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{{trope}}
[[File:74_2050.jpg|link=Magic:
Polar opposite of [[Black Magic]]. "Holy" powers that the Heroes use. Probably called this because we tend to think of [[Light Is Good|light as good]].
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As with [[Black Magic]], there are three factors that determine whether a power is [[Light Is Good|White]] Magic or not.
* '''Source:''' If it's [[Bargain
* '''Cost:''' What is required to make the magic work. Whereas Black Magic may require sacrificing others for fuel, White Magic may instead require personal sacrifices from the practitioner herself. If any sacrifices from others are ever necessary, these will generally have to be completely voluntary (ie: they weren't coerced into doing it) and usually altruistic and "pure" in motive. [[Eye of Newt]] may be difficult to obtain, but will not require any actual evil. But [[Your Mileage May Vary]] if you ask the newt what it thinks of giving an eye for the spell.
* '''Effect:''' The magic is directly constructed for the blessing, protection, [[Healing Hands|cure]], and/or promotion of the general welfare of others. [[Holy Hand Grenade|Offensive uses]] may be reserved for evil creatures such as demons or [[Turn Undead|undead]], by way of [[Revive Kills Zombie]].
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== Literature ==
* In [[
{{quote| ''"It is true that by studying magic he fell at last under the blight of black magic; the [[Black Magic
"It rather depends," said Father Brown, "what you mean by white magic."<br />
"I mean silver magic," said the other, in a low voice, like one speaking of a secret revelation. Then after a silence he said: "Do you know what I mean by silver magic? Excuse me a moment."'' }}
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{{quote| ''As he shuffled homewards through the snow, he muttered to himself: "And yet he is right enough about there being a white magic, if he only knows where to look for it."''}}
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', "Soulfire" is a source of power that can be used by certain angelic or holy beings to boost the power of magic. It works as a creative force, essentially combining with normal magic to create a sort of magical alloy that dramatically strengthens the power of the spell. Any spell boosted by Soulfire gets a silvery color added to it, i.e. a fire spell boosted by Soulfire comes out as silver/silvery blue flames. The only drawback is that using Soulfire [[Our Souls Are Different|takes power directly from your soul]] - [[Cast From Hit Points|and burning away all of your soul using Soulfire is a Bad Thing.]] {{spoiler|Harry gains access to Soulfire thanks to the intervention of the Archangel Uriel after he redeemed Lasciel's shadow.}}
* In [[Peter S. Beagle]]'s ''[[The Last Unicorn (
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[
** In ''Prospero in Hell'', Miranda hypothesizes that their father thought that sprouting part of the True Cross and carving a staff from the tree would make using the staff to resurrect someone White Magic.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s "[[The Phoenix
** In "[[
* ''[[The Dark Is Rising]]'' series by [[Susan Cooper]] has the Light vs the Dark, where the Old Ones use magic to save humanity. Although it's not always nice to those who have to endure the effects or after-effects.
* A point of in universe controversy in ''[[
* In [[Devon Monk]]'s ''[[Age of Steam
* [[Piers Anthony]] uses this in his [[Incarnations of Immortality]] series opener ''[[To Ride A Pale Horse]]''.
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** Expanded in the Book of Exalted Deeds, which features "Exalted" spells that can be used by any spellcasters, but require a good alignment. Each one also requires a certain personal sacrifice, which range from a few [[Hit Points]] to permanent [[Level Drain|attribute drain]] or death. The effects of the spells are almost exclusively for healing, purification, assistance, and evil-destroying.
* Sisters of Battle faith powers in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' are a borderline example. While they fit the first two criteria perfectly, and the third from the perspective of the Sisters, the Sisters are fanatical [[Knight Templar]] soldiers of the [[Church Militant]], who ''really'' like burning people at the stake.
* White Cards, from ''[[
* Shallyan priestess in [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] does only have spell that do benevolent things like cure wounds, disease, poisoning and insanities, except one that do damage against followers of the disease god Nurgle.
== Video Games ==
* The White Mages and Paladins of ''[[
* The Paladin Class of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' draw their powers from "the Light." While this is no guarantee of the goodness of the ''player'' behind the character, as a whole paladins are supposed to be upstanding individuals, and their powers are definitely geared towards helping others. Lore-wise, blood elf paladins used to have the unusual attribute of using the Light by force, which wasn't so nice of them, but that's changed with the passing of the story. The Priest Class is a more mixed bag - depending on [[Five Races|Race]] they are either Priests of the Light (human, dwarf, draenei, blood elf), the Moon (night elf), a group of tribal gods (troll), or the shadow (Forsaken). All are benevolent towards at least their own Faction, though, so that's something, but any of them can [[Averted Trope|Avert]] this Trope by choosing the "Shadow Priest" talent-build.
** The light of paladins is only semi-sentient, it will respond if they ''think'' they're right even if they aren't, which is why the xenophobicly insane scarlet crusade could still use the light.
* In ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' there is the Priest class, who uses White Magic. His spell are mostly beneficial in nature, sometimes hindering the opponent or placing the gods judgment on him, but NOT dealing damage to something that's not an undead or demon (those better beware!) except a spell [[Holy Light]] that might be considered a lovetap comparing to other classes power (But considering that he can make himself almost invulnerable this may result in [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]]. And as the name suggests he uses [[The Power Of God]]. And there's the Soul Linker who's powers come the spirits also having mostly supporting or defensive abilities. He has also offensive spells but those only work on monsters not on players.
** Due to the nature in which stat points are distributed in Ragnarok Online it's very possible to create a battle priest who buffs himself and whacks things to death with a mace which he gets bonuses to attack with. The 4th level weapon given to the priest class for the 4th seal is a mace supposedly for that very reason which changes a priest into a walking holy death machine when done right. Depending how a player interprets this it may be subverting this trope.
* [[
* Light Magic in (old verse) [[Might and Magic]] has a bit more offensive uses that ''aren't'' limited to undead than the norm (though the basic Light spell does double damage to undead), but less so than the other schools of magic. Costwise, it also fits: where Dark Magic has a spell to sacrifice a hireling for health, Light Magic has an extremely powerful healing spell that ages the caster ten years whenever it is cast. In terms of morality, however, a point is made that while Light Magic is mostly used by and associated with good people, it has no inherent morality, and the most important factor is how you use it ([[The Corruption]] is ''not'' a factor when it comes to Dark Magic in that verse).
* ''[[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[Dominic Deegan]]: Gregory's speciality
* ''[[
* [[Exiern]]: [http://www.exiern.com/?p=10 It can't hurt, unless it's really powerful]
* In ''[[
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