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Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
One thing that certainly gives the books some color, but which I just can't manage to accept (I don't remember if the TV series touched on this) is the problems wizards have around electronics... lights blow out, AC dies, sophisticated electronics crash, etc.
It's not that I have a logic problem about it--I mean, we're talking about wizards and magic--I just can't believe that the Wizard's Guild hasn't figured out how to cast some spell that prevents them from shorting out complex electronics everywhere they go, so they aren't forced to live like Druids in the modern world, or repelling all of their non-magic friends ("Get away from me! My cellphone hates you! Back off!").
And do I believe these most powerful beings would be content riding around in 50-year-old cars?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan
No one commented on my observation about Wizards and electricity. Am I the only one who thinks this story element was just contrived to give Harry a hard time in his daily life, like a nagging wife or a cowardly Great Dane? Or is there a mytho-historic reasoning behind this?
We know from the books that Harry can identify faerie-folk by touching them with iron (I've heard that trope elsewhere). But iron doesn't hurt Harry, and some electrical gear can function around him. And the extent to which he impacts electricity is very erratic: His old car will run, but the A/C konks out, for example.
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Ahh...This is one of the things I wanted to talk about...thanks for reminding me.
This is the first I've heard of the magic vs electricity issue. I don't mind it that much, although, it does seem like a "let's make Harry's life miserable" plat device, at times. I can not remember specific instances, but there seemed to be some inconsistency in the first 2 books.
Based on your comments, sounds like inconsistency continues to be a problem in the following books as well. That's unfortunate.
I agree with you about it being odd (and somewhat unbelievable) that no wizardry governing body has come up with solution. Its highly inconvenient to have the lights blown out on you in the middle of a line-of-sight spell, unless those do not exist. Plus, in his line of work, a cellphone would come in pretty handy!