18:32, it’s like in the show Once Upon a Time. The one hard and fast rule the show has is “All magic comes with a price”

I think my absolute favorite use of a soft magic being used to solve the main conflict goes to the Eragon series when he finally beats Galbatorix (so spoilers from here onward) because what he does is he focuses and digs deeps and uses the magic he spent the entire series learning and studying and using in new and creative ways that finally used the ultimate form of they magic which is unspoken magic to cast a spell that forced the main villain to experience every ounce of pain and suffering he ever inflicted on someone else and it was so beautiful and so satisfying because everything that happened prior to that moment was leading to it and it is probably my favorite climax to any story ever

Only just started, and already loving the shade thrown at cursed child

@matityaloran9157

17 күн бұрын

Agreed

LOVE your point about soft magic solving problems only when you make it cost something or cause another problem. I had never thought about that before, but its so true.

2:22, Disney’s Aladdin had explicitly defined rules for the Genie’s magic.

Thanks for video❤❤❤

@moonangel97

17 күн бұрын

You're welcome! 😊

Thank you! Just watched a Bookborn video where I think she fundamentally understands the concept of magic system. She seems to think magic system just means hard magic system and completely overlooks how soft magic systems work.

@moonangel97

17 күн бұрын

You're welcome! This video was definitely a hard one to make since Soft Magic is usually considered to be something more or less undefinable.

My other favorite part of soft magic systems: danger. Since you don't know how it works, it can also be full of danger. My favorite example of this is Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. The magic is gorgeous, but also terrifying.

Love the vid. I've literally Ben juggling these concepts in my head trying to lay the foundation to my story. Thank you. Reminds me of tale foundry

Nice point. Every soft magic system I've ever encountered has observable "rules" or ways it functions, though the reader is left to notice it on their own rather than it being explained to them. Tolkien's magic is connected to light, jewels, and music. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell makes it clear most magic is done using spoken or written spells, and sometimes with specific objects assembled in specific ways. The Untamed makes it clear that musical instruments are highly magical, with the songs being played creating different affects (Wei Wuzien can control his undead army though his playing, Lan Zhan can use his guqin to send waves of magic power to attack with, etc.). The audience doesn't know the specifics, but can observe that there are rules of some kind.

Oh ho! New video!

Wow thanks for the great video, you really helped me understand and appreciate soft magic genuinely for the first time

@moonangel97

15 күн бұрын

That's awesome! I'm so happy I could help you see soft magic in a new way!

Loved that you used Moana as an example! 10/10 :) My favourite soft magic always comes in the form of soft worlds. Like how the deities are walking around the US in American Gods, or how there is an onsen for the spirits in Spirited Away. In a way, this setup can both create and solve problems, it's just a different way to... live! Hey, you have a great video catalog, I'm really enjoying everything! Hit me up if you wanna chat, I'm trying to form a sort of Fellowship of the Fantasy Essayists 😂 and you're clearly a kindred spirit (I'm gonna assume you're aaaalso writing a story? Or thinking about it?)

@moonangel97

5 күн бұрын

Oh wow! That sounds awesome!! I'm honored that you're considering me! And yes, I'm working on a current novel, even though that novel has taken me several years and revisions 🥲

@JoriamRamos

4 күн бұрын

@@moonangel97 tell me about it, I've been writing the same book for the past 5 years 🥲🥲🥲 it's a soul-distilling business. But it's all worth it. I tried clicking on the discord link here, but it didn't work, so I'm just gonna send you an email, ok? :) Check yer inbox.

Given that the symbiote is controller Harry, it makes sense that Peter wouldn't call the avengers. He wants to save his friend and feels responsible.

12:36, like in The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Shchmendrik the magician has incredible power but he hasn’t gotten the hang of yet and doesn’t until the end of the book

This immediately made me think about the soft magic of the grandmaster of demonic cultivation and how the problems were caused by social machinations and even the powerful main character couldn’t do anything against it. (He dies, don’t worry that’s not a spoiler, you find out that the first line of the story.) One of the best stories I’ve ever read.

@Moon Angel, great video

Great Video. I like to write soft magic, because I really like to emphathize the emotions of my characters. And its o true, that even youre soft magic needs some kid of rule. I call it the ruleof connection, because it is all about connecting the magic to youre characters, youre world and youre theme. A way to do this is stakes, or sacrifice or a weekness, wich reveals character.

15:29, it’s better done in the book where Harry explains to Voldemort exactly what the rules of magic were that make it impossible for Voldemort to win

Absolute Dynamite Video!

@moonangel97

17 күн бұрын

Thank you so much!

@TheUglyGoblin

17 күн бұрын

@@moonangel97 You're doing so well!

I would argue that in Ancient Greek plays, the gods showing up to save the day worked because of foreshadwing. The audience had the built-in foreshadowing of believing the gods existed and WOULD show up to intervene. The audience was bringing their external knowledge to the story, just like how a story set right before a huge historical event will have built in foreshadowing for the audience.

With the deus ex machina type event, like the eleven arriving example, it can be seen as a case where magic isn't the solution if you reframe it a little bit. If you know the magical person is coming, the problem they fix is not a problem anymore. Instead the heroes have a new problem. How do I survive UNTIL the magical person arrives. Like in horror movies, if you know that sunlight will kill the monster, it isn't a question of how to kill the monster anymore. It is how to survive till dawn. But with the "Delayed Deus Ex Machina" instead of cosmic alignments, a character is the thing that is arriving.

@moonangel97

5 күн бұрын

I really like this view on it!! I think this is a way better way of explaining why that scene in Stranger Things worked. We have the foreshadowing that our hero will arrive, and everyone just needs to survive until then, making the moment the hero arrives a satisfying one!

17:14, Aristotle hated it too. He said as much in his book Poetics

Just nitpicking... 'Deus Ex Machina' is Latin not Greek. 🙂 But that point aside, a good video. Many fine examples for good use of soft magic. Will consider it in my next stories. 🙂

@moonangel97

16 күн бұрын

Well, dang it! You're right. 🤦‍♀️ I should've double-checked that 😅 My bad.

The biggest problem for me with soft magic is, for me to follow a fight. Like the "battle" between Happy Potter and Voldemort. The have an epic Wand-Stand-Off, but I just don't understand it. Is doing magic in the world of Harry Potter exhausting? Get's you magig stronger, if you just grinn very hard? Even Gandalf vs the Balrok, yet it looks cool, but what is actually happening? Is Gandalf trying? Is the Balrok strong, or inteligent, or even magical? In this context I always have to think of this Disney Movie "Sorcere's Apprentice". In this world magic can effortless do everything, but who wins a fight is about how creative the user is. This makes for fights, where I don't have to understand the magic, but am still able to be engaged and thinking how I would have done things differently. And that is what I like about soft magic, this feeling like beeing a kind on the playground arguing with my friend and having a "creative" word battle (that normally ended with "always 1 more times than you" or "mirror" )

Did you fully watch Avatar the Last Airbender? Because you don’t seem to know what you’re talking about with it.