I sort of feel like it wasn’t and then they changed it?
My head canon was always that shadow priests were sort of like, dark mages.
Or, a better example, like maw magic before the idea of the maw was even invented. sort of like, how you have light, then you have shadow AND then void and old gods. Shadow, void and old gods are kind of all different.
Like, light magic pulls from the light and I feel like shadow magic is sort of a bastardization of it and a mockery of it.
Or like, a troll shadow priest, isn’t a servant of the void (although they could knowingly be) rather, more of a witch doctor type practicing dark magic. Is this a thing? Just generic “dark magic”, its not the void, it’s not the maw, it’s not warlock legion fel magic, but it’s just “dark”.
Is there a place for generic shadow magic? Or does it all relate and limit itself back to the void?
All Twilight’s Hammer Spells as well as Void Walkers/Voidlord Spells use the word Shadow in them so both the Old Gods and Void were tied to Shadow from the beginning.
Ironically on Shadow not tied to the Void nowadays the Cosmology has 6 Magic Schools that technically can be used by multiple Cosmic Forces despite usually being associated with just one.
Case in point Death(Ardenweald), Life and Order(Emerald Dream) use Nature Magic just as all 6 Cosmic Forces have used Necromancy.
That means that since Shadow is listed both as a Cosmic Force and as a Magic School there is both Shadow Death Magic(Revendreth Death Magic) and Shadow Shadow Magic(which is called Void).
Incidentally we have seen no cases of Shadow Order Magic, Shadow Life Magic, Shadow Disorder Magic or Shadow Light Magic so the Shadow Magic School is limited to the Cosmic Forces of Shadow(where it is called Void) and Death.
Wouldn’t nature shadow magic be things like curses and things like living trees and ents, the idea of a “witch wood” and drust things?
I feel like the classic WoW priest was more like shadow order magic. I’m thinking of things like, you ever see the deacons of the deep in dark souls? or like, the Lore book of shadows from Warhammer Fantasy? I’m also thinking of Darkbishop Benedictus, i know his card art has tentacles but his eyes are glowing red which makes me head canon something else. Like some dark souls vibes “dark” shadow magic or something. Or something like a maw magic of some sorts.
Edit: he does not have tentacles in his card art in hearthstone and they are in fact strands of shadow.
Shadow used to be a fairly vague term.
It had certain themes associated with it.
Mind stuff. Vampiric stuff.
But it’s source was always just “The Shadow”. An antithesis to the Light that may have been associated with the Void, but wasn’t.
Shadow could also include areas like dark voodoo magic.
The change came… around Legion, I think?
That’s when Shadowpriests got “Insanity” as their secondary resource, and a lot of their talents were themed around the Void and Old Gods.
Their Legion weapon was an Old God dagger.
So on and so forth.
Can it still be this “generic” shadow magic. I actually like that a lot more. I mean, i like the idea of a shadow priest can be either a void old god priest or a vampiric voodoo smokey shadow kind of magic.
Or is it set in stone shadow magic is always void and old gods and void lord.
For RP and headcanon, it can be whatever you want.
As you said, there are some racial faiths out there that don’t fit in with the Light/Void dichotomy.
Trolls have their Loa and voodoo
Draenei have the Auchenai
The intention of the designers is that it’s Void.
But it’s no different than Priest’s Holy spec being designed to be Light.
You can ignore that and put any source of faith and power in it.
Elune, Loa priests, Anshe, Ancestral worship, whatever.
So to summarize:
Shadow Spec is designed and themed to be Void.
But if you want to flavor it as something else, you’re more than able to and there’s plenty of room in the lore to fit it.
Light - Holy Magic
Death - Necromantic Magic
Order - Order Magic
However, they formally unhitched these magic types and their power sources. So for example Nightmare magic is basically Nature Magic fueled by the Void. That is likely also the source of the curse of flesh, thinking about it. Likewise Necromantic Magic fueled by the Light gave us Calia. There are a ton more examples over the game’s history I could give, but yeah.
So, you technically could have a shadow priest who fueled their magic through another source, but the 99.9% standard is for it to be fueled by the Void.
In other words, around the time they started pushing that cosmic chart that is now driving all stories. I’m willing to bet this is when they first drew up the chart in preparation for Chronicles.
Nature Shadow Magic(or perhaps Nature Disorder Magic considering the Felwort Questline in Legion) is the Nightmare.
Drust Death Magic is a hybrid of Necromantic & Nature Death Magic.
The Cosmic Force of Life itself has no Shadow Magic School even though it does have Arcane(Night Warrior Magic & Elune’s Lunar Magic) and Necromantic(Blood) Magic Schools.
“Light and Shadow” are the established fundamental polarity of Creation. “Holy” and “Void” are kind of descriptors of the use made of each, or it’s cultural bent.
Rogue abilities are canonically minor Shadow enhancements - not just sleight of hand - making them the functional opposite of a Light-based healing class.
But yes, Shadow and Void have been synonymous as long as both have been around.
Only proper shadow I remember is in vanilla Forsaken priests apparantly used the shadow and this was what their priests were. All the other shadow magics were voodoo and things. So I dont think it originally was. However the modern explanation works better imo. Also having old god powers as talents in the priest tree is pretty rad.
Nah it’s kinda like how Balance Druid didn’t start as pure stars druid.
I don’t even remember when the void as a concept was born, but im pretty sure implied elune shadow magic and the cult of the forgotten shadow pre-date it.
God… Elune kinda throws a mix into it. The only two magics that werent attributed to her before SL was -maybe- Life (but she did make an entire species soo) and Fel.
Her energies do kinda work like Holy magic. It also is implied to work just like Shadow Magic. It has been used to summon the dead in books and wc3’s mechanics. And balance druid magic is arcane.
Who tf really knows, I doubt any writer remembers this given what they did in SL lol.
I would say when Blizzard made it so that voidwalkers and other void beings (like Void Gods) were creatures of the Void and not Demons. Which is what they were previously labelled as. Which the first signs of it was in TBC. With dialogue from Arcanist Ardonis
The manaforge [Ultris] was overloaded and created a huge explosion. It left a tear in reality and now void creatures have been pouring in through it. You can see them all over the place towards the northeast
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Arcanist_Ardonis
Then later confirmed in the fourth round of the Ask Cdev interviews.
Shadow from the very stat of the game was about mind flay, mind control and psychic scream. It’s just got more tentacles on the way (in cataclysm they got dark wings and orbs to i guess make them more dark magic than void, but you know how it progressed since)
Its a shame that the Class Skins idea was drop… it would have been nice if you had the option to talk to an NPC and get a Class Skin for show the source of you power more visually or source of faith in your powers.
Its like Warlock, they never get to make pacts with anything other than Demons… yet in D&D Warlocks can form pacts even with Gods, Fey and all kinds of other Cosmic Entities Alive or Dead if my memory is not failing me and I’m not mixing it with some other Class (I believe you could use it as some sort of Visage of the dead Entities Echo of power. One of the most interesting and unusual RPG concept I ever read in D&D)
Changing how their powers work!
However, I guess it could be game limitations or just not enough time to develop it with DF other priorities. Also there were a few vocal who didn’t want it because: “of schools magic, lore and game dmg would not match its source correctly or its just be lazy instead of adding new specs etc.” Way to many reason to drop it not enough reasons to make Class skins a thing.
I’m just returning to the game, but yes I remember Forsaken priests being associated with the cult in vanilla. Their transformation into an ascendant was the perfect manifestation of their bond with death and undeath.
Looking at my talent tree now, it’s clear things have changed. It stands to reason, though, that there could be two schools of shadow: Necromancy and Void
Yet interesting enough… in some of the reading stories it implied that Death is the enemy of the Void and well everything in existence, I think it mention, because it was the end of all things…or something in those lines… which to be honest was an unexpected reveal to me as I thought that Light would be that unless the Void just see it as “spicy” food?
I really like the concept and RPG potential of the priesthood of the Cult of Shadow… it was different and always thought it was more in lines with Death until Legion… I guess.
Maybe its one of does thing that’s for gameplay reason…
It be nice if Afflicction would be more of a Twisting Nether Fel, Death and Elemental Decay realm type of powers like the First DK that were Undead Warlocks and Priests stick to their Shadow Old God theme, because as of right now their theme is very almost identical to each other…(IMO)
Even Blood magic that does shadow damage like the one that is use by DK, NPC and even the Druids who tap into the Emerald Nightmare do Shadow Damage, but the lore states Blood Magic is “Torture Life Magic”… which I never knew until I read it.
Love them both hope they can keep develop SP and Affliction Shadow further in the lore from: Almost all Shadow magic comes from the Void theme…
