I like the idea that they’re not just symbols, but shapes. Get anything to be shaped like a rune, and it’ll touch magic. So two rocks leaned against each other just right might create a trickle of water, or a tree that grows a twisted enough web of branches could, by chance, summon a flame. Then, like with all natural phenomenon, people figured it out! It fits well with the trope that wizards are arcane researchers and scientists, you find in settings like D&D’s
I’ve often wondered about who discovered arcane symbols/rituals.
Like, did some prehistoric guy just sit there drawing in the dirt until something happened?
The Book of Enoch says that fallen angels named Uzza, Azza and Azael taught humans originally.
So it’s the original developers that answer the questions in Stack Overflow? Good to know.
I like the idea that they’re not just symbols, but shapes. Get anything to be shaped like a rune, and it’ll touch magic. So two rocks leaned against each other just right might create a trickle of water, or a tree that grows a twisted enough web of branches could, by chance, summon a flame. Then, like with all natural phenomenon, people figured it out! It fits well with the trope that wizards are arcane researchers and scientists, you find in settings like D&D’s
It was just probably just some poor guy with magical thinking OCD. “If I don’t repeatedly draw symbols in the dirt, my whole family will die.”