How do you learn magic in Runeterra, and can anyone learn it?
Can just anyone be taught to sling spells, or do you need some sort of inborn talent?
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Most magic in Runeterra originates from the spirit realm, which connection with the material world is strongest in Ionia. So far we only know of people born with magic, although mages appear to only discover their powers in their teens (eg. Lux, Taliyah).
Edit: Taliyah discovered her powers way earlier, my bad
So we don't know if they're actually born with magic abilities or acquire them during childhood (most official sources say mages are born with magic though).
However, there are a few exceptions: Blood Magic Blood magic was originally introduced by the darkin and taught to humanity. Vladimir in turn was taught blood magic by a monk, without previous magical abilities being mentioned (doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have them though). Edit: May not be canon anymore.
Hextech Hextech crystals are part of the brackern (Skarner's race) and hold immense magical power, which can be used by harvesting it through machinery.
Fusing with a demon What Swain did. We don't know if he or the demon is the one using magic though.
As far as I know League does not have a well-defined hard magic system.
It seems to vary from context to context and from region to region.
To be honest they might be better off not defining it. Having strict rules may improve some plots but might decrease diversity and limit future developments.
according to the lore, not everyone has or can learn magic. I think you have to be born with it or use something else like a magical device or hextech
Magic can also be gifted to someone... The same way the watchers gave the freljordians iceborn powers... Although it takes a powerful being to gift someone magic
So, the way I understand it, there's two primary ways to acquire magic as a human: be born with it or get it from something beyond humans.
The former includes champions such as Annie, Karma (though this is an odd mix of the two and is highly subject to change in the coming months),Lux, Sona, Syndra, Taliyah, and Twisted Fate. Each of these champions seems to have some inborn mystical talent, especially Lux, Syndra, Annie, and Taliyah, all of whom have it playing a major part of their personal stories and whose magical origins we, for the most part, know for sure. Each of them has had to hone their talents and learn how to control their magical powers.
LeBlanc and Ryze may also be a part of this group but the origins of their powers are less known as a side effect of their ancient nature and the magical sources they are related to in the lore (LeBlanc being the Immortal Bastion and Ryze being world runes).
The latter method encompasses most of the rest of the magical or ascended humans, but can come from different sources.
The void is a common source of magic for champions, as both Malzahar and Kassadin (though this one is a bit weird with his lore right now) have their powers originating from some form of glimpse into the void, and Lissandra and the other iceborn were given their powers through the Watchers, who are known to be void entities.
Another source is the targonians, who merge their "aspects" with a mortal, granting them power but reducing their personal agency, though the amount of reduction varies from aspect to aspect.
Shuriman Ascension can grant magical powers, though after ascension you're no longer human so whether this counts or not is up to the reader.
The same can be said of necromancy granting magical powers, as seen with Mordekaiser and Karthus, as well as most of the shadow isles champions.
In a few rare cases, we see champions getting their powers from beings who are gods, such as Elise (vilemaw) and Illaoi (nagakabouros).
Note: from what I'm understanding, Swain is fairly unique, as he gained his power from controlling a demon and I'm not really sure how that all will work in the larger narrative, but we shall see.
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Other forms of magic do exist. These include hextech, spirits/vastaya/demons/yordles, and demigods, though I'm sure that that isn't the full list.
Hextech is unique because it is magic meets technology, but comes at a cost: the shards that hextech comes from are the thoughts and memories of the Brackern. Hextech can be wielded by anyone, even those without inborn talent, but it has a limited supply in the long run (and possibly short run depending).
The various spirits of the Runeterra—from peaceful ones to the human/spirit mixes that are the vastaya to the wildly varying yordles to demons like Tahm Kench and Evelynn—all have some form of inborn magic. While we rarely see the peaceful spirits, they are mentioned at various points in the lore, most especially Ionia's lore, though also in Yorick's. The vastaya are naturally magic because of their origins: they are the descendants of interbreeding between humans and the protovastaya shapeshifters. Yordles and their lore are currently constantly shifting, but they are widely considered to be akin to the classical fae, with Lulu even bearing the moniker of "Fae Sorceress." Finally, we encounter demons, who I can say without hesitation for once that they are entirely magic. From what we know from evelynn's lore, they start off as formless spirits that end up gouging themselves on human suffering of one form or another, and their powers growing as they continue. They are very much malleable in form, as evelynn shaped herself numerous times before settling on her current one that she uses to lore humans through lust.
The demigods are odd because they are, for the most part, primordial beings. They are ancient, and often take on titles or roles, like Ornn being god of the forge.
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Note: all of this is entirely how i understand the lore based on what I've read. I've done my best to only use sources that are either direct from riot or are cited on the wiki so as to keep to the canon as best as I can. Much is subject to change given the odd mixes of old and new lore.
I think it breaks down a bit like this:
, 
, etc. = inherently magical superbeings, forces of nature
, 
, all vastayans, all Yordles = inherently magical beings and demihumans
, 
= demons, drawing power from a well of human vice
, 
= spirits, drawing power from nature
, etc., 
, etc. = uplifted humans
, 
, etc. = have innate Void magic or are touched by the Void
, 
, etc. = touched by the Shadow Isles
, 
= humans with innate magic, some training implied to make it useful
, 
= humans with innate magic requiring some focus or object to use it
, 
, most Ionians = humans who know a magic-like 'technique' with implications that some innate magical ability is required to make it work
, 
, most Hextech users = humans with magical weapons that are effective only because they have the basic skill to use them well
, 
, 
, etc. = humans whose weapons may or may not use magic but wouldn't consider themselves magic users
If the start of ezreal's old lore still holds up you need to be born with it, after which you also need to train it.
This would explain why he's capable of using the gauntlet while not being a confirmed mage.
Twisted Fate is the exception to this though. He's the first person to be given magic through an experiment in Zaun. old lore he's just some gypsy born with it now...
At the moment, the story team have not bothered to explain how magic works, and it's all pretty much dependent on an individual writer's whim. Demon-like creatures are wiped out to the last five who suddenly can't be killed so are stored inside weapons for eternity, a guy gets turned into a tree-man because he cut down the wrong tree, a barbarian-king becomes immortal simply by getting really angry - magical events in LoL work purely to further the plot or because the writer thinks it's "cool", not because they've thought deeply about what magic means in their universe.
You need to be bald, have a beard, and be crazy about a scroll and a book in order to have magic. Also you need to be blue.
