History Main / SympatheticMagic

** In ''Owlknight'', Darian goes looking for his parents, who vanished ten years before, using two applications of sympathetic magic. He tracks down their campsite by using his own blood connection to them, and finds that WildMagic transported them away. Left behind was his father's foot, sheared off by a PortalCut, and he uses the bones to determine that his father is alive and get a general direction to start looking in.

* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': This is one of the more commonly encountered kinds of magic. It works by taking some bit of the target and using it as a conduit for casting curses, or making it into a clay model and using it to move the target about. The piece must be gotten back to break the magic; if the caster is using something non-physical, such as a name, this may be a problem.

** Gaining a part of a person allows you to use magic on them from a distance (or simply find them). The latter application is something that Harry specialises in, allowing him to find people and objects in short order. However, it can be extremely dangerous. When Harry gets knocked down and attacked in [[Literature/StormFront the first book]], he's mostly concerned about the fact that the assailant took a clipping of his hair. In ''Literature/SmallFavor'', after a brawl, Harry's relieved when Charity Carpenter knows to burn all the gauze and bandages with his blood on them. That said, if the connection between what is taken and the person is broken, such as taking a person's hair but then he shaves what remains of the hair off his head, the hair taken won't lead back to him.

* ''Film/{{Mirrors}}'' has a mirror demon that can kill people by possessing their reflections and making them do damage to themselves, which crosses over to their real bodies.

* In ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet by Creator/TamoraPierce, Numair finds Daine using a "focus" made out of a lock of her hair.

** Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' uses this in the extreme. [[spoiler:The [[TimeAbyss Tooth Fairy]] originally began gathering teeth from human children to prevent them from being used for sympathetic magic. However, as they were all gathered in one place, it made them a perfect target for an assassin who intends to use said magic to make the children of Discworld stop believing in the Hogfather in order to kill him...]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext It's a long story]].

** Played with in ''Witches Abroad'', where Voodoo is compared to mirror magic. Indeed, Granny [[spoiler:reverses the effect of a VoodooDoll to set it on fire when she plunged her arm into a burning torch.]]

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/MagicInc'', that kind of magic (along with every other kind ever) is mentioned when the protagonist is warned to guard his hair and nail clippings, etc. As I said, every other kind of magic is also either mentioned or implied to also work. In the ''Operation Chaos'' novels (which are a {{Homage}} to ''Magic, Inc.'') it is the same, all kinds of magic work.

* ''Literature/TheIslandOfTheDayBefore'' by Creator/UmbertoEco, one of the characters attempts to use sympathetic magic to solve UsefulNotes/TheLongitudeProblem. "Weapon salve" supposedly established a link between the weapon and the victim: by stabbing a dog with a knife then thrusting the knife in a fire every day at noon, the dog would start whining in pain, giving the crew a means to tell the time.
* In Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/TheTalesOfAlvinMaker'' series, Peggy, the torch who watches over Alvin uses his birthing caul (the amniotic sac from his birth) to use magics to protect him as a child.

* In Creator/JimCHines' ''[[Literature/ThePrincessSeries The Snow Queen's Shadow]]'' we find out that it's common practice for nobles in Allesandria to completely shave their heads every day and burn the hair. Since Allesandria is rumoured to be the birthplace of human magic, and [[DecadentCourt every noble there]] learns to use magic before they've got a firm grasp on the alphabet, it's a reasonable precaution.

* In ''[[Literature/HisDarkMaterials The Amber Spyglass]]'' by Phillip Pullman, the [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness Consistorial Court]] uses some of [[TheHero Lyra's]] hair to create a bomb just for her.
* In one of the Literature/LordDarcy stories, Master Sean tells of a magician who was using Sympathetic Magic on some rat droppings to make a potion to get rid of rats. Unfortunately, a drop of his sweat also fell into the potion.

* In the ''Literature/{{Gentleman Bastard}}s'' books, the Bondsmagi can use a person's blood or other body parts to track them down and make them more susceptible to other magic. [[spoiler: In ''Republic of Thieves'', a Bondsmage cures Locke of poison by adding his hair, blood, nail clippings, and breath to a wax effigy that "dies" on his behalf.]]
* In ''[[Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms One Good Knight]]'', Adamant is magically compelled into the "evil dragon laying waste to the land" role because [[spoiler:Solon]] has one of Adamant's lost scales.

* The Creator/ManlyWadeWellman Literature/SilverJohn stories has this come up a few times, most notably in "Vandy, Vandy" where a warlock attempts to attune a picture of John to him so that he can work evils on it. John throws a quarter at it, and much to the warlock's misfortune, the spell latches onto it and summons [[SummonBiggerFish an embodiment of the myths surrounding George Washington]].

* In the ''Series/{{Monsters}}'' episode "Hostile Takeover", the rather slimy CorruptCorporateExecutive VillainProtagonist is concerned that his use of voodoo magic to get a leg up on his business rivals has made him the target of a demon named Obeah. Unnerved by the repeated hauntings of the voodoo priestess he partnered up with (who turned out to be one of TheUndead all along), he invites the night janitor into his office for a drink. The janitor happens to be an expert on the occult and tries to comfort his boss. The janitor explains that 1) "demons only go after bad people" (see VillainProtagonist above), 2) "you have to invite them in for a good time, kind of like how you invited me in for a drink", and 3) "they need a piece of you" (the man had earlier donated some blood for a voodoo ritual). Meaning the first and third conditions had already been met. [[spoiler: Since the janitor was actually Obeah in disguise, so was the second one.]]
* The episode "Catspaw" in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries‎'' had advanced aliens take the appearance of human mystics, mounting their matter transmutation technology in [[ClarkesThirdLaw what appear to be mystical implements]]. With said technology, they remotely affect the orbiting Enterprise using a scale model of the ship.

* ''Literature/{{Babel|2022}}'' by Creator/RebeccaFKuang:

* Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar:

* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': This is one of the more commonly encountered kinds of magic. It works by taking some bit of the target and using it as a conduit for casting curses, or making it into a clay model and using it move the target about. The piece must be gotten back to break the magic; if the caster is using something non-physical, such as a name, this may be a problem.

-->'''Giovanni:''' [[SdrawkcabSpeech Enob, raeh rouy s’renwo llac! Laever Kcalb Mada!]]

* ''Literature/TheMagicGoesAway'': In the short story "What Good is a Glass Dagger?", The Warlock laughs out loud on hearing that the wizard Wavyhill was known for carrying a sword. When asked what was so funny, he explained that no competent wizard would ever need a sword as a weapon - the only reason he would have one is as Sympathetic Magic to enhance his ''ahem'' [[PhallicWeapon 'sword']]. Of course, it does mean that he has to bring the sword into bed with him when he wants to perform...

In order to perform magic on an individual, you need to (or will have a much easier time if you) have a part of them. This may be a physical piece (hair, nail clippings), a possession, photograph, or just a unique description of the subject. One of the most common spells that requires such an ingredient is the ever-popular {{Love Potion}}.

* In ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', Syaoran has a technique to locate someone, but he requires some item of theirs to do so. This becomes a problem when he and Sakura are searching for Tomoyo, who is still in the classroom after the rooms were switched around [[spoiler: by Eriol]].

--> '''Giovanni:''' [[SdrawkcabSpeech Enob, raeh rouy s’renwo llac! Laever Kcalb Mada!]]

** Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' uses this in the extreme. [[spoiler:The [[TimeAbyss Tooth Fairy]] originally began gathering teeth from human children to prevent them from being used for sympathetic magic. However, as they were all gathered in one place, it made them a perfect target for an assassin who intended to use said magic to make the children of Discworld stop believing in the Hogfather in order to kill him...]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext It's a long story]].

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/MagicInc'', that kind of magic (along with every other kind ever) is mentioned when the protagonist is warned to guard his hair and nail clippings, etc. As I said, every other kind of magic is also either mentioned or implied to also work.
** In the ''Operation Chaos'' novels (which are a {{Homage}} to Magic, Inc.) it is the same, all kinds of magic work.

* ''[[Literature/Babel2022 Babel]]'' by Creator/RebeccaFKuang:

** In the second season episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E21AllHellBreaksLoosePartOne "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" (S02, Ep21)]], Andy needs something that Dean has touched in order to mentally contact him.

* In the horror anthology ''Ghosts'', the episode "The Chemistry Teacher" is based around this trope. Philip is in love with the happily married Maddie, so he goes to a witch for a love spell, and she enchants Maddie's bracelet. When the spell works ''too'' well, Philip tries to break it by giving Maddie back the bracelet - but her jealous husband steals it and melts it down, causing Maddie to burn alive.

* Ritual Magic in TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} can be performed via personal belongings in lieu of being able to see the target. The more closely related to the target the item is, the more likely the spell is to hit. As a result, Runners hate to leave ''anything'' behind.
** It should also be noted that not only is Ritual Magic more powerful than regular magic (thanks to the multiple casters), but ''any spell'' can be cast via ritual magic as long as all the casters know it. If you're lucky, you might just get a Detection spell cast on you. If you're unlucky, you might be the target of a "Slay [Metatype]" spell. If you're really unlucky, then you'll become the focal point of a Force 20 [[SphereOfDestruction Powerball]]. If your GM uses Ritual Magic to cast [[PowerPerversionPotential Orgy]] on you, then you've got a whole 'nother series of issues going on that can't be dealt with on a family site.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'', [[EliteMook Elite Mook]] [[PlantPerson Rosemaster]] can control flowers. Doesn't sound all that threatening, but she can even control symbolic flowers, as in people who are named after flowering plants. By having a flower which corresponds to a person's name, she can mind control them, leading to a kingdom-wide [[MassHypnosis Mass Hypnosis]].

* ''WebVideo/{{Broceliande}}'': The coven of witches suggest to the druids that they'd obtain a personal item from Merlin so that they'd cast a spell on him through it. Master de Kermoal points out they already have a spy at Merlin's lab, but it is so much in disarray that it's hard to find anything useful. Then the elves show a shark tooth they'd stolen in the lab.

* In the second ''Music/MysterySkulls'' video, "Freaking Out", the demon Shiromori uses some kind of residual energy from locations or objects to create magical flowers. These flowers represent a person and their petals can be used to track down that individual.