The Magicians Rewrite

For my rewrite, I decided to visit the Magicians as now that I have read the first and sequel, I think I can evaluate the series a bit better. The Magician series mostly focuses on the life of Quentin, an apprentice mage who soon becomes a master. The novels focus on Quentin’s journey from adolescents into adulthood. The novel main theme is the idea of the journey to adulthood and focuses mostly on teenagers. The novel’s portray and introduces a bundle of ideas that teenagers go through. One that striked me with the most is the idea of indecisiveness.

Indecisiveness is one of the things that every teenager can relate with. What do I want to do with life? What college do I want to go to? Who do I ask to the prom? These questions often take long or even sometimes never get answered. For Quentin, his destiny was layed out for him when he magically appeared in the college of Brakebills and started on his life of being a mage. In reality, I think most teenagers are thrusted into their college or life dream. I haven’t a met a single person who has said that the decisions they made at that volatile period were layed in advance. Most often there is some event or shift in our life that flings us on that path. This really hit home for me because all of my life, I wanted to be an engineer. It was the sudden realization three months it was time to apply for college that I wanted to pursue a career in art and design. Instead of going to Brown or Berkely, I ended up here in Ringling instead and like Quentin, I have never regretted it.

Quentin’s college life in the first novel is something I think every single Ringling student can relate to as well. Quentin suffers through agonizing assignments and long hours to achieve his dream of being a fully fledged wizard. But throughout his years in the college, he often questions himself if this actually is his dream, often wondering if life would have been easier if he went to a regular college like his friends back home. Often through my nights of sleeplessness, I wonder if my days making virtual worlds can beat living in the real world. Trust me, I no longer live in the real world as I can’t even tell when the sun comes up and when the sun comes down when I work in lab. But Quentin taught me something fundamentally important, that through all the hardships, for better and for worst, will lead you down a road of adventure. I think this is very much true for every Ringling student as I’m sure life as an artist is a adventure of their own. Everyone here who doubts themselves even for a little bit, should read this series to meet someone who has the same fears, but lives through them and just says “fuck it”.