Recently I had occasion to see the first episode of Bewitched, and I learned something I’d never realized when watching it as a child. Darrin did not know Samantha was a hex-casting, not-entirely-human hot blonde before marrying her. Why she kept this from him before the wedding night was not made clear–or possibly it was, and I was too busy making peach cobbler to notice. Either way it’s led to this thread (which is about the situation, not the television show, hence its placement in IMHO rather than CS).
So here we are. You’ve just gotten married to a witty, funny, loyal, and ridiculously hot person of the appropriate sex and sexual orientation for you. On the wedding night, before you two do the deed (presumably to make an atonement easier for you if it comes to that) “Sam” reveals that she or he has magical powers demonstrating them with a little teleportation, telekinesis, and shape-shifting till you’re convinced… Sam says that she/he kept this secret because the magical community’s laws forbid revealing themselves to anyone not a member of the family. Sam’s been living as a norm for a while now and is perfectly willing to continue doing so if you prefer; on the other hand, if you prefer to live off Sam’s magical largesse, that’s cool too. Sam loves you so much that either option is fine.
Of course you have questions for Sam, some but not all of which Sam is willing or able to answer. Magic powers are inborn, not the result of study; thus you can never become a wizard, and any child Sam sires or bears has about a 10 percent chance of having powers. The worldwide population of witches is about 100,000; maybe a tenth live among the norms, while the rest live in mystically-hidden realms. Witches are not immortal, but they do live longer than norms. Sam cannot tell you how long she or he will live or how slowly she or he will age, because like most of the witches living among norms Sam is of mixed blood; there’s simply no telling.
The first year of marriage is always a period of adjustment.
I guess I would expect Sam to do whatever she was doing before we were married, and I would do the same. I wouldn’t be as big a jerk about it as Darrin was in the series - magical help is no different from the other assistance I get from my spouse. After a few years, when we were ready for children, one of us could stay home with the kids. In a way it makes sense for it to be Sam - she can presumably do magic from home and I would have to go out to work, or do whatever I chose to do with myself.
But sure, I think I would stay with her. Shape-shifting makes for some interesting possiblities for our relationship.
I voted left out my option. I’d want to keep doing what I was doing, but that doesn’t preclude getting help from her powers when useful. Which is different from living off them.
However if I kept winding up in the hotel lobby like Darrin did, I might have second thoughts.
No different really from finding that she had other non-magical powers you weren’t aware of - cooking, intelligence, music, sex.
When you say “living as a norm,” does that mean Sam hasn’t been using magic, or just that he isn’t living in whatever witch & warlock community where most reside?
I would stay regardless, but I wouldn’t want him to think that I was exploiting his abilities when he’d made a conscious choice to be among the Mundies, forgoing his family and heritage.
I think the use of magic raises a bunch of ethical concerns.
Say I’m an advertising executive. My wife’s use of her magic to compel a potential customer to sign with me seems clearly unethical, to pick one example.
On the other hand, she has these powers legitimately – she didn’t steal the powers from anyone. And surely a way can be found to use those powers in an ethical manner to make our lives easier.
Sure, I stay married, as long as she and I can get on the same page about what “ethical” means and how those principles might inform the use of magic.
I appreciate her reason for not revealing it ahead of time, and choosing to reveal it before the consummation of the marriage, so that if I did want to back out, an annulment is possible.
I had in mind living in a human community, holding down an ordinary job, but probably doing things like, say, cleaning the house magically, doing long-distance travel by witchyport* rather than airplane, and of course, turning menacing witch-hunters into cockroaches and stepping on them.
*I phrase it thus because on BEWITCHED it was explicit that Sam and Endora, at least, could fly like Superman (and that Sam grew ill if kept from doing so for too long), and sometimes it seemed that their magical travel only seemed instantaneous to someone outside the, ah, continuum, not to them.
I’m also confused as to what “living as norms” entails. Does that mean Sam gives up her powers entirely or that we live off of whatever money we make from our mundane jobs but that she sometimes makes discreet use of her powers? I wouldn’t be a jerk like Darren and expect her to handicap herself, and while I definitely would not want to attract media attention or a bunch of kooks it seems that Sam has been able to keep her abilities a secret her entire life.
ETA: I see Skald posted just before me that it’s the latter, and she would still be able to discreetly use her powers.
So where do you draw the line? Clearly compelling clients to sign with your firm is immoral. But what if you’re, oh, say, a lawyer doing criminal defense, and you have a client you absolutely believe to be innocent who is nonetheless about to get convicted because of prosecutor malfeasance: are you okay with her compelling the corrupt DA to fess up? Compelling the guilty party to come forward? Changing the jurors’ minds, if the guilty party isn’t available?
(Also, could Sam and Endora control people’s minds? I seem to remember episodes in which the comic quandary of the week would have been trivially solved by Endora magicking up Larry’s mind, but I don’t think she ever did. Of course, she liked him more than she liked Darrin. Um, Durwood.
Hell yes I would. Shame I couldn’t get some of the powers for myself, but I’d be a lottery winner the next week. I’ve always thought Darrin was a complete moron for insisting that she not use her power.
I have another question about “ethics.” One of the perks of using magic is that, if I wanted a steak, he could just make one appear. Is it coming from Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s inventory, or is it just magically appearing out of thin air? I am thinking of a lot of regular costs you could subvert through the use of magic, but if I’m making it disappear from some diner’s plate, that’s essentially stealing.
The same goes for money. Granted, a few “newly created” hundred thousand dollars probably wouldn’t cause irreparable harm to the economy, but if it is vanishing from someone else’s account or stockpile, we might have a problem.
I’d be okay with the largesse. Raising kids with the occasional conjuration of new clothes, food or just plain solid gold fishing weights (lead into gold, rather than summoning up someone else’s money as suggested above) would help ease over the rough spots.
Kind of a rough choice between Sam & Genie, though.
Oh, I didn’t even think this with my first answer…but he could fix things on me too. I’d never have to diet again since he could magic away the extra pounds.
This pretty much describes me. Sam can have her magical career (or whatever witches do for a living), I can have my mundane by fulfilling normal career. We can take normal vacations or magical ones as it suits us. I see no reason to limit my wife so long as she’s not attracting undue attention to the family and not doing anything immoral (which, hopefully she is not, as I wouldn’t want to marry an immoral person)
Don’t blame Darrin, blame the times. Back then expecting skilled women to give it up on marriage and chain themselves to the house was normal. He also had a tender ego.
(I change my vote to living normally given Skald’s explanation. If anyone cares.
doing criminal defense, and you have a client you absolutely believe to be innocent who is nonetheless about to get convicted because of prosecutor malfeasance: are you okay with her compelling the corrupt DA to fess up? Compelling the guilty party to come forward? Changing the jurors’ minds, if the guilty party isn’t available?