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  • Bethania Gauterius replied to the topic Fantasy Is NOT the Same Thing As Magic in the forum Fantasy Writers 5 years ago

    I still don’t think any of those things are inherently wrong to use. The real world has false gods and false religions. It’s far more one-note and lazy, in my opinion, to create a world in which there is only one religion which is obviously the true religion based on Christianity than to create a world with dynamic, conflicting beliefs in which there is one true religion alike to Christianity, but it takes work and faith and conflict to come to believe that it is true and to maintain your faith because not everyone believes what you do.

    And I think that the design of a world plays a large role in whether or not magic is a problem. In our world, magic is wrong because it’s an attempt to take power that rightfully only belongs to God. Miracles are just as supernatural, but they’re not considered wrong, because they’re a gift of God’s power, bestowed by Him willingly. The source and motivation makes the difference. And I think the same can be true of fiction. The reason I have no problem with powers in most fantasy worlds is because they’re a built-in part of the world, something that the creators of that world have designed for characters to have. Powers given freely by the established god of a world, even if not, say, genetic and therefore intrinsic to people (which the powers in Mistborn are, at least as far as I’ve read), fall into the same category imo. There’s no moral question of whether or not the characters are twisting creation or subverting something to serve them that was never meant to be theirs. It’s been given to them. Powers that people steal from the established god of a world or work with demonic forces to acquire are obviously still problematic. Those are a twisting and subverting of what was intended in the design of the world.

    In short, I believe it’s much more a matter of what the initial design for the world is than it is a matter solely of whether or not the powers are supernatural. Whether or not they’re supernatural should be considered, absolutely, but I think it’s a lot more nuanced than just that.

    I agree with you @r-m-archer.

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