Silver Has Mystic Powers: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Silver was considered a mystical element in folklore, and thus its properties become reality in fiction. The metal can do many things, from channel magic, to stopping evil (including warding off or harming [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]] and [[Our Werewolves Are Different|werewolves]]), making magic mirrors, to turning water into a [[Healing Potion]].
The myth of silver's mystical properties goes deep into human history. As a noble metal akin to gold, this is often attributed to something along the lines of silver's [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]]. In fact, it's because of something people noticed a very long time ago: if you put water in a silver pitcher, it takes a lot longer for it to get unhealthily scummy. [http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Silver_as_an_Antimicrobial_Agent Silver has antimicrobial properties] that make it quite useful in medicine.
Due to the above, silver is almost always considered to be on the good end of magic (and items formed of it may also be [[Made of Good]]). Some works can make it evil though, or used for evil when [[Light Is Not Good]]. A [[Winter Royal Lady]] might prefer silver due to it fitting in with that trope's color scheme.
If [[Gold
A [[Super
Compare [[Mithril]] (which is also called "silver"), [[Crystal Skull]], [[Power Crystal]].
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{{examples
* In ''[[The Silver Chair]]'', the eponymous item is used to brainwash a prince.
** And in ''[[The
* The rat god, in ''
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' uses this a lot for so many items.
** It's possible to purchase weapons made out of silver, which do slightly less damage than normal (read: iron) weapons, but which bypass the damage resistance of Vampires, Were-animals, and some extraplanar creatures. Supplemental books provide an oil that can be used to coat a weapon and give it "silver" properties without making the weapon weaker, but it's hard to use while in combat (so you'll want to use it just before a fight starts, if you can).
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** Silver dust is a common material component of spells as well, ranging from "magic circle against..." to "bless water".
** The "Cloak of Lordliness" is a [[Pimped-Out Cape]] that grants powers to make crowds listen to you, and is made of [[Pretty in Mink|ermine]] sewn together with silver thread.
** In [[Forgotten Realms]] it's the non-specific magical item material number one. Raw divine power of the goddess of magic with which some of her servants get infused called "silver fire" (and manifests accordingly), and in-universe [[Magi Babble]] generally tend to use "silver" as an euphemism for "magic".
***
*** 3e ''Magic of Faerûn'' says silver is common for items involving light and moon magic, or used against shapechangers; silver-bladed enchanted weapons get +1 damage vs. creatures vulnerable to silver (who usually could be hit by any magic weapons just the same).
** Dragon magazine #32 article "Poisons from AA to XX".
{{quote|
* From a [https://web.archive.org/web/20171224044451/http://www.gameskb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/games-dnd/6855/Magical-Metals-Special-Materials Magical Metals list found on the Net]
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', silver is pretty useful all around but ''ancestral'' silver is even better, i.e. it is the only thing that can kill the uber-werewolves ''loup garou''. Harry has inherited a silver amulet from his late mom and it saves his butt at least once.
* ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' stated that the only weapons effectives against demons are silver and fire. He later used a huge candelabra made of silver to smash a demon and make it fall in a fire.
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* In ''[[Moonlight]]'' it's mentioned that the reason vampires couldn't be photographed is because of the silver used in producing the negative, the silver reflecting the photographee's soul. (Which is also why they don't cast reflections in mirrors.) But modern digital photography and video don't use silver, making vamps [[Subverted Trope|easy to capture images of]].
* In a few of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games silver weapons (and daedric weapons, which were technically magical in nature) were the only way to harm ghosts without magic.
* In ''[[Harry Potter (
* Inverted in ''[[Mistborn]]'', where silver is one of the few metals which ''doesn't'' have special powers.
* Some of the levels in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' and ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' involved having the Power Star being broken up into five silver stars in which Mario must collect to complete the star.
* In ''[[Rifts]]'', Silver is one of the few things that can hurt nearly every supernatural creature in the game, up to and including many ''Gods''. Consequently, nearly every PC in the game usually has at least a single silver-plated knife or cross. One nation at war with a kingdom of vampires equips Silver-plated swords on their ''[[Humongous Mecha]]''.
* The [[Manly Wade Wellman]] protagonist John the Wanderer carries a guitar with silver strings. This is because silver is the only substance in the world Satan fears, and as a consequence, it's proof against all beings of evil and darkness.
* In ''[[The Witcher]]'' verse, witchers typically carry a silver sword to deal with monsters.
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[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Silver Has Mystic Powers]]
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