Magic satchel
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Magic satchel is a term often used in reference to computer role-playing games. It refers to the use of a character's inventory in the game, which can often contain more items than is physically possible for the character to carry (or are simply too large), without any visible means to hold or transport them.
A similar concept is hammerspace, the term used to describe the seemingly invisible place from which fictional characters, such as cartoon characters, pull out very large objects, such as mallets. The Norse god Thor's hammer Mjöllnir is described in the Prose Edda: "...when (Thor) wanted, it would be so small that it could be carried inside his tunic." Technically the term hammerspace is not used to refer to a magic satchel itself, but rather the area or pocket of space that a magic satchel utilizes; a magic satchel is like a door to hammerspace. When an object is produced from hammerspace, this is sometimes known as "hammertime".
The "bag of holding" is a similar concept in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The clown car, in which many clowns clamber out of a tiny automobile, is another similar example in the circus.
The concept is sufficiently common in fantasy fiction that it is parodied by the character The Luggage in the Discworld series.
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[edit] Origin
The concept of a magic satchel was alluded to many years before role-playing or computer and video games. For instance, in the medieval Welsh epic Y Mabinogi, Pwyll is given a magic satchel by the goddess Rhiannon; this satchel can never be filled except by a man putting his body into it. This trick is used to save Rhiannon from an unwanted Otherworld suitor.
Other magic satchel-like objects include, possibly, the bag in Samuel Beckett's play Happy Days (1960).[original research?]
The best-known recent usage comes in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, which included a Ford Anglia car that can seat more than ten people; a tent with multiple floors; a chest that contains six compartments; and a straightforward magic satchel which includes an entire library of books.
[edit] Characteristics
Typically, in most games, a magic satchel can carry almost any number of different items (even vehicles in some extreme cases), but only up to 99 of a single kind of item[citation needed], as any more of it would require too many digits to indicate. The general exception to this rule is money. A magic satchel can carry nearly any amount of money (although many computer games have either a limit of 255 units, 65,535 units, or 4,294,967,295 units, the maximum values for an unsigned integer represented by one byte, two bytes, or four bytes, respectively. Other limits commonly used allow only a number that is equal to 10x or 10x-1 in the case where an extra digit is presumed undesirable).
In addition, in many games, none of the objects in the satchel have any weight: One can carry an armory's worth of giant swords, several dozen old suits of armor, scores of healing items, a small fortune in the local currency, and even a vehicle without any strain whatsoever. The PC game Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge even makes a joke about this phenomenon.
This rule is not universal: a few games do enforce weight or size restrictions, and many do have some items that require a certain minimum level of strength, though this is typically the amount of strength required to wield the item rather than that required to carry it alone.
It should also be noted that in some role-playing games, a character's inventory is limited, and the weight of a character's inventory affects how far they can run before needing to rest.
The theory behind a magic satchel is a simple one; the bag itself acts as a portal to an empty otherspace, in which items can be stored, and removed at will with little or no effort, causing the weapon or item to literally appear in the character's hand. Alternatively, the magic satchel can simply be an unexplainable mystery, merely included for gameplay purposes.
In some games, a magic satchel imposes a limit on the player, such as a limit on the amount of items or money they can carry, which can be later be upgraded through general progression or by completing tasks that are not on the path to completing the game, usually of increased difficulty (the reward for such a quest will sometimes be an additional or improved magic satchel).
[edit] Examples
[edit] Print media
Magic satchels are too numerous to mention in comics and manga. Similarly, they are widespread in fantasy and science fiction novels and stories. Their presence in other fiction is less common. Examples include:
- In most retellings of the myth, the Greek mythological hero Perseus is given a magic satchel from the goddess Athena, in which he keeps the head of the slain Medusa, among other items.
[edit] In films
- A running gag in the Marx Brothers films was for Harpo Marx's character to be carrying any given item at any given time, and to produce it at will. In the 1932 film Horse Feathers, for example, he produces a candle burning at both ends, as well as a cup of hot coffee for a passing bum, and in Duck Soup, he manages to pull out a functioning blowtorch from his pocket. This gag precedes the creation of the term hammerspace. In the 1992 film Brain Donors, a remake of the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera, the character Jacques (an analogue of Harpo) wears a magic-satchel-like raincoat that seems to contain anything.
- In the 1934 Three Stooges film Men in Black, the Stooges go to the storage closet to acquire modes of transportation to get them to their patients. They are seen riding a three-man bicycle, a horse, and then individual go-carts out of the closet.
- In the 1964 film Mary Poppins, Mary has a magic bag that can store any number of items regardless of shape. This also appears in the stage musical of the same name.
- In the 1994 Jim Carrey film The Mask, the main character uses cartoon-like applications of hammerspace.
- In the 1995 film Mallrats, the character Silent Bob pulls items from his coat that should not fit, such as a fully inflated sex doll.
- In the 1991 John Landis film "Oscar", Connie is ordered to give up his "gat" and other weapons. Through a few scenes he is systematically disarmed of a large pile of weapons that include things such as guns, knives, clubs, brass knuckles and a dynamite bomb.
- In the three Bionicle movies (2003-2005), the Toa frequently pull objects and tools out of nowhere, usually from their backs.
- The 2006 science-fiction film Ultraviolet has "flat-space dimensional compression technology" very much like a magic satchel.
- It has been suggested that Chewbacca has a magic satchel. In A New Hope, Chewbacca seems to have stored all of Han and Luke's clothes and boots while they were disguised as Stormtroopers.
[edit] On television
Many animation shows have magic satchel-like objects or characters. They are rare in live-action programs, and usually produced for comic effect. Examples of magic satchels in live-action shows include:
- Bill Smith from The Red Green Show can produce anything he needs from his trousers. This has included chainsaws, poles, pellet guns, ladders and a loaded crossbow.
- The character of Jerry on the 1990s sitcom Parker Lewis Can't Lose wears a trenchcoat from which he can get any needed item, always with the sound of a velcro attachment ripping free.
- In the Doctor Who TV series, Time Lords are capable of engineering objects bigger on the inside that out, known as cross-dimensional engineering, most notable in the time machine, or TARDIS, as well as, seemingly, the Doctor's pockets.
- In an episode of Brian O'Brian, Brian takes a lot of things inside a small briefcase, and even goes inside it to bring out an inflated beach ball from the bottom of the case.
- In the science-fiction animation Futurama, Bender Bending Rodríguez is a robot able to pull any number of objects from his chest cavity, large or small, usually to comic effect. Notable objects include alcoholic beverages, stolen merchandise, the living heads of celebrities preserved in jars, and a human baby.
- In a Benny Hill sketch set in the 18th century, a woman hides at least seven people under her big, puffy skirt to fool passing castle guards.
- In a children's television show called Popples, the characters pull various objects from the pouches on their backs, from rollerskates to a submarine.
- On Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch's regularly-sized trash can houses elephants, a swimming pool and a tennis court. The movie The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland explores the notion that this may involve wormhole physics, since Oscar's trash can includes a doorway full of swirling colour which leads to Grouchland.
- In the futuristic French-Canadian sitcom Dans une galaxie près de chez vous, the character of Brad Spitfire has been shown to be able to pull virtually any weapon out of nowhere (usually right out of the screen).
- In the children's television show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Rose Moseby has a medium-sized purse from which she pulls out a baseball bat, a vacuum, a medium-sized anchor used as a key ring, a picture, and another purse.
- In Highlander: The Series, the characters frequently produce large swords out of their clothing. No explanation is ever offered of where the swords are hidden.
- In Playhouse Disney's show Imagination Movers, Dave can produce a number of helpful objects from his red baseball cap.
[edit] In computer and video games
Many video games make extensive use of magic satchels or similar devices to keep the player's inventory. Items can be stored in containers, clothing, with companions, or nowhere in particular. Some games allow unlimited storage, others allow a limited inventory that may require players to get rid of some items to store others. Occasionally the unlimited inventory is used as the basis for a joke, for example when a particularly large or awkward item is placed in it. A large number of First-person shooter games allow the player to carry an enormous amount of weaponry with no negative effects (such as reduced speed). RPGs are especially known to have players carrying around outrageous numbers of items and/or extremely large items, such as a house, bicycle, or even other party members (i.e. Final Fantasy).
[edit] In music
- In the music video "Under the Kilt" by Dr. MacDoo (Jonny Jakobsen), Jakobsen is seen producing various items from under his kilt, such as a pair of roller blades and a large brick.
- In a 1994 video for Coolio's song "Fantastic Voyage", Coolio's car trunk is opened at the beach and several dozen people step out.
