John, Duke of Darkside, is
perhaps of all people MOST aware of my feelings regarding Fantasy
stories and the use of Magic.? That and the plotline of ?Arsenic and Old
Lace.’? But that’s an inside joke you would have to ask one of us about
directly.? And I suspect neither of my regular readers cares enough to
do so.? I stray from topic.

I have mentioned this
often enough in the presence of various people to discover most people
are ignorant of the distinction between Fantasy and Science Fiction.? In
fact, most people who are ignorant of the distinction also desire to
STAY ignorant.? Because it doesn’t matter to them whether the tools of
power within a work of fiction are Magic or Science, its fiction all the
same to them.

I, on the other hand, am
cursed with the burden of caring TOO much.? I like science fiction
because it at least claims to operate according to the rules of Science,
and Science is something I can potentially grasp.? Science is built on
particular rules that are steadfast, yea unmoving.? Magic, on the other
hand, is very subjective.? It has no fixed boundaries and is far too
often used as a way of ?cheating’ within a story.? The hero is in some
dire need?? Some plan has gone horribly amiss?? No worries, Mate.?
Sprinkle some pixie dust on the problem area and get instant results!?
Problem solved.? This is what they call Deus Ex Machina, and it makes me
feel dirty and sullied when my heroes use this crutch to escape certain
doom. ?If my hero can use brains and skill to solve a problem, then he
or she is truly praiseworthy, but if the hero uses magic to solve the
problem, then that proves the writer couldn’t think of anything else to
do.

I am given to thinking a
bit too deeply about things, and Magic robs me of my ability to cogitate
the deeper recesses of most tales.

But (you rise up in
protest) Lord of the Rings was a fantasy!? Lord of the Rings used
magic!? And Lord of the Rings was AWESOME!? What say ye to THAT oh hater
of all things magical!

Interesting point.? John,
Duke of Darkside (for so he would fane be called) had this very
conversation with me on the eave of this, the final Lord of the Rings
movie.? I was trying to tell him how I liked the movie, how it blew me
away, how great it all was, and he was reminding me that I did not like
fantasy and things regarding magic.? He was doing this because he likes
to irritate me.? I think.? My answer to this is twofold.? See, Tolkien
was a GOOD writer, which makes quite a large difference indeed.? All the
magic within the world of Tolkien operated according to some set
standards and rules.? So mechanical and unbending were they, that you
could actually tell in each instance what the magic could and could not
do.? We knew, for instance, that Gandolf’s powers were not so great that
they could thwart an entire army or take down a Ring Wraith by himself.?
In fact, he seemed to do his fighting with a sword rather than with
magic.? Tolkien built his plot upon struggles between characters, races,
and forces rather than hokey and amorphous magical elements.? These
characters, nay, these very plot points were taken from real things in
Tolkiens life.? The struggles of the world wars, the simplicity of the
common folk in the English Shires, and the beautiful but disappearing
cultures and traditions of the isolated Norse-Folk to name a few.? When
you see these elements THROUGH the plot of Tolkien’s work, you can
appreciate it all the more.? It is an epic tale and rightly so.? And an
epic, if you can comprehend it, is a great thing indeed; magical or
not.?

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