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ElfBane
Learned Scribe

USA
285 Posts

Posted - 01 Feb 2018 :  10:28:39  Show Profile Send ElfBane a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
When I watch the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt.2, The scene where the collected wizards conjure the magic dome over Hogwarts immediately brought to mind a mythal. Now, as the movie shows, the mythal was rather easily brought down, but still it reminded me of creating a mythal. Did anyone else get that impression?

Starshade
Learned Scribe

Norway
279 Posts

Posted - 01 Feb 2018 :  17:51:01  Show Profile Send Starshade a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well, the books do hint Hogwarts got "mystical defences", so I get what you mean! But also; we never learn anything about them. I simply understood the dome as a collectively cast defense spell..
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Ayrik
Great Reader

Canada
7989 Posts

Posted - 01 Feb 2018 :  19:03:52  Show Profile Send Ayrik a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I also thought of this dome just being some standard defensive spell. Something like wall of force or wall of fire looks awfully damned impressive to people unaccustomed to seeing magic. Something like prismatic sphere looks utterly impervious and indestructible, although to a magic user it does not. Not even considering how illusion and enchantment are often used to create or embellish perceptions and reality.

Otiluke's resilient sphere is a seemingly impressive work of magic. But it certainly ain't no mythal, especially not to eyes practiced in seeing magic.

Imagine someone from the Realms setting (or my grandmother) sitting in front a smartphone connected to the internet. Believing the machine is all-knowing, all-seeing, thinking, feeling, and effectively "alive" ... it instantly "knows" all the answers to all your questions, it's a machine which can do things (complex calculations, perfect information recall, translate languages, illustrate any painting in perfect detail, play complex musical pieces in any instrument, even show "real" things which could otherwise only be imagined) which are all hallmarks not just of intelligence but of high intelligence. This is the same device we recognize as a "dumb terminal", barely more "conscious" than a thermostat, less "intelligent" than a mosquito.

[/Ayrik]

Edited by - Ayrik on 01 Feb 2018 19:12:00
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36804 Posts

Posted - 01 Feb 2018 :  19:11:36  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Starshade

Well, the books do hint Hogwarts got "mystical defences", so I get what you mean! But also; we never learn anything about them. I simply understood the dome as a collectively cast defense spell..



Ditto. A mythal is a major thing, practically a living field of magic, with multiple effects, and that can outlast the grandchildren of its creators. Hogwarts just had a fancy force field.

It's like comparing a regular Model T to Optimus Prime.

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Ayrik
Great Reader

Canada
7989 Posts

Posted - 01 Feb 2018 :  19:19:44  Show Profile Send Ayrik a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Nothing compares against Optimus Prime, lol.

[/Ayrik]
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The Masked Mage
Great Reader

USA
2420 Posts

Posted - 01 Feb 2018 :  19:43:28  Show Profile Send The Masked Mage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yeah - it is not a mythal. Its just a larger protective field, exactly what harry/hermione/ron conjure every day for their little tent.
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Balmar Foghaven
Learned Scribe

Canada
124 Posts

Posted - 03 Feb 2018 :  08:29:19  Show Profile Send Balmar Foghaven a Private Message  Reply with Quote
This has probably been addressed in another thread, but it is quite hard to make comparisons between the magic of the world of Harry Potter versus Forgotten Realms (despite the constant attempts by friends of mine to make "who would win in spell duel" scenarios between Dumbledore and Elminster). The two settings are in completely different ball parks. I mean, one has a list of curses you must never use because they are so terrible, and in the other said curses are the norm, cast around willy-nilly by moderately leveled necromancers.

I don't think anything even approaching a Mythal has ever been described in that setting.

"Despair not, for in the end all things shall work out for the best - in at least one timeline."
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