- Monmouth of 100 Cupboards is closer to a Magic Rogue, wielding a ragtag mix of Green Man power and wizard training along with a very sharp knife and, when all else fails, his bare hands. The other wizards tend to avert this, considering this sort of combat beneath them.Wizard: Monmouth, you are only fit for kitchens if you need a blade to do your killing.
- The Afterward: Kalanthe's an apprentice knight who's also learning to do magic.
- Demons in Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony are divided into two castes: ordinary demons develop no magical power, but metamorphose into monstrous forms when they come of age, while warlocks develop magical talent instead of muscle. Demon warlord Leon Abbott managed to steal some magical power from a warlock when he interrupted a spellcasting ritual and caused a freak accident, and uses the stolen magic to secretly bewitch the rest of demonkind into serving him.
- The Asterisk War: A special breed of Genestella called "Strega" (if female) and "Dante" (if male) can manipulate magic in addition to having enhanced physical abilities. Julis, one of the protagonists, is a Strega with fire magic.
- Bazil Broketail: Magic users tend to be skilled fighters too, since spells require lengthy incantations and rituals (at least those useful for battle) and they must often protect themselves by mundane means.
- The Beginning After the End:
- Of the two main types of mages in the setting, augmenters exemplify this trope. These mages are adept at distributing mana throughout their bodies, which strengthens their physique and makes their bodies less vulnerable. This comes at the tradeoff of their powers being relatively short-ranged due to the finite amount of mana at their disposal as more mana is needed to project spells further. As such, augmenters excel at using their powers in close combat. Arthur himself is an augmenter, and later on becomes a literal example in that he gets knighted and acquires the requisite suit of armor.
- In spite of this distinction, there are some instances of conjurers - the other main type of mage which usually fits the Squishy Wizard trope - being able to fight in close combat in the style of this trope instead. For example, Tessia received extensive training in close combat from both her grandfather Virion and the Asuran general Aldir, on top of her wielding a Royal Rapier and wearing a suit of armor during the War Arc.
- The Lances are literal examples of this trope, being elite knights chosen to be the inheritors of Asuran-made Artifacts of Power that empower their mana cores into the highest stage. They are the most powerful mages on Dicathen, and Arthur joins their ranks at the start of the War Arc.
- Of the two main types of mages in the setting, augmenters exemplify this trope. These mages are adept at distributing mana throughout their bodies, which strengthens their physique and makes their bodies less vulnerable. This comes at the tradeoff of their powers being relatively short-ranged due to the finite amount of mana at their disposal as more mana is needed to project spells further. As such, augmenters excel at using their powers in close combat. Arthur himself is an augmenter, and later on becomes a literal example in that he gets knighted and acquires the requisite suit of armor.
- Garion from The Belgariad series qualifies, being both a skilled (eventually) sorcerer and wielder of a BFS with the MacGuffin stuck on its pommel.
- The default state of wizards in The Black Company. A core tenet of the series is that most wizards quickly apply the ability to break the rules of reality by making themselves immortal and Nigh-Invulnerable. The straightest version of this trope is probably Bonecrusher, a One-Scene Wonder from the first book who's described as eight feet tall and crushed enemy soldiers with his bare hands. The Limper is no slouch, either, treating having a building collapsed on him as little more than an annoyance.
- The Black Swan: Von Rothbard can skillfully use both magic and his sword. He is aware of the squishy wizard trope, and consciously acted to avert it this way, along with warding himself against any damage from normal weapons. However, he remains unwarded against gold or silver, so he can use a small silver dagger for blood magic. It's what does him in at the end.
- The Brightest Shadow: Nearly omnipresent, as all forms of magical training also involve training the body. Graenin is exactly this and Slaten appears to be moving that way.
- All mages of the Hunters' Guild are Magic Knights by necessity. Non-mages compensate either by being werebeasts or using Implausible Fencing Powers.
- While the Rangers' Guild employs a few non-combat mages, e.g. for interrogation, those on the front-line also fit this trope.
- The Clan of the Lynx has few mages, but those combine their clan's undisputed martial skill with battle-honed magic.
- Vlad takes his pupils through Training from Hell, as their primary magic is mostly siege-grade Ritual Magic, and later develops a style to use that school of magic for quick close combat spells.
- Death mages fuel their magic with the very "power of death" spilled in the area where sentients die. They are necessarily skilled in providing said power by killing the first opponents by mundane means, although prefer to leave the dirty work to their companions.
- The Burning Kingdoms: Priya is quite skilled at fighting with knives, and later learns to use magic in combat too.
- This goes back to 12th century chansons de geste with Maugis, Charlemagne's Wizard in Shining Armor.
- Campione!: Erica and Liliana both use swords and magic in combat. In fact, their swords are magical and sometimes they channel the spells through them.
- The Chronicles of Dorsa:
- The Order of Targhan are witch assassins, using mundane weapons along with magic on their foes.
- The Brothers who Brother Rennus makes attack the Imperial Army use both magic and swords while doing so.
- Tasia also becomes this after having learned sword fighting and later magic too in book three. She's not seen fighting using both at the same time however.
- Pretty much all Citizens from Codex Alera, as all the elements with the exceptions of Watercrafting and Firecrafting directly bolster physical combat abilities in some way. Earthcrafting gives super-strength, windcrafting gives super-speed, metalcrafters have supernatural endurance and the ability to sense where pieces of metal are, such as their opponents swords or arrowheads, and woodcrafters can fire bows far further and more accurately than would otherwise be possible. This isn't even getting into direct magical attacks, where Fire in particular excels, and since more powerful individuals are skilled in more than one element they're just all around incredibly deadly. It's also taken literally, in that an individual who is particularly powerful with a specific element is recruited as a royal knights, given a title matching their elemental specialty (Like Knights Terra for Earthcrafters).
- The Cosmere: Most magic systems in Brandon Sanderson's Shared Universe lend themselves to this trope, since Sanderson tends to avoid magic systems which utilize spells or chants in favour of internal powers, particularly various forms of Healing Factor and Super-Empowering. There are exceptions, such as Forgery and Bloodsealing in the Rose Empire, or the powers which the Aviar of Patji grant their masters, or the AonDor of Elantris, but these are more of an exception than the rule.
- Elantris:
- Dakhor is a dark form of Blood Magic native to the empire of Fjordell, revolving around creating elaborate bone growths in the shape of ancient Fordell runes all over the user's body, evoked through the use of arcane chants and, most disturbingly, Human Sacrifice. Like all magic on Sel, the Dakhor too is a form of Geometric Magic, different bone growths conferring different powers upon the user, among the more prominent being Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Super-Toughness and, perhaps most importantly, becoming Resistant to Magic. Each of these boons requires some spilling of blood, though the number of victims is not what is most important about the process, but rather how Invested the sacrifice is. These bone growths look disturbing, but are also said to be strangely elegant, and are not so pronounced that they could not be hidden by concealing clothing. Dakhor is used primarily by the monks of Dakhor monastery, who were apparently created to be used as Doom Troops by the Fjordell emperor – specifically, against their Semi-Divine neighbours to the west, the far more mystically endowed Elantrians.
- Chay-Shan is a form of Supernatural Martial Arts native to Jin-Do. Like all Selish magic, Chay-Shan is also a form of Geometric Magic, except Chay-Shan creates the prerequisite symbols by performing a set of movements and gradually speeding up, approximating the arcane symbols in the air. If performed well, it grants strength superior even to the Super-Strength of the Dakhor, as well as a certain form of Sherlock Scan which allows them to navigate even unfamiliar spaces with their eyes shut. The graceful, fluid way in which a Chay-Shan practitioner moves is sometimes likened to a dance.
- Mistborn:
- Allomancy, the first Metallic Art, revolves around consuming different kinds of metals to achieve different powers – these can range from anything between Super-Strength (pewter) and Super-Senses (tin) to Combat Clairvoyance (atium) and Time Dilation (bendalloy). This makes Allomancers – both the mistings, people born with one power a-piece, and especially the eponymous mistborn, those born with all allomantic abilites – exceptionally potent combatants capable of taking out entire regiments single-handedly (particularly if their opponents wear any metals, which Allomancers can manipulate telekinetically). However, every Allomancer reverts to being just as mortal as everyone else once their metals run out...
- Feruchemy, the second Metallic Art, revolves around storing physical and mental attributes within metalminds, pieces of metals a Feruchemist carries on (and occasionally stores within) their body. It works on Equivalent Exchange – for example, a Feruchemist might choose to store their health (gold), remaining sickly for a while in return for a proportional burst of healing when injured, or their speed (steel), remaining sluggish for a time in exchange for being able to Flash Step when tapping into their stores. While not as useful in combat as Allomancy, Feruchemy is nothing to scoff at either, and if the Feruchemist takes care to keep their metalminds stored, they make for dangerous enemies.
- Hemalurgy, the third Metallic Art, is perhaps the most powerful, but also most dangerous, for both the user and his enemies. It revolves around stealing allomantic and feruchemical powers through the use of metal spikes driven through the body (and soul) of both the victim and the user. The process of stealing these powers is often, but not necessarily, lethal to the victim and always damages their Spiritweb. The most dangerous part of this power, however, is that it allows the user to “compound” allomantic and feruchemical powers – basically, burning an allomantic metal while tapping into the feruchemical metalmind of the same metal increases one's feruchemical power exponentially. For example, a gold compounder becomes basically unkillable, while a pewter compounder's strength can become downright abominable. However, Hemalurgy comes with a number of drawbacks – stolen powers will always be weaker than they were in the original user; it damages the user's Spiritweb as well as the victim's, weakening their body; and these same wounds also serve as gaps through which highly spiritual beings can influence and even possess a sufficiently spiked Hemalurgist.
- The Stormlight Archive:
- Surgebinding is the power granted to the literal Magic Knights of the setting, the ten orders of the Knights Radiant. It revolves around drawing in Stormlight, a naturally occurring form of gaseous mana plentiful across the world of Roshar, as fuel for binding the ten primordial “surges” which form the very world: Adhesion, Gravitation, Division, Abrasion, Progression, Illumination, Transformation, Transportation, Cohesion and Tension. Every Radiant Order gains access to two of these surges which compliment each other in some way, and all of them also gain access to a potent Healing Factor and Invested equipment - a Shardblade, a massive weapon summoned from hammerspace and capable of Absurd Cutting Power (which can cleave through everything except aluminium and cuts the soul itself) and Shardplate, a set of heavy armor inlaid with gems which allow it to withstand most conventional attacks and to regenerate any damage inflicted through the infusion of Stormlight. All of this can easily make every single Radiant into a prospective One-Man Army, especially when facing non-Surgenbinders. The Radiants access their power by bonding with the spren of Roshar, swearing sacred oaths to abide by certain behaviours in exchange for gradually increasing their power. The Heralds of the original Radiant Orders, however, accessed their abilities through their Honorblades, the original Shardblades granted to them by Honor himself. Additionally, there are other ways to access the Surges besides Stormlight – Lift can metabolise food into Lifelight thanks to a blessing from Cultivation, while the Fused tap into Odium's Voidlight to acquire a bastardized, alien form of the Surges.
- Warbreaker:
- Awakening boils down to animating inanimate objects, using Breath (a divine bit of Investiture every human on Nalthis is born with and can willingly surrender to another) and colour to fuel the object's movement. While this does not necessarily bestow any innate combat advantages upon the Awakener, any clever Combat Pragmatist (such as Vasher) with a sufficient understanding of Awakening and a storage of Breath to spare can, for example, enchant his shirt to better protect him, his ribboned sleeve to latch onto things, his cape to act as a shield, his rope to tie his opponents for him or even a random uniform to fight alongside him. Gaining additional Breath is a lengthy and difficult process, since it must be surrendered willingly by another person, but a large amount of stored Breaths also bestows benefits such as granting perfect health, enhanced senses, slowing down aging to almost nothing, etc. And all that before one considers Awakening objects such as, say, steel swords…
- White Sand:
- Sand Mastery allows for the manipulation of White Sand, an Invested form of sand native to Taldain. A prospective Sand Master requires extensive training (the individual master's power may grow over time, though some exhibit more natural proficiency than others) and water – lots of water, since manipulating the sand can quickly dehydrate even veteran Sand Masters, a result known as Overmastery. The manipulation usually takes the form of ribbons of sand, with their kinetic energy contained in their tip, which can be used to pierce or bind one's opponent, grab and hurl heavy objects, project whirlwinds to levitate or create a protective dome. The power of each ribbon depends on the amount of White Sand it contains, while its speed, precision and the number of ribbons any Sand Master can wield depends on their skill and experience. Such levels or mastery are uncommon, however, and consume a great deal of water – then again, a master of such skill most likely possesses the ultimate power of slatrification, turning White Sand into water. All this means that a proficient Sand Master can last over half an hour in continuous fighting. Which, given that the Sand Masters are generally seen as agnostic heretics, they have to do often…
- Elantris:
- Some could interpret various characters in the Darkover series this way, as many Comyn lords were both trained as warriors and also possessed psionics.
- Basically the hat of the Patryns from The Death Gate Cycle. As their magic is primarily physical in nature, easy to activate because it stems from the runes tattooed onto their bodies, and absolutely necessary to survive in the Death World they're trapped in, they're the undisputed masters of combining it with more traditional combat skills. Even Lord Xar, leader of the Patryns, despite looking like the stereotypical "robed and bearded old wizard" and relying primarily on magic alone, is explicitly noted to be a deadly swordsman and in incredible condition for a man his age.
- Lots of these throughout the Deryni works, including:
- The Orders of the Michaelines and the Anvillers are full of these types, specifically trained to be both warriors and mages.
- Alaric Morgan, Duke of Corwyn is Lord General of the Armies, King's Champion, and a Deryni sorcerer. His magic has the usual limits of all Deryni powers (requiring concentration to use it, for starters), and his arcane education is limited thanks to the persecutions.
- To a lesser extent, Duncan McLain, Bishop-Duke of Cassan has both military and magical training. In addition to the limitations of Deryni magic, Duncan is a cleric who spent many years at university and in The Church, but he is shown both practising sword fighting and engaging in actual combat.
- Younger men coming into their own as warrior mages include King Kelson Haldane, Dhugal MacArdry McLain, and King Liam-Lajos II Furstán.
- Mustrum Ridcully from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Oh, all of the Wizards like to get the occasional whack in with their staff, but Ridcully is definitely the best at it (aside from the librarian, an orangutan), and is pretty good in a boxing match (not common amongst wizards), and also owns a pretty good crossbow (i.e., can take out two people with a single shot, and still keep going). This is because Ridcully is a fitness-obsessed Egomaniac Hunter, making him physically far superior to the rest of the (highly sedentary) faculty.
- Draconis Memoria: Though less common than being a Mage Marksman, Green blood does afford Blood-blessed a degree of strength and speed which automatically gives them the upper hand in close-quarters combat. Thus, it is sometimes beneficial for a Blood-blessed to cut the distance and fight from up close, and both Exceptional Initiatives and Blood Cadre operatives are taught a mix of martial arts techniques.
- Morrolan and Aliera from the Dragaera series. Canonically, Morrolan is a better swordsman and Aliera is a better sorcerer, but Vlad notes that this is usually irrelevant because they're both so good at either. Most Dragaeran warriors qualify, because they are naturally strong, sorcery is readily available, and they have extremely long lifespans to master both skills.
- Due to various reasons, James from The Dragon Knight series, is a Barron, due to a lie he'd told a local knight, who found himself turning into a dragon at random. Thanks to some help from a friendly Magikian, James was able to make this a more useful ability. He has also figured out other useful abilities, such as being able to travel under the water, teleport, create a shield, disguise himself as another person, heal injuries, cause paralysis, and make people wish they'd never messed with him. Only limitation is that he can't do any actual harm. As for ordinary knightly weaponry, he's okay with those, but nothing like his friends who have trained since they were young. Oh, and there's a reason he's called the Dragon Knight. He's also saved England, and those he cares about, multiple times.
- Lord Ariakas in Dragonlance. Bonus points for also being the most powerful man on Krynn until Raistlin's rise.
- Dragonvarld: Draconas can use powerful magic, and also is good at just using his walking stick as a weapon in a pinch.
- The Dresden Files:
- Pretty much all the Wardens in the series qualify. Every Warden should be able to use both magic and melee to devastating effect. And, uh, revolvers, semiautomatics, the occasional shotgun, a grenade or two and even, on one remarkable occasion, a nuke. This is justified by the Laws of Magic, which, among other things, forbid wizards from killing humans, and only humans, with magic (there are some grey areas, such as a self-defense clause which kept Harry alive after his duel with his Evil Mentor). Thus, all killing blows must be done with a sword or by some other means. Unless they're in self-defense. But when the swords are magically sharp and specifically made to cut through enemy enchantments, why wouldn't you use them?
- Binder is a one-trick wizard who could call up hordes of mooks. He has no further magical abilities, so any combat he's directly involved in is done with conventional means. At one point he even carries a web of concussion grenades.note
- Harry himself qualifies, prioritizing his physical fitness, martial arts training, and almost always carrying his favoured 'Dirty Harry Special' revolver. He surprises his first book's villain by throwing a punch at the man rather than be a Squishy Wizard who abstains from physical combat. He specifically trains in staff combat later as well, since he's carrying one around for magic anyways, and his best friend's training is in Aikdo which includes staff fighting techniques.
- Ebenezer McCoy, retired commander of the Wardens, is perfectly fine shooting someone with his shotgun as he is killing enemies with magic. A true pragmatist and deadly nemesis, he will use the best method to handle his enemies.
- The Summer and Winter Knights of their respective courts are this. Each one has shown to have swordsmanship skills, close combat training, or specializes in modern weaponry and ambush tactics. This is in addition to the Winter and Summer magic they have at their command, making them literal Magic Knights. It helps that the Mantle of the Knight has programmed into it many different magics and it only takes the mortal knight to assign a spell name to that magic to use it. So a man who has no magical experience before can conjure that mante's magic after some training.
- Serroi, of Jo Clayton's Duel of Sorcery and Dancer trilogies, develops a rather powerful innate magical ability over the course of the first series, but never seems to lose her formidable (especially considering she's tiny) martial skills. (In the hands of an author less skilled than Clayton, Serroi would probably have been a
God-Mode Sue.) - The Pandion Knights (and the other three Elene orders of Holy Knights) of David Eddings' The Elenium. Magic is technically considered heresy in their Church Militant, since it involves calling on foreign gods, but the Knights get a special dispensation.
- The Elric Saga: Elric of Melnibone. An Albino Wizard whose sword is cursed, giving him part of the Life Energy of the people he kills. He's specifically too weak to use most of the magic he knows, but after killing dozens of men in combat and feeding on their souls that can change. BTW he's the hero.
- It's easy to forget because Stormbringer is so iconic, but Elric is actually a competent (if not necessarily superhuman) swordsman and highly skilled wizard even without the runeblade so long as he stays properly medicated. It's only when he has access to neither his sword nor the right drugs that his condition becomes a problem.
- Elric's also far from alone. Magic in the Young Kingdoms is largely slow and ritualistic, mostly involving getting the attention and help of supernatural entities who aren't exactly on speed dial (Elric can sometimes get help a bit faster in an emergency, but that's by virtue of having inherited all the ancient pacts between those beings and specifically the rulers of Melnibone), so a wizard who expects to see close combat once in a while is well advised to also brush up on their actual fighting skills. It's at the very least implied that many Melnibonean and Pan Tangian nobles are thus examples of this trope.
- Eyes of Silver, by Michael Stackpole, has two versions: the Church holds any use of magic on living things to be heresy, so there are battle-priests who enchant their weapons and armor and airship-borne aetherines with enchanted wings to let them fly. The Ataraxian heretics, on the other hand, believe that God forbids the use of magic on anything but the living, and consequently each have a distinct form of magical combat power ranging from increased strength to teleportation.
- In Forging Divinity, Taelien is a swordsman who uses his Extra-ore-dinary abilities to manipulate his sword's mass and structure in battle. He also has some level of ability to conjure fire, but he isn't as proficient at it.
- Some wizards of Harry Potter have also been accomplished swordsmen. A prime example is Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts, whose sword is an important magical artifact. Sirs Cadogan and Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington also (presumably) count, though neither is ever seen wielding magic (and Cadogan is as likely to drop the sword on his foot as he is to stick it in someone else). Harry himself shows shades of this during the climax of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where the young wizard-in-training uses the Sword of Gryffindor to slay a basilisk and save Ginny Weasley. Five years later, Neville Longbottom (who Took a Level in Badass and became a powerful wizard) has his turn when he uses the Sword to slay Nagini, aka Voldemort's last horcrux.
- Jack Swift of The Heir Chronicles was born a wizard but, lacking a weirstone, was implanted with that of a warrior. As a result he has the physical prowess and other tricks of the warrior guild but can still manage certain low-level charms.
- Almost all Heralds, and many of the Tayledras, in Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series are skilled in both magic (and/or Mind-Magic) and physical combat. While the more powerful mages tend to rely much more on their magic than they do on their physical skills, a good many of them still maintain and make use of those skills, and all Heralds up to and including the royal family are expected to develop as much combat ability as they can. In particular, every one of them is required to be a competent archer.
- Similarly, in her Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Champions are physical fighters who have just enough magic to enhance their weapons and/or armor, making them capable of fighting magical foes.
- Many of the Griffons were this, being already powerful physically, but also capable of magic.
- For a woman who was mage or warrior, the Sword Need could provide this, making mages into deadly warriors, or providing immunity to magic for warriors.
- Shades, Elves, and Dragon Riders tend to specialize this way in the Inheritance Cycle. Magic and swordplay are often listed as "the essential skills of a Dragon Rider."
- Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? has several examples.
- The elf Lefiya started out as a squishy wizard, but because she wanted to keep up with her friends in fights, she also started combat training. At the end of the second season, she is a very good fighter who can also use magic during her battles. However, her magic is still a little more powerful than her martial arts.
- Riveria is a real magic knight. She is a high-level adventurer, and she is used to fighting both magical spells and swords, and can use both at the same time in a fight.
- The Kane Chronicles has five schools of magic. And one of them is the school of the combat magicians.
- In Nick Perumov's Keeper of the Swords series, there is an order of Battle Mages, who are strong magically, but also can fight with regular weapons, or with magically augmented weapons. One member of it, Klara Huemmel, "Preferred to rely on steel rather than magic. And she outlived many who had different preferences."
- Also young Sylvia, who is not very strong, but quite skilled with weapons. She also gets a big magic sword for most of series.
- The titular Knights of the Borrowed Dark are this, combining their powers with extensive combat skill to deadly effect.
- Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings (the movies in particular) is skilled at swinging a sword (and carries a glowing Elvish longsword, Glamdring) along with his Magic Staff and actual magic abilities.
- Finrod (Galadriel's brother from The Silmarillion), too. A warrior who died killing a venomous werewolf with his bare hands, he also fought Sauron in a magical singing duel. He was the most powerful known telepath among all elves, ever.
- Veres from Loyal Enemies feels comfortable with both his magic and his sword, and uses both to deadly effect. It's implied that most monster hunters are Magic Knights, as even if one of their talents won't work on a darkling, the other will, and they need the extra reflexes and Healing Factor magic gives them.
- Anomander Rake from Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is both an Archmage and a Master Swordsman. During the Enfilade at Pale in Gardens of the Moon, the Malazan Empire fields the 2nd Army's mage cadre and four High Mages against Anomander Rake alone and still suffers losses. He is also the only being alive who has the skill and willpower to wield the forged by the Elder God Draconus BFS Dragnipur that consumes souls and holds the rank of Seventh in the island nation of the Seguleh, whose society is built on Asskicking Leads to Leadership with social ranks being determined by fighting. To be fair, he's had a couple millennia of time to perfect either skill and is an Ascendant.
- Yuusha of Maoyu. He's quite the swordsman, and famed as such, but he has a handy-dandy teleport spell, is a good enough magical healer that their party didn't need a dedicated one, and is shown in one of the manga adaptations blasting through multiple squads of demons at once with lightning.
- A Master of Djinn: Siti is skilled at combat with her claws, while she also has magic that makes her stronger and faster to enhance this.
- The shadowhunters from The Mortal Instruments could qualify. For though they have a fighting style in which they need to be strong, fast, and resilient, they also have the ability to create magical effects through the angelic runes. But Jace explicitly states that the shadowhunters are not real magicians.
- Valentine and Sebastian Morgenstern have dealt with black magic. Joyce Fairchild later says that at least Valentine came as close to a sorcerer as a shadowhunter can.
- Lilith is not only a demon and a powerful witch, but also in a fight underestimated.
- The prequel The Infernal Devices shows Tessa Gray. She recognizes at the beginning of the plot that she has magical powers. But because she lives under shadowhunters and falls in love with one of them, she also learns a lot about martial arts. By the end of the storyline, she's become a fighter capable of fighting a demon, but she's not fighting as well as a true shadowhunter.
- Tessas children in Tales of the Shadowhunter-Academy have demonic powers because of their origins.
- It is zigzagged with the fairies. They often have powerful, magical powers, but you never see them use them in a fight. Whether fairies simply prefer to fight without magic, or their magic is not needed for combat, or there is another reason is unknown.
- Kit Herondale from The Dark Artifices, is a shadowhunter descended from mighty fairies. And he can also use his fairy magic in combat. Mark and Helen Blackthorn, who are also hybrids of fairies and shadowhunters, have not shown such powers yet.
- In Mother of Learning, Zorian's friend Taiven was trained in non-magical fighting since she was a small girl before going on to learn combat magic at the academy.
- The Aurënfaie from the Nightrunner series, being the resident flavor of elves, produce a fair number of these due to the ease with which their race can develop magical ability. However, most such Fighter/Sorcerers or Ranger/Sorcerers do not have the range or scope of power possessed by those who devote themselves more exclusively to magical pursuits. Orëska wizards and the Rhui'auros attain greater magical powers, but are usually pretty squishy.
- Many fighters in Nocte Yin are adept at both magic and weaponry.
- General Helkazard from Noob is both The Archmage and one of the most powerful warriors of the setting. The only reason his status as best fighter is uncertain is that we have yet to see the Bio-Augmentation boosted Keynn Lucans fight and Helkazard got killed by a character that gives every hint of being more powerful than any of them.
- Of Fire and Stars: Zumordan soldiers commonly fight with both magic and ordinary weapons.
- The Abhorsens in the Old Kingdom series, also the Royal Guard, and possibly the Clayr Librarians. Pretty much any magic user in fact: even the Ancelstierran's NPRD hedge-mages scrape together some basic enchanted weapons to complement their even more basic spellcasting.
- And by "enchanted weapons", we mean 1920s military-issue bayonets with Charter marks drawn on them in literal chalk. Properly made enchanted weapons are used in a variety of complex spells even if their wielder can't really swordfight.
- Lyra from Passing Through is both a skilled swordswoman and a powerful spellcaster. At first glance she is usually taken for some minor Lordling's elite guard or messenger, as her beauty and refinement set her apart from most mere footsoldiers. In battle, she's more than willing to take on most single opponents with her blade, reserving her magic for diversions, last-minute saves, and for when she is confronted with multiple foes at once. Her offensive spells are mainly limited to various forms of lightning discharges (which works great against foes with metal armor).
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus has the children of Hecate. Like all demigods, they are good fighters with weapons, but at the same time also (more or less) powerful mages.
- Justified in Reign of the Seven Spellblades. An Info Dump during the first session of the "sword arts" class explains that, within a certain range, a physical weapon can strike a mage faster than any mage can cast a spell. Union mages adopted sword training (referring to swords as "athame") four hundred years ago after a prominent archmage was killed by a Muggle swordsman this way in a duel. Main character Oliver Horn is skilled at both, at least by first-year standards.
- The Reunion With Twelve Fascinating Goddesses has Spirit knights, who form contracts with magical spirits that allow them to summon suits of armour in addition to casting magic.
- In Rivers of London, Peter, Nightingale and Lesley are, in addition to wizards, fully trained police officers, quite capable of stopping a suspect without using magic at all if that seems the simpler option.
- Saintess Summons Skeletons: A regular [Saint] is a White Mage with lots of mana, but not capable of much except healing and buffing their summoned heroes (who are quite powerful, but not obligated to actually protect the [Saint]). Sofia, due to her broken class, initially becomes a Glass Cannon, taking that huge mana pool and funnelling it through powerful non-standard skills like [Angel's bolt]. However, due to her exceptional performance in the filter trials, she's able to raise her physical stats to a much more respectable level, and she also picks up skills that make her remarkably resilient and decently effective in melee, with magic armour, enchanted weapons, substantial damage reduction, and wings for mobility. She's still primarily a spellcaster, but can hold her own in physical combat when she needs to.
- The Scholomance: Kid Hero Orion Lake fights with a magic sword and other accessories, a suite of efficient offensive spells, the power to tear monsters apart with his bare hands, and a unique Meta Power that generates mana from his kills.
- A very reluctant Milla becomes this in The Seventh Tower.
- Crow is capable of low-level combat-related sunstone magic (Red Rays of Destruction) and is deadly with the throwing knife.
- Lifebinders in Shadow of the Conqueror, who use their magic to enhance their physical and mental attributes and so become incredibly powerful warriors, while also being capable of massive leaps and Wall Crawls, among other powers. Any Lightbringer or Worldbinder who trains themselves in combat is also a Magic Knight, which is quite frequent considering the nature of the setting.
- The Warrior Druids from Shannara, as exemplified by Risca in First King of Shannara. Unlike the rest of the Druids, they channel their magic through their weapons for exceptionally destructive results.
- Lina Inverse from Slayers is primarily a wizard, but also has prowess with a sword. Most of the time, though, she relies on her spells to attack. Zelgadis is an even straighter example, being a far better and stronger swordsman than her, and a highly powerful shaman in his own right. Even Amelia gets in on the act being able to cast some quite potent shamanistic spells and a mean hand to hand fighter. Lina's sister is also implied to be this, being both the vessel for the fragment of a god and said to be capable of defeating a plasma dragon with just a kitchen knife. Lina, Zelgadis and Amelia also all have spells that take advantage of their dual skills. Lina has Ragna Blade, a powerful spell that takes the form of a sword, Zel has Astral Vine that temporarily imbues his sword with powerful magic and Amelia has Vizfarank that has a similar effect to Astral Vine on her fists.
- The eponymous group of John Ringo's Special Circumstances group is composed almost entirely of these, from a wide range of religious beliefs.
- Richard of the Sword of Truth series qualifies in later books; though he never quite gets a handle on just how to use his magic, he's still able to use it to devastating effect, and he's an almost unbeatable swordsman, partially thanks to magic.
- D'Hara tries to avert this with the Lord Rahl. He's the magic against magic, they're the steel against steel. Some Lords Rahl don't like rules.
- Mord-Sith. They're anti-magic knights. With a magic torture stick.
- A Confessor in the Con Dar is this. And creepy as all get-out.
- Nathan Rahl wears a sword through much of the series. Many of his friends ask him why he needs a sword when he's a hilariously-powerful wizard. Then the Pristinely Ungifted show up. The Pristinely Ungifted aren't even immune to magic, they have no connection to it whatsoever. To them, magic might as well not exist except when it does something like hold someone off the ground (where they see the person in the air even if they don't understand) and some poorly-defined subset of Subtractive Magic, which they have some connection to because they're mortal.
- Tales of Inthya:
- In The Queen of Ieflaria Esofi is skilled with magic, and can instantly create a sword to fight with too.
- In Daughter of the Sun Orsina is a paladin with a magical sword and also magic aside from this, using both to fight.
- In Jennifer Roberson's Tiger and Del series, Delilah begins as this (though her frost-based magical abilities, as channeled through her sword, are limited in the Southron heat) and Tiger becomes this (after having begun the series as an expert and widely-feared sword-dancer).
- The Tortall Universe has multiple Gifted knights who are trained in magic alongside the usual knight skills. Some notable examples are Alanna, who has both healing and destructive magic, Jonathan, and Duke Gareth. A few of Kel's yearmates from Protector of the Small also grow up to be this.
- In The Traitor Son Cycle:
- The Red Knight is a great warrior with some degree of magical talent, which he deliberately leaves unused in hopes that it would atrophy and disappear. However, the circumstances force him to be more open with it and he eventually comes to rely on both his physical and magical skills in combat.
- The Order of Saint Thomas is an entire Church Militant of magic-using knights.
- In Valentin Ivashchenko's Warrior and Mage and Dancing Flame (Воин и маг, Танцующее Пламя, Валентин Иващенко):
- Male mages born into noble families learn magic by the imperial decree, and aquire decent melee skills due to common requirements for boys in noble families, e.g. Yan and Valle. Depending on species, family, country and culture, this may also include noble girls.
- Mages born from commoners may choose a military career as an effective but appropriately risky way to fame, fortune and possibly nobility. Those willing to become front-line mages receive excessive soldier training to yield valuable combat specialists for the army.
- Those willing to trade their future and the very possibility of bearing children for revenge can become "night huntresses", gaining both magic and combat skill from a possible Deal with the Devil. As a part of his quest to prove that Dark Is Not Evil, Valle makes a habit to find, hire or pardon and redeem them.
- With the discovery of the power of the Signs, which works without requiring magic skill, every skilled warrior might be instantly promoted to Magic Knight upon mastering the Signs. Valle, already a very powerful mage to begin with, pulls a badly described gambit for immortality and god status with the Signs.
- In Vitaliy Zykov's Way Home (Дорога домой, Виталий Зыков):
- K'irsan becomes this by being both an unwilling heir to several species' magics and learning from a heir of the rare swordfighting school designed to fight mages in melee.
- Oleg aquires decent melee skills as part of his apprentice studies under Ayrung, who also strives to fit this trope.
- Urgh (goblin) shamans are well-versed in combat and use various amulets and enchanted items in battle. With training, they can use lesser Ritual Magic or SummoningRituals on the battlefield to devastating effect.
- Necromancers of Nekrond are proficient with their signature sickles in melee, partially due to pure necromancy being Ritual Magic. They might open combat with lesser Black Magic spells or trigger summoning artifacts to compensate.
- In the Whateley Universe, Fey is currently turning herself from a Squishy Wizard into this. She's learning Tai Chi and swordfighting. Considering who she's up against, this is a good thing.
- The Wheel of Time:
- Rand al'Thor. He learns to use a sword from a blademaster — and becomes a master in his own right — before he even finds himself a Saidin teacher, justifying the trope. He even takes it to new and amusingly literal places by using a sword made of magical fire. Later books in the series deconstruct the trope, with other channellers pointing out that even with a magic sword, his swordsmanship is meaningless compared to his strength in Saidin. Between losing his hand and regaining the memories of his past life he discards the trope entirely. By the end of the series he has stopped fighting like a swordsman, magical or otherwise, and started using weaves that resemble artillery, rocket propelled grenades, bullets, and other more efficient weapons. Predictably, he runs a personal World War I on the armies he faces.
- Some Asha'man are not powerful enough to weave any effective weapons, and keep using the physical weapons that they'd learned before becoming Asha'man.
- One of the Forsaken, Demandred, (the Four-Star Badass of the Shadow and one of Rand's shadow archetypes) also proves to be this in the last book, showing himself as a master of both physical and channeling-based combat. He's so good that it takes three increasingly epic blademasters and a former False Dragon in succession to take him down.
- The Witch of Knightcharm is set in an evil Wizarding School where some of the students are this, notably including the second-ranked student Ceranna Babineaux. Ceranna fights with a massive sword and has proven herself to be very skilled with it.
- The Witcher:
- Witchers are skilled with swords and can also cast signs, spells that can be cast quickly with one hand in the heat of a fight.
- Ciri initially trains as a witcher, then as a mage, though relinquishes those powers. She later learns how to travel between worlds, making her a fighter with teleportation abilities.
- Vilgefortz reveals himself to be one, having been a mercenary prior to training as a mage. He uses his magical abilities to boost his already impressive combat abilities to thoroughly trounce Geralt in a one-on-one fight.
