History Main / AddictiveMagic

* Magic in ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' doesn't usually seem to trend this way, but the short story "Trust Your Instincts" in the anthology "Pathways" has the magical king-choosing [[EmpathicWeapon Sword that Sings]] causing an obsession in a mage who'd handled it, making him break into the palace to touch it with eager, shaking hands - until it switched from a warm and calming influence to a cold terror-inducing one that had him stealing it and running unprepared into a mountain pass where he died - all as part of the sword's plan to get itself lost until Tarma and Kethry find it in ''Oathbreakers''.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer:'' [[FormerTeenRebel Giles]]'s past as a demon summoner was treated a bit like a hooligan/stoner phase--he himself describes it as an extraordinary high. Willow's subplot in season six was less subtle. It started with her abusing MundaneUtility and getting carried away with her rapidly increasing power. It ended in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E10Wrecked Wrecked]]", with her visiting an actual "pusher" who provided his customers with spells and weird hallucinations. It was later subject to an AuthorsSavingThrow that denied that magic itself is addictive.

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* ''Series/Charmed1998'': Paige's boyfriend Richard in Season 6 is a witch who develops a serious problem with abusing and overusing magic. She and his family (ghosts included) stage an intervention in [[Recap/CharmedS6E15IDreamOfPhoebe "I Dream of Phoebe"]], which he rejects at first, but by the end of the episode he is convinced to take a power-stripping potion.

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* ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'': In "The Smurf Village Revival", Benedictus' spiritual power has an addictive quality to it, as Empath says that the Smurfs have been going to him night after night to receive this power.

* In [[Literature/{{Darwath}} the realm of Darwath]] there is a saying: "A mage will have magic," meaning that a mage can't ''not'' use their magic, even if it might cost him his life. Novice mage Rudy Solis finds that it's quite true.

* Skill-users Creator/RobinHobb's ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' books suffer from an addiction to Skilling that can cause truly terrible physical pain and mental distraction. Fitz suffers especially from this addiction.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** Channelers of the One Power must discipline themselves not to use the Power too regularly: channeling comes with a rush of SuperSenses and feeling more ''alive'' that tempts them to draw more of the Power than they can handle, to the point of death or burning out their ability to channel. Channelers who have [[DePower De-Powered]] by accident or as a punishment tend to lose the will to live and die within a year or two.
** The True Power, drawn directly from the [[TheAntiGod Dark One]], is so addictive that using any noteworthy amount of it nearly guarantees that the channeler will eventually overdraw and die messily. It also comes with a heaping side of DrunkOnTheDarkSide that causes some nasty SanitySlippage along the way.

* A recurring theme in the ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' series, though more for some magics than others. The Sword of Leah is perhaps the most consistently addictive.
* Subverted in the second novel of ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy''. Straff Venture assumes that using the mystical metal atium to fuel their powers is addictive to Mistborn, and uses carefully controlled rations of it to control his [[TheDragon Dragon]] [[spoiler: and bastard son]] Zane. Atium, however, is ''not'' addictive (at least, no more addictive than anything that grants power), and Zane mentally derides Straff for thinking so- he hangs around him mostly because he doesn't have anywhere else to go.

* In the ''Literature/TowersTrilogy'', Xhea is an UnSorcerer whose body can't process magic. Instead of being able to use it to cast spells, it affects her like a drug. Xhea often accepts payment in magic, despite her inability to use or re-sell it, because she's addicted to the sensations it causes.

* In the ''Literature/DreambloodDuology'', there's Narcomancy -- especially dreamblood, one of the four dreamhumours. Coming in contact with it or using it gives wonderful sensations and visions, but after a time the user becomes dependent and must have dream blood or die.
* In New Testament Scripture from ''Literature/TheBible'', the Greek word translated as magic and witchcraft is ''pharmakeia'' (φαρμακεία), which can also double for drug use (but actually means "poison").

* ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'': It's stated explicitly to resemble cocaine addiction--a little bit every now and then is okay, but use too much and it's a steep, quick decline into obsession, madness, and bad hygiene. Demonstrated with [[spoiler:Andy-Andy]], who keeps to a slow, safe, gentle progression, until [[spoiler:Karl]] dies, at which point she takes a [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope flying leap off the slippery slope]]. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end - given the choice of sacrificing her sanity or ability to do magic for enough power for an epic spell, she chooses the latter. She does, however, display symptoms of catastrophic cold-turkey withdrawal afterward.]] This may also be the entire motivation of [[spoiler:Arthur Deighton/Arta Myrdhyn]].
* ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'': Use of a dark portal is both addictive and corrupting to the user.
* The magic of the Weave in ''Literature/TheBraidedPath'' trilogy fills users with such a strong sense of bliss that it is easy for them to lose themselves and go insane as a result. Using a mask laced with witch stone dust only amplifies the effects. Both the Weavers and the Red Order have to use a lot of discipline so they don't lose themselves to the Weave. (Although the Red Order have a slight advantage, given most of them underwent a [[TraumaticSuperPowerAwakening Traumatic Superpower Awakening]] by accidently setting their surroundings on fire.)

* In the TabletopGame/DarkSun setting 2e, set on a post-apocalyptic world damaged by arcane magic, there's an interesting variation. Arcane magic includes defiling (which requires less skill and training) which destroys plant life, and preserving (which requires more skill and a Wisdom requirement) which only lightly damages plant life. Arcane casters don't get addicted to spellcasting but can easily become addicted to the defiling ''method'' and never learn or use preserving. This is not good.
** In the 4th Edition, there's no addiction rule. Instead, every arcane caster is given an ability (whether you want it or not) called Arcane Defiling. It's powerful, but there are both in- and out-of-game reasons not to use it. In a hard fight, a wizard player might find it hard to justify ''not'' using the power.
* Generally, ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' just depicts it as a tool or as a form of self-expression, so there usually isn't an addictive component unless there is a curse involved. However, in earlier fluff Black and Red tended to intoxicate their spellcasters - being the colors of individuality and self-indulgence, it's not hard to see why.
* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'': The most powerful Changelings become physically and psychologically dependent on [[{{Mana}} Glamour]] and will start to die if they don't harvest a bare minimum every few days. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in that most Changelings never become powerful enough to experience it, but at the highest possible Wyrd score, they need a hefty 5 points per day -- enough that they likely need to plan out their sources in advance. [[spoiler:Of course, not long after that, [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie it might not matter anymore]]...]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Infernal}}'', Barbara seems to think that Lennox (the player character) is becoming addicted to the demonic powers he receives from the Abyss, either because it's [[TheCorruption inherently corrupting]] or because he [[DrunkWithPower just likes the power]]. Lennox does seem pretty keen to get the powers back once he's lost them, but whether there really is an addiction or whether it's just practicality isn't stated outright.
* In ''Videogame/MegaManBattleNetwork'', the Dark Chips (very powerful versions of normal Battle Chips, MadeOfEvil) are stated to be addicting to use; just one use will lead to the Net Navi slowly getting more and more dependent on it. Dark Chip users also tend to become easily irritated and being pricks. In gameplay terms, the Dark Chip, if you have any, will come out to your chip selection window when Mega Man is in the "anxious" state (if he gets hit a lot without retaliating), pretty much tempting the player to use it to turn the tides; the more you use it, the easier Mega Man will get "anxious". Using them will also give the effect of MaximumHpReduction per each use, much like how drugs slowly eat your body.
* The climax of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' has a variation. The conversation between the player and the BigBad has the BigBad reveal that she thinks [[spoiler:The Force itself is a destructive cancer and wants to destroy it, no matter how much death and damage that will do to galactic society.]] The player can point out how that's hypocritical for a powerful force-user and Sith Lord as herself, and she'll defend herself by saying she's only studying The Force in the same way a chemist will study a poison...and then comment that ''maybe'' that's [[HypocrisyNod just an excuse]] and the truth is that she's addicted to wielding the Force.
** In fact, it's mentioned in the previous game that [[ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil using the Dark Side actually changes a person's neurological patterns, much like prolonged drug use]].
* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' has a variation of "the substance that grants magic is highly addicting." Specifically, the population of Rapture discovered that a substance in sea slugs, Adam, could grant the user superpowers to [[MundaneUtility to use around the house]]. However, Adam itself was highly addictive and eventually causes insanity as well as physical deterioration with prolonged use.
* Sienna from ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'' is a bit addicted to [[PlayingWithFire the pyromancy of Bright Wizardry]], making her a dangerous {{Pyromaniac}}. An invasion by a horde of [[YouDirtyRat Skaven]] soon convinces [[TheWitchHunter Saltzpyre]], who is taking her to trial, to let her have her way with the [[ZergRush endless horde]] of murderous ratfolk instead. In ''VideoGame/VermintideII'', the Unchained class option sees her giving in fully to the addiction; her playstyle as an Unchained appropriately is at its best when she's [[CriticalStatusBuff just barely below]] a magic-induced HeroicRROD.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'': Allura's magic orb in "[[Recap/TheSmurfsS6E35LureOfTheOrb Lure Of the Orb]]" imbues whoever touches it with what they think is heightened inspiration, but it is only a temporary boost of euphoric energy that leaves the person feeling drained and addicted to its power.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', this applies to black magic. Using magic is closely tied to doing what you truly love, and you can only cast magic if you honestly believe in what you're doing. Killing someone with magic, even if in self-defense, alters the user's mind to accept what they did was ''good'' on some level. Each additional casting of black magic alters the user's mind even more, making them more willing to use black magic, until eventually they are using the magic just for the sake of it. Given how rare it is for a warlock to not desend into raving lunacy, the official White Council policy is to execute anyone caught using black magic on sight.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', this applies to black magic. As Harry explains it, using magic is closely tied to doing what you truly love, and you can only cast magic if you honestly believe in what you're doing. So if you kill someone with magic, even if it was self-defense, you are accepting that, at least sometimes, killing people is ''good'' (and incidentally, that killing people can be kinda fun), which greases up the ol' slippery slope like nothing else. For this reason, official White Council policy is to execute anyone caught using black magic on sight (unless another wizard puts their own neck on the line for them)- extreme, yes, but the statistical insignificance of warlocks who ''don't'' degenerate into raving lunatics means most, even Harry (who was almost a victim of this policy himself) acknowledges that it's [[ShootTheDog grimly justified]].

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', this applies to black magic, which is why the White Council kills anyone who uses it even once.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'': Paige's boyfriend Richard in Season 6 is a witch who develops a serious problem with abusing and overusing magic. She and his family (ghosts included) stage an intervention in [[Recap/CharmedS6E15IDreamOfPhoebe "I Dream of Phoebe"]], which he rejects at first, but by the end of the episode he is convinced to take a power-stripping potion.

* ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'': The magic shoes. The Troll King appears to already be suffering from a crippling addiction to them at the story's outset, and Virginia falls under their spell very quickly. Somewhat deconstructed as well: the Troll King has an established shoe fetish and Wolf thinks Virginia just has a strong desire to be invisible, shrugging it off himself. Played with and lampshaded in that one of the pieces from the soundtrack is [[InvokedTrope actually entitled]] "Addicted to Magic"...but instead of playing during anything to do with the magic shoes, it appears when Wolf tempts Tony with the magic bean, during the Dog Prince's UrineTrouble scene, and when the magic mushrooms are tempting Tony to eat them in the Deadly Swamp.

* The Blood Elves in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' became addicted to {{Mana}}. As [[OurElvesAreDifferent High Elves]] they were able to draw on the energies of the Sunwell to sate their addiction, but it was defiled and tainted by the Scourge. The main schism between High and Blood Elves arose because they disagreed over the best way to cope with their condition. High Elves prefer to meditate and master their cravings and Blood Elves started finding other sources on which to feed - including demonic energy. Some of them were able to control that addiction; some of them were transformed into wasted, addicted beings called the Wretched.
** Notably, becoming addicted to magic is the only way a male Blood Elf (or female for that matter) can go bald - making it a literal BaldOfEvil.
** Strictly speaking, all mortals can become addicted to arcane magic in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' setting. The effects of casting an arcane spell are described in terms that make it sound a lot like real-world drugs and mages may feel the urge to cast the spell again for the thrill it causes. The MMO even makes a joking reference to real-life anti-drug campaigns with this in-game book: [[http://www.wowhead.com/object=192868]] (contents are posted in the comments).
** Even more dangerous is [[BlackMagic fel magic]] - that is, demonic energy - which is even more addictive and MUCH more corrupting.

** The Nightborne in ''Legion'' are the most extreme example seen so far. Having spent 10,000 years relying on the Nightwell's energy after sealing themselves away, they're completely reliant on its energy. Whereas Blood Elves need a long time to become Wretched, it can take only days or even ''hours'' for Nightborne to devolve into Withered.
*** Parallels with addiction are made even clearer with their preferred methods of imbibing mana being ground crystals, powder, and wine; body language of Nightfallen resembling that of hard drug addicts; and several characters obviously desperate for another hit. There's a reason many players have taken to flat-out calling them junkies.

* In ''FanFic/SeventhHorcrux'', Harry, in order to avoid being controlled by the Imperius Curse, regularly Imperios himself to do whatever he wants. When Hermione finds out and forces him to stop, he goes through withdrawal.
* ''Fanfic/{{Their Midnight Revels}}'': While Edith Crawley and Thomas Barrow do not show all the signs of a parallel drug addiction, some of the symptoms of this trope still apply: such as expanded thoughts, uncontrollable inhibitions, heightened senses, and rapidly changing emotions, particularly rage, anxiety, and depression. Plus their behavior after they return from Faerie the first night mirrors the behavior of a drug user coming down from a high.
* In the ''Fanfic/TriptychContinuum'', there's an element of this to ''Talents'', or magic stemming from a pony's cutie mark. All ponies experience some degree of what's locally known as "flank-brain" when they first get their mark, as the surge of pleasure that comes from triggering their ''talent'' produces something of a Pavlovian conditioning effect. Friends and family usually try to intervene, but the spectrum of varying levels of addiction to mark-magic, locally known as "falling into the mark", remains the most prominent mental illness in Equestria.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3362802/1/One-Thing-Leads-to-Another One Thing Leads to Another,]]'' Beast Boy and Raven discover during their first time sleeping together that Raven's magic can create an empathic link between them during sex. It proves to be [[PowerPerversionPotential a wonderful experience]], but causes significant tension after the effects prove to be mildly addictive for Beast Boy. They agree to reserve it for special occasions.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/TheCovenant'', the Sons' magic is not merely highly addictive, but drains their vitality and [[CastFromLifespan prematurely ages them the more they use it]]. This is only after their 18th birthday, though. Before that, their magic is much less powerful but is also a freebie. However, if they're not careful, they'll get hooked and be unable to stop. [[spoiler:This is what happened to the protagonist's father and to the BigBad, who has to resort to stealing other Sons' magic to keep himself young]].

* Allura's magic orb in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "Lure Of The Orb" imbues whoever touches it with what they think is heightened inspiration, but it is only a temporary boost of euphoric energy that leaves the person feeling drained and addicted to its power.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E23InspirationManifestation "Inspiration Manifestation"]], the spellbook effectively serves as this for Rarity. Under its influence, she stops eating, grows increasingly manic in her behavior, and is only free of it when Spike finally stops enabling her and makes her realize how harmful it is.
* In the original ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials'', Witchweed Potion is a powerful magic amplifier that is also incredibly addictive. It's unclear if Catrina can even use magic without supping it, or if that's a symptom of how addicted she's become.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'', as Elsa hears the mysterious calling voice in "Into the Unknown" she keeps trying to ignore it, but its allure is too much for her to resist. Grand Pabbie warns Anna to watch over Elsa, as she may lose herself in the allure of magic during their journey. [[spoiler:When she's in Ahtohallan and finds magical representations of the past, she goes too far in pursuit of finding more and dies before being revived later.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', {{Fusion|Dance}} has the potential to become this, because it gives the user a PowerHigh. On another level, fusions are a metaphor for relationships, and their addictive quality can be interpreted as developing a codependency.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': As an adventurous young boy before being paralyzed, Bran gets very excited at his ability to Warg into Summer and it's natural for him to want to spend as much time running and hunting in Summer's skin as possible until he's spending hours doing it, but Jojen warns him that too much of this will cause him to forget he's actually human.
* ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': Referenced in the series tagline. "MAGIC IS A DRUG." Julia's behavior in pursuit of magic resembles an addiction to such a degree that people close to her actually believe she has gotten hooked on drugs and she even agrees to go to rehab. It is later explained to her that there is a reason for that.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer:'' [[FormerTeenRebel Giles']] past as a demon summoner was treated a bit like his hooligan/stoner phase--he himself describes it as an extraordinary high. Willow's subplot in season six was less subtle. It started with her abusing MundaneUtility and getting carried away with her rapidly increasing power. It ended in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E10Wrecked Wrecked]]", with her visiting an actual "pusher" who provided his customers with spells and weird hallucinations. It was later subject to an AuthorsSavingThrow that denied that magic itself is addictive.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer:'' [[FormerTeenRebel Giles']] past as a demon-summoner was treated a bit like his hooligan/stoner phase--he himself describes it as an extraordinary high. Willow's subplot in season six was less subtle. It started with her abusing MundaneUtility and getting carried away with her rapidly increasing power. It ended in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E10Wrecked Wrecked]]", with her visiting an actual "pusher" who provided his customers with weird hallucinations. It was later subject to an AuthorsSavingThrow that denied that magic itself is addictive.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' has the two main villains, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Regina]] and Rumplestiltskin / Mr. Gold, and both are addicted to their dark magical powers. Rumplestiltskin's dark magic [[EvilMakesYouUgly has made his skin turn a weird greenish-gold with gold eyes]] after becoming the dark one, though Regina has still maintained her looks, she has a more cruel look to her than before she turned to dark magic. Archie Hopper (Jiminy Cricket) told Regina that starting the magic was always easier than stopping.

* ''{{Series/Camelot}}'': Merlin apparently stopped using magic due to this, since he liked it way too much.
* ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'': The magic shoes. The Troll King appears to already be suffering from a crippling addiction to them at the story's outset, and Virginia falls under their spell very quickly. Somewhat deconstructed as well: the Troll King has an established shoe fetish and Wolf thinks Virginia just has a strong desire to be invisible, shrugging it off himself. Played with and lampshaded in that one of the pieces from the soundtrack is [[InvokedTrope actually entitled]] "Addicted to Magic"...but instead of playing during anything to do with the magic shoes, it appears when Wolf tempts Tony with the magic bean, during the Dog Prince's UrineTrouble scene, and when the magic mushrooms are tempting Tony to eat them in the Deadly Swamp.

* Allura's magic orb in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "The Lure Of The Orb" imbues whoever touches it with what they think is heightened inspiration, but it is only a temporary boost of euphoric energy that leaves the person feeling drained and addicted to its power.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer:'' [[FormerTeenRebel Giles']] past as a demon-summoner was treated a bit like his hooligan/stoner phase--he himself describes it as an extraordinary high. Willow's subplot in season six was less subtle. It started with her abusing MundaneUtility and getting carried away with her rapidly-increasing power. It ended in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E10Wrecked Wrecked]]", with her visiting an actual "pusher" who provided his customers with weird hallucinations. It was later subject to an AuthorsSavingThrow that denied that magic itself is addictive.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' has the two main villains, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Regina]] and Rumplestiltskin / Mr. Gold, and both are addicted to their dark magical powers. Rumplestiltskin's dark magic [[EvilMakesYouUgly has made his skin turn a weird greenish gold with gold eyes]] after becoming the dark one, though Regina has still maintained her looks, she has a more cruel look to her than before she turned to dark magic. Archie Hopper (Jiminy Cricket) told Regina that starting the magic was always easier than stopping.

* ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'': The magic shoes. The Troll King appears to already be suffering from a crippling addiction to them at the story's outset, and Virginia falls under their spell very quickly. Somewhat deconstructed as well: the Troll King has an established shoe fetish and Wolf thinks Virgina just has a strong desire to be invisible, shrugging it off himself. Played with and lampshaded in that one of the pieces from the soundtrack is [[InvokedTrope actually entitled]] "Addicted to Magic"...but instead of playing during anything to do with the magic shoes, it appears when Wolf tempts Tony with the magic bean, during the Dog Prince's UrineTrouble scene, and when the magic mushrooms are tempting Tony to eat them in the Deadly Swamp.

* Generally, ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' just depicts as as a tool or as a form of self-expression, so there usually isn't an addictive component unless there is a curse involved. However, in earlier fluff Black and Red tended to intoxicate their spellcasters - being the colors of individuality and self-indulgence, it's not hard to see why.

** Strictly speaking, all mortals can become addicted to arcane magic in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' setting. The effects of casting an arcane spell are described in terms that make it sound a lot like real-world drugs and mages may feel the urge to cast the spell again for the thrill it causes. The MMO even makes a joking reference to real life anti-drugs campaigns with this in-game book: [[http://www.wowhead.com/object=192868]] (contents are posted in the comments).

* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' has a variantion of "the substance that grants magic is highly addicting." Specifically, the population of Rapture discovered that a substance in sea slugs, Adam, could grant the user superpowers to [[MundaneUtility to use around the house]]. However, Adam itself was highly addictive and eventually causes insanity as well as physical deterioration with prolonged use.

** Later, this is revealed to be the case for [[spoiler:Lapis and Jasper]] after [[spoiler:having spent months fused as Malachite]], fueled by their hatred. The former realizes how destructive it was but still feels some sort of longing for the latter...who took it ''much'' worse and [[InLoveWithYourCarnage became obsessed with the power it granted them, and is now more or less stalking the former as a result]].

* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'': The most powerful Changelings become physically and psychologically dependent on [[{{Mana}} Glamour]] and will start to die if they don't harvest a bare minimum every few days. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in that most Changelings never become powerful enough to experience it, but at the highest possible Wyrd score, they need a hefty 5 points per day -- enough that they likely need to plan out their sources in advance.