am spending my daily wizard allowance to purchase this event. Even when explained, it can still be magical if it seems impossible/improbable. But it gets very trivial when the only real restriction is if you can afford the spell.
this made me remember of a steven universe episode where it’s said “humans call what they can’t understand or explain magic” or something among those lines, i couldn’t find the exact quote. at the start of the show, they feel way more magical, but as it progresses you really start seeing that it was all just technology that we couldn’t understand. their own physical forms and powers and weapons seemed to only be explained by magic, but as you learn more about the lore you see it more as a robot or a hologram that was programmed to look like that, have those powers, etc