Inept Mage: Difference between revisions
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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.
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* 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 ''[[Superman]]'' Mr. Mxyzptlk briefly became one during the Day of Vengeance event when the Spectre declared war on all magic and completely messed up the mechanics behind it. The powerful 5th dimensional imp was reduced to a pitiful broken figure trying desperately to remember how to get back to his home
* [[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.
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* 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.
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* In ''[[King's Quest the Floating Castle]]'', the spells of Alexander's apprentice wizard sidekick Cyril actually ''do'' in fact do what they're intended to. His ineptness instead comes from the fact that he's an inherently powerful wizard who hasn't yet developed control, so his spells all do what they're intended to so overwhelmingly that they [[Gone Horribly Right|go horribly right]].
* When [[Dresden Files|Harry]] gets an apprentice, she alternates between terrifying and adorably this trope. Once, she ''literally'' glowed with praise. Her potion-making adventures have involved her getting her clothes covered in acid and the potion then exploding, which Harry then had to remove and give her CPR right as his girlfriend lets herself in.
** 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 [[Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'') by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]].
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== Live-Action TV ==
* Udonna's apprentice, Clare, from ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'' starts out as
* Aunt Clara and Esmerelda, both from ''[[Bewitched]]''.
* Mildred Huble from ''[[The Worst Witch]]''.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* The ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|D&D]]'' 2nd edition ''Tome of Magic'' introduces the Wild Mage. Although able to master "wild magic" spells otherwise forbidden to other wizards, the level of power of their magic is variable, and they run the risk of causing a "wild surge"
** The class also appears in ''[[Baldur's Gate|Baldur's Gate 2]]'', this time with a set list of results, but an incredibly variable one. They can [[Gender Bender|change a random target's gender]], [[Drop the Cow|summon a cow right above their target's head]], [[Magic Misfire|accidentally target themselves with the spell]] . . . At least in this case you get the benefit of [[Save Scumming]].
** 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.
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== Web Original ==
* Leaving chaos in their wake is something of a hallmark of the "three little witches"
* 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>
** 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 and Dragons]]'' before in his life.
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* Mickey Mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice segment of both ''[[Fantasia]]'' films.
* "Presto" from the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (animation)|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' animated cartoon.
* Orko, from ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''. [[Justified Trope|Justified]], however. His home dimension, where he's actually a master mage with exceptional abilities, has completely different rules of magic to Eternia. His magic only functioned on Eternia due to a special medallion (original series) or wand (2002 series) which was lost soon after he arrived on Eternia when he saved Prince Adam's life. As a result of the incompatibility between his native magic and Eternia's magic rules, he comes across as an
* Junior Genie Babu, from both ''[[Jeannie]]'' the [[Animated Series]], where he was her [[Sidekick]] and apprentice; and in [[Hanna-Barbera]]'s ''[[Laff-A-Lympics]]''.
* 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.]]
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