Compass Fail

AlterEgox5 · Jan 19, 2010

Why do so many people assume that in a fantasy world a compass is going to fail? I understand why it could fail, but I don't see why that has to be the case every time.

Sarpedon · Jan 19, 2010

I've never heard that before.

I guess if your fantasy world is not a rotating oblate spheroid with a liquid metallic core, a compass based on magnetism wouldn't work.

Bukarella · Jan 19, 2010

Never heard of it before, but unless it has the same reasons as planet Earth to demonstrate magnetic field, then why would it work?

Pthom · Jan 19, 2010

A compass may appear to fail, if the user of same passes by a strong magnetic field. There are lots of ways for magnetic fields to occur (besides the "big" one of a planet such as Sarpedon describes). Magnetite bearing soils, electric machinery, high voltage power transmission lines...

Ruv Draba · Jan 19, 2010

Fantasy is an excursion into whimsy and wonder. If authors can find neither in a compass, perhaps they'll leave them out. But compasses are gainfully employed in pirate fantasies and steampunk, where whimsy and wonder have no trouble finding use for them.

dirtsider · Jan 19, 2010

Perhaps it's not the compass' fault but the one person trying to use it? Not everyone, even in a fantasy setting, is going to know how to use one.

Smiling Ted · Jan 19, 2010

AlterEgox5 said:
Why do so many people assume that in a fantasy world a compass is going to fail? I understand why it could fail, but I don't see why that has to be the case every time.

I've never encountered this. Do you have any examples?

There are plenty of fantasies where compasses aren't mentioned, but that's something else.

Sarpedon · Jan 19, 2010

Instead of putting Fred in the Shed, you have to put Grolak in the Fortress of Doom.

benbradley · Jan 19, 2010

I've not read much fantasy and I've not seen this, but there are non-fantastic reasons a compass could fail. A strong alternating magnetic field (such as from a bulk magnetic tape eraser) can demagnetize the needle causing it to fail, but I don't know of any fantasy that would include such a thing, so obviously a magic spell must be cast to cause the compass to fail.

Or the problem could be the inherent unreliability of technology in general within a fantasy world, whether actual or only perceived. It's for this reason that "fantastic" elements such as magic are developed rather than technology in fantasy worlds.

AlterEgox5 · Jan 19, 2010

Maybe I leapt to the conclusion of many people thinking compasses fail in fantasy worlds. I just had a critter mention something about it and then I recalled another incident (for the life of me I cannot remember where) when a character got out a compass and it just spun around in circles, leading to that moment of "Guess I'm not in Kansas anymore."

*shrug*

BillPatt · Jan 20, 2010

I, too, have not read a whole lot of fantasy, but one of the tropes of the magic in those worlds is a problem with iron. People's daggers grow redhot around wizards, for example. When iron gets hot enough, it loses its magnetization. And that would cause a compass to fail. So, perhaps they just forget about using compasses, since they'll have a wizard along on their quest.

That doesn't explain why they have swords all the time, though. (sigh)

Compass Fail

AlterEgox5

Expert Procrastinator

Sarpedon

Bukarella

Pthom

Word butcher

Ruv Draba

dirtsider

Not so new, really

Smiling Ted

Ah-HA!

Sarpedon

benbradley

It's a doggy dog world

AlterEgox5

Expert Procrastinator

BillPatt