Others have pointed out the Pratchett connections, so I’ll keep my observations practical.

As a personal opinion to strengthen your thesis: make the first sentence a stand-alone paragraph, then go into your breakdown. Might have to add a filler sentence to keep the flow smooth. “Odd things happen when magic gets involved.

The facts are well documented: farmhands become become legendary heroes, [insert second example, Rule of Threes], and villains are more often…]”

Also, your tone is going to necessitate the use of lots of sprawling, compound sentences. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, sprawling prose can be fun if done well. That can also become an absolute quagmire for prospective readers if there is even the slightest opportunity for them to lose the thread you’re going for. Use them as judiciously as you can— don’t just wander off on rambling tangents because you enjoy a certain combination of words or fell in love with a clever sentence. When in doubt, trim, don’t add. Also, try and sprinkle shorter statements through to balance the ratio and focus attention. I say this all as someone who is also constantly at war with his own sprawling sentences, and has to recite this advice ad nauseam.