Quote:
Originally Posted by Lalwendë
I was kinda enjoying examining how story and magic are intertwined
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You just made me think of something possibly relevant to this...
A lot of ancient cultures place high value in names, in some mythologies, knowing someone's name can give a wizard certain power over them. Quite often the names are more than identifying labels. When I was studying Hebrew I noticed that several commentators (especially Jewish mystics) went to great lengths to say that names were mystical because they had deeper meanings. Some went to the extent of studying each letter of the alphabet and giving each character it's own, well, character.
I like this idea. In some cases the names become stories and it is the stories and significances that give them power. A good example would be the name of God according the the Torah. YHVH. In Hebrew it is
yud, hey, vav, hey. These are all '
breathing sounds', each letter having specific connotations with breath and life. So the name itself gains all these meanings and more.
I think this is where I draw the main distinction between magic and technology (rather than science, pér sé). The former is a power drawn from history, a connection with the old and a bridge for ancient stories to invade the present. The latter is building over the past, moving further away from it. Neither is particually bad, mind you. Both serve different purposes. But for the writer of fantasy, magic is the great tool to open the imagination to the great histories of the secondary world. For the writer of science fiction, technology draws the reader into the future of the secondary world.
Does that make any kind of sense?