THE MAGIC OF THE NUMBER THREE

Emily Rodda’s new fantasy series 'The Three Doors Trilogy' uses the device of three magical doors to create a portal for her heroes to set out on their quest. This got me thinking – not for the first time – about what a magical number three is. 




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There is the Triple Goddess and the Holy Trinity. The Three Fates and the Rule of Three. Three wise men and three gifts. Three denials.




Bad luck comes in threes, and so, of course, does good luck.




Beginnings, middles and ends. 




Three-act structures.





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Blood, sweat and tears. 




The rule of thirds in art.




Trilogies, triptychs, and Freytag triangles.




And, of course, three happens a lot in fairy tales. 




Let me see. 




Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The Three Little Pigs. Three Blind Mice. Three Billy Goats Gruff. 



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The Three Spinners. The Devil with Three Golden hairs. Three wishes. Three gifts. Three tasks. Three brothers, and, sometimes, three sisters.




Usually the first two fail in some way, allowing the third to succeed. 






This reflects the pattern of what comedians call ‘the comic triple’. The idea is that two points establish a pattern; the audience comes to expect for the pattern to be repeated; and so the break in the pattern comes as a surprise, which makes people laugh. 




Interestingly enough, many old fragments of Druid mythology also come grouped in three. For example, the old saying: ‘Three things not easily restrained: the flow of a torrent, the flight of an arrow, and the tongue of a fool.’




I always build a plot on three key pivotal moments, or three major obstacles. 




And I live my life by the Threefold Law, the idea that everything you give out to the universe is returned to you threefold.




Three is also, strangely, the date of my birthday (I was born on 3/6/66). 






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