system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[General]How are traditional spells discovered?
gpt
Of course they won't be the same for all cultures. But, often, they were the result of a magician wanting a specific effect, with the words and spell components only there to help focus it.

Let's take the legendary Bigby's Hand Spell, for example. The mage, Bigby, wanted a spell that let him manipulate things at a distance. Not through some invisible servant, but as his own hands. So he experimented with the magical forces that wizards can tap until he got the right results and later added the items needed, the vocal components, and the gestures required as a way to make it easier to cast.

This experimentation could have granted nothing, it could have had wild effects. This is, of course, why wizarding towers are so strange  and dangerous to be around. It's not that there's some kind of magical buildup or some nonsense (though, admittedly, this can be possible. Take the Unseen University of Discworld, for example.), it's that when they're trying to invent/master new spells and abilities, the side-effects can be unpredictable.