Mage and The Various Incarnations Of Thereof

There's quite a few titles one can use to refer to a spellcaster. Mage, Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock etc.

I do wonder, are those titles used interchangably or do they refer to specific types of spellcasters? What is your stance on using such various monikers?

P.S I wasn't sure where should this thread be placed, here or in Writer's Block. If it's the latter, may I ask a mod to move it? >.>

As far as I can tell, from reading a lot of fantasy, all of those terms are used differently between works. Some works might use different terms for 'magic-users' to refer to people who practice different varieties of magic, or are of a certain rank or standing, or may only use one or a few of them because the others don't give them (the writer) the right impression, or feel.

The Dragaera series uses the term 'witch' gender-neutrally to refer to people of any sex who practice the setting's particular flavor of witchcraft, like the books' male protagonist. Harry Potter uses witch and wizard, but probably not any other terms (unless you count the 'sorcerer' in the US version of the first book). The Kingkiller Chronicle refers to users of any kind of magic as arcanists, while Final Fantasy uses 'arcanist' to refer to individuals who practice 'evil' magic. 'Mage' is common in fantasy RPGs as a general term for anyone who can use magic. I think some settings use 'warlock' to refer to people who specifically practice 'evil' magic or as a male equivalent of witch, while folkloric definitions apply the term to male practitioners of magic in general. So it really is kind of based on what term(s) sound best to you and fit your story.

As for me, I have two kinds of activities that we'd call magic- a simple, smaller-scale 'common magic' called dynamism, and a more mystical kind of magic called sorcery. Dynamism is what all humanoids are expected to be able to use- it's well-understood enough to be a science, and it's so commonplace people born of that world who just can't use dynamism are considered disabled. People who complete extra training in dynamism use beyond the usual domestic tasks are called urgers, while people trained in dynamism for combat are wielders. (This thread has also just reminded me that I should come up with a name for people who can't use dynamism, in the vein of 'blind' or 'deaf'.)

Sorcery, on the other hand, is more like the kind of magic wise old wizards use in fairytales- it's seemingly random, very hard to learn, and apparently limitless. Only one humanoid species, the Rivari, shows any real affinity for sorcery, while the others will need to study for decades just to get a rough start on any kind of application of sorcery. Sorcery is rare enough that any non-Rivari humanoid who has anything to show in sorcery will be referred to as a sorcerer. And half of what endears Rivari to sorcery is the fact that they're immortal and won't run out of time to learn more stuff.

In some cases, the different definitions apply to different approaches to magic. The Dungeons & Dragons rules have wizards as booksmart scholars, sorcerers as drawing from internal power, warlocks as closing pacts with otherworldly beings, etc. However, there's usually only one type of magic per setting, so they can be used interchangeably without causing confusion.

A more important hurdle I had to go through was defining the function of mages in the world. I got bored with magic as an inborn superpower that actually has no unique purpose, at least one that can't be replicated by sufficiently advanced technology. I'll take a shotgun to a fireball spell any day. So in my settings, magic typically is just technology with weirder components and chemicals.

In addition, real life magical traditions have a very strong religious aspect. In less tolerant societies, this can cause mostly mundane practices and rituals to gain a considerable layer of superstitions. Just picture the foreign impressions of more familiar religions and compare it to the local mystification of foreign traditions. Still, one purpose found in both would be the performing of exorcisms, with mages being akin to priests or saints. (My own take was to have a sort of pagan alchemist curse-breaker working in conjunction with the local clergy, a mystical bomb defusal expert of sorts. In fact, that's pretty much the original meaning of the term witch-doctor - a secular or mainstream-religion-devoted expert against evil magic.)

In short, I find most mages in fiction to be solutions in search of a problem. Find what they're supposed to do in the world, and the ways and definitions will come by themselves.

Historically, in Europe, and to over-simplify quite a bit, the terms were related to social class and normative expectations. A "witch" was usually a lower class woman accused of using diabolic magic to profit herself at her neighbors expense. A "Warlock" was the same thing applied to a male. A "Mage" or "Magician" was a scholar of magic, serving legally in some nobles court. A "Sorcerer" was an evil mage, that is, one operating independently, not in service to a liege. "Wizard" is the general term, covering all these cases.

In a story I've been writing, the deuteragonist refers to herself as a Sorceress, mainly because there really isn't any female-equivalent term for a Wizard. "Wizardess" or "Magess" doesn't really roll off the tongue well, and a "witch" is an uneducated dabbler meddling with forces she really doesn't understand, nor can she control them very well. (A hedge wizard, in other words. A warlock would be the male equivalent, with a good dose of wild magic thrown in — potentially powerful, but dangerously random and chaotic. To the more educated and disciplined types of spellcasters, both are held in low regard.)

Thats because, in a Medieval setting, women wernt supposed to hold court appointments, hence no need for a gendered title.

The website changingminds would help you narrtively.

The website mythicinvestigations would help you historically.

Note: do not cast Native Americans "magical" practitioners as witches if you write Paranormal urban fantasy. Witchcraft as westerns know it have little to do with a tribe's spirituality like the Navajo.

Magic is a what you make based on your set of rules. I think you should worry more about magic itself than naming people who use it because naming is the easy part.

edited 25th Nov '16 3:22:28 PM by WolyniaBookSeries

We've had this conversation before. So, allow me to paraphrase the conclusion we came to last time.

Sources?

Mage - Greek (magos)

Witch - Old English (wicca/wicce)

Warlock - Old English (wærloga) meaning 'oath breaker'

Wizard - Middle English (wysard) from the root for 'wise'

Sorcerer - Middle English from Old French from the Latin for 'lot' or 'fate'

Because English has several influences, it tends to collect multiple words that look and sound different but ultimately mean the same thing. So which word you want to go with may depend on which linguistic/cultural flavor you want. Other languages will have their own words for 'magic' and 'mage' as well.

What about "conjurer"?

Middle English from Old French from Latin root 'to swear'

edited 4th Jan '17 9:14:37 PM by shiro_okami

The literal, etymological definition of "Witch" and "Wizard" is "one who has his (or her) wits about him (or her)." In usage, it was the same as calling someone a wise-man or a wise-woman. Sometimes that meant that the wise-person was believed to possess special powers, sometimes not. "Warlock" on the other hand, means "Oath-Breaker," as was originally used to indicate someone who had broken fealty with God and made some kind of pact with Satan.

"Magus" and "Magi" are terms that originated to describe people who practiced Zoroastrianism. Non-Zoroastrians frequently believed them to practice "magic" (and it's from them that we get the word).

In short, all of these terms are words used by outsiders to describe people and groups believed to have special, mysterious knowedge. If you want them differentiated in your own work, I'd say just decide what you want each one to mean. To most people, in the modern era, they all amount to the same thing.

edited 5th Jan '17 4:06:57 PM by Robbery