# Wizards Vs. Warlocks



## Barsook (Nov 10, 2012)

Is there a difference between wizards and warlocks (not the WoW ones)?  To me, wizards are the ones who can shoot fireballs or iceballs and some other spells and warlocks are warrior mages that can do what wizards can do and they can also do chants to help them in battles.  Or this is completely up to the author to make the difference between the two?


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## thedarknessrising (Nov 10, 2012)

I always assumed a warlock was a higher powered wizard. Once a wizard gained access to greater spells, he was considered a warlock.

However, like you said, it should be up to the author to make the distinction. 

Happy writing


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## Penpilot (Nov 10, 2012)

Warlock by definition is a male witch. BUT from this wikipedia Magician (fantasy) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia entry the term falls under the category of magician, which includes wizards. SO IMHO you can define it as you please for the most part.


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## T.Allen.Smith (Nov 10, 2012)

In my opinion it's toe-may-toe vs. toe-mah-toe. Your call as the author to define as you see fit.

For my understanding, the term "Warlock" is a gender term. A female is a witch. A male is a warlock. A wizard is one who studies arcane magic.

My advice... Do as you please.


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## Barsook (Nov 10, 2012)

Yeah.  I was thinking the same after you guys said that those two are gender terms.

And T.Allen.Smith, I thought both of them study acrane magic based on D&D or whatever the world was.


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## wordwalker (Nov 10, 2012)

Definitely means whatever you want.

Although, the original meaning of "warlock" wasn't magic-related at all, it meant simply "oathbreaker." It got associated with witches over the years, but it's still got that sinister sound to it, that's worth playing up if you want to define it that way.

(And yes, "wizard" is related to "wise." And "witch" is from the anglo-saxon term for, well, witch --spellcaster-- and it had versions for both genders.)


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## T.Allen.Smith (Nov 10, 2012)

Barsook said:


> And T.Allen.Smith, I thought both of them study acrane magic based on D&D or whatever the world was.



I would say that's exactly the case & that was my point... Same thing to me, different names. Of course, in your world they could mean very different things.

I'm reading Terry Ervin's book right now (MS member). In his world, a sorcerer & wizard are 2 different things. You just have to decide if they're different in yours.


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## Mindfire (Nov 10, 2012)

Wizards are usually good. Warlocks are usually evil.


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## Barsook (Nov 10, 2012)

Mindfire, can you give examples where warlocks are evil other than WoW?


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## Mindfire (Nov 11, 2012)

Barsook said:


> Mindfire, can you give examples where warlocks are evil other than WoW?



Well, there's Richard from Looking for Group. 

And there's also witch doctors and "IRL" warlocks, though your mileage may vary on that one. lol


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## thedarknessrising (Nov 11, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> Well, there's Richard from Looking for Group.
> 
> And there's also witch doctors and "IRL" warlocks, though your mileage may vary on that one. lol



Plus, warlocks in D&D usually use a dark kind of magic, as most warlocks are tieflings, a sort of "evil" race.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Nov 11, 2012)

Barsook said:


> Mindfire, can you give examples where warlocks are evil other than WoW?



Warlocks aren't automatically evil in WoW; you can play a warlock. They just tend to end up summoning demons they can't control. 

Anyway, to answer the original question: Neither term has specific enough meaning that you can't use them however you like. Maybe in your world a wizard is a highly-trained professional magic user and a warlock is some dude who trained himself. Maybe a wizard is someone who uses arcane magic and a warlock is someone who uses death magic. Etc.

You literally do not have to pay attention to any preexisting terminology here; you can do whatever you want.


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## psychotick (Nov 11, 2012)

Hi,

Yeah, from my perspective you can decide how you want to write them. But in D n D, specifically Neverwinter, warlocks are dark wizards. And that would fit with oathbreaker I suppose.

My thought though, is if you want them to vie with wizards, you do need to have some distinct point of contention between them. And calling a warlock evil would have consequences, as it would automatically make wizards good (more or less). So maybe you could go for different forms of magic - warlocks summon demons and raise the dead or some such thing, while wizards play with the elements. Alternatively maybe the difference could be in the goals of each group. Maybe warlocks want to rule, wizards want to play with their spells.

But completely up to you. I don't think there's enough literature out there to jar with anything you decide.

Cheers, Greg.


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## Graylorne (Nov 12, 2012)

*warlock  *
O.E. wÃ¦rloga "traitor, liar, enemy," from wÃ¦r "faith, a compact" (cf. O.H.G. wara "truth," O.N. varar "solemn promise, vow;" seevery; cf. also Varangian) + agent noun related to leogan "to lie" (see lie (v.1)). Original primary sense seems to have been "oath-breaker;" given special application to the devil (c.1000), but also used of giants and cannibals. Meaning "one in league with the devil" is recorded from c.1300. Ending in -ck and meaning "male equivalent of witch" (1560s) are from Scottish.

*wizard  *
mid-15c., "philosopher, sage," from M.E. wys "wise" (see wise (adj.)) + -ard. Cf. Lith. zynyste "magic," zynys "sorcerer," zyne"witch," all from zinoti "to know." The ground sense is perhaps "to know the future." The meaning "one with magical power" did not emerge distinctly until c.1550, the distinction between philosophy and magic being blurred in the Middle Ages. As a slang word meaning "excellent" it is recorded from 1922.

*Above are the descriptions the Online Etymological Dictionary give.*


You see in the description of the Warlock that he had connections with the devil, i.e. black arts etc. A Witch had originally more or less the same meaning, only female. In general a warlock was therefore supposed to be connected with Black Magic, an egotistic type who worked only for his own profit. 

A Wizard was more of a scientist (science and philosophy was the same thing in medieval times). He was a wise councilor, studying ancient manuscripts, perhaps an alchemist, but in any case someone working for good.


And of course, as others already said, you can use these descriptions as you see fit, these are only the historical details.


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## Queshire (Nov 12, 2012)

I like the connection Warlocks have with being "Oathbreakers" so I plan on having that be a thing in my setting, though I'm currently debating on how exactly to do that. Either they gained powers through making a contract with some powerful entity, demons, spirits, gods, etc, but they betray that contract but somehow manage to keep ahold of their powers, or they use the power that comes from the metaphysical act of destruction and what not, and the strongest warlocks could muck around with atomic bonds to create a nuclear blast. (though naturally they tend not to survive doing that.)

Wizards on the other hand, I have a good idea of what I want to do with them for my setting. In my setting babies with high magical potential are taken to these highly secretive towers run by orders of wizards. There they undergo a combination of harsh training, medical procedures, and magical rituals all designed to strengthen their magical potential. Nobody knows how many wizard-candidates die in the process, but those that succeed are forever changed. They stop aging and every Wizard looks to be somewhere between ten to sixteen years old, though they would still have a human lifespan if they didn't each use magical rituals to extend their lives. They have a photographic memory and can perform the rituals and what not of logic magic better than anyone else, however their way of living and the stuff done to them make them extremely odd and off putting. Most people are pants-wettingly scared of Wizards and rightly so.


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## Cosmolien (Nov 12, 2012)

Warlocks i think tend to be more evil than wizards in any circumstance really


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## Gurkhal (Nov 13, 2012)

In regards to warlock I am entirely sure that the meaning is a man who practices magic to harm others, as a witch is a woman who does the same thing. I think that wizard may (note: may) be a person who generally practice magic without necessary using it to harm others.


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## Mindfire (Nov 13, 2012)

Gurkhal said:


> In regards to warlock I am entirely sure that the meaning is a man who practices magic to harm others, as a witch is a woman who does the same thing. I think that wizard may (note: may) be a person who generally practice magic without necessary using it to harm others.



As I understood it, a wizard is generally supposed to possess great knowledge or wisdom in addition to their abilities, whereas a witch or warlock is marked by malicious intent and driven not by a a love for anything all that honorable, but rather by a purely selfish desire for-












...Well, yeah. That's a pretty good example actually. Jedi = wizards, Sith = warlocks.


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## Devor (Nov 13, 2012)

Modern real world witches, at least, do not use the term warlock.  A male witch is just a witch.

I think the going "norm" for fantasy is that warlocks draw their power from demons or evil spirits.  Though, I would've thought more people would say that, so maybe it's less a norm than I thought.


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## Mindfire (Nov 13, 2012)

Devor said:


> Modern real world witches, at least, do not use the term warlock.  A male witch is just a witch.



I also do this. My  characters colloquially refer to evil magic-users as witches regardless of gender, because I revel in political incorrectness.


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## Graylorne (Nov 13, 2012)

My witches are more like district nurses. They dabble in herbs, simple illnesses, pregnancies etc. They are guilded to the temple of Healing, just like healers and chirurgeons. My set up of magic has nothing to do with the traditions either.

Re. warlock in modern times: I've noticed that several wicca sites use the term for one who has broken his oath to his own coven, like in the original meaning of 'oathbreaker'. An ex-member, so to say. I don't know if this is widespread usage, though.


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## Gurkhal (Nov 13, 2012)

Mindfire said:


> As I understood it, a wizard is generally supposed to possess great knowledge or wisdom in addition to their abilities, whereas a witch or warlock is marked by malicious intent and driven not by a a love for anything all that honorable, but rather by a purely selfish desire for-
> 
> ...Well, yeah. That's a pretty good example actually. Jedi = wizards, Sith = warlocks.



Could well be. I'm drawing my stuff form what I learnt when I studied religion in school, and there I was told what the terms witch and warlock have been used for in historical times. So to historical say there were good witches would be like saying there were murderers who never harmed anyone or stalkers who respected privacy.

How the term witch is used today is an entirely differet matter, of course.


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## Queshire (Nov 13, 2012)

I'd say religion would be a bad thing to base these things off of, what with Christianity only being 2000 and change years old, while those that could be identified as witches or warlocks being much older. One thing I read, (though admittedly it was in a fictional story, so it may not be accurate) the original term was Bad Magic or what not while it was when the Bible was translated to English that it became Witch or whatever.

Personally I'm fervently against a black and white morality. That's just me though, I don't like it when some things are seen as inherently good and others as inherently bad, which is always a big theme in my works.


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## SeverinR (Nov 15, 2012)

They are what you make them.
But an option:

Mage-standard magic user, not specifically for combat.
Warlock-battle mage? more oriented towards war?
Wizard- more a level of competence then different scope of study.
Enchanter; studies and creates magic instruments
Illusionist: creates illusions.
Elementalist; specializes in use of the elements for magic.

But as I said at the start, the titles can be anything you make them to be, even nothing more then synonyms.


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## Sheilawisz (Nov 15, 2012)

I really like the English words Wizard and Warlock, Witch sounds great too but in my Fantasy stories (most of them, not written in English) I call my magical characters _Magas_, which can be translated to English as female _Mages_.

You can define what a Wizard is and what a Warlock is according to your own worlds, but in my opinion, a _Warlock_ sounds like they would be more powerful than Wizards and also more skilled particularly in combat, war, military strategies and destructive magic in general.

Maybe I feel that way because the word Warlock starts with war, who knows, but it would be great =)

The word Warlock appears sometimes in the Harry Potter series, but it's never explained what is really the difference between a Warlock and a Wizard.


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## Ireth (Nov 15, 2012)

I use mage as a gender-neutral term to describe magic-users in general; there are several distinct categories under that heading.

Elementals - those who manipulate the elements: earth, fire, wind and water.
Necromancers - those who deal with biological magic; includes raising the dead and healing the living.
Conjurers - those who conjure.
Illusionists - those who create illusions.
Enchanters - those who enchant.


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## Gurkhal (Nov 16, 2012)

Queshire said:


> I'd say religion would be a bad thing to base these things off of, what with Christianity only being 2000 and change years old, while those that could be identified as witches or warlocks being much older. One thing I read, (though admittedly it was in a fictional story, so it may not be accurate) the original term was Bad Magic or what not while it was when the Bible was translated to English that it became Witch or whatever.
> 
> Personally I'm fervently against a black and white morality. That's just me though, I don't like it when some things are seen as inherently good and others as inherently bad, which is always a big theme in my works.



I don't see why religion would be a bad thing to base it off, and Christianity is not the oldest religion that condems sorcery even if it within the Western world is mostly known one. I can't say that I'm for black and white morality, but there's always some black areas. 

In my own works I like magic to be mysterious and dangerous, which is a theme for my writing. All power carries danger with them.

Anyway for me warlock has a more malovelant and sinister feel to it than wizard does. I would actually rather see that a title like sorcerer, warlock, wizard etc. has more of a moral judgment in them and is less of a job description. But maybe that's just me.


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## Zenke (Nov 16, 2012)

In terms of D&D wizards are more ranged based spell casters, where as warlocks are more melee orientated spell casters. Warlocks can wear armor without casting penalties. I'm not sure how they differ in spells, although warlocks are usually evil in D&D. They were removed in the 3.5 rules i guess because they were considered redundant. 

When i use magic, i just call my casters mages, but if i were going to use wizards and warlocks, Wizards would be well learned, very powerful spell casters who could probably kill you before you blink, where as warlocks would be like a battle mage, charging into battle in armor and using spells and weapons to smash his foes, and would probably be the only people who could face off against wizards, besides other wizards, and vice versa.


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## Christopher Wright (Nov 16, 2012)

The words do whatever I tell them to. ;-)


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## Graylorne (Nov 16, 2012)

Christopher Wright said:


> The words do whatever I tell them to. ;-)



That's the modern word for you: spineless. No backbone whatsoever.


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## S.T. Ockenner (Nov 17, 2020)

Sheilawisz said:


> The word Warlock appears sometimes in the Harry Potter series, but it's never explained what is really the difference between a Warlock and a Wizard.


Actually, it is. 
 "*Warlock* is a very old term that has two meanings: to describe a wizard of unusually fierce appearance or as a title denoting particular skill or achievement. It originally denoted one learned in duelling and all martial magic or was given as a title to a wizard who had performed feats of bravery (as Muggles are sometimes knighted).[1] It is sometimes incorrectly used as interchangeable with the term "wizard.""-Fandom


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## D. Gray Warrior (Nov 17, 2020)

Well, it's fantasy, so they can be what you want them to be.

However, my take is that I see warlocks as being more powerful or more likely to be evil.


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