The new trailer for Witch Hat just revealed the glyph for the most important spell in the entire manga; the petrification spell.
These past few days, I’ve worked tirelessly to decipher this spell. While many questions still remain, I’ve made a crucial discovery; petrification contains a time stop spell.
If my theory is correct, this means that just before Coco’s mother was petrified, her time was stopped. This would have prevented her death, and placing her in stasis within the stone. This would mean that she can be saved.
For an in depth look at my research on this spell and the discoveries I’ve made, please read the google doc below. I think you’ll find it interesting.
Hopefully, I'll be able to make a better one someday! It's a very intensive process, and one that I might even need to call in help for. If I make a new post, I will link it to the top of this one.
Currently, I've had to redefine or throw out all my words and start rewatching the show from the very beginning, pausing every few scenes to take notes—which was awful and took the joy out of a rewatch, so I stopped and haven't touched the project since.
I don't even know how to approach the project, but I know I want to. I won't make any promises, but I will try my hardest. I might even make a Lego sideblog (or turn @sleepymilesguy into a general "project sideblog") just to get it done. If anyone can help, please send an ask over here or over there!
Kisses,
Miles
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Hello folks, it's Miles here! You may know me as the guy who deduced what Rayman is snorting in episode 5 of Captain Laserhawk! And today, I'll be going over how...
There Are 6 Types of Magic in LEGO Monkie Kid
You can honestly stop here if you don't want to get into the most convoluted stuff ever. If you're vaguely interested but don't have much time, click read more and scroll down to Red Son, because he's where shit gets interesting.
A disclaimer! I've literally never broken down or written a magic system before, I'm just like. writing down and making sense of what I've noticed while watching the show. If you disagree with my assessment of a character's magic, think there's a better term for something I've described, or think I'm just plain wrong, please let me know so I can update the post! I don't know what I'm doing, and I've never looked into magic systems before!
An important thing to note is that LEGO Monkie Kid adheres somewhat to the power systems in Chinese mythology, so I will be bringing up concepts from Chinese mythology that are not talked about in the show. Honestly, if you went 100% on the show and not on Chinese mythology at all, there wouldn't be a magic system in the first place.
Now, let's begin!
First, vocabulary.
Magic Class: The root of a user's magic. Classes are not exclusive, but actually compounding. For example, Wukong has Intrinsic-based Actively Cultivated Magic.
Magic Subtype: A modifier to a class; additional information to explain how a user's magic came to be or how it works. For example, Tang has Revitalized Bestow-Inherited Actively Cultivated³ Magic — the subtype goes before the class because it's a modifier. (Yes, I will explain why his Actively Cultivated Magic is cubed.)
(In the naming scheme of magic, everyone has a full classification and then a shorthand classification. The classifications above were all shorthand.)
Magical Energy: The basic form of magic; unfiltered energy that can be channeled, manipulated, and cultivated. This energy can be used to attack directly or utilized in a spell. MAGICAL ENERGY IS QI, "MAGIC" IS JUST BEING USED BECAUSE THIS IS WRITTEN FOR A WESTERN AUDIENCE.
Power: A defined ability, such as a spell or a technique. Not all Powers are explicitly named, but powers have defined forms and details whereas Magical Energy is usually a geometric shape. Examples of Powers: 72 Transformations, Golden Sight, teleportation.
Magical Expression: How Magical Energy and Powers form upon release. Examples of Magical Expression are glowing eyes, full body glowing, magical seals, anime-esque energy blasts, Red Son's* fire, Ne Zha's fire (two VERY different forms of Magical Expression), and Macaque's purple shadow outline. Ne Zha's Wind Fire Wheels are examples of Magical Expression with a conduit. Zero Magical Expression ≠ zero release, but can.
Conduits: Anything that can hold, channel, or manipulate Magical Energy. All living beings and magical artifacts are examples of conduits.
Channeling: Collecting magical energy internally
Releasing: The basis of Magical Expression; using collected magical energy for an attack
(Mei showcasing channeling and releasing in Rip and Tear)
You can always tell when a character is channeling and releasing.
Knowing which class of magic a character is using can be hard — they all tend to utilize anime-esque energy blast graphics and glowing bodies for Magical Expression — so you have to pay close attention. I'll be going over how to identify the specific magic types as we go through them.
Each type of magic has a "poster child" — a character that fully embodies that type — and I'll be using them to explain how the magic works. Once we finish the easily categorized magics, we'll get into the Special Cases.
(MK showcasing Intrinsic Magic in Rip and Tear)
(Wukong showcasing Cultivated Magic in A Lifetime of Mistakes)
Now, onto the classes of magic!
Intrinsic Magic is a class of magic...
That's not inherently pedigree-related. Ne Zha's father Li Jing was a mortal man.
Most gods and local deities have, and some yaoguai have. (Older demons like DBK and Wukong have Intrinsic Magic, while younger demons like Pigsy and Sandy might technically have Inherited Magic. It all depends on how you want to look at it.)
That usually comes with unique powers, commonly the ability to walk and talk upon birth. (Wukong got laser eyes, and Red Son* got the Samadhi Fire).
And holders have unnatural births? Pangu's cosmic egg, Ne Zha being born a ball of flesh after being gestated for three years, Wukong's rock that's existed since the dawn of time, etc.
Ne Zha is the epitome of Intrinsic Magic! If you think Intrinsic Magic, you think Ne Zha. The unmistakable way to identify Intrinsic Magic is to look for themes. If a character has a theme to their magic, again and again, they likely have Intrinsic Magic! For example:
Ne Zha's Intrinsic Theme is (obviously) lotus flowers/petals.
Red Son's* Intrinsic Theme is flames.
Macaque would be a contender for intrinsic magic (we will be getting back to him, though).
Cultivated Magic is a class of magic that has two subclasses: ACTIVE and PASSIVE, and...
That's ENTIRELY self-created. A magical pedigree can help, but no pedigree is required in Cultivated Magic — Li Jing cultivated magic as a completely human man, for example.
That NEEDS a Conduit. The conduit for Cultivated Magic can be the magic user themselves, but often it's a magical artifact or a technique.
Note: a conduit doesn't require Cultivated Magic to be used, but Cultivated Magic requires a conduit. (Known Conduits include: Wukong's Cloud Somersault, Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels, and Princess Iron Fan's Banana Leaf Fan.)
That's very backstory-heavy. There's always a way that a character learned or got their power, or a description of how old they are.
A magic that you see most with yaoguai and immortals. The older the yaoguai, the more cultivated they are.
Passive Cultivation: Every living being is a conduit for passive cultivation — by existing, you are passively cultivating. The best method of passive cultivation is age; the older something is, the more passively cultivated.
A Huli jing is the best example of passively cultivated magic. According to literature, the older a fox is, the more power it accrues.
Active Cultivation: Active Cultivation is when a being seeks out magical power. The most common form of active cultivation is being taught Tao techniques (Wukong's Cloud Somersault, Li Jing's Burning Pagoda Art). In this situation, the technique is the conduit.
Other forms of actively cultivating magic are yaoguai eating humans and magic-accruing technology (specifically DBK's Furnace armor, which converts rarity into magical energy.)
Cultivated Magic comes with the implication of being wise, at least in some form, and those with cultivated magic are able to teach others. Being a disciple immediately means you have Actively Cultivated Magic.
Cultivated Magic often doesn't have Magical Expression, because it's all about existing and learning. When it does have Magical Expression, it's usually depictions of strength and power or the conduit itself glowing.
(Wukong's hairs glow as they are used as conduits for his cloning technique in Macaque)
(Wukong and Macaque's strength is showcased through Magical Expression during a fight in Macaque)
Cultivated Magic can be seen through any technique that was stated to have learned, such as Wukong's astral projection and his speed/quick reflexes.
(Wukong focusing in order to astral project to MK in Dumpling Destruction)
(MK having to actively learn and practice astral projecting in Minor Scale)
MK: Monkey King! It worked!
Monkey King: Hey, bud. So, you figured out astral projection, huh?
MK: Yeah, and I only had five nose bleeds.
Cultivated Magic is best showcased in action, and characters cultivate over the course of the show.
(Wukong showcasing his Cultivated Magic by pulling some fast ones on MK in Impossible Delivery)
(4 seasons later in Strings That Bind, Wukong and MK spar, showcasing MK's Cultivated Magic. Tumblr will NOT let me embed both videos, and the first one is more important, so this will just be a link.)
Inherited Magic is a class of magic that has two subclasses: ANCESTERAL and BESTOWED, and...
Comes from someone else and was given to or passed down to the magic user.
Is sourced from Intrinsic or Cultivated Magic, but the magic user is not intrinsically magical/did not cultivate that magic themselves. The Intrinsic/Cultivated Magic is specific to another (perhaps deceased) being.
Can have ZERO Magical Expression or release.
If a character has Ancestor-Inherited Magic, they'll have a family animal, a family artifact, and/or a known ancestor.
If a character has Bestow-Inherited Magic, they were given their power by another magic user (known as the Bestower) so that they would serve that magic user, defeat a foe, or as a reward. Bestow-Inherit Magic users are often previously mortal.
Bestow-Inherited Magic is most blatantly a character giving another character magical powers, but being granted godhood, being brought back to life under a deal, and everyone receiving heavenly ranks/Wukong and Tripitaka receiving Buddhahood and Buddha titles at the end of Journey To The West is also Bestow-Inherited Magic.
A quick note: Older yaoguai (DBK, Azure Lion, Wukong) are considered to have Intrinsic Magic, but Modern yaoguai (Pigsy, Sandy) are deemed to have Inherited Magic. This is because these younger demons are not yaoguai specifically unto themselves — their status as a yaoguai comes from their ancestors. They have no unique, intrinsic powers, nor were they specifically predestined to be yaoguai despite their heritage (such as in the case of Nezha, who was predestined to be a celestial being).
For example, Pigsy. His status as a Magic User exists because of his family history. While, yes, his family is important to his character and story, it's not something he did himself — he did not cultivate his grandma — and there is nothing unique about him biology-wise besides just being a pig demon. He is a reincarnation, but being a reincarnation didn't make him a yaoguai. (That was a whole fate, symbolism deal, though.) If Pigsy hadn't been born, his family would still have a pig demon kid.
Now, onto the subtypes. (As a reminder, a subtype modifies a class!)
Revitalized Magic is a subtype of magic. It means that the magic is from a pre-incarnation that a character unlocks and requires reincarnation.
Uuuuunless it doesn't, and it required Un-Death. Auto-Revitalization of Magic is definitely a thing, but it's not a real category. It's just a specification to explain things that have happened to a character.
For example: The reason Macaque's shadows turned into chaos magic at the end of season 5 is because he's dead. He's outside of the reincarnation cycle, he's Undead, his magic is Auto-Revitalized —so when the reincarnation cycle is broken, his magic is also changed. At least, that's my personal theory. I might be DEAD WRONG.
Okay, back to Revitalized Magic proper: Remember back when I said Tang's magic was cubed? Yeah, this is why. (Before we start, Táng Sānzàng will be referred to as Tripitaka from here on out.)
The full classification of Tang's magic is: Potential Revitalized Bestow-Inherited (Tripitaka), Revitalized Actively Cultivated (Golden Cicada), Revitalized Actively Cultivated (Tripitaka), Actively Cultivated Magic. (Maybe, we'll get into this.)
The entire reason demons tried to eat Tripitaka was because he was the reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, who was a disciple of Buddha, which made Tripitaka's flesh holy. Being a disciple immediately means Actively Cultivated Magic; Tripitaka had Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic. Tripitaka was a Buddhist disciple as well, which means he also Actively Cultivated. If Tang is a reincarnation of Tripitaka, who is a reincarnation of the Golden Cicada, then Tang has Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic twice (or, even, 10 times, if you look at the Sandalwood Buddha thing, but Tripitaka and Golden Cicada are the important disciples so we're only counting them).
If Tang has Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic and Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic, that means he has Revitalized Actively Cultivated Magic². However,
Tang is a SCHOLAR. BEING A SCHOLAR MEANS THAT TANG IS ALSO AN ACTIVE CULTIVATOR.
HENCE, TANG HAS ACTIVELY CULTIVATED MAGIC³.
Celestial Magic is a subclass of magic that includes any magic with a seal. It's not exclusive to Celestial beings, but it's most often used by beings with Heavenly connections.
Celestial Magic is also known as "Spells", I'm pretty sure. Wukong just dropped this terminology on us in Season 5, and spells usually require words, but like. Okay, buddy. Whatever. You're the magic guy.
Celestial Seals have a unique symbol for every "Artist", or a Hànzì that explains the spell's purpose. For example, Li Jing's seals have a little pagoda on them, and the containment spell's seal (the only thing that can truly be called a spell here) has the character "牢", which means "prison" (or "enclosure", which is hilarious because it's containing 3 monkeys).
Consequential Magic is any magical energy or power gained as a result of an action taken by someone who is NOT the magic user.
Consequential is not a subclass of Cultivated because the magic user had no say in acquiring/did not know they were acquiring Consequential Magic; Consequential is not a subclass of Inherited because the magic user was not intentionally given these powers and they did not come from ancestry.
(Red Son* is literally the reason this subtype exists.) Every example of Consequential Magic is different, so I'm just going to some of the ones I know of in canon:
Wukong's Golden Sight (Consequence of the Eight Trigrams Furnace; Torture-consequence)
Ao Lie having the Samadhi Fire inside him after they fucked up the seal (Samadhi Fire/Red Son*; Samadhi-consequence)
Mei Dragon's ability to harness the Samadhi Fire/the remnants left over inside her after (Samadhi Fire/Red Son*; Samadhi-consequence)
MK's human form (form as in the shape of something btw) (Xiangliu fucked his shit up; Birth Interference-Consequence)
Macaque's new Chaos Magic (Xiangliu fucked his shit up; Chaos-Consequence)
I have spent this entire post explaining the way magic seems to work in LEGO Monkie Kid, getting slightly more and more unhinged as we go on. But there might be two things on your mind: Why? and Why does Red Son's* name have an asterisk on it every time I've mentioned him in this post?
I can answer both of those questions with one statement: Red Son does not adhere to the magic rules other characters follow. I've tried to find examples to see if I was thinking of the magic wrong — and that's fully possible — but I didn't find anything. In fact, the more I look, the more sure of this I become. It's like he actively decides against following the rules of the magic system.
He can be used as EXAMPLES of the magic system, but when you dig into his magic specifically, it's completely wack-a-doo.
First and foremost:
Red Son has a completely unique form of Magic Expression. His emotions are directly linked to his Magical Expression and release.
Emotionally linked magic release is something no other character does, but here he is doing it over and over and over again. The only example close to it is MK's Mystic Monkey form flickering in and out when he's distraught, and that's LITERALLY CREATION-GIVEN NÜWA MAGIC, THAT'S FROM A CREATURE WHOSE CANONICALLY "OUTSIDE OF THE 10 SPECIES" AND CANNOT BE CATEGORIZED?? AND ALSO NOT QUITE THE SAME EITHER.
(This could also be attributed to the concentration part of the Samadhi Fire, but he doesn't... seem to have access to that anymore? At least, not like Mei does. We'll consider it a factor in his magic expression, though.)
About his fire,
Red Son and his mom are the only two characters with Wuxing/Elemental Magic — every other example comes from a magical artifact. It's actually a 50/50 chance on whether or not PIF has wind powers or if the Banana Leaf Fan gives her wind powers (I'm pretty sure it gives her wind powers, but just to be safe we'll count her as having wind powers.) Wuxing Magic is not uncommon in actual Chinese mythology, but it is in the show for some reason. And it ALWAYS has an artifact as a conduit. Wuxing Magic always seems to be just a visual effect or an added addition to attacks in the show.
Another weird ass thing about Red Son's magic is its contrast with Nezha's. I'm pretty sure Red Son's fire is actual fire that he conjures magically, in contrast to Nezha's Wind Fire Wheels (conduits that Nezha fuels, and release Wuxing Magic as a visual effect) which make specifically magical fire.
Okay, so, I've been going through this assuming you're aware of the show's visuals concerning magic, but this is important for me to cover in detail. Everyone has two magic colors (white doesn't count for this). They can change in lighting, but you'll always recognize them as being the same general colors. Other colors may be used for emphasis, but they'll only be darker versions of the colors and they'll be used as a background for the main colors. (Quick note, MK and Wukong might have only one magic color? Fun stuff.)
The reason I think Red Son's magic is not... magic persay, is because it doesn't follow the color rule. Like, it's not actually the color of Red Son's magical energy half the time, it doesn't follow the magic color rule. Red Son's fire shifts like an actual fire, which is very cool visually, but is not how magic works.
(Quick note, magic seems to be lighter in the celestial realm. This is because the Celestial Realm is really well-lit. The environment is literally pure sunlight or some shit, so all the characters and their magic are in perfect lighting. So Red Son's magic getting inexplicably darker would make no sense unless Red Son's magic is doing that on its own and the lighting has nothing to do with it.)
His magic also isn't the color of the Samadhi Fire, nor is his fire. That time in season 5 when Mei helped him with the seal, the two of them together made a Samadhi Fire-colored seal. He didn't seem capable of doing that by himself, which leads me to my conclusion:
I think the suppression of the Samadhi Fire suppressed Red Son's Intrinsic Magic as a whole, and his magical core (as one user put it) is compensating by drawing directly from his element.
Characters having an element isn't a new thing. Wukong's element is metal, he's a metal guy, it's why he can't swim, and it's why MK can't swim. MK needs floaties because he'll sink like a rock because he shares the metal element with Wukong.
But this is a possible explanation for why Red Son's magic is so weird.
On the note of Mei having more access to the Samadhi Fire than him, Skellebonez (my rock through this journey of a post) brought up a good point: "[I] think it makes sense because whatever they did to remove it from him could have also added a barrier preventing its return to an extent[.] Like a filter[.]"
This Intrinsic Magic cap/Samadhi Filter might also explain why he keeps getting his shit rocked despite having such potential to be powerful (that's probably just because it's silly tho) and it could explain why his parents are so damn disappointed in him in season 1. It's because they took his magic from him (however unintentionally) and he's not as magical anymore. The only type of categorizable magic he uses is Celestial magic, which HUMANS can use and can be bestowed on ANYONE. You can just like... LEARN THAT, and I think he just did.
In canon, nobody ever seems to be hurt by Red Son's fire? It seems to just be... a thing that he does. Everyone is less and less scared of it as the show goes on, and the only thing it does major damage to is MK's apartment. He uses his fists to attack more than he uses his fire, it's generally left as a visual effect. Red Son uses his fire as an intimidation tactic, not as an actual weapon, and I think this could also be explained by an Intrinsic Magic cap. His intrinsic magic is suppressed, so he has to rely on things like physical strength/cultivation.
I also think nobody knows this in canon, they didn't know about it, or they don't understand it. I think Red Son has a magic limiter on him, which is why his parents were such raging fuckasses in season one. They thought their son was "useless", or in Wukong's words, "half-baked", after showing such promise in his childhood before an incident. They only got a healthier relationship after they stopped obsessing over power and spent some family time together, when they realized that their son being a powerful magical demon isn't the most important thing in the world. (AND WE WEREN'T SHOWN IT.)
Red Son is magic-disabled, in this essay I did.
ALL MAGIC COMES FROM THE PRIMORDIAL CHAOS, SO, IN ACTUALITY, ALL OF IT IS THE SAME! FUCK YOU!
Using this post I've decided to delve deep into my OCs magic system. And apparently it's made me realize some... Stuff. Some interesting questions about them.
So here we go. We're going over Zha Tianfei, Yun Huyao, Feng Tianfei, Hua Qiang, Lin Jiahao, Wei Yahui, Lán (Xiaotian), Ying (Xiaotian), and Ganju (Xiaotian).
Zha Tianfei
Class: Intrinsic. She is a guardian of the wind and is also technically a demon. She's also super old. She holds wind magic and can conjure up spiritual wolves for assistance. Her birth is unknown. Her Intrinsic theme is her wolf heritage.
Subtype: Celestial Magic. She can preform spells that reveal her crest to be a swirled pendant. This is especially noticeable on the circlets she can conjure up.
... Okay looking back on it somethings already extremely fishy with Zha. She lines up with celestial beings more than her demon blueprint
... THAT WAS NOT INTENTIONAL 😭
Yun Huyao
Class: Cultivated. She's a cloud fox demon, her hair is the conduit for her magic. She is specifically Passive Cultivation.
Subtype: None
Feng Tianfei
Class: Inherited. She's the daughter of two powerful demons, their animals are mammals as she's a hybrid of the two. She's specifically Ancestral Inheritance.
Subtype: None
Hua Qiang
Class: Bestow Inherited. Unaware power was given to them at birth, it was secretly granted due to LBD's remnant influence on the world.
Subtype: Consequential. Was given her power by Lady Bone Demon herself.
Lin Jiahao
Class: Ancestral Inherited. His main animal is a monkey, and his ancestral ties are to the legendary Chi-Kao himself.
Subtype: Celestial. His symbol is the Chinese symbol for "Monkey"
Wei Yahui
Class: Ancestral Inherited. Her main animal is a "Chili Rasbora", and although she doesn't know much about her ancestry she does have her powers from them.
Subtype: Consequential. Xiangliu had something to do with this...
Note: Wei Yahui is consequential Magic because Xiangliu took whatever was left of Red Son and shoved it into a pearl. He thrives off of Chaos and with the other two confirmed to return soon, he decided to speed it up and get the Demon Bull prince back however he could.
Lán (Xiaotian)
Class: Ancestral Inherited and Intrinsic. Her parents are Qi Xiaotian and Nezha, she's a celestial fire monkey and inherited her parents powers. Her birth came from a pearl stone and her central theme is fire. Her fire is a special kind of celestial power: The Chundu Fire.
Subtype: Celestial. Learnt it from Nezha for use ONLY in the celestial realm. Also to keep her magic in check.
Ying and Ganju (Xiaotian)
Ying is purple, Ganju is orange.
Class: Ancestral Inherited and Intrinsic. Born second, as such without powers. She's a late bloomer. Born from the amethyst half of the ametrine. Her magic ends up manifesting itself as Nezha's celestial flames and MK's shadow powers.
Subtype: Celestial. She learnt it way before she finally unlocked her real powers.
Class: Ancestral Inherited and Intrinsic. Born first, as such has the most power. Born from the citrine half of the ametrine. Their magic is dominantly between MK's golden energies and Red's dormant samadhi fire.
Subtype: Celestial. He learnt it as soon as he could so they could explore outside the celestial realm.
Hey there! First of all I love your blog so much! It is always one of the highlights of my day tbh! I have a question tho- (and sorry if you’ve covered it before) do you think you could clarify more like...how using magic effects Stephen’s body and mental health individually? I’m really curious. I’ve seen in the Jason Aaron run how he had ulcers and couldn’t sleep at night and things like that, but I’ve been told it’s a lot more than what they showed in the last days of magic! Thank you!
Greetings and thank you for asking!
And oh, that’s so kind of you, anon! I’m so glad it brings you joy, it’s always an honor.
I don’t recall covering it (as my blog ages, so does my mind haha). That’s a really nice topic, honestly.
First, when it comes to body health, it’s a new thing that Aaron created for his run. Before v4, we were aware that only dark magic had a cost, mostly on people’s souls. There are, though, a few hints about dark magic hurting Stephen’s body, mostly in New Avengers v1.
There’s also this issue with his hands. They’re always in pain but it’s said in Sorcerer Supreme that they also hurt when there’s imbalance in magic.
He was also forced to fight in the War of the Seven Spheres for 5000 years, aging only one year thanks to the Vishanti. That’s a LOT for a human being.
It’s hard to separate the body from the mind when we’re dealing with health in general because they’re deeply connected, though, which means all these events also affected Stephen’s mind.
I’ve made several posts about how magic and his decisions as Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme affected his life, his relationship with people and his mental health: 1, 2 and 3. They’re certainly more detailed than this post, in case you feel interested.
It’s not... canon, I’d say, but at this point, it’s quite impossible to deny that Stephen is struggling with depression, especially in Aaron’s and Cates’ runs.
That said, v5 isn’t really about mental health because Waid was mostly worried about perceiving him as an arrogant character. There were a few hints that he struggles to socialize and be honest with people, but not even close to the deep storytelling seen in v4. So the cost is not really physical or mental. Waid turned magic into an accounting office. Quite literally. When the entities refused to give him power, he created mystic artifacts, calling upon his own name. It’s... Uh, it’s just bad writing, honestly.
Now, we’re waiting to learn what’s going to happen in Strange Academy. It was said that the teachers are dealing with the cost, preventing the students from paying this debt. There is some v4 foreshadowing in Skottie’s writing in my opinion, which means the cost will probably bring consequences to everyone.
In short, from everything I’ve ever read, I’d say magic affects its users more in a mental level, even though it also affects their bodies. For instance, Illyana was kidnapped by the demon Belasco when she was just a girl. She was tortured in Limbo for years until her soul was twisted to the point of becoming half-demon. So yes, her body turns into the darkchylde when she loses control. The same goes to her armor and her connection to the Soulsword. And I’m not even mentioning her mental health after years of abuse and torture. This also explains why there are few sorcerers on Earth compared to other superheroes. Magic is not a cool thing. It’s a burden. Those who devoted their lives to magic renounced their very existence. And that’s why I love them.
I think it also needs to be mentioned that for monsters, fighting isn’t some kind of last resort thing, nor is it an (inherently) aggressive act. Fighting and magic are fun! They’re forms of self-expression! Your attacks are a way to say exactly who you are and show off what you value.
So, someone like Papyrus, who wants everyone to know his name, and who he is, and how strong and cool he is, is going to LOVE fighting. I don’t think he would EVER turn down sparring or training or learning a new technique.
I’ve seen AUs where Papyrus is way too much of a sweetie to ever learn magic attacks or whatever and that feels so WRONG to me. Papyrus would LOVE learning new things to look extra cool.
His overall pacifism and gentleness isn’t in how likely he is to fight, it’s in how much care he puts in to making sure he doesn’t lose control of the fight. It’s the way he tells you you need to jump if you’re getting hurt too early. Is giving you extra invincibility frames to make it easier for you to recover. It’s the way he summons a feild of bones but changes his hold on your gravity so you can clear it. It’s the way he makes a GIANT 2 STORY BONE but lowers it if he sees you aren’t going to clear it. It’s stopping when you’re hurt, it’s having perfect control over his damage output, it’s waiting on his special attack (almost definitely blasters) because pulling them out too early isn’t fair.
During his fight, he really wants you to think he’s impressive and cool, between “you’re blue now” and all the antics he gets up to. He’s trying hard to play it cool, he’s trying to treat it like it’s just a sparing session, just showing off, and willfully ignoring what comes after.
While I’m trying to make a general rambling point about Papyrus’s pacifism being misrepresented, I want to propose something a little different:
How about instead of showing Papyrus as somehow reluctant to fight, you show him as excited to learn? Not just training from Undyne, but learning from anyone. Healing, orange attacks. soul modes, bombs, fire magic, cool patterns, new ways to use his magic. He’s clearly a student of the craft. Why take that way? Gimme a Papyrus that tries to learn as much as possible to have even more ways to show off (and even greater control to ensure things never get out of hand)
Welcome to the second installment of Spell Seminar. Today, I will be showcasing a contraption. Feast your eyes on these Olruggio original, the Glowstone Path!
Spell Seminar Lesson Two: The Glowstone Path
Debuting in chap 1, the glowstone path is a contraption invented by Oru that emits a brilliant glow when stepped on. Purely for fun, this device is what made Coco first fall in love with magic.
What makes the glowstone paths so special is how it activates. An incredibly simple but ingenious design, the spell is actually drawin in two pieces, split between the stepping stone on the top (part with the hole) and the base on the bottom (part with the insert/peg).
Split Spells
Before I explain why the parts of the spell are separate, I need to explain rings. For signs/sigils to work, they must be placed within a completed ring. If the ring has a gap, the spell will not activate. However, once closed, the spell will turn on.
While the bottom stone of the path has the spell with a gap, the top stone has the section of the circle needed to complete the glyph, just like in the video above. However, if we just had the two stones on their own, the moment the top stone was placed down, the spell would activate. We only want the spell to activate when stepped on, so what's the solution?
To keep the stones separated until stepped on, and as such, the glyphs inactive, Oru placed a pad to each corner of the bottom stone. These pads keep the stones at a distance from one another, compressing enough to allow the spell to activate only when stepped on.
When I first realized how this worked, I nearly had a brain aneurism. Single greatest aha moment of my entire life. The concept of activating and deactivating spells via physical separation is actually what first got me into designing my own contraptions and spells for WHA. It served as the spark that lit the fire which is now my crushing WHA spell/wiki obsession.
Conclusion
That is all for my discussion on the wonderful glowstone path. I would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone that took interest in my previous post on the wallbending spell. Seeing how many people love the magic system really makes this all worthwhile. Until next time!
Thank you for attending today’s Spell Seminar. This will be the first of many lessons explaining the spells and magic of WHA, ranging from the simplest of wall breakers to the wildest of windowways.
Today, we will be discussing one of my personal favorite spells, wall bend.
Spell Seminar Lesson One: The Wall Bend Spell
First seen on pg 27 of chap 14, wall bend is a spell capable of bending and pulling solid walls as if they were cloth. Remarkably, after the spell was first revealed in chapter 14, we wouldn’t see the glyph until chapter 65.
Experienced spell makers may recognize the earth sigil this glyph’s center, as well as the pull signs (the funky arrows) along the glyph’s sides. However, the signs at the top and bottom of thus glyph (highlighted in gold and purple) are unusual. They will be the focus of today’s lesson.
To understand the sign at the top of the spell (furthest away from Qifrey, highlighted in purple), you must first understand the one at the bottom (highlighted in gold)
Compound Signs
The sign drawn in gold is what we call a compound sign. Compound signs are signs composed of several other signs mixed together.
This one consists of three parts: a ribbon sign as the core, a bend sign on each end of the ribbon, and part of an inverted radial sign (strengthen).
Whereas a ribbon sign on it’s own just stretches things into long, soft ribbons, by combining it with bend (and inverted radial to boost its power), it is able to do one of two things; make a single portion of a wall bendable like a sheet of fabric, or allow the portion of wall near the spell to be bent and stretched.
Both of these interpretations are equally valid, but each has different implications as to the function of the bind (purple) sign. I only mentioned one of these interpretations in the twitter version of this lesson, but today, I’ll be going over both of them.
Interpretation One: Unify
Assuming the partial bending interpretation of the compound sign, bind has an important role in holding the wall together.
In this interpretation, bind functions to “bind” the entire wall together into a single cohesive object. This makes it so that, instead of stretching out just a single portion of wall, the spell instead stretches the wall in its entirety as a single cohesive unit.
In this version of the spell, the pull signs function to keep the wall connected to the spell, making use of the wall’s elasticity and stretchiness to do so. Imagine it like a magnet pulling the wall along rather than a direct connection between the spell and the wall.
Bind Interpretation Two: Glue
Assuming that the compound sign already effects the entire wall, then it makes much more sense for the bind sign to function like a glue between the wall and the spell.
In this interpretation, bind physically connects the part of the wall the spell is touching to the spell itself, allowing it to be dragged along with the spell to stretch the wall.
In this version, the pull signs serve simply as aids, helping to make it easier to drag the wall into the desired position and shape rather than just pulling it along as was the case in the other interpretation.
Conclusion
Regardless of which interpretation of bind one day proves to be the right one, this spell is unique for the lessons it can teach us about spell design and for the insights it can give us into magic as a whole. I’ve already designed 2 spells with bind, so it’s safe to say that it has a lot of uses both in universe and for us spell makers. I hope you enjoyed this lesson, and I’ll see you in the next one.
