A Little Help From My Friends: The Wizard Guide, Part 1
In which I start writing about wizards and magic and end up needing another post...
I coined a new word over the weekend: "sprinter."
Okay, it's not a new word, but I gave it a new meaning. It's the season we're in right now here in North Idaho--spring in the daytime, winter at night. I keep waking up to fresh snow on the ground--sometimes as much as a few inches--and then watching it turn to slush and mud by mid-day. We've had overnight lows below freezing and daytime highs up near 40.
And I'm over it.
I shouldn't complain. It's been a fairly mild winter, honestly, and I did get away for a week and a half to a place that hasn't seen snow in Lord-knows-how-long.
But maybe it's because my busy travel slowed down this winter, or maybe I'm just anxious for a change of scenery, or maybe I'm tired of this little town and I want a few amenities--all I know is that I'm ready for us to hook up the camper, load up the dogs, and hit the road.
I'm sure I'll regret that once we actually start making plans.
After last week's character profile of Phinneas, I wanted to delve into the role of the Wizard Guide in fantasy and in my own work. And the more I wrote, the more I had to say, so I decided that this is part one of... hopefully just two? We'll see.
Get ready, because this could get nerdy.
So. Many. Wizards.
Let's start off by establishing what a wizard is.
First, we have the Classic Wizard. I think most of these classic wizards are probably based on Merlin from the Arthurian legends. Gandalf is obviously the epitome of this trope, especially the Ian McKellen iteration--long gray/white hair and beard, magical staff, robes, and a tendency to appear at exactly the right time.
From the most classic wizard, we start a slow slide into other types... There's Dumbledore, who is so obviously drawn from Gandalf that he's only distinguishable because he has a wand rather than a staff. And we have Belgarath and the other disciples of Aldur in all of David Eddings' works--men who have the magic, but don't always look like wizards "should" look and don't always act particularly magical, as evidenced by Belgarath's many drunken nights gambling in pubs and inns. Eddings even gave us a sorceress in Polgara--the ultimate Wizard Guide, in a way, considering how many children she raised protecting the line of the Rivan King.
Moving along, we have Space Wizards, like Obi-Wan Kenobi (and probably Doctor Strange and Doctor Manhattan?); Modern Wizards, like Harry Dresden; Crazy-Like-a-Fox Wizards, like Zedd in the Sword of Truth series; and a whole bunch of other versions of Wizard.
There are also Magical Guides, who could be animals, like Mushu in Mulan. Those guides could be alive or dead, like Mufasa in The Lion King and also about half the wizards I named above, or somewhere in-between.
We also have the phenomenon of Technology Wizards, which are a little different than Space Wizards. Technology Wizards show up in science fiction, mainly, and they're the guys who have the arcane knowledge or know-how to save everyone at the last minute. Sometimes, like in the book The Postman or other post-apocalyptic stories, these are the "mages" who preserved some kind of ancient knowledge or technology and try to bring it back.
I could spend weeks going through each one of these different wizards, advisors, mages, magicians, and guides, but that's not what this blog is about. (Also, y'all can always hop over to TVTropes.org to delve deeply into these matters, but I warn you--that's a tough rabbit hole to get out of.)
Let's get into what I'm going for in the Wizard Guide arena, specifically with Phinneas in mind.
Kung-Fu Wizard
I am of the opinion that a wizard character should be somewhat functional in the real world. I like a character that other characters can perceive with their own senses. When Gandalf returns from his fight with the Balrog, he's not a ghost or a spirit, but rather a "leveled-up" wizard. Sure, he can call down all the magical powers, but when he decides to take charge in Gondor, he just gives Denethor a little reminder of what an old man's walking stick can really do:
This is the kind of wizard Phinneas is. When Connor is overtaken by the Morrag in Bloodbonded, Phinneas fights him to protect Mairead and the others in the raven village:
A breath of air, a flash, and she stood outside the hut. Phinneas stood next to her. Inside the hut, she heard shouting and the clash of swords. “Phinneas, what—”
“I had to, my lady,” he said. “Stay here.” He opened the door to the hut, and the fight spilled out onto the ground. A dark pool formed in the snow, but it wasn’t from Connor. Trypp’s left arm hung limp at his side, but he and Gareth continued to attack Connor from both sides. Connor would not be defeated, though. He whirled, slashed, parried, and it was all the lions could do to protect themselves.
The other ravens had emerged from huts and tents in the commotion, and Wyll ran forward with his sword drawn to join the fray. “Stop!” Mairead screamed. Phinneas joined them, his hands moving at lightning speed as he twirled, ducked, and dived in and out of the jumble of swords, hands, and bodies. She couldn’t tell what Phinneas did, but the small flashes of light around him and Connor suggested that he was trying to use whatever magic he owned to stop the horror before them.
Phinneas used magic in this scene, but only because he was fighting magic. He wasn't afraid or unable to join the fight, and he's capable of getting into physical scrapes on occasion (though that exact scenario hasn't come up in my work just yet).
I really like the idea of the Kung-Fu Wizard--the guy who doesn't have to always rely on his magic to be useful in a fight. During his 700+ years on earth, Phinneas has picked up a few useful talents, including how to engage in a bit of hand-to-hand fighting when necessary.
Because here's the thing: I like the idea of magic being just a little bit unreliable.
For both the user and those who depend on the magician.
Can You Trust It?
For a long time, I've read how everyone expects magic in fantasy to adhere to certain rules. Fantasy authors should come up with intricate systems that include a rule and a price and all that jazz, and then our stories must obey said rules and only break them if certain conditions are met and...
Here's the thing: Even the Ur-Wizard, Merlin, didn't really obey these rules we've set for ourselves.
Nor did Gandalf, really. Nor did Dumbledore, who could apparate in and out of Hogwarts despite the prohibition on such things.
No matter how hard we want try to create good magical systems and keep our wizards predictable and all that, something is going to come up that will end up outside the rules, and we'll have to make a new rule or exception or something.
Because--and this may shock some of you, so sorry for the spoiler--everything is unpredictable.
Life. Other people. Nature. Animals. Weather. A roll of the dice. How many leaves will eventually emerge on the tree outside my window that is right now getting covered in snow.
All of it.
So why can't magic be just a little unpredictable, too?
I liked the fact that Rohan couldn't be sure Gandalf would show up at Helm's Deep. He said he'd come, but would he bring the Rohirim? Would they make it in time?
I wondered, right along with everyone else in the David Eddings pantheon, what the heck Belgarath was up to when he'd disappear. Would he come back as an old vagabond or as a wolf? Would he have new information, or would he be grumpy and hungry and channeling his inner misanthrope?
And like everyone else in the theater back in 1977, I was pleasantly shocked and surprised when Obi-Wan Kenobi's voice guided Luke to "use the Force" to hit the Death Star in precisely the right spot to destroy it. Was he still alive? Still connected to Luke? Or was it just Luke's memory?
Somewhere, ages ago, I read a quote by one of the grandfathers of fantasy about how fantasy magic doesn't have to make sense. (If any of you have any idea who this was or what the quote is, please leave a comment!) I suppose it depends a lot on the kind of world you're building and what your audience prefers, but for me, I like things to be a little unpredictable. I am happy to believe that the wizards have hidden knowledge that may not be visible to me, and that they can wield it as they wish, and that it may, occasionally, get away from them, and that in their quest to serve some higher purpose, they might operate in ways that are inexplicable to those around them.
With all that groundwork laid, I'm going to leave it there for y'all to ponder this week. Next week, I'll get more into the purpose(s) of the wizard.
See you then!