History Main / RunicMagic

* ''Manga/Overlord2012'': Runic magic has been replaced by tier magic, which is a more efficient method of enchanting items (although rune magic doesn't require material components). Ainz tries to reignite interest in rune magic (and sell the VendorTrash-tier rune weapons he has) by finding the one dwarf craftsman who still practices it and bringing him to Nazarick and ordering his demonic-looking minions to fake a weakness to rune weapons.

* ''Literature/EgilsSaga'' has many instances of runic magic, most famously when Egil discovers a poisoned drink intended for him by carving runes painted with his own blood into the drinking horn.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Luz, being a human, does not have the organ that witches on the Boiling Isles use to access and store magic and has to rely on the older technique of drawing a circle with a rune (or glyph as Luz calls it) inside to invoke a particular spell. These glyphs occur in nature if you know where to look, and while there are only four known (Light, Ice, Plant, and Fire), they can be modified and chained together in larger spell circles to theoretically cast any spell. Once a glyph has been inscribed in something, the effect remains dormant until "activated". This makes it function like a scroll and allows Luz to build a stockpile and use them as spell "grenades". [[spoiler:Also, the fact that they rely on the BackgroundMagicField of the Titan to power them means that they're rendered inert on Earth or the [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds In Between Realm]].]]

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Magic runes turn up on cards from time to time, typically as enchantments -- that is, cards that created persistent magical effects -- and usually as ones that must be assigned to a creature card in order to confer that effect to it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': Primal magic users rely on runes to cast magic. Mages must draw the rune by hand in the air and recite a draconic incantation in order to cast spells. Runes can also be placed on an object to enchant it, such as the Moonstone Path into Xadia, which glows under the light of the moon, and the magic mirror.

* In the ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'' setting, all magic involves runes in some way: Magical and {{Magitek}} items work by inscribing runes on the items themselves or on magitek circuit boards, and even spellcasting involves the brief appearance of [[InstantRunes glowing runes]]. Some factions have thematic variants instead, like the trollkin having "pillars" of glowing runes erupt in a way that evokes the standing stones they record their history on.

* ''[[Videogame/HeroesOfMightAndMagicAshan Heroes of Might and Magic]]'': The [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarven Fortress]] faction have access to the 'Rune Magic' ability, allowing them to spend resources to give their units temporary buffs during combat.

* * ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': The comic is partly based on Nordic mythology, with Icelandic magic being based on runes.

* ''Manga/BlackClover'': Mana Method is a technique used by the Heart Kingdom that forms runes out of natural mana that add effects to and increase the power of spells derived from magic attributes found in nature, at its peak forming the real element cast by the user.

* ''VideoGame/TitanQuest'': Rune Mastery magic is available to the player as part of the ''Ragnarok'' DownloadableContent.

In preliterate societies, the skill to send exact words across time and space (writing) was powerful. Thus, what we call "magic" seemed only a small additional step.

Note that there are reasons to believe that there was a tradition of runes being used in magic in real life; however, evidence for this is somewhat scattered, and it's also very common for major languages to gain associations with magic and mysticism once they fade from common use. It is likelier that runes gained their modern associations through a combination of this process, of the romanticization of ancient cultures, and of the admittedly rather impressive appearance of large, decorated, and rune-inscribed stones left behind by Germanic peoples.

* ''{{Literature/Stardust}}'', like its [[{{Film/Stardust}} film adaptation]] above, includes the casting of runes to find one's way. Unlike the film, however, Primus is the only character to use them, both to guide him to the stone (as Septimus did in the film) and to determine Tristran is safe to take as a passenger.

* ''{{Literature/Stardust}}'', like its [[{{Film/Stardust}} film adaptation]] above, depicts runes used to divine the future. Unlike the film, however, only Primus is seen consulting the runes to guide him to the stone. He also uses them to determine Tristran is safe to take as a passenger.

* ''{{Literature/Stardust}}'' and its [[{{Film/Stardust}} film adaptation]] show various parties of the land of Faerie (Stormhold, in the film) using rune stones to divine the future.

* In the ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'' setting, all magic involves runes in some way: Magical and {{Magitek}} items work by inscribing runes on the items themselves or on magitek circuit boards, and even spellcasting involves the brief appearance of glowing runes. Some factions have thematic variants instead, like the trollkin having "pillars" of glowing runes erupt in a way that evokes the standing stones they record their history on.

In Real Life, runes are the letters of the ancient Germanic alphabets -- most famously the ones used by the ancient Norse, but continental and later English tribes used related systems. Their origins are not entirely clear, but they generally seem to be a descendant of ancient Italic alphabets, probably either the Latin or Etruscan ones, and ancient symbols already in use, that was modified to be easily carved in wood and stone, giving runes their distinctive angular shapes. As wood decays much faster than stone erodes, old runes carved into stone are more likely to survive to the present day. They were eventually replaced with the modern Latin alphabet, and ultimately were simply another writing system.

In modern fiction, runes have become strongly associated with magic, being either something used to write magical spells in or magical in and of themselves. How this works varies from case to case, but the most common form is that you write or engrave a rune on something and that this makes that something magical, or at least better. Typically, this is explained as working through the rune's specific form resonating with, channeling, shaping, containing or otherwise interacting with magic in a specific way to produce a desired effect, either by naturally drawing magic in, by generating it itself or by having a certain amount of magic stored within it at some point. In these cases, runes are not usually letters and do not form words or a language -- they are rarely placed in groups and never as actual words, with each rune being a magical "statement" in and of itself. Some works maintain historic runes' simple angular shapes, but others shed this aspect entirely; it's not uncommon for "rune" to end up meaning just "magic symbol". [[PowerGlows Sometimes they glow.]]

Runic magic is often associated Nordic or otherwise Germanic characters, {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}}s thereof, and beings from Germanic mythology. Due to their shared association with northern Europe and the Norse, safe but undramatic reliability and contrast with flashy and active magic, it's very common for runes to also be extensively used by [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]].

Note that there are reasons to believe that there was a tradition of runes being used in magic in real life; however, evidence for this is somewhat scattered, and it's also very common for major languages to gain associations with magic and mysticism once they fade from common use. It is likelier that runes gained their modern associations through a combination of this process, of the romanticization of ancient cultures, and of the admittedly rather impressive appearance of large, decorated and rune-inscribed stones left behind by Germanic peoples.

* ''Manga/Overlord2012'': Runic magic has been replaced by tier magic, which is a more efficient method of enchanting items (although rune magic doesn't require material components). Ainz tries to reignite interest in rune magic (and sell the VendorTrash-tier rune weapons he has) by finding the one dwarf craftsman who still practices it and bringing him to Nazarick, and ordering his demonic-looking minions to fake a weakness to rune weapons.

* ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' involves rune magic. While both the [[GrayAndGreyMorality Sartans and Patryns]] use rune magic, the former draw them in the air, sing them, dance them, etc, while the latter inscribe them on their own bodies for use later. Some discussion is had about the importance fitting runes together properly, but in the end the whole thing is just window dressing for a quantum superposition-based magic system in which wit and elegance trump raw power.

* ''Literature/OldKingdom'': Charter Magic works by using Charter Marks, runic letters and pictograms, to manipulate [[BackgroundMagicField the Charter]] and cause specific effects to happen. Charter Marks can be written, spoken, sung or even whistled, though physical marks always [[InstantRunes appear]] as part of the spellcasting even if they haven't been literally written. [[EntropyAndChaosMagic Free Magic]] relies chiefly on raw willpower, but Free Magic sorcerers sometimes use written runes to help focus that power; they're described as resembling twisted or corrupted Charter Marks.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': Dwarfs cannot cast spells like elves and humans do, as they are fundamentally incapable of channeling magic. Instead, they have mastered the craft of inscribing complex angular runes into objects and using them to trap and bind the Winds of Magic, allowing them to achieve supernatural effects in a much safer and more reliable manner than active magic, which is notoriously prone to backfiring disastrously. These runes need to be inscribed onto objects through complex rituals and methods kept jealously secret by the Guild of Runesmiths, who are the only dwarfs to know the secret of this practice. Runic objects can be imbued with many qualities and improvements -- a weapon may be made into a WeaponOfXSlaying or given the ability to fly through the air and return to its master's grasp, armor made stronger or immune to rusting, war machines made capable of shooting burning or homing ammunition or of self-destructing to avoid capture, and the like. Runes take on a pale blue glow when first activated, which fades should the rune be damaged or depowered.

* ''Webcomic/Aurora2019'': Runes are a system of inscriptions consisting of complex patterns of dots and looping lines (except for stone and lightning runes, which tend to feature angular patterns and dashes), which are used to shape and direct the flow of elemental magic in objects. They are believed to have been the original language of the Primordials, and individual runes can still be combined into more complex arrays. Runes allow magic to be reliably channeled in specific manners, without introducing the risk of accident inherent in manually redoing a single ritual again and again, by providing strict limitations for what magic is called upon and how and to what degree when the runs are activated -- for example, a set of fire runes may be used to create a FlamingSword by specifying for flame to be created around the blade, burn continuously and spread no further. Each element also has a unique master rune that, when activated, simply gathers ambient magic and stores it within its object until deactivated. Master runes are typically inscribed on lacrimas, magic-storing crystals which are then inscribed with other runic patterns to allow them to be used as directed spell batteries, or tattooed by mages upon themselves to provide them with a constant source of magic for their spells. Active runes also glow in their associated element's color -- red for fire, blue for water, white for stone, purple for air, green for life and yellow for lightning.

* Magic spells written in runes on wood, bones and, in rare cases, stones has been discovered in Scandinavia. They are mostly from the Bergen region in Norway and the Uppland region in Sweden. Most of them are healing spells against sickness, though a love spell (the page quote) and protective spells have also been found.

->''"I send to you,''\\
''I chant on you''\\
''A she-wolf’s lust and restlessness''\\
''May restlessness come over you''\\
''And a jǫtunn’s fury.''\\
''Never sit''\\
''Never sleep''\\
''Love me as you love yourself."''
-->-- '''The Bergen rune-charm'''

* ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'' involves rune magic. While both the [[GrayAndGreyMorality Sartans and Patryns]] use rune magic, the former draw them in the air, sing them, dance them, etc, while the latter inscribe them on their own bodies for use later. Some discussion is had about the importance fitting runes together properly, but in the end the whole thing is just window dressing for a quantum-superposition-style BranchingStorylines magic system in which wit and elegance trump raw power.

* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series, Ancient Runes is one of the subjects taught at Hogwarts - a school for learning magic. Though since it's an optional course that Harry doesn't take we never see how runic magic works in the setting.