When someone mentions a school, I believe it’s safe to say most people imagine the same kind of setting—or a variation of that familiar setting. Different subjects which focus on various aspects of the world, classes in rooms with other people taught typically by one person—this is what a lot of people experience as their school life. It’s the kind of structure that gets implemented into stories focused on an academic setting. The fantasy genre is no different when it implements schools. The biggest difference is the subjects, which change from math and reading to something unique to the author’s fantastical world, like studies on elemental magic or ancient runes. Most of the time, the magic school setting is used to put the reader in a familiar space when everything else in the world is so strange to them. It’s an opportunity for…
Often in children’s and young adult (YA) literature, the protagonist of a book is meant to be a blank slate, someone the reader can project themself onto. This is especially true for books taking place in a school setting, as it provides the most opportunity for a blank-slate character. The age range these books target are typically still attending school, so the reader can easily imagine themself in place of the protagonist when it comes to routine. This also makes setting up character dynamics and arcs easier, as most people who read novels featuring magic schools are familiar with the kind of people you’d encounter in these settings. These can range from the sweet popular kids, nerds, and jocks to the bullies or the loners—the kind of people you’re more likely to see in a school setting rather than out in the work field.
Another reason why the magic school trope is so popular is because it’s an easy way to learn about the fantasy world the story takes place in. Oftentimes—though not every time—the main character is attending school because there is information about the world that they do not know. This is actually the reader not knowing the facts about the world, but placing the story in a school setting makes learning facts about the world much more digestible and less overwhelming. The way information gets introduced is vastly different to a more open-world fantasy, where the reader gains most of the information through inferences made by the protagonist (who is usually already familiar with the setting). It’s a tool used to make world-building more palatable, which is very beneficial to the common coming-of-age tales told within the children’s and YA genres.
Finally, magical schools are great for creating a community around a particular piece of media. When fans of a work can talk amongst themselves about which house they’d belong to, or what kind of elemental magic they would want to learn, that makes a book or series so much more fun to engage with. It’s a sense of identity that fans can align with—the school as a wider, more fandom-specific identity with sub-cultures inside of it based on which part of the magic school people most identify with. And it leads to more conversation around the media: quizzes get shared about what kind of familiar you’d get, or what area of magic you’d be most likely to excel in; debates begin concerning how certain factions within a school are portrayed; questions about what’s beyond the subjects taught at the school.
At the end of the day, magic schools are so popular in fantasy media because they’re fun. It’s a great way for authors to present a world without forcing the reader to try playing catch-up on the world’s history and magic systems—the reader learns right along with the protagonist! And the culture around certain magic schools have definitely influenced the genre, as people have something solid to build an identity around within the community they already enjoy.
What’s your favorite magic school?
Grace McCool, Pine Reads Review Writer & Editor