there's an Anime that touche's greatly on the whole "why isnt there more?". In "How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom", they touch that there is technially battleships and cannons but because there are mages that can cast spells of similar effect they never really delved into the development of them. That could be said for flying cars, sure they're cool, but if you have magic bags, teleportation or flying brooms that are so much more common or easy to conjure then what's the point. It's a great way for me in my writing why one country is all steampunk and the rest of the world is medieval, because most countries have similar means, why need light bulbs that need power when an everlight lantern never goes out, why have an airship that could combust when we got griffon pulled cariages, etc.
This is a really great point! Sometimes the magic is so good (ie. brooms) - why would there be an invention to change that (ie. bicycles or small cars). This is an AWESOME perspective! How has this affected your world building so far 😊?
One setting that I like personally is instead of a medieval world there’s an early modern world like the Renaissance for example where magic and technology from that era exist. Some series have practiced with this and I personally like it , I also think they add elements like clockwork and a hint of steampunk technology to balance it out with the magical elements.
When I get into deciding what tech I should implement when there is a magic system already in place, the first thing I do is ask myself "can this tech's job be better done by something in the magic system?" or "if this tech does something magic can do, can it do the job better or with less risk/more convenience?" I also consider what the drawbacks are when it comes to using magic regularly in-world. If magic is something that has big enough drawbacks or risks (even though mostly everyone can use it), would it be *more convenient* or *less risky* for these people to invent a technology that does what the magic does, but safer/more conveniently? After all, we invent things for the sake of convenience and decreasing everyday risks all the time. Sure, you could take the risk of heating up your bathwater with a fire spell, but is it worth the strain on your body or the risk of potentially burning your house down? Why deal with the risks when you could just flick on a furnace/water heater and save yourself the worry? Stuff like that. You could also think about what jobs magic users could do during an in-world industrial revolution. Fire/Water users could join forces and easily be employed in steam plants to generate electricity and heating rather than taking the risk of mining up fossil fuels to do the same thing, minus the environment/health impact burning fossil fuels has. Air/Water users could walk the streets of a city, spraying and drying off the roads and sidewalks rather than creating a street sweeper. Again, stuff like that!
This is such an excellent way to check for realism or a realistic balance when including both technology and magic into your world. Thank you for walking us through your logic - this is GREAT stuff!
Why do people keep bringing up the Eagles in Lord of the Rings? The books highlight FAAAAR better than the movie of exactly why the Eagles didn't do so (Beyond, them personally being too afraid to even attempt it). . Sauron has a LITERAL anti-air weapon (along with several dragons, wizards, and many other flying beasts). They really couldn't have simply flown the eagles to Mt.Doom even if they were willing to do so. . This feels like a "Scotty Beam me up" thing... Where everyone keeps mentioning something being in a work of fiction, but it doesn't. Then AGAIN the books have been out for decades and it is only when the movies came out that suddenly people claimed there was a plothole.
One caveat to "you can always go down" with technology: when you get to society level stuff, going down raises a lot of questions. Consider Firefly. The highly advanced worlds have flying cars, holographic brain scanners, laser pistols, their warships are basically flying cities (a little more literally than was strictly necessary, perhaps)...so why are the crew of the Serenity living in a setting that's largely in line with Western movies? Granted, that's not a *bad* example of going down in technology at a societal level - the economic disparity between the advanced worlds and the ones Mal _et al._ spend most of their time on is pretty apparent, as is the general lack of concern the Alliance has for said disparity. Late 1800s technology is about as advanced as you get without substantially increasing the requirements of maintenance specialists, advanced manufacturing, etc. Pretty much anyone competent with basic carpentry tools can figure out how to make some kind of cart happen, and as long as the horse or ox you're tying it to doesn't die on you, you've got a functional vehicle for hauling stuff; as soon as you switch over to motor vehicles, you need highly trained and specialized mechanics to deal with a lot of the issues, and some pretty darn precise machining in order to make them in the first place. Similarly, revolvers and the old school shotguns of the time are *substantially* simpler than even WWII semiautomatics, rifles and SMGs - modern stuff even more so, so they're far more common. Sure Jayne has Vera, the modern-style assault rifle, but that's so unique and special to him that he's literally named it and speaks of it as a loved one. (Granted Jayne's more than a little unhinged, but still) The part that does confuse me is the high society folks. There's one episode where Mal ends up going to a high society ball to meet with a potential employer and winds up in a sword duel with one of the more arrogant types. These folks are acting kinda like Europeans from that era might...only, if you're wealthy enough to have Victorian style balls, you're certainly wealthy enough to have at least some of the modern conveniences of the more well off worlds. That's an episode that I feel suffered a bit from lack of worldbuilding. Or take a society of super advanced magic. Everyone's a mage, and everything is done using magic. One person who doesn't use magic is a weird guy. An entire city within that realm that doesn't use magic? There's a reason for that. Is it the penal colony for the magically incompetent and the deviants who choose not to use magic? Is it a place that has some innate nature to suppress magic or make it dangerously unstable, yet has some reason for this magical society to go there? Whatever it is, there's something about this one city to make it different, special.
The outer planets in Firefly are much like third world countries of this planet. They have scraps and junk versions of modern tech and it has been fashioned together with elbow grease and ingenuity. There are people who can get an abandoned toyota running with duct tape and chewing gum. Which sounds like something out of a McGyver epidsode but they made a separate show about them called Bush Mechanics. Then you hear about people in third world countries bringing electricity to their village by reading a book and making a generator by hand. My point is, the technology doesn't have to have been made on those planets. It could have been made on the higher tech planets decades ago and found it's way there, much like the cars and weapons in modern third world countries. One thing about this process is only things that are reliable, cheap and or easy to maintain survive in these areas, like toyotas and AK-47s. The ball episode then would be equivalent to a third world prince or president. They don't have the latest in modern tech but they do live better than the rest of the country. Which I think showed in that episode. They weren't core planet rich with shiny brand new stuff, it was still dated. But it was better than the crap everywhere else.
Swords are a status symbol. Something that differentiates the 'upper crust' from the masses. They have the time, energy, and resources to devote to something that looks impressive. "Look here, I've been trained for years at one of the finest sword schools in the sector. I've had the training regimen, the nutrition and the breeding to be one of the best specimens of the swords arts and *you* think you can duel *me*?!" *BANG* "God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal."
A non magical world where magic is beginning to return and what is left of the Arch Angel Michael who has a bag of holding with ten to the ninty-fouth power per centimeter cubed of space within (the volume of the universe, it literally has solar systems within it). Some amazing things come from that bag. Yeah, it is a complex pre/post Armageddon epic novel....
I hate that magic and technology battles are one sided. It's always, guns beats everything, or magic beats all guns and guns are useless cause they can't penetrate magic shields. I want there to be a balance in these battles. For instance, the anime, Gate is the most mentioned series involving the use of modern firearms in the fantasy world. The problem I had with this anime is that it was very one sided. Not only did the anime make guns look extremely superior, but there was hardly any presence of true fantasy elements to even odds against firearms. On top of that, the series's most powerful characters are already on the side of the protagonist, leaving little to no challenge whatsoever that truly tests their strengths and weaknesses. If those moments were ever to occur at all, it would be a one and done thing. Another issue I have is that cliche is that when a modern person goes to the fantasy world, his firearms are completely useless either because it was broken, it got taken away, the bullets do nothing against the fantasy monsters, and most of all, ammunition is limited. This annoys me not only because it eliminates the fun of bringing guns to the fantasy world, but it also makes no sense to not take advantage of the mystical elements to improve the use of firearms, especially when it comes to preserving ammunition. Of all the fantasy worlds out there, there has to be at least one kind of sorcery that gives you endless amount of bullets just like how you get an endless supply of arrows. RPG's that have gunner classes are an example of how this idea can be done right. Lastly, the one thing that annoys me, especially because of how little to no sense it has to the story, is that when the fantasy world invades the modern world, there is no presence of a defense force responding to an attack. This is the issue I had with the Enchanted movie. When a dragon attacks, let's say the white house, shouldn't the military respond by calling in the military? At least the SWAT team? Although to be fair it was suppose to be a family friendly movie, it still wouldn't make sense to not call the military to handle the situation, and instead leave it to some random teenager to single handedly save the day. Doesn't matter if the military is useless. It just would have made sense if they were there to fight against an otherworldly threat anyway. What I want to see is a balance between magic and technology. Where magic can make medieval armor durable enough to resist bullets like an energy shield from Halo, but not making the medieval soldiers invincible as a result. Just resistant enough to have a chance at reaching their ranged opponent. It'd be interesting to see someone enchant a musket to be as lethal as a 50 caliber sniper rifle, but with expenses to go with the enchantment.
This are such amazing and nuanced ideas - PLEASE tell me you have a world where you are making this a reality! But I 100% agree - one way I've seen magic and technology come together in an interesting way is in Warhammer with orks. Due to in-universe shenanigans, orks aren't the best at anything except when they come together and specifically when they think something is cool. Adding something to make it cooler is adding "Dakka" - and due to this D&D-esque paladin belief, their belief in the coolness of something makes it work better! This really ties magic and technology together, and that's what your adding magic to armor made me think of! But yes! if you have a world where you are fleshing out this idea, please link it! I'd love to read more about it 😍🤩😊!!
@@WorldAnvil I call it "Earth Omega" a world where various countries and nations have various levels of technology, from modern age to the medieval and even to all the way back to the stone age. But to compensate for their primitive technology, the most primitive have the most powerful sorcery in the world. Right now, Earth Omega is at war and our heroes are caught in the middle of it all. Knights raising their magic shields against the endless waves of armsfire, tanks crushing infantry with their great weight and speed, the fastest wyverns and their wind mage riders dog fighting against the fasters fightrt jets in the world. A war for control of ideologies. Godly Faith against Progressive Freedom. The reason for their lack of technological progress is due to two things: Religious Faith, and the fear of potential technological destruction. And the reason for the lack of mystical progress is two things: Adapting in a world of Godlessness and also the fear of potential mystical destruction. You'd have to look around to see the irony behind all of it. A lot of people did by the time of the third war, the current war that the campaign takes place
Why the eagle did not take Frodo to Mordor or at least closer to it is the wrong question. The eagle lack fëa and acted as Manwë servents so why did not Manwë help them earlier? That is a good question but not a plot hole because Manwë could just be unaware or unwilling to help them. However to even get their help they needed to contact them and what is best sending a messenger to them or go to them. A messenger that either does not say why do should care ( or rather Manwë should) or have some information, information that risk to falling into the hand of either Sauroman or orcs. Alternative you could walk to them and you found them somewhere around the eastern part of misty mountains, the same side that you find Lothlorien so to quote Aragorn ''Beyond Lothlorien I do not know what Gandalf Intended to do. Indeed I do not think that even he had any clear purpose''. Was the choice to walk to them god, maybe not but the character in a book does not need to always go for the most optimized choose. Why did not Galadriel or other characters suggest the eagle, again the eagle is servent to Manwë. So to get the help, they should probably need some tie or connection to Manwë like Gandalf.
Depends on the reason why you want to present high tech as low tech! For example, if tech is not important to your story, maybe describe how things happen, but not why things happen (as in the book Fahrenheit 451). So, why would you like to present high technology as low?
science is just one more link to magic. What is technology but practical applications of what is discovered from science. What is magic but practical applications of occultism. Combine the two and you will have wonders.
@@WorldAnvil Not sure because they are only mentioned. The most important steam engine in the series is the one used by one of the main characters named Adamat to run a printing press. Unfortunately, before the story starts, the steam printing press explodes, which is why the character Hass to go back to being a private investigator. So maybe steam engines are still relatively unreliable?
The eagles is a really unfair example, I don't understand why it is so popular. The concept is important to have in mind. However, the exemple makes no sense for many reasons. One is that those eagles are people, not machines, and they are not suicidal. They will not fly into Mordor while Sauron is still active, and able to burn then down. Much less caring the one thing that attracts the fellow's attention for certainly. Even if Sauron could not reach things in the sky directly, which he almost certainly can, his side has an Air Force to use, when the goal is important enough. And that goal would justify a major investment of resources. People seem to assume Gandalf could do what? FORCE this family of intelligent spirits to risk their lives in a suicide mission? When they are not necessarily staying in this continent anyway? Just to ask them to do so, politely, would be almost evil. And then they would say "No". End of Eagle Travel Plot, and also, possibly, the end of any friendship between the king of eagles and Gandalf. Some favours you don't ask, if you value your relation with your friends. This notion of asking the Eagles to carry the ring to Mordor is a bit like the notion I see a lot of people mentioning, that US must "destroy Russia", forcing it to expend all its conventional weapons. Making it unable to attack any other country. Whit conventional weapons. SURE! Great plan!! No one else remembers WHY the "Cold War" was, and remained, Cold. Apparently. Both miraculous plans completely ignore what the other side has in its pockets. Only taking under consideration what WE want, and the tools WE have. As if the other side would just stay quiet and do nothing to stop us, when what we have in mind is to destroy them. And they know that. Actually, the case of the eagles is even worse. Because at least those how assume Russia will not use nukes (all its nukes, and against US metropolis, not Ukraine) may be playing under the assumption that Russians will choose humiliation and the eternal slavery of their country over death. Because, goes without saying, both sides would face the same result: mutual destruction. One thousand large cities destroyed by nuclear bombs, or more, almost everyone near to those cities dead. Nothing like that happens to Sauron's side if he catches the eagles half way between the borders of his country and the volcano. Would be a clean victory for him, for no cost.
Thank you so much for sharing this - you make a lot of great comparisons here. In fact, we have another video diving even deeper into Tolkien on our podcast channel: ua-cam.com/video/wu3b6n00CWg/v-deo.html&ab_channel=WorldAnvilPodcast I would love to see your depth and insights there too!
No problem explaining guns. with guns. I wonder why everybody shits on explainig magic. Shooting fireballs out of your hands?`How does that work. If anybody came up with somethingh cool, that would be amazing. I mean Kingkiller Chronicles fpor exampel. That is cool magic (despite in the lore its not, because there is an explanation. So in that world it judt became science.)
Also the description of what the tech looks like can make it seem more believable in your magic world.
there's an Anime that touche's greatly on the whole "why isnt there more?". In "How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom", they touch that there is technially battleships and cannons but because there are mages that can cast spells of similar effect they never really delved into the development of them. That could be said for flying cars, sure they're cool, but if you have magic bags, teleportation or flying brooms that are so much more common or easy to conjure then what's the point. It's a great way for me in my writing why one country is all steampunk and the rest of the world is medieval, because most countries have similar means, why need light bulbs that need power when an everlight lantern never goes out, why have an airship that could combust when we got griffon pulled cariages, etc.
This is a really great point! Sometimes the magic is so good (ie. brooms) - why would there be an invention to change that (ie. bicycles or small cars). This is an AWESOME perspective! How has this affected your world building so far 😊?
One setting that I like personally is instead of a medieval world there’s an early modern world like the Renaissance for example where magic and technology from that era exist.
Some series have practiced with this and I personally like it , I also think they add elements like clockwork and a hint of steampunk technology to balance it out with the magical elements.
Yep! You don't want people to feel like "A wizard did if!" Lol
When I get into deciding what tech I should implement when there is a magic system already in place, the first thing I do is ask myself "can this tech's job be better done by something in the magic system?" or "if this tech does something magic can do, can it do the job better or with less risk/more convenience?"
I also consider what the drawbacks are when it comes to using magic regularly in-world. If magic is something that has big enough drawbacks or risks (even though mostly everyone can use it), would it be *more convenient* or *less risky* for these people to invent a technology that does what the magic does, but safer/more conveniently? After all, we invent things for the sake of convenience and decreasing everyday risks all the time. Sure, you could take the risk of heating up your bathwater with a fire spell, but is it worth the strain on your body or the risk of potentially burning your house down? Why deal with the risks when you could just flick on a furnace/water heater and save yourself the worry? Stuff like that.
You could also think about what jobs magic users could do during an in-world industrial revolution. Fire/Water users could join forces and easily be employed in steam plants to generate electricity and heating rather than taking the risk of mining up fossil fuels to do the same thing, minus the environment/health impact burning fossil fuels has. Air/Water users could walk the streets of a city, spraying and drying off the roads and sidewalks rather than creating a street sweeper. Again, stuff like that!
This is such an excellent way to check for realism or a realistic balance when including both technology and magic into your world. Thank you for walking us through your logic - this is GREAT stuff!
Why do people keep bringing up the Eagles in Lord of the Rings? The books highlight FAAAAR better than the movie of exactly why the Eagles didn't do so (Beyond, them personally being too afraid to even attempt it).
.
Sauron has a LITERAL anti-air weapon (along with several dragons, wizards, and many other flying beasts). They really couldn't have simply flown the eagles to Mt.Doom even if they were willing to do so.
.
This feels like a "Scotty Beam me up" thing... Where everyone keeps mentioning something being in a work of fiction, but it doesn't. Then AGAIN the books have been out for decades and it is only when the movies came out that suddenly people claimed there was a plothole.
One caveat to "you can always go down" with technology: when you get to society level stuff, going down raises a lot of questions. Consider Firefly. The highly advanced worlds have flying cars, holographic brain scanners, laser pistols, their warships are basically flying cities (a little more literally than was strictly necessary, perhaps)...so why are the crew of the Serenity living in a setting that's largely in line with Western movies?
Granted, that's not a *bad* example of going down in technology at a societal level - the economic disparity between the advanced worlds and the ones Mal _et al._ spend most of their time on is pretty apparent, as is the general lack of concern the Alliance has for said disparity. Late 1800s technology is about as advanced as you get without substantially increasing the requirements of maintenance specialists, advanced manufacturing, etc. Pretty much anyone competent with basic carpentry tools can figure out how to make some kind of cart happen, and as long as the horse or ox you're tying it to doesn't die on you, you've got a functional vehicle for hauling stuff; as soon as you switch over to motor vehicles, you need highly trained and specialized mechanics to deal with a lot of the issues, and some pretty darn precise machining in order to make them in the first place. Similarly, revolvers and the old school shotguns of the time are *substantially* simpler than even WWII semiautomatics, rifles and SMGs - modern stuff even more so, so they're far more common. Sure Jayne has Vera, the modern-style assault rifle, but that's so unique and special to him that he's literally named it and speaks of it as a loved one. (Granted Jayne's more than a little unhinged, but still)
The part that does confuse me is the high society folks. There's one episode where Mal ends up going to a high society ball to meet with a potential employer and winds up in a sword duel with one of the more arrogant types. These folks are acting kinda like Europeans from that era might...only, if you're wealthy enough to have Victorian style balls, you're certainly wealthy enough to have at least some of the modern conveniences of the more well off worlds. That's an episode that I feel suffered a bit from lack of worldbuilding.
Or take a society of super advanced magic. Everyone's a mage, and everything is done using magic. One person who doesn't use magic is a weird guy. An entire city within that realm that doesn't use magic? There's a reason for that. Is it the penal colony for the magically incompetent and the deviants who choose not to use magic? Is it a place that has some innate nature to suppress magic or make it dangerously unstable, yet has some reason for this magical society to go there? Whatever it is, there's something about this one city to make it different, special.
The outer planets in Firefly are much like third world countries of this planet. They have scraps and junk versions of modern tech and it has been fashioned together with elbow grease and ingenuity. There are people who can get an abandoned toyota running with duct tape and chewing gum. Which sounds like something out of a McGyver epidsode but they made a separate show about them called Bush Mechanics. Then you hear about people in third world countries bringing electricity to their village by reading a book and making a generator by hand. My point is, the technology doesn't have to have been made on those planets. It could have been made on the higher tech planets decades ago and found it's way there, much like the cars and weapons in modern third world countries. One thing about this process is only things that are reliable, cheap and or easy to maintain survive in these areas, like toyotas and AK-47s. The ball episode then would be equivalent to a third world prince or president. They don't have the latest in modern tech but they do live better than the rest of the country. Which I think showed in that episode. They weren't core planet rich with shiny brand new stuff, it was still dated. But it was better than the crap everywhere else.
An insightful point as always, Rashkavar! Love having you sharing your ideas and thoughts here!
Swords are a status symbol. Something that differentiates the 'upper crust' from the masses. They have the time, energy, and resources to devote to something that looks impressive.
"Look here, I've been trained for years at one of the finest sword schools in the sector. I've had the training regimen, the nutrition and the breeding to be one of the best specimens of the swords arts and *you* think you can duel *me*?!"
*BANG*
"God made man, but Samuel Colt made them equal."
I feel like I have avoided many of these flaws. A few are only done like once or twice because it’s very expencive to do so.
I love magick
😃 Any favorite kinds of magic in particular?
Thx guys I'm writing a fantasy book and this helps
Same here
A non magical world where magic is beginning to return and what is left of the Arch Angel Michael who has a bag of holding with ten to the ninty-fouth power per centimeter cubed of space within (the volume of the universe, it literally has solar systems within it). Some amazing things come from that bag. Yeah, it is a complex pre/post Armageddon epic novel....
Could you please add a link to the full video to the description?
Всеволод Рычков that’s a great idea! When I release the full video, I’ll do that! In the mean time, you can find it on our podcast! :)
I hate that magic and technology battles are one sided. It's always, guns beats everything, or magic beats all guns and guns are useless cause they can't penetrate magic shields. I want there to be a balance in these battles. For instance, the anime, Gate is the most mentioned series involving the use of modern firearms in the fantasy world. The problem I had with this anime is that it was very one sided. Not only did the anime make guns look extremely superior, but there was hardly any presence of true fantasy elements to even odds against firearms. On top of that, the series's most powerful characters are already on the side of the protagonist, leaving little to no challenge whatsoever that truly tests their strengths and weaknesses. If those moments were ever to occur at all, it would be a one and done thing.
Another issue I have is that cliche is that when a modern person goes to the fantasy world, his firearms are completely useless either because it was broken, it got taken away, the bullets do nothing against the fantasy monsters, and most of all, ammunition is limited. This annoys me not only because it eliminates the fun of bringing guns to the fantasy world, but it also makes no sense to not take advantage of the mystical elements to improve the use of firearms, especially when it comes to preserving ammunition. Of all the fantasy worlds out there, there has to be at least one kind of sorcery that gives you endless amount of bullets just like how you get an endless supply of arrows. RPG's that have gunner classes are an example of how this idea can be done right.
Lastly, the one thing that annoys me, especially because of how little to no sense it has to the story, is that when the fantasy world invades the modern world, there is no presence of a defense force responding to an attack. This is the issue I had with the Enchanted movie. When a dragon attacks, let's say the white house, shouldn't the military respond by calling in the military? At least the SWAT team? Although to be fair it was suppose to be a family friendly movie, it still wouldn't make sense to not call the military to handle the situation, and instead leave it to some random teenager to single handedly save the day. Doesn't matter if the military is useless. It just would have made sense if they were there to fight against an otherworldly threat anyway.
What I want to see is a balance between magic and technology. Where magic can make medieval armor durable enough to resist bullets like an energy shield from Halo, but not making the medieval soldiers invincible as a result. Just resistant enough to have a chance at reaching their ranged opponent. It'd be interesting to see someone enchant a musket to be as lethal as a 50 caliber sniper rifle, but with expenses to go with the enchantment.
This are such amazing and nuanced ideas - PLEASE tell me you have a world where you are making this a reality!
But I 100% agree - one way I've seen magic and technology come together in an interesting way is in Warhammer with orks. Due to in-universe shenanigans, orks aren't the best at anything except when they come together and specifically when they think something is cool. Adding something to make it cooler is adding "Dakka" - and due to this D&D-esque paladin belief, their belief in the coolness of something makes it work better! This really ties magic and technology together, and that's what your adding magic to armor made me think of!
But yes! if you have a world where you are fleshing out this idea, please link it! I'd love to read more about it 😍🤩😊!!
@@WorldAnvil
I call it "Earth Omega" a world where various countries and nations have various levels of technology, from modern age to the medieval and even to all the way back to the stone age. But to compensate for their primitive technology, the most primitive have the most powerful sorcery in the world.
Right now, Earth Omega is at war and our heroes are caught in the middle of it all.
Knights raising their magic shields against the endless waves of armsfire, tanks crushing infantry with their great weight and speed, the fastest wyverns and their wind mage riders dog fighting against the fasters fightrt jets in the world.
A war for control of ideologies. Godly Faith against Progressive Freedom.
The reason for their lack of technological progress is due to two things: Religious Faith, and the fear of potential technological destruction.
And the reason for the lack of mystical progress is two things:
Adapting in a world of Godlessness and also the fear of potential mystical destruction.
You'd have to look around to see the irony behind all of it. A lot of people did by the time of the third war, the current war that the campaign takes place
Why the eagle did not take Frodo to Mordor or at least closer to it is the wrong question. The eagle lack fëa and acted as Manwë servents so why did not Manwë help them earlier? That is a good question but not a plot hole because Manwë could just be unaware or unwilling to help them. However to even get their help they needed to contact them and what is best sending a messenger to them or go to them. A messenger that either does not say why do should care ( or rather Manwë should) or have some information, information that risk to falling into the hand of either Sauroman or orcs. Alternative you could walk to them and you found them somewhere around the eastern part of misty mountains, the same side that you find Lothlorien so to quote Aragorn ''Beyond Lothlorien I do not know what Gandalf Intended to do. Indeed I do not think that even he had any clear purpose''. Was the choice to walk to them god, maybe not but the character in a book does not need to always go for the most optimized choose. Why did not Galadriel or other characters suggest the eagle, again the eagle is servent to Manwë. So to get the help, they should probably need some tie or connection to Manwë like Gandalf.
Is that a Mad Max Insignia in Brian's room?
THE WARBOYS INSIGNIA! WITNESS IT!
more like, how do I effectively present high technology AS low technology?
Depends on the reason why you want to present high tech as low tech! For example, if tech is not important to your story, maybe describe how things happen, but not why things happen (as in the book Fahrenheit 451).
So, why would you like to present high technology as low?
The audio quality is abhorent, but the video is helpful
Old video recorded from a livestream -we've been doing our best to improve! Glad you enjoyed the video anyway!
Of just have a crazy forth wall breaking character invent stuff from the darkest depths of creation.
🤩 eldritch contraptions and abyssal inventions !!!
science is just one more link to magic. What is technology but practical applications of what is discovered from science. What is magic but practical applications of occultism. Combine the two and you will have wonders.
Absolutely! And magic and technology are often used for similar things in stories too. Just a matter of perspective!
Wait, but there *are* steam ships in the powder mage world.
Oh that's cool! I personally haven't read the series - how do they work?
- Maddie
@@WorldAnvil Not sure because they are only mentioned. The most important steam engine in the series is the one used by one of the main characters named Adamat to run a printing press. Unfortunately, before the story starts, the steam printing press explodes, which is why the character Hass to go back to being a private investigator. So maybe steam engines are still relatively unreliable?
The eagles is a really unfair example, I don't understand why it is so popular. The concept is important to have in mind. However, the exemple makes no sense for many reasons. One is that those eagles are people, not machines, and they are not suicidal. They will not fly into Mordor while Sauron is still active, and able to burn then down. Much less caring the one thing that attracts the fellow's attention for certainly.
Even if Sauron could not reach things in the sky directly, which he almost certainly can, his side has an Air Force to use, when the goal is important enough. And that goal would justify a major investment of resources.
People seem to assume Gandalf could do what? FORCE this family of intelligent spirits to risk their lives in a suicide mission? When they are not necessarily staying in this continent anyway? Just to ask them to do so, politely, would be almost evil. And then they would say "No". End of Eagle Travel Plot, and also, possibly, the end of any friendship between the king of eagles and Gandalf. Some favours you don't ask, if you value your relation with your friends.
This notion of asking the Eagles to carry the ring to Mordor is a bit like the notion I see a lot of people mentioning, that US must "destroy Russia", forcing it to expend all its conventional weapons. Making it unable to attack any other country. Whit conventional weapons. SURE! Great plan!!
No one else remembers WHY the "Cold War" was, and remained, Cold. Apparently.
Both miraculous plans completely ignore what the other side has in its pockets. Only taking under consideration what WE want, and the tools WE have. As if the other side would just stay quiet and do nothing to stop us, when what we have in mind is to destroy them. And they know that.
Actually, the case of the eagles is even worse. Because at least those how assume Russia will not use nukes (all its nukes, and against US metropolis, not Ukraine) may be playing under the assumption that Russians will choose humiliation and the eternal slavery of their country over death. Because, goes without saying, both sides would face the same result: mutual destruction. One thousand large cities destroyed by nuclear bombs, or more, almost everyone near to those cities dead. Nothing like that happens to Sauron's side if he catches the eagles half way between the borders of his country and the volcano.
Would be a clean victory for him, for no cost.
Thank you so much for sharing this - you make a lot of great comparisons here. In fact, we have another video diving even deeper into Tolkien on our podcast channel:
ua-cam.com/video/wu3b6n00CWg/v-deo.html&ab_channel=WorldAnvilPodcast
I would love to see your depth and insights there too!
First?
WHOOOP!
No problem explaining guns. with guns. I wonder why everybody shits on explainig magic. Shooting fireballs out of your hands?`How does that work. If anybody came up with somethingh cool, that would be amazing. I mean Kingkiller Chronicles fpor exampel. That is cool magic (despite in the lore its not, because there is an explanation. So in that world it judt became science.)
Always good to see a Kingkiller Chronicle's fan! Does your world have its own magic system?