For all our Nouveau Woke followers, I’m sure you’re wondering: what exactly is the Negro Spirit? Put simply, it’s the magic that Black people have. Though other magic schools only teach people with “magykal bloodlines”, here at the Noire Occult Laveau Academy(aka The HBCU), we’re trying to end that practice by teaching all Black people how to access their ancestral power. Whether you’re a medicine woman, manbo, or a Tarot girl, you’re more than welcome to come and explore your craft at the Noire Occult Leveau Academy. And don’t let nobody tell you otherwise!
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They knew their name, Lillian, named after the lovely flower. They knew that they'd gotten hurt, possibly died. They knew they'd fallen into the mana pool. Now the pool was gone, but they could still feel the upwelling of mana, the raw essence of magic, everywhere. When the magi told them they were a walking, talking, mana fount, their body had become the container for it, they laughed it off. Now, they were learning to take pieces of amber and fill these pieces with raw mana as new containers for it, at least until they learned to control the flow. -- Anon Guest
There were days when Lillian wasn't sure they were Lillian any more. They retained the name, but all the memories that had made Lillian were gone. Distant, unfocussed echoes at best. Frustrating hints at worst. They called themself Lillian Font, since they had essentially become the well of magic.
The guards of the well weren't certain what to do with them. Lillian could understand that. The well used to be an inanimate thing, a wellspring in the center of a temple. Things had changed.
The acolytes of the temple wouldn't tell Lillian how they had come to fall into the well, nor how they had technically survived absorbing every atom of magic in the world, but now... it still had to flow. It still had to exist. It still had to be stored and portioned out to make the entire world work.
The Metaphysical Arts or Sciences, depending on what side of the debate you’re on (those who favor ‘sciences’ discourage the idea that magic is in any way ‘intuitive,’ while those who favor ‘arts’ strongly defend the idea that there are aspects of magic that can’t be taught). There are, of course, specialized sub-disciplines of the Metaphysical Arts/Sciences which all have their own specific denominations.
Who can do it?
Absolutely everyone is born with the potential ability to do magic. However, magic is above all an adaptive ability, much like hyper-vigilance is an adaptive response to being exposed to danger. Under stress, most individuals will resort to more mundane coping mechanisms, like avoidance or denial. However, a few individuals will respond by taping into their dormant metaphysical ability, which is in essence a desire to change the state of the world so intense it bends the fabric of reality. During their awakening event, these individuals, henceforth known as metaphysicians, display a certain proclivity for one type of magic or another, such as telepathy or necromancy. Nonetheless, it should be noted here that this ‘talent’ doesn’t bar the awakened metaphysician from learning other types of magic. Most, however, choose to work within the sub-discipline closely related to the ability displayed during their awakening event. It is also worth noting that metaphysicians generally experience an awakening event during the first thirty years of their life. It is very rare for this to occur later in life.
Extra: The matter of whether magic is a maladaptive, that is, unhealthy coping strategy and whether it should thus be discouraged or not is the subject of heated debate. “Magic is the wound that never heals” is a common saying.
Who can excel at it?
Though all metaphysicians are able to perform magical feats there are several obstacles in the path to true mastery. The primary socio-political impediment is a lack of access to education. Some cultures strictly forbid metaphysical practices and therefore impede their population, or select groups of the population, from developing their skills. For example, it is a well known fact that women have been barred from metaphysics institutions for most of human history. Still, even within those cultures that do encourage the study of the metaphysical arts/sciences for all, high tuition fees can make it difficult for those from a lower socio-economic background to receive adequate instruction. Without said instruction, metaphysicians are unlikely to ever exercise magic at a level equal to or beyond that displayed during their awakening event. Generally speaking, the talents of untrained metaphysicians remain at such a rudimentary level, they often fade over time, being gradually switched out for more common and (in comparison) effective coping mechanisms.
If, on the other hand, a metaphysician is lucky enough to secure a place at an institution offering a degree in the metaphysical/arts, there are other hurdles to be overcome if they are to realize their potential. In order to succeed, the metaphysician must not only be magically gifted but also intellectually talented (1). They must have the capacity to grasp complex study materials quickly and pass the required examinations. In addition, given that magic is performed on and by a body, the student must also perform adequately in a physical discipline (2) of their choice (popular options include: dance, fencing, badminton, etc). The level of magic each individual will be able to perform upon graduation will depend entirely on their natural aptitude and application in the two aforementioned areas.
What is the cost?
For the great majority, excelling at the Metaphysical Arts/Sciences takes many, many years of dedicated study, as well as the corresponding quantity of funds (the price is life itself). The process tends to produce individuals who are highly specialized in only one or, at most, two sub-disciplines, if it produces specialized individuals at all. The correlation between the pursuit of magic and mental illness has been extensively documented. Indeed, today it is a well known fact that since magic blurs the line between what is real and what is possible, those who study metaphysics are at a greater risk or losing touch with reality. Many a talented metaphysician has been driven irreparably insane by their gifts. Furthermore, magic is a volatile and sometimes unpredictable force. Should a practitioner incorrectly perform an incantation (of moderate or advanced difficulty), there is a fair chance they may suffer a serious or disfiguring injury, or that the magic will produce a completely different effect than was desired. Most accomplished metaphysicians have their share of scars. Finally, there is also a social costs to be considered. Given the various pitfalls and difficulties described above, it should come as no surprise that individuals who have managed to emerge as proficient, qualified metaphysicians tend to be viewed as brilliant but dangerous, intimidating and pretentious people.
What can’t it do?
No one knows what the limits of magic are. In fact, pushing/researching those limits is a career path that is open to accomplished practitioners within almost all universities. The only clear limitation discovered as of yet (some of the greatest minds have pitted themselves against it to no avail) is that magic cannot make you ‘beautiful’. It cannot heal scars or wounds produced by failed incantations. Experts hypothesize that this is due to the fact that the scars do not actually count as an ‘effect’ of magic use. On the contrary, 'magical wounds’ are theorized to be physical manifestations of magic’s internal transactional structure being forced through the body. In short, the theory goes that while magic can act on the world and the effects of magic on the world, it cannot act on its own internal structure or the manifestations of that structure. Like the serpent cannot consume its own tail, magic cannot unravel the fabric of magic. Hence, the scars are permanent.
My understanding and analysis of the magical system in The Dragon Prince. Part 1 - my first thoughts on it - primal and dark magic aren’t the only kind of magic.
Ok, I promised to several people I would post this today so there it is! (@beautifulterriblequeen, @kotikala, I’m sorry I don’t have all the account... Julia, mama and the others ;_;)
It’s long (so I separated it in two post... but it will be long anyway, especially the second one. So I wish you a lot of courage to go through this until the end...) but it’s because it’s the result of some month of searching and digging. It’s still not complete, however. But if you have some time to lose and in love with this world, maybe this theory (and I insist, it’s a theory, maybe I’m totally wrong) will interest you:
Anyway, let’s just begin!
You can see the magical system in TDP like a diamond with several facets: we saw some of them, and some of us dug to find more.
For me, this theory _ the idea that the magical system in TDP is wider than what we saw_ started from a simple thing in Callum’s spellsbook, the “secret” we can find in the ASL section, the one Sarai repeated when she was alive.
My first reaction was “greeeeaaat! Another show where “love is magic. Yaay! =_=’”
Okay, "love" is an important theme on the dragon prince, yes. But magic ?
But let’s be honest: I don't think they would have placed something like this in the book for nothing. After all, we have to admit that, in this show, NOTHiNG is ever done simply. So maybe this time “love is magic” would be more elaborate than usual?
We do know that the first thing the creators talked about when they started to imagine this world, was the magical system. Not the characters, not the creatures or landscape or anything, but the magical system.
And what do we have so far? Primal magic and dark magic. Is it really that simple? I had to think it through!
1. My first thoughts about dark magic:
Thinking about this above led me to think about dark magic, about how it's "wrong", like Callum said. That point have already been discussed by many of us and a lot disagree, it's too easy to classified it as "wrong" like it’s stated in the show, because the reason you had to use it can be understandable.
Only... the creator of the show have NEVER chose easy/simple road in writing. So why just put dark magic as "wrong" without explanations? Maybe there's something more here too?
I understood dark magic as bad, not for the reason, but for the concept, about what it represents: it's taking (life, will) without asking. It's stealing, it's killing, no matter your excuse. You can invoke righteousness, justice, revenge, self-defence, strengh, power and all, the result is always the same: death. And as you kill to achieve your goal, you pay a heavy price. It staint you, it... "take" something for you (like it was implied in several interview and even in the book, but we’ll talk about this later). (ok, nothing new, here)
But you must have noticed this: those aren't only related to dark magic. It's darkness and everyone can do it. Sol Regem did it, Runaan did it, Harrow did it. They chose to kill and they tainted themselves too, even if it's not in the way pure dark magic does.
So you have the "dark" side with death and all, and opposed to this, the "white" one. Life, forgiveness. love. And all the people have to choose between those white and black sides, between life and death. Only the area they moved in to make their choices is grey. It's the result who, in the end, is more black or white than grey _ but sometimes still a little grey_.
So, it’s absolutely interesting (hehe… hem^^’) but these thoughts are the ground of the theories and analysis that will now follow in this post and the next one!!!!
2. The “reward theory”
As said by Sarai in the image below : "love is magic".
My first question then, was: “…But what is “magic”?” Not Primal magic or Dark magic. Just… Magic. My first thought was: magic is life. Or at least, it should be. Remember the human land deprived of magic who was dying? And look at Primal magic, it’s all life-related at some point. So, yeah, Magic is life!
And so, if magic is life and love is magic, doesn’t this mean that love is life, too?
If that's true, then maybe the opposite is true too? Hate is death.
Why not, after all?! If magic is love, and life… how could dark magic, who's litterally death, came from the same source? How could dark magic… be Magic at all if they’re opposite to each other?
And more importantly : where is this "magical love" in the magic system here ? It's not primal magic, it's not dark magic, but it is magic.
From that point, I assumed Magic is wider than Humans and Xadians (and us, humble fans, obviously) know. It's probably something more... powerful, a more primal form of magic. More subtle but powerful.
Why subtle?
This is the first thing I noticed in the show, the impressive succession of miracles, of “what if” who went just right. “What if Callum left to go to Rayla just one minute later at the storm spire?”, “What if Ethari didn’t saw Rayla in the reflection?”, “what if Viren hadn’t captured Lain and Tiadrin, letting no traces behind so people wouldn’t misinterpret what happened?”, “What if Marcos hadn’t been here?”, “what if Runaan had send someone else to kill him?”, what if…
It gave me the impression that there’s something more. Is it Destiny? Is it something else? Someone? Anything?
But that’s the first layer. There’s another one:
In this show, it's as if every action who implied a choice about doing the right thing, about choosing life over death, love over hate or the opposite, is somehow... repaid? Rewarded?
By... Magic itself? Destiny again? Fate? the world? Some unknown entity? by Magic who is an entity? Why not? “If magic is life, if she brings life to everything, how could she not be alive?”... or something like that. Anyway!
Maybe it’s this, or maybe you’re rewarded by the side you choose?
In both case, when you chose life or love, then you will live. You chose death or hate, then you will die. (I am putting thing in an extreme way, I know... ^^)
In other words, when you choose life/love or death/hate, your act is related to magic. but not the magic we saw until now. It's something else. Just like Dark magic is not Primal magic.
So okay, that’s nice once again, but what could prove it?
Well, just take a look at this:
You use dark magic, it stains you. It "takes" something from you, empties you as if the world itself can't allow you to make others beeing to pay for the choice you made.
Why not? but that's general, let's see more concrete exemples (and my headcanon interpretations) when our characters did the "right" or "wrong" thing:
Zym's egg falls in the frozen lake and Ezran risks his life to save him => Ez (can already talk to animals, yes) got an unusual, powerful bond with our little dragon, so strong the little dragon do the exact same things as him while sleeping, so strong he can see through his eyes and talk with him even when they're separated. As if his self-sacrificing act had been rewarded: you choose to risk your life to save him ? then you two will be linked even strongly than before.
Rayla spares Marcos => our lad is the first one to rebel against Viren, act who instill courage in others who follow him. Marco became a part to the rebellion and was one of those who rallied Duren's forces (I guess) : you spare an innocent even if he was your enemy? Then he will become your ally.
Callum breaks his primal stone to save Zym and, by this, accepts the idea of returning to a "I'm nobody" state. Then he uses dark magic but choose to completely reject it and end up with the sky arcanum. You sacrifice your magic, who was important to you to save a life (and the world btw) ? then you made the choice to use a magic meant to kill but in the end decided to not go on that path ? then you will retrieve what you sacrificed in the first place, in an even stronger way.
Amaya save Janai when she could have killed her, her enemy, Janai end up fighting with her.
Same for Janai, she saved, even trusted Amaya.
In a general way: children, you fought for peace ? you let go of your grudge, your grief and all of your biased jugments ? then peace you'll have (more or less, we know not everyone want peace)
Ezran chose to forgive Soren and Claudia. Soren end up saving him in return and turning to his side. As for Claudia, I'll talk about her in a while.
Callum jump after Rayla to save her, it's love who made him mastered the spell to save them both. You're ready to sacrifice yourself for her? then you will both be saved.
Rayla tackle Viren from the peak of the storm spire. She doesn't search “death”, she's trying to save Zym. She's ready to lose her life to save him. out of righteousness, out of love. Then she get saved by Callum.
Now what about the "dark side" we call the “narrative of strength”?
Avizandum killed many people, especially Sarai who had a pure heart. He got killed by Harrow.
Harrow chose hate and death by killing him, he got killed by Runaan.
Runaan is the most interesting one so far: he had a choice to make too. Two choices. He could have backed up but chose to kill Harrow anyway and so chose “death”. However, even if we’re still not absolutely sure he decided to spare Ezran, he did chose (we know this from the team at Wonderstorm now, so it’s canon) to spare Rayla despite what law and duty said. Killing her was never in his agenda. So Runaan had to choose between life and death, he chose both and ended... between both, literally! "the irony is wonderful"…
Kesha, with all her arrogance (who was so predictable) and her hate toward humanity got killed in a not so soft way.
Viren... I think his many "rewards" have already started. When he chose to kill the magma titan, Sarai (they were friends, it's canon) got killed and Amaya hates him for this (it's canon to, thedragonprince official on tumblr mentionned it once). He lost 2 friends on that day. When he chose to kill Avizandum, he lost his other friend, Harrow. Here in a most terrible way and I will, once again, talk about this later. He inflicted a terrible spell to Rayla's parents but this turned against him. If not for them completely vanished, no one would have thought they had ran away, Rayla _ the only moonshadow elf who had her heart in the right place_ wouldn't have to go to this mission to clear her name. No other assassin would have spared Marcos, or listen to callum, no other assassin would have followed Ezran, found the egg and chose to "make things right" including the humans. Runaan proved it. And I'm not finished with Viren. He lost his son, he will lose is daughter and he's currently in the grasp of a powerful being who's obviously toying with him and he don't even know it. And he's so blind he can't even see it.
Edit: kinda forgot about Sol Regem who torched down a city of hundred of thousand people, who got rewarded by being blinded, losing his throne and being hated and feared by everyone. 1200years later, when he could have change he didn’t. So okay Callum used dark magic. But that wasn’t a reason to kill Zym. Reward? Lux Aurea, the city who had been built to honor him (according to Callum spellsbook) fall, a lot of Sunfire elves seems to have died and, if we believe the summary of the tabletop game, it’s pretty ugly... a city for a city? Maybe.
Claudia is also very interesting, in between love and hate, death and light. Here’s an excerpt from an interview I found:
As for Claudia, she really seems to have committed to this dark path now. Is there any hope for her in the future?
Richmond: Yes! There’s totally hope.
Ehasz: But it might get worse before it gets better.
[...]
Ehasz: Claudia is, ahh…
Richmond: She’s super complicated. She’s a fascinating character. There’s a long way to go with Claudia, she’s super exciting.
Ehasz: But she’s not about power! She’s about **love**. I mean, that’s one thing that’s interesting about her. She’s on a very dark path, but her core motivation is love, and I think that’s going to be very interesting.
She really is the best character to represent that grey area. And if this first part of my theory, about "rewards" is true, it could truly end up good for her. When she had to choose between Soren and Zym, she chose her brother. She chose her father over Soren (I'm talking about the scene in the dungeon, not after Kazef's transformation) not out of malice but out of fear. She loves her family and deceived herself because she's not strong enough to see the truth. I really think she will do the right choice when she will finally see her father for what he truly is (as Richmond said : "there's totally hope").
3. That’s nice and interesting, Lily… but this looks like “destiny” at worst. Is there really another kind of magic than dark magic and primal magic?
If the creators really put so much thoughts and efforts in creating the magical system, it’s really likely this way. But what would be the point in telling how it works right away? We do have to discover it with the characters themselves.
However, the existence of another kind of magic, something deeper, has been implied several time.
We have clues:
Like here (8:29min and especially 9:00min if the link doesn't work correctly), where Aaron Ehasz talked about an earlier and less differenciated kind of magic.
Or like what happened to Ezran in the ice-lake. In the novel, we have an interesting description form his POV, something magical happened (I’ll come back to this in a later part)
And that new or maybe forgotten kind of magic will, maybe… be the magic that will be used to free our dear moonshadow elves from the coins? Because we have some clues :
Question: [...] Runaan got turned into a coin [...] Can they be restored to their original forms?
Ehasz: “My gut is, it seems like the kind of thing that would require incredible and powerful magic to reverse. [...] We do not answer that question in Season Three. I’m telling you, it would take incredible magic and probably dark magic to reverse it, but I don’t know [if that’s going to happen].
(I promise, that last point isn’t here for nothing :3)
Okay, this post is over. The next one will be about the magical system in itself and that “other magic” implied here, about what I found in the show about it.
realizing I have a demigod body hopping kid reminds me how much power I should have and how much power I could have if I actually try. I'm still a little bit stuck at the part where I typed "I have a demigod body hopping kid"
Use for your own world building. Helped figure something out for my world that I believe will make things fun for me X3 Found it on Pinterest. have a lot of writing pins if ya guys are interested: https://www.pinterest.com/dragonlover14/world-building/ | https://www.pinterest.com/dragonlover14/writting-stuff/
Anyways:
1. How is it learned and executed? Some races/creatures have natural born magic inside of them from the planet (need to figure out the history of this part, like how the magic resided in them?). Human’s/residences that came from somewhere else (the majority) need to learn the geography, and how the energies flow through the planet in order to use it, or the magic chooses them (It’s alive).
2. How is it accessed? Through the planet or within a person with magic within them.
3. Does it have a will of it’s own? Yes, and it’s alignment is mostly Chaotic good. You can imagine the magic having a similar attitude as morph from Treasure planet.
4. Is it restricted in space and time? I would say yes, and no. This is because a race (known to the residence of the planet as gods/goddesses) that had thier magic be absorbed within the planet. This race is something outside of “physical reality” that humans, or any other living being knows. The magic itself is not, but the magic on the planet is restricted to that planet.
5. What does available magic do? Anything really. It depends on the will of the magic, or maybe the user. The magic residing in someone makes the person a manifestation of magic. Someone that has magic within them has more magical freedom then someone who is not.
6. How does it relate to the character, plot and theme of the book? I’m making a world so I can write multiple stories set in this world, so this answer will vary. In the novel I’m writing now, It doesn’t exactly serve a major purpose, maybe to show that Kelly is growing as a person.
7. What is the cost of the magic? The potential lost of resources, environment and life. The user that has magic within them can die from too much use of magic, and people could take too much and drain the lives of fauna and animals in the area.
8. What can it not do? Kill others. Period. It’s against it’s nature to kill.
9. How long does it last? It depends on a variety of things. The will of the magic, user, and the capabilities of the planet (can’t make too many helpers/creatures, for example.).
10. Who can use it? Anyone with an understanding of the planet, or geography, The magic could choose to help people, or there is magic within the user.
11. How do others react to it? Those that cannot use it (mostly humans) doesn’t like the idea of staking their lives to magic users that must use the planets magic. Magic users that use the planet’s magic are mostly discriminated against.
12. Why haven’t people with this power taken over the world? The will of the magic is Chaotic GOOD. I would guess it’s against doing something like this. It could just make it harder, but it could be possible? I want to imagine the magic is for free will even for evil...or lawful evil.
