Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-27810039-20160217103443/@comment-24152851-20160221135126

DavidMunroe wrote:

Why did the magic actually need to be intricately explained then shoddily de-emphasized with a subsequent contradiction that did nothing but convolute that facet of Gwen's character? There's no logical justification behind your contention that it wasn't a retcon, when all evidence points to the contrary(as in, Kevin repeatedly debunking Gwen's assertion that her powers are 'magic' and not 'alien' related, and Gwen later conceding that the origin of her powers are of alien provenance and aren't actually magical--that episode is a direct refutation of the magical talents that Gwen had exhibited in the original series, not an explanation because at this point there's no utilization of magic and she no longer actualizes her abilities in the same way--there's no correlation between the change, only an explanation for this perceptibly and methodically new power she's diplaying, and not the old one).

It could have been that Gwen was the direct descendant of a magically predisposed ancestor and her original power manifestation was an implication of that potential being realised. They could have left it at that and progressed to her casting spells of different denominations/classes of magic--that way there'd be coherency without controversial talk of a retcon, because the contradictory statements and happenings fly in its face. Isn't magic fundamentally and conventionally portrayed as the casting of spells for a myriad of different effects? Why overcomplicate things for the sake of an explanation?

As you know, she could conjure extremely localized tornadoes and create jet-streams for propulsion and flight on the occasion that the required materials are at her disposal--yet she's bereft of these talents and spells in inauspicious situations during AF, despite the magic still being there as explained by her being an anodite? That makes no sense whatsoever. If anything she should have experienced greater power ascendancy and a fluid expansion of what she could do.

If she's better at doing the walk as you say, then there'd be lots more versatiltiy in terms of how she would manoeuvre herself. Look the idea to make Gwen of alien origin might have been bad, that's really up to opinion. But that doesn't mean it's a retcon.

Because Gwen herself didn't know what she was. Why did ancient civilisations believe in magic? They had no understanding of the way the world worked so came up with supernatural explanations. Gwen could do unusual things, she wasn't clear why, they decided to call it magic. Besides, it's not like the term magic became non existent after AF, it keeps popping up from time to time such as when Charmcaster is involved. She said Gwen was "made of magic" if I remember correctly. Paradox is also a believer of magic apparently.

Did they say Gwen was a descendant of a sorceror? No they didn't. That's speculation. If they had claimed Gwen was a magician's descendant, then yes that's a retcon, but they never said that.

Isn't magic fundamentally and conventionally portrayed as the casting of spells for a myriad of different effects? Why overcomplicate things for the sake of an explanation?

I said it's not neccessarily a good decision to overcomplicate the magic. Once again thats personal opinion. But "poorly made decision =/= retcon"

She also gained some abilities she didn't have. As to forgetting about her past abilities, that can be chalked up to writers not doing research into the past series, but still doesn't make it a retcon.