End of magic

Buffy destroys the Seed, bringing about the end of magic

The End of Magic was major event that saw all forms of magic banished from the Earth. It was caused by Buffy Summers when she destroyed the Seed of Wonder during the Twilight crisis. The Seed's destruction cut the Earth dimension off from the extradimensional source of all magic. It also prevented the entrance of new demons into this dimension.

By the 23rd Century, in which magic had slowly been returning, and with it demons as well, the Slayer Melaka Fray was called, and the name of the Slayer that had caused the End of Magic, as well as her whereabouts following the event, had been lost to history.

Known Effects

The end of magic resulted in numerous negative effects to both the natural and supernatural world:

• All magic practitioners (witches, warlocks, archmages, etc.) were immediately depowered.
• All creatures with inherent powers, such as vampires and pre-existing Slayers, continued to exist and retained their strength. Magical artifacts, such as the Slayer Scythe, retained a degree of power, which practitioners can use "like batteries" to achieve magical ends. They are hotly sought-after by remaining scavengers.
• The Slayer line was rendered dormant, so that new Potentials would not be called.
• Certain active spells were either severely weakened or simply broken.
  • The reality alteration that granted Connor a normal human life and family gradually faded away; thus, while the paperwork and legal documentation of his life appeared to be intact, given that he was still attending college, Connor remembered his new life only in the same sense that someone would recall watching a movie, while the Reillys had no recollection of him whatsoever.
  • While the Order of Dagon's spell to transform the Key into Dawn Summers initially appeared to remain intact, her recent sickness and an omen seen by Willow has called this into question; Angel and Faith have also begun to forget her while Spike remains aware of Dawn's identity (Most likely due to the greater amount of time he has spent with Dawn compared to them).
  • Eldre Koh was freed from his mystical prison.
  • Other spells remained intact. For example, the curse which restored Angel's soul was not undone, nor was the ritual that restored Spike's soul. Though witches Sophronia and Lavinia Fairweather began to age as normal, the loss of magic did not cause them to revert to their true ages, and they remained young and beautiful.
• Due to its lack of ambient magic, it was reportedly impossible to access Earth from another magical dimension other than Quor'toth, which connects to Earth via a tear in the fabric of reality.
  • Vampire spirits were no longer able to cross into Earth to completely inhabit a vampire's body, resulting in all new sirings becoming mindless "zompires".
• Following the end of magic, the prophecy predicting "the Siphon" began to come true. A man named Severin acquired the power to drain magic from those that retained it, such as vampires and Slayers. Powerful individuals such as the demon Illyria banded together in response to this crisis.
• The potency of the Mohra Demon's regenerative blood became uncontrollable, causing those exposed to it to develop tumorous growths all over their bodies and become nearly immortal beings in constant pain, only able to die if decapitated.
• According to Willow Rosenberg, without magic and the Seed, the world had become empty; since the Seed was lost, rainbows only consisted of two colors, no decent song, movie, or book had been produced, suicide rates were rising daily, and people were losing hope all over the world since the Seed was lost, with things only getting even worse from there.
• Buffy Summers, the one responsible for it all has become something of a pariah in all magical society. Former witches and Slayers alike deeply resent her and attempt to make her life as miserable as possible.

Speculative Effects

• The Slayer Nadira believes that the loss of magic has also prevented souls from passing on after death, believing that the souls of the dead are now hanging around as ghosts unable to reach Heaven or Hell, but Angel believes that this is not the case, arguing that death is a natural part of life and souls will still be able to go on to wherever they are meant to go.
  • As Giles' soul remained on Earth only by virtue of being owned by the demon Eyghon, Angel is probably correct about afterlife processes still being in working order.

Behind the Scenes

• The events of the end of magic as explained by Urkonn to Melaka Fray and the actual event as caused by Buffy are somewhat different. Urkonn originally told Fray that all demons and magicks were banished from the Earth, but when Buffy destroyed the Seed, all vampires, demons, and active Slayers already present on Earth continued to exist and retained their powers.
• In an ironic twist, the end of magic can be considered the only apocalypse that Buffy and the Scooby Gang not only failed to prevent, but actually helped bring about.

Gallery

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Urkonn relates the story of the end of magic to Melaka Fray.