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Introduction
Yeah, it's another one. This time I focused on re-structuring the series' magic and treatment of souls. My thanks to @Eseseso for bringing this up. This'll be a doozy, so let's get into it.Conceptual Nature of Magic and Souls
Magic, Lifeforce, and the Soul
There's always been a tie between magic, the soul, and lifeforce, which can be seen in multiple instances. Vanquishing enemies with runic magic allows one to harness their life force, the term "Soulsteal" is about taking life force from one's opponents, and an alchemist experimented with runic magic to increase their lifespan. When Andvari, a dwarf, loses his body to a Soul Eater, Brok theorizes that a sliver of magic is still within his ring and indeed, the ring proves to be sentient and houses a remnant of his soul.
Even in the Greek World, godly power was the same as life energy, one's power and mind are empowered by absorbing life force from fallen foes, and Hades' magic considers draining one's soul and one's life force as synonymous. The god himself absorbs souls to become stronger, so one can see that magic, life force and the soul are one. This would mean that the soul is but a construct of magic/life energy. Keep this in mind it's important.The Nature of Souls
Souls are composed of their form, the metaphysical nature of a being, their luck, their mind, and their direction, which guides their path to their respective afterlife as per Mimir's words. The Light of Alfheim is an energy that existed before the creation of the Nine Realms (Even before Odin) and has gathered souls towards it since the creation of the Nine Realms. As such, we have confirmation that souls exist even in the absence of space and time and are thus independent as far as their nature goes.
We also know that the souls of gods have their nature determined by the godhead, something that can span all of space and time and covers abstractions like war itself. This is why Kratos did not register as a god to the Hyperion gates until he absorbed Hade's soul. So the Form, the abstract nature of a being, is what determines a deity's embodiment of an aspect of reality, regardless of how much raw power they wield.
But souls being reality-independent concepts isn't all that's established. That goes for magic itself, something we've established is a manifestation of the soul and life itself.Magic as a Constant
Runic Magic flows through the Nine Realms and is drawn from their very makeup. Supported by Freya, who confirms that each geographical region has magic innate to it entirely, from which beings draw their magical abilities, meaning that this magic is not only innate to the Realms but the entirety of Scandinavia as a geographical region on the supernatural Earth of the God of War setting. While she speculates that the death of the Greek World is the reason for Kratos being unable to access his magic, what we're shown would say otherwise. After all, it is made clear that Kratos lost all his power when he plunged the Blade of Olympus into himself and released Hope itself to all of Humanity. Even aside from this, it's clear that magic doesn't depend on reality for its continued existence.
For one thing, Surtr himself reminds us that the origin of primordial magic doesn't matter, and indeed, this same magic takes the place of Sinmara's heart to allow Surtr to become Ragnarok. This magic originates from Greece and persists after the latter's destruction within the Blades of Chaos. As established above, life and the soul are aspects of magic and vice versa, yet Kratos is still alive and well and can use his innate Rage in the form of fire magic.
In the case of Runic Magic, it is older than the entirety of the Nine Realms and existed in the Ginnungagap as a primordial essence from which Ymir and everything else spawned. This further confirms what we already know, that despite the Nine Realms ultimately being encompassed by the World Tree and only part of a cycle of creation and destruction, this magic is independent of and greater than them, being beyond anything man can understand.
Whereas Greek magic originates from even before the birth of Cronos, and thus time, being used by the Primordials, in their war and is in turn responsible for their very existence as much as anyone else's (as magic/the soul/life force is one and even Chaos herself, the conceptual source of all that exists in the Greek World, is the Primordial of Life).
Conclusion
Magic is an abstraction that permeates and is independent of its reality, responsible even for other universal independent concepts (i.e. the Primordials) and souls are constructs of magic, being capable of existing absent of space and time. Making magic as a whole and individual souls Independent Universal Concepts and any manipulation of either magic or the soul is Conceptual Manipulation (Type 1).Agree: 20 (Lonkitt, Theglassman12, UchihaSlayer96, KingTempest, Maverick_Zero_X, Elizhaa, LordGriffin1000, Marvel_Champion_07, BEASTHEART880, LordGinsama, Eseseso, Kenny Mccormick 0v0, GilverTheProtoAngelo, Vietthai96, Killerdrone123, RM97, ToukiNoOuja, Hellbeast, LuffyRuffy46307, Fixxed)
Disagree: 0
Neutral: 0
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/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22260028/akrales_210125_4362_0004.jpg "Staples' Easy Button is a cheap toy that envisions a perfect button - The Verge")
