Fel hounds: can they consume the Light?

A question: do we have any example in which Fel Hounds battle the Light and if so, do we know if they can eat its magical power?

Cenarius’s magic could be drained by Fel Hounds. Assuming it wasn’t arcane, and rather Life magic, it means other cosmic forces aren’t an issue for them. We also know fel magic is effective against the Light (ref. all of Legion, basically).
On the other hand, no demon could harm Tyrande when she was enveloped in Elune’s light/shield. Which means, I assume, that not even fel hounds could drain such a magic - and we know there are similarities between the Light and Elune’s power, though it is likely that Elune is a force of Life, perhaps her power is just unique/on another scale. So…

Would the Light be an exception to a fel hound’s mana burn? If so, why?

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Fel hounds: can they consume the Light?

Yes.

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I imagined it was the other way around, and that Fel trumps Arcane instead? Though could be a case of sheer quantity where Light-users are overwhelmed by the Fel (No amount of Light-shield was gonna to save Tiron from being dunked in that massive Fel-pool)

Probably, yes. As Elenthas said. I’m not sure how Fel-hounds work exactly, but they seem to be special like that? Some strange quality that makes them nom on magic rather than being harmed by it. A bit like Spellbreakers but not quite the same thing?

That’s always an interesting topic. I personally feel Elune makes use of Life, Light and Void (possibly Night Warrior stuff?), in different situations. She could probably use other kinds of magic too, who knows?

It’s not too crazy to assume that. We know of other dieties who use Cosmic powers not native to their realm. Bwonsamdi’s a good example: A Loa/Wild God (and so bound to Life?), but who predominantly uses Death magic and dwells in the Shadowlands in his role as the Death Loa.

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Fel is stronger than Arcane if one were to ask the Moon Guard of today, few though they are. I think that’s the only contemporary case of the comparison being made that I can recall.

I can’t think of any such cases, but Felhounds seem to be pretty versatile in their magic-eating ways.

As such, in terms of RP I might believe their tolerance for consuming the Light might be lesser than might be the case with other kinds of magic, but I’d be surprised to learn that they could not consume holy magic at all.

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As far as the lore is concerned I suspect they can since the Light is just seen as another form of magic. In terms of RP, however, I much prefer the fantasy of just using Felhunters to counter genuine spellcasters. They’re iconic for hunting mages and the like, so even if it technically weakens the character it feels more unique to use them for that than having it be a catch-all against every type of ability in the world.

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Well, from what I gathered, I don’t think the Light has an extra edge over Fel. When they clashed, Fel usually had a solid advantage: other than Tirion - whose Light barrier (a divine shield?) was shattered by fel magic, I think Illidan beaming Xe’ra is also a noteworthy example.
Even the Light orders had to combine to defeat Balnazzar’s army (who, alone, was defeating Lotharidon). When they clashed, Fel looked more powerful, imho. Of course it may be because they fought in fel-tainted lands and all of that, but still the point remains.

I think Fel is stronger than the arcane in terms of raw power, even if it doesn’t mean that it always trumps over it. In a few situations arcane countered Fel in a very effective way (ie. in the Warcraft movie Medivh used an arcane spell - or atleast I assume so - to kill all the fel-touched orcs; perhaps like Malygos drained the nether drakes) and it’s interesting that it was arcane magic (the titans) who defeated Sargeras in Legion.

It’s a good point! I guess I’m conflicted on this bit. In a certain way, fel hounds have always been the bane of magicians. I guess fun and fair play are what matters the most.

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I would be careful lifting the movie canon into the MMO canon, since we know those are two separate entities.

Fel is like a shotgun: devastating, utterly destructive, more easily wielded by anyone who tries. Arcane is more like a precision rifle, equally as devastating as the shotgun in the right hands and far more versatile.

If it happens in the movie, best forsake it if talking about the game. They are two very different settings and universes.

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Fair points about Fel against Light! As for Fel beating Arcane, my thinking was that Fel made the Titans so vunerable to Sargaras, and let him overpower the others in a 1 vs however-many-there-were battle? Therefore Arcane is at least a bit weak to it?

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Don’t they basically consume mana? And every form of magic uses mana as far as I know.

Only Arcane does, mana for other classes exists merely as game mechanic.

I disagree about this bit: the movie may have its own separate canonical events, but I don’t think they re-imagined the whole magical rules when the whole goal was to reproduce the Warcraft universe’s experience on a different medium.

There may be a couple of differences due to the fact that we’re speaking about a different medium, but I don’t think they altered the magical lore very much.

My guess too. There are multiple times in which Fel is seen as stronger (Illidan admits that, Titans vs Sargeras, Medivh discovering Fel magic, and Imperator Mar’gok and his mage being shocked when orcs used fel… though in the same storyline they do counter fel with arcane). I like what Alannyse said: fel is more potent, but less versatile.

It’s also downplayed (I think) but arguably using powerful fel requires the user to consume a lot of life. Not an easy feat!

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I wouldn’t call them very different settings by any stretch, but I’d agree that trying to 1:1 transfer one canon into the other isn’t the best of ideas. Not when we have actual confirmation that the lore is different between the two.

We’ve seen instances where Arcane is excellent counter to Fel. f.ex. the time Khadgar fought against Gul’dan.

I’m assuming you mean when they got wiped out by the Nightborne in Legion? Didn’t they use Arcane magic at the time? And we shouldn’t forget the Moon Guard invited them in, thinking they were friends.

Anyway, for the OP’s question, I imagine Felhounds can consume Light magic, but I do think there are gradations in what magic type they can consume better. The Light would be the most difficult, I think, but that’s just pure headcanon from me.

There have been examples of Light trumping demons (excorcism also used to guarantee crits against demons https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Exorcism, demons are included in valid targets for repentance, https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Repentance) as well as vice versa

My take on the whole Fel vs Light if you compare the above with what we saw in Legion is they are just really good at messing eachother up

Edit: The answer would be yes, but I’d have questions on how tasty of a snack it’d be for them

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Considering how much they changed both small and large details, as well as the extended universe as a whole, yes. They are very different settings that share only a superficial amount of things in common. A handful of things have been made canon from the movie, like the name of Varian’s mother and some of the minor Orcish clans on Draenor.

Fel magic is one of those things that are very different in the movie universe, resembling more how Void is treated / acts in the canon lore. It was also fel that corrupted the Gurubashi, Hakkar doesn’t in the movie universe.

There were a few O.G. Moon Guard left that joined the rebel nightborne.
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Last_Stand_of_the_Moon_Guard

Their status after Suramar joined the Horde is unknown.

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Yeah. They will never be mentioned again, but I imagine they would not have remained with the Nightborne once those joined the Horde. They could still live around there, though.

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I would say Fel in the movie is very similar to the depiction we have been given in the other, World of Warcraft media: it is addictive, it requires life to consume in order to function at its peak, and the mere touch corrupts. It reminds me of its portrayal in Warlords of Draenor and its stories.

Ie. From Code of Rule:

The orcs twitched their fingers faster in recondite movements. The imperator squinted, trying to read their magic as they called it down, but it was alien. He grinned as Ko’ragh busily smashed a club through one of the orcs’ throats—and stopped when the breaker’s skin flaked off of his body like leaves under boiling water.

Ten orcs loosed the same invocation. Mar’gok had never seen its like anywhere. Baleful greenish-yellow flame, burning the very air it hung in, drawing scorched breaths from the lungs of everyone watching, whirled through the fighting pit. (No.)

It struck the ogres with the force of a hurricane, scalding off their skin in an awful instant. The champions of Highmaul were withered lumps, their featureless bodies folded into the sand, a few strands of hair catching fire as the only evidence that they had ever lived.

cracks my fingers

We see in War of the Ancients how fel hunters’ draining ability works precisely. They don’t simply consume mana, but magic as a whole.

Malfurion cried out as he felt it begin to drain him of his power. It mattered not whether a spellcaster was a sorcerer, wizard, or druid, the magic that they used quickly became a part of them. By draining it out of its victims, the felbeast also devoured their life force. Given time to finish its unholy meal, the felbeast would leave only a dried husk.

When you use a type of magic - any magic - enough, it intertwines with your very life essence and draining one drains the other. We also see in War of the Ancients that a felbeast makes an attempt to rush Tyrande and her priestesses (though it gets intercepted and killed by Dath’Remar) with its tentacles out so they at least tried to consume the Light, and Tyrande & Co. seem convinced that yeah they actually could, thanks Dath’Remar for saving them.

When the felhunter has devoured enough magic, they multiply. One felhunter can quickly become an epidemic if it’s not stopped in time.

Malfurion screamed as the vampiric suckers literally tore the magic from his body much as the teeth would soon tear his flesh. To any spellcaster, felbeasts were an especially insidious foe, for they hunted those with the gift for magic and drank from them until nothing but husks remained. Worse, given enough energy to devour, the demonic hounds could multiply themselves several times over, creating an epidemic of evil.

We also see in the same novel that they can devour Fel from Demon Hunters (and therefore warlocks?) but the realisation of what energy the felhunter was dealing with made it fearful and try to pull its tentacles back with panic – but Illidan wouldn’t allow him. He forced the felhunter to stay on while he began to devour the felhunter instead. Uno reverse card.

The motif of magic use saturating your life essence repeats in Rise of the Lich King where Jaina states that Kirin Tor had for years theorised this same concept applying to Necromancers where immersing yourself with necrotic energies slowly turned you undead overtime, and eventually you’d reach a point where the necrotic energies were the only thing holding your body together. At the moment of your death, those eneriges are released, and the necromancer decomposes years in a matter of seconds.

This theory is confirmed to be correct when Arthas killed Kel’Thuzad and his cultists the first time. So it’s confirmed to apply to at least Arcane magic, Life magic, Death magic, and Fel magic. 4/6 of the roster, so we can assume Light and Void as well - though strictly speaking, that’s conjecture until otherwise stated. Though granted, the Paladin ritual does make the Paladin literally One with the Light so :man_shrugging:

And finally in The Last Guardian we see that felhunters aren’t inherently immune to magic – their ability to devour magic is an active ability they must channel, performed through their tentacles. Khadgar blew the side of one right open with an arcane blast when its attention was turned elsewhere. What we do see is that their skulls are actually immune to magic as spells ricochet off of them. It’s when the felhunter’s attention is on you that they start consuming magic with the tentacles, but their low profile and their prominent skull makes it difficult to fight one facing you head on with magic.

The one instance where we see a felhunter objectively fail to devour magic is against druidism. And by that I mean when the druid (or shaman) simply asks nature to do things. There’s no magic involved in asking the nature to do things to you as a solid favour, as the felhunter quickly finds out. It’s just trying to eat wind.

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