LogFAQs > #956466524

A hard magic system has defined rules that cannot be broken. The plot uses the limitations and strengths of the magic system accurately.

For example:
A character can shoot 6 beams of energy before he needs to go to sleep. He knows 6 different types of beams within his school of magic. He encounters a foe annd must use these 6 different spells and a maximum of 6 times such that he can defeat his enemy.

Soft magic systems employ magic that is undefined. Its exact limitations are usually unknown, and its uses are usually unknown. What exactly are the limits of gandalf? How many times can he create the flame of anor? What is general magical skillset?
Soft magic systems are rarely used by protagonists because they become deus ex machinas and jail out of free cards. With no limitations, there can be no stakes.

Soft magic systems are used to create a sense of wonder and lore. It is often a power of a god, something that normal man cannot understand. In many ways, it an allegory to the mysteries of our real lives. Such as how the universe was created.

Harry Potter is both a soft and and a hard magic system. He has specific spells he can cast in combat that he knows (I can levitate obejcts, I can summon objects) that the reader is aware of. These skills are developed over time. This drives the plot and combat.

But it also employs mysterious soft magic for the sake of creating wonder, and a sense that magic cannot really understood. The power of love saves harry, for example, is not really explained. What are the limits of that power? How much does someone have to love someone for that power to defend from a avada kedavra. What spells can it protect against. The origination of magic and arcane energy is also not really explained i think, and it isnt really explained why some mages/wizards are more powerful than others.

Harry potter has the advantages of creating a plot around its magic system by defining harry's limitations and strengths (hard magic system) but also around creating a sense of wonder and undefined power with its soft magic (even voldemort cannot understand thepower of love magic)