History Main / WrongContextMagic

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14011560/1/The-legendary-Saiyan-in-a-fairy-s-world The legendary Saiyan in a fairy's world]]'': Broly tends to baffle the inhabitants of Earthland because he uses KiManipulation, which people note is completely different from magic. It allows him to perform a variety of effects like increasing his strength and speed, flight, force fields, and energy blasts without using a spell and he generates it from his body instead of absorbing ethernano (magical energy) from the environment. Irene Berserion seeks to acquire his power, believing its different nature will allow the user to fight [[MagicEater Acnologia]].

** At one point, Harry's wand saves his life by shooting golden flames at Voldemort all by itself and nobody knows how this is even possible, and some don't even believe him when he recounts this. Wands are not supposed to cast spells on their own. Harry doesn't get a possible explanation for why this happened until [[spoiler:he meets Dumbledore in the afterlife and asks him about it.]]

*** More importantly, however, is during the Paramount War when Blackbeard is able to [[spoiler:possess two Devil Fruit powers at once by somehow absorbing Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, a feat known to kill everyone else who has ever attempted it]], due to unknown traits unique to his body.

** [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 The 2003 anime]] has its own example of this in the homonculus Wrath. By the rules of Alchemy in the anime, homonculi cannot perform 'regular' alchemy because they're not human; instead they obtain a unique alchemical power to manipulate their bodies in a single way (such as VoluntaryShapeshifting, converting the Carbon in your skin into diamondoid or [[ElementalShapeshifter turning one's body into a coherent liquid form]]) during maturation using [[HumanResources the Red Stones]] that make up parts of their bodies. Wrath, meanwhile, does not have any homonculus powers... But he ''can'' perform 'regular' alchemy on an instinctual level without using a transmutation circle. [[spoiler:This turns out to be because of his unique maturation process, which gave him access to a human arm: The GateOfTruth 'thinks' the arm is still attached to its original body and thus alchemical power flows through it normally.]]
*** Wrath also has a second element that makes him outside context: [[spoiler:Unlike every other homonculus in the setting, Izumi made him by transmuting the complete corpse of her dead son instead of using pieces and supplementing the rest with other elements. As a result, he has no earthly remains that can be used against his KryptoniteFactor.]]

** Quirks are generally straightforward in concept, if often wacky. Then comes in Eri, who through some unexplained freak mutation ended up with a reality-warping SemanticSuperpower [[spoiler:of "rewinding" people to a previous state, that ranges from healing wounds, to reversing biological evolution, to outright erasing the target from existence]] that would be more at home in shows like ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. This is ''not'' a good thing, and pretty much ruined her life, since she's a little girl with a dangerous, unknown, barely controllable superpower that destroyed her family and left her in the hands of very nasty people who'd like to profit from it with little regard for her well-being.

** During the Third Act of Wano, [[spoiler: it's revealed that Luffy's Paramecia Gum-Gum Fruit, is actually a Zoan type Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika. Once awakened, it gives him ToonPhysics which means Luffy can freely alter his body shape, as well as imbue surrounding objects with the properties of rubber, this even extends to making people around him act more "cartoony." Altogether meaning he can do almost anything [[RuleOfFunny as long as it's funny]]. When Luffy incorporates these new abilities into his moveset, it results in an unpredictable fighting style that highly resembles something out of a Looney Tunes episode. This, in conjunction with Luffy's already very advanced Haki, is what allows Strawhat to finally defeat a now visibly confused Kaido in a one-on-one bout.]]
** The more esoteric Zoan fruits can grant some very strange powers to their bearers, especially the more mythical ones, but [[spoiler:whatever it is St. Jaygarcia Saturn of the Five Elder Stars has, it's out there even by those standards. The man shows up out of a pentagram-bearing summoning circle, casually blows off a man's head with a glare, deletes his own wounds from existence and can paralyze others pretty much at will with no obvious gestures. The end result is practically magic, brought by someone that's less an empowered man and more an actual ''demon'']].

* Whatever Izuku's Quirk is in ''Fanfic/TurningANewLeaf'', Quirk-science and associated medical machinery can't seem to pinpoint ''what'' exactly it is. As the fic goes on, there are various interested parties -- all of which having [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing animal-based Quirks]] -- who are keeping a close eye on him, implying that there is more to Izuku's Quirk than what it seems.

*** [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E28ChangeYourMind "Change Your Mind"]] drives that point home even more. [[spoiler:BigBad White Diamond separates Steven from his gemstone, assuming his mother will emerge from it. Instead, the gemstone forms... a HardLight version of Steven. Essentially his Gem-half [[LiteralSplitPersonality separated from him]], but not quite. Much like how his biological body is not quite human, being unable to function physically and mentally without his gemstone, his Gem body is off compared to every other Gem on the show. He's an emotionless CreepyChild driven only by the desire to reunite with his physical body again, walks over holes in the floor like a glitched video game character and is powerful enough to NoSell White Diamond's attacks. Although he has the same [[BarrierWarrior defensive powers]] as Steven, they manifest very differently than Steven and his mother's Bubble and Shield and look a lot more unpolished and raw. And most importantly, despite being HardLight, he is able to fuse with his organic body and become one [[HalfHumanHybrid Steven]] again. White Diamond's inability to grasp Steven's existence is what leads to her VillainousBreakdown.]]

*** Further demonstrated in the fourth and final book: in addition to the previous examples, we see: [[spoiler: [[Literature/TheEmperorsSoul Forgery]] used to turn someone into an [[Literature/{{Elantris}} Elantrian; a seon;]] [[Literature/TressOfTheEmeraldSea Aethers;]] and [[Literature/{{Warbreaker}} an Awakened safe]]. We also see local Scadrians fuelling their Allomancy with "[[BackgroundMagicField purified]] [[Literature/{{Elantris}} Dor]]" stored in jars, instead of metals.]]

*** The first of the Deathly Hallows is the Elder Wand. It is simply a more powerful than normal wand made out of non-standard materials. It also violates the principle of "the wand chooses the wizard," as it switches loyalty whenever its current user is disarmed. No other wand like it has been successfully made.

** Tom Bombadil is the only character who is completely unaffected by the One Ring, which is explictly said to be impossible, as the Ring is described as having the ability to tempt everyone, but not Tom. Tom, in fact, merely regards the Ring as an amusing, but harmless bauble. When Frodo allows him to study it, Tom casually puts it on, then plays around with it for a bit by performing some magic tricks, and then hands it back to Frodo without a second thought. This even holds true, in-universe, as [[InexplicablyAwesome no one knows who or what he actually is or where his powers come from]].
** WordOfGod states that even Creator/JRRTolkien never knew the answer. He felt that Tom Bombadil should be a total enigma and chose not to give him a background, just existence.

** The spinoff ''Manga/ThusSpokeKishibeRohan'' is more or less explicitly about Rohan running into exactly these sort of situations that aren't explained by the series' established supernatural rules. Among these are what are heavily implied to be an actual {{Yokai}}, nature gods who demand absolute etiquette from their devotees, paintings haunted by the hatred of its painter an insect that inhabits cellphones and predates on humans, the incarnation of an actual PhysicalGod, and a Stand-empowered Gucci bag, just to list a few of his adventures.

* For several universes, the tricks pulled off by fighters during others during the bouts between universes in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' can be this. Most notable of these would be Auta Magetta, who unlike most characters in the ''Franchise/DragonBall'' series does not fight with KiManipulation. He instead ''spits out lava''.

** In ''Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales'', the Order face off against their counterparts from "the 4th Dimension" (that is to say, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition''. Due to the Order running on the incredibly different 3rd Edition rules, the two groups spend much of the story just trying to figure out what they can do, and being stymied by the unusual oddities that come from the two systems interacting.

** In ''Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tales'', the Order face off against their counterparts from "the 4th Dimension" (that is to say, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons4thEdition''. Due to the Order running on the incredibly different 3rd Edition rules, the two groups spend much of the story just trying to figure out what they can do, and being stymied by the unusual oddities that come from the two systems interacting.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' does this with ''D&D'' rules (mostly). For an example, there's a strip where Durkon uses [[http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/controlWeather.htm Control Weather]] to attack a group of treants warded against electrical attacks... by generating a thunderclap so loud that it breaks the treants in half [[DamageDiscrimination without harming anything else]]. When an angel tells Thor that that's not how the spell works, Thor tells him to be quiet [[RuleOfCool because it was awesome]]. A later incident had Durkon wonder why he couldn't run faster in his Thor's Might mode despite being 15-feet tall. Cue Tiger of the Southern Pantheon growling a warning against Odin and Thor. This and some of the background material suggests clerics can have greater effects in their home continent's domain at the behest of their god, which in turn cannot be done in another continent due to the rules by which the gods abide by.

InAWorld where MagicAIsMagicA, there is one character, possibly a {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, BunnyEarsLawyer, or [[EldritchAbomination someone far more sinister]], who uses Magic B, Magic C, or even [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Magic Q]]. This character tends to be the only one with this ability.

*** At the very end of the third book, [[spoiler:Edwarn is visted in prison by a servant of Trell; a being which is described as "faceless immortals of our own", "male this time [...] a beggar stolen of the street", and as having glowing red eyes. An immortal being via GrandTheftMe with red eyes doesn't match anything from Mistborn, but is a dead ringer for the Fused from ''TheStormlightArchive''.]]

* Ichijou, the ClassRepresentative from ''Anime/PaniPoniDash'', is weird even for a thoroughly WidgetSeries. She appears to have inexplicable (and unexplained) powers that ignore the laws of physics, reality, and sanity. For example, she once cut a conversation with Miyako short by ''rocketing into the stratosphere''. When Miyako caught up with her again and mentioned it, she went "What are you talking about?"

** Magic generally follows very strict rules--the BackgroundMagicField only responds to mathematically-precise [[LanguageOfMagic spoken instructions]] from someone who has gone through a complex ritual to activate their magic. That is, unless you're a "tacit caster" who can skip both the ritual and the speaking, allowing you to cast spells wordlessly from an early age. This doesn't seem to be a skill you can learn, but some sort of rare genetic trait. The only named characters capable of this are Duane and [[spoiler:[[ItRunsInTheFamily his daughter Mikaila]], a PosthumousCharacter]].

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14011560/1/The-legendary-Saiyan-in-a-fairy-s-world The legendary Saiyan in a fairy's world]]'': Broly tends to baffle the inhabitants of Earthland because he uses KiManipulation, which people note is completely different from magic. It allows him to perform a variety of effects like increasing his strength and speed, flight, and energy blasts without using a spell and he generates it from his body instead of absorbing ethernano or magical energy from the environment. Irene Berserion seeks to acquire his power, believing its different nature will allow the user to fight [[MagicEater Acnologia]].

* ''Fanfic/AssassinAmongHeroes'': The main character, Ritsu Ogawa/Shinigami, possesses the abilities of an Assassin Class Heroic Spirit from the ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'', thanks to his possession of the mask of King Hassan. It goes without saying that ''none'' of his abilities fit within the rules of Quirks of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', something every other character picks up on. The biggest discrepancy is the fact that he displays multiple powers (Concealment, a PerceptionFilter, and [[spoiler: Zabaniya]] to name the most obvious ones) which leads the police, heroes, and ''All For One'' to suspect he has ''multiple'' Quirks, something that should be impossible (unless he received them from All For One himself, but very few people know about him).

* Throughout the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' setting, there's a certain amount of MagicOrPsychic going on. The [[Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy last of the Herald-Mages]], knowing he was the last, set up a system to drive other mages from Valdemar and a country-wide BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood that left Valdemarans unable to think about magic [[TheMagicGoesAway in the present tense]]. This means that in a lot of subsequent books the heroes know all about PsychicPowers, but other characters having "true magic" is always an unpleasant shock, something they're unable to learn from or plan against in the long term. Conversely the majority of villains are quite ignorant of psychic powers or even disbelieve in their existence. "True magic" is more versatile than "Mind Gifts" but it works according to some different principles, and Mind Gifts are often able to disregard counters to true magic.

* Crossover fics between two universes with magical systems can result in this accidentally if not done carefully. A clever writer can come up with reasonable explanations and handwaves for the discrepancies, though. On the other hand, this can be done intentionally to show just how different the magic systems really are.

* Magic in ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'' generally follows very strict rules--the BackgroundMagicField only responds to mathematically-precise [[LanguageOfMagic spoken instructions]] from someone who has gone through a complex ritual to activate their magic. That is, unless you're a "tacit caster" who can skip both the ritual and the speaking, allowing you to cast spells wordlessly from an early age. This doesn't seem to be a skill you can learn, but some sort of rare genetic trait. The only named characters capable of this are Duane and [[spoiler:[[ItRunsInTheFamily his daughter Mikaila]], a PosthumousCharacter]].

** Tom Bombadil is the only character who is completely unaffected by the One Ring, and even in-universe, [[InexplicablyAwesome no one knows who or what he actually is or where his powers come from]].