History Main / MagiBabble

** This is heavily combined with TechnoBabble in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''. Understandable, given the protagonists work for [[HeroesRUs Chaldea Security Organisation]], a UN-backed group that makes heavy use of {{Magitek}} to summon Servants and save the world through [[TimePolice time travel]]. For example, SHEBA, the machine that they use to watch out for instabilities in the timeline, was created through a combination of [[spoiler:King Solomon's]] magic, as well as the founder's astral magic. It's also connected to an impressive computer network manned by a group of BridgeBunnies. The result is technicians or MrExposition babbling on about magic in a way that sounds vaguely like computer science.

** This is heavily combined with TechnoBabble in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''. Understandable, given the protagonists work for [[HeroesRUs Chaldea Security Organisation]], a UN-backed group that makes heavy use of {{Magitek}} to summon Servants and save the world through [[TimePolice time travel]]. For example, SHEBA, the machine that they use to watch out for instabilities in the timeline, was created through a combination of [[spoiler:King Solomon's]] magic, as well as the founder's astral magic. It's also connected to an impressive computer network manned by a group of BridgeBunnies.

** This is heavily combined with TechnoBabble in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder''. Understandable, given the protagonists work for [[HeroesRUs Chaldea Security Organisation]], a UN-backed group that makes heavy use of {{Magitek}} to summon Servants and save the world through [[TimePolice time travel]]. For example, SHEBA, the machine that they use to watch out for instabilities in the timeline, was created through a combination of [[spoiler:King Solomon's]] magic, as well as the founder's astral magic. It's also connected to an impressive computer network manned by a group of BridgeBunnies.

* In the ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' x ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' crossover fic, ''Fanfic/FateRevelationOnline'' more and more players slip into this as they are taught magecraft on a grand-scale.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':
** Touma Kamijou is often frustrated when Index or another magical character starts explaining things this way. In turn, the magical character often complains that Touma must be an idiot for not being able to understand something they have known since childhood.
--->'''Touma''': It feels like you're just throwing all this weird terminology at me.
** Touma has an advantage over the rest of the Science-side characters, since [[LockedOutOfTheLoop most of them don't even know magic exists]]. Whenever a magician tries to explain anything, they're inevitably mistaken for a weird [[PsychicPowers esper]] who is insisting on using meaningless fantasy terminology for some random reason. Mikoto listens patiently to a burst of Magi Babble and then tries to translate it into scientific terms (causing the magician to just give up), and when Accelerator witnesses a necromancer cast a spell with InstantRunes, he wonders if she's using the historical symbolism to strengthen her [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Personal Reality]].

** This also extended to the rest of the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'', like how people gain [[LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai Mystic Eyes of Death Perception]], why [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Akiha's power]] makes you feel hot even though it's not fire or heat-based, or why [[Literature/AngelNotes humanity extinct in the future]] [[VideoGame/FateExtra if the Six Sisters ritual is done]].

* In Manga/MahouSenseiNegima, there are training arcs just to describe the exact mechanic of MidSeasonUpgrade the heroes have to access, what kind of conditions they have to fulfill and drawbacks the techniques/spells will befall to the users, how the techniques are different between the users' elemental affinity or magic cultures, etc. And as if manga panels are not enough, each of the manga's volumes has its author note filled with nothing but pages of real life references of each spell or magic practice used in the manga.

* The spell matrix in Sweetie Belle's notebook in Fanfic/TheSweetieChroniclesFragments tends to be a source of large amounts of Magi Babble any time Sweetie Belle or Twilight Sparkle start talking about it.

* Naruto coins the term "jutsubabble" when he fails to grasp most of Jiraiya's long-winded explanation of a complicated seal in ''FanFic/NarutoTheSecretSongsOfTheNinja''.

* In the VisualNovel/FateStayNight x LightNovel/SwordArtOnline crossover fic, ''Fanfic/FateRevelationOnline'' more and more players slip into this as they are taught magecraft on a grand-scale.
* The ''Videogame/{{Undertale}}'' FanFic [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/Visiontale Visiontale]] utilizes extensive magibabble to explain how magic works. Monsters created their magibabble so they could discuss magic with equal rigor to humans discussing science on the surface.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' official {{manga}} ''Silent Sinner in Blue'' has a number of the cast using ''Shinto-Babble'' to power a three-stage rocket that will take them to the moon. The explanation of the three-stage rocket and its power source are very much in-character for the series: ''real'' logic can go take a hike. While a cursory glance at other source material does imply there are certain rules to using magic in the ''Touhou'' universe, ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve and [[FauxSymbolism What Do You Mean It's Not Symbolic]] seem to be the only things that really matter in the long run.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Loki, usually, walk the line between Magi Babble and TechnoBabble.
** Harry Dresden also does this.
** And Thor, surprisingly, though usually when people least expect it. As he points out, he spent just over twenty years as a wizard in the form of James Potter, and spent the last 1,500 years as the brother of Loki.

** PlayedForLaughs towards the end, when [[spoiler:Edward Elric]] attempts to use Magi Babble about EquivalentExchange ''as the basis for a WackyMarriageProposal''. [[{{Adorkable}} It is exactly as dorky as it sounds.]] [[spoiler: Luckily for Ed, Winry is also kind of a dork at heart, and says yes.]]

** ''Liminal Bridges'' is an in-universe book which consists almost entirely of this. Funnily, if you look at the meanings behind the component words, most of it actually makes perfect sense.

* ''[[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Guilty Gear 2: Overture]]'' is almost ''entirely'' this. Bet you never expected that from a PowerOfRock fighting game, huh?

'''Dirkon:''' Aye, let's go wit three.

** Eric, the demonology hacker in [[Discworld/{{Eric}} the book of the same name]], uses Magi Babble that sounds suspiciously like computer babble. "You see, if you rewrite the source codex and, this is the difficult bit, you route it through a high-level..."
** Computer babble is also used by the druids of ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'', in reference to the ritual and astronomical functions of stone circles. ("It can't be software incompatibility, the Chant of the Trodden Spiral was ''designed'' for concentric rings!")

** Touma has an advantage over the rest of the Science-side characters, since [[LockedOutOfTheLoop most of them don't even know magic exists]]. Whenever a magician tries to explain anything, they're inevitably mistaken for a weird [[PsychicPowers esper]] who is insisting on using meaningless fantasy terminology for some random reason. Mikoto listens patiently to a burst of MagiBabble and then tries to translate it into scientific terms (causing the magician to just give up), and when Accelerator witnesses a necromancer cast a spell with InstantRunes, he wonders if she's using the historical symbolism to strengthen her [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Personal Reality]].
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' frequently has MagiBabble, on the premise that "alchemy is a precise science, really!" The basic rules being that they can't create matter from nothing, leading to the principle of EquivalentExchange, but the energy source for rearranging it is unknown to most people (it seems to come from the earth in various ways). If you want more than that, however, you need a Philosopher's Stone. It's essentially a free gift of ludicrous amounts of energy, which would be necessary to create matter from "scratch." Free, that is, in that [[spoiler:someone had already paid the terrible price in advance]]. It required [[spoiler:Father with Truth inside]] to even master ''nuclear fusion'', let alone matter creation.
** PlayedForLaughs towards the end, when [[spoiler:Edward Elric]] attempts to use MagiBabble about EquivalentExchange ''as the basis for a WackyMarriageProposal''. [[{{Adorkable}} It is exactly as dorky as it sounds.]] [[spoiler: Luckily for Ed, Winry is also kind of a dork at heart, and says yes.]]

* The spell matrix in Sweetie Belle's notebook in Fanfic/TheSweetieChroniclesFragments tends to be a source of large amounts of MagiBabble any time Sweetie Belle or Twilight Sparkle start talking about it.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Loki, usually, walk the line between MagiBabble and TechnoBabble.

* In Creator/PatriciaCWrede's ''Literature/EnchantedForestChronicles'' the magician Telemain speaks almost entirely in Magibabble when describing how various spells and enchanted objects work. He becomes irate when people tell him to explain things with less technical terminology, usually claiming he can't think of a simpler way to explain whatever he's talking about precisely. The only exceptions occur when he is asked to explain things normally by Kazul, the gigantic King of the Dragons, whose intimidating appearance inspires him to somehow find a perfect clear, much easier to understand explanation.

** Ponder Stibbons, a {{Magitek}} {{Geek}}, uses a combination of MagiBabble and TechnoBabble to describe the devices created in the High Energy Magic Building (or more often, to hide the fact he's got no idea how they work, even though he built them). Wizards, and indeed some others, also use the catch all explanation of 'It's probably Quantum' or something being weird "'cos of Quantum" to explain anything significantly baffling. It appears to fullfil the same function as saying 'It's magic' in RealLife, though it is usually incorporated with other MagiBabble.

** Butters, once he's introduced to Bob, quickly dives into this trope, mingling MagiBabble ''with'' TechnoBabble in an epic display of geekiness.

** Earlier, in a scene in ''Blood of the Fold'', a character's MagiBabble is interrupted and it is explained (via more MagiBabble) that the character he's talking to already knew everything he was telling her.

* The MagiBabble in L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s ''Literature/SagaOfRecluce'' is extremely convincing; it almost feels like real physics.

** This is underselling it a tad, frankly: if you took all the MagiBabble out, you would be left with a fairly short visual novel.

* Given the amount of TechnoBabble in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, it shouldn't be surprising that the authors let the wizards in the stories dump loads of MagiBabble too. Most of the stories that have one of the teachers from the Magical Arts Department have at least ''some'' MagiBabble cropping up.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has a bit here and there; some young mages wandering around Stormwind chat about their studies in magi-babble terms (and drop some Ghostbusters references in the process), while Kalecgos gives us the following during the Dragon Soul raid; what it actually ''means'' is unclear, but it's a good excuse for another boss fight:

** And Thor, surprisingly, though usually when people least expect it.

** Ponder Stibbons, a {{Magitek}} {{Geek}}, uses a combination of MagiBabble and TechnoBabble to describe the devices created in the High Energy Magic Building (or more often, to hide the fact he's got no idea how they work, even though he built them). Wizards, and indeed some others, also use the catch all explanation of 'It's probably Quantum' or something being weird "'cos of Quantum" to explain anything significantly baffling. It appears to fulfil the same function as saying 'It's magic' in RealLife, though it is usually incorporated with other MagiBabble.

* This is literally Bob's entire purpose in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. He knows the rules better than any mere mortal like Harry could ever know them.
** Additionally, the Archive, a single human whose purpose is to be the physical containment of the entirety of humankind's body of written knowledge. This includes everything that has been written about the usage of magic. While a normal human with no inherent gifts, she is still probably the most adept magic caster on earth, knowledge that doubtlessly includes not only how to cast any spell, but how they work, and why they work.

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' frequently has MagiBabble, on the premise that "alchemy is a precise science, really!" The basic rules being that they can't create matter from nothing, but the energy source is unknown to most people. This is where the Philosopher's Stone comes in. It's essentially a free gift of ludicrous amounts of energy, which would be necessary to create matter from "scratch." Free, that is, in that [[spoiler:someone had already paid the terrible price in advance]]. It required [[spoiler:Father with Truth inside]] to even master ''nuclear fusion'', let alone matter creation.

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' uses this on some occasions, especially since it has a tendency to introduce terms early and then explain what they mean later. This does mean that the 'babble' effect decreases over time as the audience starts to get their head around what characters mean when they say certain things. To give [[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift an example]], saying that [[DeusEstMachina the Takamagahara system]] can perform Phenomena Intervention to travel between the various alternate timelines created by the Continuum Shift that happened when Noel's lost control over her power as the Successor of the Azure, is a very complicated way of saying 'the bad guys can do RealityWarping by exploiting the heroine's PowerIncontinence'.

* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' uses this on some occasions, especially since it has a tendency to introduce terms early and then explain what they mean later. This does mean that the 'babble' effect decreases over time as the audience starts to get their head around what characters mean when they say certain things. To give [[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift an example]], saying that [[DeusEstMachina the Takamagahara system]] can perform Phenomena Intervention to enforce one of the alternate continuities created by the Continuum Shift caused by Noel's lack of control over her power as the Successor of the Azure, is a very complicated way of saying 'the bad guys can do RealityWarping by exploiting the heroine's PowerIncontinence'.

* The MagiBabble in L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s ''[[SagaOfRecluce Recluce]]'' saga is extremely convincing; it almost feels like real physics.
* Comes up often when Jeff Grubb gets his hands on franchise fiction. Notable works include the Warcraft novel ''[[Literature/WarcraftTheLastGuardian The Last Guardian]]'', and his ''MagicTheGathering'' novels set during Literature/TheBrothersWar (the Antiquities and Urza's Saga sets) and the Ice Age. Seeing as how Grubb often produces some of the better novels in these franchises, his tendency towards magi babble is either forgivable or awesome, especially since the rules he sets down tend to make magic more consistent in later works by others.

[[SciFiCounterpart Like]] TechnoBabble, but about [[FunctionalMagic magic]], typically Rule Magic. This is usually used in series where MagicAIsMagicA, and the rules are defined enough that you can't get away with invoking them in new ways without having to explain it first. See also BlahBlahBlah.