Could warlock not be evil - just wanted to bring someone back

I wanted to know if this concept would work for a warlock. Could she actually be kind and nice but was so desperate to bring back a child or dead loved one that it meant dabbling with these powers and sort of falling into necromancy.

Also what if she almost offered it as a service? To aid others (at least in her mind, she’s helping). Tries to bring loved ones back, even animals?

And how does that work with regard to reanimating in WoW. I’ve seen demons and undead etc. So is it just up to each roleplayer to decide how something could be brought back, whether it’s mindless, or basically exactly the same with no changes or ill effects?

I think orc may also be suited better than Nightborne, as there seems to be a lot more history and lore to work with regarding warlocks etc.

Thank you.

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Any Warlock who does more than play with the simplest of cantrips will be irrevocably evil.
Not only is Fel evil and corrupts both the wielder and the world around it without extensive precautions - at the base of Warlock spells is the use of souls. When you steal and consign someone’s eternal soul to final damnation and horror, there’s really no forgiving you. Eternal suffering trivialises any mundane crime you could otherwise have done as a mortal.

On the bright side, although Necromancers draw on evil dark magic, the soul manipulation part is more optional; and their victims will usually only wander Azeroth for a few decades or centuries in suffering as opposed to eternal suffering.

As a Necromancer, you could definitely bring people back as Undead along the lines of the Forsaken for instance.
Mind you, being drawn from the grave is still a horrifying experience, and will likely traumatize the person and some undead never became sane even after the Lich King’s hold over them ended. Add to that the fact necromancy is also corruptive in its own way, and that even a free undead might be corrupted by the vile magic that animates their bodies; as might also the Necromancer casting it.

So to summarize; you probably can’t have a good warlock. A good necromancer might be possible
BUTT
The more spells you cast and the deeper you delved into the lore, the more you would likely fall into corruption. In addition, reanimating someone can have a whole slew of negative side effects.

I think it could make a great concept for a tragic character.
Someone who starts out genuinely good wanting to help people, only for things to go awry as she deals with magic that is inherently evil. Perhaps a slow transformation.

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Heheh… you said butt
Jokes aside:

It first of all depends on one’s definition of what’s good and what’s not.
Is a warlock good if they assist the alliance or horde against a greater threat? would they then be viewed as good by others? by themselves?
What if you’re the sort That doesn’t do that, but really only stick to yourself?

It also matters whenever you view yourself as good or evil.
(Spoiler warning: Most people views themselves as good)

So yes, technically a “good” warlock is quite possible, after all. you’re a good person acording to yourself, and most of the world doesn’t seem to understand that

In the bigger picture, as a warlock? chances are. you’re bad.

also i believe having read the fact that you’re undead, makes you go to the “not-so-good-place” somewhere, Don’t hang me up on it though.

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This topic comes up now and then. Imo I don’t see any problems with a warlock not being evil, if I had one I would probably rp it being more of a shadow mage and only using small portions of fel when needed, hence keeping the corruption to a minimum. If you are using the whole lock arsenal and draining your victim’s souls and life or shooting big bolts of fel fire into them (we all know by now after the last expansion fel has a quite exploding impact on things) I’d say your character was pretty evil. Maybe the intention is good, but the lock itself would be evil imo,even so maybe the cause would justify the means, that’s all in the eyes of the observer.

Necromancy however, I’d say that’s on another level. To dabble in forbidden magic to ress someone from the dead through a probably vile ritual and expose the target for that mind shattering expericence, that’s something a sane person would refrain from. The intention could still be good, but I’d say everything is so corrupting and dark that it would be hard to go back being the friendly neighbourhood warlock after that.

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Thanks for all the responses, I appreciate it! It’s given me some stuff to consider.

That’s a good direction to go with her, as I pictured her as having good intentions, but perhaps dealing with stuff beyond her.

Useful questions, thank you. Somethings I need to consider more. I suppose I figured the horde was more agreeable to warlocks. As you say, context is important.

Haha, true. This is quite an interesting area to explore.

I like that concept, it is I think similar in that it’s justice based.

True.

That’s useful to hear!

I suppose it’d be interesting to see if any warlocks sought out positive responses from others or if they are aware of the fact they’re outcast and don’t care.

Thanks again all!

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I have answered these ones before but I will happily give some more help.

Now a Warlock is usualy categorized as a dark spell caster that uses forbidden knowledge for their own gain, hence why most Warlocks you will meet will/can be rather selfish. Offcourse your character might have his/her own quirks and morals, that is up to you to decide on.

Now being a spellcaster that dabbles in dark magic will very much earn you alot of bad looks and frowns here and there, though Warlocks of the Alliance and the Horde are allowed they are more tollerated than trusted. Most Warlocks will keep their profession a secret and keep a public persona for their own sake, how much you decide to keep up such a charade is up to you however.

Many Warlocks won’t give a damn about what Johnny the Farmer thinks of them as they might view them as nothing but worthless simpletons, but keeping up a face might be wise considering the amount of zealous and purge happy Light wielders are around.

A Warlock can be good altough I would still bet quite selfish, they would do good deeds but would perhaps expect a good reward afterwards, in the end you have to decide how your character acts and feels.

Now as for magic, Fel really isn’t evil but it is very addictive, way more so than the Arcane, it can drive the wielder to insanity and craving for more if not strong of will, the same as with using Void magic. Warlocks are usualy trained to be exceptionally strong willed for these reasons and an untrained novice won’t last long without mental training.

Some Warlocks even dabble in blood magic to an extent, in the end you have to decide your characters morals and quirks, experiment and go wild with ideas, it’s always the best way to find what you want to do.

I hope this helped somewhat, good luck on your character building.

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Thank you, that was very detailed and informative!

That’s a good point I hadn’t considered fully, selfishness, and perhaps not considering why she does things, even if she herself feels they are good, but not thinking about the bigger picture or whether other people think they are good.

This is really useful to note as I also hadn’t thought about the consequences of her being quite naive still, learning, dabbling.

Edit: I’m the OP, replied on wrong character!

Warlocks are usually Gul’Dan echoes, when they’re not they’re alright.

I play Marinya as having learned the dark arts specifically to understand the foe responsible for the death of most of her race and to find the means to turn the tables on them. This includes dominating various lesser and middling nether fiends and destroying their souls with shadow and void.

This is a noble, heroic goal. There’s a complete lack of empathy for the foe but for active manipulation of besotted succubi for bodyguard duties. The goal isn’t sinister beyond eradicating the tumour on the edge of reality that is the demonic host. Demons are acceptable targets and beyond that she’s a fairly gentle soul and a reluctant combatant.

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Well Damien is more of a Shadow Mage, focusing on the destructive powers of dark energies rather than conjuration and demonic pacts. He is an advisor type, a bit like Jafar, manipulating others and help his work with the entropic powers of void to weaken other’s minds and bodies, while prefer to remain in the shadows behind the Throne
But he deeply love his home, and would burn the world to save Gilneas and its people. He never saw himself as a monster, but realized and accepted the fact, in a world of invading Orcs, cannibalistic Trolls and murderous undead or the other horrors of Azeroth, there is basically two things you could do: die in agony, or crave out a place of your own on the playground among the Big Boys… and he choose the later
Good… is very realitve.
I don’t thing there are 'good warlocks", but mages of the darker arts with good intentions [and we all know The road to hell is paved with good intentions and " L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs " (hell is full of good wishes or desires]

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As usual, lots of good replies here!

I agree that warlocks need not be evil; I certainly don’t consider myself evil!

(And nevermind the fact that I might be enjoying myself maybe a little too much when I cast Agony upon the enemies of the Alliance…)

I would be very careful with necromancy, though. (In fact, I wouldn’t do it at all, but that’s me, and some warlocks might say I’m just a goody-two-shoes…)

As others pointed out, warlocks are tolerated in the Alliance (as in the Horde), not trusted or liked.

I think necromancy is concidered a crime in the civilized cultures of Azeroth.

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Hate to break it to you…There are good demon hunters buddy.

Then again, only the strongest ones survive the ritual and trainning

I’d say it is possible. Its hard, but possible. You’d need to put thought into exactly -how- your character’s moral compass works, as whilst it is possible for them not to be ‘Evil’, it is harder for them to be ‘Good’ if that makes sense. I have a Warlock who falls in that category, Tessarin Sunlance. Oh she was bad, she was very bad, back in the time of Kael’thas. A ‘Combat Demonologist’ She was one of his Sunfury, and gleefully summoned demons to tear her foes apart. But, as history shows, the Sunfury were on the losing side. She was narrowly spared execution, as she had had a last minute change of heart and surrendered, rather than being captured, but she did undergo more than three years of mental ‘reeducation’ (Because we know Silvermoon loved that stuff back then).

She still summons Demons. Sparingly. She understands far much more now, about how dangerous it is, and the risk to her own soul (Though how much of this is actual realisation and how much is mind control indoctrination is unsure). She has no problem admitting she is a Demonologist, however goes on to state that these days she uses her powers -against- Demons. She usually Banishes, not Summons, or she fights fire with fire, having her own Demons slay others.

I’d say she’s fairly amoral, not in some sort of daft Harley Quinn way, but more like the character I actually based her on; the original John Constantine from the ‘Hellblazer’ graphic novels. She basically is a Female, Elven John Constantine. She’ll -generally- come down on the side of ‘Good’, but she’s not necessarily a ‘Good’ person. She can be selfish, capricious, incredibly vengeful, cruel even, but if you’ve done her no harm, she won’t harm a hair on your head, and will probably defend you against the truly wicked.

In fact John Constantine is a perfect example, given that he is, by his own words, a Warlock, and does summon Demons. In fact in one brilliant novel he summons the three Lords of Hell, who detest each other (I can’t remember the name of the other two, but they -hate- Satan/Lucifer, because he’s the one that gets all the fame), and Sells his own Soul to each of the three. The Three Demon Lords love this, they’ve wanted to get their hands on his Soul for a long while now. Then they realise they’ve been tricked. They knew he was dying of lung cancer, having smoked his entire life, but they didn’t realise he had sold his soul to the other two -as well- They were contractually bound, and -had- to Claim his Soul, but to do so would cause a War in Hell, a Three Way War which any of them could lose, and the only winner would be Heaven. He then summoned all three, showed them the middle finger and said “Right. Cure my Cancer, or you get that War you don’t want”

What could the Demons do? They had to cure his Lung Cancer. I mean, they made it painful, but yeah, they had to cure it, to spare -themselves- from humiliation and defeat.

See what I mean. That’s not necessarily -evil- but nor is it necessarily -Good- Plenty of people die of Lung cancer, But Johnny Constantine doesn’t care about that, because they’re not -Him- Its all about what is good for -Him-, and if he does some good along the way, well, that’s nice.

That’s how I see Warlocks anyway. Not Good, but not all Bad.

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Warlock is using bad/evil magic, so there is no hope for them to be kind. They can have the same objective as others so they will unite, but operating demonic forces, summoning demons to this world will never be a good thing.

Im not sure…
The Demons are not the kindest of creatures but they are not evil incarnate either
Okay, some of them, like the Annihilans… the pit Lords are brutal to the core
The Nathrezim are… strange. Nathreza was once a world of magic and knowledge, now a twisted landscape from which none escape… so once along the line the Dread Lords were like the Eredar, I guess
The Observers are not the meanest of all either… they just express a deep desire to bear witness to all forms of magic and are willingly offering their services in exchange for the opportunity to consume new forms of magic
And there is that legion archeological find , the Orb of Inner Chaos " Chaos does not come easily to all demons - some struggle with the ways of the Burning Legion. Those that did will often carried an enchanted orb that invoked the rage required of any good demon. It is not known how the orbs were made, or who made them."
Not to mention even the powerfull Shivarra are capable of “good things” like Matron Mother Malevolence and her coven…

Fel is dangerous thats true, and Demons are dangerous and most of the time evil and will try to drag you down the pit…
But to be honest I don’t think Fel is more addictive or dangerous than Arcane… It is demonic, entropic, chaotic and extremely volatile, and Arcane energy is innately volatile, and wielding it requires intense precision and concentration.
Light Side or Dark Side, both of them of the Force so to speak :3

So I think it is in the relam of possibility to be a “good…ish” warlock, with enough self controll and summoning the “right Demon” (or free it from the Legion enslavement, rehabilitate after the bad brain washing etc… )
But just my two copper…

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Voidwalker is worst of all demons because it is the manifestation of void lord itself, most powerful antagonist in World of Warcraft.

Keep in mind that all fel magic works off draining other creatures’s lifeforce. You could try to bring your loved one back, but you would have to be willing to make others suffer for that - meaning you wouldn’t be a purely good character either.

Having a good motivation does not mean your character has to be good - Sargeras had a noble cause as well.

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…and they are not Demons, just referred to as such and classified for gameplay reasons ^^
They are void-spawns

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I agree, aberration fits more ^^

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Xe’ra, for example? Not all naaru are necessarily good from the player’s/world perspective, with naaru all having their own distinct personalities and goals. While Xe’ra believed that she was indeed doing good, that good was not necessarily good for everyone…
And A’dal happily sent players to kill this and that for the greater good (in A’dal’s case those things were mostly deadly dangerous tho’, so understandable, but still… the Naaru are the Light incarnate, and from the Light’s persepctive every life should be sacred and ending it by force - or by Fel, A’dal not really complained if you are a warlock^^ - should be the highest of crimes… yet he was willing to order you and reward you with shiny trinkets)

I just wanted to say, good is relative and a bit over rated :wine_glass:

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