White Magic: Difference between revisions
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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.
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* 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 White Magic.
* ''[[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]]
[[Category:
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