But a lightning rod is not the same as the generator. Wizards can use their internal magic 'batteries', or they can convert other forms of energy into magic - electrical energy, like the storms in Storm Front; emotional energy, like Victor Sells' orgies, or every time Dresden gets pissed off and uses it to fuel a whole barrel of whoop-ass; or even direct energy transfers, like in White Night where he turns ambient heat into a pillar of fire. You're saying they're all converted to a universal 'magic' resource before being used to power whatever's being done?

Someone might not have the internal magic to light a candle, but they could be good enough at channelling to turn a chunk of empty air into a solid block of frozen gas and blow up a few city blocks. In the same way, someone might have ridiculously huge levels of internal magic but be utter pants at controlling it, meaning they can only perform a few small cantrips while wasting a large percentage of the power they pour into it.

Hell, it's canon that there's about as many theories as to how magic works as there is wizards. Some think it comes from their god/s, some think it's a matter of evolution, Dresden thinks it's the energy of life itself. The Knights of the Cross have something similar that either comes directly from the big guy in the sky, or is the power of pure faith. Faeries, Sidhe, outsiders, mortal wizards, the Knights, the Archangels, the Fallen, necromancers, demons, valkyries, dragons, werewolves and vampires of every flavour... they've all got their own brand of magic. It's possible that they all run off the same juice, but it's far from a certainty.

 

I don't think that wizards can convert heat to magic. Every time Dresden has used external heat-energy, the energy has stayed as heat; his spells don't convert heat to magic, they simply transfer it.

Besides, don't DF wizards always use external magic to fuel their spells unless they are casting the Death Curse?

 

Okay, I admit I'd never considered that. So manipulating external energy is part of being a Wizard too, and since he can use both his internal magic and ambient heat to fuel a fuego it would mean both forms of energy are compatible with his spells.

So would that mean magic is energy? It seems the logical conclusion, and since all energy is the same 'thing' (though it's less a thing and more of a process, if that makes sense), despite the manner in which it is seen. But then that would mean there is no actual 'magic', but that magic is a process by which Wizards (and others) manipulate their environment and themselves through... well, magic.

Am I making sense here, because this is just occuring to me as I'm typing.

 

I like Aekiel argument over it all being magic in the end.

If we must oversimplify a wizard, I would compare him to that fusion generator on the back of the delorian at the end of back to the future.

All kinds of garbage can go in but power is what comes out.
All kinds of energy can go in but magic is what comes out.

Thats how I see dresden verse magic working.

That's what can be measurable in a test. What kind of energy does the wizard generally draw from, how efficient is he/she at attaining and then channeling it into a talent.

What kind of talent or how impressive a talent do they have... can be the deciding factor if they become part of the council.

As to the beads... its probably not a test like that but dresden did say mccoy put him through that test so maybe its a lesson that is generally used with apprentice's.

 

*sigh*

Everything Dresden told to Molly about the beads is extremely suspect at best and complete bullshit at worst. It was psychological trickery to keep her doubting herself until her ego shrunk. He was telling her it was a test of raw power, because if she knew her ego was being tracked she'd fight against it out of sheer mulishness. He probably told her a lot of things about it.

And magical power is not so simply quantified. You might be able to put a number to how much power output they could manage over a set time, in laboratory conditions, at an utterly neutral mental state, with no natural magic or alternate power sources around them... but anything and everything affects their power output once they leave the lab. Mental state, physical state, emotion, ambient magic, occult significance of their surroundings, the date, the temperature, whether or not they've had contact with any beings of significant power, whether or not someone's felt an extreme amount of emotion nearby in the recent past... all of that throws it off. And all wizards vary in how much they can harness those individual variables.

Sure, each wizard might be a DeLorian fuel converter, but they vary in how much power they can get out of a certain piece of garbage. Saying there's a universal raw magic that everyone uses for everything is oversimplifying to a ridiculous extent.

We're working off far too little information. All we really know is that Elaine downplayed her magical abilities to avoid Council attention.

 

It is really interesting to see where this goes here and what kind of questions get asked/answered...

I doubt it is all about power, a little bit about power, but not too much.
(Harry said that some people do have some talent, but not enough power to really get things going, just enough for some basic stuff)

I wonder why some people have an attitude for magic and some not...
I always wanted to know in every world where magic existed why some can do it and why some don't...

Maybe we will learn more when we lear about the circumstances of Harry's birth?

 

You should read Codex Alera if you want a story where everyone can perform magic. The main character is singled out because he can't use it, which is pretty nifty.

I imagine the reason some people are good at magic and others aren't is the same reason why some people are good musicians and others aren't. It's just an aspect of their personality or a fluke of birth that makes them better at some things than others.

Harry's talents lie in thaumaturgy (though it's not often seen) because he is good at drawing links between things, which is crucial for his work as a private investigator. Molly's talents, on the other hand, lie more in the psychic realm where delicacy is needed, because she better understands the emotions of others and how they effect them. She will probably have a good understanding of why people act the way they do once she has a bit more experience behind here, imo.

As for why some people are not magical... Meh, this story wouldn't be so good if everyone was magical. Hell, half the series relies on Harry being introduced to cases by the non-magical police force.

 

I realize Dresden was working over her mind over the beeds issue. But I do believe he revealed to her the mccoy teaching him in a similar way after she passed the test.

As to magic power... I'm not saying they have units of measurement for power and such but a well trained wizard could probably distinguish between a practitionar and a true wizard.

As to the everything and anything, you could say the same thing for any test really. Like if your sick or you just came out of a fight with family.

I'm not saying they test you at your best, but at any given time, what can you do. If the person is truly fucked over magicly for that day, I think someone like ramirez would let them retake the test or postpown it.

I already mentioned how efficient they could be at drawing in the magic as a subject of interest.

I'm not saying its some universal all access well, though I think dresden implies it. I'm sayings its more like deriving magic out of the everyday world. Like unleasigning the potential energy an object has locked away.

We don't measure the universe in volts... even though electricity is a major source of our power. But we still find ways to attain that power through substances and techniques.

I figure Magic is just another flavor of that kind of power.

And no, I'm preemptively stating that I'm not emplying that electricity is magic. Though I'm sure an argument can be made for it