Move over Jack Vance….
So The Tempest, a play by Shakespeare written in 1610, features a
wizard named Prospero living in a seclusium on an island in the sea. That’s pretty cool; cool enough that I’ve
been intrigued by it for some time. So I
checked around and discovered this excerpt of a book by William J. Rolfe from
1904
Prospero has all the
trappings of a D&D Magic-user:
His robe is a magic garment
He carries a magic wand that can move objects, including removing
weapons from the hands of enemies.
He possesses a magical staff of great, but unspecified
power.
Prospero
practices a kind of Elemental magic,
effecting his spells through the command of “spirits” of the four
elements. These four elements are "in sea or fire, in earth or
air," as Rolfe points out by quoting
Hamlet from a different play. Specifically
these spirits are “sea nymphs” (water), Ariel (fire), goblins (earth) and elves?
(air). It doesn’t require much
imagination to equate these “spirits” to Jack Vance’s idea of “plasmids”, the
magical creatures who cause “Vancian” magic in his novels.
To cast spells, Prospero masters and
commands these elemental spirits; "..my spirits obey,.. untie the
spell," as one line puts it. Rolfe
notes that Prospero is able to command, cajole, and compel these spirits to
create the magical effect he desires because of his commanding intellect. As with D&D, intelligence significantly
improves Prospero’s ability to perform magic.
Nevertheless, spells can be spoiled,
especially by noise or commotion. “Hush, and be mute, or else our spell is
marr'd.” D&D may be a bit more
lenient in this regard, but it is a familiar theme.
It
isn’t a simple matter of intelligence, will and a few undisturbed moments
however. Prospero acquires his ability
to create specific magic through the study of spell books. His spell books were
of key importance to his art; for without them “He's but a sot”, and does not
have even “One spirit to command.”
Prospero must first resort to his books to prepare his spells. Without them, he cannot prepare a new spell. Take away a D&D Magic-users spell books under the original rules and eventually they will exhaust their spell and, like Prospero, have no ability
to cast magic.
The
last point to mention about Prospero and his magic in relation to D&D is its’
abstract nature. Shakespeare, unlike his
contemporaries does not surround Prospero with grotesque details. His magic is clean, intellectual and as Rolfe
puts it “…at once supernatural and natural… the
highest exercise of the magic art”.
There’s no eye of newt and dissected goat livers involved, no midnight
chicken sacrifices, or anything of the sort.
His magic is primarily verbal, a manifestation of power through will and
ability, not devilish gimmickry. Again,
it’s an awful lot like original D&D.
I’m not suggesting that Gygax and
Arneson modeled D&D magic on Shakespeare.
It could all be a coincidence, but Its an interesting parallel for sure. Then again there may be a path of influence
though Vance. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack Vance was at
least somewhat inspired by The Tempest and there’s no doubt that Gygax modeled
his idea of Magic-users on Vance’s excellent work.
2 comments:
Plasmids or sandestins?
Is there adifference?
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