Magic Feather: Difference between revisions

** * Played pretty much straight by [[The Way of Kings]], though: Shallan tracks down Jasnah with intent to steal her [[Amulet of Concentrated Awesome|Soulcaster]] and replace it with a nonfunctional duplica, which she does. Then she has to figure out how to use it... which eventually, she also does. Through the whole book, Jasnah never notices the swap, totally confusing Shallan. At the end, she realizes that Jasnah's original was ''also'' a fake, that Jasnah used so people wouldn't learn that she can Soulcast without a focus. Which means ''Shallan'' figured out how to Soulcast without a focus, too.

* [[Book of the New Sun|The Claw of the Conciliator]].

* A theme from the ancient Sumerian tale ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' can be seen as a predecessor to this trope. Gilgamesh goes on this elaborate quest for immortality, eventually laying hands on a magical coral flower with the power to extend his life. A snake steals the flower when he's not looking and Gilgamesh is crushed, but {{spoiler|in the end he realizes he had immortality all along -- through the legacy of his contributions to the enduring power of his city, Uruk.}}

* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere: An Autumn Tale|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', Lucian tells Lindsey that the Psalter is magical; later, when he says it helped her focus and the power was hers, she was annoyed.

* ''[[Wimzie's House]]'' has an episode called "The Lucky Pin" in which Rousso gives Jonas a special star pin to celebrate his dedication in practicing basketball. Afterwards, Jonas completes a tricky shot for the first time and is convinced that he's been given a "lucky pin." He then experiences a crisis of self-confidence after losing it, until Wimzie gives him another pin that she made herself, but tells him that it's the one he lost. He makes five basketball shots in a row, but another of the characters tells him it's not the original pin. He loses his self-confidence again until Wimzie points out that he made the shots even ''without'' his lucky pin. He realizes that his "luck" is all due to practice and he doesn't need a lucky pin.

* One episode of ''[[Wonder Showzen]]'', one of the puppets trips out on what is ostensibly 'liquid imagination', but is later revealed to be just water.

{{quote|'''Brittany:''' And you let me comb my hair with it?}}

* ''[[The Suite Life On Deck]]'': Bailey uses a placebo to raise London's intelligence. Subverted in that [[Status Quo Is God|after realizing that it's a placebo]], London [[Flowers for Algernon Syndrome|returns to normal]]. Then she [[Too Dumb to Live|takes]] ''[[Too Dumb to Live|another]]'' [[Too Dumb to Live|placebo]].

{{quote|BUT THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL... ''was inside you all along''. It's blood! Turns out you can sell it! See you at the plasma center! }}

* Much of the early campaign in ''[[Battle Realms]]'' involves Kenji trying to hunt down his family heirloom, the [[MacGuffin|Serpent's Orb]], because of its 'magic power'. In the Dragon campaign, the Dragon eventually reveals to him that the orb itself is little more than a focus and an ancestor of Kenji's who used it to break the world was only able to do so because he (unwittingly) channelled his own [[Ki]] power through it [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|because he believed it had power.]]

* In ''[[Mana Khemia]]'', one of the characters' familiar spirits doesn't actually do anything and isn't actually magical at all; they're just a psychological crutch for the character, who is magically quite powerful and not human, but doesn't know it.

 

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0777.html Later], the trope gets a parodying. Just...because.

* It's unclear whether the jester outfit that Maytag wears in ''[[Flipside]]'' actually [[Clothes Make the Superman|causes her]] to become incredibly outgoing and self-confident, but if it doesn't, it's likely to be this trope.

* [http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F148.jpg This] ''[[Erfworld]]'' page heavily implies that Thinkamancy, and to an extent Foolamancy work this way

* [http://www.explosm.net/comics/1801/ Another parody], this time by [[Cyanide and Happiness]].

[[Category:Magic Feather]]

[[Category:Empowerment]]