History Literature / TheMagicGoesAway

-->'''Warlock:''' A dagger always works.

** ManBurn

Creator/LarryNiven's ''The Magic Goes Away'' stories tell of an ancient civilization based on FunctionalMagic powered by "Mana", but there's only a finite amount present on Earth. That nobody seems to be aware of or acknowledge this fact causes the magi, magical creatures and gods that use mana to eventually "go mythical" (a [[WriterOnboard very obvious]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything allegory]] of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis 1973 oil crisis]], aimed at modern civilization's reliance on fixed resources).

Creator/LarryNiven's ''The Magic Goes Away'' stories tell of an ancient civilization based on FunctionalMagic powered by "Mana", but there's only a finite amount present on Earth. That nobody seems to be aware of or acknowledge this fact causes the magi, magical creatures and gods that use mana to eventually "go mythical" (a [[WriterOnboard very obvious]] [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything allegory]] of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis 1973 oil crisis]] and aimed at modern civilization's reliance on fixed resources).

!!This series is either the TropeNamer or TropeMaker for the following tropes:

!!This series influenced the following tropes:

Creator/LarryNiven's ''The Magic Goes Away'' stories tell of an ancient civilization based on FunctionalMagic powered by "Mana", but there's only a finite amount present on Earth. That nobody seems to be aware of or acknowledge this fact causes the magi, magical creatures and gods that use mana to eventually "go mythical" (a [[WriterOnboard very obvious allegory]] of the [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis 1973 oil crisis]] and aimed at modern civilization's reliance on fixed resources).

Creator/LarryNiven's ''The Magic Goes Away'' stories tell of an ancient civilization based on FunctionalMagic powered by "Mana", but there's only a finite amount present on Earth. That nobody seems to be aware of or acknowledge this fact causes the magi, magical creatures and gods that use mana to eventually "go mythical" (a [[WriterOnboard very obvious allegory]] aimed at modern civilization's reliance on fixed resources).

* WrongGenreSavvy: barbarian warrior Belhap Sattlestone Wirldess ag Miracloat roo Cononson thinks he's a noble hero freeing a woman from being an evil wizard's captive. Actually the wizard is not evil; the woman his with him willingly; and he is a brute who casually murdered a woman in her sleep to get a magic sword.

The device that first proves this effect, and later becomes the most dangerous weapon in the world, is the "Warlock's Wheel", a simple copper disk with two spells on it: one that makes it spin ever faster without limit, and a second that makes the disc indestructible so long as there is mana available. This rapidly uses up all of the mana in the area. Small versions of the device can be used to [[eMP block scrying]] by making a wall of magic-free areas around a fortification, but a [[FantasticNuke sufficiently large one]] could ruin an entire nation. In later books, the Warlock's Wheel becomes a sort of MemeticBadass, as a mage refuses to even draw a picture of one because even a drawing of one would suck all the magic out of him.

The device that first proves this effect, and later becomes the most dangerous weapon in the world, is the "Warlock's Wheel", a simple copper disk with two spells on it: one that makes it spin ever faster without limit, and a second that makes the disc indestructible so long as there is mana available. This rapidly uses up all of the mana in the area. Small versions of the device can be used to [[EMP block scrying]] by making a wall of magic-free areas around a fortification, but a [[FantasticNuke sufficiently large one]] could ruin an entire nation. In later books, the Warlock's Wheel becomes a sort of MemeticBadass, as a mage refuses to even draw a picture of one because even a drawing of one would suck all the magic out of him.

The device that first proves this effect, and later becomes the most dangerous weapon in the world, is the "Warlock's Wheel", a simple copper disk with two spells on it: one that makes it spin ever faster without limit, and a second that makes the disc indestructible so long as there is mana available. This rapidly uses up all of the mana in the area. Small versions of the device can be used to block scrying by making a wall of magic-free areas around a fortification, but a sufficiently large one could ruin an entire nation. In later books, the Warlock's Wheel becomes a sort of MemeticBadass, as a mage refuses to even draw a picture of one because even a drawing of one would suck all the magic out of him.

* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: The Warlock Wheel. Its unbounded, ever-accelerating spinning is the crux of the spell.

* NoImmortalInertia: In "Not Longe Before the End", the Warlock deliberately consumes the mana in the area to defeat a demon; it works but as a result he also loses the benefit of said magic and ages rapidly. At one point he spits out a complete set of now-blackened teeth.

* NoOntologicalInertia: Played with in "What Good Is a Glass Dagger?". The castles of the magician [[spoiler:Wavyhill]] all collapse when he no longer keeps them functioning because he built them [[spoiler:on hills shaped like waves, so that when the magic failed the hill would fall over and bury the castle, hiding any evidence he left behind]].

* ArtifactOfDoom:
** Glirendree the demon sword. Using it is a ''bad idea''. On one hand, you're nigh-unstoppable and mostly immune to magic. On the other hand, it'll consume your life force and leave you dead of old age in a year or two, and you can't let go of it. Warlock reverts it to its demon form and feeds it to the Wheel.
** The Warlock's Wheel: using one will drain all of the magic within an area, potentially an area large enough to cover a city. Anything magical within that radius will either stop working, die, or become something less than what it was. Even gods "die", going mythical.

* ExploitedImmunity: In "The Lion in His Attic", a sorceress infiltrates a partially submerged castle by using magic to make the water withdraw. A man breaks her concentration and causes her spell to lapse, resulting in the water flooding back in and drowning her. The man doesn't care because [[spoiler:he's a were-sea lion -- he just changes to sea lion form and swims back to the surface]].

* ExploitedImmunity: In "The Lion in His Attic", a sorceress infiltrates a partially submerged castle by using magic to make the water withdraw. A man breaks her concentration and causes her spell to lapse, resulting in the water flooding back in and drowning her. The man doesn't care because he's a were-sea lion -- he just changes to sea lion form and swims back to the surface.

* IKnowYourTrueName: Knowing an entity's true name gives you a massive amount of control, even with weak spells. Wavyhill the Necromancer is revived as nothing but a skull thanks to knowing his true name (and a ill-advised spell he used to keep himself alive). Warlock's name-parent was smart and named him something that can't be pronounced by humans.

* SelkiesAndWereseals

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Glirendree the demon sword.

*** ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' made [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212637 Nevinyrral's Disk]] based on the Warlock Wheel. Both things accomplish the same task, and Nevinyrral is Larry Niven [[SdrawkcabName spelled backwards]].
*** The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' spell ''spell engine'' (first appearing in the ''TabletopGames/ForgottenRealms'' setting) works in a similar manner. However, Niven's name isn't mentioned, the wheel is intangible, and it can be destroyed with the touch of a magical item or via one of several high-level (but relatively common) spells.

* ''The Magic Goes Away'' (1976, expanded into a novelet in 1978).

* ColonyDrop: During "The Magic Goes Away" novel, the heroes are hoping to revive a god and have him drop the moon on the Earth to provide a new source of magic. [[spoiler: The heroes have no idea how large the moon actually is, and freak out when they realize that doing it will utterly destroy the world and leave the god as the only survivor. The god has absolutely no problem with this, thinking it's wonderful idea. They're forced to kill said god and stop the drop.]]

* LuddWasRight: Played with. Advanced, magic-based society will collapse utterly because of the vanishing mana, and the plots are largely how people are dealing with it. "Primitive" methods of doing things begin to work better, like constructing stout buildings to hold up their own weight instead of just using enchantments to keep them up. Or using swords to kill things instead of death-spells ("Those damn stupid swordsmen may win in the end after all"). Nothing is implied to have been wrong with magic-based civilization; no moral decay or anything. It's just that it was unsustainable in the end.

* MeaningfulName: Since most mages are smart enough to keep their real name secret, they uses meaningful handles. Clubfoot is a native american with, well, a club foot. Warlock is an inversion; his name is just a nickname, but because he's so famous it eventually becomes a term for magic users in general after he's dead.
** Originally Warlock took his name because he forced a region into peaceful co-existance by joining whatever side was not the aggressor, and was potent enough to tip the scales toward whoever he joined; as long as he was around, no country wanted to start the next war for fear of him. He called himself War-Lock, as in he "locked" the option of "war". By the time he's famous, the original reason for the name is all-but forgotten by everyone but him.
* OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous: Roze-Kattee, the God of Love and Madness, is a hemaphrodite with a hideous appearance: a humanoid covered with shaggy, coarse hair, blazing yellow-white eyes brighter than daylight and pointed ears.
* PhlebotinumMuncher: Dragons, Unicorns, and other mythical creatures require mana to sustain their metabolisms. Gods require truely ludicrous amounts, and mana deprivation renders them mostly mythical even during the ages of high magic.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The characters keep disagreeing because of old grudges, and it's clear that clinging to the old magical ways in their day and age is a lifestyle that no well-adjusted person would be living.

* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Terrifyingly inverted. Roze Kattee is a God of Love and Madness, and the heroes assume he'll relatively safe to deal with because those things are hard to leverage against them. But instead of doing the obvious and causing people to go nuts or fall for each other, he does the opposite; he can remove your love or irrationality. People effected find themselves sitting around, having lost their love of living or willingness to fight an obviously unstoppable god on the off-chance getting lucky. Also, he's still a [[RealityWarper world-warping godmonster]], especially since he was revived by the death of the World Worm and has mana to spare.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Orolandes the Athenean soldier, fighting Roze-Kattee, God of Love and Madness. Roze-Kattee stretches upward, tall enough to grab the moon and attempts to stop it in its orbit so it will slam into the Earth. Orolandes, having nothing more helpful to do, stabs Roze Kattee in the foot. This actually works out pretty well.
* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: The Warlock Wheel. It's unbounded, ever-accelerating spinning is the crux of the spell.

--> ''"When the mana runs out, I'll go like a blown candle flame, and civilization will follow. No more magic, no more magic-based industries. Then the whole world will be barbarian until men learn a new way to coerce nature, and the swordsmen, the damned stupid swordsmen, will win after all."''

* BackgroundMagicField: The TropeCodifier in literature.

* AntiMagic: The Warlock Wheel. It's a simple bronze wheel with two spells on it; one to make it spin faster, accelerating without limit. The other spell prevents it from destroying itself. This wheel rapidly eats all the mana in the area, turning it into a dead zone where magic no longer functions at all.
** MagicTheGathering made [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=212637 Nevinyrral's Disk]] based on the Warlock Wheel. Both things accomplish the same task, and Nevinyrral is Larry Niven [[SdrawkcabName spelled backwards]].
** The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' spell ''spell engine'' (first appearing in the ''TabletopGames/ForgottenRealms'' setting) works in a similar manner. However, Niven's name isn't mentioned, the wheel is intangible, and it can be destroyed with the touch of a magical item or via one of several high-level (but relatively common) spells.

* AuthorTract: It'd be less blunt for Niven to elbow you in the ribs and scream "OIL! OIL, YOU GET IT?!?"

* ArtifactOfDoom / Clingy MacGuffin: Glirendree the demon sword. Using it is a ''bad idea''. On one hand, you're nigh-unstoppable and mostly immune to magic. On the other hand, it'll consume your life force and leave you dead of old age in a year or two, and you can't let go of it. Warlock reverts it to its demon form and feeds it to the Wheel.
** The Warlock's Wheel itself is an ArtifactOfDoom: Using one will drain all of the magic within an area, potentially an area large enough to cover a city. Anything magical within that radius will either stop working, die, or become something less than what it was. Even gods "die", going mythical.

* ''Not Long Before the End'' (1969) -- the short story that started it all

--> "When the mana runs out, I'll go like a blown candle flame, and civilization will follow. No more magic, no more magic-based industries. Then the whole world will be barbarian until men learn a new way to coerce nature, and the swordsmen, the damned stupid swordsmen, will win after all."
--> -- Warlock

* HereThereWereDragons: Lack of mana mutates mythical creatures offspring, if they're lucky. Dragons turn to stone or mutate into various things, unicorns are born without horns, giant slimes grow small, werewolves cease to be "were", and generally turn to "mundane" creatures. UNLUCKY mythical monsters simply keel over, going extinct. Merpeople, centaurs, and many others simply die off in mass extinctions. (Although the short story "The Lion in His Attic" suggests that merpeople entering low mana areas sometimes turn into "[[SapientCetecans bottlenosed mammals]]".)

* HereThereWereDragons: Lack of mana mutates mythical creatures offspring, if they're lucky. Dragons turn to stone or mutate into various things, unicorns are born without horns, giant slimes grow small, werewolves cease to be "were", and generally turn to "mundane" creatures. UNLUCKY mythical monsters simply keel over, going extinct. Merpeople, centaurs, and many others simply die off in mass extinctions.

* WhenThingsSpinScienceHappens: The Warlock Wheel. It's unbounded, ever-accelerating spinning is the crux of the spell.