History Main / EntropyAndChaosMagic

* Anarchy Mages in ''TabletopGame/PoniesAndParasprites''. These characters have sought out and learned from Discord himself. They use a ''Pandemonium Spark'' to channel the powers of the GodOfChaos in much the same way a Cleric from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsandDragons'' would. These mages have a tenuous grasp of their powers, meaning that their channels can and will go wildly out of control.

Chaos Magic also exists [[AluminumChristmasTrees in real life]]. It is a Postmodern esoteric practice that eclectically borrows from older magical traditions in order to create new rituals. Notable Chaos Magicians who have incorporated it into their work include Creator/WilliamSBurroughs, Creator/GrantMorrison, Timothy Leary, and Music/DieAntwoord. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_magic The other Wiki has more.]]

See also {{Antimatter}}, PowerOfTheVoid, and CastingAShadow.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Flat Escardos of ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'' and ''Literature/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' is noted to be a rare practitioner of the "real-life" version of chaos magic. In the series' universe, this should normally be all but impossible, as it would require not only understanding the entire theoretical foundation behind each spell to combine, but also for the user to somehow reconcile and combine incommensurable foundations in order for a spell to be anything but useless. Flat gets around this by being a GeniusDitz who [[AchievementsInIgnorance simply doesn't realize this shouldn't be possible]].
[[/folder]]

* Chaos Magic exists the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. It was deemed so dangerous that magic users suppressed any knowledge of its existence in order to weaken it. Dr. Strange, ''the Sorcerer Supreme'', said that such a thing didn't exist. Then [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda Maximoff's]] probability-based mutant power [[DoingInTheScientist were sourced by contact]] with the imprisoned Elder god turned demon Chthon, who was basically chaos magics patron deity and the main reason knowledge of it was suppressed.
* Chaos Magic is explicitly or [[ImpliedTrope implicitly]] portrayed in ComicBook/TheInvisibles. Multiple practices of it appear, like scrying, sex magic, fiction-jumping or Gnosticism. Fittingly, its writer Creator/GrantMorrison is a practicing chaos magician.
** [[MindScrew It gets crazier.]] According to Morrison, the comic book is supposed to be a hyper-sigil spell that [[LogicBomb affects the world on a fundemental level and makes the reader question their own reality.]]

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has this as arguably the most dangerous form of magic - as Wanda explains, the only limits are the caster's [[BreadEggsMilkSquick power, imagination, concentration, and willingness to risk tearing the fabric of reality.]]
** [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda Maximoff]] who, unlike her canon counterpart, is very skilled at managing her chaos magic -- though when it first manifested along with her mutation, it nearly drove her completely insane despite the best of efforts of [[{{ComicBook/Magneto}} her father]], [[Literature/HarryPotter Albus Dumbledore]], [[ComicBook/IronMan Howard Stark]] and [[ComicBook/XMen Charles Xavier]], to the point where [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles the White Council]] wanted to execute her simply because she was too dangerous. Cue Doctor Strange sweeping in, flipping the White Council the bird and taking her as his apprentice.
** Hermione, ironically, seems to have a predilection for this. In the sequel, she's demonstrated to be having trouble with it - she thrives on [[MagicAIsMagicA learning and mastering the strict rules of normal magic]], while Chaos Magic by definition has no rules. [[spoiler: Since she's Wanda's daughter, this gift is hardly surprising - but still ironic.]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheLastDraconequus,'' the protagonist is Discord, a god of Chaos.

* The "wild magic" which is the AppliedPhlebotinum of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' books.

* In ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'':

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': The initial impetus for the main plot of ''Literature/BloodRites'' is when Harry is hired to deal with an entropy curse that kills its targets in strange and unusual ways (something later explained as being caused by the person directing most of the curses being TheDitz). A previous victim is killed after being hit by a car... while water-skiing. Harry manages to intercept and redirect another use of it that causes a frozen turkey to fall out of a passing aircraft and pulverise an attacking [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Black Court vampire]] and, just for extra value, cause the cooking timer to pop out and ding.
-->"For my next trick, [[AnvilOnHead anvils!]]"
* In the first book of ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'', by Charles Stross, Bob Howard investigates a parallel universe where [[spoiler:the Third Reich]] managed to summon an entropy being which caused the heat-death of their universe, and is trying to infiltrate the main universe [[spoiler:by manipulating human governments to nuke the portal]], which would "create" enough entropy so that it could expand the portal and squeeze through. In a broader aspect, the "magic" from the universe of the Laundry is the manipulation of information entropy: specifically, "agents" of each government/cult are attempting to lower the entropic value of the events that they want to happen while raising the entropic value of events that their rivals want to happen... all without raising the ''thermodynamic'' entropy of the universe to prevent entropic beings (such as the one in The Atrocity Archives) from breaking through and wreaking havoc.
* In ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'', this is [[GodOfEvil Ruin's]] whole schtick, He is a living force of intelligent decay and entropy, seeking only to unmake the world. Appropriately enough, the magic system he empowers -- hemalurgy -- requires [[BloodMagic blood sacrifice]] to work, making it a power that can only be accessed through destruction, and even under ideal circumstances there's always going to be some power lost in the process, despite the user coming out ahead, and when not stored in blood or in a person, a hemalurgic spike will slowly become less and less potent, though it will always retain a small amount of charge.
* Isyllt, the heroine of Amanda Downum's ''Literature/TheNecromancerChronicles'' series, is a necromancer and an entropomancer, the latter being a somewhat related but much rarer ability. She can accelerate, focus and control decay; for example, she causes a steel lock to rust away to dust in less than a minute.
* ''Literature/OldKingdom'': Free Magic, which is made up of all the powers left over from when [[BackgroundMagicField the Charter]] was made, most of which are inimical to ordinary life. Notably, unlike the heavily rule-bound Charter Magic, Free Magic has almost no rules at all -- so long as you have sufficient strength of will and a strong enough source of it, you can do just about anything (though it's best at tearing things down). Of course, there are [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity side effects...]]

* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfRecluce'' pure Chaos is basically pure energy, but it has entropic side effects. Chaos mages age faster than normal humans, the wine they drink turns to vinegar before they're finished with it (or even after a minute or two for very powerful mages), books they read fall apart after a few years, and the city where the chaos mage guild is located is covered in a thin layer of fine white dust formed from Chaos energy slowly destroying the stones of the city.
* In ''Literature/ShadowOps'', entropy is the domain of [[BlackMagic Negramancy]]. Anyone with this power is a OneManArmy; the only known person with this power is able to destroy most of a fully-staffed military base of soldiers specially trained to fight magic-users in moments by simply making their equipment and bodies decay in seconds.
* In a variation, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Aornis Hades]] in the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series manipulates entropy to affect chance. Specifically, by lowering entropy in order to cause improbable and fatal accidents. This has the side-effect of causing numerous, unrelated coincidences to pile up just prior to the accident--long enough for Thursday to realize the attack is coming.

* The [[BigBad Lone Power]] in the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series has the main goal of bringing death to the multiverse by spreading entropy everywhere (he's also responsible for the creation of entropy, by the way), and his powers are wizardly in nature. Conversely, the proper application of wizardry can slow entropic decay.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had Ethan Rayne, who worshiped chaos and often used chaos magic.
* ''Series/WandaVision'' reveals that [[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Wanda Maximoff]], like her comic counterpart, is using chaos magic. [[spoiler:When Agatha Harkness, a more traditional witch who initially assumed that Wanda created [[EldritchLocation the Hex]] with complicated, multilayered spells, realizes that Wanda created it through sheer force of will with chaos magic, she is equal parts impressed with Wanda's achievement (to the point of bestowing upon her the title of "the Scarlet Witch") and disappointed that she used it to do something as mundane as create a perfect sitcom life for herself.]]

** There was at least one prestige class in Edition 3.5 called the "entropmancer" who used a "[[ArtisticLicensePhysics shard of entropy]]" as its main weapon. They kinda screwed up the whole physics thing there (a "shard of entropy" makes about as much sense as "a piece of temperature"), but the thematic link is obvious.
** The 2nd Edition supplement ''Tome of Magic'' has Wild mages and the Chaos sphere for priests. Both emphasized chaotic spells with random results. Wild Mages later returned as a sorcerer option in 5th edition.
** After the Time of Troubles the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms developed Wild Magic Zones, where any magic use could cause a random Wild Magic Surge which was often quite dangerous.
** The Wand of Wonder (several varieties), which had a different effect each time it was used.
** In 4th Edition, Sorcerers can choose Wild Magic as a spell source, which is described as channeling power from the Elemental Chaos. To go along with the theme, many Wild Magic powers daze or stun enemies or have an effect determined randomly via die roll. Even boons from various Wild Magic features are determined randomly.
** In 5th Edition, it's one of the Sorcerer options from the Core Rulebook. It allows them to manipulate luck to a certain extent, but in exchange they may suffer a "wild magic overload" that manifests in a random effect that can go from shooting an area effect spell centered on the sorcerer to being temporarily transformed into a potted plant or healing themselves.
*** The ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'' expansion also brings the "Path of Wild Magic", a ''Barbarian'' subclass that causes random magical effects every time the barbarian enters a rage.

* Anarchy Mages in ''TabletopGame/PoniesAndParasprites''. These characters have sought out and learned from Discord himself. They use a ''Pandemonium Spark'' to channel the powers of the God of Chaos in much the same way a Cleric from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsandDragons'' would. These mages have a tenuous grasp of their powers, meaning that their channels can and will go wildly out of control. [[note]]''"But that's all part of the FUN!" - Discord''[[/note]]
* Entropists in ''TabletopGame/FabulaUltima'' are mages who draw their power from the churning chaos beyond the stars to cast spells which manipulate probability, distort time, drain life, reflect magic, and blast foes with pure darkness.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''.
** The forces of Chaos represent ultimate entropy for both game universes, since the victory of the Chaos Gods is inevitable and naturally puts an end to everyone else. Chaos also happens to be the source of all magic in both 'verses.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'': Several names of demons are based on the word Entropy. Demons in ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' use chaos magic, and also have a number of "chaos" spells.
** Chaos Knight from [[VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients DotA]] uses this.
* ''VideoGame/FallFromHeaven''
** The entropy magic sphere is associated with Agares, the leader of the Evil gods, and its spells relate to decay and corrosion. Entropy magic nodes act as a source of [[PhysicalHell Hell Terrain]], and any mage who uses the magic [[EvilIsNotAToy will come back to life as a slave]] of the LegionsOfHell upon death, regardless of their nation's alignment.
** The chaos magic sphere is a flavor 1 chaos type, and is associated with the god of war (in a [[AnarchyIsChaos anarchistic,]] [[TheSocialDarwinist everyone fights everyone,]] sense.), who is a fallen, evil god as well.
* ''VideoGame/LordsOfMagic'''s chaos faith uses flavor 1 spells.
* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'' has a spell school literally ''called'' Chaos Magic, and consists mostly of direct damage spells. ''Heroes of Might and Magic V'' has an entire school devoted to destructive spells, as well (and it's even called Chaos Magic in the Russian translation).

* ''[[VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery ADOM]]'' features a variety of magicians devoted to Chaos, including the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Chaos Archmage]], guardian of the elemental Mana Temple. His powers are no more random than those of any spellcasting enemy, but he's ''much'' meaner than most of them. Like most of the other Chaos-themed creatures in the game, he can also [[TheCorruption corrupt]] your character with a melee touch attack, which produces a series of randomized [[BodyHorror warping effects.]]
* Entropy magic in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series consists mostly of {{curse}}s and other sinister powers and is closely connected to [[AnotherDimension The Fade]].
* The OptionalBoss and TrueFinalBoss of ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction'' have "Chaos" as their element, as opposed to a certain optional character with "Order" as his element. Both end up effectively NonElemental.
* Entropy is an element in, well, ''VideoGame/{{Elements}}''.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMajEyal : Forbidden Cults'' has the Cultist of Entropy class, which can do things like inflict rapid aging on enemies, extend the duration of negative effects, and tear rifts in reality. Their spells cause them to accrue entropic backlash that causes damage over time, but their SignatureMove is to gift their entropy to an enemy.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* Aoko Aozaki of ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'' is described as being a decent mage who specializes and excels at using her magic for destruction. Not even Alice Kuonji, a much more advanced mage than Aoko, can keep up with Aoko's simple yet powerful destruction spells. This is to the point that even Nvrnqsr Chaos, a self-proclaimed personification of Chaos, thinks her spells go against the idea of order and deems her [[TooSpicyForYogSogoth too chaotic for him to even risk absorbing]] in ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood''. In ''VisualNovel/WitchOnTheHolyNight'', she also becomes the only user of Fifth Magic, of which one of its functions is time travel. She uses it to [[spoiler:displace Soujuurou's death by moving it into the distant future when he gets killed five minutes prior to her accessing it, but her sister Touko calculates that doing this is also displacing magic/energy in the timeline, which will lead to the inevitable heat death of the universe. Aoko plans on dealing with it when the time comes.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* "Entropic Acid" is used to destroy a NighInvulnerable parasite in ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors.'' There's also been mention of an "Entropic Zone," a dimension where life forms age and objects decay at an accelerated rate.
* Zintiel from ''Webcomic/FlakyPastry'' whose [[PersonalityPowers personality is as chaotic as her magic.]]
[[/folder]]

--->"I COULD TRANSFORM THE COSMOS SO EVERYTHING IS MADE OF ICING!"

** When Discord's chaos magic is stolen in the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:Cozy Glow]] tries to use it and is unable to, only able to summon hangry pineapples and rubber chickens. Later, [[spoiler:Pinkie Pie]] temporarily gains Discord's chaos magic and is actually able to control it enough to make a giant cupcake slam onto the villains, although she quickly [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity goes mad with power]] until Discord takes his magic back from her.

** Discord's raison d'etre. He's a draconequus and literal being of chaos with the magic to back it up. He literally ''has'' to be chaotic or he starts to disappear. He initially appears as a villain but eventually makes a HeelFaceTurn thanks to Fluttershy and the Mane 6 (mostly Fluttershy) and now uses his chaos magic for more constructive means.
** When Discord's chaos magic was stolen in the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:Cozy Glow]] tries to use it and is unable to, only able to summon hangry pineapples and rubber chickens. Later, [[spoiler:Pinkie Pie]] temporarily gains Discord's chaos magic and is actually able to control it enough to make a giant cupcake slam onto the villains, though she quickly [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity goes mad with power]] until Discord takes his magic back from her.

Since this all sounds quite scary, Entropy and Chaos Magic tends to be portrayed as [[ChaosIsEvil villainous]], or at least so destructive that little good can come of their use. If a setting divides magic into 'good' and 'bad' forms, expect chaos and entropy to be sorted under BlackMagic.

"Entropy" in particular is one of these scientific concepts which appeals to writers due to its cool, sinister-sounding name and its association with decay. In real life, "entropy" is a physical concept, roughly defined as a measure of disorder and chaos of a given system.[[note]]Strictly speaking, entropy is a constant multiplied by the natural logarithm of the number of microstates (distribution of particles by states) corresponding to same observed macrostate (set of observed macroparameters) of the system.[[/note]] Per the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy of an isolated system can only grow, never decrease; the only way to decrease the entropy is for some external force to do work on it.[[note]]Think about how a [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/entropy messy room will only get messier over time, and it takes someone deliberately cleaning up to restore it to a more ordered state.]][[/note]] It's closely related to the concept of UsefulNotes/{{Energy}}, due to its transformative nature. Since the universe itself (as far as we know) is an isolated system with no external forces that can affect it, this suggests that eventually it will succumb to [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 "heat death of the universe"]]: eventually all organized systems will break apart.[[note]]Ironically, despite people usually conflating this idea with chaos, the heat death of the universe will result in the most ordered state the universe has ever seen: a sea of matter stretching evenly and uniformly across the entire universe in all directions until the end of time, assuming quantum mechanics does not produce a new Big Bang -- forever is a long time, after all, and the physics of such extremely low conditions of temperature and density, where quantum effects would prevail, are thought to be poorly understood. This is actually a basic fact about entropy, as higher entropy states tend to be more "soupy."[[/note]] Hence why chaos-based entities tend to have an OmnicidalManiac vibe to them.

Might be related to {{Antimatter}}, PowerOfTheVoid, and CastingAShadow.

* Flat Escardos of ''Literature/FateStrangeFake'' and ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' is noted to be a rare practitioner of the "real-life" version of chaos magic. In the series' universe, this should normally be all but impossible, as it would require not only understanding the entire theoretical foundation behind each spell to combine, but also for the user to somehow reconcile and combine incommensurable foundations in order for a spell to be anything but useless. Flat gets around this by being a GeniusDitz who [[AchievementsInIgnorance simply doesn't realize this shouldn't be possible]].

"Entropy" in particular is one of these scientific concepts which appeals to writers due to its cool, sinister-sounding name and its association with decay. In real life, "entropy" is a physical concept, roughly defined as a measure of disorder and chaos of a given system.[[note]]Strictly speaking, entropy is a constant multiplied by log of the number of microstates (distribution of particles by states) corresponding to same observed macrostate (set of observed macroparameters) of the system.[[/note]] Per the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy of an isolated system can only grow, never decrease; the only way to decrease the entropy is for some external force to do work on it.[[note]]Think about how a [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/entropy messy room will only get messier over time, and it takes someone deliberately cleaning up to restore it to a more ordered state.]][[/note]] Since the universe itself (as far as we know) is an isolated system with no external forces that can affect it, this suggests that eventually it will succumb to [[ApocalypseHow/ClassX4 "heat death of the universe"]]: eventually all organized systems will break apart.[[note]]Ironically, despite people usually conflating this idea with chaos, the heat death of the universe will result in the most ordered state the universe has ever seen: a sea of matter stretching evenly and uniformly across the entire universe in all directions until the end of time, assuming quantum mechanics does not produce a new Big Bang -- forever is a long time, after all, and the physics of such extremely low conditions of temperature and density, where quantum effects would prevail, are thought to be poorly understood. This is actually a basic fact about entropy, as higher entropy states tend to be more "soupy."[[/note]] Hence why chaos-based entities tend to have an OmnicidalManiac vibe to them.