Worlds where Magic is Hated.

[daydreamer]

I haven't read a lot of fantasy books. Currently i'm working on an idea for a world where magic is hated for a very good reason, i myself would probably not be a fan of it if i lived there, and i know that the idea of magic being hated isn't new. what books have you read where this happens? I would like to look them up so i don't get too cliched and use the idea in an interesting new way.

 

[vigosinger]

I know if you look into, I think winterhold in skyrim, they hate magic.

In forgotten realms there were mage hunters. May give you a flavor.

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[troynos]

I know if you look into, I think winterhold in skyrim, they hate magic.

Winterhold is where the College of Magic is.

The books and games in Dragon Age is a good one where magic isn't looked nicely upon as the use of magic can turn one into a demon. Mages are imprisoned and guarded by Templars.

I wouldn't worry too much about being cliche. Just come up with a good reason for why magic is hated. It's better to not read so that you're not influenced by the other works and what you come up with is your own.

 

[vigosinger]

The people of the city don't trust the college.
But troy is right. Write how you think people would act. Use real life bigotry as a template. Flair it up with your own embellishments.


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[daydreamer]

This actually quite interesting since that's the reason why people hate "mages" in my book, they turn into incredibly powerful and destructive creatures if they use magic too much. I guess i'm lucky i asked,wow.

i'll have to change some stuff now.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Male magic users in Wheel of Time are incredibly powerful, but will go insane and kill everyone they can eventually no matter how little they touch magic.

Note, however, that your idea is just that an idea. It is not a story yet, or at least as far as you have told us. As such, you can have this idea but still have a rip-roaring story out of it that is wholly original.

 

[X Equestris]

Dragon Age has already been mentioned. The games and their tie in novels, specifically Asunder, may be useful to you.

The Witcher series features anti-magic bigotry as well, though not always on a universal level. Mages may end up advisors to monarchs, and some villages are glad to have one tending to their needs. Other times they can face mob violence. The bigotry tends to be based more on a "they're different" level than "they're really dangerous", from what I've seen so far.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Why do people hate anything? Usually because they fear it. If you've watched Merlin that comes across quite clearly. Those with magic are considered dangerous and have to be killed. It's a kill them before they kill you sort of thing.

In Skyrim - which I love by the way - it's the same, just not to the same extreme.

The question you have to ask is what is it about magic that they fear. In one of my books I had humans with magic called wildlings and hunted down and killed. What was feared was this belief by those in power that people with magic could overthrow their rule.

In another, which I still haven't finished (must be under an evil spell!) it is that magic conflicts with technology - so the presence of a magic field may cause steam engines to break down and electric lights to fail etc - a la Arcanum. So hating magic in that world is mostly about protecting a technological world from utter chaos.

And in a third book my hero hated magic because his little brother had the magic of fascination - he could make people do anything he wanted with just a few words - and he used it to do terrible harm to the hero's own family among others.

So my thought is to go back and ask - what is it that people fear about magic in your world? What about it threatens them? Their lives? Their free will? Their positions of status in society? Their income?

Cheers, Greg.

 

[WooHooMan]

My favorite example of this is from the old video game Zork: the Grand Inquisitor. The distrust of magic in that setting is 100% misguided and fueled by anti-wizard propaganda.
As the titular Inquisitor said: "shun magic, and shun the appearance of magic. Shun everything, and then shun shunning."

Since most setting tends to define magic differently, how one goes about doing anti-magic sentiments would depend on the setting. Or the magic system.

I know that in Elder Scrolls dislike of magic is usually specified as dislike of a particular type of magic like necromancy or the Dwarves' tonal architecture. It boils down to either what it actually does, what it has done (like possibly destroying Winterhold) or who uses it (Sloads, Dwarves and other evil races). In any case, while finding people who dislike a type of magic is easy, it's very rare to find someone who dislikes all magic.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

My favorite example of this is from the old video game Zork: the Grand Inquisitor. The distrust of magic in that setting is 100% misguided and fueled by anti-wizard propaganda.
As the titular Inquisitor said: "shun magic, and shun the appearance of magic. Shun everything, and then shun shunning."

Since most setting tends to define magic differently, how one goes about doing anti-magic sentiments would depend on the setting. Or the magic system.

I know that in Elder Scrolls dislike of magic is usually specified as dislike of a particular type of magic like necromancy or the Dwarves' tonal architecture. It boils down to either what it actually does, what it has done (like possibly destroying Winterhold) or who uses it (Sloads, Dwarves and other evil races). In any case, while finding people who dislike a type of magic is easy, it's very rare to find someone who dislikes all magic.

And frequently even those that hate magic will use mental gymnastics in order to benefit from it. I'm thinking practically everyone in Wheel of Time distrust the Ars Sedai but never really run down their help, except the Children of Light.

 

[daydreamer]

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Creed]

I know I bring him up a lot, but R. Scott Bakker's world of Eärwa is rife with this hatred. Mages are powerful and can only be stopped with the use of Chorae, the "tears of God." Religion is fundamental to the world, and it is the main driver for the stigma against sorcerers. The belief is that sorcery is a corruption of the God's work, and sorcery is inherently linked to sin, leaving a taint on the soul of the user (who is doomed to damnation) and the world around him.

I'd also like to point out that as much as the fear of magic-abominations is important in the Dragon Age universe, just as important is the political power and history of the Tevinter Imperium, as spread through the Chant of Light. The main religion of the world teaches that mages formed a big, bad empire that expanded aggressively and had blood sacrifices, and furthermore that magic was used to dominate man. This isn't false, but it's kind of like propaganda, and it led to the creation of the Circles (institutions like prisons/universities designed to control mages).

 

[Bruce McKnight]

Don't forget to draw on history for story ideas as well. The Salem Witchcraft Trials have all sorts of great examples of what happens when people fear magic, and magic wasn't even real. People accusing others a death-sentence crime out of a misunderstanding, retaliation, political gain, or just for spite, all under the wide-spanning cloak of pandemonius fear. Great stuff.