Frieren and the Politics of Deception | Christian Heiens 🏛
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This video is actually the second piece of media to slap me in the face with 'words as spells' in as many days. Owen Benjamin's "How to Slay a Wizard" expands the on this idea much further than this video essay does, to much the same effect.
Once you stop listening to the magic words, and can step outside the 'box' the spell tries to trap you in, you appreciate that there is no power in the wizard at all. The wizard is a bit like a mime trying to keep you in a box he's frantically imagining around you-- the trick only works if you consent.
In terms of fiction Tolkein famously made one of Saruman's strongest things his use of his voice. This video goes over that well. Also "the voice" in Dune is a similar kind of magical spell explicitly which controls others. And the "Jedi mind trick" as well. Language control is also the central way that 1984 gets it point across.
Asha Logos explained it well as Language is the battlefield in one of his first videos. Language frames the bounds of people listening to it and who engage with it, and it can be very difficult to think outside of those invisible walls when you operate within certain ones your whole lives.
-> words = sword <- to these people
but knowing is half the battle