Alright, I was looking for something like this online, but didn't find it, so I decided to make it myself: A catalogue of magic in the Dresden Files universe as we have been presented with. Unfortunately, this mostly means evocations, as we aren't told the words to many summoning spells or thaumaturgy.

I'll go through as best I can, but feel free to add to it. I'm including the passages that lead me to the interpretation of the spell's effects, in case anyone disputes them.

Vento Riflittum: Looks to be some sort of wind-based shield.
Storm Front: "My terror and adrenaline roared out of my fingertips in the form of wind, gathering up speed enough to tear the hair from a man's head. It caught the blob of acid and flung it back at the demon in a fine spray, stopped the thing dead in its tracks, and even drove it back several feet, its claw-tipped feet sliding on my smooth floor, catching on the rugs."



Vento servitas: Myriad of uses; summoning, general direction of wind magic.
Storm Front: "The pale, smooth wood of my wizard's staff all but glowed in the darkness as it flew toward me, driven by a gentler, finer blast of the same wind [that powered Vento Rifflitum, above]."
Storm Front: "My staff, driven by tightly controlled channels of air moving in response to my evocation, leapt across the room and slammed the door shut in front of Donny Wise's nose."
Storm Front: "And, beneath the elevator, the winds rose up at my call, a solid column of air that caught the bottom of the elevator like a giant's palm and hurled it upward..."
Fool Moon: "I hissed, forcing out tightly focused will, and a sudden current of air simultaneously threw my staff to me and slammed shut the door to the cells, giving the trapped prisoners what little protection it offered. I caught the staff in my outstretched hand and turned to the barred gate that held me shut in the antechamber with the loup-garou."
Fool Moon: "The tools jumped and rattled in place-and then fell still again."
Fool Moon: "I shouted and released the spell, the circle, and the amulet, as the sound of the shot hit me like a slap in the face. Power rushed out of me, everything I had left in me, focused and magnified by the circle and the time I had taken to refine it, flying forward at the leaping loup-garou."

Ventas servitas: May have replaced "vento".
Grave Peril: "The air stirred, and then flung staff and rod into my open hands before dying away again."
Grave Peril: "Wind roared up in response to my command, and whipped out toward the pair of vampires, carrying a cloud of dust and dirt and debris with it. They both staggered, lifting a hand to shield their eyes against flying particles."
Grave Peril: "Wind roared up in a sudden fury and hurled me from my feet, back into the air. I collided with Rudolph and Stallings as they ran forward. We all went down in a heap upon the ground."
Grave Peril: "There was an abrupt surge of moving air and Justine came tumbling out from behind the washing machine with a yelp. She lay there for a moment, naked and stunned, staring up at me with wide, dark eyes."
Grave Peril: "With another roar of wind, the door exploded outwards, into a large, empty room, splinters flying everywhere and shattering one of the two lightbulbs illuminating the room beyond."
Grave Peril: "Sudden wind slammed it shut right in front of his eyes."
Grave Peril: "A furious column of wind slammed into her like a bag of sand, catching her in midair and driving her across the room, into the wall."



Ventas fulmino: Lightning attack. First fueled by an actual strike of lightning in SF, later without.
Storm Front: "The demon was maybe six inches away when the storm's fury boiled down my body and out through my arm, out of my pointing finger, and took it in the heart. The force of it threw the thing back, back and up, into the air, and held it there, wreathed in a corona of blinding energy."


Veni che: Specialized wind effect that mimics personal levitation, possibly flying with finer control.
Storm Front: "Wind swept up beneath me, making my duster billow like Batman's cloak, lifting me directly up to the platform above and over its low railing into the suspended room."

Pulitas: Cleaning spell.
Storm Front: "The broom twitched. It quivered. It jerked upright in my hands. And then it took off across the kitchen floor, its brush waving menacingly, to meet the scorpions' advance."


Vento giostrus: Whirlwind effect.
Fool Moon: "The winds howled down from the trees and whipped into a savage circle of moving air, lifting up dried leaves, sticks, and small stones. The miniature cyclone picked the charging Tera up off the ground and hurled her a good twenty feet through the air, into the branches of a pine tree. It also hurled out a cloud of rocks and small debris, forcing me to seek shelter behind a tree trunk."


Ventas Veloche: Creates fog; possibly restricted to where there is blood from the caster spilled.
Fool Moon: "The curls of steam from my blood began to thicken and gather into dense tendrils of mist and fog. Back along our trail, where more of my blood had spilled, more fog arose. For a few seconds, it was nothing, just a low and slithering movement along the ground-and then it erupted forth, billows of fog rising to cover the ground as the energy rushed out of me, covering Tera from my sight and causing shouts of confusion and consternation to come from the law officials pursuing us."


Fuego: All sorts of flame-based effects.
Storm Front: "The canister's grey lid flew off in a little whoosh of flame, and Donny Wise yelped, drawing his hand back sharply. The red canister burst into flame on its way to the ground and landed there in a crumpled, smoking lump."
Storm Front: "A rush of heat from my hand exploded into flame on the far side of the room and engulfed the stereo, which began to emit a sound more like a long, tortured scream than music."
Fool Moon: "Power lanced out through the rod in a flood of scarlet light that charred a six-foot circle of wall into powder and ash and sent it flying."
Fool Moon: "I saw the reflected image in the beast's eyes brighten to nuclear-white in front of a tall, lean figure of black shadow, saw the flood of energy as big around as my hips rush down the hall like a lance of red lightning and hammer into the beast. Sound rushed along with it, a mountain's roar that made the gunshots and screams of the evening seem like a child's whispers in comparison."
Fool Moon: "Nothing happened, except a little puff of steam, like a breath exhaled on a cold night, and sudden, blinding pain in my head."
Grave Peril: "A beam of white fire spewed out from my blasting rod and across the wooden storefronts."
Grave Peril: "Fire came to my call, roared forth from my fingertips and engulfed the wire. It writhed and then vanished in a detonation that rattled the house around me and sent me tumbling back to the floor."
Grave Peril: "Fire slammed out the end of the rod, missing Kelly by at least a foot, but still hot enough to set the hem of her cloak ablaze. The flame slewed in an arch across the ceiling and down the wall as I started falling, cutting through wood and brick and stone like an enormous arc-welder."
Grave Peril: "Power exploded from the rod, circular coruscations following a solid scarlet column of energy that lanced forward, toward the vampire's head."

Pyrofuego: Seems to be used in larger-effect combat fire spells.
Grave Peril: "The tree-towers of the topiary castle exploded into blazes of light, and the hedge-walls, complete with their crenelated tops, went up with them. Fire leapt up into the air, forty, fifty feet, and the sudden explosion of it lifted everyone but me up and off the ground, sent wind roaring around us in a gale."

Flickum bicus: Simple spell lights the candles in Harry's lab.
Grave Peril: "My spell, a tiny one I had used thousands of times, stuttered and coughed, the energy twitching instead of flowing. The candle's wick smoked, but did not flicker to life. I frowned, then closed my eyes, made a little bit of an effort, and repeated the spell. This time, I felt a little surge of dizziness, and the candle flickered to life. I braced one hand on the edge of the table."



Forzare: Force-based evocation effects.
Fool Moon: "So I leaned my will and my concentration on the staff at the same time I did my body, and worked on multiplying the force I was applying to the steel bars."
Fool Moon: "The bars bowed out in the middle, parted to an opening perhaps a foot wide and twice as long."

Riflettum: General shield.
Grave Peril: "I lifted my staff in my left hand in front of me, horizontally, and slammed power recklessly into a shield."

Stregallum finitas: Dispels the Sending, phantom image, of another caster.
Storm Front: "Scarlet light abruptly flooded over it, devouring its edges and moving inward."

Appare: Summoning spell for demons.
Grave Peril: "Power surged out of me, into the circle, through the rent in the fabric of reality, and as it did, the circle sprang up like a wall around the band of copper in the floor. I felt the cut as an acute, vicious pain, enough to make me blink tears out of my eyes as the power quested out, fueled by the energy of the circle, guided by the articles spread around it."

That's enough to start, I think...Anybody else think this is a good idea?

EDIT: Special thanks to Vash, who provided me with the means to do this as easily as I was able to.

 

Whoa, nice. This is a fantastic idea. kmfrank++

Are you going to continue this for the entire series? I'd be glad to help, if you are.

 

Yeah, I was hoping it'd be continued, and it'd be even better if I didn't have to do it all by my lonesome. Once there are a bunch more additions, I'd love for a mod to come and combine them in an attractive manner into the first post, or one post for each 'type' of spell or something. Just to make it a better reference.

 

Hey km how far are you in the series? Just up to Grave Peril or is that how far you're notes go?

Also should we include the invocation-less spells?

 

You missed hexus, which he used to put out that security camera in Fool Moon.

 

It is a very interesting idea.

It should be mentioned however that this is less about Dresdenverse magic and more about Harry Dresden magic. It has been said that in the Dresden universe the words are only mental constructs and that a wizard can use any words he wants from any language (or even invent nonsensical ones). The spells and incantations here are ones that are probably used by only Harry and those he has learned from or taught to.

 

MOAR

Here's some more examples from SK and beyond; only new spells will get descriptions from me, while old ones just get the ones from Butcher.

The Third Sight:
Storm Front: "The kind of things you see when you learn how to open your Third Eye could be blindingly beautiful, bring tears to your eyes-or they could be horrible, things that made your worst nightmares seem ordinary and comforting. Visions of the past, the future, of the true natures of things. Psychic stains, troubled shades, spirit-folk of all description, the shivering power of the Nevernever in all its brilliant and subtle hues-and all going straight into your brain: unforgettable, permanent. Wizards quickly learn how to control the Third Eye, to keep it closed except in times of great need, or else they go mad within a few weeks."


Ventas servitas:
Summer Knight: "A sharp and sudden torrent of air caught up the flower box and hurled it straight toward me."
Summer Knight: "The wind rose in a sudden roar, a screaming cyclone that whirled into being just in front of me and then whirled out toward the heavy metal shelving."
Summer Knight: "Wind leapt out in a sudden spurt, seizing the Unraveling and tearing it from Aurora's fingers, sending it spinning through the air toward me."
Death Masks: "A column of wind hit the snakeman from behind, lifted him from the floor, and flung him across the room. He slammed into the wall of washing machines, driving a foot-and-a-half-deep dent in one of them, and let out a wailing, hissing whistle of what I hoped was surprise and pain."
Death Masks: "...throwing my will at dirt of the pitcher's mound. It whirled up into a miniature cyclone of fine brown soil, forcing the vampire to turn its head and shield its eyes."
Blood Rites: "The power I'd gathered in my staff shot out of it, an invisible serpent of energy. The shield fell just as a shrieking gale of wind shot down the stairs. The column of air howled against me, throwing my duster forward around me like a flag, and caught the blazing napalm like a tub of Jell-O, hurling the fire back the way it had come and providing it with air enough to treble its size."

Ventas fulmino:
Summer Knight: "The fury of the storm beneath us reared up through the wood of my staff, electricity rising in a buzzing roar of light and energy coming up from the ground and spiraling around the staff and across my body. It whirled down my extended right arm, a serpent of blue-white lightning, hesitated for a second, and then lashed across the space between me and the tip of Lloyd Slate's sword, fastening onto the blade, and bathing Slate in a writhing coruscation of azure sparks."


Fuego:
Summer Knight: "Fire in a column the size of my clenched fist flashed out at Grum and splashed against his chest."
Summer Knight: "Fire erupted from the tip of the rod, a scarlet ribbon of heat and flame and force that lanced out toward the unicorn. After having seen how spectacularly useful my magic wasn't on the Ogre Grum, I didn't want to chance another faerie beast shrugging it off. So I wasn't shooting for the unicorn itself-but for the ground at its feet. The blast ripped a three-foot trench in the earth, and the unicorn screamed and thrashed its head, trying to keep its balance."
Summer Knight: "A lance of crimson energy, white at the core, leapt out from the tip of the blasting rod and scythed across the giant bee's path. My fire caught it across the wings and burned them to vapor."
Death Masks: "...sent a lance of raw fire whipping through the air."
Death Masks: "Fire rose up from the floor in a wave as wide as the doorway and rolled forward in a surge of superheated air. It expanded as it lashed out, and slammed into Nicodemus's bloodied chest. The force of it threw him back across the hallway and into the wall on the opposite side."
Death Masks: "A jet of flame as thick as my arm roared at him, but one of the incoming vampires hit him at the shoulder, dragging him out of the line of fire. The newcomer was set alight though, greasy skin going up like a bonfire, and it screamed hideously as it burned."
Blood Rites: "A lance of white-hot fire streaked from the tip of my blasting rod into the late-night air, illuminating the street like a flash of lightning. Bouncing along on the car like that, I expected to miss. But I beat the odds and the burst of flame took Kongtron right in the belly."
Blood Rites: "Fire lashed across the top of the fence, bright and hot enough that the suddenly expanding air roared like a crack of thunder. Metal near the top of the fence glowed red, running into liquid a few feet above the man's head. Droplets pattered down like Hell's own rain."

Flickum bicus:
Death Masks: "I felt a tiny surge of energy flowing out of me, and the candle danced to life, lighting my apartment in dim, soft orange."
Death Masks: "...and the wick suddenly glowed with a pure white flame."


Forzare: Note - can also be used defensively as a wall of force.
Summer Knight: "Naked force lashed out toward my feet, bruising one leg as it swept past. Even in magic, you can't totally ignore physics, and my action of exerting force down against the earth had the predictable equal and opposite reaction. The earth exerted force up toward me, and I flew out of the mud, muck and water flying up with me in a cloud of spray. I had a wild impression of mist and dreary ground and then a tree, and then it was replaced with a teeth-rattling impact."
Summer Knight: "A curtain of blazing scarlet energy whirled into place in front of me, and it slammed into the oncoming bees like a giant windshield. They went bouncing off of it with heavy thuds of impact. Several of the bees crash-landed and lay on the ground stunned, but two or three veered off at the last second, circling for another attack."
Death Masks: "The silver rope flashed with a glitter of blue light and darted toward the ceiling. Her wrists went with it and she was pulled completely from the floor."
Death Masks: "The raw force I sent out behind me shoved me forward. Actually, it shoved me too far forward. I landed closer to Nicodemus than either Michael or Marcone, but at least I didn't wind up sprawled at his feet."
Blood Rites: "There was a flash of light and thunder as the force lance struck the car, and between the reckless speed of Murphy's Hog and my will, physics landed firmly on our side. Our side of the equation was bigger than theirs."


Unknown Suppression Spell: Allows electronic equipment to function around Harry.
Death Masks: "It was delicate stuff by its very nature, and extremely difficult for me to hold in place. So far so good, but I saw the nearest cameraman wince and jerk his headset away from his ear. Whining feedback sounded tinnily from the headset."

Magnetic Earth magic: Manipulates metal objects. Not certain, but possibly how McCoy pulls satellites down from orbit. No given incantation, but Harry's specialty isn't Earth magic.
Death Masks: "I redirected my power, easily found the knife in Madge's hand, and without the circle to protect her, there was nothing she could do to keep me from seizing the knife in invisible bands of earth force, magnetism, and sending it tumbling out of her grip and into the abyss of the chasm near them."


Malivaso: Screws with electronics.
Fool Moon: "The power I'd gathered, though it felt like it was about to split me at the seams, rushed out in an almost impotent little hiccup of magic and swirled drunkenly toward the security camera. For a long minute, nothing happened. And then there was a flash of light, and a tiny shower of sparks from the rear of the box. Smoke drizzled up from the camera in a quavering plume, and I felt a small surge of triumph. At least I hadsomething left in me, even if it was aneurism-causing labor to perform the mildest of tasks."

True, but that's why I included the descriptions - spells should have generally the same effects regardless of the caster or language. I hope that at some point, descriptions of magic from Elaine, Morgan, Ramirez, Luccio, and any other caster gets included.

 

I think that would only apply to Dresden's type of magic because the incantations are based on a bastardised form of Latin, so each word has its own meaning that is vaguely backed up by an actual language. If he used only nonsense words to cast his spells I imagine another person using the same words could cast a completely different spell with them.

Dresden magic doesn't rely on incantation for the spell to work, only for it to provide a buffer so the wizard doesn't melt his brain out his ears in the process, that's why Harry was so buggered during Fool Moon, because of the super-caffeine wearing off and because he had to use incantation-less magic.

Also, I was sure that techno-killer spell was hexus... Wonder where I've actually heard of it >_>.

 

Yeah, I thought you were right about the hexus thing - I guess we've read the same story, whatever it might be, but I text-searched all 10 novels, and it isn't in any of them.

Must be from one of the DLP Dresden fics.

Also, on a more careful reread of Storm Front:

Segui votro testatum: tracking spell, utilizing blood.
Storm Front: "There was a rush of energy that focused on my nostrils and made me sneeze several times in a row. And then it came to me, quite strongly, the scent of Gimpy's cologne. I stood up, opened the circle again with a swipe of my foot, and walked out of it. I turned in a slow circle, all the way around. Gimpy's scent came to me strongly from the southwest, out toward some of the richer suburbs of Chicago."

 

He does use hexus in the books to screw with electronics, vut I'm not sure when.

 

Hmm...actually, he doesn't. In case you missed it, I text-searched (with a computer) the entire series, because I mistakenly thought so too. I couldn't even find it in any of the DLP stories I searched, so I'm not sure where that came from.

Maybe different versions of the book? Anyone want to verify? I don't have the in-print versions at my apartment with me, so help is appreciated.

EDIT: I am an idiot. Thank you.

 

Whatever program you used sucks.

Proven Guilty:

Small Favor:

 

Awesome work, great job

 

Gravitus : concentrates gravity in one specific place.
It´s My Birthdate Too: "The magic lashed out into the ground beneath the vampire’s feet, and the steady, slow, immovable power of the earth suddenly stirred, concentrating, reaching up for the vampire standing upon it. In technical terms, I didn’t actually increase the gravity of the earth beneath it. I only concentrated it a little. In a circle fifty yards across, for just a fraction of a second, gravity vanished. The cars all surged up against their shock absorbers and settled again. The thin coat of snow leapt several inches off the parking lot and fell back."

 

Pretty good,like the idea for this thread.
Not only good for writing fanfiction with/about Harry Dresden,
but a great way to entertain^^

 

Very nice job here, an excellent addition that I've been wanting to compile for some time.

On an earlier topic of words and magic: Dresden also notes that wizards use different languages at their own discretion, giving way to the belief that spells are less based on words and more based on the moment. We've seen that when Dresden is angry or enraged, his spells are more potent and powerful - uncontrolled when his emotions are uncontrolled. More refined wizards - notably Luccio - can manipulate their magic into "thin thread-like flames" (Dead Beat, I believe) to match their usability.

 

Harry's magic is more powerful and ptoent when he's angry etc. because one of magic's sources is emotions, meaning more power available for the spell, not because the spell is uncontrolled.

Older Wizards, while not having more power availale per say have far more control, which is why Harry's fire spell makes a blast of flame, while the much older Luccio's fire spell makes a very intense beam of fire.

 

It has been said that the words are just a tool or focus that makes it easier and safer to cast spells. A wizard can attach any word to a specific effect of their imagination and magic does not care at all what the word is. So Harry could cast fireballs while yelling "blimb-blomb-bloo" if he truly wanted to. He can (and has) also cast spells without words but its risky to do that.

As for emotions, emotions do seem to power magic, or perhaps emotions allow wizards to draw deeper into their reserves that they would not have the skill/experience to do otherwise. It is possible that the old wizards like say the Merlin can wield their magic at full strength at all times without having to worry about emotions.

Anyway, two significant emotion-powered magics that come to mind are(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BOOKS 9 and 10):

1)In White Night Harry asks Lara to kiss her, which causes him to experience a massive surge of lust and desire. He then uses that to create a magical shield even though he was very drained and battered at the time.

2)When Michael is shot in Small Favor, the rage Harry feels allows him to create a beam of magic without his blasting rod that is far more intense and focused than anything he has ever done, even with the rod. Though admittedly that might have had something to do with Soulfire.

 

And after Small Favor it is clear that Harry can do such stuff, too, if he puts all his concentration/ intention into it.
It is just too much of a bother in a normal fight to do it,
but who knows, maybe in a year or ten he can do it with much less concentration?
He grows pretty good if you look at Storm Front and then at Small Favor and he is one of the most powerful wizards alive, that makes him all the more fearsome if he can control his powers like someone like Luccio.

 

I'm not sure which book it is in (I think a later one), but dresden uses a flame based spell called 'Flamarus' or something similiar.