Talk:Magic/@comment-25013293-20140525163722/@comment-11571396-20140526045508

Grimoires: if you take a look at the grimoires contained inside Index's head, they all come from various religious and mythological background, and some are even tales actually disguised grimoires.

Ars Magna: the ultimate goal of alchemy. Except that alchemy is not only a practice of pseudo science, it was also a set of beliefs in many things. Alchemists had a vast cosmological worldview that shares more in common with the ancient pagan pantheon than it does with either monotheism or modern science: they believed in the existence of the panacea able to cure any disease and extend life, they had a sacred text in the Emerald Tablets, the philosopher's stone, etc.

As such, alchemy falls under beliefs/ideologies, especially since Ars Magna's explicit goal is to transmute the world with a mind similar to God.

Dragon Breath: it's the imitation of the natural weapon of the mythological creature that is called dragon.

Yes, a Magician could technically use magic from no particular source, question is, why would he do that? As stated in the article, it's too complicated and you waste a lot of time, when you can just use already existing styles. To use an example from the novels, most people write with their right hand, because people have been writing with their right hands for ages and ages, and kept getting passed down from parent to child. Starting a new system of magic would be like starting to write with one's left foot. There are other advantages to this; by making something similar to a god or a hero or a legend, you can imbue it with some of the power of the original, or make it act out the legend it's a part of, already having a more powerful spell than if you designed it on your own.