Quote:
Originally Posted by Humabout
Lupo really hit it on the head. Lord of the Rings was intended to be a sort of mythology for England. Everything in the world is magical, and magical stuff is as natural as the clouds in the sky. Just as the Greeks expected to meet a god every time they stepped outside, no one in Middle Earth would think twice about a plant having "magical" properties, because it's natural for them to. It'd be worth reading Grimm's fairytales before running the game; the worldview presented therein also captures the concept of the world as a naturally magical place.
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Benedek Láng's
Unlocked Books has a very detailed discussion of medieval scholastic classifications of magic, which seem to correspond very closely to Tolkien's view of the subject. In brief, there were three broad categories: natural magic, based on the inherent virtues of plants and stones and such; image magic, based on runic and other inscriptions that drew the power of celestial bodies into spells or objects; and ritual magic, based on bargaining with spirits, and prohibited.
Bill Stoddard