Hard vs. Soft Magic Systems

I realize many of my blog posts have had a kind of negative spin to them, which wasn’t something I intended. I am a naturally cynical and highly critical person, both towards myself and others, but I think it would be better to lighten up with this entry. So, I will be talking about something I absolutely love in fiction, and which I have thought about at great length: Magic Systems.

If you, reader, have never heard of these, then allow me to explain. Magic is any kind of force in fiction that isn’t present in reality, and thus must be set up like any other plot device so the readers are not entirely in the dark. It is worth noting highly advanced technology can be considered magic under this definition. Magic in fiction is always understood by the author, even if none of the characters fully understand. The author decides what magic can and cannot do, what it does or does not do. They decide how much control magic has over the characters, and how much control the characters have over it. It may be just a side note in the plot, or it could be the single force that all events revolve around. But through all of this, I would like to focus on the two polar opposite implementation of magic: Hard Magic Systems vs. Soft Magic Systems.

A Hard Magic System is very close to real world technology and science. It is well understood, or if not fully understood it at least acts in a predictable manner. If a character uses magic in this system, the results will be predictable based on the defined rules. This magic is not random or ambiguous, it is deliberate and specific. A decent example of this is the devil fruits used in One Piece, which for our purposes can be considered a magic system.

First, every devil fruit eater (someone who has eaten a unique object known as a devil fruit) gains a specific power depending on the fruit they ate. There are many devil fruits, but only one of each kind ever exists at a time, and the only way for someone else to get the power already controlled by a devil fruit eater is for that person to be killed, at which point the fruit will reappear somewhere else (though, there are some very specific exceptions to this, but they are very rare and possible spoilers which I won’t bring up here). All devil fruit eaters cannot swim at all(specifically in salt water), which is a big deal considering the world they inhabit is primarily ocean. There are also sea prism stones which mimic this effect, and can be used to harm them reliably or restrain them from actively using their powers. This is important as it keeps non devil fruit eaters relevant, by allowing them to be useful as allies to devil fruit eaters who fall into the ocean, or as dangerous enemies as they are still able to swim and thus have a tactical advantage. One Piece also has a force known as Haki, but that in particular is far softer as a magic system and, in my opinion, less interesting, so I will leave that out of this analysis for now except for saying it is another thing that works universally on devil fruit eaters.

This system then allows for some very unique combat situations, and creative applications of powers. To start off, we have the main character Monkey D. Luffy who has a body made of rubber. Most characters initially consider this power as useless, until Luffy begins to refine a combat style revolving around this property. He can stretch his arms long distances, allowing himself to either slingshot himself or grab onto another boat from a sizable distance away. His punches are not restricted to his usual arm’s reach, as he can rapidly extend them to increase his reach. He is also incredibly durable, so blunt force is practically useless against him, to the extent that if he gets shot by standard guns or even a cannonball he can rebound the projectiles back, sometimes hitting his opponents. He is still susceptible to piercing or cutting implements, however, so he is not invincible. Finally, a lesser used aspect is that he is very literally rubber, meaning not only can he stretch his and any other part of himself without discomfort, but he is also entirely non-conductive, and thus electricity cannot harm him.

I absolutely love this entire system because most of this would be deduced if you considered the aspects of rubber objects, and just puzzled out the potential uses of being made of rubber. Luffy does not have an unknown list of powers at his disposal, but rather what you see is what you get. While he does get some other powers later on(which I have mixed feeling about as they start to move toward a Soft System), his devil fruit powers are finite, and only new applications of the existing powers are discovered. He gets better at using his power and stronger in terms of physical strength, but he never loses the fundamental weakness or learns some way to completely get around the basic physical properties his body works under. When Luffy solves a problem or beats an enemy with his power, the way he goes about it makes sense in this regard, for the most part. And this applies to all devil fruit eaters; as they practice with their powers, they develop fighting styles around the strengths while finding ways to cope with their weaknesses, while never fundamentally changing the actual rules of their power. In my opinion, this drives good storytelling; characters coming up with unique solutions to problems based on creative use of what us, the audience, know as the resources at their disposal.

Now, the opposite; Soft Magic Systems. These do not have established rules, per se, but rather go for a more mysterious and, well, magical aesthetic. The focus here is the unpredictability and usually unbridled power of magic; the most often cited example of this is Lord of the Rings. In this setting, magic is either not completely understood by anyone, or is understood by some but never fully explained to the characters and, through them, the audience. So, the audience is working with an incomplete picture of what magic is actually capable of.

This presents both pros and cons to the author. A benefit is they are not expected to explain the rules of magic as thoroughly in the story, as most of the characters don’t fully know these themselves, and it is insinuated that they are too complicated and nuanced for an average observer to understand properly. Thus, a veteran magic scholar can give short declarations of what is and isn’t possible, and leave it at that. Inversely, you can’t just solve things with magic the same way you can in Hard Magic Systems. The reason for this is because the magic used in this way will appear to be a deus ex machina; a contrived method of coping with having written yourself into a corner.

There is even a codified rule for this phenomenon, known as Sanderson’s First Law:

An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL to how well the reader understands said magic.

So, this means that when magic is mysterious and unpredictable, it can’t be used by the characters to solve problems, or if it is used in this way it should have some serious drawbacks. Instead, magic becomes an opposing force for the protagonists. Again, this is demonstrated in Lord of the Rings by magic in various forms being the cause of a variety of issues, from the one ring itself to the magic of the wizard Saruman, ring wraiths, and the Balrog being aligned firmly against the protagonists. The main magical beneficiary of the protagonists is Gandalf, and mostly he functions as a guide and mentor to the characters rather than a usual combatant. He usually only uses his magic against other magic, and just as often the threats are dealt with through more mundane combat as, again, that is something the audience understands better. He can even be seen wielding a sword in many circumstances, despite him being a literal wizard with the best understanding of magic by a protagonist-allied character in the entire narrative.

It’s important to note that neither of these systems is inherently better, but rather lends itself to different kinds of stories. Soft Systems will give the author more freedom to have crazy and mysterious uses of magic, but is then equally tethered to not being used to directly solve conflict. Hard systems allow magic to become more of a tool for the protagonists, maybe even having the mechanics become inextricable to the core plot, but then it must be properly explained to the audience, and must be further developed to be consistent as well as balanced. So, in closing, if you wish to write a magic system, keep these principles in mind to better situate yourself for success and ensure your magic system reinforces your story’s themes rather than works against them.

Original post on Minds