Science (Fiction?) / Fantasy

What the heck is a magic system?
When a story teller makes a story (book, movie, etc.) they have to invent the environment. Magic is often a part of the environment. In a good story, the story teller lays out the rules, and then MUST follow them. This applies to character behaviour, society, religion, etc. and of course, magic. If the story teller does not follow the rules, then weird things will happen in the story that make it more difficult for the reader / listener / watcher to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the story.

Magic systems come in basically two forms. One is a magic system that is tied to intervention (religion), and the other one is tied to the magic user. The intervention based system essentially means that the magic user is not actually performing magic, but rather is asking some other being (god / goddess?) to perform a miracle or action for them. In the other system, the power to perform magic resides in the magic user, and as such, there is no intervention required. It is viable for a magic system to involve both types.

Energy based magic?
In many stories, the magic itself is an energy that exists and can be tapped. It is the energy that does the work, and must be molded to do the required task. This is not a third type of magic system. It can apply equally to both systems. In a non-intervention based system, the user must control the magic energy. Usually only people with special ability are capable of doing this. In an intervention based system the user asks the deity to control the energy for them. In both cases, there is the possibility of magical objects. These objects contain the magical energy, already molded to the specific task.

Non-intervention based magic?
When the magic user can control the environment in a way (or ways) that the average person can not. For example, if a person can make fire without lighting a match (usually by concentrating or some such action). This is usually a mind-based thing. The magic user focuses his or her mind in certain ways, and things happen. This is an extension of what people can normally do. If I want to raise my arm, I have to get my mind to think of the idea, and then have it control the muscles in my body to raise my arm. If I want to set fire to my neighbour’s cat, I have to use my mind to control the air molecules near the cat’s hair so that they speed up and get really hot, until poor whiskers goes up in flames.

Intervention based magic?
When magic involves reciting incantations or spells, etc. the magic user is (usually) not performing magic. He / she is asking for magic to be performed. The magic user will often have a book of spells, and must recite a spell exactly as dictated in the book for the described action to occur. What often happens is that the author will not go deeply into where the magic comes from in these scenarios. One of the implications of this system type is that since the user is asking for magic, then anyone can do it. In some stories this is true. In others it is not. When it is not, then you have to ask yourself “Why not?” Is it because the god or goddess will only listen to some people (possible when you consider the idea of priests), or is it because there is something special about these people. This is a more difficult system to categorize. It implies that the system is intervention based because the words used are relevant, but then it implies that the system is non-intervention based because the user has capabilities that are special and, as such is performing their own manipulation to (coerce?) the deity into performing magic. This is one of those cross-over type systems, where both types exist.

Cross-over system?
What happens when a magic system is made up of both intervention based and non-intervention based magic? You get a cross-over. There are a few ways this can play out.

• What if the user was a container for magical energy. The user manipulates that energy as he / she sees fit. The user is able to pray to the deity for things like increased capacity, or access to higher level capabilities.
• What if the user was able to coerce a deity? The user has the magical ability to control a god (or demon). That’s it. They can’t do any other funky stuff. The god or demon can, though. “I command you oh demon of the deepest hell: set fire to the neighbour’s cat!".

There are probably a few other ways this can go. They just haven’t come to mind yet.

There are lots of examples out there of each type, so we will have to pick on a few of the more well known ones.

• The Belgariad (David Eddings) This magic system is based on “The Will and the Word". The user has to really concentrate on something, and then speak a word to make the action happen. At first blush, this appears to be intervention based because of the fact that the user has to speak a word. In fact, this is non-intervention based. The word is a focus for the user. The word itself is not terribly important. The action comes from “The Will” and “The Word” releases it. There is no indication that the user is requesting anything.
• Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling) This is an intervention based system. In this system, the actual word is very important. The author does not go into (any) detail as to where the magic actually comes from so there are no clues there. The wizards and witches spend a lot of time learning words implying that it is the words that matter. Once they know a spell, they practice it so that their pronunciation is perfect. I guess god is really picky about that sort of thing. It is made clear in later books in the series that the user does not have to actually speak the word out loud, implying that this is really a non-intervention based system. It still is. It is not even a cross-over. Just because they do not have to say it out loud, they have to say it in their minds. They are concentrating on the spell words, rather than the action. If god can perform the action then why can god not also read minds?
• The Wheel Of Time (Robert Jordan) This is a good example of a non-intervention based magic system that relies heavily on magical energy as it’s own entity. The users must manipulate this energy to perform magic. Each person has a certain capacity, which determines how powerful he / she is by dictating how much energy he / she can manipulate at the same time. This system also includes the ability for objects to store this energy in a manipulated form. What is interesting is that magic can be manipulated and stored into an object in a way that allows the user (with the aid of said object) to manipulate more energy than would be otherwise possible.
• Band of Four (Ed Greenwood) Cross-over (in my opinion. I might need to re-read this). This is also an energy based system, and the energy can be stored in objects. It seems that the objects can also be people. The objects are made by killing a wizard, and storing his / her essence in the object. I admit that I do not quite follow this system completely because I feel there is a cart before the horse scenario here. You must use up an object with magic in it to perform magic, after which the object crumbles to dust, indicating that the magic is gone. How do the wizards get the magic in the objects? Do objects already exist (created by gods perhaps) so the first wizards could do neat stuff?
• Sword of Truth (Terry Goodkind) Non-intervention. This is all magic coming from the user. This is not an energy based system. The users have the capabilities built in. It is laid out with somewhat distinct rules. There are two types of magic. Additive and subtractive. Additive magic can only create things. Subtractive magic can only destroy things. There is an implication that this is actually intervention based, since there is mention that the “Creator” is involved with additive magic and that the “Keeper” is involved with subtractive magic. This is however, misleading. The user is not asking for permission. If anything there might be an energy based system involved here where the additive energy comes from the “Creator” and the subtractive energy comes from the “Keeper", but if this is the case, then I think it is that these gifts are imbued in the user at birth (which seems to be indicated in the books).

I guess what I am saying is that magic is not a simple thing that can be taken for granted. The author has to put a lot of work into making sure it all appears seemless to the reader / viewer / etc.