White Magic: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
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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Unlike with [[Black Magic]], with White Magic you don't have to worry about malevolent side effects. (There may be a sacrifical cost to prove your commitment.) Whereas [[Satan|evil]] [[God of Evil|gods]] tend to despise their human patsies, ''genuinely good'' deities tend to ''genuinely like'' their devotees. However, with White Magic you do tend to face certain Restrictions, as good gods tend to be pickier about how their servants use the powers granted to them. [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]] usually wants his followers to use his powers to go out and help people, and he won't be amused when his devotees run around killing babies.
There are two common methods for imposing Restrictions. One is to limit what sorts of powers the disciples receive to largely beneficial effects that can cause no direct harm; [[Healing Hands|powers of healing]], protection, or [[Status Buff|blessed empowerment]]. Mature (or merely advanced) devotees might get a handful of spells for [[Standard Status Effects|offensively weakening and hindering others]], though the available "debuffs" tend to be relatively gentle compared to the curses of [[Black Magic]]. There may be at least one honestly destructive spell available, but which is only effective against [[
It should be noted that between the lack of [[The Corruption|uglifying side-effects]] of [[Black Magic]] and the abundance of healing effects, the followers of Good tend to be much healthier and prettier. (Which may actually serve as a [[Justified Trope|Justification]] for [[Beauty Equals Goodness]].)
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Depressing as it is, sometimes [[Light Is Not Good]], or else [[Lawful Stupid|just very stupid]]. In these cases, people are able to use White Magic in all the wrong ways, either by serving as the personal healer of [[Big Bad|an evil overlord]] or by marauding around the countryside, using "holy" bolts to slaughter [[Dark Is Not Evil]] races like the aforementioned [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampires]] and [[Our Orcs Are Different|Blizzard-type Orcs]]. Either the deity behind the White Magic isn't [[God Is Evil|all he's cracked up to be]], or the [[Functional Magic|form of magic]] doesn't actually involve a sapient source at all.
See also: [[The Medic]], whose [[Healing Hands]] are often a result of
{{examples}}
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== Literature ==
* In [[G. K. Chesterton]]'s [[Father Brown]] story "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131010042845/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/chesterton/gk/c52fb/chapter30.html The Dagger with Wings]," a character talks of using white magic against his enemy. {{spoiler|Father Brown deduces from the way he talks, philosophically, that he is the enemy, and he has already murdered the man he is posing as.}}
{{quote|''"It is true that by studying magic he fell at last under the blight of black magic; the [[Black Magic]] of this scoundrel Strake. But my brothers were wrong about the antidote. The antidote to black magic is not brute materialism or worldly wisdom. The antidote to black magic is white magic."
"It rather depends," said Father Brown, "what you mean by white magic."
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** Later, as Father Brown left,
{{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
* In [[Peter S. Beagle]]'s ''[[The Last Unicorn (novel)|The Last Unicorn]]'', the title character is briefly held captive by a [[Black Magic]] user named Mommy Fortuna. When the witch claims she would cut out someone else's liver to keep her, the unicorn replies, "True magic can never be done by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and [[Sweet and Sour Grapes|not expect to get it back]]. The true witches know that."
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Lost]]'', Theo argues that there is no such thing as White Magic, that even though he used his powers to blast demons and practioners of very [[Black Magic]], he must give it up to avoid damnation.
** 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 on the Sword]]", Epemitreus marks [[Conan the Barbarian]]'s sword to let it slay demons. Possibly the only benevolent use of magic in Howard's entire Conan saga.
** In "[[The Tower of the Elephant]]", the [[Deceptive Disciple]] imprisoned his mentor because he was being taught only
* ''[[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 ''[[The Witch Watch]]'', is whether or not white magic exists. Is it holy to use magic for the purpose of healing? {{spoiler|Not when it turns out it requires human sacrifices to function}}
* In [[Devon Monk]]'s ''[[Age of Steam|Dead Iron]]'', Mae's sisters use this. They find it hard to believe that her powers naturally turn to [[Black Magic]].
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== Myth and Religion ==
* [[The Bible]] holds a number of examples of God bestowing White Magic upon mortal men and women, other than simply working miracles around a chosen spokesman. None of it bears any resemblance to video-game White Magic, and there is certainly nothing like MP involved. In the Old Testament, Samson gets invincibility. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul talks about "Spiritual Gifts" that born-again Christians get, that are weapons for spiritual (rather than physical) warfare.
** Samson wasn't invincible, if he was, then he would've survived when he brought down the Philistine's temple. He had incredible strength, enough to carry two giant doors across a country, kill 1,000 men with the jawbone of an ass and destroy an entire temple.
** Jesus also promises that his followers will wield great powers than he does, and declares "Do ye not know that ye are gods?" - pretty awesome statement from the founder of a monotheistic religion.
** Keep in mind that Jesus was speaking using Old Testament definitions and that the in greek translation of the old testament word, calling someone a god is the equivalent to calling them 'a glorious' person.
* Theurgy, or Theosophy, which was popular among the renaissance occultists, was basically the [[Truth in Television|historical variant of this]]. It stood in direct opposition to [[Black Magic|Goetia/Cacodæmony.]]
== Tabletop Games ==
* The Paladins and Good-Aligned Clerics of ''[[Dungeons
** 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
* White Cards, from ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''. As noted in the trope description, of course, sometimes [[Light Is Not Good]].
* 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.
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* [[Shadow Era]] has the Priest Heroes, who use white magic to heal and protect their active allies.
* 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).
* ''[[Dark Souls]]'' has the "miracle" subcategory of magic. These magics are based on faith, and are usually tied to some sort of deity. These spells tend to be defensive in nature, such as the healing and magic resist miracles. Joining covenants of gods usually grants you miracles as a reward, and allows the use of specific miracles.
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[[Category:Power At a Price]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
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