The Lore Behind the Lore Behind the Lore of RPG Magic

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Music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
How did basic cliches of magic spellcasting make their way from the ancient world thousands of years ago into video games today?
02:15 Magic, Witchcraft & Ghosts in the Ancient Greek & Roman World
05:57 Earth, Wind, Water, Fire & Empedicles
10:00 Comparison with popular RPG magic systems
Here's one more earnest make a thing about video games, before I start releasing episodes of my 100% COMPLETELY SERIOUS FULL-LENGTH AUDIO DRAMA RETELLING OF HOMER'S ILIAD, which I have posted a short preview of here: • Iliad Preview
Source book:
"Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook:"
www.amazon.com/Magic-Witchcraf...
80's DnD Satanic Panic Supercut: • '80s D&D Satanic Panic...
Dragon Age: Origins footage from • Dragon Age: Origins Hu...

[@earn789]

It's been so long, George's voice makes me weirdly nostalgic

[@johnconnorpliskin7184]

Agreed. Seeing those noodles as well comforts me in so many ways.

[@feels-road9529]

First thought as well

[@SparkMad1ZM]

Yeah I feel the same

[@Bruce_Mazi]

I mean he is the godfather of the video essay format for game analysis on KZbin. Like his critical close up of MGS 2 is now almost as old as MGS2 was when he made the video 😦

[@bielknife]

TES music in the beginning really adds to the nostalgia

[@CarelessFoolFallsFlat]

I am convinced that 3 of the 8 months George was gone went into that Adam & Eve ad. Simply magnificent.

[@JustWatoo]

lucky guy

[@grimwatcher]

Worth it

[@billpost4205]

I was hoping he'd play fetch with one of their toys again

[@MrCactuar13]

3 months of adam & eve, 5 months of research, and 1 week to frantically throw everything together

[@SerjTargarien]

I almost die laughing, still have tears in my eyes. Those months of hard work were worth it.

[@philippstetter5611]

I dont understand why you and Adam and Eve have such a productive relationship, but somehow it works, it always works

[@fipachu]

Huh. The rare stable threesome. Blasphemous 😈

[@MaxwellVador]

George has emerged from his hair growth retreat to tell us about the Greeks he was obsessing over when he left 2 years ago

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

I think people sometimes underestimate just how integral these beliefs were to people back then. "Beliefs" doesn't really even encapsulate their views, it would be like someone today saying they "believe" they exist on Earth as a human being. To people back then, magic was a fundamental understanding of existence around them, constant influencing their lives, their family, their homes, and the very land around them. Reality was full of mysterious and confounding forces beyond comprehension, and one had to constantly learn to navigate around and within them. Fantastical creatures existed just on the fringe of perception, and at any moment were capable of bringing both fortune and strife. Gods weren't just anthropomorphized concepts for the sake of folk tales and metaphors, but were active embodiments of those concepts in one's day to day life. Love, anger, fear... these were the gods reaching their hands directly into you, steering you along. They were things that existed, not simply abstract thoughts. Just as the example BunnyHop gave, the mind was an element all it's own, composing reality just as much as water or fire.

[@SocraTetris]

At the same time, it isnt like ancient peoples never encountered contrary perspectives nor disbelievers. People often said "no that's wrong" or "show me some proof" when presented with ideas that eventually became beliefs and world-views that influenced their hermeneutics. So it isnt wrong to say "Beliefs" either. They could know the difference between saying "this rock is here" and "Zeus is among us" as one being plain fact and the other being metaphorical/spiritual

[@OneCSeven]

ahistorical.

[@bigredjanie]

@@OneCSeven What's ahistorical?

[@Ansible2]

NakeyJakey, InfernoPlus, and George all in one day... The stars have truly aligned.

[@freesheep0]

Right?! Are we all about to die ?

[@squadass99]

@@freesheep0 Sadly, I think that is very likely. We have 3 of the 4 harbingers of the apocalypse uploading videos now.

[@LieseFury]

@@squadass99 if hbomberguy uploads today, take shelter

[@squadass99]

@@LieseFury Fam, I hear boss music playing in the background. I'm scared.

[@TenaciousP45]

@@LieseFury I'd cum.

[@Zeldafan355]

Love these historical deep dives that show where the storytelling we take for granted came from.

[@jbleargh]

"Amulet" is a quite common word/thing in my native language. "Amuleto" in brazilian portuguesd (probably European portuguese too) refers to things like good luck charms. A rabbit's foot, for example.. Amuletos don't necessary use the neck slot, but most are used in magic find builds. There are also a few for tankability . These improve defense against "bad spirits" (Repelling evil spirits are a big thing in the mix of Western African and European religions/beliefs in Brazilian popular culture).

[@egoalter1276]

Probably an artefact of christianity attempting to weed out the traditional animist/shamanist religions prevalent in most of northern and eastern europe, but only suceeding in making their mythological figures evil.

[@smithwillnot]

I could listen to George talk about topics like this all day long.

[@CommunistRainbowdash]

Heck, I wouldn't mind a full history deep-dive that doesn't relate to videogames. (I also definitely do want to hear about obscure games George likes too, but I wouldn't mind pure history either)

[@Zoabdy]

He should start a KZbin channel

[@AlienBrudda]

He's like the only KZbinr that I go back to his old videos I've seen time to time

[@alexanderpinney]

@@Zoabdy he should start a podcast. Even if it's once a month or something. Most long form video content I listen to with the screen off anyways. Sometimes i feel bad cause obviously a lot of work goes into it.

[@blblblblblbl7505]

You mean greek and roman mythology or sex toy sponsorships?

[@herflik3]

Shoutout to my boi Empedocles for picking the best class specialization - the wind mage 🌬🌪

[@yes1sir1no1sir]

I've been following George for nearly a decade now... It is such an injustice that he has yet to reach 500k followers while his contemparies has passed that. There are few other channels that have stayed so consistent in quality, at such a high level, for such a long time

[@theritchie2173]

Much as I love George - and I do - it's hard to grow your channel when you don't make any videos for 8 months. Blah blah quality vs quantity I know, but the algorithm is a ruthless mistress.

[@yes1sir1no1sir]

@@theritchie2173 he has been uploading monthly for years

[@shadez123]

@@yes1sir1no1sir He hasn't for several. Which is fine, but yeah algorithms and whatnot

[@Anhjje]

@@yes1sir1no1sir It simply does not appease the algorithm. Love the content, always did but in the current climate you "need" to play the algo game in order to grow.

[@kevin-bf4ww]

There is something about how he refuses to upgrade his graphics and video format from like "jr high educational video lesson plan format" and "youtube 2009" that i deeply deeply respect because it makes a lot of SBH's content timeless and consistent But YT algorithm does a big disrespect dunk on SBH because of it I should just join the patreon tbh i hope the patreon does well enough for him If George got fancy lights and a bokeh background and a offset face-cam, or professional studio and Harris / Natalie style documentary cam from 10 years of youtube meta later i would still support, but i would cry a bit

[@doctorp7130]

Sick my favorite ancient world culture channel uploaded again

[@IVIaskerade]

Good to see you're back, your videos are always worth watching.

[@SahilPlaysGames]

It's good to see you back! Hope you're doing well! :)

[@hemangchauhan2864]

In Hindu cosmology, there is also the element of "Sky". The closest analogy to that is "space", where these elements occupy. And in Hindu myth, we had crazy examples of "miracles", most popular being the "Brahmastra" (weapon of Lord Brahma) which is said to be analogous to the ultimate weapon (nuclear bomb).

[@key099able]

We missed you, glad you’re back.

[@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

This video is officially certified by the Recommending Ones & Zeros.

[@eamonntee]

Great video! Love to see more deep dives into the assumptions baked into the generic western fantasy worldview. A major frustration I have as a Māori person is how the concept of 'mana' ended up becoming part of the RPG magic lexicon, and got transformed into a very individualistic and immaterial thing. Mana in Māori culture isn't just a spiritual force, divided from material reality, its intertwined and in relation to the material. Its a means of understanding social relations and exists entirely in its relationships. Its non-physical but definitely real (the best analogue would be like how the concept of 'royalty' is entirely immaterial, but you'd be silly to say 'royalty doesn't exist'). It constantly irks me that something so integral to Māori culture is essentially reduced to 'blue magic juice'

[@KarmaSpaz12]

It helps that "manna" was a food source with spiritual origins and may have also been considered.

[@Dyknown]

Good you see you're back! I thought you left KZbin.

[@AlexJ1]

I much prefer 2 videos a year on topics you're genuinely interested in Versus 52 videos a year on topics you have to force yourself to be interested in.

[@Haurmeya]

Very happy to see this in my notifications box. Glad to see your content again.

[@WhatTheFnu]

I love following the trail of inspiration like this. Mostly because you find some really cool ideas down the chain. Thank you for making this!

[@aaron552au]

Order and Chaos are also features of The Elder Scrolls cosmology: Anu and Padomay (in the Altmeri Pantheon) TES intentionally draws from many different real-world mythological traditions and the differences and contradictions between its various mythologies are a big part of what makes it one of the more interesting videogame settings imo

[@WretchedRedoran]

Nice to find another TES lore fan here!

[@egoalter1276]

TES lore is almost word for word gnostic/hermetic lore. It also takes a lot of elements from protoy-indo -european mythology, like the world serpent, and cyclical apocalypses, It also has the war with the giants in a fashion. Its a bit of a shame that secular education of theology is pretty much nonexistent, but al least people can experience it from pop culture.

[@BombOmbBuddy]

Hey if you're interested in how the lack of a physical text that had hard definitions that couldn't be edited or changed and how that impacts storytelling, I would recommend reading "Oral Tradition and the Internet: Pathways of the Mind" by John Miles Foley. His work discusses how oral tradition, written text, and the rise of the internet all warp how we tell stories, and I think particularly the oral tradition to written text might be of interest to you. I also would recommend Walter Benjamin's work, particularly "The Storyteller". Does my degree help me in my day-to-day life? No. Does it help me connect with niche KZbinrs about even more niche ideas? Absolutely. Edit: I really should have just waited for the whole video to post this. I would also recommend reading into the relationship between mental health and neurodivergence as it relates to claims about magic and the superstitious. I've seen scholars suggest that previously, these sorts of differences weren't perceived as diseases or differences to be cured, but manifestations of powers from the gods and similar, which you hint at in the video. If you wanna give up on being a gaming journalist, you would excel as an academic I think!

[@zilchmo4088]

Dude I have been binging your videos again for the past month hoping you’d come back. Thank you George, made my year.

[@SeanScorpion]

Been missing you Mr. Hop. Thoughtful video as always. It's time to marathon your catalog again.

[@Candle451]

Was thinking a few days ago how good it would be to see a new Bunnyhop video, blessed ❤🎉

[@RemnantCult]

I love this new Greek history and mythology arc to the Super Bunnyhop series. Really invigorates a former passion of mine that happened when I read the Iliad and the Epic of Gilgamesh during high school.

[@sarat6488]

your adam & eve ad reads are phenomenal

[@matarax]

This was a great video essay, George. Researching is a pain in the ass but you do your homework and it shows in the quality of your videos. I am always fascinated by the real history of myths and how different they are from our versions and take it for granted. Your Metal Gear Solid and Witcher videos are still my favorite.

[@gum_gundam]

Boy did I miss your videos

[@dedstring]

Hope you're well bunnyhop. Have loved your content for many years now

[@Magnusiumum]

Damn I have missed you George! Your content is just sublime, so well researched and intruiging. Glad to see you are still making videos! I hope you continue to create content of this quality.

[@MrNuclearturtle]

Seeing your vids really is so comforting, cant believe ive followed this channel since 2012....

[@chilldude30]

So happy to see you back on youtube George. And your distinctive writing style is as brilliant as ever. Love your writing.

[@laserraptor4674]

Man I'd love to hear you go much deeper into topics like these. Glad to see you back.

[@supremebuffalo6322]

Great topic. I think I must've been subbed for 5+ years now, I'm consistently entertained by these random deep dives

[@steppie47]

These kinds of magical medieval settings are my absolute favourite and now I have more of an insight into why thanks to your western culture history deep dive! You may be pulling me into this rabbit hole as well, that book sounds so interesting 🥲 Was so happy to see a new video from you, you're a treasure ✨

[@Zelk360]

lol'd at the Adam & Eve ad. Thank you for that. Amazing work on every single aspect of the video, as always. Thanks, y'all.

[@RobertAnkeny]

So glad to see you are back George.

[@Thana93]

Possibly the only thing I love more than seeing a new Bunnyhop up is seeing George's turn to emulate the most powerful modern sorceror: Slavoj Žižek.

[@thehunter24]

Great to see you back!

[@evelynashe8701]

Glad to see ya back!

[@addex1236]

I love how Gorge went from embarrassed of sponsorship owning going that far with the add read

[@connorpeterson4948]

Thank you so, so much George. I did not think I would love this as much as I do. Please keep it up. This is some of the best stuff you've made.

[@nicholasbrooke9455]

It's a very special day when a new bunnyhop video comes out :) thank you!

[@JarLoz]

Great to hear from you Gorg, wonderful video as always!

[@kencaldi]

This is absolutely one of the Bunnyhop videos of all time!

[@Vesperitis]

There is a lot of implication that the Fade in Dragon Age used to be much stronger and much easily accessed, to the point that the dominant species at the time, the elves, were so powerful they constructed their entire civilization out of magic. But because of horrific infighting, [REDACTED] constructed The Veil, a sort of barrier to lock away the most powerful elves, who were functionally immortal. The Veil also had the unfortunate side effect of locking away ALL of the magic (and otherwise benign magical spirits) from the rest of the mortal world, and the elven civilization fell into ruin. Now magic can only be accessed by the few, and spirits that cross over to the mortal world can become horribly corrupt and possess an unfortunate mage.

[@TheSpectator64]

Glad to have you back George

[@joeljacobson9423]

Great video, also probably one of the most creative KZbin ads ever

[@GreatSetRecords]

Never been so happy to see a video drop. George forever.

[@something00witty]

This was really interesting, and gave me plenty to think about in terms of modern fantasy literature in addition to the video game parallels that he draws. Great stuff!

[@DaSkyBoss]

Aw man it's been a minute since you've uploaded

[@ZachCG]

george! so good to hear from you again

[@TheManken1337]

Good to see you back.

[@LN.2233]

Glad to have you bacc

[@HaplessNerd]

Great video as always! Thanks for doing what you do!

[@mikedelgrande5296]

This was a great video! Super interesting. I’ve been fascinated with story structure my entire life. The hero story in particular.

[@kirkkiller6944]

Glad, you're back Bro

[@c.jarmstrong3111]

I've always loved your content, man 😊

[@LeGoooze]

Excellent video, it so good to see you back!

[@farbrorpuh]

Good to see stuff from you again George!

[@AdrianAlvarezNovelist]

George, thank you so much for this. Your work is vital. I hope you read this and know just how much you are valued. As always I look forward to your next essay.

[@BledWh1te]

I have genuinely never been so happy to see a video appear on youtube cheers mang

[@Tea_Sea69420]

I cant remember for the life of me why you're in my subscription box. Interesting topic none the less

[@dcomposed1336]

Never thought you were going to return..glad to see a new video

[@dillonpruitt8920]

That ad break was incredible. You seem to be having a ton of fun making those. Love the video bud

[@TheJols]

Just about a week ago I wind a googleathon trying to find where you went. So comforting to see a new video.

[@willorn]

the only channel worth the bell notifications. thanks again!

[@sgtkasi]

Very glad to see you back, George! Hope you and your doggo are doing well.

[@MRDLT00]

That advertisement bit at the end is what I live for. Supreme expert stuff. XD

[@pastogen01]

Man, I want a part two! This is so good

[@BinaryReader]

Omg, you're still making videos!!! I've missed your videos dude, welcome back ! :D

[@HEADSHOTPROLOL]

MY MAN YOU'RE BACK ❤fr my fav channel since like 2013 so glad to have you back :)

[@PipePlazaStudios]

a month ago I was worried you were gone forever, good to have you back

[@Tepidtamales]

YES THANK YOU FOR UPLOADING

[@BlazeIsBOSS]

I love info like this. Amazing video

[@roncinephile]

New Bunnyhop!! Long live chairman George! (*cough* bring back dad & sons *cough*)

[@AdamMcDermott]

This is brilliant and fascinating.

[@blippitybloo]

You're a criminally underrated youtuber, George! Love the content!

[@Scirvir24]

What a banger of a video. Thank you, George!

[@offbrandcereals]

ayyy! bunnyhop is back!

[@adamkeifenheim1727]

Easily the best Adam & Eve advertisement I've seen. Great lore too.

[@leafbladie]

Happy you’re back!

[@yeetleslaw8529]

This was a good ad. I liked it. Very funny.

[@NaniteAlex]

Welcome back George, we missed you

[@dollenrm]

10/10 video, missed you man

[@kiloalphahotel5354]

Thanks for the vid. Always great.

[@birthdaytruck]

I've missed you, George. Happy to see you back, and happy to see you with such a unique sponsor :)

[@rougenarwhal8378]

wow, you're uh, you're back, look I swear the whole jacob gellar thing was totally meaningless you're still my favorite video essayist i promise

[@Dadspicable]

Hello! Welcome back my guy!

[@CPalanysamy]

george hope you are doing great. Always looking forward for your videos. warm greetings from spain

[@KironVB]

haha just got this after watching that guy talk about Appalachian witches and how they're viewed as very real things, and the magic they practice by the older folk of the region, many of which brought their beliefs over from Central and Eastern Europe. There is a good doco on youtube about it as well Signs, Cures, & Witchery (amazing Appalachians speaking in fluent German with the most thick 'hillbilly' appalacian accents still in that doco), it's why you see those big patterns on barns in the Appalachian mountains, to protect them from hexes. Mana is a very real thing to Maori as well, but it that context it means power/prestige/spirit, which is why they consumed the bodies of their enemies, to absorb their Mana,

[@TheYazamat]

George's channel is soooo good!

[@alexanderburlyka2843]

Great to see & hear you again, George. Mised you a lot.

[@brainfreeze10]

I missed Superbunnyhop, so happy to see this in my inbox

[@adams3627]

Nice prelude to an Adam and Eve ad, George!

[@Rift2123]

Great to hear from you again hope all is well for you

[@jebusnazareth1869]

Welcome back!