Warlock Lore: What question do you want answered most?

[Evatar]

I'd love to know how we stay (mostly) uncorrupted.

We basically dont, the "good" (aka not fully evil) warlock philosophy is basically same as Illidan's (or other DHs) philosophy: our enemies wield great power (Fel magic), if we hope to defeat we must use every resource avail including said power. We use Fel magic's cause we believe they are needed to fully combat our enemies (our doing without would be involve unnecessary deaths), not using em would be "nerfing" us on purpose. We also use em cause we believe ourselves capable of bending such a corrupting power to the greater good.

To put it another way: who is more "rightheous" the pally that fights for a good cause never letting as much as drop of evil taint his mind? Or the warlock who fully accepts that evil into himself and controls it to make it server the greater good? Could you trust a slightly corrupt pally (Arthas suggests "HELL NO" btw)? Could you trust a slightly corrupt warlock (basically yes, since we are all slightly corrupt to a degree)?

And to quote Batman TDK: Warlocks are not heroes WoW needs, but the heroes its deserves.

[xskarma]

We basically dont, the "good" (aka not fully evil) warlock philosophy is basically same as Illidan's (or other DHs) philosophy: our enemies wield great power (Fel magic), if we hope to defeat we must use every resource avail including said power. We use Fel magic's cause we believe they are needed to fully combat our enemies (our doing without would be involve unnecessary deaths), not using em would be "nerfing" us on purpose. We also use em cause we believe ourselves capable of bending such a corrupting power to the greater good.

To put it another way: who is more "rightheous" the pally that fights for a good cause never letting as much as drop of evil taint his mind? Or the warlock who fully accepts that evil into himself and controls it to make it server the greater good? Could you trust a slightly corrupt pally (Arthas suggests "HELL NO" btw)? Could you trust a slightly corrupt warlock (basically yes, since we are all slightly corrupt to a degree)?

And to quote Batman TDK: Warlocks are not heroes WoW needs, but the heroes its deserves.

Yeah, I get that, this is pretty much the textbook explanation of how warlocks work, but what keeps us from going over the edge and becoming raving lunatic, shadow bolt volley casting in the middle of Stormwind, Burning Legion supporters going for world domination in the name of Sargeras?

We are corrupted to a degree, but how do we stay at least mostly on the good side of things? Do we do that through knowing our limits and staying within certain boundaries, and we are safe as long as we stay within those power limits OR are we constantly under pressure, constantly fighting against that which tries to corrupt us further, across that line of what we consider "good" and do we only stay "good" by constantly staving of the powers that try to corrupt us, regardless of how much or how little power we use.

[Netherspark]

I think it's mainly down to mental discipline. If you read the trainer's speech they all seem to mention something along those lines. But it's also abundantly clear that many, if not most Warlocks do go over the edge, as you can see by the many evil warlocks and whatnot we kill in game.

Alot of the Warlocks that seem "goodish" are just as evil and corrupt as the worst of them, they just aren't sided with the Burning Legion. Ritssyn is a good example of this; from his appearance in the Legacy of the Masters you can tell that he is a brutal, sadistic individual who only serves his own ends.

[Evatar]

We are corrupted to a degree, but how do we stay at least mostly on the good side of things? Do we do that through knowing our limits and staying within certain boundaries, and we are safe as long as we stay within those power limits OR are we constantly under pressure, constantly fighting against that which tries to corrupt us further, across that line of what we consider "good" and do we only stay "good" by constantly staving of the powers that try to corrupt us, regardless of how much or how little power we use.

Basically both, we know out limits, we know the line between moraly questionable and fully evil is there, and we can cross it at any time. Think of it as drinking, know you can drink X amount and stay "funtional", but you can always easily go overboard; Is it tempting? always, but does it pressure you? Not as long as you have a solid grasp of your intentions (aka I will NOT get drunk).

Its mainly our own individual willpower that keeps us "goodish" and sane.

[Marximos]

After typing quite the wall of text.. I figured I'd ask the questions directly instead.

What is the relation between Demon Hunters, and Warlocks, or better phrased, considering both got exposed to the Fel magic, Illidan through the Skull of Gul'dan, and every other Demon Hunter after him through his teachings in siphoning the energy from the demons, which caused the drastic changes to the Demon Hunter, and the Warlock, through his direct connection with the demons, and the prolonged exposure to Fel energies, causing both to assume the form of a demon, how close are they to each other from a lore PoV, considering they are basically the same, just melee/caster versions of the same thing.

The other question would be.. Which of the two factions theme the Warlock best, is it the Old Gods, or the Burning Legion, the notion behind this question is rather simple, as the Warlock has all the aspects that drive both, the Old Gods, and the Legion. For they enjoy inflicting agony and suffering to those who oppose them, and manipulating them through fear and horror, making them themed towards the Old Gods' love for chaos and agony.

But at the same time, Warlocks do take on demon form, and use Fel magic, even summon demons that are linked to the legion directly, which means that, in theory, Warlocks are able to communicate with the legion, meaning that they can be affiliated with them, or dare I say, part of at some point?


Edit: What I meant by being a part of the legion goes to the Warlocks on Azeroth, we know that Warlocks are one of the main driving forces in the Legion, just not those on Azeroth... yet!

[Elmi]

Gul'dan was ambushed by demons as he searched for the Eye of Sargeras.

Or were it actually nagas? Other sources actually point towards that theory.

Isn't the demon theory based on that crazy warlock the night elfes found on the island? Quote Maiev (inside the tomb): "There's no telling what Gul'dan and his lackeys awoke in this foul place."
Read this part of the wiki article.

[Zharradan]

http://i.imgur.com/PgCYK.jpg

is this the prelude of our green fire quest?

also, they said mages, deathknights and warriors learn'd new powers but we don't.. is this a hint of new school of magic coming soon to warlocks?

why we don't have a council or order, or something like paladins and mages have?

will gul'dan come back to life on the burning legion expansion?

why do we have blue sets? man, when i think of warlocks i think either red / purple / green / black... i don't see why we have pink and blue sets =(

why our dreadsteed can't fly? can warlocks summon a demon to carry us in the sky?

why are warlocks allowed in cities and even have trainers there? why can't warlocks have a hub with trainers like dks have? it would be superb for lore

[A Dark Knight]

Why are we so awesome ?

[Fallensaint]

also, they said mages, deathknights and warriors learn'd new powers but we don't.. is this a hint of new school of magic coming soon to warlocks?

That's mostly lore justification for the heavy redesign we've gotten in MoP. After Cata, everyone's been gearing up for the next big conflict. While most classes get new toys, we went and researched and stole enough magic knowledge to redefine our class.

why we don't have a council or order, or something like paladins and mages have?

Most lore 'locks are greedy. We like power, and we don't like sharing it. Most warlock organizations tend to be cults and cabals, small and secretive, with one power-hungry leader and a bunch of weaker fanatic underlings. Usually, not something you'd want to support. The Council of the Black Harvest (previously 'Of the Six Daggers') is a bit different. Kanrethad is taking advantage of the mutual greed of his peers to get them to work together. Whether or not we'll see more of them (hopefully we will, breaking the 'Legacy of the Masters' into multiple parts is such a tease), or if they'll be developed into a full in-game faction, remains to be seen.

why are warlocks allowed in cities and even have trainers there? why can't warlocks have a hub with trainers like dks have? it would be superb for lore

We're allowed in cities, free to display our DA plumage and to drop infernals anywhere we like, for gameplay reasons. Being a DK would get old fast if the only city you could be in was Acherus. In lore, it depends on your race and faction. The Alliance unanimously shuns warlocks, and most city trainers tend to be hidden in back rooms (most notably The Slaughtered Lamb in SW). The Horde tends to be a lot more lenient, with warlocks more or less accepted by Blood Elfs, Forsaken, and Goblins, and tolerated by Orcs and Trolls. In both factions, the higher-ups acknowledge that, though they may not like our power, we're damn useful for war (the Alliance intro quest to Jade Forest is a good example as to why). So, accept us or despise us, we don't get purged because we're Fel WMDs.

That said, our own faction-neutral hub would be cool.

[PickleballAce]

That said, our own faction-neutral hub would be cool.

This would be a great place for a little Dark Apotheosis RP.

[darkminaz]

why doesn't my pet like mages as food?

on a more srs question: why can't we go in the nether world? as far as i know we grab the demons from there (and odly enough they all have the same name .. hi i'm bob) and we send them back, so why can't we like make a portal there and unleash all of them / go there

and
with my skill of gul'dan can i bring him back to live? atleast wowlore .. i mean i got the skull and 2 charges of "hand of gul'dan" so all i need is 2 legs and i'm done (yu-gi-oh reference ..just in case )

edit: what do gnomes have to do with warlocks, as far as i know there are only like 2 halfway important gnome locks, most are orc/alien(dranei and whatever kill'jaden and the treehugger archi is) - allways wonderd about that, i simply made a gnome since i don't like humans in a fantasy game and gnome were the only playable alternative to that time but i never got the gnom+wl part.

[Deleted]

I'm not a big lore expert, are the 6 Warlocks (Zinnin, Ritssyn, etc) named after real players or the other way around ?

And if the right answer is the former, how much does Xelnath charge ?

[xskarma]

I'm not a big lore expert, are the 6 Warlocks (Zinnin, Ritssyn, etc) named after real players or the other way around ?

And if the right answer is the former, how much does Xelnath charge ?

Not sure about all the other names, but I know about Ritssyn at least.

From one of his item pages on Wowhead:

Ritssyn is actually an anagram for Nisstyr. All the items with Rittsyn in their names were most likely designed by Indalamar. Indalamar was originally a very active tester during the vanilla WoW beta phase and he was hired by Blizzard as an item designer some time later. How does Nisstyr fit into all this? Well Nisstyr is Indalamar's brother in real life and also the GM of the guild Nurfed which they are both a part of. I'm guessing that what we are seeing here is a bit of brother rivalry, seeing as Ritssyn is actually an imp. I mean... Who wouldn't like to turn their brother into an imp

[Grubjuice]

1a) Are demons of different species classed as different alignments? (neutral evil demons, chaotic evil demons, etc.) For example the Void demons are clearly chaotic, but I always assumed the Burning Legion's whole schtick was that it was a Lawful evil organization, so are the Void demons hostile to the burning legion generally? and Nathrezim i would guess are neutral evil, since they serve whomever serves themselves.

1b) Are some species naturally demons or were all demon species originally non-demons that were turned into demons? (the Eredar were not originally demons, but now dominate the Burning Legion, same for the Satyr; the void walkers however seems to be elemental shadow and so would have always existed so long as shadow as an element existed, presumably; the nathrezim were evil before the Legion was organized but were they already 'demonic' by then?)

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2) what exactly makes an old god not a demon? I mean is there really any difference between a demon and an eldritch abomination other than allignment, or is it actually a matter of kind? Is fel magic inherently different from whatever kind of magic it is that the Old Gods use?

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3) I know the nathrezim really created necromancy as we know it today, and the Orc Necolites practiced Necromancy during the first and seconds wars, and Gul'dan was instrumental in binding the souls of sacrificed necrolites to human corpses to make the first generation of Death Knights, but why is necromancy completely missing from current warlock-subculture.

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4) who is more like to become a necromancer, a Shadow Priest or a Warlock or a naughty Mage?

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5) Warlock magic is Fire and Shadow; Priest magic is Light and Shadow; Death Knight magic is Ice and Shadow.
is there any combination of Arcane and Shadow or Nature and Shadow?

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6) Orcs learned fel magic from the Burning Legion. Did Humans and Gnomes and Dwarves learn fel magic after contact with the legion, or is there a tradition of arcane magic users figuring out for themselves how to summon demons from the nether? did trolls and goblin discover demon-magic independently?

by analogy: Night elf and Tauren druids both learned druidism from Cenarius, Gilneans had an incipient tradition of nature magic that was expanded after contact with the night elves and worgen curse; Draenei lost ones in zangarmarsh seem to have developed druidism independently; trolls seem to have derived Druidism out of their native tradition of Animal Loa Worship.

[Zharradan]

@grubjuice: dks are the actual necromancers, they control undeads and have frost spells ~~

[Grubjuice]

@grubjuice: dks are the actual necromancers, they control undeads and have frost spells ~~

yes but necromancy existed before death knights existed; I want to know what necromancy eas like before Death knights, and why they now monolopize it

[Mammon]

But there are some Blackrock Warlocks that are necromancers in the Burning Steppes, so I believe it's not missing from our culture, we just dont use it for gameplay reasons. And necromancy must be something really hard to master and there is no way we can control it the same way the Scourge does.

[checking facts]

why did we suddenly lose the ability to sense demons nearby in cataclysm?

[deviantcultist]

I want clarifications about the Twilight element of magic, the Old Gods and their association with the Warlock class. On top of that, I want to see how the Sha will play out with the Warlock class in the future.

[Grubjuice]

any sufficiently advanced evil is indistinguishable from Damnation.

I think magic users of all stripes have wandered down left hand paths and ended up being called warlocks. Demonic Fel magic, Old God Magic, Chaotic Elemental Magic, Necromantic Magic; it doesn't matter. A warlock is any person who will use any tool at their disposal to increase their own potential to annihilate their enemies.