Fictional Magical Objects We Wish We’d Gotten for the Holidays
Happy 2018, everyone! I hope everyone got their holiday wishes, because our wishes were a little impossible to achieve: we wanted some fictional magical objects as gifts, and that’s…not a thing that can really happen.
Let me explain. Have you ever been reading a fantasy or sci-fi book and wished you could have a fictional object that could hypothetically fix all your problems? Has Hermione’s time-turner given you purchase envy? We feel the same way, so join us in mourning all the imaginary objects we didn’t receive.
Please comment below and answer the question (because, in all seriousness, I am so very curious to know what imaginary objects people covet): If you could have any fictional object in the world, what would it be and why?
Nicole Froio—I would really like an alethiometer to wear around my neck and ask questions when I’m feeling confused about my life. I just feel like it’s such a magical and wondrous fictional object, and I love that people struggle to read it. Of course, in this fantasy world, I would be the best alethiometer reader in the world.
Elisa Shoenberger—I have wanted a time turner for years. I keep asking my physicist friends if they can make this happen. I have so much I want to do and just not enough time. Imagine how many books I could read if I only had a time turner! Or classes…or writing…so many possibilities!
Priya Sridhar—The Pensieve. I think Dumbledore nailed it on the head when he said sometimes your mind is overwhelmed with thoughts and you need help to figure out what to do. A Pensieve is a magical bowl on a pedestal that allows you to remove your thoughts from your head, and view them from an objective perspective. It could be useful for someone who wants to meditate and think things through.
S.W. Sondheimer—Martian Power Armor. Because ever since I met Bobbie Draper in The Expanse novels, I’ve been in awe of he and wants to fight with her. Because I’m too old to be an astronaut and the motion sickness that stuck around after kid #2 means even if I wasn’t, zero g is a no-go. That doesn’t stop me from dreaming of exploring distant worlds and, should the chance arise, kicking some serious space ass.
Annika Barranti Klein—Queen Susan’s horn and Queen Lucy’s magic cordial. Yeah, I’m cheating and naming two items, but the girls received them from Santa together and used them to turn the tide in the battle against the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Queen Susan’s horn was lost, and I often dreamed (as a child) (okay, still) of getting into Narnia myself and finding it.
Jenn Northington—A flying carpet. If I was going to pick a superpower it would be flight (I still have flying dreams) and an enchanted carpet that can take me wherever I want to go is the next best thing. Of course there are practical concerns; I’d have to get goggles and some good all-weather gear, and figure out how to avoid airport flight paths, and I’d also need to bone up on fabric maintenance techniques. But just the thought of leaving my front door and then zooming along at tree-level, missing all the traffic and cars and cyclists who don’t pay any attention to pedestrians, fills my soul with glee. And I would finally get to travel internationally without forever indebting myself!
Alyssa Eleanor Ross—Ballimore the Giantess’s Cauldron of Plenty from Patricia Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles! The cauldron magically produces a feast big enough for all your guests, so I could cook up my favorite recipes without any of that last-minute hostess stress about whether I picked up enough ingredients.
Alex Acks—A transporter like they have in Star Trek is a thing I’ve wanted for years. (This counts, right? I’ve read a lot of tie-in fiction.) I have friends that live all over the world. How cool would it be to visit them almost instantly, without having to deal with an airplane? Or bring them out to my house for a visit! Failing that, I’d take wings like in Fran Wilde’s Bone Universe trilogy. Better than a hang glider!
