The Dark Arts: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|'''Spargel:''' [[Deceptive Disciple|Elzar]] had been [[Evil Tastes Good|seduced]] by [[The Dark Side]] of [[Serious Business|cooking]]. Cilantro, mango salsa, raspberry vinaigrette!<br />

 

Basically, The Dark Arts are any science, discipline, magic or martial combat style[[hottip:*:(or all of the above, as an [[Unholy Matrimony]] of [[Supernatural Martial Arts]] [[Martial Arts and Crafts]] [[Magic From Technology|From Technology)]] that is deemed by society in general and the establishment in particular as a Bad Idea<ref>(For some reason, actual artistic techniques are rarely considered a Dark Art)</ref>.

This can be for any of the following reasons, sometimes several at once:

* It's very dangerous for the practitioner and those around him, usually because it is:

** [[Power At a Price|Has a really ghastly price to use.]]

** Can only be obtained by [[Human Sacrifice|evil activities]].

* The magic-users of ''[[Rental Magica]]'' has the set of taboo, mainly prohibiting things that either turn the user into an insane [[Blob Monster]] more often than not (including [[Came Back Wrong|resurrection]]) or cause a massive area contamination. A plain magical crime (like slaughtering the whole village to get a lot of zombies quickly) apparently isn't lumped with it. Of course, there's an opposition, [[For Science!|Ophites]].

* In ''[[Naruto]]'', [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Forbidden Jutsu]] are any jutsu that are either too dangerous (e.g. FRS, which nearly destroys Naruto's arm) to perform, or plain immoral (e.g. Edo Tensei, which involves human sacrifices), preferably some combination of the two. Bear in mind that ''normal'' jutsu include [[Mind Rape|mind attacking illusions]], fireballs and lightning attacks used for assassination, any of which can kill the user if used too much. That's an idea of how bad these can be.

 

== [[Film]] ==

** Quoth Professor Binns in explaining the Chamber of Secrets to the class, he points out: "Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he can't." And most of the ''really'' Dark Arts in Harry Potter do require the practitioner to do something morally compromising to perform - the Unforgivable Curses require the caster to feel malice, the Resurrection potion requires grave-robbing, mutilation, and torture of ones enemies. Recreating a body requires acts so horrific they made Rowling's publisher vomit afterwards, and making Horcruxes requires murder, in addition to other as yet unspecified unpleasantness.

* Blood magic in [[Trudi Canavan]]'s ''[[The Black Magician Trilogy]]''.

** "Black magic is a matter of symbolism and intent."

** "Black" magic uses dark symbols and/or intends to harm. It inevitably harms the soul of the practitioner.

 

== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==

{{quote| Duke Justinian: Hodar, you dared to defy a royal order and continued to dabble in sorceries which I had forbidden to all the people of my realm.}}

** Later editions has a wide range of spells tagged [evil]. Many are poorly explained (Animate Dead uses raw energy to create a non-sapient construct, while golems, which involve enslaving a sapient being, have no such tag) have it for no reason whatsoever (such as Deathwatch, which basically says if a person is dead, near dead or alive). Later source books state that undead exude negative energy, and so make the world a worse place just by existing. That's just one spell though.

** In ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' there are prohibitions from the gods of magic (covering [[Fantastic Nuke]], endangering of the world's magical circuit and a few crimes against the magic-using community) plus whatever local laws and traditions don't approve, typically including the most unpleasant forms of necromancy and/or using wild magic in populated areas. From what is known about the elven kingdom of Cormanthyr, it prohibited some enchantments that allow massive binding of magical items and creatures, some blood magics, using mass-destruction and later also selective spells in modes aimed to harm elves or "allied" beings. A few areas don't approve arcane magic at all, claiming it's "[[Proud Warrior Race Guy|dishonorable]]", but in fact it's the places when magic may attract a curious spell-grub, and no one wants ''[[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|that]]'' anywhere around.

** ''[[Dark Sun]]'' [[Power At a Price|defilers]] aren't tolerated by anyone including most other defilers, and all magic is looked upon with at least some suspicion because of this.

* ''[[Champions]]'' supplement ''The Blood and Dr. McQuark''. People on the planet Ea are forbidden to use magic or powers that involve interdimensional travel because it could lead to the unleashing of [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]].

* Blood magic and Toxic/Insect shamans in ''[[Shadowrun]]''.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==