History Main / TheMagicGoesAway

* This has been happening at earlier ages to successive generations at the beginning of the {{Green-Sky Trilogy}}. In the third book, there are signs that TheMagicComesBack.

This trope is distinguished from {{Gotterdammerung}} in that the work is about the events which result in (or at least around the time of) the magic going away. In {{Gotterdammerung}}, the magic went away long ago. It is distinguished from HereThereWereDragons in that in that one, there certainly were dragons (or magic or phlebotinum), and they clearly have gone away (perhaps because the story is set in the real world's past), but the story isn't about their disappearance. May overlap with EndOfAnAge in that both involve the loss of wonder, but differs in that it is specifically about magic and magic settings. See TheMagicComesBack if this is a temporary status and it actually returns.

* Alluded to in the KingsQuest ExpandedUniverse materials. Magical creatures and persons sensed this was happening, so they cast one last, big spell and literally opened a parallel universe where they withdrew in order to survive. The world they left was ours. The world they created is the one where the games are set.

* At the end of the final ''SwordOfTruth'' book, Richard [[spoiler:uses the Power of Orden to create a parallel world to send the Order's army to, along with the "pristinely ungifted", the Chainfire spell, and the chimes, basically resolving all remaining subplots simultaneously]]. This world is destined to lose all magic and even all memory of magic, while the old world goes on being magical. Everybody wins, apparently.
** [[spoiler:Everybody wins? Fuck no. It was established earlier in the series that no magic means no afterlife. Richard sentenced everyone in the parallel world to oblivion.]]
** [[spoiler:The Imperial Order *was* trying to destroy all magic though. Richard just gave them what they wanted. Now, as to how many people who don't want to be under the Imperial Order...]]
** [[spoiler:Wasn't it said that it was only those who believed the philosophy of the Order were sent away]]

* The trope namer, Larry Niven's ''TheMagicGoesAway'' stories tell of an ancient civilization based on FunctionalMagic powered by "Mana", but there's only a finite amount present on Earth. That nobody seems to be aware of or acknowledge this fact causes the magi, magical creatures and gods that use mana to eventually "go mythical" (a [[WriterOnboard very obvious allegory]] aimed at modern civilization's reliance on fixed resources). The device that first proves this effect, and later becomes the most dangerous weapon in the world, is the "Warlock's Wheel", a simple copper disk with two spells on it: one that makes it spin faster and faster (there is NO upper limit on this, so it could probably reach infinity rpm if there were an infinite amount of mana), and a spell that keeps it from being destroyed by the heat generated by the rotation (small versions can be used to block scrying by making a wall of magic-free areas around a fortification, but a big one could screw up an entire region). In later books, the Warlock's Wheel becomes a sort of MemeticBadass, as a mage refuses to even draw a picture of one, as even a drawing of one would suck all the magic out of him (given that it's literally a simple disc, this may be, in-universe, the origin of a protective circle. Draw a picture of a Warlock's Wheel, stand in the center, and no magical force can get near you).

* At the close of ''BatenKaitos'', when the [[spoiler:Ocean is released and the floating islands return to the earth, the 'Wings of the Heart' that all the characters possess reveal themselves, and then disappear forever. Because this happens during the ending cutscene, you don't get to find out what the other characters think about this. I'd imagine Kalas is quite confused, as he was frustrated when he was younger that he only had one wing when everybody else had two, so Georg created him a detachable 'winglet' that served the same purpose. At the close of the game, Kalas still keeps his winglet (the game concludes with a shot of the Winglet on a shelf), and nobody else has any wings.]]

*** [[YouFailScienceForever Which makes no sense because gravity is based on MASS, not size.]]

* The trope namer, Larry Niven's ''TheMagicGoesAway'' stories tell of an ancient civilization based on FunctionalMagic powered by "Mana", but there's only a finite amount present on Earth. That nobody seems to be aware of or acknowledge this fact causes the magi, magical creatures and gods that use mana to eventually "go mythical" (a [[WriterOnboard very obvious allegory]] aimed at modern civilization's reliance on fixed resources). The most devastating weapon ever is a large top that spins faster and faster until all the mana around it is used up (small versions can be used to block scrying by making a wall of magic-free areas around a fortification, but a big one could screw up an entire region).

** Happens slowly over the course of the Ivalice timeline. In FinalFantasyXII and FinalFantasyTacticsA2, magical beings abound, magitech is everywhere and some areas are thick with Mist, magic in the air so thick that it looks foggy. By the time of FinalFantasyTactics, most of the magical beings are either dead or simply gone[[hottip:*:a process begun in FinalFantasyXII when the heros killed the gods]], magitech has become LostTechnology, Mist is nowhere to be seen, and a great deal of faith is required to make magic work, when it once worked automatically. Fast forward even more to VagrantStory, and magic's almost entirely gone and relegated to myth, and for most people, the little bit left is so hard to get at that you pretty much lose your soul in the process

* In the d20 setting ''Shadow Hunters,'' magic comes and goes in waves as the Shadow realm merges and separates with our world. Actually, this setting is a reversal, since the magic ''has been gone,'' but now it's coming back.
** This sounds AWFULLY familiar, as it is the same premise as in the ''{{Shadowrun}}''/''{{Earthdawn}}'' franchise from 1989. Shadowrun is set in postmodern days (2040 - 2070), where magic has just returned and turned the world upside down, whereas Earthdawn is set at the later part of the last magic age, fitting this trope to an extent. But since the player characters will never live long enough to actually see the inevitable end of magic, it's only partially played straight.

** It happened again when the transition was made to 4th edition magic, with the added 'bonus' of a world-spanning storm of random magic that completely reshaped the geography and brought reduced many of the setting's civilizations to ruin as well as merging the world with a parrelel universe.

* In the book Missing Magic, a young boy has to deal with being the only one without magic powers. When his [[EvilUncle uncle]] turns out to have been the BigBad (after taking his powers and killing his father) his uncle uses the same spell accidently and removes ''everyones'' magic by accident. The boy comes to realize that eventually magic [[TheMagicComesBack will return]] and someone, long after everyone forgets it existed and moves on.