List of References

Like most works of media, Misery of Magic and its related projects contain several cultural references.

Merlin's Revenge

 * The basic gameplay style of Misery of Magic was heavily inspired by the Merlin's Revenge trilogy.
 * Several Weapons are directly based off of spells from Merlin's Revenge:
 * Orb and Blood Orb are based on the iconic Energy Blast that appears in all three games.
 * Toxicity Star is based on the Energy Pulse from Merlin's Revenge 3.
 * Awe and Upsilon Carinae are inspired by the Energy Beam from Merlin's Revenge 2, although both have notable differences.
 * Nuclear Blaze is based on the Energy Mines from Merlin's Revenge 3.
 * The story is about saving the main character's brother from somebody corrupted, much like Merlin's Revenge 1.

Lunar Shadow

 * Several artifacts from Lunar Shadow reappear in Misery of Magic:
 * The magic gun Arcazya, briefly mentioned in Lunar Shadow as a mythical weapon whose existence was uncertain, is obtainable in Misery of Magic.
 * The Dark Armour is an outfit in Lunar Shadow that unlocks a secret bad ending -- it has the power to corrupt those with the Taint of the Hortons. In Misery of Magic, the Dark Armour is held by Tairi X at the White Table, and possesses the ability to add darkness to one's Soul.
 * "Misery's End" is a magic pink sword available as a weapon in Lunar Shadow. It appears in Misery of Magic as an End Tool.
 * Tairi's hair colour is rainbow, yes. RAINBOW!

Solar Shadow 2

 * The game contains a new, remixed version of the song "Destiny Defeated Dreams", which first appeared in 2016 as part of the soundtrack for Aurora's own Solar Shadow 2.

Vresun: Ciraian Ruins

 * The name of the character Ashen Ventus is a reference to The Eternal Darkness, an important figure who appeared during the early days of the Aeonian Night before the Vresun Ciraian Ruins forums came into existance.

My Immortal

 * The name "Misery of Magic" itself comes from a quote from classic Harry Potter fanfiction, My Immortal:

"All day everyone talked about the Misery of Magic. Well anyway, I woke up the next day. I was in my coffin so I opened the door. I was wearing blak lacey leather pajamas. Then I gasped."

Various Indie Music

 * Two of the songs that play in the Energy Centre have titles inspired by the Aviators song "Psychoactive".
 * The music that plays during combat in the Backwoods is a cover of part of the Unicorns Killed My Girlfriend song "Dead Wrong"
 * One of the songs that plays in the Energy Centre is a cover of part of the SayWeCanFly song "Intoxicated I Love You"

Mainstream Religion

 * The Fire Hole battle theme is called "Abomination of Desolation", a name that comes from an obscure biblical passage.

Real People

 * The Kings' Blade is a tribute to Aurora's best friend, Sapare.
 * The main villain, Winsterton, is named after one of Sapare's ex-boyfriends. He is also inspired by the real-life mass-murderer Elliot Rodger.
 * The minor character Karma was originally meant to be based off of noted internet crackpot KarjamP, but this was later changed.

Miscellaneous

 * Aurora confirmed that the water types -- Bluewater, Clearwater, Redwater -- are a stand-in for sexual orientation (which does not exist in the Misery of Magic universe) but were intentionally made far more surreal, confusing and taboo to obfuscate the fact that they were actually harmless the whole time.
 * The soundtrack contains a version of the Fuzzle Quest 3 theme song, originally made in 2010 for Aurora's failed project, Fuzzle Quest 3. Several remixes of the song were later made, first in 2011 for Legend Garden (itself largely a failed project) and then in 2016 for Solar Shadow 2 before finally reappearing once more in 2021 for Misery of Magic.