# Is it possible to use magic without saying "magic"?



## Mindfire (Aug 25, 2012)

I'm just curious, does anyone know of a way to include magic in a work without actually using the _word_ "magic" or know of a book that does so? The word "magic" has connotations and flavor that don't quite fit with the "feel" of the world I'm building.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 25, 2012)

Use a different word, such as spellcraft, or specifics such as summoning, necromancy, conjuration, warding or whatever you want to come up with.


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## Warlock (Aug 25, 2012)

I think Tolkien did it in his Lord of the Rings trilogy and in the Hobbit, though I haven't read the books in a while so I am not 100% positive. However, in Middle-Earth magic was not something supernatural but a part of the world itself, plus whatever 'magic' was performed was done so in a certainly subtle manner.

Like TWErvin2 said, you could use other words synonyms to 'magic' to describe it, or simply give descriptions of the effects of 'magic' without actually referring to the cause of those effects as some supernatural power.


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## Griffin (Aug 25, 2012)

What kind of feel are you going for? I can start throwing words out there, but what is your "magic" like? What is the world like? For example, if your world is more "science-y", then you could call it alchemy (I know a difference exists between alchemy and magic, but some works use them interchangeably.)


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## Anders Ã„mting (Aug 25, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> I'm just curious, does anyone know of a way to include magic in a work without actually using the _word_ "magic" or know of a book that does so? The word "magic" has connotations and flavor that don't quite fit with the "feel" of the world I'm building.



I actually tried this once, in a story I didn't get very far on. I wanted magic to be something very vague and undefined; something you couldn't quite point at and say: "That there's magic!" I wanted to give the impression it wasn't something you'd discuss in clear terms. It was tricks you'd picked up somewhere, or instincts you'd learned to hone and trust.

For the most part, "magic" was just individual talents or intuitive skills taken to a supernatural level - a specific thing that the character was just unnaturaly good at, like "finding things" or "opening things." One character was a smith who made magical swords, but nobody ever called them magical swords, they were just swords with some very unusual properties. And the smith didn't cast spells on them or anything, he was just a damn good swordsmith.

So, I think it's definitely possible, but you'll need to make the magic very vague. Because the more clearly defined it is, the more likely people are to talk about it as such.


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## Mindfire (Aug 25, 2012)

I was thinking more along the lines of Avatar, where the bending disciplines are clearly supernatural but are never called "magic". (Except by Sokka in the early episodes in a bit of sarcasm.)


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## Anders Ã„mting (Aug 26, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> I was thinking more along the lines of Avatar, where the bending disciplines are clearly supernatural but are never called "magic". (Except by Sokka in the early episodes in a bit of sarcasm.)



Well, they call it "bending" because thats how it works: They _bend _one of the elements. That is to say, it's a skill named after its primary mechanic. It shouldn't be too hard to think of an equivalent for your own system, as long as you have a clear idea of how it works.

I'm running an RPG that was partially inspired by Avatar: TLA. It features "espers" which are people who each have a unique psychic power personal to themselves, refered to only as "abilities." Thing is, proper magic does exists in this word, but is considered a form a science because it only works by specific laws and requires a given cost for a given effect. Esper abilites can break these rules, basically causing things to happen for no reason and for no apparent cost. The irony is that because of this, magic is considered serious business whereas espers are considered folklore - most magicians don't even believe in espers because they are "not supposed to be possible."


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## shangrila (Aug 26, 2012)

Of course. I don't think any of Sanderson's books specifically use the word "magic", yet he's well known for his magic systems.


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## ShortHair (Aug 26, 2012)

In some cases (_Empire of the Petal Throne_ springs to mind) writers have invoke Clarke's Second Law, that is, a highly advanced technology is to blame. If an orc has never seen a phaser pistol before, how will it know the difference between a spell and a highly focused burst of energy?


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## Zero Angel (Aug 26, 2012)

Outlaw Star uses a gun (called a castor) that shoots magic bullets...but I think they only reference the magic aspect once or twice and that was in an episode that was not shown in the regular TV show.


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## ahhhitswells (Aug 28, 2012)

MAGICK:

The girl then raised her arms above her head, staring into the rainfall. An immense blue flare began to spiral in the skies above her, disintegrating all that it touched. And as she beckoned the heavens, somebody moved behind her, something; a darkness that loomed over the tiny girl. Coram raised his hand to warn her, but before he could speak, one last streak of lightning crashed down and the world seemed to pause, brighten, and then dissipate.

I could have said:

Then she mumbled, "abrakadabra."
A blue ball of magik formed above her....

First one doesn't say magik, just make it obvious that something supernatural is happening!


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## Oaken (Sep 2, 2012)

I suggest you refer to magic as "raw biological energy" that exists in every creature out there. However, not every creature knows how to channel it usefully i.e. cast spells.


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## Astner (Sep 2, 2012)

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned _sorcery_ yet. _Thaumaturgy_ and _witchcraft_ also works.


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## mbartelsm (Sep 2, 2012)

I use "Animism" as the practice of magic
And "Anima" as the name for magic itself

This is because in my world, magic is controlled trough the soul, and the latin word for soul is anima


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## Mindfire (Sep 2, 2012)

mbartelsm said:


> I use "Animism" as the practice of magic
> And "Anima" as the name for magic itself
> 
> This is because in my world, magic is controlled trough the soul, and the latin word for soul is anima



I think animism is a religion...


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## Ireth (Sep 2, 2012)

The Fae in my novels use a type of "magic" (or so it would seem to mortals) that they call Glamour, which is focused mainly in illusion or enchantment. They can make themselves appear as they wish, or disappear entirely; some, like Kelpies or Pooka, can change from humanoid to animal shape and back again. Others like Merrows or Selkies can do the same, but they need special garments to do so (a cap or cloak for the former, a sealskin for the latter).


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## CupofJoe (Sep 2, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> I think animism is a religion...


I know 2 Animist Shamans and one of them calls what he does magic as well...


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## Astner (Sep 3, 2012)

What exactly are you looking for? A substitute word, or a segment that describes some unique process?


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## mbartelsm (Sep 4, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> I think animism is a religion...



It is, but the name perfectly suits my need, besides, not many people know about it


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## ElliotWyndwryght (Sep 5, 2012)

In my world I was dealing with the same thing. Being set in medieval times you don't use the word 'magic' because in medieval times people accused of doing 'magic' were killed. Thus when the people with super-natural abilities rolled around they were very careful to call their abilities power. They were people with power, not magicians.


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## Nbafan (Oct 26, 2012)

Michael Sulliavan's Riyria Revelations refers to magic as "the art". If you are creative, there are all kinds of things you can do


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## psychotick (Oct 27, 2012)

Hi,

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned "The Force" - you know the one that's in every living thing that binds us and gives the Jedi his power. Now isn't that magic by another name?

Cheers, Greg.


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## MadMadys (Oct 27, 2012)

I dealt with the problem when coming up with my own story of how to integrate "magic" without taking on the typical form of summoning and fireballs and such.  I eventually landed on an idea of a more "natural" or "elemental" type of magic that I think works.

The element could, if the people in my world had the interest, appear on a periodic table.  It's mined, crafted and woven.  The element, called aether now but will liked be changed, gives off a blue/pinkish hue and mostly emanates from large "ducts" deep under the ground.  It can float in the air and is not harmful to breath in. At the time the story takes place, much of the aether in the world has dissipated into the atmosphere (creating some cool weather effects and altering weather patterns) or into space.  As a result, there is not much of the stuff to be found nearer the ground.  As such, most people can't wield it or really understand it.  They would never it deny it exists, though.  There are people who do use it in a manner of ways but it's primary attribute is the retention of kinetic force.  This of course plays well in weapons, some machines and even sails.

In the end it creates the perfect effect of being real and yet still a bit "magical" which is what I set out to do.  Of course now I sort of want to write a story where magic is all over the place but that's for another time.


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## Chime85 (Oct 27, 2012)

Try out the ...kinesis words. Telekinesis being the most established, you have pyrokenisis which is fire, electrokinesis is an easy one. Basicly, whatever kind of magic you are thinking could probably be changed to a kenisis.

x


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## Shadow Fox (Oct 28, 2012)

Well, kinesis doesn't really work since it refers to kinetic energy which is the energy of motion. For example Telekinesis refers to moving (kinesis) from a distance (tele-) That isn't comparative to magic.

The actual word 'magic' refers to something that is not known or understood. So in a sense magic refers to the unknown forces of the word. If it is known, understood, defined, than it isn't magic anyway and therefore you can call it whatever you want to be frank. it could even be a made up word that you came up with specifically for the world, or it could have many names, one official name, and many slang terms used to refer to this energy.

It regards to soul being anima, well anima also refers to something that can move as the culture defined the ability to move and interact as being the soul. 

What I think would fit more to what you describe would be like Reiki or Qi gong (pronounced shee-gong) which are practices in Japan and China respectively look them up and they might fit more with what you describe. I hope this helps.


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