The Magicians/Shout Out

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


A list of Shout Outs in The Magicians.

  • Obviously, Narnia is the basis for the Show Within a Show that provides the title.
  • Word of God is that Quentin was named after a character in The Sound and the Fury.
  • The five Chatwin children are named after real-life intrepid explorer Bruce Chatwin.
  • The great field of grass that is known as "The Sea" is a play on the Dothraki Sea in George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire.
  • One particular scene is explicitly borrowed from In Search of Lost Time, where Marcel stumbles on a lesbian couple having a sado-masochistic affair.
  • A marble nicknamed "Rakshasa" refers to an old D&D character in the Monster Manual.
  • Sir Hotspots is actually a reference to Martin Tenbones in Sandman.
  • Amelia Popper’s Practical Exercises for Young Magicians refers to a similar David Popper's books on the cello.
  • "Ricky, the man behind the counter", is named for great magician and magic scholar Ricky Jay.
  • The use of the word "coolth" a story titled Beauty and the Beasts. Most editors try to take it out.