Stories where magic is just hard work and studying

Cafe Society
21

In Mercedes’s Lackey’s Valdemar setting while most mages are “Gifted” mages who can directly perceive and control magic, in theory anyone with the training, will and a concentration of magic can control it. The problem is that the easiest way for someone to generate a concentration of magic who is blind to it is human sacrifice, so most unGifted mages are “blood mages”.

In the Frontier Magic series by Patricia Wrede not only can anyone learn magic, nearly everyone does. It’s literally an elementary school subject, like basic arithmetic. Some people are much better than others but the only people who doesn’t use it do so for ideological reasons, not because they can’t.

22

Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt was a comic book where local infants got raised at the monastery; one kid eventually got declared to be mankind’s once-again-reincarnated champion, and — after studying the sacred scrolls as generations of predecessors had — he ventured out into the world to play all-grown-up superhero.

When DC got the rights to the character, they did a yearlong series with the last-issue twist that, no, the previous hero had only just now dropped dead; Peter hadn’t been that guy’s reincarnation, he’d simply (a) studied those scrolls, and so (b) learned the “mystic arts” of picking up memories at a crime scene rather than bothering with detective work, and mentally tossing foes around without having to physically nail judo-style throws, and hypnotically broadcasting emotion to defuse situations instead of mundanely talking stuff out.

23

As I remember it, Judith Tarr’s “Ars Magica” was historical fiction set around 960AD and magic was just a thing you learned. Heretical and forbidden but more adjacent to alchemy & astronomy than requiring any sort of special Chosen One mojo.

24

I always liked Robert Asprin’s MYTH series because, even though the main character does have an innate ability to do magic (but, as I recall, not at any special level) it’s really more about:

  1. Piecing together small, fairly powerless spells paired with trickery to pull off large feats.
  2. Self-promotion and bluffing.

But he does become better and more capable, within the actual realm of magic, as he studies and learns.

25

An Older Than Steam - TV Tropes example is the legend of Faust. He gains the knowledge of how to work magic from the demon Mephistopheles, which is mostly how to bribe, cajole or coerce spirits plus some applied alchemy.

26

IIRC, he eventually takes on an apprentice that (a) he’d thought had been showing off the fruits of ‘innate ability’ labor, but, no, she (b) had only ever been making use of magic rings or magic bracelets, plus maybe a magic belt or whatever. But he figures that he’s capable of starting from scratch with her, and she really gets to work on relaxing her way to magikal results — as instructed — as if the whole thing is pretty much just a matter of meditation techniques.

27

In anime and manga I see quite a few schools for magic, which implies a hard work aspect. Whether anyone can potentially practice magic in the world varies.

28

In Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber, a husband discovers his wife is performing magic to protect him and after he wrecks her spells, learns the principles of magic and uses magic to protect the both of them.

29

I mean, you don’t need to look any further than Hogwarts for that. But it’s still only for the Special People, not for muggles.

30

And, they require extreme effort to discover, and quite some effort to memorise.

31

Hogwarts and D&D are 2 big influences in manga/anime. Lots of properties have characters who specialize in one type of magic or another. Often the magical system is kind of vauge. The following is non-definitive, corrections welcome.

Full Metal Alchemist - Magic is treated a lot like technology, following from first principles. Anyone can do it I guess, though alchemy is a specialty practiced by few.

Frieren - some is intuitive, some follows logic. I don’t know of any limitations regarding who can cast it.

Hunter x Hunter: You are taught how to use Nen if you pass a ridiculously difficult and competitve test.

Fairy Tail - not sure, I think it’s inborn though. It’s not clearly stated, but over at Reddit one poster opined: “People learn it, this is shown throughout the show, tho some people will have more of a natural affinity for it.” Might this be a default?

One Piece - eat a devil fruit, get a power and a downside.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure - meet a stand (supernatural being) and he becomes your familiar, gain powers.

Naruto - some have more potential than others. I have the sense that some magic (ninjitsu) is open to most, though 2 characters have zero magical potential.

The Last Avatar - can all members of the water-bending tribe bend water? Ditto for other 3 elements.

Ok, I’m a Spider, So What? I think you need a skill and mana to put into it. The world is gamified: you gain skills by doing stuff. I’m not sure how much magic a peasant would pick up.

Flying Witch, Ancient Magus’ Bride - definitely born into it.

Death Note - find a death notebook, win a death god who follows you around; keep the magic notebook.

A Certain Magical Index. From fandom: “In contrast to espers who have only one ability that is decided by birth, magicians can create many supernatural phenomena without restrictions, but they have to take the time and effort. Additionally, all forms of magic are based around a certain ideological premise. This kind of premise can originate from almost anything culturally narrative including religions, belief systems, mythologies, or even folklore and fairy tales”. I think it’s potentially open to all, though, “A normal person will suffer more severe consequences than a magician if they fail,” and some lack magical power. IOW they fudge the issue, not unusual.

32

And D&D-esque magic, which has to be prepared in advance and is erased from the caster’s mind after use (with the exception of sorcerors, who use a different spellcasting mechanic and are much easier to play IMO), is based on Jack Vance’s Dying Earth stories.

33

There’s a bunch of LitRPGs like that where all sorts of physical feats often including ordinary tasks are explicitly powered and enhanced by magic. And there’s a lot of other “mystic martial arts” settings where people can get powers by some variation on “focusing their ki” and it mostly comes down to dedication and skill.

34

Not all members of the water tribe can bend water: Katura was the last waterbender at the South Pole, because the Fire Nation had been systematically hunting down waterbenders for generations. Bending aptitude is certainly very common overall, given that the Fire Nation is able to field entire armies composed entirely of benders, but it definitely also requires an inherent aptitude, as evidenced by the fact that nobody but the Avatar can bend more than one element.

With two caveats: First, D&D hasn’t used that system for nearly two decades (4th Edition came out in 2008, and we’re now on a revised version of 5th Edition). And second, even in Vance’s stories, the really powerful wizards basically just ignored all of the restrictions.

35

That said: in the current system, can’t someone (a) who otherwise has no special abilities (b) take the Ritual Caster feat — instead of, say, the Tavern Brawler feat — for to learn and cast spells?

36

In Lovecraft’s mythos, magic is doable by anyone who has the knowledge (see The Dunwich Horror, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.)

37

One I haven’t seen mentioned is The Luck of Relian Cru by Paula Volsky. If you like Vance you’ll likely like this, although some of the characters are obnoxious.

38

I’ve been reading translated stories about magic on Kindle Unlimited, and the cultural tropes are sort of interesting. In Eastern stories, magic is usually gate-kept by schools and sects: anyone can learn, but not everyone can get in.

In Russian stories, it’s hereditary and restricted to the upper classes; a peasant’s magic journey typically involves trying to find out whose bastard you are because ain’t no way some peasant has the gift.

Western stories tend to lean towards blind luck giving someone the ability, or schools follow the Magicians’ rip-off of the SATs for magic where you test to get in. I prefer the Rivers of London style: anyone can do magic, but without proper instruction you’ll likely kill yourself.

39

Sure. A barbarian can also multiclass into wizard, if they want to. The fact that muticlassing even exists is proof that anyone can choose to learn how to be a spellcaster if they want to.

40

Well, maybe. There’s some ambiguity as to which player choices are also character choices. Sorcery, for instance, explicitly does come from something innate, such as having a dragon somewhere in your family tree. A player can choose to play a dragon-descended character, just like they can choose to play an elf, but the character themself can’t choose to be descended from a dragon.