Deadlock Clock: Feb 20th 2024 at 11:59:00 PM

To-do list:

Define Ritual Magic as "magic performed via ritual". A trope for the "magic that is not innate and can be learned by anybody" definition was sent to TLP as All-Accessible Magic. Sandbox.Ritual Magic can be used to draft the rewrite of Ritual Magic.

Original post:

Ritual Magic currently has a problem where its description claims that it follows a specific concept and its examples follow an entirely different one.

In the description, we see a specific theme get repeated multiple times:

Magic isn't a question of talent, spiritual enlightenment, or a power you're born with. It's something that anyone can learn, even (perhaps dangerously) a Muggle. This puts Ritual Magic closer to technology than other forms of Functional Magic; it works because of knowledge that has been collected about the natural world and used in a certain way, and witches and wizards are essentially "engineers" of magic.

Stories that feature Ritual Magic can certainly have characters who know more rituals and are better at casting them be perceived to be powerful wizards, but much like arts and sports, anyone can potentially learn and master Ritual Magic.

The core of the identity here is that Ritual Magic works due to some innate quality of the things used to do it or the natural forces it interacts with; it functions more like a science or technology than an innate power, and is accessible to anyone with the appropriate knowledge. A specific contrast is drawn between this concept and "innate magic", which is treated as the kind where magic is an internal power.

The description also goes into some detail about how these two forms of magic might interact.

If the setting also has magicians who get their magic from innate powers, you can expect both natural magicians and ritualists to engage in smug Fantastic Racism over their Unequal Rites. Of course, if someone with innate magic were to learn ritual magic, the results would be... interesting. In settings with multiple coexisting forms of Functional Magic, it could be considered a kind of "leveler" for the playing field, giving even the non-magical a chance to "wield" comparable forces to those born into a Mage Species. Even if their powers aren't quite up to par, it keeps everyone on their toes.

See Training the Gift of Magic for situations where characters with innate magic still need some kind of special education, and maybe have to use some minor rituals to focus it. In such settings, complex rituals may be one way that people lacking the gift of innate magic can still gain some degree of magical power.

In addition, the visual trappings of the trope as defined as "a method of casting spells based on the performance of specific words, gestures, actions and offerings at specific places and times" and "the ritual usually requir[ing] one of the following to cast: a somatic (physical), verbal, or material component, as well as having restrictions on time and place." There's a lengthy list of things the magician might have to do to make the ritual work; the main point seems to be that the ritual is complicated, specific, and time- and material-sensitive. You need to go through a fairly involved rigmarole to make it work.

Hermetic Magic is defined as a subtrope.

Overall, the core of this trope as laid out in the description is that it is magic where power lies in the ritual, materials and process, not in the person doing it. It is a kind of magic that anyone could do given the materials and information, and treated almost as a form of science; its entry barriers are knowledge and study, and this explicitly put into contrast with "innate", internal magic that one might find in a Mage Species. As described here, if a magical effect requires some kind of innate or otherwise individual-specific power from the magic-user to work, it is not an example.

Note a divergence in the Laconic, which defines the basic trope as "A way to use magic that involves rites, circles, and other occult paraphernalia." — it focuses specifically on the physical ritual and not on the "universality" of magic.

So what's the example list like?

On-Page

These mainly fall into four camps:

Rituals described, innate power not needed

Fullmetal Alchemist: Alchemy is the discipline of transmuting any matter into another matter, as long as the mass remains the same. It normally requires inscribing a ritual circle which bounds that specific alchemical transmutation to it. Those who use alchemy in combat usually inscribe the relevant circles on items they carry around. Those who have seen the Gate, or are holding a Philosopher's Stone, can skip the ritual, basically because they're doing it in their own heads. Its application is so old by now that most people just consider it an advanced type of science and alchemists as combined scientists, researchers, spec-ops and military officers.
The Bible occasionally has a section where God (or a prophet) instructs someone to do a specific action. Examples include Moses striking the rock for water^note, and Joash shooting arrows to strike the ground to ensure defeat of Syria. ^note Probably the most famous example is how the walls of Jericho were knocked down by following God's instructions to perform a complex ritual that involved marching around the walls for seven days and then shouting.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy: The entirety of magic is based on saying the right words and using the right symbols, and, although it is draining beyond the sheer physical act, anyone can do it. This is a fact the magicians are keen for people not to pick up on, and exaggerate the risks and difficulty as well as discouraging higher education among non-magicians to make it less apparent. Note: This is not strictly evident here, but the writeup under Hermetic Magic fits the description.
The Elric Saga: Magic is mostly ritualistic in nature. Essentially, doing a spell means summoning a supernatural creature with the desired power through a ritual, and having it perform the task for you.
Cthulhu Mythos: This is the most common form of magic, and is usually implied to be in fact highly sophisticated science unrecognizable to humans.
The Dresden Files:
- Two forms of ritual magic exist. The first is a version most spellcasters can operate. It's mechanically the same as regular spellcasting, but the "ritual" part focuses the caster's mind and has better magic controls in place, so they can achieve affects that they normally couldn't achieve on the fly. Harry uses it to summon entities, and cast subtle spells particularly at range.
- The second kind of ritual magic is achievable basically by any person who knows the ritual, wizard or not, can perform this ritual and obtain the magical result. Harry likens it to a cosmic vending machine: put in an order, and magic effects are expended. Alas, the magical power behind such rituals always comes from something unpleasant, and a ritualistic caster becomes an Unwitting Pawn of it. What's interesting is that, according to Harry, the best way to disable a particular ritual is to disseminate it widely, since only a limited amount of power can be channeled into the world. If numerous people are trying a ritual only a very small amount of power can get through per person, and too many people drawing on the same source for the same ritual means it runs out of juice and nobody can get an effect.
- In one of the side stories there appears an organization devoted to erasing the names of these supernatural beings, and thus cutting their connection to this world. This brings them into direct conflict with the White Council on occasion, since the latter's SOP is to publicize the shit out of the names of ritual-powering-beings (the Brothers Grimm kept the organization from cutting off the Fae). The side story featured a member of the organization (Thomas) trying to stop a coven from using Harry and the Council from spreading the name of the entities they wished to contact.
- Ordinary spells can also be performed as a ritual, within limits. The main difference between a wizard and a muggle in this setting seems to be, aside from overall more power, that a wizard can develop a sense of where magical power is and how it's moving. Casting a spell without this sense is like a blind man building a house; difficult, but possible. In Dead Beat Butters is able to create a simple protective circle by following Harry's instructions, though he has to be told that it worked. As of Skin Game, he's used practical knowhow from Bob to become a kind of proxy-wizard, creating magical devices by ritual means.
The Witch Watch: There is a big difference between sorcery and wizardry. Wizardry seems to be a natural ability but sorcery depends mainly on laying out the correct magic circle with the right words and well-mapped spacing.
Daughter Of Darkness: Little Willie Connolly casts spells by adapting rituals and chants based on her readings in anthropology. She believes herself to be the type with innate magic who applies it through ritual; her uncle Jonathan, also an anthropologist, is likely an ordinary man who just uses rituals he's learned (to try to stop her, and he almost succeeds).
The Stanley Family: In The Headless Cupid, Amanda is teaching her step-siblings the basics of ritual magic. The Stanleys are the closest thing Snyder ever created to a sitcom family, and the way the children handle her "initiation rites" doesn't always meet her "mysterious and dignified" standards... meanwhile she's repeatedly freaked out by little Blair's actual psychic ability. The "actual psychic ability" is implied to be a distinct thing from the main magic.
The Magician's Nephew: Jadis says of Uncle Andrew "You are a little, peddling magician who works by rules and books" as opposed to someone like herself who has magic in her blood.
Discworld: Wizard magic is ritual magic, although wizards also have some innate power that enables them to harness it properly. In theory, some wizard spells could be cast by anyone, but this is not widely known, partly because wizards keep it quiet, and partly because people who attempt it without a true magic user's ability to see what they're doing tend to end up dead. The dragon-summoning spell in Guards! Guards!, for example, is a powerful magical working that can be done by a group of random people once they get ahold of the right materials and a leader who knows what he's doing. While witches generally shape magic into the required effect by feel, some folkloric rituals count as witch magic, and the reason they don't normally work for most people is simply that the folklore version misses details (like the apple peel spell in Wyrd Sisters).
Warrior Cats: In A Light in the Mist, Ashfur claims to his Dark Forest allies that in order to be able to take over a living cat's body, they need to perform a ritual where they pull out three of their whiskers and then close their eyes while he buries the whiskers at the barrier blocking StarClan and the Dark Forest. To their dismay, this isn't how possession actually works, and he'd only told them that for his own amusement.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In the Buffyverse, ideally magic is done by adepts, but we've seen on at least one occasion Mooks with no magical abilities just reading it out of a book, as if it were a recipe.
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition: Binders get their powers entirely from rituals that involve drawing special symbols under the right conditions to summon entities called vestiges which the binder acts as a Willing Channeler for.
d20 Modern and the 3.5 version of Unearthed Arcana have Incantations, a magic variant that can be used by anyone regardless of spellcasting ability, and that involves complex and sometimes dangerous rituals.
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition distinguishes between class-specific powers, which for the more magical classes are defined as spells and can be used quickly and particularly in combat, and rituals that anyone with the right feat and appropriate skill(s) can use as long as they can pay for the components and have the time. Wizards and clerics get the requisite feat for free right from the start, allowing them full access to both their particular flavors of 'instant' and to ritual magic, and other classes can obtain the feat provided they're trained in Aracana or Religion. Even non-magical fighters can perform rituals by using a scroll.
Exalted: The thaumaturgy available to most everybody with enough of an "Occult" score. Some thaumaturgy is so basic that it's not even necessary to specifically learn its Arts and rituals; all that is required is a single dot of Occult and you know how to use it. Thaumaturgy is also more frequent and consistent in its need for rituals and ingredients.
New World of Darkness: Mortal characters who lack a supernatural template can learn Thaumaturgy rituals and thus cast minor magics.
Mage: The Ascension: This is pretty much what technology is, although only a few very wise and enlightened mages see it that way (most everyone buys into their own paradigm or goes from the technocratic paradigm they'd learned before becoming a mage) — it is possible to create light by using the somatic component of flicking a switch and the material components of a switch and a light bulb in the right places, but it works for everyone only because of the sheer success the Technocracy has had in pushing its broader paradigm to the masses (including the people the Traditions recruit), and that paradigm does not see it as magic. One of the Technocracy's goals is to push more and more such "rituals" into becoming accepted as plausible by humanity in general, so that humanity in general can benefit from them.
Pathfinder: Most magic can only be accessed through a magical Character Class or an enchanted item. Rare "Occult Rituals" can be learned by anyone but take hours to perform, require multiple difficult skill checks to succeed, have nasty side effects from a Magic Misfire, and often exact a heavy cost on the ritualist.
Metamor City: Ritual spells can be performed by anyone, as they draw mana from the environment while mages use their own inner reserves (though they do use rituals for more complex spells). Artax runs a shop called "Spells 4 U" that specializes in ritual kits, and very strongly advises his customers to follow the directions exactly.

Rituals described, innate power needed

Young Wizards operates on Ritual Magic; there is an entire fundamental language of the universe (with many dialects) that is used to precisely describe the intended effect. Interestingly, their personal power level also plays a part in determining the scope of what they can do. However, they can also "save" and section off a part of a spell resulting in some Vancian Magic. The ritual seems to be needed mostly because you have to coax the forces you are working with to work and need to be certain not to make any errors; certain ones can thus be saved for later. (Emphasis mine.)
Children of the Black Sun: Rituals are one of the ways mages can gather magic to themselves for later use (and the ability to use such rituals distinguishes "real" mages from mere Sensitives, who have magical ability but can't gather enough raw power to actually do things). Blood-Mages are a kind of ritual user who specialise in sourcing magic from pain, and one of them tried to enslave the protagonist (who can do that naturally) as a personal power supply.
A Wizard of Earthsea: It appears to be mixed, with some people having natural ability, but still having to study and learn many names of things in true speak in order to be able to control them.
Charmed (1998) is more rooted in the Training the Gift of Magic trope, but still plays with this one with Witch Practitioners. While this aspect is more explored in the non-canonical novels, it's not contradicted in the show itself (in fact, it's strongly hinted to be the case). Witch Practitioners have an affinity for magic, but possess no internal source of power and have to rely on the Background Magic Field. They can access it in a Place of Power and have to use rituals to do so. Even magical Witches, with an inner source of magic, need complex rituals to perform certain feats, and the Charmed Ones themselves, when they are Brought Down to Normal by travelling to the past, need to perform rituals at an altar on All Hallow's Eve to access magic. However, this is averted in the case of outright Muggles: you still have to possess magic or at least affinity in order for rituals and spells to work. When Phoebe's muggle friends cast a correct incantation with the right symbols and at the right time, it does not work; it only does when they play a recording of Phoebe saying the incantation.
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5th Edition has Sorcerers, who are gifted with Puberty Superpowers, allegedly due to having highly diluted draconic blood, and Wizards, who memorize their spells from books. It should be noted, however, that Sorcerers and Wizards have access to the same spells, even those named for a specific person (and, you would expect, were discovered by that person at some point after the dawn of magic), and that Sorcerers learn new spells as they advance in power.

Rituals described, innate power not mentioned

Delicious in Dungeon: Most spells can be cast on a whim, but more powerful, rule breaking Blood Magic resurrection requires a very complex and sinister magic circle to be drawn, a large source of flesh and blood as well as reciting incantations in an odd tongue.
The Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw: Magic is very complex. Spells can be combined and prepared, but it takes a great amount of training to be able to master even the simplest of spells. The most difficult spells involve a lot of gesturing, incantations, and components like crystals.
Wonder Woman Vol 2: Prior to DC Rebirth Barbara Ann Minerva had to undergo a dark ritual involving human sacrifice each time she wanted to become the Cheetah until Circe made the transformation permanent.
A common form of magic in the works of Katherine Kurtz, such as the Deryni series, in which it has a dual purpose: to foster the deep concentration needed to use the more demanding Deryni powers, and to draw the esoteric connections of Hermetic Magic. Most of the typical traits are present in Deryni arcana:
- Magical Gestures can be as simple as snapping one's fingers to light a candle or torch. Other gestures facilitate the drawing of geometric or esoteric figures as focal points for summoning divine/angelic beings.
- A polyglot Language of Magic sees much use. (See the examples above.) The short story "Healer's Song" features a sung prayer normally performed at the consecration of a Healer on completion of his training; Lord Rhys Thuryn sings it to welcome his newborn Healer son to the family.
- Rituals intended to emphasize bonds between people, such as Naming and triggering the Haldane potential, involve token sacrifices, generally burning incense and shedding a few drops of blood.
- Some rooms become places of power from repeated ritual use, notably chapels in larger churches or in private suites/homes. A specific Place of Power is a plot point in Deryni Rising.
- Geometric Magic most often crops up in the protective circles invoked in Warding, both to protect mages from interference during a ritual and to protect outsiders from the energies unleashed in duels. When creating a Transfer Portal, the shape delineates the area to be enchanted.
Conan the Barbarian: In "Beyond the Black River", Balthus and the other captive deduce they are to be Human Sacrifices as part of Zogar's ritual. A ritual is also used to resurrect Xaltotun in The Hour of the Dragon.
Angelology: The nuns of St. Rose use a ritual to summon an angel in their defense when attacked by Gibborim.
Codex Alera: The Canim Ritualists do this. The precise mechanics by which it works are never explored (the Ritualists are a secretive bunch who aren't about to share their secrets with just anyone), but the ritual shedding of blood (their own or someone else's) is essential, and sometimes they use incantations as well.
Jakub Wędrowycz: Jakub uses complex rituals to perform his exorcisms. He also knows some other ones, such as the ritual that opens a gate to Hell.
The Changeover: The main character undergoes this sort of magic, combined with a Vision Quest, in order to facilitate her transformation, or changeover into a witch.
Dread Companion: Bartare's magic requires items, words, and rituals.
The Changeling: The little girls make up their rituals on the spot. Baby Josie, who may be a Child Mage, serves as their talisman and oracle. Ivy usually takes the lead in these ceremonies, but Martha finds that she has a knack for setting up the altar.
Pact: The hint about the existence of Ritual Magic is in the series' name. Practising any form of magic is doused in rituals, conventions, rules, regs and bargains — and not just if you start out as a human practitioner of the magic arts. The rules for Others may be highly different, but there are still rules and rituals to observe. Slip up badly enough... and, if you're lucky you just wind up dead or hit the Drains (effectively, Limbo). If unlucky, Fate Worse than Death and And I Must Scream are options, thanks to the karmic hit.
Eddie LaCrosse: In The Sword-Edged Blonde, Queen Rhiannon's apparent infanticide is presumed to have been an example of this. In fact, there was no infanticide and no ritual — Eddie notes quite quickly that the "runes" which were used don't have the same characteristics of real ones he's seen, and suspects that any proper cultist would think they were gibberish.
That Hoodoo Voodoo That You Do: Ritual magic is the subject of the anthology. Each tale generally has one of the casters using magic he doesn't quite fully understand the symbolism of and dealing the subsequent consequences either cosmic or horrific.
Split Heirs: Hydrangean magic involves long complicated incantations and gestures, which by the time of the book has made it largely useless. Clootie however learns how to make effective spells along with Wulfrith for use against the Gorgarians.
Lovecraft Country: All spells shown thus far in the series require at minimum magical incantations and drawing arcane symbols. Some also require sacrifices and possibly ritual garments as well.
Dungeons & Dragons 5 Edition: Some — but not all — spellcasting classes have the ritual casting ability. This allows them to cast spells with the ritual tag as rituals, which takes 10 minutes longer (ensuring no in-combat use) and can't use a higher spell slot but also doesn't consume a spell slot. Ritual spells are almost-exclusively utility spells, mostly Divination spells.
GURPS has a well-developed set of rules to distinguish between Rituals and Spells, and the supplement GURPS Thaumatology offers a whole range of optional rules to allow settings to feature ritual magic systems. In the GURPS Alchemical Baroque setting book, ritual magic is the local magic system, along with and closely linked to local forms of Alchemy.
Exalted: A number of Sorceries and Necromancies operate this way. For example, summoning a demon requires a sorcerer to cast from sundown to midnight, and higher levels of demons have addition time constraints, with the most powerful demons only summonable during the five days of the new year.
Ars Magica includes Ritual Magic as a more powerful method of spellcasting, able to bend or break some of the Hermetic system's spell limitations. However, ritual casting takes much more time, fatigues or injures the caster, and costs rare and valuable forms of Mana.
New World of Darkness: All over the place.
- Several varieties of supernaturals have rituals that allow effects not quite in line with the rest of their power set. Mages can turn any single-action spell into a ritual to build up a lot of power behind it by getting multiple rolls to accumulate successes.
- Bonus round: Werewolves use ritual magic to create artefacts, and contacting major spirits usually involve convoluted magical/social rituals that must be pulled off perfectly. Ritual magic is one way in which Prometheans can be created (and the only way they can reproduce). The vampire rite to raise a new vampire is generally also presented as this.
Invisible Sun has the Order of the Vance, vislae (magic-uses) who rely on tried and true spells to accomplish what they need; so revered are the spells that some Vance believe the spells themselves to have sentience. In addition, any vislae can use on incantations for certain guaranteed effects, regardless of which Order they chose to follow.
Res Arcana: The illustration of the Flaming Pit suggests that it's used for magical rituals — it consists of a flaming hole surrounded by a pentagram, skulls and candles. Its power lets you pay Life essences to gain Death and Elan.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Compared to ordinary magic, Rituals are rare and powerful spells that require esoteric Eye of Newt components and unique prerequisites, substantially more time, and often more participants to cast; and that have uniquely dire consequences for a Magic Misfire. It's suggested that learning and performing a Ritual be a story arc in itself.
In The Devil to Pay, Dorothy L. Sayers' take on the Faust legend, Mephistopheles is conjured by rituals that Sayers found in actual Renaissance grimoires.
Bendy and the Ink Machine: Joey Drew was up to some seriously occult business in his studio, and if his insistence on "sacrificial" items for the Ink Machine doesn't sell you, the coffins and satanic pentagram hidden under the studio will.
Shin Megami Tensei: Demon summoning generally require some sort of ritual. The rituals themselves aren't seen very often, because an ordinary computer or smartphone with the Demon Summoning Program can emulate the rituals.
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Ritual Monsters are monsters that are summon through the use of Ritual Spell cards.
The Elder Scrolls:
- While the temporary summoning of undead and lesser Daedra is easily accomplished using spell effects found under the School of Conjuration, in game comments and texts suggest that the permanent summoning of these creatures (as seen in-game by Necromancers and other practitioners of The Dark Arts) requires rituals that the Player Character is not privy to. Items involved in these rituals according to texts or found in-game include things like human hearts and filled soul gems.
- The Black Sacrament is a ritual performed by those seeking to hire the Dark Brotherhood. It involves chanting a "plea" to the Night Mother by an effigy of the intended victim (made from actual human bodyparts) surrounded by candles. Finally, you must rub deadly Nightshade onto a dagger and then use it to stab the effigy. If the Night Mother accepts, she will send a representative to seal the contract.
- The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall: The Daedric Princes can only be ritualistically summoned on certain days, sometimes under specific circumstances (such as during a thunderstorm). Later games would drop this mechanic, allowing you to summon them at their shrines or start their quests through their servants. A few still require you to possess certain items or meet certain criteria before they will answer, however. (Such as Sheogorath requiring an odd assortment of items or Namira requiring you to be "ugly" (ie, lower your Personality Attribute) in Oblivion).
Clive Barker's Undying: The aptly named Covenant siblings accidentally perform a ritual at the Standing Stones and unknowingly break the seal on a sleeping Eldritch Abomination, turning themselves into living seals. It doesn't end well for any of them.
Cultist Simulator uses ritual magic for all of the PC's spellcasting. Rites are learned from various Tome of Eldritch Lore items you acquire and study. The rite used determines what inputs are needed and what is sacrificed, while the occult Aspects of the inputs determine what the result of the ritual is.
Ultima IX: Ritual magic shows up in a couple of different forms as part of the game play.
- In order to learn spells, the Avatar has to perform a ritual at a spell circle. First, he places a scroll with the desired spell in the circle, then he places the key ingredients for that spell. Next, he lights the candles surrounding the circle. Finally, he chants the invocation for that spell. If he does it correctly, he can now cast that spell at will.
- The Avatar also has to perform a ritual to restore the destroyed shrines. He needs a rune, a sigil, and a mantra for each shrine. He places the rune and the sigil on the ruins of the shrine, then recites the mantra. This restores the shrine to its former glory (and raises one or more attributes).
SCP Foundation: Due to its nature, this is usually heavily averted (and even more discouraged while writing articles), since they are usually very resourceful in using technology and scientific experimentation to contain all types of anomalies ranging from just plain weird to downright terrifying and godlike, even if sometimes the lines between science and paranormal are blurred, by the time an article is written the containment procedures are clear, easily understood and clearly still scientific in nature. However, this hasn't stopped the trope from happening sometimes:
- SCP-2317 requires a daily ritual, involving the sacrifice of a chicken, to contain. The ritual is actually pointless and is just here to keep the Foundation staff's morale up. The actual method of containment is a set of chains made from parts of an Eldritch Abomination, which are currently breaking, causing major disasters on Earth each time one chain breaks. The Foundation cannot obtain the materials to replace the chains, so the only thing they can do is convince people that they can contain the entity to keep them from crossing the Despair Event Horizon.
- SCP-2848, known as "The Deer", a being so powerful and dangerous that it was downright a Physical God. Even after an alliance with the GOC where they were able to limit its activity to one place, they still had such difficulty with containment that they had to call external consultants, something they'd never ever had to before as they usually operate independently even from governments; said consultants helped them came up with a containment procedure with several steps (some of which are pretty Squick inducing), all of them without any apparent rhyme or reason and so complex that it's clearly meant to be a magical ritual; even if these words are never used in the article itself; when Foundation personnel were clearly dissatisfied with the amount of work and resources put into it,some thinking it was pretty ridiculous, the consultant had a lot to say, particularly about the "ridiculous" complain:
Rituals do not work because of some underlying laws, such as those that science operates on. Rituals work because they are rituals. They work because an arbitrary set of criteria has been met with exacting care. Belief that meeting these arbitrary criteria achieves a certain end assigns power to the ritual. The actions that were once meaningless now have been assigned Meaning through their repetition and application.

ZCEs and functional ZCEs

This category includes examples that mention "rituals" or "ritual magic" as existing but give no detail beyond that.

magico has a booming ritual magic economy, and the titular ritual of magico is also a prime example.
Turning Red: The red panda spirit Mei and all of her female relatives above a certain age possess can be sealed into a talisman via ritual magic.
The Uncanny: In the "Quebec province 1975" segment, Lucy casts her spells via ritual magic.
Le Morte D Arthur: A certain priest "conjures on a book" to force a demon to reveal secrets about a certain deceased knight.
Cyber Joly Drim: A Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane example, where the Internet is ruled by leveyan satanists, who apparently do rituals.
Shaman Blues: Shamans have to perform rituals, complete with Geometric Magic, glyphs and candles, for some of their abilities to work, although Witkacy's teacher claims that it's just Magic Feather and, after practice, those trinkets aren't necessary.
Dennis Wheatley's horror thrillers are based around ritual magicians of both orientations; The Devil Rides Out is about magician versus magician, backed by their respective "Higher Intelligences", getting up to things from within occult circles and performing Rites.
The Divine Cities: Though the word magic is never used once in the trilogy, most miracles work like rituals of varying complexity. Shara is an expert at using divine miracles and also taught Sigrud a number of them.
Once Upon a Time: A ritual is used to invoke the curse that sends the inhabitants of the Fairy Tale World to ours.
American Horror Story: Coven: It's a staple of Marie Laveau's voodoo. The witches also use it though less often.
Call of Cthulhu: The majority of spells are rituals. Being Call of Cthulhu; they are extremely costly and/or dangerous to do.

The largest single camp, by a fairly solid margin, is the one where innate power or lack thereof are not mentioned in any noticeable way. For what's supposed to be a central element of the trope, that is not a good thing.

Wick Check

Complex ritual described, inherent power not needed

Literature.Xenos: Power granted by the Maker or by the Destroyer can be obtained by religious rituals. Other magic on Arland is an innate gift though.Little sparse, but contrast is made with innate magic.
Recap.The Owl House S 1 E 6 Hootys Moving Hassle: While the moon is in the right position, its power can be channeled to bring something to life by at least three people holding hands in a circle and chanting. Luz being human (and not even knowing the actual incantation) doesn't keep her from contributing — and apparently having a very big effect.
TabletopGame.Unknown Armies: Certain rituals seem to be "baked in" to reality itself, allowing people who aren't Adepts or Avatars to get in on the sweet magickal action. Ritual spells are unreliable, can be difficult, and are usually pretty small potatoes compared to what Adepts and Avatars can sling around... but, they do handily sidestep the whole "ruining your life to gain charges" thing. Using them is risky for Adepts, since it puts the lie to their belief that their path is the path of power; in particular, using any "charging" rituals always backfires and empties them instead.

Complex ritual described, inherent power needed

Hot Witch: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: […] Witches, or "Wicca" as they are called in the series, are an ambiguous Mage Species, magical ability is implied to run in families, but Willow (stated to be the most powerful witch on the planet at one point) has no lineage at all. The distinction between Witches and other types of magic users in the Buffyverse is unclear, but seems to be related to the user's inherent magical ability, their specific practices, and the Ritual Magic they use to alter reality to varying degrees. These uses include but are not limited to telekinesis, mind control, magical tracking and raising the dead.
Literature.The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen: Weirdstone has several different uses of this; there's the Device Magic of the titular stone; which anyone can use, whether they're inherently magical or not and Cadellin and Selina use a more Ritual Magic and Theurgy-esque type. Possibly — the grammar isn't great, but I think that this is being contrasted with another kind of universally usable magic.

Complex ritual described, inherent power not mentioned

Mage Tower: Ars Magica: A Ritual Magic spell lets a mage create an eighty-foot-tall tower ex nihilo. It's elaborately carved from a single, seamless piece of stone, and therefore both solidly defensible and a good way to show off one's Dishing Out Dirt powers.
Magical Gesture: The more time-intensive forms of Ritual Magic also often require magical gestures: stir the cauldron nine times widdershins, point the sword at each compass point in turn.
Spell Levels: Ars Magica: Every spell has a Spell Level determined by how complex or powerful its effects are, how long it lasts, how much it affects, and how distant the caster can be from the target. Whether a mage can cast the spell depends in part on chance, their skill in the types of magic the spell uses, and their means of casting it; Ritual Magic lets them cast spells of a higher Level than they otherwise could, while improvisational spellcasting limits them to lower-Level spells than specific "rotes" that they learn through study. – borderline, rituals contrasted with "improvised" spellcasting.
This Index Is on Fire: Candlelit Ritual: Ritual Magic set to candlelight for added spookiness.
Wild Magic: Contrast with Ritual Magic, where the procedures are orderly and strict.
Characters.Sly Cooper Villains: Her magic is based entirely around this. When Sly shows up in Haiti to get his pages back, Mz. Ruby and her minions were performing a gigantic one to create a ghost army to invade and take over Mexico.
Characters.Tome Of Beasts Fiends: Twice a month, or more during major astrological and seasonal events, the kalkes gather to perform an imagined rite of great magic. The effort has an equal chance of triggering nothing whatsoever, dangerous but short-lived misfortunes, or calamities.
Characters.Yu Gi Oh Card Game G To I: Well, they are a Ritual-based archetype. Though they also pull from the imagery of ancient rituals as well, using items like candles, spellbooks, and mandrakes.
Roleplay.Squadra Dei Falchi Di Gradara: An important part of the setting, where many mages or clerics put their powers together in order to create ad hoc magical effects in a large and complex ceremony (that usually explodes when someone spells a word wrong).
Literature.Jakub Wedrowycz: Elaborate rituals are often used for exorcisms.
Literature.Pact: The hint is in the name. Practising any form of magic shown so far in Pact is doused in ritual, convention, rules, regs and bargains — and, not just if you start out human. The rules for Others may be highly different, but there are still rules and rituals to observe. Slip up badly enough... and, if you're lucky you just wind up dead or hit the Drains.
Literature.The Eve Of St Agnes: Madeline attempts this, by performing certain ceremonies to find out her future husband in her dream.
TabletopGame.GURPS: While the "Ritual Magic" variant is a Nonindicative Name (it's actually a different way to assign magic costs and allow for more improvised magic), Ritual Path Magic and its precursor Path/Book Magic fit this trope. The basic idea is that you create an effect, then make it happen by casting a ritual in a consecrated space, using an arcane connection to the subject, and gathering ambient energy through ritual practices. Ritual Adepts downplay this by being able to get rid of the requirements, but even then, they have to spend a few seconds gathering energy to cast the spell.
TabletopGame.Must Be Tuesday: More magically inclined characters may find that spells are boring without a proper build up. Borderline, does not define what "a proper build up" is.
UsefulNotes.Voudoun: Religion is Magic: Voudoun utilizes Ritual Magic, involving specific body movements and rhythms and ritual songs calling upon spirits, praising the lwa, and discussing their preferences, legends, and personalities.
VideoGame.Witchery: The main forms of magic in both mods are of this type, requiring a certain setup, magical reagents, and sometimes a blood sacrifice.
Literature.The Divine Cities: Though the word magic is hardly used in the trilogy, most miracles work like rituals of varying complexity. Shara is an expert at using Divine miracles and also taught Sigrud a number of them. Borderline, does not define what "varying complexity" means.
TabletopGame.Trail Of Cthulhu: Rituals are used for major effects such as summoning and binding entities, creating major magical effects, talking to powerful entities, scrying or moving across vast distances in space or time, permanent effects or effects over an area. A ritual also requires a contest, usually against a summoned creature or the fabric of space-time.

Insufficent context

Captured Super-Entity: The Sandman (1989): This trope is the kickstart of the plot after a Ritual Magic society captures Dream of the Endless and holds him for years. Of course, they're trying to get his sister, Death. Keeping him captured causes all sorts of horrible havoc to dreams and sleeping patterns; imagine what would have happened if they had captured Death.
Everyone Is Satan in Hell: Some books actually do include ceremonial and Ritual Magic information. The entire Goetia (Lesser Key of Solomon) made it into Dragon Quest in 1986. Minus the sigils, fortunately.
Ghost Ship: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: One necromancy ritual can raise a shipwreck as an unnatural vessel that sails at an even speed, ignoring local weather and its own seaworthiness, manned by the undead shades of its former crew.
No-Sell: In 2008, prominent Indian skeptic Sanal Edamaruku put forward the Great Tantra Challenge, where he invited an equally prominent tantrik to kill him using nothing but his alleged supernatural powers on live television, after the latter claimed he could kill people in less than three minutes with them. The tantrik spent nearly two hours chanting mantras and waving his hands in Edamaruku's face without success before giving up. A second attempt to kill him using Ritual Magic was met with similar results.
Practical Currency: Dungeons & Dragons: 4^th Edition introduces residuum, a metallic dust infused with magic. It's a common de facto currency in higher-level play since it's ten thousand times more valuable than gold by weight and can power every variety of Ritual Magic, including the creation of magic items, in place of the normal spell components.
Science Fantasy: Drew Parke is set 20 Minutes into the Future and mix holography and cloning tech with elements of Magical Realism such as visions and Ritual Magic done by a Wiccan circle.
Treacherous Quest Giver: Thief: The Dark Project: A client named Constantine asks you to find the Eye but it turns out he's really a Pagan God who wants to revert the world back to a wild state. Sinkhole.
BigBad.Marvel Universe: Necrosha: Selene Gallio, the Black Queen, who plots to become a goddess through a dark ritual that involves resurrecting the thousands of deceased mutants of Genosha as her loyal undead.
Characters.Dragon Fable Other Antagonists: Vaal's a descendant of Oyva, founder of Soulsmithing, who is, in turn, a daughter to Roirr, the First Weaver, who is the son of Tanislav, best known for a Black Magic ritual known as "Tanislav's Last Will".
Characters.Reign Of The Seven Spellblades: He's ultimately revealed to have been working towards perfecting Ritual Magic to create an Artificial Human body he can resurrect his ghostly companion Fau into so that she can pass on her lost necromantic knowledge.
Darth Wiki.Cadenza: Eluneus has butterflies. He wears a butterfly clip in his hair, refers to his Elite Four as the Chrysalis, and the Transcendence ritual as a whole is likened to a caterpillar's metamorphosis into a butterfly.
Fanfic.Hinterlands: Explored extensively. Most of Amanita's skills in necromancy come from rituals, while Restricted Code is the Royal Guard's High Ritualist, Equestria's foremost expert in rituals.
Fanfic.The Fansus: Elemental Powers: The various aspects of occult lore. They're used in Ritual Magic and to navigate through the Mansus, and double as a blend of skills and Functional Magic for followers.
Fridge.The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Serana is a "pure-blood" vampire, meaning she was turned into one directly by Molag Bal. Serana says she and her parents (including her father) 'were put through a certain "ritual" that was both degrading and brutal. Most players have concluded that it must be part of the reason why Molag Bal is called the "King of Rape". Even worse when you realize that Molag Bal is a giant, demonic creature and the revelation that only a small number of those who undergo the ritual survive (squick). No wonder the survivors nearly always go insane.
Literature.Anna Dressed In Blood: Used a couple of times. First to help free Anna from the curse and also to try to get rid of the monster that killed Cas's father. In the sequel, it's used to let Cas talk to Anna and later to enter Hell to save her.
Literature.Eddie La Crosse: What Queen Rhiannon's apparent infanticide looks like it was in aid of. In fact, there was no infanticide and no ritual — Eddie notes quite quickly that the "runes" which were used don't have the same characteristics of real ones he's seen, and suspects that any proper cultist would think they were gibberish. As described, this only talks about Runic Magic.
NightmareFuel.James Herbert: The Ghosts of Sleath:
- The secluded village of Sleath's history of Ritual Magic and Human Sacrifice lead to a memorably brutal finale.
- The village's thirteenth century governor, a practitioner of Ritual Magic learned from his stint in The Crusades, founded among his descendants a monstrous tradition of ritual Human Sacrifice, which enhanced the village's propensity for troubled spirits. On exiting this monster's crypt, investigating psychic Seamus Phelan has an irrepressible suspicion of being followed.
RealityWarper.Tabletop Games: Pathfinder: [...] Wish was now limited mostly to doing anything a weaker spell could do, which wasn't as much as in First Edition, as a lot of the really powerful effects became Ritual Magic. A Wish could do greater things, but only if the Game Master allowed it. When the Remaster rolled around, Paizo recognized that this severely limited the stories that could be told using a wish, and made "duplicate the effects of a weaker spell" a different spell entirely. Wish is now the most powerful ritual. [...]
Recap.Hilda S 1 E 8: The ritual Hilda uses to try and help David and her mom by summoning tide mice for them.
SoYouWantTo.Write A Conspiracy Theory: In a speculative setting, you could ground your conspiracy's ceremonies in a Ritual Magic of some kind.
VideoGame.Mega Man Star Force: Geometric Magic: The second Star Force game seems to have been shooting for this, complete with Function and (small, almost inncouous) Ritual — an attempt that might've worked if Solo wasn't the only one using it on-screen. Mega Man can do it, too, but it's a lot harder to connect the dots when all you're looking at is a Wave Command Card.
Webcomic.Heartcore: It is used from time to time in the show, mostly regarding the most powerful spells in the comic. The most notable one being the ritual that scarred Ame for life.
Recap.The X Files S 02 E 21 The Calusari: Golda wants to perform a ritual to separate "Michael" from Charlie, so she enlists the Caluşari to help with the ritual. Maggie interrupts them but Golda grabs Charlie and pulls him into her room to finish the ritual. She is attacked by something and is found dead later. Only relevant information is the words "a/the ritual".

Other

VideoGame.Astral Sorcery: A mechanic in the mod. By building a multiblock ritual pedestal and placing an attuned rock crystal on it, the surrounding area gains various effects. Outside of the ritual pedestal, the mod gives the vibe to this as well, since most placeable things in the mod need a multiblock structure to function. I would call this simple misuse, since power seems to be derived from a permanent structure rather than any actual ritual.

ZCE

As a whole, the examples clearly fail to follow the theme of the description. The description emphasizes the contrast against Mage Species and the ability for this kind of magic to be performed by anyone. A very large portion of the examples simply fails to mention this at all, making it impossible to tell whether they are examples or not; even the ones that do seem valid are written in ways that deemphasize this aspect or tack it on as an afterthought. A lot also fall into the "functional ZCE" category insofar as they say "this trope happens" or "a ritual exists" and then mention some other ancillary details or events, but then fail to describe why they are examples of either the actual trope or the primary misuse.

I feel that the root of the issue is the name. "Ritual Magic" is clearly causing people to interpret this as a trope about magic done through complicated rituals, regardless of its dependence on or independence from inborn power. In essence, what seems to be going on is that people are using to talk what appears to be a coherent and fairly consistent concept — just not the one that the description is talking about, which is the problem. This would appear to be something like a supertrope to Geometric Magic and Hermetic Magic, which describe ritual magic occurring through complicated geometric drawings and magic circles.

Part of the reason for the original confusion, I think, is that this sort of "science magic" does often take the form of ritual magic. I think that the idea is that if magic isn't internal, then logically it must be done using something external and, the more complicated and esoteric something is, the more complicated and esoteric people assume the process to bring it about is. After all, if all it took to call down fire from heaven was a twist of the hand and the right word, you'd see it happening a lot more, right? I feel that this is comparable to how science is usually depicted as involving long complicated processes with lots of flashing lights and forests of glassware and such. It is not necessarily a requirement, but it is a common element.

The trope's nominal concept — magic as a form of "science", where the power lies in the actions being performed and things being used rather than an internal wellspring or some sort of energy field — is viable, and not covered by other pages (there are tropes with some overlap, but none focused on this specifically), and I am inclined to try and rescue it. My proposal is to essentially transplant the description to a new title alongside viable examples, and rewrite the Ritual Magic page description to focus on the "magic done through complex rituals" angle.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 17th 2024 at 4:19:56 AM

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs

Amateur Veteran

#1: Nov 26th 2023 at 11:38:59 PM

To-do list:

Define Ritual Magic as "magic performed via ritual". A trope for the "magic that is not innate and can be learned by anybody" definition was sent to TLP as All-Accessible Magic. Sandbox.Ritual Magic can be used to draft the rewrite of Ritual Magic.

Original post:

Ritual Magic currently has a problem where its description claims that it follows a specific concept and its examples follow an entirely different one.

In the description, we see a specific theme get repeated multiple times:

The description also goes into some detail about how these two forms of magic might interact.

Hermetic Magic is defined as a subtrope.

So what's the example list like?

On-Page

These mainly fall into four camps:

Rituals described, innate power not needed

Fullmetal Alchemist: Alchemy is the discipline of transmuting any matter into another matter, as long as the mass remains the same. It normally requires inscribing a ritual circle which bounds that specific alchemical transmutation to it. Those who use alchemy in combat usually inscribe the relevant circles on items they carry around. Those who have seen the Gate, or are holding a Philosopher's Stone, can skip the ritual, basically because they're doing it in their own heads. Its application is so old by now that most people just consider it an advanced type of science and alchemists as combined scientists, researchers, spec-ops and military officers.
The Bible occasionally has a section where God (or a prophet) instructs someone to do a specific action. Examples include Moses striking the rock for water^note, and Joash shooting arrows to strike the ground to ensure defeat of Syria. ^note Probably the most famous example is how the walls of Jericho were knocked down by following God's instructions to perform a complex ritual that involved marching around the walls for seven days and then shouting.
The Bartimaeus Trilogy: The entirety of magic is based on saying the right words and using the right symbols, and, although it is draining beyond the sheer physical act, anyone can do it. This is a fact the magicians are keen for people not to pick up on, and exaggerate the risks and difficulty as well as discouraging higher education among non-magicians to make it less apparent. Note: This is not strictly evident here, but the writeup under Hermetic Magic fits the description.
The Elric Saga: Magic is mostly ritualistic in nature. Essentially, doing a spell means summoning a supernatural creature with the desired power through a ritual, and having it perform the task for you.
Cthulhu Mythos: This is the most common form of magic, and is usually implied to be in fact highly sophisticated science unrecognizable to humans.
The Dresden Files:
- Two forms of ritual magic exist. The first is a version most spellcasters can operate. It's mechanically the same as regular spellcasting, but the "ritual" part focuses the caster's mind and has better magic controls in place, so they can achieve affects that they normally couldn't achieve on the fly. Harry uses it to summon entities, and cast subtle spells particularly at range.
- The second kind of ritual magic is achievable basically by any person who knows the ritual, wizard or not, can perform this ritual and obtain the magical result. Harry likens it to a cosmic vending machine: put in an order, and magic effects are expended. Alas, the magical power behind such rituals always comes from something unpleasant, and a ritualistic caster becomes an Unwitting Pawn of it. What's interesting is that, according to Harry, the best way to disable a particular ritual is to disseminate it widely, since only a limited amount of power can be channeled into the world. If numerous people are trying a ritual only a very small amount of power can get through per person, and too many people drawing on the same source for the same ritual means it runs out of juice and nobody can get an effect.
- In one of the side stories there appears an organization devoted to erasing the names of these supernatural beings, and thus cutting their connection to this world. This brings them into direct conflict with the White Council on occasion, since the latter's SOP is to publicize the shit out of the names of ritual-powering-beings (the Brothers Grimm kept the organization from cutting off the Fae). The side story featured a member of the organization (Thomas) trying to stop a coven from using Harry and the Council from spreading the name of the entities they wished to contact.
- Ordinary spells can also be performed as a ritual, within limits. The main difference between a wizard and a muggle in this setting seems to be, aside from overall more power, that a wizard can develop a sense of where magical power is and how it's moving. Casting a spell without this sense is like a blind man building a house; difficult, but possible. In Dead Beat Butters is able to create a simple protective circle by following Harry's instructions, though he has to be told that it worked. As of Skin Game, he's used practical knowhow from Bob to become a kind of proxy-wizard, creating magical devices by ritual means.
The Witch Watch: There is a big difference between sorcery and wizardry. Wizardry seems to be a natural ability but sorcery depends mainly on laying out the correct magic circle with the right words and well-mapped spacing.
Daughter Of Darkness: Little Willie Connolly casts spells by adapting rituals and chants based on her readings in anthropology. She believes herself to be the type with innate magic who applies it through ritual; her uncle Jonathan, also an anthropologist, is likely an ordinary man who just uses rituals he's learned (to try to stop her, and he almost succeeds).
The Stanley Family: In The Headless Cupid, Amanda is teaching her step-siblings the basics of ritual magic. The Stanleys are the closest thing Snyder ever created to a sitcom family, and the way the children handle her "initiation rites" doesn't always meet her "mysterious and dignified" standards... meanwhile she's repeatedly freaked out by little Blair's actual psychic ability. The "actual psychic ability" is implied to be a distinct thing from the main magic.
The Magician's Nephew: Jadis says of Uncle Andrew "You are a little, peddling magician who works by rules and books" as opposed to someone like herself who has magic in her blood.
Discworld: Wizard magic is ritual magic, although wizards also have some innate power that enables them to harness it properly. In theory, some wizard spells could be cast by anyone, but this is not widely known, partly because wizards keep it quiet, and partly because people who attempt it without a true magic user's ability to see what they're doing tend to end up dead. The dragon-summoning spell in Guards! Guards!, for example, is a powerful magical working that can be done by a group of random people once they get ahold of the right materials and a leader who knows what he's doing. While witches generally shape magic into the required effect by feel, some folkloric rituals count as witch magic, and the reason they don't normally work for most people is simply that the folklore version misses details (like the apple peel spell in Wyrd Sisters).
Warrior Cats: In A Light in the Mist, Ashfur claims to his Dark Forest allies that in order to be able to take over a living cat's body, they need to perform a ritual where they pull out three of their whiskers and then close their eyes while he buries the whiskers at the barrier blocking StarClan and the Dark Forest. To their dismay, this isn't how possession actually works, and he'd only told them that for his own amusement.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In the Buffyverse, ideally magic is done by adepts, but we've seen on at least one occasion Mooks with no magical abilities just reading it out of a book, as if it were a recipe.
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition: Binders get their powers entirely from rituals that involve drawing special symbols under the right conditions to summon entities called vestiges which the binder acts as a Willing Channeler for.
d20 Modern and the 3.5 version of Unearthed Arcana have Incantations, a magic variant that can be used by anyone regardless of spellcasting ability, and that involves complex and sometimes dangerous rituals.
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition distinguishes between class-specific powers, which for the more magical classes are defined as spells and can be used quickly and particularly in combat, and rituals that anyone with the right feat and appropriate skill(s) can use as long as they can pay for the components and have the time. Wizards and clerics get the requisite feat for free right from the start, allowing them full access to both their particular flavors of 'instant' and to ritual magic, and other classes can obtain the feat provided they're trained in Aracana or Religion. Even non-magical fighters can perform rituals by using a scroll.
Exalted: The thaumaturgy available to most everybody with enough of an "Occult" score. Some thaumaturgy is so basic that it's not even necessary to specifically learn its Arts and rituals; all that is required is a single dot of Occult and you know how to use it. Thaumaturgy is also more frequent and consistent in its need for rituals and ingredients.
New World of Darkness: Mortal characters who lack a supernatural template can learn Thaumaturgy rituals and thus cast minor magics.
Mage: The Ascension: This is pretty much what technology is, although only a few very wise and enlightened mages see it that way (most everyone buys into their own paradigm or goes from the technocratic paradigm they'd learned before becoming a mage) — it is possible to create light by using the somatic component of flicking a switch and the material components of a switch and a light bulb in the right places, but it works for everyone only because of the sheer success the Technocracy has had in pushing its broader paradigm to the masses (including the people the Traditions recruit), and that paradigm does not see it as magic. One of the Technocracy's goals is to push more and more such "rituals" into becoming accepted as plausible by humanity in general, so that humanity in general can benefit from them.
Pathfinder: Most magic can only be accessed through a magical Character Class or an enchanted item. Rare "Occult Rituals" can be learned by anyone but take hours to perform, require multiple difficult skill checks to succeed, have nasty side effects from a Magic Misfire, and often exact a heavy cost on the ritualist.
Metamor City: Ritual spells can be performed by anyone, as they draw mana from the environment while mages use their own inner reserves (though they do use rituals for more complex spells). Artax runs a shop called "Spells 4 U" that specializes in ritual kits, and very strongly advises his customers to follow the directions exactly.

Rituals described, innate power needed

Young Wizards operates on Ritual Magic; there is an entire fundamental language of the universe (with many dialects) that is used to precisely describe the intended effect. Interestingly, their personal power level also plays a part in determining the scope of what they can do. However, they can also "save" and section off a part of a spell resulting in some Vancian Magic. The ritual seems to be needed mostly because you have to coax the forces you are working with to work and need to be certain not to make any errors; certain ones can thus be saved for later. (Emphasis mine.)
Children of the Black Sun: Rituals are one of the ways mages can gather magic to themselves for later use (and the ability to use such rituals distinguishes "real" mages from mere Sensitives, who have magical ability but can't gather enough raw power to actually do things). Blood-Mages are a kind of ritual user who specialise in sourcing magic from pain, and one of them tried to enslave the protagonist (who can do that naturally) as a personal power supply.
A Wizard of Earthsea: It appears to be mixed, with some people having natural ability, but still having to study and learn many names of things in true speak in order to be able to control them.
Charmed (1998) is more rooted in the Training the Gift of Magic trope, but still plays with this one with Witch Practitioners. While this aspect is more explored in the non-canonical novels, it's not contradicted in the show itself (in fact, it's strongly hinted to be the case). Witch Practitioners have an affinity for magic, but possess no internal source of power and have to rely on the Background Magic Field. They can access it in a Place of Power and have to use rituals to do so. Even magical Witches, with an inner source of magic, need complex rituals to perform certain feats, and the Charmed Ones themselves, when they are Brought Down to Normal by travelling to the past, need to perform rituals at an altar on All Hallow's Eve to access magic. However, this is averted in the case of outright Muggles: you still have to possess magic or at least affinity in order for rituals and spells to work. When Phoebe's muggle friends cast a correct incantation with the right symbols and at the right time, it does not work; it only does when they play a recording of Phoebe saying the incantation.
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5th Edition has Sorcerers, who are gifted with Puberty Superpowers, allegedly due to having highly diluted draconic blood, and Wizards, who memorize their spells from books. It should be noted, however, that Sorcerers and Wizards have access to the same spells, even those named for a specific person (and, you would expect, were discovered by that person at some point after the dawn of magic), and that Sorcerers learn new spells as they advance in power.

Rituals described, innate power not mentioned

Delicious in Dungeon: Most spells can be cast on a whim, but more powerful, rule breaking Blood Magic resurrection requires a very complex and sinister magic circle to be drawn, a large source of flesh and blood as well as reciting incantations in an odd tongue.
The Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw: Magic is very complex. Spells can be combined and prepared, but it takes a great amount of training to be able to master even the simplest of spells. The most difficult spells involve a lot of gesturing, incantations, and components like crystals.
Wonder Woman Vol 2: Prior to DC Rebirth Barbara Ann Minerva had to undergo a dark ritual involving human sacrifice each time she wanted to become the Cheetah until Circe made the transformation permanent.
A common form of magic in the works of Katherine Kurtz, such as the Deryni series, in which it has a dual purpose: to foster the deep concentration needed to use the more demanding Deryni powers, and to draw the esoteric connections of Hermetic Magic. Most of the typical traits are present in Deryni arcana:
- Magical Gestures can be as simple as snapping one's fingers to light a candle or torch. Other gestures facilitate the drawing of geometric or esoteric figures as focal points for summoning divine/angelic beings.
- A polyglot Language of Magic sees much use. (See the examples above.) The short story "Healer's Song" features a sung prayer normally performed at the consecration of a Healer on completion of his training; Lord Rhys Thuryn sings it to welcome his newborn Healer son to the family.
- Rituals intended to emphasize bonds between people, such as Naming and triggering the Haldane potential, involve token sacrifices, generally burning incense and shedding a few drops of blood.
- Some rooms become places of power from repeated ritual use, notably chapels in larger churches or in private suites/homes. A specific Place of Power is a plot point in Deryni Rising.
- Geometric Magic most often crops up in the protective circles invoked in Warding, both to protect mages from interference during a ritual and to protect outsiders from the energies unleashed in duels. When creating a Transfer Portal, the shape delineates the area to be enchanted.
Conan the Barbarian: In "Beyond the Black River", Balthus and the other captive deduce they are to be Human Sacrifices as part of Zogar's ritual. A ritual is also used to resurrect Xaltotun in The Hour of the Dragon.
Angelology: The nuns of St. Rose use a ritual to summon an angel in their defense when attacked by Gibborim.
Codex Alera: The Canim Ritualists do this. The precise mechanics by which it works are never explored (the Ritualists are a secretive bunch who aren't about to share their secrets with just anyone), but the ritual shedding of blood (their own or someone else's) is essential, and sometimes they use incantations as well.
Jakub Wędrowycz: Jakub uses complex rituals to perform his exorcisms. He also knows some other ones, such as the ritual that opens a gate to Hell.
The Changeover: The main character undergoes this sort of magic, combined with a Vision Quest, in order to facilitate her transformation, or changeover into a witch.
Dread Companion: Bartare's magic requires items, words, and rituals.
The Changeling: The little girls make up their rituals on the spot. Baby Josie, who may be a Child Mage, serves as their talisman and oracle. Ivy usually takes the lead in these ceremonies, but Martha finds that she has a knack for setting up the altar.
Pact: The hint about the existence of Ritual Magic is in the series' name. Practising any form of magic is doused in rituals, conventions, rules, regs and bargains — and not just if you start out as a human practitioner of the magic arts. The rules for Others may be highly different, but there are still rules and rituals to observe. Slip up badly enough... and, if you're lucky you just wind up dead or hit the Drains (effectively, Limbo). If unlucky, Fate Worse than Death and And I Must Scream are options, thanks to the karmic hit.
Eddie LaCrosse: In The Sword-Edged Blonde, Queen Rhiannon's apparent infanticide is presumed to have been an example of this. In fact, there was no infanticide and no ritual — Eddie notes quite quickly that the "runes" which were used don't have the same characteristics of real ones he's seen, and suspects that any proper cultist would think they were gibberish.
That Hoodoo Voodoo That You Do: Ritual magic is the subject of the anthology. Each tale generally has one of the casters using magic he doesn't quite fully understand the symbolism of and dealing the subsequent consequences either cosmic or horrific.
Split Heirs: Hydrangean magic involves long complicated incantations and gestures, which by the time of the book has made it largely useless. Clootie however learns how to make effective spells along with Wulfrith for use against the Gorgarians.
Lovecraft Country: All spells shown thus far in the series require at minimum magical incantations and drawing arcane symbols. Some also require sacrifices and possibly ritual garments as well.
Dungeons & Dragons 5 Edition: Some — but not all — spellcasting classes have the ritual casting ability. This allows them to cast spells with the ritual tag as rituals, which takes 10 minutes longer (ensuring no in-combat use) and can't use a higher spell slot but also doesn't consume a spell slot. Ritual spells are almost-exclusively utility spells, mostly Divination spells.
GURPS has a well-developed set of rules to distinguish between Rituals and Spells, and the supplement GURPS Thaumatology offers a whole range of optional rules to allow settings to feature ritual magic systems. In the GURPS Alchemical Baroque setting book, ritual magic is the local magic system, along with and closely linked to local forms of Alchemy.
Exalted: A number of Sorceries and Necromancies operate this way. For example, summoning a demon requires a sorcerer to cast from sundown to midnight, and higher levels of demons have addition time constraints, with the most powerful demons only summonable during the five days of the new year.
Ars Magica includes Ritual Magic as a more powerful method of spellcasting, able to bend or break some of the Hermetic system's spell limitations. However, ritual casting takes much more time, fatigues or injures the caster, and costs rare and valuable forms of Mana.
New World of Darkness: All over the place.
- Several varieties of supernaturals have rituals that allow effects not quite in line with the rest of their power set. Mages can turn any single-action spell into a ritual to build up a lot of power behind it by getting multiple rolls to accumulate successes.
- Bonus round: Werewolves use ritual magic to create artefacts, and contacting major spirits usually involve convoluted magical/social rituals that must be pulled off perfectly. Ritual magic is one way in which Prometheans can be created (and the only way they can reproduce). The vampire rite to raise a new vampire is generally also presented as this.
Invisible Sun has the Order of the Vance, vislae (magic-uses) who rely on tried and true spells to accomplish what they need; so revered are the spells that some Vance believe the spells themselves to have sentience. In addition, any vislae can use on incantations for certain guaranteed effects, regardless of which Order they chose to follow.
Res Arcana: The illustration of the Flaming Pit suggests that it's used for magical rituals — it consists of a flaming hole surrounded by a pentagram, skulls and candles. Its power lets you pay Life essences to gain Death and Elan.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Compared to ordinary magic, Rituals are rare and powerful spells that require esoteric Eye of Newt components and unique prerequisites, substantially more time, and often more participants to cast; and that have uniquely dire consequences for a Magic Misfire. It's suggested that learning and performing a Ritual be a story arc in itself.
In The Devil to Pay, Dorothy L. Sayers' take on the Faust legend, Mephistopheles is conjured by rituals that Sayers found in actual Renaissance grimoires.
Bendy and the Ink Machine: Joey Drew was up to some seriously occult business in his studio, and if his insistence on "sacrificial" items for the Ink Machine doesn't sell you, the coffins and satanic pentagram hidden under the studio will.
Shin Megami Tensei: Demon summoning generally require some sort of ritual. The rituals themselves aren't seen very often, because an ordinary computer or smartphone with the Demon Summoning Program can emulate the rituals.
Yu-Gi-Oh!: Ritual Monsters are monsters that are summon through the use of Ritual Spell cards.
The Elder Scrolls:
- While the temporary summoning of undead and lesser Daedra is easily accomplished using spell effects found under the School of Conjuration, in game comments and texts suggest that the permanent summoning of these creatures (as seen in-game by Necromancers and other practitioners of The Dark Arts) requires rituals that the Player Character is not privy to. Items involved in these rituals according to texts or found in-game include things like human hearts and filled soul gems.
- The Black Sacrament is a ritual performed by those seeking to hire the Dark Brotherhood. It involves chanting a "plea" to the Night Mother by an effigy of the intended victim (made from actual human bodyparts) surrounded by candles. Finally, you must rub deadly Nightshade onto a dagger and then use it to stab the effigy. If the Night Mother accepts, she will send a representative to seal the contract.
- The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall: The Daedric Princes can only be ritualistically summoned on certain days, sometimes under specific circumstances (such as during a thunderstorm). Later games would drop this mechanic, allowing you to summon them at their shrines or start their quests through their servants. A few still require you to possess certain items or meet certain criteria before they will answer, however. (Such as Sheogorath requiring an odd assortment of items or Namira requiring you to be "ugly" (ie, lower your Personality Attribute) in Oblivion).
Clive Barker's Undying: The aptly named Covenant siblings accidentally perform a ritual at the Standing Stones and unknowingly break the seal on a sleeping Eldritch Abomination, turning themselves into living seals. It doesn't end well for any of them.
Cultist Simulator uses ritual magic for all of the PC's spellcasting. Rites are learned from various Tome of Eldritch Lore items you acquire and study. The rite used determines what inputs are needed and what is sacrificed, while the occult Aspects of the inputs determine what the result of the ritual is.
Ultima IX: Ritual magic shows up in a couple of different forms as part of the game play.
- In order to learn spells, the Avatar has to perform a ritual at a spell circle. First, he places a scroll with the desired spell in the circle, then he places the key ingredients for that spell. Next, he lights the candles surrounding the circle. Finally, he chants the invocation for that spell. If he does it correctly, he can now cast that spell at will.
- The Avatar also has to perform a ritual to restore the destroyed shrines. He needs a rune, a sigil, and a mantra for each shrine. He places the rune and the sigil on the ruins of the shrine, then recites the mantra. This restores the shrine to its former glory (and raises one or more attributes).
SCP Foundation: Due to its nature, this is usually heavily averted (and even more discouraged while writing articles), since they are usually very resourceful in using technology and scientific experimentation to contain all types of anomalies ranging from just plain weird to downright terrifying and godlike, even if sometimes the lines between science and paranormal are blurred, by the time an article is written the containment procedures are clear, easily understood and clearly still scientific in nature. However, this hasn't stopped the trope from happening sometimes:
- SCP-2317 requires a daily ritual, involving the sacrifice of a chicken, to contain. The ritual is actually pointless and is just here to keep the Foundation staff's morale up. The actual method of containment is a set of chains made from parts of an Eldritch Abomination, which are currently breaking, causing major disasters on Earth each time one chain breaks. The Foundation cannot obtain the materials to replace the chains, so the only thing they can do is convince people that they can contain the entity to keep them from crossing the Despair Event Horizon.
- SCP-2848, known as "The Deer", a being so powerful and dangerous that it was downright a Physical God. Even after an alliance with the GOC where they were able to limit its activity to one place, they still had such difficulty with containment that they had to call external consultants, something they'd never ever had to before as they usually operate independently even from governments; said consultants helped them came up with a containment procedure with several steps (some of which are pretty Squick inducing), all of them without any apparent rhyme or reason and so complex that it's clearly meant to be a magical ritual; even if these words are never used in the article itself; when Foundation personnel were clearly dissatisfied with the amount of work and resources put into it,some thinking it was pretty ridiculous, the consultant had a lot to say, particularly about the "ridiculous" complain:
Rituals do not work because of some underlying laws, such as those that science operates on. Rituals work because they are rituals. They work because an arbitrary set of criteria has been met with exacting care. Belief that meeting these arbitrary criteria achieves a certain end assigns power to the ritual. The actions that were once meaningless now have been assigned Meaning through their repetition and application.

ZCEs and functional ZCEs

This category includes examples that mention "rituals" or "ritual magic" as existing but give no detail beyond that.

magico has a booming ritual magic economy, and the titular ritual of magico is also a prime example.
Turning Red: The red panda spirit Mei and all of her female relatives above a certain age possess can be sealed into a talisman via ritual magic.
The Uncanny: In the "Quebec province 1975" segment, Lucy casts her spells via ritual magic.
Le Morte D Arthur: A certain priest "conjures on a book" to force a demon to reveal secrets about a certain deceased knight.
Cyber Joly Drim: A Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane example, where the Internet is ruled by leveyan satanists, who apparently do rituals.
Shaman Blues: Shamans have to perform rituals, complete with Geometric Magic, glyphs and candles, for some of their abilities to work, although Witkacy's teacher claims that it's just Magic Feather and, after practice, those trinkets aren't necessary.
Dennis Wheatley's horror thrillers are based around ritual magicians of both orientations; The Devil Rides Out is about magician versus magician, backed by their respective "Higher Intelligences", getting up to things from within occult circles and performing Rites.
The Divine Cities: Though the word magic is never used once in the trilogy, most miracles work like rituals of varying complexity. Shara is an expert at using divine miracles and also taught Sigrud a number of them.
Once Upon a Time: A ritual is used to invoke the curse that sends the inhabitants of the Fairy Tale World to ours.
American Horror Story: Coven: It's a staple of Marie Laveau's voodoo. The witches also use it though less often.
Call of Cthulhu: The majority of spells are rituals. Being Call of Cthulhu; they are extremely costly and/or dangerous to do.

Wick Check

Complex ritual described, inherent power not needed

Literature.Xenos: Power granted by the Maker or by the Destroyer can be obtained by religious rituals. Other magic on Arland is an innate gift though.Little sparse, but contrast is made with innate magic.
Recap.The Owl House S 1 E 6 Hootys Moving Hassle: While the moon is in the right position, its power can be channeled to bring something to life by at least three people holding hands in a circle and chanting. Luz being human (and not even knowing the actual incantation) doesn't keep her from contributing — and apparently having a very big effect.
TabletopGame.Unknown Armies: Certain rituals seem to be "baked in" to reality itself, allowing people who aren't Adepts or Avatars to get in on the sweet magickal action. Ritual spells are unreliable, can be difficult, and are usually pretty small potatoes compared to what Adepts and Avatars can sling around... but, they do handily sidestep the whole "ruining your life to gain charges" thing. Using them is risky for Adepts, since it puts the lie to their belief that their path is the path of power; in particular, using any "charging" rituals always backfires and empties them instead.

Complex ritual described, inherent power needed

Hot Witch: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: […] Witches, or "Wicca" as they are called in the series, are an ambiguous Mage Species, magical ability is implied to run in families, but Willow (stated to be the most powerful witch on the planet at one point) has no lineage at all. The distinction between Witches and other types of magic users in the Buffyverse is unclear, but seems to be related to the user's inherent magical ability, their specific practices, and the Ritual Magic they use to alter reality to varying degrees. These uses include but are not limited to telekinesis, mind control, magical tracking and raising the dead.
Literature.The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen: Weirdstone has several different uses of this; there's the Device Magic of the titular stone; which anyone can use, whether they're inherently magical or not and Cadellin and Selina use a more Ritual Magic and Theurgy-esque type. Possibly — the grammar isn't great, but I think that this is being contrasted with another kind of universally usable magic.

Complex ritual described, inherent power not mentioned

Mage Tower: Ars Magica: A Ritual Magic spell lets a mage create an eighty-foot-tall tower ex nihilo. It's elaborately carved from a single, seamless piece of stone, and therefore both solidly defensible and a good way to show off one's Dishing Out Dirt powers.
Magical Gesture: The more time-intensive forms of Ritual Magic also often require magical gestures: stir the cauldron nine times widdershins, point the sword at each compass point in turn.
Spell Levels: Ars Magica: Every spell has a Spell Level determined by how complex or powerful its effects are, how long it lasts, how much it affects, and how distant the caster can be from the target. Whether a mage can cast the spell depends in part on chance, their skill in the types of magic the spell uses, and their means of casting it; Ritual Magic lets them cast spells of a higher Level than they otherwise could, while improvisational spellcasting limits them to lower-Level spells than specific "rotes" that they learn through study. – borderline, rituals contrasted with "improvised" spellcasting.
This Index Is on Fire: Candlelit Ritual: Ritual Magic set to candlelight for added spookiness.
Wild Magic: Contrast with Ritual Magic, where the procedures are orderly and strict.
Characters.Sly Cooper Villains: Her magic is based entirely around this. When Sly shows up in Haiti to get his pages back, Mz. Ruby and her minions were performing a gigantic one to create a ghost army to invade and take over Mexico.
Characters.Tome Of Beasts Fiends: Twice a month, or more during major astrological and seasonal events, the kalkes gather to perform an imagined rite of great magic. The effort has an equal chance of triggering nothing whatsoever, dangerous but short-lived misfortunes, or calamities.
Characters.Yu Gi Oh Card Game G To I: Well, they are a Ritual-based archetype. Though they also pull from the imagery of ancient rituals as well, using items like candles, spellbooks, and mandrakes.
Roleplay.Squadra Dei Falchi Di Gradara: An important part of the setting, where many mages or clerics put their powers together in order to create ad hoc magical effects in a large and complex ceremony (that usually explodes when someone spells a word wrong).
Literature.Jakub Wedrowycz: Elaborate rituals are often used for exorcisms.
Literature.Pact: The hint is in the name. Practising any form of magic shown so far in Pact is doused in ritual, convention, rules, regs and bargains — and, not just if you start out human. The rules for Others may be highly different, but there are still rules and rituals to observe. Slip up badly enough... and, if you're lucky you just wind up dead or hit the Drains.
Literature.The Eve Of St Agnes: Madeline attempts this, by performing certain ceremonies to find out her future husband in her dream.
TabletopGame.GURPS: While the "Ritual Magic" variant is a Nonindicative Name (it's actually a different way to assign magic costs and allow for more improvised magic), Ritual Path Magic and its precursor Path/Book Magic fit this trope. The basic idea is that you create an effect, then make it happen by casting a ritual in a consecrated space, using an arcane connection to the subject, and gathering ambient energy through ritual practices. Ritual Adepts downplay this by being able to get rid of the requirements, but even then, they have to spend a few seconds gathering energy to cast the spell.
TabletopGame.Must Be Tuesday: More magically inclined characters may find that spells are boring without a proper build up. Borderline, does not define what "a proper build up" is.
UsefulNotes.Voudoun: Religion is Magic: Voudoun utilizes Ritual Magic, involving specific body movements and rhythms and ritual songs calling upon spirits, praising the lwa, and discussing their preferences, legends, and personalities.
VideoGame.Witchery: The main forms of magic in both mods are of this type, requiring a certain setup, magical reagents, and sometimes a blood sacrifice.
Literature.The Divine Cities: Though the word magic is hardly used in the trilogy, most miracles work like rituals of varying complexity. Shara is an expert at using Divine miracles and also taught Sigrud a number of them. Borderline, does not define what "varying complexity" means.
TabletopGame.Trail Of Cthulhu: Rituals are used for major effects such as summoning and binding entities, creating major magical effects, talking to powerful entities, scrying or moving across vast distances in space or time, permanent effects or effects over an area. A ritual also requires a contest, usually against a summoned creature or the fabric of space-time.

Insufficent context

Captured Super-Entity: The Sandman (1989): This trope is the kickstart of the plot after a Ritual Magic society captures Dream of the Endless and holds him for years. Of course, they're trying to get his sister, Death. Keeping him captured causes all sorts of horrible havoc to dreams and sleeping patterns; imagine what would have happened if they had captured Death.
Everyone Is Satan in Hell: Some books actually do include ceremonial and Ritual Magic information. The entire Goetia (Lesser Key of Solomon) made it into Dragon Quest in 1986. Minus the sigils, fortunately.
Ghost Ship: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: One necromancy ritual can raise a shipwreck as an unnatural vessel that sails at an even speed, ignoring local weather and its own seaworthiness, manned by the undead shades of its former crew.
No-Sell: In 2008, prominent Indian skeptic Sanal Edamaruku put forward the Great Tantra Challenge, where he invited an equally prominent tantrik to kill him using nothing but his alleged supernatural powers on live television, after the latter claimed he could kill people in less than three minutes with them. The tantrik spent nearly two hours chanting mantras and waving his hands in Edamaruku's face without success before giving up. A second attempt to kill him using Ritual Magic was met with similar results.
Practical Currency: Dungeons & Dragons: 4^th Edition introduces residuum, a metallic dust infused with magic. It's a common de facto currency in higher-level play since it's ten thousand times more valuable than gold by weight and can power every variety of Ritual Magic, including the creation of magic items, in place of the normal spell components.
Science Fantasy: Drew Parke is set 20 Minutes into the Future and mix holography and cloning tech with elements of Magical Realism such as visions and Ritual Magic done by a Wiccan circle.
Treacherous Quest Giver: Thief: The Dark Project: A client named Constantine asks you to find the Eye but it turns out he's really a Pagan God who wants to revert the world back to a wild state. Sinkhole.
BigBad.Marvel Universe: Necrosha: Selene Gallio, the Black Queen, who plots to become a goddess through a dark ritual that involves resurrecting the thousands of deceased mutants of Genosha as her loyal undead.
Characters.Dragon Fable Other Antagonists: Vaal's a descendant of Oyva, founder of Soulsmithing, who is, in turn, a daughter to Roirr, the First Weaver, who is the son of Tanislav, best known for a Black Magic ritual known as "Tanislav's Last Will".
Characters.Reign Of The Seven Spellblades: He's ultimately revealed to have been working towards perfecting Ritual Magic to create an Artificial Human body he can resurrect his ghostly companion Fau into so that she can pass on her lost necromantic knowledge.
Darth Wiki.Cadenza: Eluneus has butterflies. He wears a butterfly clip in his hair, refers to his Elite Four as the Chrysalis, and the Transcendence ritual as a whole is likened to a caterpillar's metamorphosis into a butterfly.
Fanfic.Hinterlands: Explored extensively. Most of Amanita's skills in necromancy come from rituals, while Restricted Code is the Royal Guard's High Ritualist, Equestria's foremost expert in rituals.
Fanfic.The Fansus: Elemental Powers: The various aspects of occult lore. They're used in Ritual Magic and to navigate through the Mansus, and double as a blend of skills and Functional Magic for followers.
Fridge.The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Serana is a "pure-blood" vampire, meaning she was turned into one directly by Molag Bal. Serana says she and her parents (including her father) 'were put through a certain "ritual" that was both degrading and brutal. Most players have concluded that it must be part of the reason why Molag Bal is called the "King of Rape". Even worse when you realize that Molag Bal is a giant, demonic creature and the revelation that only a small number of those who undergo the ritual survive (squick). No wonder the survivors nearly always go insane.
Literature.Anna Dressed In Blood: Used a couple of times. First to help free Anna from the curse and also to try to get rid of the monster that killed Cas's father. In the sequel, it's used to let Cas talk to Anna and later to enter Hell to save her.
Literature.Eddie La Crosse: What Queen Rhiannon's apparent infanticide looks like it was in aid of. In fact, there was no infanticide and no ritual — Eddie notes quite quickly that the "runes" which were used don't have the same characteristics of real ones he's seen, and suspects that any proper cultist would think they were gibberish. As described, this only talks about Runic Magic.
NightmareFuel.James Herbert: The Ghosts of Sleath:
- The secluded village of Sleath's history of Ritual Magic and Human Sacrifice lead to a memorably brutal finale.
- The village's thirteenth century governor, a practitioner of Ritual Magic learned from his stint in The Crusades, founded among his descendants a monstrous tradition of ritual Human Sacrifice, which enhanced the village's propensity for troubled spirits. On exiting this monster's crypt, investigating psychic Seamus Phelan has an irrepressible suspicion of being followed.
RealityWarper.Tabletop Games: Pathfinder: [...] Wish was now limited mostly to doing anything a weaker spell could do, which wasn't as much as in First Edition, as a lot of the really powerful effects became Ritual Magic. A Wish could do greater things, but only if the Game Master allowed it. When the Remaster rolled around, Paizo recognized that this severely limited the stories that could be told using a wish, and made "duplicate the effects of a weaker spell" a different spell entirely. Wish is now the most powerful ritual. [...]
Recap.Hilda S 1 E 8: The ritual Hilda uses to try and help David and her mom by summoning tide mice for them.
SoYouWantTo.Write A Conspiracy Theory: In a speculative setting, you could ground your conspiracy's ceremonies in a Ritual Magic of some kind.
VideoGame.Mega Man Star Force: Geometric Magic: The second Star Force game seems to have been shooting for this, complete with Function and (small, almost inncouous) Ritual — an attempt that might've worked if Solo wasn't the only one using it on-screen. Mega Man can do it, too, but it's a lot harder to connect the dots when all you're looking at is a Wave Command Card.
Webcomic.Heartcore: It is used from time to time in the show, mostly regarding the most powerful spells in the comic. The most notable one being the ritual that scarred Ame for life.
Recap.The X Files S 02 E 21 The Calusari: Golda wants to perform a ritual to separate "Michael" from Charlie, so she enlists the Caluşari to help with the ritual. Maggie interrupts them but Golda grabs Charlie and pulls him into her room to finish the ritual. She is attacked by something and is found dead later. Only relevant information is the words "a/the ritual".

Other

VideoGame.Astral Sorcery: A mechanic in the mod. By building a multiblock ritual pedestal and placing an attuned rock crystal on it, the surrounding area gains various effects. Outside of the ritual pedestal, the mod gives the vibe to this as well, since most placeable things in the mod need a multiblock structure to function. I would call this simple misuse, since power seems to be derived from a permanent structure rather than any actual ritual.

ZCE

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 17th 2024 at 4:19:56 AM

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me

Sounds good on paper (he/him)

#2: Nov 27th 2023 at 12:05:28 AM

I think having this be about magic done through rituals, regardless of whether the magic's user has inherent magical abilities or whether the ritual itself is enough, would make the most sense due to that seeming to be implied by the name. I feel that Tropes Are Flexible would allow the user(s) to have differing amounts of inherent magical ability, including none at all (such as if the ritual uses magical objects instead of the user needing to have inherent magical abilities).

So I at least agree with the "rewrite the Ritual Magic page description to focus on the 'magic done through complex rituals' angle" proposal; I'll have to think more about whether I'm in favor of a Trope Transplant.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 27th 2023 at 2:08:58 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle

the Retromancer

#3: Nov 27th 2023 at 12:34:31 AM

tltr as I understand: The trope implies 1. it's important to note that even Muggles can do magic with the correct rituals. 2. magic usage is treated like laws of physics. Which examples neglect.

I think

1. Ritual Magic should be about rituals, per name. I don't think focus on non-Mage Species is important and could be dropped.

2. "magic as a form of science" could just be Magic Prerequisite, Functional Magic or Magic A Is Magic A.

Edited by Amonimus on Nov 27th 2023 at 12:03:08 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs

Amateur Veteran

#4: Nov 27th 2023 at 1:36:36 AM

tltr as I understand: The trope implies 1. it's important to note that even Muggles can do magic with the correct rituals. 2. magic usage is treated like laws of physics. Which examples neglect.

Exactly.

1. Ritual Magic should be about rituals, per name. I don't think focus on non-Mage Species is important and could be dropped.

Agreed there.

2. "magic as a form of science" could just be Magic Prerequisite, Functional Magic or Magic A Is Magic A.

I considered this, and I am not necessarily convinced that these tropes fill that niche.

Magic Prerequisite is defined as magic requiring certain preconditions (i.e., it must be done at a specific place, at a specific time, with a specific mindset, towards a specific target, or whatever) in order to work. Now, if we look at the examples, we see instances such as Harry Potter with the Polyjuice Potion (must be done at certain points of the lunar cycle — right time) or the killing/torturing curses (must be done with hateful thoughts and a desire to hurt — right mindset) or The Dresden Files (magic must be done with a genuine belief that it will work/a specific spell, gathering sunshine in a bag, needs the wizard to be happy — right mindset). These are all correct examples. It also happens that in both those works, wizards are a mage species with an innate, non-reproducible gift that allows magic. Thus, Magic Prerequisite and Mage Species are not mutually exclusive, and Magic Prerequisite thus does not cover the "anyone can do magic/magic usage is treated like laws of physics" concept.

Functional Magic is... well, apparently, "Magic that works". I am not that familiar with its nuances, but it seems to be a hub page for various ways in which magic can be given some kind of defined magic system. Its first listed variant is in fact "Inherent Gift", where magic is an inborn power of one kind or another. Thus it is a supertrope to Mage Species — or, well, to most magic tropes — and thus also not this thing. If a "magic is a science" page were to exist, it seems to me that it would be another subtrope.

(Another variant is "you ask a god/spirit/whatever to do you a favor", which also doesn't strike me as this thing.)

Magic A Is Magic A requires that "Magic and other made-up elements have rules and behave consistently." That does not specifically require that anybody be able to use the magic; just that it behaves consistently; its description seems to be mostly concerned with narrative expectations and sticking to what you have established in a narrative. That is essentially what allows Muggle with a Degree in Magic to occur; being able to understand how something works and being able to do it yourself are not necessarily the same thing (I can understand how bird flight works — certainly I can understand its physics better than any bird does — but I cannot flap my wings and fly). Its opposite seems to be A Wizard Did It, where magic is not given a consistent extent and can be used to justify any feat or limitation case-by-case.

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle

the Retromancer

#5: Nov 27th 2023 at 1:42:52 AM

I feel here are two separate concepts.

Muggles using magic tools in a setting where Mage Species exist, which could be own new trope.
Sufficiently Analyzed Magic

Edited by Amonimus on Nov 27th 2023 at 12:45:48 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

MorganWick (Elder Troper)

#6: Nov 27th 2023 at 3:54:52 AM

Part of the problem is that this was originally YKTTW'd as "Ritual Magic vs. Innate Magic", but also expressly for the purpose of making a reference to Ritual Magic on Functional Magic into a blue link (though I'm actually not seeing any such link on the Internet Archive copies of that page from the period, at least in the description).

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me

Sounds good on paper (he/him)

#7: Nov 27th 2023 at 4:21:45 AM

...Huh. Maybe reusing the name Ritual Magic for magic done with rituals (regardless of the user's magical ability, or lack thereof) and making the trope that was originally planned (either under its original name or a new name; it would be chosen with this thread either way, and probably sandboxed from scratch instead of using much, if anything, from that draft) could be an option.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 27th 2023 at 6:22:24 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Tremmor19 reconsidering from bunker in the everglades Since: Dec, 2018 Relationship Status: Too sexy for my shirt

reconsidering

#8: Nov 27th 2023 at 10:04:46 PM

yea, this seems like two different concepts. "Magic is a skill, not an innate power" is a reasonable trope, but not inherently linked to "Magic that relies on complex rituals, symbols and timing"

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs

Amateur Veteran

#9: Dec 1st 2023 at 9:42:09 PM

Maybe reusing the name Ritual Magic for magic done with rituals (regardless of the user's magical ability, or lack thereof) and making the trope that was originally planned (either under its original name or a new name; it would be chosen with this thread either way, and probably sandboxed from scratch instead of using much, if anything, from that draft) could be an option.

Yeah, that was my idea also.

The other thing would be to decide what exact relationship Ritual Magic has with Hermetic Magic and Geometric Magic. Hermetic Magic defines itself as a subtrope of Ritual Magic and I feel like that makes sense. I'm not exactly expert on Hermeticism per se, but the basic gist of it is that it's a medieval European and Islamic magical tradition and as such it's easy enough to define RM as "magic done with complicated rituals" and HM as "RM specifically based off of the visuals, beliefs, and rituals of medieval occultism". Exactly how RM and GM relate I'm less clear on, but that would be another project for another time.

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle

the Retromancer

#10: Dec 2nd 2023 at 12:23:04 AM

I'll be honest, I'm not sure what Hermetic Magic is even about after reading through it if it's not "Hollywood magic rituals use real world religious symbols with no regard of what they mean". They could or could not be merged, but how much they relate would need an investigation at another time.

Geometric Magic is pretty straightforward, symmetrical figures have magical properties, which is applicable for different schools of magic.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

GracieLizzy Usagi's done something stupid again (she/her) from Sunderland, UK Since: Dec, 2012

Usagi's done something stupid again (she/her)

#11: Dec 2nd 2023 at 8:01:31 AM

The Dungeons and Dragons example is a bit blurry because if 3.5 is anything like 5th edition (the only edition I'm directly familiar with playing) well... there's basically no such thing as "muggles" theoretically anyone can cast spells if they are knowledgeable enough because Wizards just need enough book learning to do it but there are other ways of accessing magic some of which are innate and which spells you can do vary from source to source, and ritual magic in THAT setting is a specific way of casting but is not explicitly tied to innate or non innate power at all. My understand at least is this for D&D 5e, Arcane casters do tap into a force called the Weave but don't need to be born special or something to do so:

Wizards & Artificers: No innate ability required, based on knowledge (either book learning for Wizards, basically being a magitek engineer for Artificers)
Bards: Magic via the power of performance, often music so more a skill a mundane person could pick up provided they are good with an instrument, acting, juggling or something
Sorcerers: Innate, either in the blood or some how tied to force of personality. Or granted from a non sapient artifact like Green Rocks.
Paladins & Clerics: From divine favour or strength of belief (as you can technically have atheist Paladins in this edition, not so sure about atheist Clerics)
Warlocks: Power from a pact with a powerful magic force, like a demon, archfey, Eldritch Abomination

People are going to pot hole ritual magic to this if it keeps the name, but in D&D that means "magic that may take a little longer because it doesn't draw on your own 'mana' (spell slots) to do and requires you to draw symbols / light candles / use ingredients" but there are ritual spells for a lot of casters.

Edited by GracieLizzy on Dec 2nd 2023 at 9:44:31 AM

So I can't think of anything right now... meh.

Reymma RJ Savoy from Edinburgh Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Wanna dance with somebody

RJ Savoy

#12: Dec 2nd 2023 at 8:46:37 AM

Much of the problem is that many of these stories are unclear about just how universal the magic is. Fullmetal Alchemist talks of alchemy as the science of this world, but only an elite is ever shown using it, and fans generally assume that you need some innate talent to use it, or at least use it reliably. Similarly many mad scientists are shown coming up with inventions that no one else can duplicate, and even though it is stated to be science, the story treats it like innate magic that just needs enough preparation in a laboratory.

Because of this, I lean towards redefining Ritual Magic as the trappings of carefully drawing circles, putting in place symbolic items, chanting for a while and so on, and someone else can TLP "Universal Magic".

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.

StarSword Captain of USS Bajor from somewhere in deep space Since: Sep, 2011

Captain of USS Bajor

#13: Dec 2nd 2023 at 1:17:27 PM

With D&D you have to distinguish between the ruleset and the campaign setting. It's the latter that determines how common magic actually is: it varies from one setting to the next whether you have to have an inborn talent to do magic or if it's something everyone can learn. The Weave, for example, is specifically a feature of the Forgotten Realms setting, whereas the default setting through 3rd Edition was Greyhawk.

desdendelle (Avatar by Coffee) from Land of Milk and Honey (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: Writing a love letter

(Avatar by Coffee)

#14: Dec 2nd 2023 at 1:36:09 PM

Reading this thread and the trope, it sounds to me like "Ritual Magic" is used for "magic that uses rituals" a la "double double toil and trouble", and that's a perfectly fine trope. "Wizard magic" (to use D&D terms), on the other hand, seems to be a different thing that needs its own trope.

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

StarSword Captain of USS Bajor from somewhere in deep space Since: Sep, 2011

Captain of USS Bajor

#15: Dec 2nd 2023 at 1:38:53 PM

Magic Is Learned or something.

GracieLizzy Usagi's done something stupid again (she/her) from Sunderland, UK Since: Dec, 2012

Usagi's done something stupid again (she/her)

#16: Dec 2nd 2023 at 4:20:32 PM

Maybe Magic Is A Common Skill or something? Just because some settings (especially tabletop games) have a mixture of ways to access magic that are basically skills? And not everyone can do them but just because they're not very good at it rather than being biologically unable to on some level but not all of them come from knowledge/learning?

Edited by GracieLizzy on Dec 2nd 2023 at 4:20:52 AM

So I can't think of anything right now... meh.

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs

Amateur Veteran

#17: Dec 2nd 2023 at 4:53:44 PM

I'm not feeling it. "Magic Is A Common Skill" just seems to imply that magic is widespread, which could also be achieved by a Mage Species being very widespread or a lot of people making pacts with spirits or whatever, which wouldn't fit the "magic is a form of science/applied knowledge" concept. That could also happen to be rare, like how it's possible for a certain technology or chemical process or what have you to be rare and restricted.

GracieLizzy Usagi's done something stupid again (she/her) from Sunderland, UK Since: Dec, 2012

Usagi's done something stupid again (she/her)

#18: Dec 2nd 2023 at 4:59:15 PM

Non Innate Magic perhaps?

So I can't think of anything right now... meh.

desdendelle (Avatar by Coffee) from Land of Milk and Honey (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: Writing a love letter

(Avatar by Coffee)

#19: Dec 3rd 2023 at 1:47:37 AM

"Magic as a Learned Skill", maybe?

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Prime32 Since: Jan, 2001

#20: Dec 6th 2023 at 11:32:14 AM

I've seen "Hedge Magic" and "Folk Magic" used to refer to simple spells that just about anyone can use, with the implication that more advanced spellcasters also exist. Those wouldn't cover "Academic Magic", but maybe an Internal Subtrope?

"Common Knowledge Charms" maybe?

Coachpill Can shapeshift (probably) from Washington State, grew up on Long Island Since: Aug, 2022 Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!

Can shapeshift (probably)

#21: Dec 6th 2023 at 11:51:31 AM

Magic Preached To The Masses? Or the semi-inverted Magic Teachings, Masses' Preachings?

Silver and gold, silver and gold

Reymma RJ Savoy from Edinburgh Since: Feb, 2015 Relationship Status: Wanna dance with somebody

RJ Savoy

#22: Dec 6th 2023 at 12:15:43 PM

I would suggest Magic That Anyone Can Learn. It allows us to distinguish both sorts of magic within the same story.

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.

WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition (Troper Knight)

Big Catch, Sparkle Edition

#23: Dec 6th 2023 at 12:16:54 PM

If the name debate is for the new trope, that trope will probably need to go to the TLP at which point titles can be decided there. If it doesn't go to the TLP then carry on, but that should probably be hashed out first.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

desdendelle (Avatar by Coffee) from Land of Milk and Honey (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: Writing a love letter

(Avatar by Coffee)

#24: Dec 6th 2023 at 12:43:15 PM

I think we should keep "Ritual Magic" for, well, ritual magic, while splitting the "everybody can do magic" trope from it (so the latter will go to TLP).

The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground

Theriocephalus Amateur Veteran from gimme a map and a moment and I can tell you Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs

Amateur Veteran

#25: Dec 6th 2023 at 1:35:38 PM

^That seems to be the consensus so far.

Regarding the name, my issues with names like Magic Preached To The Masses is that is not strictly an "every Tom, Dick, and Harry can cast spells" deal, since you can achieve the same effect with "innate magic" if that's very widespread. I would prefer a name emphasizing the "magic is a 'science'/learned skill/applied knowledge" angle.

Trope Repair Shop: Ritual Magic

6th Dec '23 5:22:19 PM

Crown Description:

It was discovered that while Ritual Magic's description focuses on the idea of "magic that is not innate and can be learned by anybody", most of the examples are of "magic performed via ritual". There was a proposal that Ritual Magic should be kept for the latter definition, while the former definition should be sent to TLP to gather new examples and have its name decided upon. Should the proposal be enacted?

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