- "Magic is a manipulation of primordial energies, primordial as in prelinguistic."
- —Esrin Fortuna to Felicity Smoak[src]
Magic is a mysterious and powerful supernatural force that allows an individual to bend or manipulate reality. Those that practice magic are known for a variety of names such as witch, sorcerer, mage and warlock among others. There are many variations of it including but not limited to dark, light and primordial. It is omnipresent across the multiverse and can be utilized on any planet.
Overview
Magic is the mystical art of manipulating primordial energies to create a variety of effects that violate the laws of nature.[1]
Magical effects are known as "spells", which is often accompanied by an incantation, although advanced magic users do not require incantations.[1] However, according to John Constantine, spells are a "verbal game" and thus depriving most magic users of their voice will prevent them from using their powers.[2]
A well cast spell will achieve a predetermined supernatural effect, as well a particular manifestation such as light, sparks or glowing eyes.
Spells can also allow the user to mimic/grant themselves special abilities similar to those of meta-humans- such as levitation, teleportation and others. These mimicked powers can be accessed at any moment by the user without spell-casting or use of tokens.
Certain objects can be imbued with mystical properties, such as tokens, which can be used to store magic or enhance the powers of the magic user. Likewise, beings such as demons, angels and eldritch fiends can provide mystical power to magic users increase their magic greatly.
History
The exact origins of magic are unknown, but magic is a multiversal force which can be found across the many dimensions and alternate Earths of the multiverse.
Earth-1
On Earth-1, Satan, possibly the first archangel, rebelled against God but lost and God cast the first rebel angel in history out of Heaven. This infuriated the First of the Fallen and while unable to fight God himself, Satan masterminded dark magic and used it to make deals with humans to corrupt their souls and send them to hell or bind them to demons and use them to wreak havoc on Earth (Earth-1) as revenge.
Human attitudes towards magic seems to vary between seeing it as useful, as in the case of Camelot[3] or great hostility. In fact usage of magic became heavily demonized, as people came to believe witchcraft had demonic origins. These beliefs lead to innocent people accused of witchcraft of being murdered by angry mobs, as happened in Salem (Massachusetts)[2][4]
In the present day, use of magic on Earth-1 has fallen to such degree that most people are skeptical of its existence, except for the occasional cult; until in late 2018 when the Legends unleashed a vast amount of mystical creatures throughout the timeline when they released the demon Mallus.[5][6]
Earth-13
Earth-38
Magic, especially dark magic, also exists on Earth-38. On Krypton, the Children of Juru used dark magic to help fulfill a doomsday prophecy by creating the Worldkillers and bring about a reign of darkness.[7] Dark magic was also the source of the powers that female members of the Smythe Clan possessed, through the Curse of the Banshee.[8]
Anti-Monitor Crisis
The forces of magic were severely damaged by the Anti-Monitor Crisis causing magic users to start losing their powers.[9] According to John Constantine, this was a consequence of the Pillars of Magic crumbling as the wave of antimatter destroyed the various alternate earths of the multiverse.[10] Following the rebirth of the universe into Earth-Prime, the Pillars were restored and magic returned.
Earth-Prime
Expulsion Spell.
- "Your mother and Margaret, they had the gift, too. They sought me out. Witchcraft requires a deep knowledge of the earth. Every leaf, seed, twig is as alive and unique as you or me. And learning the language of nature takes patience, rigor. And your mom committed herself to the work, like you, with your science. Drawing power from nature, that part can't be taught. It takes a spark, and your mother's spark was powerful. We three worked quietly, content."
- —Florence Abbott to Lena Luthor[src]
On Earth-Prime, magic still exists, like witchcraft, with its practitioners being Natalie Logue, Astra Logue,[11] Elizabeth Walsh, Florence Abbott, Margaret Bishop, and Lena Luthor.[12]
There is also an immortal sorceress named Enchantress who was famous for her abilities as she was able to hide her true form and reveal it after speaking the word Enchantress. John Constantine believed that she had been restricted from meddling with mortals.[13]
Known spells and effects
- For a more extensive listing of powers, see List of magical powers.
Spells
- These are specific spells that are not directly stated to be part of either dark magic or light magic schools.
- Bilocation: Bilocation is a magic technique that allows spellcasters to appear as if in two places at the same time, using a projection of themselves.
- Cloaking spell: Cloaking spell is a magic spell that allows casters to conceal buildings, rendering them invisible.
- Duplicity spell: Duplicity spell is a magic spell that allows its user to conceal a location.
- Egyptian dream temple technique: Egyptian dream temple technique, also known as a teleportation spell, is a magic ritual calling to the power of Aken that allows spellcasters to create, warp, and travel into an alternate reality of their own, or another realm of their choosing.
- Protection spell (Brythonic): A spell developed by Merlin, which allows to heal or resurrect the protected target via siphoned souls.
- Protection spell (Latin): A spell used to protect a target location from enemy magic or creatures.
- Revealing spells: Revealing spells are used to see something invisible.
- Sleep spell: A sleep spell is to put someone to sleep.
- Spell of permanence: A spell of permanence was used by Wells the Grey to allow his text.
- Zero gravity trap: Zero gravity trap is a type of a magic spell which creates a small zone of zero gravity within a certain place.
- Reflection spell
- Star Map spell: A spell to project multiple worlds' maps by burning something and casting the spell.
- Heating spell: A spell to heat something up.
- Illusion spell: A spell to create an illusion.
- Lies releasing spell: A spell to draw out the Agents of Ma'at.
- Belt trap spell: A spell to trap someone in a magical belt.
- Deep sleep spell: A spell to put someone to a deep sleep.
Effects
- Artifact application: Magic is often channeled through artifacts.
- Book of Destiny: Channels dimensional energies used by Mar Novu.
- Staff of H'ronmeer: Channels divine magic of H'ronmeer, the god of Green Martians.
- Staff of Horus: Channels divine magic of Horus, the god of Egypt.
- Chalice of Dionysus: Grants temporary immortality to those chosen by Dionysus, a god of Greece.
- Spellcasting: The basic power of magic, which allows the user to achieve anything as long as the spell is properly cast. It's unknown though possible that there are limits to what a single spell can achieve and the greater the goal the more primordial energies must be harnessed.
- Light magic: Light magic is usually utilized for benevolent purposes; it draws its power from hope and other positive emotions.
- Dark magic: Dark magic is usually utilized for malevolent purposes; it draws its power from fear and other negative emotions.
- Alien magic: Alien magic is used by aliens.
- Ley lines: Ley lines are a worldwide source of magic woven around Earth-1. Wherever all ley lines intersect, they provide magical power to empower Lazarus Pits, sources of resurrection.
- Power mimicry: Advanced magic users can mimic the powers of meta-humans, allowing them to use such abilities instantaneously without the need to use incantations. So far, only magic users empowered by a token or a supernatural being were shown to be able to use this power.
- Reality warping: While many spellcasters are able to affect reality in one way or another, usually only divine beings such as God, or artifacts blessed by them, such as the Spear of Destiny and the blood of Jesus Christ, can do so on a grand scale, substituting the effects of time travel and many other powers and reshaping the world according to the wishes of the wielders of such power. Imps are also capable of warping reality and can be considered users of Fifth Dimensional magic.
- Resurrection: Magic is the only way to directly bring a person back to life without time manipulation or rewriting reality, through the use of Lazarus Pits. However, magical resurrections come with consequences such as an unnatural bloodlust or, if the body has decomposed long enough, the person being brought back soulless.
- Ensoulment: Properly used, magic can remove, restore or contain souls.
- Time travel: Magic users can travel through time without using a Timeship or the Speed Force, by instead wielding a Time stone.[14]
- Inter-Dimensional Travel: Users of magic are able to open portals to other earths/and universes as well as Extra-Dimensions (like Hell and pocket dimensions as examples; check {{Extra-dimensional planes}} for more examples).
Known users
Entities
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Spellcasters
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Trivia
- When explaining the Fifth Dimension to Lena, Kara confirmed Imps use magic.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Genesis"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Witch Hunt"
- ↑ "Camelot/3000"
- ↑ "Out of Time"
- ↑ "The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly"
- ↑ "The Virgin Gary"
- ↑ "Trinity"
- ↑ "Worlds Finest"
- ↑ "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Two"
- ↑ "Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three"
- ↑ "A Head of Her Time"
- ↑ "Mxy in the Middle"
- ↑ "The Great British Fake Off"
- ↑ "Welcome to the Jungle"