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Say the words: a look into the Magicians

6/16/2018

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syfy

“Just as a verb must agree with the subject, even the simplest spell has to be modified, adjusted and declined to agree to the time of day, the lunar phase, the intention, the purpose, etc.”
​-The Magicians Wiki

We have all grown to love the (mis)adventures of the Magicians crew, if you're reading this and have no idea about this show, I need you to turn your a** around and go start watching this show.
I wasn't born with superpowers or given my Hogwarts letter at 11, so when I saw this show I thought maybe I'll get to go to a secret Magic Grad school (a year into my grad studies... I'm still waiting Brakebills). If you have watched the show you've probably noticed all the awesome magic (or lack thereof **spoilers season 3**). Language plays an important role in the show's magic, in fact these Magicians are fascinating, why you ask? Well, if you aspire to join the Brakebills gang you better hope you're a polyglot. There are many times in the show where the Magicians are utilizing a Linguistic Magic, where the user must be able to recite words (most times in other languages) with near native like proficiency. Now this is highly unlikely, unless there is some kind of magical assist component not described in the show, but I must give a round of applause to the Magicians crew. The use of the Linguistic Magic in MANY shows, movies, and books relies on Latin. I think this is because Latin has a stereotypical notion of an ancient, but still recognizable language. The Magicians creators though went a step further and have incorporated Linguistic Magic sourced by various languages. All together this creates a much more authentic world building experience for the viewers and for those of us that appreciate those small nuances, bravo team Magicians.

Check out some of the spells below: 
Emotion Bottles - Japanese
Niffin Box Spell - Turkish
Legrand's Hammer Charm - Dutch
Ars Deicidium - Latin
Une Chaleur Temporaire - French
Unlocking Charm - Czech

Curious to start you own exploration of the Magician's Linguistic Magic check out the Wiki Page. 
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