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{{trope}}
[[File:200px-RonBrokenWand.jpg|link=Harry Potter (
{{quote|Beastmaster: ''"I summon... ah... ah... [sneezes]!!!"''
A'Chuu: ''"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!!!!!"''
|[[Stop Poking Me|"Annoyed"]] quote, Beastmaster, [[Warcraft]] III}}
The '''Inept Mage''' is not a charlatan or fraud; he actually does have the ability to do Real Magic. However, he lacks finesse. His spells [[Magic Misfire|frequently backfire, producing an effect other than he intended]]. This can be a source of comedy.
This differs from [[How Do I Shot Web?]] in that the Inept Mage understands the theory, but can't make it work in practice. Also, [[How Do I Shot Web?]] is usually temporary while the Inept Mage usually remains inept. Quite often, though, an Inept Mage will have moments of [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] when things he tries ''finally'' go off without a hitch, in spectacular fashion, in a critical moment, reminding characters and audience both why they're there.
{{examples|Examples}}▼
See also [[Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot]] for the most common usage.
== Anime & Manga ==▼
== [[Advertising]] ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Str8GOl-iYA&ab_channel=VintageTVCommercials This old commercial] for Dominos Pizza. The Noid is "a wicked wizard", who of course, ends up zapping himself with his magic.
* Chacha from the manga and anime ''[[Akazukin Chacha]]''.
* Louie of ''[[Rune Soldier Louie]]''.
* Early in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Negi Springfield himself appears to be one of these, until it is revealed that {{spoiler|the target of his spells has an [[Anti
** Negi's father is an interesting case in that he is considered one of the most powerful mages of all times, but he just needed to bring spark notes into battle to remember how to do his spells.
* ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]''. "Ojamajo" is a [[Portmanteau]] of the words for "clumsy" and "[[Cute Witch|witch]]".
* Lufa from ''[[Dragon Half]]''. No, dragons do ''not'' attract lightning.
* Louise from ''[[
* Sae Sawanoguchi from ''[[
* Nina Sakura in ''[[Ultra Maniac]]'' is one of these. Eventually it is revealed in the manga that {{spoiler|this is because her magic potenital is so ''high'' that any magic she casts is over powered and thus messes up, she just needs specialist training.}}
* Koyomi of ''[[Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou]]'' knows ''one'' spell. She can turn a spell into a falling washpan. ''Any'' spell, belonging to anybody. A cantrip, a fireball, a nuke, a [[MacGuffin]].... Yeah, once the implications are realized, the other mages see her usefulness, although she doesn't quite realize what a [[Game Breaker]] she has.
* In ''[[The Slayers]]'', the abundantly competent white-magic user Shilfiel tries her hand at black magic to balance out her repetoire and be more useful in combat. She's so woefully incompetent at this (her spell creates a {{spoiler|magic carrot}}) that Zelgadis later asks her to cast the spell for him, relying on her inability to make it harmful, since he wants to use it to snap a teammate out of their trance.
** Subverted in the second season, when {{spoiler|she uses the Dragon Slave against Phibrizzo, and later says she learned it to be more like Lina so she could travel with Gourry}} proving that she has no inherent weakness in offensive magic, is just
* Urd from ''[[Ah
** And Lind is a very powerful, very skilled goddess ... except in one area. Don't ask her to use her magic to '''repair''' anything: the results struck [[Even Evil Has Standards|even Hell's CEO Hild with horror]].
* England from ''[[
* In the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', Mana, a young sorceress whose ''ka'' eventually became Dark Magician Girl. She even admits to Yugi that "she's only half a magician, because only half my spells actually work!" Granted, she is at the time only an apprentice, her mentor Mahad being far more powerful.
* Shera and Rem from ''[[How Not to Summon a Demon Lord]]''. The plot of the story is kicked off when they attempt to summon a demon, only to draw Sakamoto into their world from out, placing Sakamoto in the body of the character he uses in a MMORPG. As if that's not bad enough, their attempt to place a [[Slave Collar]] on him backfires, placing collars on themselves and making them ''his'' slaves. Much to his chagrin. In short, they give a quick lesson on [[Title Drop|how not to summon a demon lord]], although they ''do'' get better.
* Megumin of ''[[Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o!]]'' can cast one spell, a powerful explosion, and can only do that '''once''' per day (early on even that [[Cast From Hit Points|knocks her out]]).
== [[Comic Books]] ==
== Comics ==▼
* The hero of [[Kurt Busiek]]'s ''The Wizard's Tale'' is fearfully inept, partly because he knows he is supposed to be evil and can't pull it off.
* Mongo Iron-Hand from ''[[The Warlord]]''.
* In ''[[
* [[Donald Duck]] in the early issues of ''[[Wizards of Mickey]]'', which gets him in trouble with someone he owed money too and tried to get out of the deal by turning spoons into gold. But it turns out his magic does work, but is slow acting.
== [[Film]] ==
* Mickey Mouse in the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of ''[[Fantasia]]''. As the Apprentice, he uses the Sorcerer's magic hat to cast a spell on a broom, bringing it to life and having it fill a cistern with water, but quickly discovers he can't turn the spell off, and the Sorcerer's house starts to flood...
== Films -- Animation ==▼
* From the film ''[[Krull]]'': Ergo the Magnificent, whose transformation spells always affect himself regardless of who he aims them at. Good thing he has a spell to turn someone into a ''tiger''...
* Mr. Magorium's magic went all wonky {{spoiler|near the end of his life}} in the film version of ''
== [[Literature]] ==
* Schmendrick, from ''[[The Last Unicorn (
* Questor Thews, from the ''[[Magic Kingdom of Landover]]'' novels.
* Neville Longbottom from the ''[[Harry Potter (
** Ronald Weasley is rendered fairly inept for much of ''[[Harry Potter and
** A similar thing happens to Harry in ''The Deathly Hallows''.
** Gilderoy Lockhart may count: [[Crippling Overspecialization|The only thing he seems to be good at]] is memory charms, though it's never revealed whether he's naturally inept at everything else or if he just decided at some point that he could get by on that and his natural charisma alone. (And he very nearly did, [[Scooby Doo|if it hadn't been for]] [[You Meddling Kids|those meddling kids]].)
* ''[[
** Rincewind is a borderline case. By all rights he is a proper wizard: he can see octarine, see Death, detect magic, and act as a magical lightning rod just like all other wizards. Thing is, he can't actually preform any spells, because during his short time at Unseen University he read one of the eight spells that created the universe, which made itself at home in his head and ruined his chances of ever learning any other spells. He actually does say it (along with the other seven) at the end of the second book, but apparently his ineptitude for magic was permanent.
** Magrat Garlick's magical skill can impress even Granny Weatherwax, but she tends to have problems getting it to do what she wants, because she's caught up in the romantic image of magic, with the mystical runes and what not.
* Fizban the Fabulous in the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' books, although [[God Was My Co
** Ditto his [[Expy]], Zifnab, in ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'' by the same authors. For that matter, Alfred too, through a case of [[Becoming the Mask]] of his [[Obfuscating Stupidity]].
* Geraden, from the ''[[The Mirror of Her Dreams|Mordant's Need]]'' duology.
* Wodehed from the ''[[Welkin Weasels]]'' series never has his spells work out the way he wants them to. In one memorable instance, he gave a boar holding the group captive some magical wine that would turn whoever drank it into a frog. Because the wineskin the wine was in was made from leather, the wineskin turned into a frog instead.
* A short story, set during King Arthur's childhood, has a character who ''appeared'' to be a severely inept mage; during his final exam to earn a mentor wizard, he attempted to make a rock turn into a
* Jon-Tom Meriweather of [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''[[Spellsinger]]'' series. He can produce magical effects via [[Magic Music|music]], but the lyrics have to be ridiculously specific, and are likely to produce unwanted effects; when he conjures up a ship with the song "Sloop John B." and names himself first mate, he spends the entire voyage feeling badly drunk.
** Clothahump is mostly competent, but he also has his moments. In his first attempt at using magic that the readers see, he attempts to conjure up gold coins, but produces chocolate coins instead.
* In [[James Thurber]]'s ''[[
* In ''[[The Magicians]],'' the Physical magician Josh is unable to get his magic to work consistently, but when it does work, it's very powerful: for example, when casting a spell to dispell a magical light, he ends up going over the top and producing a ''black hole.''
* In ''[[King's Quest:
* When Harry Dresden of ''[[The Dresden Files
** The White Council tries to accomodate this trope by teaching
** Harry tried to fly once. In some combination of this and not knowing how to fly to begin with, it didn't go so well.
* The poem ''Der Zauberlehrling'' (''The [[
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
* Udonna's apprentice, Clare, from ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'' starts out as
▲== Live-Action TV ==
▲* Udonna's apprentice, Clare, from ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'' starts out as [[Inept Mage]] and remains so for the duration of the series; but a major crisis turns her into a [[How Do I Shot Web]] case, and she ends up competent when all is said and done.
▲* Aunt Clara and Esmerelda, both from ''[[Bewitched (TV)|Bewitched]]''.
* Mildred Huble from ''[[The Worst Witch]]''.
* In the first seasons of ''[[
** She continued to have her inept moments in later seasons, such as when she accidentally gave the entire Scooby gang amnesia in season six.
* Eureka from ''[[
* Merlin in the French series ''[[
* Lisa from ''[[Weird Science (TV series)|Weird Science]]'', in that her own powers constantly play the [[Jerkass Genie]] to her. Usually she can make anything happen with a snap of her fingers, but if it's something important, it'll typically turn out sooner or later it's [[Gone Horribly Wrong]].
* Mannitol from ''[[
* Marnie Stonebrook from ''[[True Blood]]'' doesn't have a clue on her spells. But, whenever she gets possessed by the ghost of the witch, Antonia Gavilán, she becomes one of the most powerful villains in the show.
== [[Music]] ==
* The protagonists of "[https://echoschildren.bandcamp.com/track/oops Oops]" by Echo's Children. Considering that the chorus is —
{{quote|''Oops, oops, extravagant curses,''
''Adding new verses to a tired old song''
''Oh well, you can't be too picky''
''Magic is tricky and apt to go wrong.''}}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The ''[[Dungeons
** The class also appears in ''[[
** Wild Mages aren't actually inept (Unless that's how you play one). Just ''crazy''. Consider their signature spell: Nahal's Reckless Dweomer; a spell that the mage casts in order to attempt to shape it into any other spell he knows without having the spell memorized. Wild Surges can be extremely deadly if you're lucky; casting Magic Missile has an equal chance of making your opponent (and everything in ten feet of it) explode messily as it does the chance of summoning harmless squirrels.
== [[Theater]] ==▼
▲== Theater ==
▲* ''[[Wicked (Theatre)|Wicked]]'': Elphaba. Things get ''way'' out of hand.
** Elphaba's sister, Nessarose is a truly tragic example. She tries to use a spell from the Grimmerie to make Boq fall in love with her. {{spoiler|She pronounces it incorrectly, accidentally destroying his heart instead. Elphaba saves him by turning him into the Tin Man and Nessarose accepts the title of "Wicked Witch of the East".}}
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
* Dio
▲== Video Games ==
▲* Dio? {{spoiler|Odie}} from ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'', though it's only prevalent in Cutscenes, whereas in gameplay he's pretty strong..
* Viki from the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series fits roundly. She is quite competent, and can even be used in the player's parties in many games. It just so happens her area of expertise is teleportation magic, and when she's tired/been drinking/sneezes, she tends to wind up in strange places. Or times. She is one of the few characters to be featured in every game in the main series, despite the fact that it covers a period spanning centuries. She was even in one game ''twice''.
** Oddly enough, she appears to be getting more and more powerful as the games go on. In the first games she had a random chance of accidentally harming her party with her spells, by the fifth she has a random chance to ''[[Game Breaker|cast multiple spells in a row at no additional cost]]''
* All spellcasting classes in the ''[[
* "Inept wizard" is the actual name of a low-level enemy in ''[[Might and Magic|Might and Magic 2]]''. Usually they just use non-magical strikes and can be defeated quickly, but they ''can'' occasionally use Lightning Bolt, which can do a lot of damage if you aren't careful.
* Lilka from ''[[Wild
* Marie from ''[[Atelier]] Marie'' is an Inept Alchemist. While she has a lot of passion for the art, her [[The Ditz|absentmindedness]] often leads her to put in the wrong ingredient, screwing up the formula. Because of this, she has the lowest GPA out of anyone in her school.
** In her appearance in the [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover]] game ''[[
* The weakest Imps in the ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series, and especially ''[[Dragon Quest Heroes
** In [[Dragon Quest Heroes
* Jowan from [[Dragon Age|Dragon Age: Origins]]. Between the generally inherent power of Mages and his dabbling in [[Blood Magic]] he ''should'' be very, ''very'' powerful. Alas, he's much weaker than almost every other Mage in the game, and only turned to [[Blood Magic]] out of desperation.
* [[Dub Name Change|Katt]]/[[Fan Translation|Linn]] in ''[[Breath of Fire II]]'' learns several very powerful spells ''very'' early (getting the most powerful fire spell at level 11 when the dedicated offensive caster learns it at level 55), but doesn't actually have the AP to cast any of them for most of the game and even end game she can only cast these spells twice at most before needing her AP refilled.
* Perhaps inadvertently, the player character is one in ''[[The Elder Scrolls: Arena]]'' if a non-caster class is selected ([[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards|not advised]]). They can ''learn'' all the spells they want to, but have a max value of ''zero'' spell points. This means it's possible to cast spells, but only if they cost zero points which (unlike later installments) is possible thanks to spells getting cheaper to cast per level {{spoiler|or exploiting cost overflow}}, so late game (level 13+ in a game levels rarely get much above 20) a few ''very'' small spells are accessible. Surprisingly, many of these 0 cost spells are actually very useful for a character with no other casting thanks to the wide variety of utility effects offered and the potency of spell scaling.
▲== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Gwynn from ''[[
▲* Gwynn from ''[[Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)|Sluggy Freelance]]'' very rarely gets a spell completely right. She enchants some monkeys to attack someone who's annoying her, without considering that, when someone else annoys her, the monkeys will change targets. Or she tries getting a demon to leave Riff alone, but ends up making it possess her instead. Or she tries getting her and Zoe's hair to grow back, but, thanks to the spell relying on a [[Jerkass Genie]], it makes them turn into fully-furred [[Star Wars|wookie]]-like creatures. Basically anything she tries other than [[Psychokinesis|moving things with her mind]] or [[Power Glows|making pretty lights]] isn't going to work as planned.
** It seems to be the rituals that give her trouble. If she has to blast something with lightning or force, she has no problems at all, and can be [[Let's Get Dangerous|downright]] ''[[Beware the Nice Ones|dangerous]]'' when she's pushed.
* Abraham of ''[[
* In ''[[Doodze]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20120108080846/http://seguemediagroup.com/doodze/?p=775 accidentally turning the sh'leep into ravening monsters].
* ''Sanity Circus'' has this as a recurring problem, mostly handled by [[The Trope Without a Title|Nameless Organization]]. Bee, for one, [https://www.sanitycircus.com/sanity-circus/chapter-8-page-27 screwed up] a magic version of "[[Saw a Woman In Half|the ol' Sawed-in-Half trick]]", and now [[Invisible Anatomy|looks accordingly]]. She doesn't seem inconvenienced, however, and even benefits from such appearance, since the incident [[The Pollyanna|didn't dissuade her]] from working in a circus.
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
* Leaving chaos in their wake is something of a hallmark of the "three little witches"
▲== Web Original ==
* Perf, of ''[[Journey Quest]]'', is an excellent example of this: he has precisely three spells he can cast without recourse to his spellbooks: ''Conjure Milk'',<ref>which, when used against a party of orcs that had captured him and his friends, earned him the appellation "lactomancer"</ref>
▲* Leaving chaos in their wake is something of a hallmark of the "three little witches" -- Abracadabra, Palantir, and Clover -- from the eponymous story set in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]''. May well yet turn out to be a case of [[How Do I Shot Web]], though; they ''are'' only kids (younger than the regular students at Whateley, even) at this point, after all.
▲* Perf, of ''[[Journey Quest]]'', is an excellent example of this: he has precisely three spells he can cast without recourse to his spellbooks: ''Conjure Milk''<ref>which, when used against a party of orcs that had captured him and his friends, earned him the appellation "lactomancer"</ref>, ''Mend'' <ref>a sewing spell</ref> and ''Vague'' <ref>the effects of which are kinda hard to nail down...</ref>. The one time we see him casting ''with'' a spellbook, he's trying to heal the party cleric, and [[Magic Misfire|fails so badly that said cleric dies]]. And becomes an [[Gone Horribly Right|entirely new form of undead]].
** Just before that cleric showed up as said new form of undead Perf tried to use the Gust of Wind spell from the book and blew his own clothes off, so he in fact used the book exactly twice
* In ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'', [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/6/15/ Jim Darkmagic], at least in his comic appearance. In the actual podcasts where he made his debut, Jim tends to be about as competent as the rest of the party, somewhat surprising considering that his player, Mike Krahulik, has never played ''[[Dungeons
* Fumblemore in [[Yogscast Minecraft Series|"Shadow of Israphel"]]. His main specialty is [[Stuff Blowing Up|blowing things up]]. And [[Magic Misfire|not always on purpose]].
* Mickey Mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice segment of both ''[[Fantasia]]'' films.
* "Presto" from the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
* Orko, from ''[[He-Man and
* Junior Genie Babu, from both ''[[Jeannie]]'' the [[Animated Series]], where he was her [[Sidekick]] and apprentice; and in [[Hanna-Barbera]]'s ''[[Laff-
* The Winter Warlock from the ''[[Santa Claus Is Coming To Town]]'' Christmas Special. He was a fierce mage until his heart melted from a kind gesture... and [[Redemption Demotion|then he could only do little tricks.]]
* Uncle Oswidge from ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]''.
* Morgana in ''[[Darkwing Duck (
* On ''[[
* In "A Giant Problem" on ''[[The Backyardigans]]'', both Tyrone and Pablo are inept mages who lament "It's hard to be, so yeah hard to be a wizard." At least until the end, when they finally manage to get it right.
* Zummi from ''[[Gummi Bears]]''. Though his ineptitude can be excused by the fact that he is an autodidact. He doesn't seem to have had any teachers who practiced magic with him, instead he has to read it all by himself in the Great Book of Gummi.
* Kyle from ''[[Fanboy and Chum Chum]]''. His poor skills in magic are often used as the reason behind his failures, and it even becomes an important plot point in "Sigmund the Sorcerer".
* In the ''[[The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'' episode "A Knight for a Day", Rabbit becomes one of these in Piglet's fantasy. When he tries to enchant Piglet's
{{quote|
'''King Pooh:''' Oh, don't feel badly. [[A Worldwide Punomenon|I can't spell very well either.]] }}
* Madame Razz from ''[[She
* [[Merlin]]'s apprentice Fuddie from ''[[Filmation's Ghostbusters]]''. He can grant Jake one wish every full moon, but he ''never'' gets it right, possibly being hard of hearing. For example, the first time Jake told Fuddie to make him "invincible" and Fuddie instead made him invisible. Fortunately, Jake usually manages to improvise.
* Zigzagged with Twilight Sparkle from ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]''. While she does eventually master Alicorn magic (which has been stated to be ''very'' hard to learn and ''very'' dangerous if used wrong) when she makes mistakes, she ''really'' makes mistakes. She accidentally turned her own parents into plants during her entrance exam (maybe it was funny to the viewer, [[Fridge Horror| but when you see this from ''her'' point of view]]), in "Bats" she turns Fluttershy into a vampire (the ending even suggesting Fluttershy may ''not'' be fully cured) and in the episode "Lesson Zero", her Want It, Need It spell [[Idle Hands| (cast with the intent to ''create'' a Friendship problem because there were no other problems for her to handle)]] turns a stuffed animal into a [[Clingy MacGuffin]] that ''everyone'' who sees it wants to have, unleashes a [[Hate Plague]] of jealousy due to fighting over it that infects half of Ponyville. Seriously, Twilight, [[Evil Is Not a Toy|Magic Is Not a Toy]].
* Sadira from the ''[[Aladdin (1992 Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' series. Initially a lower-class thief like Aladdin was, she is first a [[Hopeless Suitor]] towards him, and by complete accident, finds a hidden cache of spellbooks and magical items. Though she gains the potential to become an incrediby powerful sorcerer (able to summon elemental beings, open portals to other dimensions and alter reality), her obsession with Aladdin causes her to misuse them and create disasters that require help from the protagonists to undo. It says a ''lot'' when a demon that you yourself summoned has to point out your faults with [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] routine.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Wizards and Witches]]
[[Category:
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