# Any magical...\*guns,\* in fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637 "2003-09-14T22:52:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/41 "2003-09-16T00:02:22Z")
**Annie-Xmas and Baggins111** Thanks for the answer !!! I had a feeling someone on the SDMB would know it. I will sleep easier tonight. Thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/42 "2003-09-16T00:33:47Z")
I’m with **Horseflesh** on Mary Gentle’s [‘Grunts’](http://brian.carnell.com/articles/2000/11/000067.html) . Pretty good too, especially when the guns can be stopped with a simple ‘stop normal weapons’ cantrip and the orcs counters it by wearing ‘dogtags’ that has spell immunities! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/43 "2003-09-16T05:50:23Z")
In _Star Wars: The New Jedi Order_ series: Shadow-bombs-only Jedi can use these. They’re proton torpedos that are fired using the Force. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/44 "2003-09-16T05:53:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Wel, in the Simpsons, Homer created a shotgun that could turn a woman from common housewife to whore in .2 seconds. Don’t know if that counts as “magic”, but it is rather impressive. It was just a makeup gun. ---
**Author:** ![Shiva418](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Shiva418](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiva418)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/45 "2003-09-16T12:15:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Death \* > \*\*It’s not magical in any of the Cornelius books I read. > \*\* It’s been a **long** time since I read the Cornelius books, but wasn’t the needle gun a lesser manifestation of the Black Sword? It is, however, entirely possible that I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/46 "2003-09-16T13:38:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Orbifold \* > **They never did explain why you couldn’t enchant the gun itself to make it aim better, but obviously the game designers just didn’t want street samurai running around with +3 Uzis.** Darn it, they should at **least** allow the players to have a +3 vorpal Uzi of sharpness! ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/47 "2003-09-16T17:59:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by boobah \* > \*\*Terry Pratchett’s _Men at Arms_ > > There is a “gonne” that evidently can control whoever holds it, forcing them to kill. The “Gonne” was the villain of the piece. Don’t know if that’s magical, or anthropomorphism. \*\* I didn’t see it like that at all. I just thought the Gonne imbued its carrier with a great sense of power that made him go off his hinges slightly. Being able to sit at the top of the Tower of Art and pick people off at a whim must be a huge rush. I _think_ that’s what Terry tried to get through, not magic. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/48 "2003-09-16T19:56:01Z")
> [@](#): > > The caster pistol (from Outlaw Star) probably also qualifies–or maybe its ammo does. I’m pretty sure the Caster gun itself is magical. As the name suggests, Casters cast spells. “To maximize the power of the little mana left. A technique to place spells into cartridges was developed. that’s what brought about the Casters.” This was all explained on the show, but Cartoon Network never showed that episode. ---
**Author:** ![cblackhand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@cblackhand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cblackhand)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/49 "2003-09-16T22:52:11Z")
In Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians of the Flame\* series the main characters are transported to a magical world, which was actually an RPG setting created by the author for that setting. There they eventually create black powder rifles. To counter them the antagonists create a rifle that uses magically created powdered superheated steam, add water and instant explosion. - Not a very good series, but I was and still am a fantasy geek. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/50 "2003-09-16T22:52:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Priceguy \* > \*\*I didn’t see it like that at all. I just thought the Gonne imbued its carrier with a great sense of power that made him go off his hinges slightly. Being able to sit at the top of the Tower of Art and pick people off at a whim must be a huge rush. I _think_ that’s what Terry tried to get through, not magic. \*\* I think it was both. Things that cause strong emotions in the real world are magically amplified when they slip into the Discworld. “Hollywood magic” really _was_ magic in _Moving Pictures_, for example. So the power rush one (supposedly) gets from holding a gun is magically transmuted into actual bloodlust on the Disc. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/51 "2003-09-16T23:03:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shiva418 \* > \*\*It’s been a **long** time since I read the Cornelius books, but wasn’t the needle gun a lesser manifestation of the Black Sword? It is, however, entirely possible that I’m wrong. \*\* I think you are - even though Jerry’s brother Frank possesses an identical gun just as Elric’s cousin Yyrkoon held Mournblade, that whole story was meant to be a parallel to the sack of Imrryr. The only mention I recall of the needlegun in connection with the Black Sword is in one of Erekose’s nightmare sequences, where it’s included in a list of weapons that the Champion has wielded because there is no other way. However, the point there was not that the Champion is fated to wield the Sword (which isn’t true anyway; I can name at least two incarnations who didn’t, maybe more) but that the Champion is fated to fight. The list also includes several weapons that definitely are not the Black Sword, including a bomb and a flamelance. That reminds me; the Hawkmoon novels have several weapons that might qualify as guns, such as flamelances and Kalan’s acid cannon, and in the Corum novels the Vadhagh have weapons which kill at a distance when you depress the trigger. Does anyone think they should be counted? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/52 "2003-09-17T00:32:55Z")
“If all of you in the audience who truly believe in fairies clap their hands, then my gun will be magically filled with bullets.” -_What’s Up, Tiger Lily?_ ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/53 "2003-09-17T06:38:49Z")
**Miller** , you have a good point. ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/54 "2003-09-17T09:48:55Z")
Just throwing my 2 cents in…not sure if magical per se, but very famous… 1. the captains sidearm - wasn’t that heinlein? or was it part of the Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy? 2. DeLameter - made famous in E.E. Doc Smith lore… 3. Shadowrun - I thought there was a powerful gun that shot tiny little anti matter particles in bullets “encased” in a magnetic field - field broke and KABLAMO! No more bad guy… 4. Chuck Conners in the Rifleman series…that was magic…(albeit movie magic) 5. Wave Motion Gun in StarBlazers anime series…? 6. Bad “B” movie called “Looker” where they shot you with a light gun that made you comatose / paralyzed for 15 minutes or so… That’s it off the top of my head… D. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/55 "2003-09-17T11:19:42Z")
cblackhand stole my post! I was just about to mention those. And I agree, not a great series. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/56 "2003-09-17T22:24:25Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. the captains sidearm - wasn’t that heinlein? or was it part of the Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy? Could you be a little more specific, here? Every officer carries a sidearm, and I don’t remember any particularly remarkable sidearms in any of Heinlein’s books (certainly not in any of the Hitchhiker books). And by the way, Natty Bumpo made remarkable shots even without his famed rifle Killdeer (as, for example, when he’s proving his identity in _Last of the Mohicans_), and Killdeer did fail on occasion (it misfired in a shooting competition in _The Pioneers_). So if there’s magic involved there, it’s in Natty, not his gun. But it is a pretty darn good gun. ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/57 "2003-09-18T01:56:53Z")
There’s a cursed arquebus, (I think, or maybe musket) called Bane’s Adder in the Ravenloft D&D setting. (Forged of Darkness supplement.) I’m away from home so I can’t look up the powers/curse right now. There are also magic bullets for regular flintlock/wheelock pistols and muskets in the new Ravenloft DMG that basically work like magic arrows (flaming burst, shocking, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/58 "2003-09-19T07:43:27Z")
Well…not sure if it was Heinlein…but it was called “The Captain’s Sidearm” (all caps)…it’s in a SF book…just can’t remember the story… This ring a bell for anyone? Heinlein? I know it was a space / adventurer type book… D. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/59 "2003-09-19T10:19:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Setup: a band of orcs raid a dragon’s treasure hoard. Said dragon “collects” weapons from many different parallel worlds. Orcs take a fancy to 20th century infantry type weapons. Unbeknownst to them, the weaponry they steal slowly transforms them into a well-oiled U.S. Marine-type company. Nitpick: The transformation is almost instantaneous. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637/60 "2003-09-19T10:48:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*Lazy Guns were the first things I thought of. On the other hand, it’s speculated that those guns are sentient and work on the basis of scale: If you shoot a human target with it, the gun might cause an anvil to coalesce above his head and squish him. A larger target requires something more extravagent. \*\* The lazy guns worked more on the basis of a very wicked sense of humour. They’d often destroy in the most ironically apt way. Can’t get more magic than that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-magical-guns-in-fiction/201637.md?page=4)