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Magic (fantasy)
Encyclopedia
Magic in fiction
is the endowing of fictional character
s or objects with magical powers
.
Such magic often serves as a plot device
, the source of magical artifacts and their quest
s. Magic has long been a component of fantasy
fiction, where it has been a mainstay from the days of Homer
and Apuleius
, down through the tales of the Holy Grail
, Edmund Spenser
's The Faerie Queene
, and to more contemporary authors from J. R. R. Tolkien
and C. S. Lewis
to Ursula K. Le Guin
, Robert Jordan
, J.K. Rowling or Mercedes Lackey
.
In order to carry out this function, magic often carries a price, equal to its value. (See Limits to magic)
Historically, many writers who have written about fictional magicians
, and many readers of such works, have believed that such magic is possible – in William Shakespeare
's time, witches like the Weird Sisters in Macbeth
and wizards like Prospero
in The Tempest
(or Doctor Faustus
in Christopher Marlowe
's play) were widely considered to be real – but modern writers, and readers, usually deal with magic as imaginary.
al beliefs and practices, but may also be an invention of the writer. Furthermore, even when the writer uses non-fictional beliefs and practices, the effect, strength, and rules of the magic will normally be what the writer requires for the plot. Fictional magic may or may not include a detailed system, but when the author does not bother to systematize the magic or create rules, it is more likely that magic will be used simply at the author's convenience, rather than as a believable plot element.
It is by no means impossible, moreover, for fictional magic to leap from the pages of fantasy to actual magical belief. The Necronomicon
was invented as fiction by H. P. Lovecraft
;
other authors such as August Derleth
and Clark Ashton Smith
also cited it in their works, with Lovecraft's approval, as he believed such common allusions built up "a background of evil verisimilitude." Many readers have believed it to be a real work, with booksellers and librarians receiving many requests for it, pranksters listing it in rare book catalogs, and one smuggling a card for it into the Yale University Library. There have been several attempts by modern authors to produce it as a grimoire
, such as the Simon Necronomicon
, which used Babylonian mythology and a series of sigils from medieval ceremonial magic
used to control or ward off demons.
In most fantasy works, magic is either depicted as an innate talent, is acquired through studying, or is given to someone who makes a pact, usually with a devil
, spirit or other sorcerer. Most writers tend to depict magic as an innate talent, equivalent to perfect pitch.
(or other being) with such a talent can use it. Randall Garrett
's Lord Darcy
series at one point depicts a toy that will gradually lose its enchantment and teach any talented child using it to perform the magic him or herself instead; it is used to test for the gift in children, in a process that takes months. Barbara Hambly
depicts a character in her Darwath series attempting to practice magic on hearing how it is done, and succeeding. Harry Potter
, like many young wizards in his universe, accidentally casts spells before he is taught to do it properly. The unicorn in The Last Unicorn
possesses her magical abilities without any effort on her part, as do magical girl
s in shōjo
anime
and manga
; Those who use such spontaneously generated powers are usually not called magicians or similar terms, those being reserved usually for those who have to learn to wield magic (there are exceptions, such as Xanth
).
In some fantasies, magic is a natural trait to humans, such as in the Harry Potter books. Because of this, when two magicians have a baby, the child usually has the same or more powerful magic potential as his/her parents. Spontaneous magical abilities at birth to non-magical parents (known as Muggles in the Harry Potter universe) is also known to happen (i.e. Hermione Granger
).
, wizards and magicians must study their magic, but a fire-witch can spontaneously generate phenomena without training. In Operation Chaos, a werewolf depends only on a light trigger to master his powers, but his wife, a witch, must study to acquire hers.
Talents that occur spontaneously frequently need training to work more than sporadically, or at major effects, or in a controlled manner — and sometimes all three. Harry Potter
, first hearing that he is a wizard, remembers occasional odd things that appeared to 'just happen'; school is necessary to cause them to take place at his intention, and to produce more complicated effects. Ursula K. Le Guin
's Earthsea
novels, begun in 1964, and the 1960 children's novel The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes
were among the first to include a now-common fantasy trope: a school where magic is taught.
's Red Moon and Black Mountain
depicts several classes of witches and mages whose powers are divinely granted. Sword and sorcery
heroes may not only face sorcerers, but crazed cults where gods or demons give power to their followers. This concept gave rise to the cleric
class in Dungeons & Dragons
, and is now very common in RPG
s.
Magic powers may also be gained through a Pact with the Devil
, or other trafficking with spirits, common in folklore. In some cases, the demon only provides the means for the would-be wizard to learn magic; conversely, the pact may be for the devil to do the magic on the wizard's behalf, but the wizard must have first studied magic in order to summon it, and in some versions, to compel it to act. The best-known modern example of this concept is probably the deal Mr. Norrell makes with the Fairy King in Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
, making it appear as if Norrell himself has raised someone from the dead, when in fact it was the Fairy King who did this at Norrell's request.
collectable card game and the Final Fantasy
video game series.
, driving the plot of a story.
Lesser magical objects which do not affect or determine the plot are also common, (more so in role-playing games), to lend characters such abilities as they need. Besides the One Ring, The Lord of the Rings contained magic sword
s that did not determine the plot. Other noteworthy magical objects include the invisibility cloak
in Harry Potter
and an array of magical items from Arabian Nights, including a magic carpet
.
Such items may be created by magicians or powerful beings; often they originate in the dim past, with no such items being possible at the present time in the story. Other fictional magical objects have no explained past, but again, the more clearly they can be described by the author, the more believable they will be to the reader.
Wands and staves often feature, usually in wizards' hands. The first magical wand appeared in the Odyssey
, which was used by Circe
to transform Odysseus's men into animals. Italian fairy tale
s put them into the hands of the powerful fairies by the late Middle Ages. These were transmitted to modern fantasy. Gandalf
refused to surrender his staff in The Lord of the Rings
, and breaking Saruman
's broke his power. One element of this is the need to limit a wizard, so that opposition to him (necessary for a story) is feasible; if the wizard loses his staff or wand (or other magic item on which he is dependent), he is weakened if not magically helpless. In the Harry Potter
universe, most wizards can only perform weak and uncontrolled magic without a wand.
's Earthsea novels feature a magic driven by words. She uses the concept of an original, primordial language by which the creators of the world originally named things. People who learn these names are able to control the things named, an ability shared by both the wizards who study the language, and the dragons whose native tongue it is.
Le Guin is using two concepts drawn from folklore, and now relatively common in fantasy literature. One is the notion of true name
s whereby a person's true name is a powerful magical weapon against them; this seldom applies to objects, but in works from Larry Niven
's The Magic Goes Away
to Andre Norton
's Witch World
, wizards and witches keep their names secret to keep from their being used against them. In Discworld
, the Librarian hides his name to keep from being turned back to a man. This concept was also used in the episode The Shakespeare Code
in the series Doctor Who
.
Another is the use of a special language to cast spells. Many works — such as the Harry Potter
novels, in which the spells are cast in a Latinate jargon — use this without offering an explanation. Patricia Wrede
, in The Magician's Ward, described it as a technique to prevent power from overflowing the spell; Poul Anderson
, in Operation Chaos, explained it as a natural consequence of the laws of similarity governing magic, because a magician can not produce extraordinary effects from ordinary language. Susan Cooper
's "The Dark is Rising" Sequence and Diane Duane
's "Young Wizard" series also use special languages for magic. In Christopher Paolini
's books, the ancient language is used simply to define one's desire. It is possible, but more difficult, to use magic without the language. R. Scott Bakker
's Prince of Nothing
series describes magic as requiring the user to speak one language string aloud while simultaneously thinking a separate and different language string, allowing the simultaneously apprehended meanings of both strings to reinforce each other and precisely define the result. Elric of Melniboné
studied since childhood many infinitely ancient languages and procedures in order to do spells, as well as the complex thought processes behind them. Ordinary humans and even some Melnibonéans cannot learn this style of magic—even the basics would render one insane.
. Ancient battlefields may be haunted. When the battles were fought by magic, on civilizations erected by magic, the location can be dangerous indeed; in Patricia A. McKillip
's Riddle-Master trilogy, the ruins left behind by the powerful Earthmasters contain dangers. In the Crystal Cave
trilogy, some places are described as being frequented by gods, but at least one "enchanted" forest is simply the home of an ancient indigenous people who conceal themselves and repel invaders by what look like natural occurrences such as falling rocks. In Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, the country of Ireland is of great magical significance, being one of the most magical pieces of land in the world.
Such places are often the homes of powerful beings. The woods in A Midsummer Night's Dream
is haunted by fairies, including Oberon and Titania, their king and queen. In Earthsea, the wizards hold their school on Roke Island; two places on the island, Roke Knoll
and Immanent Grove
, are particularly conducive to extremely powerful magic. Lórien in Middle-earth
was also a magical location, but its magic stemmed from the powers of those who lived there. This is true of other apparently magical locations in many fantasies, and in many more, it may not be clear whether a place is magic because of its inhabitants, or its inhabitants have chosen to live there because it was magic. Within one work, as in Andre Norton
's Witch World
series, there may be all three types of apparently magical places.
One such magical place is Faerie or Elfland. Its location may not be fixed — in some cases it acts as a parallel world — but magic is both found and occurs there. Though it stems from folklore, it is found in such works of fantasy as Hope Mirrlees
's Lud-in-the-Mist
, or Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter
.
One of the most common techniques is that the person has only a limited amount of magical ability. In The Magic Goes Away
, Larry Niven
made it a factor of environment: once the mana is exhausted in an area, no one can use magic, and innately magical beings, such as centaur
s, die or lose their magical aspects, such as werewolves
, which revert to being entirely wolves. A more common use is that a person can only cast so many spells, or use an ability so many times, in a day, or use a measured amount of magic. This is the most common use in role-playing games, where the rules
rigorously define them. Similarly, in Robert Jordan
's The Wheel of Time
series, the One Power
is limitless but each individual user can only channel a limited amount of it at any one time.
An alternative form of magical limitation provides theoretically unlimited power, but restricts what a user can do to what that user is capable of imagining, comprehending and understanding. In this scenario, magical ability may often be increased through scientific study of the world in order to better understand its working, something observed in The Belgariad
by David Eddings
.
In Glen Cook
's Black Company series, magic is a limitless power where the wizards are limited in their ability to use magic for fear of being used by a more powerful spell-caster. The most powerful of spell-casters can turn entire cliffs in magma and make storms that rain so hard men can't stand up as thus minor spell-casters limit themselves.
In Earthsea, magic is limited by a balance factor which requires the user to take into account the consequences and effects of what he does; a student of the arts soon finds out that the proper way to use magic is to do only what he must do. In The Wheel of Time
, heroes in theory gain access to an almost unlimited power source but in practice can only use a certain amount of it safely, the exact amount being different for each individual. Possessing certain items can increase the amount significantly.
Powers can also be restricted to a certain kind of ability. This is more common for innately magical beings than for those who have learned it. The person can be rendered defenseless by a situation to which his powers do not apply. For instance, if one is inside or underground the power to manipulate the weather is relatively useless.
Magic can also require various sacrifices. Blood or life can be required, and even if the magician has no scruples, obtaining the material may be difficult. Harmless substances can also limit the magician if they are rare, such as gemstones.
The need for learning may also limit what spells a wizard knows, and can cast. When magic is learned from rare and exotic books, the wizard's ability can be limited, temporarily, by his access to these books. In Earthsea, the changing of names weakens wizards as they travel; they must learn the true names of things in their new location to be powerful again.
Yet another theory of magic is that energy is taken from the spell-caster to power the spell itself, such as in the Inheritance Cycle
. Depending on how strong or advanced the spell is compared to the caster, the spell can cause weakness, fainting, or even death. Christopher Paolini says in the book Eragon
, magic is limited by the energy of your body.
Magic may also be limited not so much inherently as by its danger. If a powerful spell can cause equally grave harm if miscast, wizards are likely to be wary of using it. One example of this is Jack Vance
's The Dying Earth
novels, in which even one little slip of the tongue in reciting one the vocal elements (called "pervulsions" in the novels) of the incantations of the spells could dramatically change the effect from the desired outcome. In the case of Cugel the Clever, he finds himself seized in the claws of a demon, and carried thousands of miles across an impassable sea to a place where he tried to escape from earlier in the story.
Many characters that work with magic are limited to using wands or staffs (as mentioned above). Harry Potter is, as well as the wizards in Dealing with Dragons
by Patricia C. Wrede
.
plots (especially the "hard" variety), while magic tends to be avoided, often extraordinary facts are portrayed that do not have a scientific basis and are not explained in that fashion. In these cases the reader might find it useful to remember Arthur C. Clarke
's "Third Law": Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Psionics
is often used to endow science fictional characters with abilities, which, if they were called "magic", would make the story fantasy. Many stories deliberately or inadvertently equate magic with psychic ability; others, such as Mary Stewart's Merlin novels or the Valdemar series of Mercedes Lackey
, distinguish between the two. Lackey carefully delineates the differences between "mages", who use magic, and "heralds", who have paranormal
powers, and the types of training required.
Magic has been portrayed in numerous games
, in which magic is a characteristic available to players in certain circumstances.
Sorcerers and sorcery are a staple of Chinese
wuxia
fiction and are dramatically featured in many martial arts movies (for example the Jutsu
has supernatural effects, but with some scientific properties).
It is possible to say that The Force
from Star Wars canon is a type of magic, with Jedi
and Sith
being seen as wizards and sorcerers. Obi-wan Kenobi
is referred to at least once, in Episode IV: A New Hope, as a "wizard", and later in that movie an Imperial officer refers to Darth Vader
's "sorcerer's ways". Interestingly, the Sith have their own ability, called Sith magic, that they conjure in the form of spells. This is sometimes used in counjunction with their own brand of alchemy. It is similar to real life maleficium
.
In the Fullmetal Alchemist
franchise, alchemy adopts the role magic traditionally takes in fantasy fiction. Just as certain laws govern the practice of magic, the same applies to the practice of alchemy. In order to carry out its function alchemy requires a payment of equal value. This limiting factor of alchemy is known as the "Law of Equivalent Exchange". The Philosopher's Stone is believed to allow an alchemist the power to bypass this law and is comparable to powerful magical items prevalent in other works of fantasy fiction.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
is the endowing of fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
s or objects with magical powers
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
.
Such magic often serves as a plot device
Plot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
, the source of magical artifacts and their quest
Quest
In mythology and literature, a quest, a journey towards a goal, serves as a plot device and as a symbol. Quests appear in the folklore of every nation and also figure prominently in non-national cultures. In literature, the objects of quests require great exertion on the part of the hero, and...
s. Magic has long been a component of fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
fiction, where it has been a mainstay from the days of Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
and Apuleius
Apuleius
Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...
, down through the tales of the Holy Grail
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
, Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
's The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English...
, and to more contemporary authors from J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
and C. S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...
to Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
, Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. , under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reilly.-Biography:Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina...
, J.K. Rowling or Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes "Misty" Lackey is a best-selling American author of fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar...
.
Plot function
Within a work of fantasy, magic can function to move the plot forward, providing both power for the hero of the story and power for those who oppose him/her. The use of magic is often transformative of the character, if not the world.In order to carry out this function, magic often carries a price, equal to its value. (See Limits to magic)
Historical beliefs
Magician (fantasy)
A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
, and many readers of such works, have believed that such magic is possible – in William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's time, witches like the Weird Sisters in Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
and wizards like Prospero
Prospero
Prospero is the protagonist in The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare.- The Tempest :Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, who was put to sea on "a rotten carcass of a butt [boat]" to die by his usurping brother, Antonio, twelve years before the play begins. Prospero and Miranda survived,...
in The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
(or Doctor Faustus
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
in Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
's play) were widely considered to be real – but modern writers, and readers, usually deal with magic as imaginary.
Fictional magic
Fictional magic may be inspired by non-fictionNon-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
al beliefs and practices, but may also be an invention of the writer. Furthermore, even when the writer uses non-fictional beliefs and practices, the effect, strength, and rules of the magic will normally be what the writer requires for the plot. Fictional magic may or may not include a detailed system, but when the author does not bother to systematize the magic or create rules, it is more likely that magic will be used simply at the author's convenience, rather than as a believable plot element.
Necronomicon
The Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
was invented as fiction by H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
;
other authors such as August Derleth
August Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
and Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
also cited it in their works, with Lovecraft's approval, as he believed such common allusions built up "a background of evil verisimilitude." Many readers have believed it to be a real work, with booksellers and librarians receiving many requests for it, pranksters listing it in rare book catalogs, and one smuggling a card for it into the Yale University Library. There have been several attempts by modern authors to produce it as a grimoire
Grimoire
A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Such books typically include instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination and also how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, and demons...
, such as the Simon Necronomicon
Simon Necronomicon
The Simon Necronomicon is written by an unknown author, but is introduced by a man identified only as "Simon". Stories presented are a blend of Mesopotamian myths, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian and a storyline of unknown authenticity about a man known as the "Mad Arab."The book was released in...
, which used Babylonian mythology and a series of sigils from medieval ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by...
used to control or ward off demons.
Users of magic
Pact with the Devil
A deal with the Devil, pact with the Devil, or Faustian bargain is a cultural motif widespread in the West, best exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, but elemental to many Christian folktales...
, spirit or other sorcerer. Most writers tend to depict magic as an innate talent, equivalent to perfect pitch.
Magic as an innate talent
There is wide variation on how spontaneously a personMagician (fantasy)
A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
(or other being) with such a talent can use it. Randall Garrett
Randall Garrett
Randall Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a prolific contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s...
's Lord Darcy
Lord Darcy (fiction)
Lord Darcy is a detective in an alternate history, created by Randall Garrett. The first stories were asserted to take place in the same year as they were published, but in a world very different from our own.-Title character:...
series at one point depicts a toy that will gradually lose its enchantment and teach any talented child using it to perform the magic him or herself instead; it is used to test for the gift in children, in a process that takes months. Barbara Hambly
Barbara Hambly
Barbara Hambly is an award-winning and prolific American novelist and screenwriter within the genres of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction...
depicts a character in her Darwath series attempting to practice magic on hearing how it is done, and succeeding. Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
, like many young wizards in his universe, accidentally casts spells before he is taught to do it properly. The unicorn in The Last Unicorn
The Last Unicorn
The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel written by Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968. It has sold more than five million copies worldwide since its original publication, and has been translated into at least twenty languages....
possesses her magical abilities without any effort on her part, as do magical girl
Magical girl
belong to a sub-genre of Japanese fantasy anime and manga. Magical girl stories feature young girls with superhuman abilities, forced to fight evil and to protect the Earth. They often possess a secret identity, although the name can just refer to young girls who follow a plotline involving magic...
s in shōjo
Shojo
The term refers to manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10-18. The name romanizes the Japanese 少女 , literally: "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong...
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
; Those who use such spontaneously generated powers are usually not called magicians or similar terms, those being reserved usually for those who have to learn to wield magic (there are exceptions, such as Xanth
Xanth
Xanth is a fantasy world created by author Piers Anthony for his Xanth series of novels, also known as The Magic of Xanth.-History:The name Xanth is in itself an unintentional pun, which matches the playful tone of the books...
).
In some fantasies, magic is a natural trait to humans, such as in the Harry Potter books. Because of this, when two magicians have a baby, the child usually has the same or more powerful magic potential as his/her parents. Spontaneous magical abilities at birth to non-magical parents (known as Muggles in the Harry Potter universe) is also known to happen (i.e. Hermione Granger
Hermione Granger
Hermione Jean Granger is a fictional character and one of the three protagonists in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. She initially appears in the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, as a new student on her way to Hogwarts...
).
Magic acquired through studying
Such variation can sometimes occur within the same work. In Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest ChroniclesEnchanted Forest Chronicles
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is a series of four young adult fantasy novels by Patricia C. Wrede titled Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, and Talking to Dragons....
, wizards and magicians must study their magic, but a fire-witch can spontaneously generate phenomena without training. In Operation Chaos, a werewolf depends only on a light trigger to master his powers, but his wife, a witch, must study to acquire hers.
Talents that occur spontaneously frequently need training to work more than sporadically, or at major effects, or in a controlled manner — and sometimes all three. Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
, first hearing that he is a wizard, remembers occasional odd things that appeared to 'just happen'; school is necessary to cause them to take place at his intention, and to produce more complicated effects. Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
's Earthsea
Earthsea
Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for a further six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The...
novels, begun in 1964, and the 1960 children's novel The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes
Eleanor Estes
Eleanor Estes was an American children's author.She was born in West Haven, Connecticut as Eleanor Ruth Rosenfield.She worked as a children's librarian in New Haven, Connecticut, and New York....
were among the first to include a now-common fantasy trope: a school where magic is taught.
Magic bestowed by another
Besides innate talent and study, a third source of magic is having it bestowed upon one by another. Joy ChantJoy Chant
Joy Chant is the pen name of British fantasy writer Eileen Joyce Rutter . She is best known for her three novels on the House of Kendreth.-Works:...
's Red Moon and Black Mountain
Red Moon and Black Mountain
Red Moon and Black Mountain: the End of the House of Kendreth is a fantasy novel by Joy Chant, the first of three set in her world of Vandarei. It was first published in hardcover by George Allen & Unwin, London, in 1970. The first paperback edition was issued by Ballantine Books as the...
depicts several classes of witches and mages whose powers are divinely granted. Sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery
Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...
heroes may not only face sorcerers, but crazed cults where gods or demons give power to their followers. This concept gave rise to the cleric
Cleric (character class)
The Cleric, Priest, or Bishop is a character class in Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy role-playing games. The cleric is a healer, usually a priest and a holy warrior, originally modeled on or inspired by the Military Orders...
class in Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
, and is now very common in RPG
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
s.
Magic powers may also be gained through a Pact with the Devil
Pact with the Devil
A deal with the Devil, pact with the Devil, or Faustian bargain is a cultural motif widespread in the West, best exemplified by the legend of Faust and the figure of Mephistopheles, but elemental to many Christian folktales...
, or other trafficking with spirits, common in folklore. In some cases, the demon only provides the means for the would-be wizard to learn magic; conversely, the pact may be for the devil to do the magic on the wizard's behalf, but the wizard must have first studied magic in order to summon it, and in some versions, to compel it to act. The best-known modern example of this concept is probably the deal Mr. Norrell makes with the Fairy King in Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the 2004 first novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. An alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, it is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and...
, making it appear as if Norrell himself has raised someone from the dead, when in fact it was the Fairy King who did this at Norrell's request.
Color/element
In some settings, types of magic are divided either by color and/or element. Most settings tend to use red, blue, green, yellow, white and black magic if the magic is color-based, or fire, water, wind, earth, lightning, holy and evil magic if the magic is elemental, with additional colors and elements depending on the setting. Examples of this include the Magic: The GatheringMagic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
collectable card game and the Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy
is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
video game series.
Magic items
In some settings, magic items either endow the main characters with magical powers or have magical powers themselves, and are often used as plot devices or MacGuffinsMacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
, driving the plot of a story.
Lesser magical objects which do not affect or determine the plot are also common, (more so in role-playing games), to lend characters such abilities as they need. Besides the One Ring, The Lord of the Rings contained magic sword
Magic sword
The term magic sword refers to any kind of mythological or fictional sword imbued with magical power to increase its strength or grant it other supernatural qualities. The archetype originated in myth and legend, and occurs regularly in fantasy fiction....
s that did not determine the plot. Other noteworthy magical objects include the invisibility cloak
Invisibility Cloak
Invisibility Cloak may refer to:*Cloak of invisibility is a theme that has occurred in fiction.**Magical objects in Harry Potter#Invisibility Cloaks is the device in Harry Potter books....
in Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
and an array of magical items from Arabian Nights, including a magic carpet
Magic carpet
A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet that can be used to transport persons who are on it instantaneously or quickly to their destination.-In literature:...
.
Such items may be created by magicians or powerful beings; often they originate in the dim past, with no such items being possible at the present time in the story. Other fictional magical objects have no explained past, but again, the more clearly they can be described by the author, the more believable they will be to the reader.
Wands and staves often feature, usually in wizards' hands. The first magical wand appeared in the Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
, which was used by Circe
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...
to transform Odysseus's men into animals. Italian fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s put them into the hands of the powerful fairies by the late Middle Ages. These were transmitted to modern fantasy. Gandalf
Gandalf
Gandalf is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In these stories, Gandalf appears as a wizard, member and later the head of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West...
refused to surrender his staff in The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
, and breaking Saruman
Saruman
Saruman the White is a fictional character and a major antagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the tale, but later on aims at gaining...
's broke his power. One element of this is the need to limit a wizard, so that opposition to him (necessary for a story) is feasible; if the wizard loses his staff or wand (or other magic item on which he is dependent), he is weakened if not magically helpless. In the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
universe, most wizards can only perform weak and uncontrolled magic without a wand.
Use of language and names in magic
Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
's Earthsea novels feature a magic driven by words. She uses the concept of an original, primordial language by which the creators of the world originally named things. People who learn these names are able to control the things named, an ability shared by both the wizards who study the language, and the dragons whose native tongue it is.
Le Guin is using two concepts drawn from folklore, and now relatively common in fantasy literature. One is the notion of true name
True name
A true name is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature. The notion that language, or some specific sacred language, refers to things by their true names has been central to philosophical and grammatical study as well as various traditions of magic,...
s whereby a person's true name is a powerful magical weapon against them; this seldom applies to objects, but in works from Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
's The Magic Goes Away
The Magic Goes Away
The Magic Goes Away is a fantasy short story written by Larry Niven in 1976, and later expanded to a novella of the same name which was published in 1978...
to Andre Norton
Andre Norton
Andre Alice Norton, née Alice Mary Norton was an American science fiction and fantasy author under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston...
's Witch World
Witch World
The Witch World by Andre Norton is a long series of fantasy novels set in a parallel universe where magic works and, at the beginning of the series, is exclusively performed by women. The series combines many traits of high fantasy and sword and sorcery. It begins with what is now called the...
, wizards and witches keep their names secret to keep from their being used against them. In Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
, the Librarian hides his name to keep from being turned back to a man. This concept was also used in the episode The Shakespeare Code
The Shakespeare Code
"The Shakespeare Code" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 7 April 2007, and is the second episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series. According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.23 million viewers and was...
in the series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
.
Another is the use of a special language to cast spells. Many works — such as the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
novels, in which the spells are cast in a Latinate jargon — use this without offering an explanation. Patricia Wrede
Patricia Wrede
Patricia Collins Wrede is an American fantasy writer from Chicago, Illinois.The eldest of five children, she graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in Biology, married James Wrede in 1976 , and obtained an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977.She finished her first book in 1978,...
, in The Magician's Ward, described it as a technique to prevent power from overflowing the spell; Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
, in Operation Chaos, explained it as a natural consequence of the laws of similarity governing magic, because a magician can not produce extraordinary effects from ordinary language. Susan Cooper
Susan Cooper
Susan Mary Cooper is an English author best known for The Dark Is Rising, an award-winning five-volume saga set in and around England and Wales. The books incorporate traditional British mythology, such as Arthurian and other Welsh elements with original material ; these books were adapted into a...
's "The Dark is Rising" Sequence and Diane Duane
Diane Duane
Diane Duane is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Her works include the Young Wizards young adult fantasy series and the Rihannsu Star Trek novels.-Biography :...
's "Young Wizard" series also use special languages for magic. In Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini is an American author. He is best known as the author of the Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and Inheritance...
's books, the ancient language is used simply to define one's desire. It is possible, but more difficult, to use magic without the language. R. Scott Bakker
R. Scott Bakker
Richard Scott Bakker is a Canadian fantasy author. He grew up on a tobacco farm in the Simcoe area. In 1986 he attended the University of Western Ontario to pursue a degree in Literature and later an MA in Theory and Criticism...
's Prince of Nothing
Prince of Nothing
The Prince of Nothing is a series of three fantasy novels by the Canadian author R. Scott Bakker, first published in 2004, part of a wider series known as "The Second Apocalypse". This trilogy details the emergence of Anasûrimbor Kellhus, a brilliant monastic warrior, as he takes control of a holy...
series describes magic as requiring the user to speak one language string aloud while simultaneously thinking a separate and different language string, allowing the simultaneously apprehended meanings of both strings to reinforce each other and precisely define the result. Elric of Melniboné
Elric of Melniboné
Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by Michael Moorcock, and the antihero of a series of sword and sorcery stories centering in an alternate Earth. The proper name and title of the character is Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné...
studied since childhood many infinitely ancient languages and procedures in order to do spells, as well as the complex thought processes behind them. Ordinary humans and even some Melnibonéans cannot learn this style of magic—even the basics would render one insane.
Magical places
Sometimes, too, a place will have magic; perhaps a certain location is "close to the spirit realm" or there are residues from powerful spells once cast there, or a place is magical by nature, as in the case of an enchanted forestEnchanted forest
In literature, an enchanted forest is a forest under, or containing, enchantments. Such forests are described in the oldest folklore from regions where forests are common, and occur throughout the centuries to modern works of fantasy...
. Ancient battlefields may be haunted. When the battles were fought by magic, on civilizations erected by magic, the location can be dangerous indeed; in Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia Anne McKillip is an American author of fantasy and science fiction novels. Her novels have been winners of the World Fantasy Award, Locus Award and Mythopoeic Award. In 2008, she was a recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement...
's Riddle-Master trilogy, the ruins left behind by the powerful Earthmasters contain dangers. In the Crystal Cave
Crystal Cave
Crystal Cave may refer to:* Crystal Cave * Crystal Cave * Crystal Cave * Crystal Cave * Crystal Cave * Crystal Cave * Crystal Cave...
trilogy, some places are described as being frequented by gods, but at least one "enchanted" forest is simply the home of an ancient indigenous people who conceal themselves and repel invaders by what look like natural occurrences such as falling rocks. In Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, the country of Ireland is of great magical significance, being one of the most magical pieces of land in the world.
Such places are often the homes of powerful beings. The woods in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
is haunted by fairies, including Oberon and Titania, their king and queen. In Earthsea, the wizards hold their school on Roke Island; two places on the island, Roke Knoll
Roke Knoll
In Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series of novels, Roke Knoll is a hill near the center of the island of Roke, the headquarters of wizardry. It is a focus of magical power, being described as "a place where all things appear as they truly are" . They say the roots of the hill go all the way down to...
and Immanent Grove
Immanent Grove
The Immanent Grove is a fictional small grove of trees in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series of novels. The grove is located near the center of the island of Roke, the headquarters of wizardry, is a focus of magical power, and is attended by the Master Patterner.-Particulars:First appearing in the...
, are particularly conducive to extremely powerful magic. Lórien in Middle-earth
Middle-earth
Middle-earth is the fictional setting of the majority of author J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy writings. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place entirely in Middle-earth, as does much of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales....
was also a magical location, but its magic stemmed from the powers of those who lived there. This is true of other apparently magical locations in many fantasies, and in many more, it may not be clear whether a place is magic because of its inhabitants, or its inhabitants have chosen to live there because it was magic. Within one work, as in Andre Norton
Andre Norton
Andre Alice Norton, née Alice Mary Norton was an American science fiction and fantasy author under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston...
's Witch World
Witch World
The Witch World by Andre Norton is a long series of fantasy novels set in a parallel universe where magic works and, at the beginning of the series, is exclusively performed by women. The series combines many traits of high fantasy and sword and sorcery. It begins with what is now called the...
series, there may be all three types of apparently magical places.
One such magical place is Faerie or Elfland. Its location may not be fixed — in some cases it acts as a parallel world — but magic is both found and occurs there. Though it stems from folklore, it is found in such works of fantasy as Hope Mirrlees
Hope Mirrlees
Hope Mirrlees was a British translator, poet and novelist. She is best known for the 1926 Lud-in-the-Mist, a fantasy novel and influential classic, and for Paris: A Poem, a modernist poem which critic Julia Briggs deemed "modernism's lost masterpiece, a work of extraordinary energy and intensity,...
's Lud-in-the-Mist
Lud-in-the-Mist
Lud-in-the-Mist is the third of three novels by Hope Mirrlees, and the only one still in print . It continues the author's exploration of the themes of Life and Art, by a method already described in the preface of her first novel, Madeleine: One of Love's Jansenists : "to turn from time to time...
, or Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter
The King of Elfland's Daughter
The King of Elfland's Daughter is a 1924 fantasy novel written by Lord Dunsany. Written before the genre was named, it is considered to be among the pioneering works of modern fantasy. Its importance was recognized in its later revival in paperback by Ballantine Books as the second volume of the...
.
Limits to magic
In any given fantasy magical system, a person must have limits to his magical abilities, or the story has no conflict: the magic can overwhelm the other side. If the character is a deity or similar, limits may be entirely self imposed, like Simkin from the Darksword series.One of the most common techniques is that the person has only a limited amount of magical ability. In The Magic Goes Away
The Magic Goes Away
The Magic Goes Away is a fantasy short story written by Larry Niven in 1976, and later expanded to a novella of the same name which was published in 1978...
, Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
made it a factor of environment: once the mana is exhausted in an area, no one can use magic, and innately magical beings, such as centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...
s, die or lose their magical aspects, such as werewolves
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
, which revert to being entirely wolves. A more common use is that a person can only cast so many spells, or use an ability so many times, in a day, or use a measured amount of magic. This is the most common use in role-playing games, where the rules
Magic (gaming)
Some role-playing games or game systems can include a set of rules that are used to portray magic in the paranormal sense. These rules simulate the effects that magic would have within the game context, according to how the game designer intended the magic to be portrayed...
rigorously define them. Similarly, in Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan
Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. , under which he was best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Reagan O'Neal and Jackson O'Reilly.-Biography:Jordan was born in Charleston, South Carolina...
's The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time is a series of epic fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under the pen name Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, the length was increased by increments; at the time of Rigney's death, he expected it to be 12, but it will actually...
series, the One Power
One Power
In The Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan, the One Power is the force that maintains the continuous motion of the Wheel of Time. It comes from the True Source, and it is separated into two halves: saidin , the male half, and saidar , the female half. It is used in the series by people...
is limitless but each individual user can only channel a limited amount of it at any one time.
An alternative form of magical limitation provides theoretically unlimited power, but restricts what a user can do to what that user is capable of imagining, comprehending and understanding. In this scenario, magical ability may often be increased through scientific study of the world in order to better understand its working, something observed in The Belgariad
The Belgariad
The Belgariad is a five-book fantasy epic written by David Eddings.The series tells the story of the recovery of the Orb of Aldur and coming of age of Garion, an orphaned farmboy. Garion is accompanied by his aunt Polgara and grandfather Belgarath as they try to fulfill an ancient prophecy that...
by David Eddings
David Eddings
David Eddings was an American author who wrote several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels.-Biography:...
.
In Glen Cook
Glen Cook
Glen Cook is a contemporary American science fiction and fantasy author, best known for his fantasy series, The Black Company. Cook currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri.-Biography:...
's Black Company series, magic is a limitless power where the wizards are limited in their ability to use magic for fear of being used by a more powerful spell-caster. The most powerful of spell-casters can turn entire cliffs in magma and make storms that rain so hard men can't stand up as thus minor spell-casters limit themselves.
In Earthsea, magic is limited by a balance factor which requires the user to take into account the consequences and effects of what he does; a student of the arts soon finds out that the proper way to use magic is to do only what he must do. In The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time is a series of epic fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney, Jr., under the pen name Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, the length was increased by increments; at the time of Rigney's death, he expected it to be 12, but it will actually...
, heroes in theory gain access to an almost unlimited power source but in practice can only use a certain amount of it safely, the exact amount being different for each individual. Possessing certain items can increase the amount significantly.
Powers can also be restricted to a certain kind of ability. This is more common for innately magical beings than for those who have learned it. The person can be rendered defenseless by a situation to which his powers do not apply. For instance, if one is inside or underground the power to manipulate the weather is relatively useless.
Magic can also require various sacrifices. Blood or life can be required, and even if the magician has no scruples, obtaining the material may be difficult. Harmless substances can also limit the magician if they are rare, such as gemstones.
The need for learning may also limit what spells a wizard knows, and can cast. When magic is learned from rare and exotic books, the wizard's ability can be limited, temporarily, by his access to these books. In Earthsea, the changing of names weakens wizards as they travel; they must learn the true names of things in their new location to be powerful again.
Yet another theory of magic is that energy is taken from the spell-caster to power the spell itself, such as in the Inheritance Cycle
Inheritance Cycle
The Inheritance Cycle is a series of fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini. It was previously titled the Inheritance Trilogy until Paolini's announcement on October 30, 2007 that there would be a fourth book...
. Depending on how strong or advanced the spell is compared to the caster, the spell can cause weakness, fainting, or even death. Christopher Paolini says in the book Eragon
Eragon
Eragon is the first book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, who began writing at the age of 15. After writing the first draft for a year, he spent a second year rewriting it and fleshing out the story and characters. Paolini's parents saw the final manuscript and decided to...
, magic is limited by the energy of your body.
Magic may also be limited not so much inherently as by its danger. If a powerful spell can cause equally grave harm if miscast, wizards are likely to be wary of using it. One example of this is Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
's The Dying Earth
The Dying Earth
The Dying Earth is a 1950 collection of fantasy short stories by author Jack Vance. It is the first book in the Dying Earth series. It was nominated for the Retro Hugo in 2001.-Stories:*Turjan of Miir*Mazirian the Magician*T'sais...
novels, in which even one little slip of the tongue in reciting one the vocal elements (called "pervulsions" in the novels) of the incantations of the spells could dramatically change the effect from the desired outcome. In the case of Cugel the Clever, he finds himself seized in the claws of a demon, and carried thousands of miles across an impassable sea to a place where he tried to escape from earlier in the story.
Many characters that work with magic are limited to using wands or staffs (as mentioned above). Harry Potter is, as well as the wizards in Dealing with Dragons
Dealing with Dragons
Dealing with Dragons is a young adult fantasy novel written by Patricia C. Wrede, in which the princess Cimorene escapes her tediously ordinary family to be a dragon's princess. It is the first book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles series....
by Patricia C. Wrede
Patricia Wrede
Patricia Collins Wrede is an American fantasy writer from Chicago, Illinois.The eldest of five children, she graduated from Carleton College in 1974 with a BA in Biology, married James Wrede in 1976 , and obtained an MBA from University of Minnesota in 1977.She finished her first book in 1978,...
.
Various genres
In science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
plots (especially the "hard" variety), while magic tends to be avoided, often extraordinary facts are portrayed that do not have a scientific basis and are not explained in that fashion. In these cases the reader might find it useful to remember Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
's "Third Law": Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Psionics
Psionics
Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche.-History and terminology:...
is often used to endow science fictional characters with abilities, which, if they were called "magic", would make the story fantasy. Many stories deliberately or inadvertently equate magic with psychic ability; others, such as Mary Stewart's Merlin novels or the Valdemar series of Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes "Misty" Lackey is a best-selling American author of fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar...
, distinguish between the two. Lackey carefully delineates the differences between "mages", who use magic, and "heralds", who have paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
powers, and the types of training required.
Magic has been portrayed in numerous games
Magic (gaming)
Some role-playing games or game systems can include a set of rules that are used to portray magic in the paranormal sense. These rules simulate the effects that magic would have within the game context, according to how the game designer intended the magic to be portrayed...
, in which magic is a characteristic available to players in certain circumstances.
Sorcerers and sorcery are a staple of Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
wuxia
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
fiction and are dramatically featured in many martial arts movies (for example the Jutsu
Jutsu (Naruto)
In the anime and manga series Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto, a refers to the abilities ninja can use. The series occurs in a fictional universe in which different countries fight for power using ninja soldiers. The Naruto storyline follows a group of young ninja from the village of Konohagakure...
has supernatural effects, but with some scientific properties).
It is possible to say that The Force
Force (Star Wars)
The Force is a binding, metaphysical and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy created by George Lucas. Mentioned in the first film in the series, it is integral to all subsequent incarnations of Star Wars, including the expanded universe of comic books, novels, and...
from Star Wars canon is a type of magic, with Jedi
Jedi
The Jedi are characters in the Star Wars universe and the series's main protagonists. The Jedi use a power called the Force and weapons called lightsabers, which emit a controlled energy flow in the shape of a sword, in order to serve and protect the Republic and the galaxy at large from conflict...
and Sith
Sith
-Sith:The Sith is a name applied to certain characters in the Star Wars universe. In the films they are the central antagonists. They are capable of using the dark side of the Force.-The Invention of the Sith:...
being seen as wizards and sorcerers. Obi-wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is one of several primary characters in the Star Wars series. Along with Darth Vader, R2-D2, and C-3PO, he is one of the few major characters to appear in all six Star Wars films...
is referred to at least once, in Episode IV: A New Hope, as a "wizard", and later in that movie an Imperial officer refers to Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
's "sorcerer's ways". Interestingly, the Sith have their own ability, called Sith magic, that they conjure in the form of spells. This is sometimes used in counjunction with their own brand of alchemy. It is similar to real life maleficium
Maleficium (sorcery)
Maleficium is a Latin term meaning "wrongdoing" or "mischief" and is used to describe malevolent, dangerous, or harmful magic, "evildoing" or "malevolent sorcery"...
.
In the Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist
, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution...
franchise, alchemy adopts the role magic traditionally takes in fantasy fiction. Just as certain laws govern the practice of magic, the same applies to the practice of alchemy. In order to carry out its function alchemy requires a payment of equal value. This limiting factor of alchemy is known as the "Law of Equivalent Exchange". The Philosopher's Stone is believed to allow an alchemist the power to bypass this law and is comparable to powerful magical items prevalent in other works of fantasy fiction.
See also
- Magician (fantasy)Magician (fantasy)A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
- Magic (Discworld), magic in Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
's Discworld series. - Magic (Earthsea), magic in the Earthsea series.
- Magic (Harry Potter), magic in the Harry Potter series.
- MagicMagic (Middle-earth)Magic, here defined as mystical, paranormal, or supernatural activity, appear in various forms in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional realm of Middle-earth.-Laws of nature:...
in the works of J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
. - Final Fantasy magic, having to do with the Final FantasyFinal Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy role-playing video games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series of video games. - Kidō, magic in the BleachBleach (manga)is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Noriaki "Tite" Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki...
animeAnimeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
and mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series. - Magic in the Bartimaeus trilogy (Jonathan StroudJonathan StroudJonathan Anthony Stroud is an author of fantasy books, mainly for children and young adults.-Biography:Born in 1970 in Bedford, England, Stroud began to write stories at a very young age. He grew up in St Albans where he enjoyed reading books, drawing pictures, and writing stories...
's series). - Magic in Negima, an anime/manga series.
- Magic of Dungeons & Dragons.
- List of genres
External links
- John Grant and John CluteJohn CluteJohn Frederick Clute is a Canadian born author and critic who has lived in Britain since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part of science fiction's history."...
, The Encyclopedia of FantasyThe Encyclopedia of FantasyThe Encyclopedia of Fantasy is a 1997 reference work on fantasy, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scott Rohan, Brian Stableford and Lisa Tuttle.The book was well-received upon... - Philip Martin, ed., The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragon's Lair to Hero's Quest, ISBN 0-87116-195-8
- Lawrence Watt-EvansLawrence Watt-EvansLawrence Watt-Evans is one of the pseudonyms of American science fiction and fantasy author Lawrence Watt Evans...
, "Watt-Evans' Laws of Fantasy", Starlog - Patricia C. Wrede, "Magic and Magicians", Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions