Due to the recent growth in popularity of hard magic in fantasy literature, the aim of the present study is to analyze how Brandon Sanderson utilizes his Laws of Magic to construct conflict that can be resolved using hard magic systems in Mistborn: The Final Empire. The pursuit of the study is to fill a gap in the field, as prior research on Sanderson’s writing and the function of hard magic is limited. In addition to the Laws of Magic, the study applies narratological theories about plot and conflict to determine whether Sanderson successfully avoids deus ex machina through clear definitions of magical limitations and foreshadowing of exceptions. The study concludes that Sanderson effectively ties the reader’s process of understanding the magic to the relationship of the two protagonists, where the more experienced magic user acts as a mentor for the less experienced one. By only conveying to the reader what characters know, Sanderson leaves room for twists where it is revealed that the characters were operating with an incomplete understanding of their own magic, allowing for unforeseeable, yet foreshadowed, new uses of their magic at the story’s climax. The discoveries of the study provide useful insight into how Sanderson works with his own Laws of Magic, which can be applied by writers that wish to use magic as a similar tool to construct and solve conflict in their own stories.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-204343 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Pettersson, Jacob |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för kultur- och medievetenskaper |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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