Magic That Requires Faith

I'd rather not blog about anything as tragic or depressing as the story L. Whitney Clayton shared in his talk, Choose to Believe, so instead, I'll blog about faith in terms of something I'd much rather talk about: Magic.

In many fantasy worlds, magic is quite obvious and undeniable. Wizards shoot fireballs. Clerics heal wounds instantaneously. Magic swords glow when their names are spoken. In such worlds, there is no doubt that magic is real.

In other fantasy worlds, there is no magic. There may be fantastic creatures, like elves, goblins, dragons, and unicorns, but no actual magic. In such worlds, some people may believe in magic and attempt to study it, but such people are deluded or deceived, or perhaps deceivers performing magic tricks to impress spectators.

I'm more in favor of high-fantasy worlds, where magic is real, but my mom (if I understand her position on this subject correctly) is less in favor of magic, believing that magic tends to laziness, and perhaps it does. If I had the magical power of telekinesis, I'd want to use it all the time, neglecting to give my body the exercise it needs to stay strong. Also, from the point of view of someone who enjoys fantasy stories, I think that magic is too often used as the answer to everyone's problems. Too many stories use magic as a deus ex machina, or use a "loophole" in the rules of magic as a major plot element. I consider that lazy storytelling, and I much prefer stories that use worlds, heroes, problems, and solutions that we can relate to. In light of this common interest of reducing magic in stories (but still feeling reluctant to give up magic entirely), I'd like to propose a compromise - a world in which magic is very subtle, a world in which magic requires faith.

In this world, clerics wouldn't heal wounds instantly, but would pray over a wound that had already been bandaged, and the wound would heal slightly faster than it would had the prayer not been said. A defensive spell wouldn't create any force fields around anyone, but would give a person a subconscious warning that would help them block or dodge attacks. Divinations wouldn't give people visions (except perhaps in their sleep), but would give people faint impressions, like those the Holy Ghost gives us.

I'm not sure how much this would affect arcane magic. Certainly evocations (the kind of magic that creates fireballs and lightning bolts) and conjuration (the kind of magic that makes something out of nothing) are out of the question, as are transmutations (the kind of magic that changes one thing into another). The only kind of magic that will remain in this world would be subtle enough and minor enough to be chalked up to "luck." An enchanted arrow that finds its target could just be a lucky hit. A divination that tells someone where to find a hidden object could just be a lucky guess. There would be room to doubt the existence of magic in this world, and thus it would take faith to believe in it.

The benefit of requiring faith to believe in magic can be seen in the lives of the characters, especially those who do magic, as they occasionally wonder whether magic is real. If it is, where does the power come from, and if it isn't, why do so many people invest so much time learning magic? The character I'd most want to place in this world would, of course, be a paladin. He'd be somewhat new to being a paladin and he probably wouldn't have much of a religious background. He, like many others, would have some doubts about the existence of God and of the "magical" power that supposedly comes from God. He'd pray, wondering if anyone was really listening. He'd ask for blessings, not knowing whether or not he'd receive them. He'd keep the commandments, partly out of his good nature, and partly because he hopes that what he had been taught was true, or just in case it was, but he'd always wonder whether there was any point to any of it.

I'm sure there are many good reasons why God requires us to have faith, why proof-producing miracles are few and far between, why He never shows Himself (except for once or twice in Earth's history), and why the only evidence we have that any of this is true and real is the feelings we get in our hearts. Whatever those reasons are, I like the idea of tapping into them by creating a world we can more easily relate to, a world in which magic may or may not be real, a world in which magic requires faith.