History Main / HealingMagicIsTheHardest

* In ''VideoGame/{{Othercide}}'', you are a being of incredible power capable of manipulating time and memory as well as summoning "Daughters" through bits of your friend's memory. However you normally can't restore any health to wounded Daughters, except by sacrificing the life of another Daughter.

* ''Webcomic/Aurora2019'': According to both of {{Word of God}} and {{All There in the Manual}}; Life Magic is much more dangerous/difficult to use than any of the other types of magic. Probably doesn't help that there's a [[{{Harmful Healing}} plague]] of the raw stuff randomly cropping up...

* All superpowers in ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' are derived from [[OurDemonsAreDifferent devils]] and NoCureForEvil is in full effect. Devils [[HealItWithBlood heal by drinking blood]] but [[DealWithTheDevil make contracts]] just to harm humans via payments, so you're hard-pressed to find a devil willing and able to heal them. The only established cases have involved [[DemonOfHumanOrigin becoming a least partially demonic yourself]] to gain said self-regeneration, which seems very rare (and [[InhumanableAlienRights means you aren't legally human anymore]]). [[spoiler:The real Santa Claus]] needed a contract with one of the most powerful devils in existence to heal her body, though it also gave a very impressive HealingFactor on top of that.

** Gnome Princess Mansherry can use her Chiyu Chiyu no Mi/Heal-Heal Fruit power to heal any living thing that is wounded or injured, via SwissArmyTears or floating dandelions. She can only produce so many of the former at a time, while the latter is either temporary or based on EquivalentExchange via EnergyDonation. She can also heal constructs, but it would cost some of the lifespan. Even with these limits, her power is treated as a tremendous asset, and she's almost forced into negating all the work that went into incapacitating Doflamingo's officers.

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': Downplayed. The original ''VideoGame/Persona1'' shows HealingHands Dia line of spells used by Personas, while effective on fellow Persona users and other supernatural entities, don't really work properly on people who have not awakened their Personas. At one point, the party members attempt to heal a schoolmate, and they find that healing spells only give an effect comparable to massaging. ''VideoGame/Persona3'' has Chidori being able to heal dead flowers back to life, but she does so with her unique EmpathicHealer ability rather than the standard HealingHands spells. [[spoiler:The same game also implies Persona users who are rendered unable or unwilling to evoke their Personas are also difficult to heal normally, as Shinjiro and Junpei can attest to.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Castoff}}'': While Vector thinks Arianna would heal the [[AgonyOfTheFeet cuts on his feet]], the best she can do is clean them with a spell and bandage them. Arianna explains there's no such thing as a healing magic, and, being a competent mage and the story's main source of magic-related {{Exposition}}, she'd know. [[spoiler: Then again, Marina does heal the cuts on Vector's hands a few chapters afterwards. Then ''again'', she's hinted to be exceptional. As we [[ {{flashback}} learn later]], Sage has been somewhat obsessive in trying to invent healing magic in his youth, but there's no indication he succeeded.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Castoff}}'': While Vector thinks Arianna would heal the [[AgonyOfTheFeet cuts on his feet]], the best she can do is clean them with a spell and bandage them. Arianna explains there's no such thing as a healing magic, and, being a competent mage and the story's main source of magic-related {{Exposition}}, she'd know. [[spoiler: Then again, Marina does heal the cuts on Vector's hands a few chapters afterwards. Then ''again'', she's hinted to be exceptional.]]

[[folder:Fan Works ]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The Force can supposedly be used to heal, but the ability to do so is extremely specialized and only three onscreen characters ([[spoiler:''Series/TheMandalorian'' having Grogu, and ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' having Kylo Ren and Rey, and even then Kylo dies by healing Rey after an intense battle]]) have ever demonstrates the power. Darth Plagueis allegedly developed this kind of ability, but even his apprentice Palpatine did not know how it worked. Which kind of sucked for Anakin since he turned to the Dark Side specifically because Palpatine promised to teach him how to do it.

* This trope is usually played straight in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, where there are many examples of reliable Force healing, but it's often presented as being more difficult than most areas of Force manipulation. In ''Literature/CloneWarsGambit,'' it's noted that Obi-Wan has some skill in this area, but it's difficult and draining, especially since the healer has to experience at least some of the pain of the injured. It's very possible for incautious healers to overexert themselves and burn themselves out.
** One novel included Darth Vader himself attempting to heal his injuries using the Dark Side of the Force, and making at least some progress. But he ultimately failed, as [[ThePowerOfHate the Dark Side is powered by hatred and anger]], and he was unable to sustain those emotions through the healing.

'''Buddha:''' You are the fool. You think you are powerful because you can kill and destroy. True power lies in healing and restoration.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Jeong Jeong describes the healing subset of waterbending to Katara as something very few are able to do, and something that only true masters are able to perfect. When the Gaang gets to the enormous city of the Northern Water Tribe, Katara attends a healing class and sees only five other girls in training.

* All superpowers in ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' are derived from [[OurDemonsAreDifferent devils]] and NoCureForEvil is in full effect. Devils [[HealItWithBlood heal by drinking blood]] but [[DealWithTheDevil make contracts]] just to harm humans via payments, so you're hard-pressed to find a devil willing and able to heal them. The only established cases have involved [[DemonOfHumanOrigin becoming a least partially demonic yourself]] to gain said self-regeneration, which seems very rare (and [[InhumanableAlienRights means you aren't legally human anymore]]). [[spoiler:The real Santa Claus]] needed a contract with one of the most power devils in existence to heal her body, though it also gave a very impressive HealingFactor on top of that.

* In the world of ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'', all magic (known as Jujutsu) is [[ThePowerOfHate powered by negative emotion]], and is thus, in it's natural state, harmful and destructive. The only way to heal a human body with Jujutsu is to reverse Cursed Energy to create Positive Energy, a process so complex that even ''[[WorldsStrongestMan Gojo Satoru]]'', universally regarded as the most powerful wielder of Jujutsu in the current era, can only use it to heal himself. Of all the characters introduced so far; only ''three'' Sorcerers ([[TheMedic Shoko Ieiri]], [[ChildProdigy Yuta Okketsu]], and [[TheArchmage Ryomen Sukuna]]) have displayed full mastery of it.

** Only in the 3rd and 3.5 editions did Arcane healing spells (i.e. ones that don't require godlike powers) begin to proliferate. Oddly enough, [[SpoonyBard Bards]] (and anyone with shenanigans to take spells from the bard list) are fully able to heal through arcane spells. The other group who can pull that off are dragons, but they are [[SuperiorSpecies dragons]].

*** Mending is a cantrip used to repair a broken object. Cue long arguments between players and DMs on whether a Warforged (sentient golems/robots) can be restored by the spell.

* While there are still ways of treating injuries with magic in ''Manga/FairyTail'' (for instance, one of Ichiya's perfumes acts as a painkiller and can cure some poison), actual ''healing'' magic is considered a lost art. The only three beings who are shown to possess healing magic are Wendy, Chelia, and [[spoiler:Acnologia]]. The former two are masters of rare Lost Magic involving [[BlowYouAway wind manipulation]] and while they can heal even fatal wounds and heavily implied could even do the same to severed limbs, it drains their own energy to do so which increases with wound severity. The latter [[spoiler:is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld over 400 years old]] from a time where it was more common and even his wasn't nearly as impressive as theirs (he could only stop bleeding, not fully heal wounds or even null pain). Plus, he kinda gave up on healing magic after a traumatic event and devoted himself to ''destructive'' magic.]]