If magic made a come back

[Lark]

What do you think would be the response of mankind if magic made a come back? Not in the sense of illusions but in the sense of real powers which defy any scientific or rational or physics laws.

I'm wondering because the plot line of Game of Thrones, as I understand it from watching the TV show, hints that dragons, white walkers (who're a kind of undead I gather), spells, curses and even perhaps an assortment of deities, are all making a come back, now the viewer knows that the white walkers emerged and are encroaching upon mankind's living space from the beginning of the show, while the characters, at least one of them, speculates that there is a triggering event, the resurrection of some dragons from fossilised eggs, there are other characters who seem to bare that notion out, saying that their prayers were never answered before but they said them out of habit and one day they were (resulting in the resurrection of a man, a number of times).

I think I also recall a story or film in which the emergence of gargantuan sea life, like prehistoric giant sharks or squids, from a huge cassum in the ocean leads to a reliance of flight and disruption in international shipping and shortages as the age of sea monsters returns.

There's a couple of Poul Anderson books which deal with different worlds in a multiverse, some of which were always magical, some of which became magical once more and some are not magical, all related to the properties of iron and its lethal nature of magical species and powers.

 

[kyuuei]

The books suggest that Dragons triggered magic back into the world as well. I think the scientific community would be in a tizzy of attempting to get research grants.

 

[Typh0n]

If you study the history or magic in societies like Egypt, Greece, or Rome, you get a picture of it being done for "state" goals of the kingdom, city, or empire, whereas "sorcery" which was the practice of individual magic for personal goals was often persecuted, one Pagan Roman emperor, I dont remember if it was Claudius, Nero or whoever burned a shitton of magical papyri(precursor of the medieval grimoire) etc. If magic did make a comeback in mainstream culture I think that for me, it would be enriching but in any case there might not be more freedom...

 

[Lark]

If you study the history or magic in societies like Egypt, Greece, or Rome, you get a picture of it being done for "state" goals of the kingdom, city, or empire, whereas "sorcery" which was the practice of individual magic for personal goals was often persecuted, one Pagan Roman emperor, I dont remember if it was Claudius, Nero or whoever burned a shitton of magical papyri(precursor of the medieval grimoire) etc. If magic did make a comeback in mainstream culture I think that for me, it would be enriching but in any case there might not be more freedom...

When I think about magic as reckoned with in a lot of the classical myths, Irish myth and lore and legend and the limited sources I'm familiar with it'd be a new age of shit consequences to guard against, I mean piss off a child and they're liable to make a pact with some sort of spirit and get you wasted or turned into a damn toadstool.

That movie Troll was a good illustration of this phenomenon, the magical suddenly making a come back, scary and sinister but not too far removed from the classical myths of old. The sequels are travesties which should never have been made. The same thing happened with Leprechaun.

 

[Typh0n]

When I think about magic as reckoned with in a lot of the classical myths, Irish myth and lore and legend and the limited sources I'm familiar with it'd be a new age of shit consequences to guard against, I mean piss off a child and they're liable to make a pact with some sort of spirit and get you wasted or turned into a damn toadstool.

That movie Troll was a good illustration of this phenomenon, the magical suddenly making a come back, scary and sinister but not too far removed from the classical myths of old. The sequels are travesties which should never have been made. The same thing happened with Leprechaun.

What I find is that magic works mostly in people's minds. But I've heard of Egyptian legends and stuff where the magician literally caused the waters of a lake to tilt completly on one direction leaving one side of the lake dry if I remember right. Similar to that are the stories of Moses vs the pharoah's magicians etc, the magicians are almost as powerful as Moses. And then theres the legends of Simon Magus, vs Saint Peter, where in Rome, Simon tries to fly up into heaven but Peter prays and Simon falls down to the ground. These stories seem improbable at best still I find it intersting to contemplate just how far magic can go. Speaking of Irish folklore Im wondering if you've heard of the book Hauted Cork by Darren Mann, which seems like an interesting read on the subject of this nature, though I think its more about legends and folkore than about magical pratices themselves, its a book I wanna read. I've never seen Troll, its a pity, but I think I saw Leprachaun, though maybe it was one of the sequels.

 

[Coriolis]

What do you think would be the response of mankind if magic made a come back? Not in the sense of illusions but in the sense of real powers which defy any scientific or rational or physics laws.

This presumes that the type of magic you describe was at work in the world at some point in the past. When was that, and what put an end to it?

 

[Lark]

What I find is that magic works mostly in people's minds. But I've heard of Egyptian legends and stuff where the magician literally caused the waters of a lake to tilt completly on one direction leaving one side of the lake dry if I remember right. Similar to that are the stories of Moses vs the pharoah's magicians etc, the magicians are almost as powerful as Moses. And then theres the legends of Simon Magus, vs Saint Peter, where in Rome, Simon tries to fly up into heaven but Peter prays and Simon falls down to the ground. These stories seem improbable at best still I find it intersting to contemplate just how far magic can go. Speaking of Irish folklore Im wondering if you've heard of the book Hauted Cork by Darren Mann, which seems like an interesting read on the subject of this nature, though I think its more about legends and folkore than about magical pratices themselves, its a book I wanna read. I've never seen Troll, its a pity, but I think I saw Leprachaun, though maybe it was one of the sequels.

I havent read the book by Mann but the title is familiar for some reason, I would recommend Troll, its about a sort of fantasy reality breaking through into present day American apartment buildings, the sequels are awful, totally awful and the subject of internet memes and I think even made it onto family guy or american dad, its the source of the NILBOG = GOBLIN thing which makes you wonder because the subjects of the movie are meant to be Trolls, has little to do with the first film at all. Leprechaun has a bunch of sequels and while they are all horrific, in the good and bad side of the word, the only one I really hate is Leprechaun Back In Tha Hood or something like that which features a rapping Leprechaun a lot of US gangsta rappers before that became really mainstream.

I love those stories of ancient magic, the Simon Magnus one versus Peter one I never tire of hearing mentioned.

 

[Haight]

Honestly, I think the Lakers need all the help they can get. So I'm in favor.

 

[Nicodemus]

A child's idea. If magic were to 'come back', it would only for a moment defy any scientific or rational or physical laws, then it would be integrated. Science is not static. That is what makes it superior to dogma.

 

[Haight]

A child's idea. If magic were to 'come back', it would only for a moment defy any scientific or rational or physical laws, then it would be integrated.

You're right. He has AIDS, he's 50-something, and out of shape. To think that he could make a positive impact would force one to deny all rational or physical laws. However, call me a child, but . . . one can dream!

 

[Qlip]

I love the idea of magic coming back, although my favorite portrayals of magic in fantasy is a creature that is aware of and a function of a narrative. Not this D&D stuff, which is fun, but just a personal fantasy fulfillment that can actually be fulfilled irl by working hard at something, like everyone else (blah).

If my magic came 'back', the world would be a more beautiful and frightening place, and the next big question would be.. who or what controls the narrative?

 

[Riva]

Miracles are magic are they not and the world has seen a lot of powerful magicians in its time.

 

[Nicodemus]

He has AIDS, he's 50-something, and out of shape.

You are not supposed to spread only-mods-know knowledge in public, Haight...

To think that he could make a positive impact would force one to deny all rational or physical laws. However, call me a child, but . . . one can dream!

A cottage in the lowlands, a disconnected telephone, a little dog with too much devotion in its heart. I can see it. There is hope. In a dream.

 

[Haight]

I don't know of one Mod that is a Lakers fan, actually.

 

[Typh0n]

A child's idea. If magic were to 'come back', it would only for a moment defy any scientific or rational or physical laws, then it would be integrated. Science is not static. That is what makes it superior to dogma.

Magic is always one step ahead of science, but science can always catch up to magic.

 

[Nicodemus]

I don't know of one Mod that is a Lakers fan, actually.

I sincerely hope there are none.

Magic is always one step ahead of science, but science will always catch up to magic.

If magic is merely the not-yet-fully-understood, then magic was never gone, but then, too, magic is nothing special.

 

[Lark]

I love the idea of magic coming back, although my favorite portrayals of magic in fantasy is a creature that is aware of and a function of a narrative. Not this D&D stuff, which is fun, but just a personal fantasy fulfillment that can actually be fulfilled irl by working hard at something, like everyone else (blah).

If my magic came 'back', the world would be a more beautiful and frightening place, and the next big question would be.. who or what controls the narrative?

What is this, like breaking the fourth wall or something like that?

Two of the most scary magic realist books I've read where the Iron Dragon's Daughter and The Dragons of Babel but they both feature worlds which are hybrids of ours and our politics etc. and totemism, spells, curses, creatures of myth and legend.

 

[Lark]

Magic is always one step ahead of science, but science can always catch up to magic.

Like Arthur C Clarke's maxim about any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic.

 

[Haight]

I sincerely hope there are none.

Right. That's why your point doesn't make any sense in terms of the theme of this thread.

 

[Typh0n]

If magic is merely the not-yet-fully-understood, then magic was never gone, but then, too, magic is nothing special.

Its special at least in that it can be used over people who have no knowledge of how it works.

Like Arthur C Clarke's maxim about any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic.

I beleive there are two kinds(of magic). One that works from little or not understood physical laws, and one that works with the truly supernatural. But then again, even what is truly supernatural can be said to be not yet understood or not yet perceived realms of knowledge.