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Utility Magic: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
In many works, magic is something to [[Rule of Cool|blast things with and generally make stuff explode]].
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In the world of ''[[Fairy Tail]]'', magic is a part of everyday life and "is bought and sold there everyday. It is an integral part of people's lives, and there are people who use magic as their occupation". In other words, it's used instead of technology.
* Alchemy in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Granted, we see a lot of alchemy being used for fighting and blowing stuff up in the series, but that's primarily because we're following characters in the military. Alchemy has a ton of uses ranging from fixing broken appliances, to building things very quickly, to healing people... the list goes on and on.
* Most of the magic seen in Miyazaki's ''[[
== [[Film]] ==
* In the Film version of ''[[Practical Magic]]'', Sally Owens can be seen using a minor spell to make a spoon stir her coffee.
▲* Most of the magic seen in Miyazaki's ''[[Film/Howls Moving Castle|Howls Moving Castle]]'' is used to keep the house together and moving. There is a magic war raging on, but most of it happens off screen. Howl and Markl also run a kind of magic "shop" out of the castle, selling useful spells and potions to customers for profit.
* Disney movies ([[The Sword in the Stone]] comes to mind).
** Disney's ''[[Mary Poppins]]''. In the "Spoonful of Sugar" segment Mary and the children snap their fingers to clean up a room.
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** The film ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice|The Sorcerers Apprentice]]'', which is loosely based on the ''Fantasia'' example, and also contains a mops-gone-wild scene.
* ''[[Cast a Deadly Spell]]''. Everyone can use magic, usually for completely normal activities.
== [[Literature]] ==
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* The entire Magical Land of ''[[Xanth]]'' runs off of this. And puns. Often at the same time.
* ''[[Labyrinths of Echo]]'' by Max Frei describe mostly the magically-strongest region of a fairly magic-rich world. Not only mages used to hang out where they are more powerful, but all locals use low-grade magic for everything and has a very vague idea of living without telepathic communication and kitchen spells. Away from Heart Of The World it's not easy. So a lady from the capitol who can't afford servants will not live in a remote province simply because she "used to have fat never spluttering from the pan and to crack nuts by poking them with a finger".
** Most clever characters, no matter how strong mages themselves, remember that everyone in Uguland is spoiled rotten with "kitchen magic", and that there are more complex yet efficient ways to do things, starting from alchemy developed on the next continent ''far'' beyond basic drugs and spell components. Those aware of [[
* In Sherwood Smith's ''[[Inda]]'' series, the protagonists' culture primarily uses magic for waste-disposal, [[Fantasy Contraception]], and similarly mundane tasks.
* This is how magic is used in the ''[[Lord Darcy]]'' books. It many cases, magical devices will take the place of some sort of mundane technology in our world, e.g. the magical preservation chest that acts like a refrigerator.
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* ''Rhymes with Witches'' has a high school coven of witches who use their power to become the most popular girls in school.
== [[Live
* When Willow on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' began using magic this way, it was a clear sign that she'd become overreliant on her magic powers and that they were starting to corrupt her.
== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==
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** The ''[[Greyhawk]]'' setting had spells such as Bigby's Dextrous Digits (magical hands for performing tasks requiring fine touch) and Drawmij's Beast of Burden (lightens the load on the back of a pack animal). ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' added more spells like Quimby's Enchanting Gourmet (Unseen Servant improved so that it cooks on its own) and Nchaser's Glowing Globe (controlled permanent glow-lamp).
** However, the ''[[Eberron]]'' setting uses Utility Magic on a society-wide scale. Use of [[Magitek]] is widespread and "working class" spellcasters such as magewrights earn their livings by providing everyday spellcasting services. There is even a spell called Magecraft, whose sole function is to improve the quality of products being created by ordinary craftsmen. The dragonmarked houses are basically corporations whose role in society is to provide magic-based services up to and including the mass-production of consumer goods using magical methods. Thus the market prices for many goods (such as swords) is fixed because House Cannith, with controls magical manufacturing, has imposed standardized pricing.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* One of the first uses of Psynergy in ''[[Golden Sun]]''? "Catch", a power for grabbing stuff in hard-to-reach places. Dora uses it to get Isaac's cloak for him in the prologue, Isaac uses it in the intro to patch holes in the roof, and when you have it, its primary use is picking fruit and nuts from trees. (''Dark Dawn'' revised this into Grip, a power mainly used for [[Le Parkour]] but which retains [[Mundane Utility]].)
** ''The Lost Age'' gives us Parch (dries out waterlogged areas), Blaze (lights torches), and Scoop (dig holes). (Parch and Blaze were replaced in ''Dark Dawn'' by powers which retain their use as [[Mundane Utility]])
** There are also a wide variety of Psynergy powers in the series whose purpose is basically to get debris out of a traveler's way (Move, Lift, Carry, [[Blow You Away|Whirlwind]],<ref>a power which actually has combat utility</ref>
* Magic World from the
▲== [[Web Comic]] ==
▲* Magic World from the webcomic ''[[City of Reality]]'' is full of this. It looks just like modern-day Earth, in fact, they just use magic instead of electricity. So the beautician uses magic to make your hair color change, or they use magic to make cars float an inch off the ground to drive around, and so on.
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' has a lot of utility magic. Such as cosmetic [[Shapeshifting]].
* A lot of the trappings of "[[The Dragon Doctors]]" resembles modern-day Earth, and magic is often used as a more-advanced equivalent of modern technology. [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] is a faster, more-complete form of plastic surgery, [[Instant Sedation]] is due to magic sedatives, the [[Akashic Records]] are like a shamanism-internet, and so on.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[My Little Pony:
** Unicorn magic seems to be divided into basic telekinesis and actual spells. The former is mostly used when a human would use their hands, which is obviously mostly for everyday stuff. As for the latter, it has been said outright that most unicorns only learn a few spells directly connected to their cutiemark (i.e. destiny/special talent). Most ponies' cutiemarks aren't connected to violence. The single example of combat magic we have seen comes from Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle's brother, but he is a [[Magic Knight]] by profession and his cutie mark is a shield, so him casting massive defensive spells
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
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