History Headscratchers / Onward

** They hiss like cats, so maybe it's like the difference between mangy feral cats and sleek panthers or jaguars?
** The movie establishes that Barley is very much aware of the rich magical history of his world and used his van painting to show unicorns as the majestic creatures they used to be.

* We know Barley did most of the driving on the trip. If we saw that he was awake around 7 am on Ian’s birthday, then that means he kept going all day, all night, and at least until sunset the next day. Two days of no sleep and just cheese puffs for food, plus a hike of several miles through rough terrain. How are these kids still standing? Teenage stamina + adrenaline? (I know Ian got to nap a bit in the van but still.)

* How on Earth did technology cause magic users to disappear? (And it's definitely not because magic takes a long time to learn; Ian mastered several powerful spells in one day.) The trust bridge spell, impersonation spell, and growth spell should be practical reason enough for magic users to still be around, but the resurrection spell really seals the deal. Lots of people would probably give ''anything'' to be brought back to life for a day after their death.
** The way that I took it, it was that magic was gradually phased out and became outdated when technology was introduced and became more popular, so, magic "disappeared" because people weren't really using or being taught anymore. The main cast would be some of the few that would learn post-technology.
** First off, a person can only ''do'' magic if they're ''born'' with it, which automatically makes magic less practical than technology; and it's explicitly stated that magic isn't easy to master- you have to focus on the spell, speak from your "Heart's Fire", and believe in yourself- whereas anyone can flip a light switch. Magic can only be used properly by a rare few, while technology can be used by anyone. We also don't know what level of research went into making the game manual- maybe in the old days, master wizards wanted their apprentice to figure everything out on their own.
** The same way cars caused horse-drawn carriages to disappear.

** Actually, it's possible that she never knew it was in the [[spoiler:fountain]] the whole time.
*** I felt she must have because that's the only way I could justify [[spoiler: Corey and Laurel somehow knowing to fly back to town instead of heading towards Raven's Point]].

* Who hid the [[spoiler:phoenix gem and created the trap-filled dungeon?]] Did they disappear along with the world's magic users? And where do phoenix gems come from, anyway?

* Barley suggests using a growth spell to enlarge the gas can so they have more gas to put into Guinevere. And then Ian accidentally shrinks him, but he says it's okay because the side effects are temporary, and indeed he seems to grow big again an hour or less later. Wouldn't this have actually made enlarging the gas can a bad idea, since the gas would then shrink back to only a few drops after moving for a bit and leave them stranded again (this time much farther away from a gas station)?

* Can there be an InUniverse explanation why the disguise spell only works until you stop telling the truth? Because it doesn't sound too practical, it only increases the chance of getting caught. Besides, if you portray yourself as someone else, you're practically already lying.
** If magic had no limitations on how it works, people wouldn't have abandoned it in favor of technology.
** Being able to perfectly disguise yourself as any mortal being you want is a pretty advantageous spell, so it makes sense for it to have a very big limiter. In this case, it forces the user to be clever enough to carry an imitation by telling half-truths or knowing how to subvert people's questioning, and prevents them from using it to do anything too chaotic or illegal.
** Basically every spell has a catch or a failsafe as mentioned above.
** I don't think the spell was ''designed'' to have that limitation; it's just how magic works. It's like asking "Why are cars designed to eventually run out of gas?" It's not a design feature that's intended to make the car better somehow; it's just that no one has ever figured out how to make an endlessly-operating car. By analogy, we have to assume that there's something in The Laws of Magic (akin to the Laws of Physics) that cause spells to have all these requirements and limitations.
** If I remember right, "if you disguise yourself as someone else you are already lying" is exactly the point. It is pointed out that ''because'' the spell already has to support the big lie of the disguise, it can't bear any more. It still makes it pretty inconvenient for most stealth purposes though.

** After Corey cuts off its wings, she is struck down with an injury and can't move, leaving the combat to Laurel. Thinking on your feet in combat takes training, which she doesn't have. So she sticks with the original plan: sword in heart.
** The wings were the only parts made of mostly magic; everything else was covered in concrete. That sword might be strong in the magical sense, but it probably wasn't sharp enough to cut through what was essencially rock. Note that Laurel has to find a gap to be able to stab it in the heart and hold the sword there, and Ian had to burst its abdomen open with a spell for an easier target. The wings were probably the only part they ''could'' cut through like that.

** It seems the police are rather aware already that she had a minor psychotic break and they were trying to get her completely calm before taking her in. Given that she and Laurel then helped save the day from the rock dragon, a little leeway might be in order.
** Colt Bronco might have had something to do with it, since Corey helped Laurel every step of the way.

** There was no indication Wilden invented it, he just chose to use it. Phoenix Gems are rare, so getting his hands on a second one was likely not possible. In any case, the limit is highly unlikely to be by design but because of how the universe works (see point above on "Why cars are designed to run out of gas").
** Also, there's a clear indication that Wilden started researching magic, or trying to gain new knowledge about it, when he felt he was running out of time. He got enough time and resources to gather a magic staff, a gem and the Visitation Spell. Being the gem the most valuable, costly and hard-to-find part of it, he couldn't get spares.

* Why was Ian Lightfoot surprised when he saw the pixies coming out from the bikes? When you are born into a fantasy world things like that would be common and normal to you.

* Why was Ian Lightfoot surprised when he saw the pixies coming out from the bikes? When you are born into a fantasy world things like that would be common and normal to you.

** If Manga/DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl (_Monster Musume_) has taught me anything, merpeople could move about in wheelchairs and are amphibious, being able to breathe and as long as their gills are kept moist and returning to the water to sleep.

** He was only using the Gem to complete the botched original spell, not cast a whole new one. Since the spell only brought back Wilden's top half, the bottom half would still have disappeared in the original time limit, so the rules of the magic mean that all of Wilden disappears in that timeframe.

** TheLawofConservationofDetail. Basically they have 1 hour and 42 minutes to build a world and tell a story. If they spend too much time on the world building they loose time for the story.

** Thus we can conclude it doesn't work like D&D magic. QED.

** Thus we can conslude it doesn't work like D&D magic. QED.

* If Wilden invented the Visitation Spell, couldn't he have forseen that there might have been a risk of it failing? At least have a second crystal in the set in case the first breaks? Or perhaps design the spell to last longer or work more than once?

* In the end, Ian casts the Visitation spell again, complete with a new gem. If magic in this world is anything like D&D magic, the second casting should have reset the spell's duration, giving them another day with Dad.

* If Wilden invented the Visitation Spell, couldn't he have forseen that there might have been a risk of it failing? At least have a second crystal in the set in case the first breaks? Or perhaps design the spell to last longer or work more than once?

** OurElvesAreDifferent.

** Given that they're also ''blue'', it's likely Pixar wasn't trying to accurately depict elves from the D&D official lore, anyway.

* Why do male elves have beards and mustaches? Male elves never have those! Half-elves maybe but never purebred, or even interbred elves for that matter!

** It seems the police are rather aware already that she had a minor psychotic break and they were trying to get her completely calm before taking her in. Given that she and Laurel then helped save the day from the rock dragon, a little leeway might be in order.

* Can there be an InUniverse explanation why the disguise spell only works until you keep telling the truth? Because it doesn't sound too practical, it only increases the chance of getting caught. Besides, if you portray yourself as someone else, you're practically already lying.

** The way that I took it, it was that magic was gradually phased out and became outdated when technology was introduced and became more popular,so, magic "disappeared" because people weren't really using or being taught anymore. The main cast would be some of the few that would learn post-technology.
** First off, only select people can even do magic, which automatically makes magic less practical than technology. And magic is hard; you have to focus, speak from your heart's fire, believe in yourself, etc. Whereas any idiot can flip a light switch. Magic is for smart people and only for smart people (and even then, only certain kinds of smart people). Technology is developed by a smart person (or a team of smart people), and can then be used by anyone. We also don't know what level of research went into making the game manual, maybe in the old days, master wizards wanted their apprentice to figure everything out on their own.
* How many adventurers died in their quest to find the phoenix gem? [[spoiler:It was still at the fountain, so clearly no one had managed to obtain it in the last thousand years.]] If no one was successful, [[spoiler: was Corey knowingly sending these adventurers, as well as the brothers, on a suicide mission?]]

* Can there be an InUniverse explanation why the disguise spell only works until you keep telling the truth? Because it doesn't sound too practical, it only increases the chance of gettig caught. Besides, if you portray yourself as someone else, you're practically already lying.

* Ian discovers that the ressurection spell only works for half a day, and seemingly accepts that he won't get to spend much time with his dad Wilden. However, he still writes his bucket list with one of the things to do being spend his entire life with his father. Why write that when he knew it would be impossible?
** The actual wording was "''Share'' my entire life," meaning that he would tell his dad all about himself. Nice little double meaning, since he realized that he had literally shared his entire life, up to that point, with Barley.

** After Corey cuts off it's wings, she is struck down with an injury and can't move, leaving the combat to Laurel. Thinking on your feet in combat takes training, which she doesn't have. So she sticks with the original plan: sword in heart.
* So how aware is the dad's legs? Given that his last moments was him dying at a hospital, how was he suddenly awake, yet devoid of his ability to see, hear or speak? Is he at least aware of the brothers' quest to revive him? He does seem to recognize Barley once he sees him for the brief moment that his body is complete.
** He was the one who created the revival spell and provided Ian and Barley with the means to use it, so he would know why he was suddenly alive again.

* So Corey ''burnt down her restaurant'' which was occupied by many people, ''including children''. And somehow...this has no repercussions? People still went to her "renovated" restaurant tavern, even though it now has a reputation of the manager nearly killing their patrons? This doesn't cause any legal issues that Corey herself mentioned earlier?

* So Corey ''burnt down her restaurant'' which was occupied by many people, ''including children''. And somehow...this has no repercussions? People still went to her "renovated" restaurant tavern, even though it now has a reputation of the manager nearly killing their patrons? This doesn't cause any legal issues that Corey herself mentioned earlier?