History Main / WildMagic

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Magic_Card_Squirrel_Token_8983.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Side effects include truckloads of industrial-strength crazy shit.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Side effects include industrial-strength crazy shit. And suddenly being a squirrel.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Side effects to WildMagic include industrial-strength crazy shit. And being turned into a squirrel.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Side effects to WildMagic include industrial quantities of crazy shit. And being turned into a squirrel.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Side effects include industrial quantities of crazy shit....and being turned into a squirrel.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Side effects include industrial quantities of crazy shit. And being turned into a squirrel.]]

* TheOldKingdomTrilogy uses both this and RitualMagic, though the former is used much more often than the latter, due to Free magic being extremely dangerous, as described in this trope. This actually ties into the main plot; [[spoiler:originally, [[RitualMagic Charter magic]] didn't exist, but seven of the nine great spirits who created the world sought to create something more organized, and thus bound Free magic using the Charter.]]

Casting a spell with this kind of magic is often extremely dangerous. You have either have to convince magic to do what you want it to, subdue it in a battle of wills, or accept that you are basically using tilt on the metaphorical pinball machine of reality. Another danger of using wild magic to cast spells, generally more prominent when using methods 1 or 3, is {{Heroic RROD}}. New users may also GoMadFromTheRevelation.

* "CircleOfMagic" gives us academic magic and ambient magic, ambient magic being a little more like wild magic.

But if you are not so lucky, you may trip over a sentient magical force that wants something. Maybe it's hungry, and wants to eat your soul. Or maybe its lonely and tries to get you to stay a while. You know, just for a few eternities. Not to be confused with cases where someone either gets lost in the underlying magical fabric of the universe all on their own, or decide they like it there so much there that they're staying.

* ''The500Kingdoms'' has the Tradition, which pushes people who are susceptible to it into the paths of traditional fairy tales -- the heroine of the first book is a Cinderella whose prince doesn't show up on cue, and so her fairy godmother takes her on as an apprentice instead, because leaving all the magic floating around her isn't safe for her or anyone else, and she's better off using that magic in constructive ways instead of letting it rule her willy-nilly.

* ''TheLastUnicorn'': when Shemendrick casts a spell, although it usually gets them out of whatever situation they where having trouble with, he certainly doesn't control how. On top of that, his description of spell casting is something along the lines of letting the magic out.

* "CircleofMagic" gives us academic magic and ambient magic, ambient magic being a little more like wild magic.

* In the ''ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant,'' Wild Magic (channelled through white gold) is the only force powerful enough to destroy the Arch of Time. Naturally, [[OmnicidalManiac Lord]] [[BigBad Foul]] spends the first two trilogies trying to get his hands on it.

The underlying magical forces at work in the universe, or at least in this section of it, are, quite literally, alive.(Note that an entity that had another form and then integrated itself into the fabric of reality would not qualify.) And more often than not, they are completely amoral. At best they are whimsical, in a way that would normally be completely harmless. They just want to play. (Speaking of which, the dire wolf over there also just wants to play. We advise you go play with the dire wolf. It's safer, trust us.)

Compare {{Theurgy}} where the magic, or the power for it, comes from powerful magical beings, but magic itself is not necessarily sentient. Contrast RitualMagic, where the casting and effects of magic are very rigid. Compare and contrast MagicRealism, which on the one hand treats magic as having a life of its own but also makes it subtler and/or weaker.

Particularly powerful WildMagic may take the form of BackgroundMagicField that renders reality unstable. Or, in other words, reality is a RealityWarper. It will frequently mistake your mind for a set of inspirational prompts. Think happy thoughts.[[PsychicStatic Think happy thoughts ''very, very, hard.'']]

* Daine from TortallUniverse uses Wild Magic, which could also be called 'animal magic' because it lets her shapeshift and talk with animals. It doesn't quite fit the above description, but its explained as [[spoiler: a genetic ability from her God of Hunters father]] and overusing it can cause [[spoiler:regression to a primitive state of mind, at least in the first book]].

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Compare {{Theurgy}} where the magic, or the power for it, comes from powerful magical beings, but magic itself is not necessarily sentient. Compare and contrast MagicRealism, which on the one hand treats magic as having a life of its own but also makes it subtler and/or weaker.

** ''{{Eberron}}'' features the Mourning, which used to be one of the most populous countries in Khorvaire until a magical disaster befell it. One of the common features of the landscape is living spells -- ambulatory ''fireballs'', crawling ''cloud kills'', self-propelled ''acid arrows''...