Mithras Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 George designed his magic to be unpredictable, unreliable and even dangerous. No single character seems to know what the hell is going on behind the scenes when they do magic. They attribute magic to some gods who are good gracious entities that grant their followers magical boons should they make the necessary sacrifice. These gods seem to have no will at all. The whole process looks automatic. Burn the witch; get the dragons.Bang the witch; get the shadow assassins.Burn the boy; wake the stone dragons.Only death can pay for life.Fire for blood, blood for fire. We have such simple formulas that seem to work. However, most of the readers think (with good arguments) that gods do not exist in ASOIAF. The existence of magic does not mean that there have to be gods despite what magic users believe. It is fairly obvious that the old gods are the collective memories/souls of past greenseers who chose not to die and dissipate into the nature as they normally should have done. So, they are in a sense taking part in this world from an unnatural dimension. What if the other gods are transcendental races living in higher dimensions with little known abilities and agendas known even less? What if there is more to see behind those simple magic formulas? What if those transcendental beings take those sacrifices and do something terribly sinister in addition to grant the fool magician what he/she asked for? What if the trancedental beings are the ones who profit from this exchange? TWOIAF opened the possibility of such ancient inhuman races like the Lovecraftian Old Ones etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aryagonnakill#2 Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I believe we know the only real "rule" of magic in ASOIAF, "only death can pay for life". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clegane'sPup Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 You stated, George designed his magic to be unpredictable, unreliable and even dangerous. You speak for George? Magic can be slight of hand, illusions or card tricks. In the WOIAF magical can merely mean ignorance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratbane Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 In the time frame that the novel covers how many people even know about how to wield magic? It apparently died away or sank to a minimal level after the Doom of Valyria. That's one of the great mysteries of ASOIAF. What is the nature of magic? I get the impression that the people who are using magic are rather unsure of how they can now do what they do, or what it really means. It may be the functional equivalent of a chimpanzee finding a laptop computer and managing to master the on/off button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clegane'sPup Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 It may be the functional equivalent of a chimpanzee finding a laptop computer and managing to master the on/off button. A very thin line here about magical and mystical. The chimpanzee may well be taken aback at turning off the computer. The op is referencing Mr. Martin's magic writing ability or in my line of thought Mr. Martin's way of magically concluding this series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratbane Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 A very thin line here about magical and mystical. The chimpanzee may well be taken aback at turning off the computer. The op is referencing Mr. Martin's magic writing ability or in my line of thought Mr. Martin's way of magically concluding this series. And one way for GRRM to do that would have the "twist" be about the essential nature of the role of magic in ASOIF. Dragons and WW-- magical. And the books seem to be leading up to them being the deciding dominant elements in the ultimate resolution to the story. Or it could just be a simple story about good versus evil where all the stereotypes come true. Somehow I doubt that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clegane'sPup Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Fanasty is the genre. I would like to hear what you think is the difference between magical and mystical. Again I will say, I do not know what the authors intent is, I am not privy to his thought process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salafi Stannis Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 OP that poem was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tynned Lannistark Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I think the purpose is for both the gods and the nature of magic to remain obscure.We will never be able to tell which gods if any are "true" and what are their power. We will probably learn a bit more about WW and other magical elements but not to the point of having clear and organized rules for how magic operates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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