The Genie in Disney’s Aladdin had phenomenal cosmic powers, but he could not be made to kill someone, make somebody fall in love with another person, or to grant additional wishes.
Oh, and his living space was uncomfortably small.
The entire plot of The Covenant is based on the premise that the Sons of Ipswich (after the age of 18) have near-unlimited magical power, but are aged (or irreversibly worn out, I’m not entirely clear) a bit every time they use it.
In the Dragon and the George series of novels, the main limitations on magic are: First, that to really be any good at it you pretty much sacrifice all other considerations in your life, which most people just aren’t prepared to do. And second, that any use of magic involves Messing With The Order Of Things, as enforced by The Powers That Be. You have to have not so much the power to perform magic as what might be termed the right to do it, and any major use of magic involves incurring a serious debt of karma to the PTB. Magic is the equivalent of an eight-year old borrowing Dad’s power tools- you have to really, really be in good graces to even attempt it.
Good questions for which I only have a reasonable fanwank for Black. He can configure the lines in any pattern he wishes but never the exact same pattern twice. So he can make a line into the shape of say a house twice but the way he “draws” it has to be different.
Extra wishes was forbidden by implied logic- three wishes means three wishes. The third explicit limitation was raising the dead.
Wizards in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld have to be celibate; sex drains their power. (At least, that’s the official reasoning; the plot of Sourcery suggests this is merely a cover for an entirely different rationale.)
I’ve gotten the impression that the Discworld books between The Light Fantastic and Mort have more or less been dumped down the memory hole as far as influence on modern Discworld. We have never seen Esk since Equal Rites…the only thing that survives that book is Granny Weatherwax (thank the gods!). Nothing from Sourcery really followed through after. And he’s long since stopped actually having the gods as actual characters. We haven’t been privy to the doings at Dunmanifestin in a long time.
Yeah, but Genie said that he didn’t like having zombies walk around. This suggests that he could raise the dead if he wanted to do so.
Check out The Last Hero.
I’m way behind on Tiffany Aching. I think the only one I read was Hatful of Sky. I might need to remedy that.
Ah, off-formats. I might need to get that out of the library, too. I was under the impression that it wasn’t really in continuity.
Replace Hatful of Sky with Wee Free Men above…
The Fairly OddParents. Timmy has essentially unlimited magical power at his command, but he is constrained in what he may do with it by Da Rules.
Heck, why not include the Highlander immortals, who can fight anywhere but holy ground, limitation unexplained.
Diane Duane’s wizards in the ‘So You Want to be a Wizard’ series. They answer to the Powers That Be. Their collective job is to slow down entropy as much as possible. This means not harming others as much as possible except as a last resort.
I got the impression that Genie could raise people as zombies, but full Christ-like resurrection was beyond his abilities. Thus, if Aladdin told Genie, “I wish that my parents were raised from the dead,” the results wouldn’t quite be what Aladdin was hoping for.
As I recall, in the Recluce novels, the limitation on magic is that both Chaos and Order magic increase the about of chaos/disorder/entropy; a form of pollution. Plus, Chaos is limited in that the results are, no surprise, chaotic.
In the Chalion novels, demon sorcery is limited by the nature of demons; they are pure disorder, and can’t create order. “The cost is always higher than the prize.” Part of the trick to using it safely is to always ensure that the result you intend is one of net disorder; otherwise, the demon will need to create that disorder somewhere you don’t intend, such as yourself.
One limitation to Discworld magic is that overuse risks tearing open a rift to the Dungeon dimensions, and having the Things there destroy reality.
I can’t recall the name of the story, but I recall a short story where the limitation of magic - and why it never caught on - is that using it attracts the attention of nasty entities that can’t perceive non-magic users. They can be held off using magic - which then attracts more and even nastier critters. Who can be held off by yet stronger magic, which in turn attracts even nastier critters, and so on in a never ending spiral inevitably ending in death or worse. Which is why you don’t see any magicians.
In the Jeremy Moon novels by Brad Strickland, magic is cast simply by saying what you want to happen with intent that it happen - but each combination of words only works once, for anyone, anywhere. So by now, spells require an enormous number of words to cast a spell, because all the simple combinations have been used centuries ago. Jeremy, from our world, is a very powerful wizard for the simple reason that he speaks English, a language not spoken in that world.
In the Spellsong Cycle, sorcery ( cast by singing ) has several limitations. It requires you to be able to sing, for one. It’s physically very draining, and can easily exhaust or kill you; one result being that women, with their superior endurance are stronger in sorcery than men, and a bigger and younger sorceress is potentially stronger that a smaller or older one. Plus, they need to eat a lot, have reduced fertility, and a pregnant sorceress is much weaker in sorcery. Any spellsong with a continuous effect is a constant drain.
Also, song sorcery comes in two types; Darksong and Clearsong. Darksong, usually also considered evil, affects living or formerly living things; Clearsong affects the unliving. The problem is, Darksong creates a backlash, one that gets progressively worse each time you indulge. Too much can kill.
In the Guardians of the Flame series, magic is limited by being progressively addictive. The more you practice, the more varieties you can use and the stronger you become in it; but use too much of it, and you will become an addict to it, and uninterested in anything but learning more and more of it. There are wizards strong enough to sink continents, but all they usually do is concentrate on stuffing ever larger amounts of magic in their heads.
Apparently, according to Watcher legend, the last time the rule was broken was 24 August 79 AD. Somewhere in Italy. So there is an explanation, if not a complete one.
In classic AD&D, wizards can’t wear armour. One standard explanation is that it affects the carrying out of the somatic component. Although that doesn’t explain why elven multiclass wizards could get away with leather or elven chain…
In the al-Qadim Arabian Nightesque AD&D setting, one class of magicians , sha’ir, gain their spells by dealing with genies. This makes facility at personal interaction and charisma a limitation for them, especially as they get more powerful.
Sort of like this movie.
And yet the love potion accidentally administered to Ron, and the magical effects of the veela.
And, as far as information, the people in the magical pictures in Dumbledore’s office were often being sent off to communicate to others, the use of magical owls, the flying memos in the Ministry of Magic, the prophecies, etc.
Leprechaun gold is only temporary, which I suppose is the qualification for all or most of these - the love potion wore off, as did the effect of the veela.
Regards,
Shodan
Communication does not equal information. You can’t create information through magic, but you can create communication channels. Love potions create the temporary effect of the illusion of love, they do not create love. Veela do not create love, they incite lust. Magically enhanced lust, but still not love. Not quite the same thing.