Harris' Transmogrification is a charm that allows Magicians to shape-shift into animal and inanimate forms. The charm is traditionally used at Brakebills University for Magical Pedagogy to transform its Fourth Year students into geese for their journey to Brakebills South.
History[]
Kady Orloff-Diaz and Penny Adiyodi during the Third Trial.
The charm was originally created in 1973 by a student named Harris at Brakebills University under the guidance of Professor Neeny Bigby in the Original Spell-Crafting class. Many students seemed fascinated by their abilities to transform humans into plants and objects and pursued these skills with the level of enthusiasm and practice that led to the refinement of these spells to the benefit of the institution.[1]
Following the charm's creation, it's use was incorporated into the school's curriculum and created somewhat of a mystery for its undergraduates. Every year in September, half of the Fourth-Year class would disappear overnight until the end of December looking thin and drawn. The second batch of Fourth Year students would then disappear in January and came back at the end of April. No one discussed their absence as it was considered fatally bad form, and the returning students would quietly mix back into the general population without a word.
During Quentin Coldwater's attendance, this tradition was thrown off schedule due to the disaster caused by The Beast. The first half of students had been absent during the attack, but the second half finished out the year as usual as the faculty decided to delay the process in the aftermath. In the following year, the Fourth Years were set to depart on schedule along with a handful of the Fifth Years: the ten from the previous year were split between the two semesters. During the process, students are collected at night and brought to the roof, where they are instructed to remove their clothes before being anointed on their forehead and both shoulders with a paste made of animal fat by a professor. Afterwards, the spell is triggered, and students transform into geese before flying to Brakebills South in Antarctica, where they would study under Professor Mischa Mayakovsky.[2]
Quentin Coldwater transforming during the Trials.
In another timeline, during a faculty retreat, an unofficially sanctioned mid-term tradition arises at Brakebills known as The Trials is performed every year, in which the upperclassmen set up three challenges for new students that will determine whether or not they flunk out of school. The final challenge required each team to find a partner and perform a Secrets ritual naked on the school's roof before midnight: each magical adept must expose their innermost Circumstance - or their deepest secret - to free themselves from a bound rope.[3]
While at Brakebills South, students learned to unpack and parse the spell to transform into animals on their own. Coldwater and his classmates spent an afternoon as polar bears, and are later instructed by Professor Mayakovsky to transform into arctic foxes.[2][4]
Coldwater and Plum Purchas performed the spell to transform into Whales in order to swim from Tierra del Fuego to the coast of Antarctica, where they changed into birds to fly the remaining distance to Brakebills South.[5]
Characteristics[]
The concept of shapeshifting is present in the oldest forms of literature, presented commonly in mythology, folklore and speculative fiction. The ability of an entity to physically transform into another being or form was often achieved through an inherent faculty of a mythological creature. divine intervention, or the use of magic spells or talismans and usually induced by the act of a deity.
References[]
- ↑ Neeny Bigby, A Dedicated Professor, 1973 - Image
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Magicians
- ↑ The Magicians: 1.06: Impractical Applications
- ↑ The Magicians Marie Byrd Land, pg.234
- ↑ The Magician's Land Chapter 9
