Magic

This article is about the general concept of magic in Legends. You may be looking for the magicks used by the Nightsisters in canon.

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"It's not the Force, it's magic!"

―Adler Roty^[src]

Magic was a catch-all term referring to any of a number of supernatural techniques or occult teachings outside of conventional Force powers. It was thought that magic allowed sorcerous practitioners to conjure and wield great powers or to manipulate aspects of reality in order to influence events.^[1]

Description

"Magic is an art of patience. The study of the natural ways involves many years of the strictest devotion. Terrible things can happen to a young wizard who foolishly misuses his knowledge."

―Logray to Teebo^[src]

The exact nature of magic remains in dispute among philosophers, as does its relationship to the Force proper. It is possible that all "magic" traditions were simply different methods of accessing the same Force, or were emanations of different aspects of it. More so than the Force, magic potency could be trapped in artifacts or locations—but again, this may be just due to different methods of accessing and using the Force.

The term was also sometimes mistakenly used by primitives or less-informed people to refer to the Force powers of mainstream Jedi and Sith, who were likely to be called "wizards" and their abilities attributed to "magic." The Rakata for example referred to Revan's powers as magic, much to the dismay of Revan, who tried to explain the difference to them. Han Solo also referred to Obi-Wan Kenobi's powers as "magic."

Derivatives of the word "magic" and words such as "witch" are terms describing dark side users or powers (Witches of Dathomir, Sith magic, Sith alchemy, Morag identified as "Witch," Emperor's Mage) which had almost exclusively negative connotations.

The Nightsisters of Dathomir, for example, were "crafters" of various spirit-willed magics, with the shaman and clan leader Mother Talzin being the most powerful of the magic-wielding witches. Methods of channeling energies of the Nightsisters' Winged Goddess or Fanged God included conjuring objects from raw spirit ichor, divination (heartshadow), scrying, spell-casting or incantation, mesmerism, ur-spirit communication, spirit-infusion of talismans and totems, and spirit-conjuring techniques linked with Nature.^[1] Some Jedi also used Dathomir magic.^[2]

Finally, magic also referred to the non-supernatural stage trickery of entertainers like Wim Magwit.

Behind the scenes

"It will be like magic, young Anakin Skywalker."
"I don't need magic," Anakin said solemnly.
Shappa laughed a little nervously. "Neither do you, I bet," he said to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan smiled.
"I forgot. You're Jedi. No magic, then. But of mystery there will be plenty..."

―Zonama Sekot sentient ship designer Shappa Farrs asks Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, in 29 BBY, to join with him in the design of their unique and personalized living Sekotan starship, the Jabitha^[3]

The use of real-life occult terms (witch, mage, prophet, warlock, alchemy, cult) almost exclusively to refer to Sith organizations or entities creates a parallel between an orthodox religion (the Jedi) and a cult or breakaway faction (the Sith).

In Star Wars roleplaying games, Force powers have the role of magic spells of traditional fantasy RPGs. The Force repository is also comparable to the "mana pool" of fantasy games.

A connection of fantasy magic and the Force has been "attempted" during an April Fools' joke which wanted the midi-chlorians originate from the "planet Andowyne," the fantasy world of Willow.