Magic by Any Other Name: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This is when a work has an intangible element that is obviously supposed to be magic, but is explicitly not called that. Maybe the word "magic" doesn't exist in their universe, maybe they are using [[Insistent Terminology]] to [[Doing In the Wizard|Do In The Wizard]]—yet whatever power they're using lets them [[Power Floats|levitate]], throw [[Fireballs]] and [[Magic and Powers|anything else]] that standard-issue [[Fantasy]] magic can do. This trope also applies to works where an actually practiced mystical art such as [[Alchemy Is Magic|alchemy]] or [[Tarot Motifs|tarot cards]] has been broadened to the point where it functions as all-purpose magic.

In a [[Science Fiction]] setting, [[Magic From Technology]] and "[[Psychic Powers|psionics]]" are favorite stand-bys along with [[Minovsky Physics]], possibly with a [[Sci Fi Name Buzzwords|"quantum" or "nano"]] tacked on for good measure. If [[Everything Is Online]], [[Hollywood Hacking]] may be utilized as well. [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] that have evolved to the point where the physical laws of reality no longer apply to them (such as [[Doctor Who|The Doctor]] or [[Star Trek|Q]]) generally do ''not'' count unless their powers are something [[Puny Humans]] can learn. Sometimes, a more limited power may turn into this over time, due to abuse of [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]].

 

 

See Also: [[Not Using the Z Word]], [[A Mech by Any Other Name]]

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Darker than Black]]'': Contractors

* ''[[Naruto]]'': Ninjutsu. Although ''Naruto's'' techniques are explicitly magical, they have no defined limits and allow [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]], a lot of which aren't traditionally associated with ninjas.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'': [[Alchemy Is Magic|Alchemy]]

 

== Film ==

** It also has Block Transfer Computations - complex mathematical equations that were never openly compared to magic, but the most blatant use of them (at least until the novels decided that TARDISes were made out of them) involved a planet of monastic aliens chanting arcane formulae to reshape reality.

** A funny lampshade (or is it a reference) is made in the Tenth Doctor's episode "The Girl in the Fireplace", where he says that the window they're looking through to XVIII century France is a "spatial-temporal hyperlink".

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Initally, ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' used "Lux" and "magic" indiscriminately. Then they decided to ban the latter term and stop styling themselves “wizards” because [[Clarke's Third Law|it's only magic to other people]], and those go by the principle most monotheistic religions have that [[Magic Is Evil]].

* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'': Ether; [[Sufficiently Analyzed Magic|etheric science]]. A case of insistent terminology by the Court, as opposed to the creatures of the forest.

 

== Western Animation ==