Hello!
We see many characters go from being Mages to being Warlocks in the lore, but are there any examples of characters who gave up their Fel Empowered ways and went back to less corruptive magics?
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Mages who become warlocks are probably less prone to turn back because their reasons for becoming warlocks come across as individually motivated rather than being part of a culture-wide phenomenon of spellcasters adopting fel magic as it was with the orcs, meaning catastrophic negative consequences are more likely to be self-inflicted rather than the sort of thing that inspires guilt over damning their entire people. Many orc shamans became warlocks out of perceived necessity, while mages seem to generally do so out of a lust for power or a fixation on wanting to study forbidden knowledge.
A number of shamans switched back; Oronok and Drek’thar in particular come to mind, along with probably any other modern-day Horde shamans who are old enough to have been in the old Horde.
One supposes that the possessed Medivh arguably counted as being a warlock who went back to being a mage again when he came back to life to help Azeroth in the Third War.
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The problem is there’s not that many notable warlocks involved in story that aren’t villains that we fight. Who you see in the Council of the Black Harvest is about it besides trainers and a few quest givers.
Meryl Felstorm is considered a warlock even though he practices arcane more, maybe him?
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Non that I recall. Generally going to corruption is a one-way street. whether it’s a transition to demonology or necromancy. No one has done both though.
Traditionally the only times characters are redeemed from such paths is when they give up magic entirely. The only exceptions are those Orc shamans who took up the warlock path and then reverted to being shamans after givng up their demonic powers. In those cases though those are characters who switched form divine magic to arcane magic and then gave up the latter and repurified themselves to wield divine again.
Drek’thar joined the warlocks when the elements abandoned the orcs back in the day. Gave it up and returned to shamanism. It’s covered in Rise of the Horde, I believe.
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I suppose it is a matter of just using words interchangeably, but he is heavily involved in the Mage Order Hall and not really involved with Warlocks.
He definitely started as a Mage, and probably is considered a Mage again. While he is possessed, someone calls him a Warlock… I think it is in Black Morass? But that could be because Orcs did not have another frame of reference for what he was doing.
I forget exactly when but someone calls him a Warlock when he is still under Sargeras’s control.
On another note, the original DKs were Warlocks at first. They sort of changed roles, and doubled down on the “evil” instead of rejecting it. Warlock to DK instead of Warlock to Mage or Warlock to Shammy.
Actually I think that he’s more of a ghost that can appear solid and take Raven form. Those are the only powers he displays after his death at the hands of Lothar. At least he’s not walking around carrying his head, considering that Lothar beheaded him.
Being a ghost doesn’t stop him from being a mage. Ghost isn’t a class.
As for the OP, Drek’thar is the first one who comes to mind as others have said. I’d wager any orc shamans his age went shaman->warlock->shaman like he did, as the Old Horde didnt use shamans.
Ghosts by their nature are very limited in their ability to affect the physical world. Medivh’s only role after his return is as prophet and advisor… atoning for the sins of his life.
We kill ghosts all the time because they keep affecting the physical world.
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In ghostly ways… such doing the wailing, the corrupting touch, the occasional posession and all that.
Please tell me a SINGLE instance where the Prophet did ANYTHING other than talk or flap around in stormcrow form.
Just because he didn’t do anything, doesn’t mean he can’t.
Being dead is a very strong argument that he can’t. And there is not a single piece of evidence to argue otherwise.
If he was dead and stuck in the afterlife sure. But he’s a ghost.
There’s nothing to suggest a ghost loses their ability to use magic. If anything they gain more abilities.
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The fact that he didn’t use his powers is the best evidence he did not have any. Medivh was a strong willful mage in life. If he still had his magic, he would have used it to demonstrate just exactly who he was.
I could be wrong and need to double check, but I’m pretty sure Medivh says in his conversation with Khadgar at the end of The Last Guardian that the powers of the Guardian left Medivh when he died. It has nothing to do with him being a ghost. We fight ghosts that cast spells all the time.
By the way I always loved that scene, it’s really cool. It’s WC3-era Medivh talking to WC1-era Khadgar, and they can see and converse because of Karazhan’s ability to grant visions. Khadgar is seeing a vision of the future at the same time Medivh is seeing a vision of the past. It’s one of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise actually, it’s a cool concept and their conversation is very somber.
No he wouldn’t, because he spent the entire campaign up 'til the last mission pointedly not telling anyone “exactly who he was” because he was known to be a demon-corrupted traitor by all the people who would care about his identity.
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Just to throw this out there, the conversation between Khadgar and Medivh certainly makes it seem Khadgar believes that Medivh isn’t just a ghost. He’s actively trying to get Medivh to join the fight against the Legion, citing his power would be useful.
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So I went back and checked (still a super good scene) and it wasn’t there. What was there was Medivh being described as once again being alive, and that made me go back and look at Chronicle to see what it said, and it says Medivh was just full on revived by Aegwynn. However it goes on to say that after Hyjal he could sense his powers were waning (emphasis mine, relevant to the conversation) and his time on the physical plane was coming to an end, so he bowed out.
So I don’t know what Medivh was in Legion but he wasn’t a ghost in WC3.
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Yeah, Medivh was definitely alive after his mother brought him back. And uses arcane magic, like his transformation into a bird. Arguably his giving visions to certain characters.