Greetings, intrepid readers! M. H. Barton here with another blog on the art and craft of storytelling. Today, I’m leaning hard into my love of fantasy, much like last week, and ranking my favorite magic systems across all storytelling mediums. We’ve got a bit of everything today, from books and movies to TV and even some anime. I always love a good magic system, and my tastes run the gamut from complex hard systems to wondrous soft systems. Some of these entries are ones you may not have even thought of as magic systems, but when broken down, contain all the necessary parts to be considered magic. Hopefully, this will be helpful to my fellow authors in crafting their own magic systems. Again, these are my favorite magic systems that have influenced my writing, not necessarily the best magic systems. No flaming for my opinion, please!
In case you aren’t familiar with the concept, magic in storytelling can often be defined somewhere on a scale of hard to soft. Harder magic systems have more clearly defined rules, origins, and limits on what can be done and how. They can be complex and tough to follow, but when done well, the magic integrates perfectly with a story and becomes a living part of the world itself. Soft magic, on the other hand, is less clearly defined as to rules, origins, and limits. While an author must be careful not to rely on soft magic as a crutch, when used properly, it makes for truly awe-inspiring moments. As we go, I’ll be grading each magic system on a 1 to 5 scale from soft to hard, in my opinion. This isn’t a measure of quality, of course, but simply a description. Anyway, I’ve rambled enough for this intro. Let’s get into it!
Number Ten – Star Wars
Grade 2, mostly soft.
We’ll start with one of the first types of magic I was ever introduced to: The Force. In the original trilogy, The Force is one of the best soft magic systems I’ve ever seen. It has only a few specific powers, mostly telekinesis, precognition, and mental abilities, yet those powers have incredible potential. We don’t really know the origins of The Force other than Obi-Wan’s description of it as an energy field encompassing all living things, yet this is all we really need. The Force is also limited in the original trilogy by the sheer lack of practitioners. Throughout all three films, only five characters (debatably six, if you count Leia) are able to use The Force: Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Darth Vader, and Palpatine. This is an excellent way to keep a soft magic system interesting, though it goes out the window after the original trilogy. The prequel trilogy expands on The Force, attempting to explain it with the occasionally reviled concept of Midi-chlorians, microscopic organisms within our cells that determine a person’s capability with The Force. As well, the number of users of The Force skyrockets in this trilogy with the Jedi Order at the height of its influence. Still, The Force itself works quite well, as the story being told in the prequel trilogy isn’t truly about The Force, but about the Old Republic. Much of the tension is focused on the politics of the situation and the outbreak of the Clone War, which the Jedi couldn’t prevent even with The Force. Sadly, this magic system lost a lot of points due to the sequel trilogy, which added several new abilities and skills with little to no explanation or foreshadowing. This could have been avoided, as shown in non-canon novels. For example, several books detailed Palpatine’s resurrection using a combination of The Force and cloned embryos of himself, a far better explanation than, “Somehow, Palpatine returned.” The Force is an excellent example of a great magic system made worse when it was later used as a storytelling crutch.
Number Nine – The Matrix
Grade 3, medium.
Like Star Wars, The Matrix is a sci-fi franchise that actually incorporates a surprising number of fantasy elements in its world. Though not defined as a magic system in the films, I view it through that lens and have come to refer to it as Hacking. The rules are well-defined at first. Free humans, when hacking back into the Matrix, are able to bend or break many of the rules governing this computer program. Depending on their skill, this can grant them increased speed, strength, reflexes, and stamina. The costs are not clearly defined, but it does appear that Hacking tires the user out. Opposing the humans are the Agents, computer programs that also have super-human abilities, but only because they’re programmed to have them. Thus, as Morpheus explains, their abilities are still based on a system defined by limits. In theory, any human could exceed those limits with Hacking, but in practice, the only human able to do so is The One, Neo himself. Appropriately, Neo’s awakening as The One comes with a significant boost to his power, but to counter this, the Wachowskis devised a fairly brilliant twist. In defeating Agent Smith, Neo accidentally set the dangerous program free, allowing Smith to learn his own form of Hacking and surpass the limits the Matrix had set for him. This eventually made Smith a danger to both humans and machines. Though parts of this system went overboard late in the franchise, such as Neo’s powers extending beyond the Matrix and the overall Power Creep, there really is so much to love about this magic system.
Number Eight – Harry Potter
Grade 3, medium.
Magic in Harry Potter is an example of a system that began very hard before softening over time. Rowling states the rules of magic early on. With rare exceptions, such as when a child is discovered to have magic, a witch or wizard must have certain things to use magic. They need a wand with some sort of magical core to focus their power, an incantation (often in Latin) to summon the magic, and a specific flourish of the wand to direct it. Through the series, Rowling creates a magic system that’s impressively expansive, encompassing every aspect of life in the Wizarding World, yet this also ends up being a bit of a weakness. Late in the series, it becomes clear that every established rule has exceptions. Some witches or wizards can perform wandless magic, silent spells are commonplace in duels, and Voldemort and his Death Eaters can even fly without brooms. While exceptions are to be expected for particularly powerful practitioners, one must be careful not to make the exceptions too common, lest they undermine the foundation of the magic system. Still, this is a very fun magic system that manages to integrate flawlessly into its world while still inspiring awe and wonder at critical times.
Number Seven – Naruto
Grade 4, mostly hard.
The magic system in the Naruto anime is based on Chakra, spiritual energy found in nature and in people. Instead of wizards, there are Shinobi who can draw on Chakra to perform Jutsu (spells) of many types. The sheer vastness of this system makes for a huge variety of characters and combat styles. Some are brute-force Shinobi who use Chakra to enhance their martial arts, some can merge pure Chakra energy with one of the elements, others are adept at creating illusions, and still others can summon weapons or supernatural creatures to aid them in battle. But the unifying factor in all these techniques is the thing that makes this system so iconic: hand signs. In order to use Chakra, a Shinobi must master these twelve hand movements and use them in different patterns to perform the Jutsu needed. For fans of anime, Naruto’s hand sign for the Shadow Clone Jutsu is as iconic as Harry Potter’s Expelliarmus. The one weakness of this magic system is in how overpowered certain individuals became by the end of the original anime’s run. There are many unique Jutsu accessible only by individuals of certain lineages or clans, and as more of these skills came into play, a system originally grounded with clear rules and limits eventually became demigods hurling energy blasts at each other. Power Creep strikes again, but that doesn’t change how excellent the basis of this magic system is for me.
Number Six – A Song of Ice and Fire
Grade 1, very soft.
In some ways, George R. R. Martin’s ongoing epic could be described as fantasy for people who aren’t that into fantasy. His stories focus far more on the political tensions in his world, yet magic is still present and vital to the narrative. Martin keeps his magic as mysterious and unscientific as possible, often playing supernatural occurrences as a possible trick of the mind instead of outright magic, at least in the minds of the characters. He also handles a very tricky subject extremely well: resurrection. It’s so hard to believably resurrect dead characters with magic, but Martin makes it work with the costs involved. These costs aren’t quantified, yet we see them all the same. For example, Beric Dondarrian has been resurrected multiple times and describes it as pieces of who he once was being chipped away with each rebirth. He’s alive again, but he’s no longer himself. While he may have a rudimentary knowledge of things that happened to him in his past lives, the intimacy has been lost. The war between hard and soft magic rages between authors and fans of fantasy, but Martin makes a compelling case for keeping magic soft and mysterious.
Number Five – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Grade 5, very hard.
This short but massively popular anime series gave us possibly the most scientific magic system ever: Alchemy. Alchemy is essentially magical transmutation governed by the Law of Equivalent Exchange. This law states, “Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.” In essence, this encompasses two real-world scientific principles, the Law of Conservation of Mass and the Law of Natural Providence. To perform Alchemy, an Alchemist must have an intimate understanding of the components involved and the will to deconstruct those components before reforming them as they see fit. Failure during any part of the process results in a catastrophic Rebound, as shown in the opening episodes of the series. The two protagonists, brothers Edward and Alphonse, naively attempt to use Alchemy to bring back their deceased mother. This horrifically results in Alphonse losing his body entirely and Edward losing one of his legs. In desperation, Edward uses Alchemy once more, sacrificing his right arm to preserve his brother’s soul and bind it to a suit of armor. Again, all this occurs in the opening of the series, highlighting both the power and the danger of this magic system and creating incredible drama as the brothers set out on a quest to fully restore their bodies. The system expands in creative ways from there, yet always adheres to its founding rules, helping it feel grounded and believable. If you’re crafting a hard magic system, study up on this one as you go.
Number Four – Mistborn
Grade 5, very hard.
What list of magic systems would be complete without one from the master of hard magic, Brandon Sanderson? This system is so nuanced and complex that I can’t possibly go into everything, but I’ll do my best with the basics of what makes it so strong. It’s a very different sort of magic system built around different types of metals, and different users utilize the metals in different ways. First are Allomancers, who ingest certain metals to achieve different magical effects, but at the risk of deformity and dependency upon the metal if they use too much at once. Second are Feruchemists, who instead touch these metals to activate the corresponding ability, but they must first give up said ability in their base state, weakening them for a time. Finally, there are Hemalurgists, who drive spikes made of various metals into other magic users to leech these abilities from them, but the overall power of the magic is reduced within the recipient after this process. It’s an incredible magic system that Sanderson uses in many creative ways. As his series goes on, the magic evolves with it, with later books detailing characters able to compound different metals together, for example. While most epic high fantasy trends more toward soft magic, this series is a wonderful example of how to use a hard magic system in such a sprawling fashion.
Number Three – Avatar: The Last Airbender
Grade 4, mostly hard.
Easily one of the greatest elemental magic systems ever, magic users in this world are called Benders. A Bender can Bend one of the four elements, water, fire, earth, or air, by performing martial arts. Each Bending art is associated with a real variation of Kung Fu – Tai Chi for water, Northern Shaolin for fire, Hung Gar for earth, and Bagua for air. Beyond these single Benders, there is the Avatar, one person capable of Bending all four elements. Whenever an Avatar dies, they are reincarnated into an individual of the next natural element in line. What begins as a simple magic system for a children’s show quickly becomes highly complex and nuanced. For example, one Earthbender is a blind little girl who develops her own style of Bending based on Praying Mantis Kung Fu, complete with the ability to sense tiny vibrations through her feet. She later evolves this further, learning how to manipulate metal by sensing the earthen particles within it. These are but a sampling of the ingenious branches of this magic system. Sadly, some of these new abilities went off the rails in the sequel series, The Legend of Korra, softening the system in harmful ways, but the original iteration of this system remains a favorite of mine and has been a huge influence for me in my own writings.
Number Two – The Lord of the Rings
Grade 1, very soft.
One of the oldest official magic systems and perhaps the greatest of them all, Tolkien crafted a truly vast fantasy world with wondrous magic integral to the story. When I mentioned the strength of soft magic being able to create awe and wonder for the reader, this is the preeminent example. The entire crux of the conflict is that the dark magic of Sauron is growing stronger while the benevolent magic of Gandalf and the elves is dying out. We never get any specifics on how it all works, but we can see the corrupting influence of any magic associated with Sauron, from the Wraiths and the Witch King to the One Ring itself. The same is true of Gandalf. We get glimpses of his massive power, such as when he fights the Balrog, and any specifics as to how he does it would dilute Gandalf’s sheer badassery in such instances. For such a soft system, Tolkien also handles the limits of magic quite well, namely with the lack of magic users in his world. With our heroes scattered across Middle Earth, the tension isn’t a question of if Gandalf has a spell powerful enough to solve the problem but rather that Gandalf can’t be everywhere at once. Magic pervades almost every aspect of the story, but it’s rarely the solution to every problem our heroes encounter. Sure, there are still some plot holes that have been discussed without end, (looking at you, Great Eagles!) but even these holes can’t detract from this masterclass in soft magic.
Before we unveil my top pick, let’s do a few…
Honorable Mentions
My Hero Academia
Though this anime explores the superhero genre instead of fantasy, each character’s powers, called Quirks, are basically tiny magic systems in and of themselves. This is an excellent example of how to handle multiple unrelated powers in different characters. The lore and history behind the protagonist’s Quirk, One for All, is particularly strong.
Earthsea
While not as universally known as Tolkien’s or Martin’s works, this epic fantasy series uses its magic system quite effectively. Based on the idea of speaking something’s True Name in the proper language, magic is used to explore every aspect of the world, most notably the evolving relationship between the supposed dominant males and lesser females.
Coco
This masterpiece from Disney and Pixar crafted a beautiful magic system for the Land of the Dead. In it, everything is governed by memories, specifically, the memories passed down of an individual by those who knew them in life. Every rule and nuance weaves into the story, leading to one of the most beautiful climaxes in all of storytelling, in my humble opinion.
Number One – The Dresden Files
Grade 4, mostly hard.
This is it, the most inspirational magic system I’ve ever encountered. Jim Butcher has crafted an incredibly versatile world of magic in his ongoing book series, and the series still hasn’t reached its conclusion yet! There’s a little bit of everything in this system. Elemental magic, ritual magic, the occult, True Names, Power of Belief, Norse gods, Greek gods, faerie tale creatures, and even divine relics created and empowered by the Christian God Himself. Holy crap! Yet as complicated as it sounds, all of these elements blend together perfectly in a way that somehow remains defined within its own rules and easy to follow for the reader, all explored through the eyes of the protagonist, Chicago wizard Harry Dresden. There is some debate as to how hard or soft this system is overall. There are still many aspects of this system that have yet to be revealed, as well as other aspects that have been revealed but not defined or expanded upon. Yet the parts that Butcher has revealed in full are extremely tight and consistent, keeping with the rules established in this universe, so it stands to reason that the unrevealed parts would follow suit. One of my favorite things of all is how Butcher infuses the magic with his own quirky sense of humor. In one instance, Dresden defeats a rival dark wizard with a simple broom-sweeping spell. In another, the ghost of a deceased wizard is detected and revealed by the cat the wizard had in life because cats can, of course, sense ghosts, and they treat them just like they treat living humans – as their servants. I could go on and on about the different aspects I adore about this magic system. It’s been, by far, the biggest influence on my own magic system, which is why it sits atop this list.
And that’s going to do it for this ranking. I hope I was able to help my fellow authors with my musings on different types of magic. Of course, there’s not a true winner between hard, soft, and medium magic systems – they each have their merits and I love them all in the right circumstances. But I’d love to hear from you. What magic systems have influenced and inspired your writings? Feel free to let me know in the comments or reach out directly, especially if you have any ideas or requests for future entries. I’ve got an active running list of ideas, but I’m always open to more. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a like and share this post on social media. And to stay up to date on future blog posts, you can sign up for my monthly newsletter on my website. Until the next story!
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