History Main / WildMagic

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Accidental magic works like this. While magical schools teach [[FunctionalMagic spell-based magic]], wizarding children can tap into their own uncontrolled emotions for RealityWarper effects. This wild magic is chaotic, nearly uncontrollable, and seemingly much more powerful than spell-based witchcraft.

The underlying magical forces at work in the universe, or at least in this section of it, are, quite literally, alive. 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. [[SchmuckBait We advise you go play with the dire wolf. It's safer, trust us.]])

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 it's lonely and tries to get you to stay a while. You know, just for a [[TimeAbyss 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 [[IChooseToStay they're staying]].

* Reed Richards of the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' doesn't like magic for this reason. Doom once trapped Reed by locking him up in a room full of magic tomes that could only be opened with simple apprentice level magic. Reed followed the instructions in the books exactly, and the magic backfired because it turns out magic doesn't like people taking an academic approach to it.

* In ''Fanfic/TheWitchOfTheEverfree'', the Everfree Forest has a haze of magic which scrambles incoming scrying spells, making it an ideal hiding place. However, it also makes it somewhat more difficult to cast spells while inside it, which prevents Sunset from teleporting out of danger as quickly as she would otherwise be able to.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' series, before they receive the magical geodes in ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree Legend of Everfree]]'', the Rainbooms have little control over the magical remnant they received from the Element of Magic in the first movie, and the effects tend to be random. At first they "pony up" when playing music in ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'', but an effort to invoke directly ThePowerOfFriendship falls flat. In ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames Friendship Games]]'' the magic manifests when they expresses their respective Element, but they take a while to realize it. Sunset Shimmer's attempt to analyze the magic scientifically in the short "[[WebAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGamesShorts The Science of Magic]]" results in a power outage, a deluge of apples, a rush of static-charged balloons, or a rainbow-colored splash of goo... and very little progress in comprehension.

* In ''Literature/TheMagicThief'', "magics" are quite literally alive, to the point of being able to speak (in certain cases) and have wants. Most magics inhabit cities, providing a general magical aura, and the central conflict of the trilogy is how [[spoiler: Wellmet's magic is stretched too thin and is draining away trying to provide for everyone, while the magic of a neighboring city was forced out when the city was abandoned and is so desperately lonely that it's begun attacking the Wellmet magic in hopes of displacing it and taking over.]] Magics in general seem to enjoy being used and providing for humans, and display signs of stress when they're unable to latch onto a city or other hub of human life.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' - in general, but especially in areas which suffered a direct strike in the Mage Wars, such as that around the Wyrmberg. Generally, the higher the amount of magic in an area, the more likely it has a personality of sorts ... and probably not an especially nice one.
* All magic in ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' draws from the Wave of Possibilities, or Omniwave, which is also the force responsible for maintaining the universal balance. Normally the Wave affects individual spells very little, except to correct small flaws in them so they work, but in order to maintain balance it can cause the most powerful spells to have... interesting (and opposite) side effects. For example, any time someone is raised from the dead by necromancy, somewhere else another person will die untimely.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Accidental magic works like this. While magical schools teach [[FunctionalMagic spell based magic]], wizarding children can tap into their own uncontrolled emotions for RealityWarper effects. This wild magic is chaotic, nearly uncontrollable and seemingly much more powerful than spell based witchcraft.

* The ''Literature/OldKingdom'' series uses both this and RitualMagic, though the latter is used much more often than the former, 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 bound Free magic using the Charter. This was then used to organize and create the known world.]]
* [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Rather obviously foreshadowed]] in ''Literature/ASuddenWildMagic''. [[spoiler: Zillah, a mage with [[ShrinkingViolet little to no self confidence]], has been constantly referred to the Arth mages of what amazing power she has, and also fittingly has no control of it. It comes to show when she manages to teleport Marcus, Josh, Philo, and herself out of Arth and into Petarchy.]]

* A fundamental part of the world of ''Literature/TheObsidianTrilogy''. Wild Magic is essentially the consciousness of all life in the world, and works to ensure as much life survives as possible. Using Wild Magic is essentially a series of bargains; whenever it does something for you, you have to do something for it in return; what that something ''is'' isn't revealed until you cast the spell, and is rarely if ever the same twice. For instance, a spell to heal a minor injury may cost "Plant twelve acorns" one day, and "Travel in this direction until you find something to help, then help it" the next. The costs are extremely variable, but are always, ''always'' fair. At one point, [[spoiler: Idalia Tavadon]] casts a spell to stop a huge, long-lasting drought which has turned a rainforest into a tinderbox; this spell carries the cost of [[HeroicSacrifice "you must die"]]. The time of death isn't specified, however; all the caster knows is that Wild Magic will inform them when the time comes. The next spell they cast, and any subsequent spell up until their now-inevitable death, ends up being ''free'', or more precisely "This spell has already been paid for", due to the immense worth in dying [[spoiler: to permanently prevent demons from ''ever'' invading the world]].
* In ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'', magic is said to have a will of its own, and gets upset if a spell is finished by another person if the original caster is incapacitated in some way. It ''really'' doesn't like being used by corpses (i.e., the caster is killed midway through, and someone aims their severed forearm at their enemy and finishes the spell).

* In ''Literature/TheMoonOfGomrath'', the human protaganists inadvertently return the imprisoned Old Magic to the world by lighting a bonfire on a sacred mountain on the right night of the year, the Eve of Gomrath. The wizard Cadellin, Guardian of the High Magic, is not pleased and points out it took a lot of effort to imprison the damn stuff in the first place. Apparently the ordered and somewhat anally retentive High Magic is man's stuff (wizards) whilst the Old Wild Magic is that of women (The Lady in the Lake, the opposed Morrigan - and Susan, the human girl who lit the bonfire.)

* In ''Literature/TheWarGods'': Magic is a raw background field of energy which can be tapped and manipulated. Traditional Wand Wizards use tools such as wands to bend magic in anyway they wish. In the west, they've mostly died out and been replaced by mages or Magi. Magi instead have specific gifts able to use the magic in a specific way. But very rarely a Wild Wizard is born, with the ability to direct the raw magic without tools. Only a Handful have ever lived, and tend to be founders of an Imperial Dynasty.

** After the Time of Troubles, the Wild Mage would be introduced into generic D&D as variant wizard who ''does'' use wild magic. Spells cast by wild mages are extremely unpredictable in their effects, with a tendency to be randomly stronger or weaker than it should be, or just to fall apart in the would-be caster's hands and trigger a random outburst of magic (called a "wild surge"). Wild mages would vanish in 3rd edition, and then resurface in 4th edition as a subclass for the Sorcerer, whose lore meshed better with this trope, although ironically the sheer chaoticness of their spells would be toned down. The Wild Mage sorcerer would continue on into the 5th edition, albeit partially restored to the chaoticness of its 2nd edition counterpart, precisely because of how it filled a previously untapped arcanist niche.

* ''The TabletopGame/{{Nightbane}}'' Supplement ''Through the Glass Darkly'' included rules for spells that had come alive and gained sentience. Later on this lead to aclass of Magic Users who deliberately did this everytime they caste a spell called the Spell Breather.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Magic normally generates somewhere beyond reality, and is called and shaped by spellcasters to power their spells. Primal magic, also called wild magic, is what happens when magic enters the world without any directing force. The result is compared to thunderstorms, with potential constantly accreting before discharging dramatically. Potential effects include rains of random objects, pits spontaneously opening in the ground, swarms of centipedes appearing out of nowhere and attacking spellecasters, surges of positive, negative and elemental energy, teleportation storms that cause people to randomly switch places, and potentially a lot more besides. Primal magic normally only occurs in areas subjected to extensive magical devastation, although it's also very common in chaos-aligned Outer Planes.

* In ''Franchise/DragonAge'', magic draws its power from an EldritchLocation known as the Fade, where the minds of humans and elves travel to in their dreams. The use of magic is dangerous, since the Fade is also home to demons and abominations that are attracted to magic users, which can lead to demonic possession, leading to distrust of mages by others, particularly Templars. BloodMagic is especially feared by many since its use makes it easier for demons to take control of the user, in addition to being far more powerful than other schools of magic.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' also its SpinOff ''Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor'' magic is... fickle. As an [[MediumAwareness acknowledged]] [[AWizardDidIt plot device]] it's highly susceptible to the powers that shape these comics, mostly the TheoryOfNarrativeCausality and {{Fanservice}}. So yes. Saying something even vaguely similar to the ''[[WordsCanBreakMyBones Right Words]]'' ''can'' create a magic effect (even if it takes some [[JackassGenie creative interpreting]]) if the result is ''interesting'' from a narrative or fan pleasing POV. And spells ''will'' backfire if/when dramatically appropriate... except if the characters [[GenreSavvy count on that]] or something that is.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' This type of magic occurs on the Boiling Isles, with the elements literally having runes in them, and was stated to be the original type of magic early witches used before evolving their own internal magic reserves. Unlike most instances of the trope, "wild magic" actually can be controlled and does appear to follow rules, just different rules than the innate magic of witches. However, Hunter's parents were said to have been killed by wild magic, and Eda did accidentally cause a spell to go out of control by trying to drawn two glyphs on top of each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' This type of magic occurs on the Boiling Isles, with the elements literally having runes in them, and was stated to be the original type of magic early witches used before evolving their own internal magic reserves.

The underlying magical forces at work in the universe, or at least in this section of it, are, quite literally, alive. 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.)

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' doesn't use this; it uses this trope's ''name'' for EntropyAndChaosMagic, but it's not otherwise this trope.

* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', Kite's Crazy Slots ability takes the form of a jester-like being that will spin a wheel on its tongue and turn into whatever supernatural weapon corresponds with that number. Crazy Slots has a mind of its own and honestly doesn't care much about Kite's well-being. Crazy Slots is notable for being a case of this trope in a series otherwise full of MagicAIsMagicA, though Kite designed this ability like this on purpose as he reasoned this lack of control means the ability must be stronger (and he's right).

* In ''Franchise/BaldursGate'', Wild Mages are introduced in ''[[VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal Throne of Bhaal]]'', it being a game set in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting. The UpdatedRerelease makes it possible to play as one from the first game in the trilogy and introduces Neera, a Wild Mage follower, as a new character.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' This type of magic occurs on the Boiling Isles, with the elements literally having runes in them, and was stated to be the original type of magic early witches used before.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' often uses this, though it has a tendency to blur the lines with EntropyAndChaosMagic.
** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' features the Mournland, 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 ''cloudkills'', self-propelled ''acid arrows''...
** The TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms have Wild Magic Zones, where magic sometimes backfires on its caster or has some other weird effect.
** Several settings have an entire plane of existence (such as Limbo in Greyhawk, or Kythri in Eberron) where Wild Magic is a normal planar trait, just like gravity.
** 2nd Edition has Wild Mages whose magic always has the chance to produce random, and often extremely powerful, results. A first level spell is the voluntary release of Wild Magic to produce a randomly determined effect. It's effectively a straight gamble on whether it will be helpful or not. It's noted that the propensity for such spells to be annoying -- or lethally dangerous! -- made them [[UnequalRites very unpopular with other mages]].
** The class returned in 3.5 ''Complete Arcane'' as a prestige class.
** By 4th edition it is a power/spell source for some sorcerers, having different bonuses based on UsefulNotes/{{dice}} rolls.
** In 5th edition, Wild Magic remains the exclusive domain of sorcerers, but is closer mechanically to its 2nd edition self; wild mage spells[[note]]level 1 or higher[[/note]] have a one in twenty chance of producing some random effect when trying to cast a spell, ranging from regaining hit points to turning themselves into a potted plant.
** There are also magic items in most editions of the game that produce random effects. They usually have some sort of theme (summoning a random animal or traveling to a random location), but some, such as the [[http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rods.htm#wonder Rod of Wonder]], could just as easily be beneficial, harmful, or irrelevant (but always interesting).

** Twilight Sparkle, a strong believer in SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic, tries to figure out how Pinkie Pie's "Pinkie Sense" works in ''Feeling Pinkie Keen''. Very few spells can [[OffscreenTeleportation teleport as Pinkie seems to]], or [[SpiderSense see the immediate future, as she seems to]]. Even then, Pinkie wouldn't be able to use them, being an earth pony, not a unicorn. Twilight eventually gives up trying to explain Pinkie's chaotic abilities.

* The Warp in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Some people can harness it, but it's very dangerous for them and others.

** The TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms had Wild Magic Zones, where magic sometimes backfired on its caster or had some other weird effect.
*** Several settings have an entire plane of existence (such as Limbo in Greyhawk, or Kythri in Eberron) where Wild Magic is a normal planar trait, just like gravity.

* The ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' {{Sourcebook}} ''Night Horrors: The Unbidden'' discusses how the magic that the Awakened use can go wild, especially when it is able to accumulate in one place (as a result of repeated spells or activity of supernatural beings, or for entirely unknowable reasons). It also talks about how such magic can spread, and the [[RealityIsOutToLunch severe effects it can have]].

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' necromancy draws upon the power of the restless dead, if someone rolls [[NumberOfTheBeast three sixes]] for ''any'' roll involved with black magic (casting, resisting, countering...) the spirits do other, horrific things.
** The Book of Mysteries supplement introduces Druid and Lutarist magic, which has some spells that carry a similar risk.

** 2nd Edition has Wild Mages whose magic always has the chance to produce random, and often extremely powerful, results. A first level spell is the voluntary release of Wild Magic to produce a randomly determined effect. It's effectively a straight gamble on whether it will be helpful or not. It's noted that the propensity for such spells to be annoying -- or lethally dangerous! -- made them [[UnequalRites very unpopular with other mages]]. The class returned in 3.5 ''Complete Arcane'' as a prestige class.
*** By 4th edition it is a power/spell source for some sorcerers, it has different bonuses based on UsefulNotes/{{dice}} rolls. In 5th edition, Wild Magic remains the exclusive domain of sorcerers, but is closer mechanically to its 2nd edition self; wild mage spells have a one in twenty chance of producing some random effect when trying to cast a spell, ranging from regaining hit points to turning themselves into a potted plant.

* In ''Literature/TheMagicThief'', "magics" are quite literally alive, to the point of being able to speak (in certain cases) and have wants. Most magics inhabit cities, providing a general magical aura, and the central conflict of the trilogy is how [[spoiler: Wellmet's magic is stretched too thin and is draining away trying to provide for everyone, while the magic using population of a neighboring city has dwindled to the point that its resident magic has started feeling left out, useless, and forgotten.]]

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' occasionally hints that the BackgroundMagicalField (magic being the fifth fundamental force of the universe, and the more of it there is, the more it can affect the other four) is just a little bit alive. This doesn't have much effect, most of the time, but it does lead to the growth of GeniusLoci and is the reason why BlackMagic twists the user so much - magic doesn't like being twisted like that, and it ''will'' twist back.

Molly Grue: "You are an idiot! Do you hear me? You've lost her! You've trapped her in a human body! She'll go mad!"]]

* ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'': Schmendrick's quest is to learn to use his magic. He can't make it do a single thing, but he can let it do what it wants ... which has some surprising results.

* Most magic in ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' is either rule magic or theurgic, but Lina's DangerousForbiddenTechnique is wild magic. The Giga Slave is a version of a powerful theurgic spell, modified to call upon Chaos itself. As Chaos is both powerful beyond everything, and [[CaptainObvious more than a little chaotic]], there's the minor problem that a miscast Giga Slave could destroy the entire world. [[spoiler: Or not. The Lord of Nightmares is a very capricious being, and her mind always follows her power, so it really all depends on how she's feeling.]]

* This is effectively what the "solar wind" in Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's WidgetSeries ''Solstrom'' is. The sun creatures who wield it are affable and playful {{Trickster}} figures, but they can't fully control its effects. When it touches a person or environment, it can have positive effects -- granting magical abilities, bringing lovers together, and generally acting as a BlitheSpirit. But it can also cause heaps of trouble; in "Howling Wind", an episode heavy on BlackComedy, it turns a rundown hotel into a HellHotel / HauntedCastle hybrid and several of the people within it into eccentrics and even monsters. [[spoiler: By the end, two characters are dead, two are ''undead'', and one is a Wolf Man -- and the magic causes that last one to vanish to parts unknown in The Stinger.]]

* Daine from the ''Litrature/TheImmortals'' 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 it's explained as [[spoiler: a genetic ability from her God of Hunters father]] and overusing it can cause regression to a primitive state of mind, at least until Numair teachers her how to control it. It's specifically called "wild" magic in the books because there is only so much control she can exercise over it.

* The Hollow from ''Series/{{Charmed}}''. A sentient magical force, its purpose seems to be to devour and absorb magic into itself. Powerful and difficult to control, it cannot be destroyed, merely contained and watched over by representatives of both good and evil.

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. May be a RandomEffectSpell in video games.