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These things were first described by archaeologist Alfred Watkins in 1921. He claimed that in ancient times when Britain was very densely forested, people built roads in geographically convenient straight lines. He believed that the lines had been called "leys" because so many of them passed through towns with "ley" in their name. He would later claim that these "ley lines" existed in many countries all over the world, especially in Europe. His theories were generally dismissed by his peers, however.
Then wacky occultists heard about it, and decided [[Single
Now ley lines (sometimes written as leylines) are hypothetical alignments between [[Place of Power|places of power]], which may be [[Mana|magical]], magnetic, or psychic in nature. These places of power are where two or more ley lines cross and are often known as Ley Nodes, Nodes, or Nexuses. Nodes are often regarded as spooky or unearthly. Stone Henge is said to be built on one such intersection.
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They are often invisible conduits of magical power that flow through the earth and air. Mages can tap into them to gain their powers. Places where multiple lines intersect at nodes attracts wizards like moths to the flame.
Often related to Rule Magic in [[Functional Magic]]. Sometimes they are a form of [[Geometric Magic]]. May function as a necessary [[Magic Prerequisite]] in some settings. A sister trope of [[Place of Power]].
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
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** Note that this is only in the Anime. The Manga took the stance of "Magic isn't real" and stuck to its guns like a baby to its bottle.
** For that matter, the second anime of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' had dragon lines, surrounding the country and the city in an immense human transmutation circle.
* ''[[Rental Magica]]'' got these. People use them to choose places for big spellcasting, pure-magic monsters use them as a subway, and when magical
== Comic Books ==
* The [[DC Universe]] has Ley Lines as well, though they're rarely mentioned.
** They were the basis for the "Millennium Giants" story arc in the ''[[
** Chinese heroine Gloss, of the New Guardians, calls them the Dragon Lines of Power, and draws upon them to create various seismic effects, as well as gaining incredible strength, speed, and flight.
* ''[[The Invisibles]]'' features a brief mention about how Canary Wharf was built to tap into the power of the Southern Dragon Line (which is why they put a pyramid on top of the tower).
* ''[[
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* ''Ley Lines'' (''Nihon Kuro Shakai'') is the English literal title of Japanese director Takashi Miike's 1999 film, which does not address the phenomenon of ley lines directly, but rather uses the idea subliminally as the film's heroes set out along their own 'ley lines', or the railways of Honshu to Tokyo. It is the final installment in a series of three films, titled 'Black Society Trilogy'.
* ''Thomas And The Magic Railroad'': The titular railroad was inspired by ley lines.
* The intersection of two ley lines in Manhattan is a key plot element in the 2016 reboot of ''[[Ghostbusters (2016 film)|Ghostbusters]]''.
== Literature ==
* Robert Asprin's ''[[Myth Adventures]]'' series features these as necessary for the casting of any magic whatsoever.
* Found in the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' novels, complete with [[Place of Power|Nodes]]. They're described as rivers of [[Life Energy]] that bleed off from all living things and "flow" to another plane. Further, it requires certain magical potential to attempt to tap their energy without being overwhelmed or burned out; mages who can do this are called Masters (or Adepts, if they can also handle nodes).
* The conspiracy theory in ''[[
* Rupert in ''Deep Secret'' by [[Diana Wynne Jones]] is ''very'' distressed when he realizes the hotel where he's gathering his magical candidates is built at a node between ley lines. It has a bit too much magical power behind it for him to be comfortable working with it. He's entirely right, of course.
* Another [[Diana Wynne Jones]] novel that uses the concept of ley lines is ''The Homeward Bounders'', where they're tied up with the position and behaviour of the Bounds.
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* In the ''Darkness'' series by [[Harry Turtledove]] (an allegory of [[World War Two]] set in a generic fantasy world) leylines take on the role of railway lines in our world, with enchanted carts floating above them. However, because leylines also go under the sea, most ships are also enchanted and ride along them rather than using sails (the Algarvians at one point pull off a surprise invasion by using only rare sailships, magically undetectable). The biggest hub of leylines in the world is the Lagoan capital of Setubal (the equivalent of London), explaining its role as the centre of global trade.
* Ley lines in the [[Kate Daniels]] books are fast-moving currents of magic. It's impossible to touch them safely, as any living thing will be sheared off at the knees. However, the ley lines will drag anything along with them, so they're used as transportation. "Ley taxis" are cheap wooden platforms stacked up at every ley point, which people use to ride on.
* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[
* Played straight with ''[[The Ship That Won]]''.
* These play an important role in [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''Mason & Dixon''
* In ''[[
== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Lost]]'', the island is suggested to move along these lines, as well as having centers of geomagnetic energy.
* They rarely mention them, but ley lines exist in ''[[
* The stone circle in [[Children of the Stones]] gets it's power from ley-lines
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* In traditional Australian Aboriginal belief systems, there are "Song Lines", which are roughly equivalent to ley lines. To simplify perhaps a little too much, they are invisible lines which cross a number of natural sites of spiritual significance, which (according to Aboriginal mythology) were formed in the Dream-time when the rainbow serpent travelled across Australia.
* When a newer religion (most notably Christianity, for its tendency to convert natives) entered an area, the place the church would end up being built was usually either on the very site of the old worship, or if they didn't convert, a secondary spot of importance was chosen, usually a mountaintop or the center of a grove of trees, or somewhere else that was considered naturally vigorous, lucky, or both.
** The Muslims do this too, if [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/The_Temple.html this article is any judge].
* One could possibly make an argument that electric lines are built on a similar system, because there are good and bad places to ground, for the flow of electricity.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Ley lines are at the heart of ''[[Rifts]]''. In the backstory, the [[World-Wrecking Wave|Great Cataclysm]] was caused when a nuclear war took place on the [[When the Planets Align|Winter Solstice, during a planetary alignment]], feeding vast amounts of power into the ley lines. This overload set off natural disasters across the planet, causing further fatalities and pouring ''more'' energy into the ley lines, until finally the world was left in ruins. In the game's [[After the End|present day]], the ley lines are still empowered, and can be seen from space. They are such a noteworthy source of power that the average magician is known as a Ley Line Walker.
** And where two or more Ley lines converge, they create a Nexus. Nexus points are where the eponymous Rifts appear.
** It is further stated that Ley Lines also extend into open space, which is why planetary alignments can cause increased activity on terrestrial ley lines. The Great Cataclysm on Earth also caused ley lines to erupt on the Moon and Mars, and possibly other planets, as well as causing intense solar flare activity. In the Three Galaxies sub-setting, interstellar ley lines are used extensively by magic-using civilizations (e.g. [[Space Elves]]) to travel through space without the need for conventional technology (although they use a lot of [[Magitek|techno-wizardry)]].
* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' has Ley Lines called "[http://pl.shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Manalines_and_Power_Sites Mana Lines]". In Asia they're called "dragon lines". Places where they cross (and greatly increase ambient mana) are called "power sites".
* ''[[Dungeons
** In the ''[[Birthright]]'' setting realm magic involves using and even ''creating'' ley lines to access remote [[Place of Power|sources]]. This is necessary because most human wizards live in cities, but human settlement screws up the magical energy.
** In the third edition, characters can accesses earth nodes to gain powers. Also certain magical locations give temporary abilities when used right.
* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' has them, primarily used by the Covenant called Ordo Dracul, and referred by them as "Dragon Lines".
* ''[[
* ''[[Exalted]]'' has them, though they're called dragon lines because it was the reptilian race known as the [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons|Dragon Kings]] who first mapped them out. In ''Exalted'', it's not so much that their course is determined by the landscape as that the landscape is determined by their course; Essence, as the term implies, literally makes up ''everything''. Geomantic weapons such as the Thousand-Forged Dragons, which can warp, drain, or even destroy a region's dragon lines beyond repair, are thus among the most potent weapons of mass destruction in the setting.
* ''[[The Dark Eye]]'' also has leylines along with other forms of [[Functional Magic]].
* These are cards in ''[[Magic:
* ''[[Role Master]]'' campaign setting ''Shadow World''. Essence Flows follow paths around the planet Kulthea and can be tapped for magical power by touching them.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has these: Ley nodes are shown in the elven territory, and Karazhan is highly spooky because every single ley line passes through it. The deranged aspect of magic is now trying to redirect them all to his base, where he can toss the magic "safely" into space.
* The ''[[Wild
** Ley points also appear in ''[[Wild
** In ''[[Wild
* There's an exploration badge in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' that mentions Ley Lines.
** There's a couple actually, Paragon City is referred to more than once as a place Ley Lines cross, which is used as the explanation for why so many magical things happen there.
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* ''[[Dungeon Siege]] 2'' refers to Ley Lines.
* In ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'', Covenant has ley lines serve as a very minor piece of the plot on the second disc.
* In ''[[Destroy All Humans!]] 3'', according to the "Lunarian Church of Alientology", they are "invisible rivers of mystical energy", and they want to build where the ley lines cross in order to use them to communicate interstellar distances with their minds.
* The Crystal Lines in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]''. They're easy to spot, considering the [[Precursors|Zilart]] essentially encased them in cement.
** There's also the leypoint in Wajaom Woodlands. Players can complete a quest to receive a ring that teleports them to that point that involves them getting ''struck by lightning.''
** Leylines are arguably the underlying concept of Draw Points in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'', which are depicted as fissures in the ground that stream with magical energy, not unlike a natural gasline.
*
* The eponymous railway of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
* The ritual known as the Holy Grail (from ''[[Fate/stay
* While not explicitly used in ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'', but [[Significant Anagram|Asakim]] [[Original Generation|Dowin's]] [[Humongous Mecha]] Shurouga can execute its strongest attack "Ley Buster", which turns into a [[Ramming Always Works|crash attack]] generated by a circle of seemingly magical energy. The above picture is even given a [[Shout
** Which is in turn a reference to [[Significant Anagram|Masaki]] [[Super Robot Wars 2|Andoh's]] "[[Genius Bonus|Akashic Buster]]" attack, named for [[Akashic Records|a similar concept]]. This trope combined with the characters' similarities are the only things keeping fans from calling the attack "[[Spell My Name
* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' 4 has those. Sacred Groves are created at the crossings of those. Conveniently, there can be always at least one such crossing in each Preserve, seeing as a grove can theoretically be built in any of such cities when it isn't forbidden by map settings. The groves boost a hero's maximum mana count permanently by 3. Additionally, Gauldoth [[Body Horror|the Half-Dead's]] campaign (the necropolis faction one) involves opening a portal to another realm, where Gauldoth's master Kalibarr is being held prisoner. That is done by destroying the Angel's Blade at a giant nexus point of the same kind of lines, which is described in words as a place where many rainbow-coloured lines meet, visible to a practitioner of Nature magic like Gauldoth. On the map, it looks like many other evil-styled Quest Gates, though.
* ''[[
== Webcomics ==
* The [[
* Ley lines, and nexuses where they cross, are mentioned early in ''[[
* In ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', Ley Lines are discussed quite often when talking about their system of magic, known as 'lux.'
* While it hasn't influenced the plot, one annotation on ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' pointed out that moving vast numbers of ancient artifacts to the world's museums would turn them into immensely powerful nodes.
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
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