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 physical dimension that characters reach into to pull out very large mallets, or other objects, to hit other characters on the head. The main difference is that "hammerspace" is used in reference to animation and other fiction in which the viewer or reader does not participate.

The "bag of holding" is a similar concept in the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. The clown car, in which many clowns clamber out of a tiny automobile, is a similar concept in the circus.

1 Origin
2 Characteristics
3 Examples
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Origin

The concept of a magic satchel was alluded to many years before role-playing or computer and video games, for instance as Felix the Cat's magic bag of tricks and in the Mary Poppins books and movie, where the title character has a bag from which she can produce a large number of objects, including ones that significantly outsize its dimensions, such as a large lamp, complete with a shoulder-length stand.

The bag in Samuel Beckett's play Happy Days (1960) is strongly implied (though not shown) to have magic-satchel-like qualities.

Even further back, 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 Other World suitor.

[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, 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 games have either a limit of 65,535 units or 4,294,967,295 units, the maximum values that can fit in two bytes or four bytes, respectively).

In addition, in most 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 a vehicle without any strain whatsoever.

This rule is not universal: a few games do enforce weight restrictions, and many do have some items that require a certain minimum level of strength. The first game to introduce a weight limit (which varied according to the player's strength) was probably 1987's Dungeon Master.

[edit] Examples

[edit] Print media

Magic satchels are too numerous to mention in comics and manga. Their presence in novels is less common. Examples include:

The Luggage in the Discworld series parodies the D&D convention.
In the novel Changeling by Delia Sherman, the main character owns a magic bag, aptly named Satchel, which provides her with an unpredictable supply of prepared meals.
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling created several objects that are able to hold much more vast quantities than they normally would, including a Ford Anglia that can seat more than ten people, a tent with multiple floors, and a magic satchel in which Hermione Granger stores an entire library of books.
In the fantasy series of novels Malazan Book of the Fallen, Mappo has a bag that is a self-contained "Warren" or magical realm in which many objects can be stored, perhaps even enemies.
In the book Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein

[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. In the last Marx Brothers movie, Love Happy, Harpo is forced to empty his pockets and produces two mannequin legs, a block of ice, a music box, a puppy, and a mailbox reading "Moss Kaufman."
In the 1964 film Mary Poppins, Mary has a magic bag that can store any number of items regardless of shape.
In the 1992 film Brain Donors, the character Jaques wears a magic-satchel-like raincoat that seems to contain anything.
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 realistically fit in there (such as a fully inflated sex doll)
The 2006 science-fiction film Ultraviolet has "flat-space dimensional compression technology" very much like a magic satchel.

[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 2005 series of Doctor Who, it was revealed that the Doctor's pockets, like the TARDIS, are bigger on the inside than on the outside.
In the children's television show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Rose Moseby has a medium sized purse and she pulls out a baseball bat, a vacuum, and another purse from.
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.
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 one after the other with some parts of the sequence fast-forwarded to emphasize the sheer number of them.
In the Nickelodeon show All That, one sketch features a character named "Baggin' Saggin' Barry" who can pull anything (even Abe Lincoln and a Helicopter) out of his extremely baggy pants.
On Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch's regularly-sized trash can houses elephants, a swimming pool and a tennis court. Although 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.

[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 amounts of items and/or extremely large items, such as a house, bicycle, or even other party members.