Why do wizards wear robes?

Ar-Adunakhor · Post by **Ar-Adunakhor** » 2007-10-10 06:28pm

Simple enough. Why? The only thing I can come up with is it being tradition started by an arbitrary choice far in the past. Probably in one of the mythos LotR draws from to give us the Istari.

First, I went for the utility angle. Scientists wear lab coats, right? Why not robes over the wizard's clothes so his magical experiments don't ruin his fancy-pants... err... pants. This falls flat though, because most wizards wear their robes all the time. What is the use of a protective garmet if said peice of clothing is what you walk around in anyway?

So let's look at comfort. A wizard's robes are not your comfy bathrobe. The things are decked out in all kinds of complicated shimmering patterns and folds and would generally be a pain in the ass to put on and maintain every day. Sure, they could use magic to do it... but then why not use magic to make some *other* more comfortable form of clothing better too?

Finally, let's assume they are a status symbol. Long flowing robes look cool and show that, man, this is a wizard and he doesn't have to wear common clothes because he is important and doesn't do any manual labor ect. ect.. Once again though, I run into a problem. A status symbol is just that, a symbol. Why the hell would wizards want to wear drafty ass robes when they could wear (for instance) intimidating light weight mage-plate or expensive yet comfortable clothes enchanted to shimmer with magic. Both of those would convey an aura of "oh shitz it's teh wizards!" yet be much easier to wear all day.

Did I miss anything? Because, honestly, the only thing I can come up with is the same adherence to tradition that give most wizards staves, funny hats, long white beards, and the power to consume the English with fireballs from their eyes and lightning from their arse.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-10-10 06:45pm

Modern fantasy follows the LOTR convention. I think in LOTR it was less so, however - Ganders wore 'robes', but they seemed more like a long cloak over his travelling clothes. They weren't the retardedly ornate nonsense fantasy wizards wear made of silk and covered in stupid runes and shit.

Gandalf arguably started the trend, and he was a wide-travelling mage in 'disguise' as a regular old guy travelling around (with fireworks). Thus he wore 'traditional' travelling clothes with his iconic grey cloak and hat. He DIDN'T want to be noticed or identified as a mage, he spent thousands of years just poking around and keeping an eye on shit. Saruman had more traditional super-clean robes, but he lived in a magic castle.

So again D&D and modern fantasy mindlessly copy and elaborate on something from LOTR and it doesn't make any sense. Who's surprised?

speaker-to-trolls · Post by **speaker-to-trolls** » 2007-10-10 07:26pm

It's in our cultural consciousness as a clothing style which identifies people as learned, academic, not needing to do physical work and possibly in touch with powers we know nothing about. Light weight mage plate might be more comfortable while also showing status, but in the minds of the writers and readers it's not really wizardy, it has too many physical connotations (armour indicates battle which indicates physical combat and exertion, which wizards don't have time for). I'm not sure why we think of long flowing robes as indicating this kind of thing, but I'm fairly sure it goes back before Tolkien, this has been the kind of attire favoured by priests of virtually every organised religion in Eurasia since the time of Ur, after all.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-10-10 08:23pm

You know, that's just a bunch of conventions. Wizards don't have time for combat? Tell Gandalf that, he's got a fucking giant magic sword. Again, early fantasy wizards DIDN'T use priest-like, elaborate robes of ritual and magic, they wore TRAVELLING SHIT with cloaks and robes. I think the priests in Conan wore priest-like robes with ornate jewelry and shoulder acroutments/silly hats, but they were priests. There's a difference between the Oracle of Delphi and some guy that rides across the world for hundreds of years reading shit with a magic sword. Using later fantasy conventions (like 'lol wizards can't fight melee lol') to explain those same conventions is silly.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-10-10 08:34pm

Stark wrote:You know, that's just a bunch of conventions. Wizards don't have time for combat? Tell Gandalf that, he's got a fucking giant magic sword. Again, early fantasy wizards DIDN'T use priest-like, elaborate robes of ritual and magic, they wore TRAVELLING SHIT with cloaks and robes. I think the priests in Conan wore priest-like robes with ornate jewelry and shoulder acroutments/silly hats, but they were priests. There's a difference between the Oracle of Delphi and some guy that rides across the world for hundreds of years reading shit with a magic sword. Using later fantasy conventions (like 'lol wizards can't fight melee lol') to explain those same conventions is silly.

What's even funnier is how D&D pretty much started the idiotic convention of wizards not being able to fight melee, then instead of simply retconning it, they had to go and make some stupid 'battle mage' class or something so that mages could in fact use swords (but making it needlessly convoluted) while still keeping their retarded 'no weapons but magic for wizards' meme.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-10-10 08:35pm

There's really no reason for them to be wearing them on the road for any practical reason, but as mentioned, they are not unknown among clergy members. On top of that, robes were the clothing of students (hence the origin of the strange graduation attire) a long time ago, and wizards are generally portrayed as medievalesque academic types in many copycat fantasies.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2007-10-10 09:19pm

They're naked under them. Wizards are kinky.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » 2007-10-10 11:08pm

Meh?

Tolkein's Gandalf is basically Odin. Wise old man of many guises, a wanderer, bringer of victory and heroic quests, often appearing as a simple traveller, likes to talk to birds to recieve and transmit info, carries a powerful weapon as well as a staff, rides a mythical horse of amazing speed, a robe or cloak bearing the signs of great wear, wide-brimmed hat... etc.

The garb comes from the depiction of Odin, I'd say. That much is a pretty clear inspiration for him, even if Tolkein expanded greatly in many areas.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2007-10-10 11:30pm

Because it is fucking cold in those laboratories. At least that is the reason Harry Dresden gives.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-10-10 11:35pm

Compare Odin's worn cloak to modern metro-mages' outfits. It's pretty embarassing. Somewhere it went from 'practical' to 'fashionable'.

RIPP_n_WIPE · Post by **RIPP_n_WIPE** » 2007-10-10 11:48pm

The OPs question obviously referred to the stereotypical attire of the magic users. HP I must assume that robes are simply the fashion of the wizarding world. In LOTR mages wore travelling clothes (Gandalf, Radaghast) and really looked like any normal person.

In the young merlin series, he wore whatever he could scrap together.

The modern wizard description as previous posters have states, comes probably from D&D. Wizards in that are academics with little to no physical character traits, which works fine for an rpg where everyone needs a predefined role to enjoy the game. Unlike real life where you can have a marine sergeant who not only can rip your throat open with a nail clipper, but happens to be a chemical expert and can poison you seven ways till sunday.

loomer · Post by **loomer** » 2007-10-11 12:44am

Robes are comfortable, and wizards are nothing if not impractical. Gotta love the feel of the robes against the skin...

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-10-11 01:26am

They like a stray breeze around their privates.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2007-10-11 06:08am

Their god does not believe in pants.

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2007-10-11 10:03am

Are you going to tell a guy who can shoot fire from his hands what to wear?

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2007-10-11 10:07am

Wizards do all their best spellcrafting in the shower.

Lancer · Post by **Lancer** » 2007-10-11 10:25am

As high-level magic users, they feel perfectly justified in using advanced magic to perform mundane tasks. They're probably just too lazy to put on real clothes.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2007-10-11 01:40pm

A large part of it is that most wizards are based upon medieval alchemists and long robes and cloaks were part of the fashion of that time.

In some stories, the elaborate designs on some wizards' cloaks are explained as charms and runes of protection.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2007-10-11 02:20pm

I thought I read somewhere that robes were the norm for some of the following reasons. That a wizard in order to cast a spell needed to make some very precise and funky motions with his arms and legs and armor might constrict that movement causing the spell to fail or back fire and that robes allow for many pockets and hidden compartments for spell components and other wizardly needs that they needed direct access.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2007-10-11 02:36pm

Stravo wrote:I thought I read somewhere that robes were the norm for some of the following reasons. That a wizard in order to cast a spell needed to make some very precise and funky motions with his arms and legs and armor might constrict that movement causing the spell to fail or back fire and that robes allow for many pockets and hidden compartments for spell components and other wizardly needs that they needed direct access.

That's the D&D explanation, yep.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2007-10-11 03:35pm

Discworld Wizards have Robes which have pockets which are nigh on TARDIS-like in proportions. And they use the hats for store bottles of whisky.

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2007-10-11 04:56pm

Patrick Degan wrote:A large part of it is that most wizards are based upon medieval alchemists and long robes and cloaks were part of the fashion of that time.

In some stories, the elaborate designs on some wizards' cloaks are explained as charms and runes of protection.

The garb worn by the stereotypical wizard comes from the ancient magians, who wore pointy hats with stars and moons on them, plus flowing robes.

Gandalf is Odin (in fact the name Gandalf is one of Odin's nicknames) without the sex drive. The witch-type broad, pointy hat Gandalf and Odin wear is at least 3000 years old, as one of the Tocharians found buried in the deserts of China had the same type of hat. It was common in many Indo-European religions. The hat was typically worn by the eldest female, which is why witches are depicted wearing them to this day. So why did Odin wear it? Odin was a god who "swung both ways". In Lokasenna, where Loki (himself a switch-hitter) calls out each of the gods and goddeses in turn, he insults Odin as being "womanly" for dabbling in witchcraft, which was considered girlie stuff.

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2007-10-11 05:03pm

General Zod wrote:
Stark wrote:You know, that's just a bunch of conventions. Wizards don't have time for combat? Tell Gandalf that, he's got a fucking giant magic sword. Again, early fantasy wizards DIDN'T use priest-like, elaborate robes of ritual and magic, they wore TRAVELLING SHIT with cloaks and robes. I think the priests in Conan wore priest-like robes with ornate jewelry and shoulder acroutments/silly hats, but they were priests. There's a difference between the Oracle of Delphi and some guy that rides across the world for hundreds of years reading shit with a magic sword. Using later fantasy conventions (like 'lol wizards can't fight melee lol') to explain those same conventions is silly.
What's even funnier is how D&D pretty much started the idiotic convention of wizards not being able to fight melee, then instead of simply retconning it, they had to go and make some stupid 'battle mage' class or something so that mages could in fact use swords (but making it needlessly convoluted) while still keeping their retarded 'no weapons but magic for wizards' meme.

It's not idiotic at all. D&D is a game and for game balance, it was decided that magic-users don't fight very well, nor do they have the best selection of weapons. If they could fight just as well as fighting men (and with the same weapons), why would anyone be a fighter? Thieves and clerics also had plusses and minuses.

By the way, there's nothing in the rules about what kind of clothing any character wears (except maybe monks, who are expected to be simple in dress).

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-10-11 05:04pm

Stravo wrote:I thought I read somewhere that robes were the norm for some of the following reasons. That a wizard in order to cast a spell needed to make some very precise and funky motions with his arms and legs and armor might constrict that movement causing the spell to fail or back fire and that robes allow for many pockets and hidden compartments for spell components and other wizardly needs that they needed direct access.

Except even mages with no arms-waving or physical components dress that way. D&D back-fitting rules ftw.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2007-10-11 05:23pm

Dartzap wrote:Discworld Wizards have Robes which have pockets which are nigh on TARDIS-like in proportions. And they use the hats for store bottles of whisky.

Plus, Ridcully the Archchancellor wears a tracksuit, at least some of the time, and the Dean has worn denims and a leather jacket/robe thing on one occasion