What IS magic in Runeterra?

Rebonack·6/4/2016, 1:44:33 PM·4 votes·1,660 views

Talking anthropologically, traditional 'magic' consists of doing rituals to try to convince spirits to perform actions on the behalf of the practitioner (or get someone else's spirits to bugger off). That's a pretty straight forward explanation, right? Natural forces are little invisible people and like people it's possible to get on their good side and convince them to help you.

I get the impression that's not how magic works in Runeterra at all, though.

So what is it?

What's the difference between 'dark magic' (what Xerath is tossing around) and 'nature magic' (hey there Taliyah). IS there a difference apart from aesthetics? Or the intent of the practitioner? Why do some regions (Ionia) have more magic than others (Piltover)? Is there a natural philosophy behind the magic in Runeterra, or is this a 'it works just fine, thank you' sort of situation?

12 Comments

Sharjo6/4/2016, 2:39:45 PM4 votes

Given how magic is portrayed in the League of Legends universe, it stands to reason that magic there is a fundamental force of the universe that can be tapped in to. So let's talk about some stuff relating to that:

Firstly we have the Magical Friction, which Bard taps in to to traverse dimensions. All worlds emit the friction, but beyond that we don't know any other details. Given the limited insight here I've been inclined to believe that all magic is derived from this force that exists between realities where dimensions blur together and worlds literally collide. In that way the friction may act as a force that keeps the universe together by establishing boundaries and connections. I originally interpreted celestial magic as being the purest form of magic, and that other forms were essentially distilled versions of that power. I also liked to entertain the idea that the friction is why natural magic even occurs; the friction causes magic to radiate worlds and embed magic in to them naturally over time. Such reserves are finite but replenishable over the course of thousands or perhaps millions of years.

Then we have the Celestial Firmament, which is what Aurelion Sol is making; the stars. I interpret this as the magical friction, but a star version; a universal construct that keeps all the stars of the universe tied together and interconnected, with that celestial energy flowing between them in an endless cycle. It's not perfect, as all things have flaws and decay but it'll last for trillions of years at least.

Now I really don't know whether Celestial Energy is something people would constitute as magic, but given how Aurelion Sol's been a tad dismissive of magic as a concept, I'd imagine he either doesn't like that idea or that he finds the idea of "magic" amusing, in the way you find a dog trying to figure what the sod a reflection is amusing. I'm inclined to say that magic isn't the same thing as celestial energy, but I could be totally wrong here; my thoughts and theories have changed greatly over time.

Right now I'm picturing different universal constructs that work in unison to keep reality from going in to chaos, with the friction and firmament being part of this. Each has a force associated with it, in one magic, in another celestial energy, and while they are distinct they are powers that share origins and they do work in synchronicity, so celestial power and magic could intermingle in a way.

Then there's also spirits and the question of how those fit in, considering that we have Kindred, a being who is not a celestial entity, not bound by the laws of space and time, and not even physical most of the time, but totally a legit thing who doesn't fall in to either a magical or celestial category. Perhaps spiritual power is its own unique force and is crucial to the development of life and organisms, or is perhaps just fundamental to the universe as a whole, with the very idea of spirit encompassing all of reality and everything in it. I mean Nagakabouros is kind of a big deal after all. And then there's demons and how they fit in to all this. I don't feel like these things come under the category of magic, but instead that magic is just one key part of the whole show, as important a force as gravity, time or whatever.

That got rambly real quick so I'll sum this up:

  • I think magic and celestial energy are distinct but intrinsically linked fundamental forces of the universe.
  • These forces are governed by and originate from specific universal constructs such as the magical friction and the celestial firmament.
  • Spiritual power comes in to play somewhere here, perhaps as a force of its own or an all encompassing force.
  • Nagakabouros is a thing and should always be remembered because all encompassing serpentine Brahman deities have huge universal implications.
Stars Shaper6/4/2016, 1:47:38 PM1 votes

I always envisoned magic as the manipulation of your "mana" into a form of energy be it elemental shaped or purely destructive. There are though some entities which are more "mana" than physical and more aquainted to magic and its use. From them ppl can learn different tricks or can use their own ability to wield magic to summon/enslave them.

Edit: Dark magic could be just a name used for magic tricks which is used to cause curse and debilitating/fatal statuses (like the inability of ending a pregnancy like in Xerath story).

Fasmodey6/4/2016, 2:02:26 PM1 votes

I think all magic types are distorted versions of celestial energy. Or at least all of them are related with a pure magic source. Xerath says arcane magic is the purest form of magic (in most of fantasy universes, it is) but I dont think so. It is a twisted version of celestial energy / magic. We actually even don't know what is difference between arcane magic and blue fire.

We need an explanation, I believe.

Ebonmaw Dragon6/4/2016, 5:10:03 PM1 votes

As Fasmodey suggested, i guess that the most of the magics come from celestial bodys as has been seen in the magic of The Nasus Ascendants, The Leona Aspects, The Bard Celestial Beings and Veigar Veigar.

However, there is an important "celestial body" that people seems to forget and its the main source of Magic in the world of League of Legends: Runeterra Itself... As our friend Aurelion says "Runeterra? I mean the name of this world literally means 'magic earth'.". {{champion:13 }} Runes that are used in Riven weapons and armors use the magical power of the planet. Skarner Skarner is another example of an user of Magic from the earth itself or even Taliyah Taliyah. item 3110 The true Ice is also ice that is infused with the magic of Runeterra itself.

But, there are 2 others sources of Magic that arent from the Celestial bodys, and those are the ones that come from different dimensions (Like the Velkoz Void or the Lulu Glade) and the ones that come from the spirit of a being.

Examples of users of magic that comes from the spirit are: "Magical" users of Ionia like Shen Shen, Kindred Spirits, TahmKench Demons, Illaoi Illaoi who uses the magic of her god... and magical creatures/races that are born with magic like the Shyvana Dragons Kennen Yordles or Aatrox Darkins.

The difference with "Dark Magic" and other types of Magic, is that the dark magic destroys, damages or corrupts the source that uses. Examples of Dark Magic are: Lissandra who corrupts the True Ice, magic from Runeterra. Veigar who corrupts the cosmic energies. Creatures from the Shadow Isles likeMordekaiser or Karthus that corrupts and damages the spirits of themselves and others or Xerath corrupted the magic of the sun(disk).

Of course that those magics can "mix" with other types of Magics, for example, AurelionSol uses the magic of the Cosmos and his own spirit since he IS a magical creature... or The Void Magic that aside from being "alien magic" corrupts the user and Runeterra. And the most common mix between the magic of the "Spirit" from the user and the Celestial Body (Runeterra).

Rebonack6/5/2016, 12:04:22 AM1 votes

Just to give a quick rundown of the major 'types' of magic I've bumped into in fantasy over the years...

Magic as animism is what I described in the first post. Magic is getting spirits (natural forces) to do what you want.

Magic as faith is more or less magic as animism with a fancier hat. By believing in something enough, it can be made reality. Typically that believing is directed at some divine being, though not always.

Magic as technology is pretty common these days. In this spin, magic is just another fundamental force in the cosmos that can be used as a tool (or to power tools) if you know what you're doing. Typically it's just a force that responds to the will of an observer.

Magic as enlightenment is another that pops up now and again. Here one gains access to magic by being enlightened regarding the fundamental nature of reality. Because reality is an illusion, it's possible to shape this illusion if you have true understanding.

Magic as creative potential is always a fun one. The basic idea is that there's some underlying well of creative potential that people with the right training (or the right heritage) can tap into. Once you do, then all sorts of crazy stuff can happen.

Magic as cheating consists of telling the universe to sit down, shut up, and this is how the dice are going to fall. Probability manipulation, basically. There are lots of crazy things that are technically possible, just highly improbably.

Magic as the Force is not to be confused with magic that is a fundamental force. A true natural force is impersonal. It has no will of its own. But those crazy Jedi talk about the 'Will of the Force' all the time. In this case, magic is some kind of quasi-sapient being acting out its will. And people can tap into that power.

Magic as vitalism ties magic together with 'life-energy'. Expend some life-energy to make cool stuff happen. Or something else's life-energy, if you're a jerk.

And of course we can't end without 'Magic just is'. There's no explanation. No reason. No rationality to it. Magic is just a plot device in the story and nothing more. Hopefully magic in Runeterra isn't this one. That would be pretty lame.