Basic Trope: A way to use magic that involves rites, circles, and other occult paraphernalia.
- Straight: To cast a love spell, Alice takes a bunch of objects, and a lock of Bob's hair, draws sigils, and says an incantation.
- Exaggerated: To levitate a pebble, Alice has to do a sacrifice, and then a ritual that takes all night.
- Downplayed: To cast a fireball, Alice uses a staff to scratch a small circle into the ground and drop a small amount of candle wax into it.
- Justified:
- Magic is an uncontrollable force, and the rituals make it safer to use.
- Magic is sentient to some extent, and rituals are a form of command that magic can interpret and follow.
- Magic in this setting involves drawing on the power of gods/spirits/demons who require a certain protocol and need to be placated with the necessary sacrifices.
- Magic in this setting involves tapping into the mystical principles that undergird the universe, and the rituals are necessary to invoke those principles.
- The rituals are a good way for Alice to focus her innate magical powers to the task at hand.
- Inverted: Rituals are used, but it is entirely mental, as objects can interfere with magic.
- Subverted: Bob asks Alice to do a ritual. Alice just pulls out her wand.
- Double Subverted: After pulling out her wand, Alice then draws a diagram on the floor and shouts an incantation.
- Parodied: To do magic, the rule is to take as much time as possible.
- Zig Zagged: Whether you need occult rituals depends on the spell you are casting. All myths related to spellcasting are true.
- Averted: Alice's magic is Vancian Magic.
- Enforced: The author has to write it in because he wants that occult feel.
- Lampshaded:Bob: "Alice, do all these circles and rites actually do something?"
- Invoked: Long ago, people could cast spells as they liked, but found that it was easier or that the spells worked better after performing some sort of ritual. Soon the rituals became a natural part of the process, to the point where the current generation has forgotten they are not needed.
- Exploited: The rituals need a lot of concentration. After performing a ritual, Alice finds that her wallet (or worse!) has been stolen.
- Defied: "I can't be bothered to draw or ask the special effects-people to design all those circles. Let's just use a cut off branch as a wand or something."
- Discussed: "I wonder what it was like for the first person who drew a circle on the ground and then could cast spells thanks to it."
- Conversed: "I guess people don't use magic as a weapon in this show because you could just lynch someone before they were done with the rituals."
- Implied: Bob walks into Alice's shop. He notices a circle, with white candles in it. Throughout the rest of the work, it is never brought up again.
Back to Ritual Magic.
