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Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Difference between revisions
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[[Sufficiently Analyzed Magic]] is a philosophy, whenever you find wizards, witches, sorcerers or mages who decide that lore and intuition is not enough: They want to understand how magic works and will do so through empirical evidence and experimentation. You have the beginnings of [[Sufficiently Analyzed Magic]].
For a [[The Verse|verse]] where [[Magic
One of the many sides arguing over [[Un Equal Rites]]. Contrast with [[Magic Versus Science]] where this attitude belongs only to the scientists, and [[Flat Earth Atheist]], where fans of "science" will loudly [[Science Cannot Comprehend Phlebotinum|deny magic exists rather than accept empirical evidence]]. Not quite related to [[Magitek]] or [[Post Modern Magik]] but may show up alongside either or cause them. Compare to [[Doing in The Wizard]], [[Doing in The Scientist]], and [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]].
A subtrope of [[Fantastic Science]]. Compare and contrast [[The Spark of Genius]]. For the sake of general cohesion, anything that more or less works thanks to magic but isn't actually [[Magic By Any Other Name|called "magic"]] by anyone in the work falls under this trope.
{{examples
== Anime & Manga ==
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* [[Fritz Leiber]]'s ''Conjure Wife'' explores this trope, as a college professor discovers that witchcraft is an open secret among women (including his wife) and ends up analyzing magic himself.
* ''Prof. A.Donda'' by [[Stanislaw Lem]]. The professor studied Svarnetics (as in Stochastic Verification of Automatized Rules of Negative Enchantment). He got in this due to a typo, but finding out the work is about providing a statistical framework for hexing is ''not'' a good enough reason to back off for a man versed in applied mathematics.
* In ''[[Mistborn]]'', allomancy- a magic system triggered by ingesting and "burning" various metals- was thoroughly explored by [[God
* Lev Grossman's ''[[The Magicians]]'' and subsequent sequel play into this a lot. Magic is only doable by the most intelligent and obsessed people, as it requires memorizing enormous charts of data (moon position, weather), dozens of language (ancient and current), and the most elaborate hand gestures. Analysis is the main method of learning magic; only rare examples do magic spontaneously.
* Magic spells in [[Diane Duane]]'s ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series are pretty much written or spoken equations for a higher order of physics, including [[Equivalent Exchange|the requirement that they balance]].
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** [[Eberron (Tabletop Game)|Eberron]] is pretty much based on this.
* Comes up in several ''[[GURPS (Tabletop Game)|GURPS]]'' books dealing with magic, notably in ''Magic and Thaumatology''.
* [[Magic
* Hermetic mages in ''[[Shadowrun]]'' take this approach as opposed to the more intuitive "magic as art/religion" approach of shamans.
* ''[[Nephilim]]'' refers to magical techniques (e.g. Sorcery, Summoning, Alchemy, Necromancy) as "occult sciences" and states that the human understanding of "magic" is simply a silly superstition.
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** In ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'', Dr. Cid spends years studying the God-made [[Green Rocks|Nethicite]] in order to create artificial duplicates. Not only does he succeed, he ''improves'' upon his man-made Nethicite (which is just as magical as the other kind) and makes it more efficient.
** In ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'', the forces of Cocoon have created Manadrives capable of emulating the magic of the L'cie.
* The [[Spell My Name With an "S"|Armagus/Ars Magus]] of ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' is this, a type of magic which relies on ambient [[Mana|seithr]] and scientific principles, is fairly simple to learn, and can be used to create [[Magitek]]. It was developed so that more people would be capable of fighting the [[Eldritch Abomination|Black Beast]], which was impervious to mundane attacks. "Real" magic remains mysterious and extremely powerful.
** Similar in ''[[Guilty Gear (Video Game)|Guilty Gear]]'' where the science behind the technology that produced the Gears was so fantastic is was called magic. But in the OVA and some dialog in the game it is stated as a form of man-made science and not magic but still different from "old school" science as we know it (but it's the old science that keep Zepp the flying nation in the air).
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', there are hints of this going on in Tethe'alla, particularly if you listen to the NPC discussions in Sybak University. The Elemental Research Laboratory is also tasked with studying [[Summon Magic|Summon]] [[Physical God|Spirits]]. The end result of this process can be seen in the Desian bases and later on the highly-advanced city of Welgaia, where the [[Magitek]] looks better suited to [[Space Opera]].
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== Western Animation ==
* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]:
** In "Boast Busters", Twilight Sparkle is seen experimenting to find out what magic, exactly, she is capable of.
** In "Feeling Pinkie Keen", she spends the entire episode trying to debunk Pinkie Pie's claim of having a psychic [[Spider Sense|"Pinkie Sense"]]. When Pinkie points out that [[Arbitrary Skepticism|Twilight herself can do magic]], she claims that her talent is a science, instead of something [[Wild Magic|random]] like Pinkie's. Magic happens to be a natural trait of unicorn ponies like Twilight, and her friend Rarity demonstrates similar abilities.
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