In V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series, the main character, Kel, a powerful master of magics known as an Antari (an extremely rare blood-mage unique to this universe), is able to access multiple worlds by a special kind of blood magic. The story unfolds across four different Londons in four different worlds. It’s worth noting that each London is a reflection not just of geography, but of vitality — the state of its magic, its leadership, and its people. Magic represents a life force that can nourish or corrupt. Rulers may steward that power — or seek to possess it entirely.
In many ways, democracy can function the same way.
Red London — The Ideal
Red London is thriving. Magic flows through it, strong but balanced. Power (magic) is understood to be something shared — a force to be respected. Citizens aren’t afraid of their rulers; rulers don’t fear their citizens. It’s worth noting that when Kel travels from Red London to another world, he is said to smell of roses. It’s a vision of what democracy can be at its best:
Institutions function
Leaders govern with consent
The public believes in the system
There is richness here — not just in culture, but in trust.
White London — Power as Domination
White London has not lost magic, but magic has lost its balance. Those in power hoard it, choke it, weaponize it. The city is trapped in a state of perpetual struggle and control. It should be noted that Kel’s opponent in this series, the Antari named Holland, is being directly manipulated through magic by this London’s king and queen; Holland is often described as smelling of smoke, blood, and “ash and steel.” Here the logic of rule is simple:
Control or be controlled.
Democracy in this state still exists on paper — elections may still be held, courts may still sit — but their spirit has decayed. Behavior shifts:
Opponents become enemies
Power becomes a prize, not a responsibility
Every institution becomes a battlefield
White London reminds us that the mechanisms of a system can remain intact while its meaning rots.
Grey London — The Silent Collapse
If Red London is the world of prosperity, and White London is the world of fear, Grey London is the world of forgetting. Magic isn’t killed here. It’s been abandoned. It’s strongly suggested that once upon a time Grey London may have had magic like the others, but it has faded into something like nonexistence. We should note that Grey London has no Antari at all. It has been described as similar to Victorian London, which has in turn been described as “two cities in one”. People stop believing that the system matters at all.
In democratic terms, this is apathy:
“Why vote? It doesn’t change anything.”
“All politicians are corrupt.”
“The system is broken — why bother?”
The collapse here isn’t dramatic.
It’s quiet.
It’s passive.
It’s a shrug.
The Dangerous Slide
Finally, there is a Black London where magic has overwhelmed humanity; it has become a hunger that has destroyed everything and has been sealed off to all Antari travel, lest it leak out into other worlds and destroy them as well. (If you wish to read the series, highly recommended, this “leaking” plays a pivotal role in the story’s plot and theme) The metaphor of the existence and use of high magic in Schwab’s worlds teaches us that there is no single moment when a society stops being a democracy. Instead, there is a slide:
Red → White → Grey → Black
The shift from cooperation to conquest
From shared purpose to suspicion
From vibrant civic life to survivalism or apathy
My concern here and my reason for writing this is to contemplate this slide from Red London to White London. White London feels like a warning:
what happens when power stops serving the public
and the public stops believing power can serve them
Can We Go Back?
The series holds one more lesson: doors open both ways — but only if someone chooses to open them, and has the keys to do so. Democracies aren’t static. They can heal — but never by accident. People must remember the magic — and insist it belongs to everyone. Because a democracy doesn’t die when laws change. It dies when its people stop believing that their voices matter.
Many people today are sensing this tension — institutions remain, but trust erodes.
No comments:
Post a Comment