The Best Magic Systems In Fiction

[Janus]

So ASOIAF has some interesting magic systems, as does Avatar, and arguably Star Wars, but I'm curious, what are your favorites? Why or why not?

Willow's magic system is interesting, from the movie "Willow". It is mostly done with enchantments, curses and elemental magic. Mind control is possible, but far more difficult. I wish Willow's magic system had more development, but since the new Willow series was cancelled, it won't get any. Basically, new magic users experience pain when casting spells, while masters of magic don't seem to have any. There is a difference, if I recall, between sorcerers and other magic users but again, the magic system isn't very developed since all it has is one movie, a novel, and comic book, and maybe the recent TV series on Disney +. Particularly powerful magic users from Willow, such as Fin Raziel and Bavmorda have telekinesis. There's A LOT of lost potential in Willow's magic system.

 

[MC_Lovecraft]

The actual books are middling, derivative, and forgettable, but I will die on the hill that the magic system in Eragon is one of the best in all of fiction.

There are two main components to it; True-Naming, where everything in the world has a secret, personal name, granting power over that thing to whoever knows it, spells being constructed from phrases in this True language (which in-universe is Elvish), and the second part, and the part that I think is perfect, is that you can only accomplish by magic what it would be possible to accomplish through the mundane expenditure of bodily energy, ie; you can only lift a rock with magic if you could lift that rock with your own strength, and lifting a rock that is farther away from you takes exponentially more energy. Magic users get around this via two primary strategies; storing energy siphoned off from their bodies a little at a time in magical gemstones to be drawn on later, much like autologous blood-doping in professional cycling, and by finding ways to accomplish an effect with the smallest possible expenditure of energy.

Given these constraints, a wizard can kill a roomful of unwarded people by speaking a word which applies a single pound of pressure to an artery in their brain, but not break down a barred door if they don't have an energy source to draw on. Then you get into the fact that mages in the setting are all telepaths who spend their time scanning the minds of everyone around them for enemy mages, with duels between them amounting to psychic wrestling over a knife, with a single lapse in concentration resulting in your unseen enemy triggering his 'aneurysm' spell and killing you, then doing the same thing to the hundred men under your command when your ward over them collapses.

The descriptions of the experience of using magic in the series is heavily drawn from Star Wars, and The Force, but with the True Naming of Earthsea stapled on for more 'fantasy' flavor, and the result is a fascinating, surprisingly consistent, and deeply flexible magic system that is unfortunately wedded to a sub-par series that few people even remember today.

 

[samuel cavaleiro]

Jujutsu sorcery from jujutsu kaisen uses strong emotions as a power source, but what I really like is the concept of creating a restriction on your own magic to strengthen it.

 

[Czlyydwr Llrngwl]

It's not a magic system or existing fiction, but I've been wanting to use the phrase "spinel spiral spiritual spy ritual" as an incantation for scrying for a while, with a focus item featuring the aforementioned gemstone pattern. Spinel's traditional symbolism doesn't really support it but it sounds good, and making or getting an expensive scrying tool "the better to watch over You with!" would definitely fit a yandere caster filled with passion and devotion to the target.

As for the actual thread topic... I tend to prefer either stories that skip trying to explain something that doesn't follow any RL principles and just get on with what the characters do with, for, or about it, or which set it up like a programming language where multiple minor effects get called on in concert yo produce "a spell" and go into a decent degree of detail about how the caster creates and debugs new spells. Code monkey, spell check, insect, and debuggering jokes optional, but appreciated

 

[wrecksalot]

the magic system in Pact and/or Pale is really good in my book. It's probably a little softer than most of the ones that have been brought up. The main thing is that becoming a magic user involves swearing a magically binding oath to not lie, which gives your words weight with magical creatures known as Others, including ambient spirits that are basically everywhere.

that's the starting point that all magic users do, but from there there are a variety of different ways to take things depending on what resources you have and what deals you're willing to make. Maybe you figure out a way to save time for later by totally zoning out that you can later use for timey stuff. Maybe you promise to maintain a shrine to some higher power in exchange for favors from it. maybe you figure out a way to use human souls as a power source to make your own realm. Maybe you simply make a habit of feeding birds for long enough that bird spirits like you.

all of these things have different mechanisms, but they all follow some rules. The more something is considered yours, the stronger your claim on it is the harder it is for others to affect it. Karma exists and protects those who don't know about magic, but what is Karmically right isn't necessarily what most people would consider good.

 

[Acolyte]

The shadow mayor of london series has some fun urban shamanism which is fun