✨finding loopholes in fey magic to promote your terrorist agenda✨
i know we all hate jkr but JUST LISTEN because i’ve just had what must be the most galaxy brain thought of my scholarly career.
everyone was too afraid to say voldemort’s name, right? and it’s well established that that’s fuckin’ stupid, but what if it’s not just stupid? what if it’s actively detrimental? by fey rules giving someone your name gives them power over you. everyone in the wizarding world refuse to claim his name, and therefore forfeit that power.
but it goes deeper. voldemort is not his real name. his real name is tom riddle. so consider this: he not only created a freaky ass name to spark fear, but also to protect himself from the ancient magic associated with giving someone your name. he refuses to give anyone else the ability to name him, and therefore ensures that he enters every fight beholden to no one.
words are magic. and, by magic rules, it’s true that the more people claim that word the more power they give it. but everyone got it wrong. saying his name wouldn’t have given voldemort power, it would have given them power.
P.S. it’s worth noting that everyone who had the courage to say voldemort made a major difference in the war effort. additionally, everyone who knew his true name (and sincerely identified him with it) didn’t just make a difference, they fucked shit up.
P.P.S. this gives extra meaning to his dramatic name reveal in chamber of secrets. he’s basically saying, “i’m so confident that i’m gonna win, i’ll even give you my name.”
P.P.P.S. it also gives extra meaning to voldemort’s disdain for his father’s muggle last name. voldemort’s name holds his history, it identifies every aspect of who he is. His father’s name encapsulated that reality, the reality of his “impure blood,” and that’s why he tried to kill it. he wanted to kill that part of himself and absolve himself of his blood status. otherwise he could never be a god in his own eyes--only a bastard and a mudblood.
Ok in all honesty I was looking for an ask that wanted me to elaborate on body issues and male fairies following my post way back about Radius, but I was having more general thoughts anyway. I hope you don't mind.
Ever since the invention of sorcery, fairy magic has been stamped off as the more emotional magic art in contrast to rational sorcery. Emotions and rationality, two sides of a whole, have become juxtaposed and in turn associated with gender roles. Emotions are a feminine thing, while being rational was overtly masculine. Fey magic became a predominantly feminine art as less and less men/ masculine people took up the trade, out of fear of being ridiculed.
In modern times still, there are more sorceresses than there are male fairies: the bias against them just doesn't offer the kind of male bias in a female dominated field that we are used to in our world.
(The extreme ties to femininity also dissuades many gender non-conforming women from pursuing fey magic.)
Men who take up fey magic often have to deal with rumors about their claimed impotence, "small dick", or have their gender speculated about, with assumptions of them being closeted trans women.
This gets even harder when you add non-conventional bodies into the mix. Transformations represent an idealised body, covering blemishes and scars unless the user wields it so that it doesn't. Idealised in connection with femininity often means thin, fair and hairless, which is antithetical to how many men like to represent.
Then there is the issue of flight. Fairies are meant to present as graceful, gentle and loving (and lovable in turn); and people get so up in arms about it when this is applied to a fat body. It becomes the bumblebee paradox of little wings on a heavy body.
The term "bumblebee" for fat/chubby fairies actually stems from parents' kind words to their children: "The others may be wasps, but you are my darling little bumblebee". Many children found strength in these words until the "in" group caught wind of it and the term was used to pester and bully fat fey magic users, ridiculing them. (Some people do refer to themselves as bumblebee in reclamation of the word, but it's a matter of personality and how serious one takes oneself bc it does come off as youthful/childish).
So if plain acceptance is not possible, what else can fat magic users do? Conform? Fat people are already forced to perform their gender at a level of perfection beyond critique to be afforded dignity. In the case of fey magic this gets even more complicated for fat men since the art is entrenched in femininity and being effeminate is almost inextricably linked to being youthful, thin and waif-ish: essentially being the quintessential twink. It is no coincidence that gender non-conforming gay men often chose fey magic. But where does that leave fat men who need to present masculine in broader society, yet feminine in connection to their art?
There are certainly men who lean into masculinity wholly and eschew any connection to femininity. Others as said above are all for embracing their feminine side, but often those people are also effeminate in general. Again others see it as a performance (think drag). Gender expression is malleable and a craft that can be formed and re-formed as one needs. It is just a matter of personality, preference and self-confidence in detangling oneself from the societal expectations. Radius, simply by existing so self-unashamedly in such a high position of power has set new standards and became a role model for many young fey magic users, regardless of gender.
Would y’all be interested in me doing some dnd spell sketches? Seeing what it looks like when Helia casts?
I always love the ways people describe their spells and I was thinking about sketching mine out, maybe it’ll inspire others in visualizing for their own characters.
i read the post about how "designing" the transformations work and i was wondering if its possible for two people to have the same transformation visually? like theoretically if a young fairy really looked up to bloom and thought she was the perfect fairy could their transformations look exactly like hers? obviously there would be other inspo but could it technically happen? and if it is possible are people okay with that or is it kind of taboo? -💞
I think a complete copy could never happen, because there will always be little differences between people to account for, but yes that’s the spirit. In fact I have several examples in butterfly verse where that’s the case:
1: Musa’s Enchantix is structurally very similar to Stella’s with the puffy skirt, swimsuit-like top and long pigtails. (ofc the butterfly!version won’t look the same as on the show, but it’s in the same vein) In the s3 timeline I think Musa’s self-image is at its lowest and she very much orients herself on her friends. She thinks she is too tomboyish to be a fairy, but not tomboyish enough to pull off an androgynous look like Tecna. All her friends are gorgeous and feminine and have long hair - musa sticks out like a sore thumb - hence the extensions and princess-y evening dresses she bullies herself into. Secretly and very deep down Musa absolutely sees Stella as the epitome of a femme fairy (she would at that time rather swallow a porcupine than admit that to Stella), so she subconsciously copied the Enchantix look Stella appeared in. As the two of them grow and mature, their Enchantix forms ofc begin to diverse and Musa rediscovers what makes her her, and it’s not long hair I can tell you that!
2: Transformations of long term partners can take elements of the other’s, the longer the two people are together the more that is true (and especially if they practice magic together). I have this happen to two nymph OCs, who after hundreds of years spent at each other’s side look almost indistinguishable from each other. To a smaller extent, this is also the case for Mirta and Lucy’s transformations: Mirta’s Enchantix form has a small pleated skirt mirroring Lucy’s half-skirt tartan from her Witch form. Lucy in the same form wears fishnets over her trousers mirroring Mirta. Also I imagine their wedding rings stay ON when transformed ><
3: Not as concrete, and definitely not drawn yet, is the influence of the Winx on Roxy’s Enchantix. Seeing about all fairies surrounding Roxy - the Winx who made a large impression on her as well as her Earthern fairy peers - all use Believix, which is optically mirroring current street fashion styles, Roxy transformation is more plain, palatable and practical drawing inspiration from all that. Morgana appears as a very classical Earthern fairy with Arthurian influences, but Roxy doesn’t look up to her the same way as she does to the Winx, and frankly I don’t see her being comfortable with as ornate clothes as Morgana (or Nebula even) wear. TLDR, Roxy ends up with an Enchantix that looks very reminiscent of Believix, not her own Believix transformation though.
In an enchantix post you described that their transformation image is how they wanted to be viewed. does that mean fairies or even witch*ers have to design how their transformation has to look, or is it just the subconcious at work? Can a transformation magic user consciously alter their look? And in your butterflyverse how does charmix work, do they still get those brooches and weird bags? In Diapsro's post you described how Alfea has a power tree and everywhere else has a normal tree? Thnx
More cool questions!
The influence of one’s self, upbringing and culture on Enchantix is entirely subconscious. Once the form manifests subtle changes can be made, but it is rarely necessary, as a fairy form would never manifest as clothes the person would never wear or feel uncomfortable in for body image or religious reasons. Enchantix goes through maturation however as the person wielding it does as well. A young Enchanteur in the prime of his powers might want to present markedly different later in his life due to societal circumstances shifting. (Eg the original costume might have included armour necessary for war that has long stopped being fought, or the climate has changed so that the magic user needs drastically more or less layers in their costume). The biggest influence on transformation appearance is trauma, but that is outside of anyone’s control and the shift in transformation appearance reflects the changes in a person’s outlook, confidence and personality. (Trauma often manifests as armour, cloaks or veil, or a sudden loss of ornamentation).
The only conscious design work that goes into it is what young fairies do as children, dreaming up their “grown up and successful” selves. The transformation of course takes this inherent bias into account. (Coupling back to untainted child selves is generally important for users of such selfless magic.) If someone really wanted, and really, really held onto it, they could make their Enchantix transformation look like a burlap sack with some holes. There is no style requirements, the general appearance of little footwear but some gloves stems from fairies observing each other. If that is the look of the older generation around, it will naturally influence the younger learners who will want to make their transformation look like that since they associate fully actualised Enchanters/esses with the look. (Someone must have started it years and years ago, but its’s hard to say who or when)
I wrote this all referring to Enchantix, but the unconscious shaping is true for basic witch transformations as well (Apprentice and Witch/er). Past the fully witch/er form, witchcraft users put some thought and spellwork creativity into their Master Witch/er forms. And no, this is beyond just choosing the Hat. Because witchcraft relies a lot on material and prepared spells, witchcraft users needed to develop ways to carry their ingredient toolkit with them that was not an ugly fannypack, so most often these are stored in the transformation itself. To prep for spell application, a witch/er has to transform, sort of “equip” the desired spells and then detransform. This is how Icy’s icicle spell in her fake nails works, or how Lucy is able to store potions and ingredients in the tartan of her trousers. Ask me on a separate one about these, cause it will get long otherwise).
Charmix in butterfly verse comes with a sort of complementation of the Basic Manifest design and a prot-fairydust container/bag. Basic Manifests are simple and beholden to the design ability of the magic user as well as the size of their magic core - the latter being the decisive factor. Many people start off with overly simple first transformations because keeping them up costs less energy and thus they can hold the transformation longer. It is a basic trainee tactic. Once fey magic users reach maturity enough that they are able to generate some fairy dust, they switch to Charmix. Optically this increases the level of detail on their transformation. If someone’s BM was quite intricate though because they already had a very good grasp on their magic when they transformed (most commonly happens with late bloomers like Stella) the change will not be as big or noticeable. Alfea encourages students to learn Charmix so that they can get used to handling fairy dust in external containers. In all other higher forms fairy dust is available in fairy wings, but using it from vial is markedly different than flutterng onto something and confers higher spell negating effects.
And that leads us to Alfea vs everywhere else. I’ve said in a Magics post before I think, that Alfea was founded by the Third Circle of Nymphs of Magics (aka Daphne’s circle but way before her time at their head) with the explicit intention of preparing young fey magic users for going on the Nymph Quest. Enchantix until then was regarded as a life goal, something you mature into during your life, learning belonging, loyalty and self sacrifice completely erasing the fact that Ench in butterfly canon was invented during the Magic User Wars. The Nymphs turned it into something that can be learned in 4 years or less, scandalising half the Magic Universe. It did not fly with so many cultures, and still doesn’t. Reason nr 3000 for why Diaspro despite being gentry was never even considering attending Alfea.
The Alfea power tree separates fairy forms from BM to Enchantix, but Charmix is technically not necessary. Even Enchantix is not necessary, if one doesn’t seek a career in magic (hence Alfea is actually a vocational school). Diaspro doesn’t need all that and uses a so called Lifelong Transformation: she may only have one basic form, but that doesn’t mean her power levels can’t grow or that the appearance of her form won’t mature. Exactly the opposite is true: Diaspro’s transformation exists on a sliding scale and she will one day melt into a power level comparative to Enchantix if she keeps up practicing magic. She can still aquire gifts and specialised transformations aside from that, the Lifelong Transformation thing only applies the form sustained from her own magic core.
I decided to poke at this picture some more. So here are all the versions of it. I need to stop now or I’m going to go into detail and refine it and that wasn’t the plan here hah.
batty attempts to make their kitchen look photographable for witch aesthetic 2k18 since the full moon is coming up i did some prep for my first offering to the fae! half and half with honey in the bottle, and two kinds of faerie sugar. blue dye, sugar, vanilla and then pink dye, sugar, vanilla, and some sprinkles for extra fun. now the honey mix is in the fridge and the sugar is in the window sill with my new offering bowls enjoying the ocean air and moonlight
