People keep touching on the whole Dark Lord/ Hero thing but nobody is looking at it really directly.
Everything that Eliezir says here is very good and correct but in imaginary worlds with magic, there is a lot more personal power: not just for the Chosen One but for anybody able to rise to the challenge.
Note that the teachers of Hogwarts are not ONLY very knowledgeable, advanced professors who appear to do some original research; they also include a romantic hero, a mighty and very morally ambiguous antihero, and several other VERY HIGH POWERED characters that do not have to depend on others.
One might want to consider Girl Genius, as while very much not mundane it includes people who achieve this sort of personal power through technologcal means. It’s set in a war-torn Europe with a LOT of techlevel variation, and ‘sparks’; mad scientists (engineers, really) who can enter a state of hyper-focus in which they can design and build combat robots and ludicrously powerful laser guns in a matter of hours, but tend to do so in a bizzare, completely irrational fashion. In this world, most people of any power (which means lots of European nobles) are mad scientists.
In our world, the diligent can become an engineer and even as an individual can build devices that amaze and awe the common folk; I have done this myself. The gifted can be much better at this; and the gifted and lucky can rise to the top of the field. One sees people such as university professors; nobel prize winners
In romantic magical worlds, the professor who invents the next generation of robots and teaches me to be the next generation of roboticists would be deciding whether to burn the world to the ground or save it from those who would, and all by his own power.
I want to add that magic is something that belongs to person and cannot be taken away. If a magician casts a light spell, it is HIS ability to make light. And he can do this in any situation at any place and time. It influences self-esteem. He can be proud of such ability. In reality, any stupid idiot can switch light on and off, but only in special places. Nothing depends on person, everything is defined by environment.
Also, in ‘magic’ world hero is not mortal; even if he dies, it means that he just looses body for some period of time. So you can do amazing experiments that are too risky in reality.
That’s why non-fantasy books, but in which hero has some personal abilities that cannot be taken away(and which can be trained or improved by other means), and in which reality forces hero to behave in risky manner, have same entertaining value as fantasy books do. And vice versa—fantasy books that have dragons and spells and so on, but in which hero is general and behaves as general commoner, and nothing depends on his abilities(quite general ones), are not worth reading.
I’m not sure that those words can be applied to everybody, may be they are valid only for persons who experienced lack of ability to influence something in childhood and have chosen avoidant pattern to deal with unpleasance of such experience.
(I hope my english is not bad enough to irritate you to death)
Usually, somebody who does become formiddable and focused still can only gain power by convincing people to take their side or to advance their goal. With magic (or Girl Genius style super-science) the ten thousand hours let you actually be crazy awesome.
People keep touching on the whole Dark Lord/ Hero thing but nobody is looking at it really directly.
Everything that Eliezir says here is very good and correct but in imaginary worlds with magic, there is a lot more personal power: not just for the Chosen One but for anybody able to rise to the challenge.
Note that the teachers of Hogwarts are not ONLY very knowledgeable, advanced professors who appear to do some original research; they also include a romantic hero, a mighty and very morally ambiguous antihero, and several other VERY HIGH POWERED characters that do not have to depend on others.
One might want to consider Girl Genius, as while very much not mundane it includes people who achieve this sort of personal power through technologcal means. It’s set in a war-torn Europe with a LOT of techlevel variation, and ‘sparks’; mad scientists (engineers, really) who can enter a state of hyper-focus in which they can design and build combat robots and ludicrously powerful laser guns in a matter of hours, but tend to do so in a bizzare, completely irrational fashion. In this world, most people of any power (which means lots of European nobles) are mad scientists.
In our world, the diligent can become an engineer and even as an individual can build devices that amaze and awe the common folk; I have done this myself. The gifted can be much better at this; and the gifted and lucky can rise to the top of the field. One sees people such as university professors; nobel prize winners
In romantic magical worlds, the professor who invents the next generation of robots and teaches me to be the next generation of roboticists would be deciding whether to burn the world to the ground or save it from those who would, and all by his own power.
This sounds reasonable.
I want to add that magic is something that belongs to person and cannot be taken away. If a magician casts a light spell, it is HIS ability to make light. And he can do this in any situation at any place and time. It influences self-esteem. He can be proud of such ability. In reality, any stupid idiot can switch light on and off, but only in special places. Nothing depends on person, everything is defined by environment.
Also, in ‘magic’ world hero is not mortal; even if he dies, it means that he just looses body for some period of time. So you can do amazing experiments that are too risky in reality.
That’s why non-fantasy books, but in which hero has some personal abilities that cannot be taken away(and which can be trained or improved by other means), and in which reality forces hero to behave in risky manner, have same entertaining value as fantasy books do. And vice versa—fantasy books that have dragons and spells and so on, but in which hero is general and behaves as general commoner, and nothing depends on his abilities(quite general ones), are not worth reading.
I’m not sure that those words can be applied to everybody, may be they are valid only for persons who experienced lack of ability to influence something in childhood and have chosen avoidant pattern to deal with unpleasance of such experience. (I hope my english is not bad enough to irritate you to death)
Yeah, that also applies.
Usually, somebody who does become formiddable and focused still can only gain power by convincing people to take their side or to advance their goal. With magic (or Girl Genius style super-science) the ten thousand hours let you actually be crazy awesome.