Timewaster's Guide Archive

Fine by me.  I like arguing ^_^

In my spare time, I do a lot of fanfiction writing and I juggle some random ideas that spring into my head. Anyway, I've been reading through some of the commentaries and annotations of Elantris, and it says quite frequently that one of the things Brandon prides himself on most are the unique magical systems used in his work. I'm also reasonably proud of my own magic systems; I tend to get extremely bored with either less in-depth or simply less creative magics, considering how omnipresent they are in fantasy. I've been wondering if one of my new ideas has been done before, or if it sounds like a good idea to any of you. If so, I'll probably write something using it. If not, well... I can't really blame you. I'm not actually too fond of it myself, but I felt like seeking commentary regardless.

Has anybody ever considered a system of magic based on emotion? This seems interesting to me for a few reasons. For starters, emotion is, almost certainly, the most driving factor in human existence; everything we do is guided by feelings and emotions. Because of this, I think something as central to fantasy plotlines as magic - which often winds up being one of the (if not the only) guiding force(s) in fantasy cultures - could be powerfully intertwined with something like emotion. That way, the driving force in individuals/characters (emotion) is linked strongly to the driving force behind a society or government (magic). The possibilities for how effectively and realistically a society could be developed with this are nearly endless.

The other thing I like about this is that it provides a lot of openings for unique characters.  I'm a fan of very character-centric fiction, and I like when there's a wide array of characters in a book. One of the things I enjoyed most about Mistborn is how the magic system allowed for a cast of characters each with unique skills; one of the pitfalls of many fantasy books is that they become centered too much on a single character who has extraordinary talents. While I don't object to this sort of writing, it's ghastly how overdone messiah-type characters can be. It's important to bear in mind that a book with only one main character is often profoundly unenjoyable.

Anyway, how this ties back into my idea... this more strongly links certain aspects of a person's character with their magical aptitude. Too often, magic winds up being an attribute that just floats on its own, with no rhyme or reason behind it. There is often no explanation for why a magical being has the particular talents he/she does. Granted, sometimes a character's personality does seem to correspond with their magical talents (Breeze in Mistborn being generally manipulative and preferring other to do his work for him, Ham actually being the polar opposite of what one would expect from his talents, etc.), but magic still seems to be a random factor at best. If magic were driven by emotion, this would no longer be a problem. Frequently morose people could perform certain feats better than others, but would suffer in areas of magic driven by a sense of contentment. This also relates to another thing I enjoyed about Mistborn: the way Allomancers "snapped". Certain traumatic events could very, very strongly influence a person's abilities with magic if it were tied to emotion.

Just an idea, for now. Let me know what you think of it.