Warlock

For other meanings of the term, see warlock (disambiguation).

Warlocks are, among historic Christian traditions, said to be the male equivalent of witches (usually in the pejorative sense of Europe's Middle Ages), and were said to ride pitchforks instead of broomsticks. In some pop culture TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Bewitched warlocks are male witches. In the TV show Charmed a warlock is an evil witch, a "traitor to an oath" who steals other witches' powers, while any good male witch featured retains the title "witch"

As used by most Wiccans and modern witches, the term warlock refers to a witch who has been expelled for breaking oaths, revealing secrets, working black magic or committing some other betrayal.

Etymology

The normal etymology derives warlock from the Old English wǣrloga meaning deceiver, or "oathbreaker". However, one source suggests that the word may come from the Old Norse varð-lokkur, "caller of spirits". Varðlokkur is also translated by some as 'ward-locks' or 'protections', and is an invocation chant used in spæ (scrying).

A highly speculative etymology interprets 'wærloga' as 'the man of the logs' alluding to the small pieces of wood the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian priests and wise men (called bards and skalds, respectively) used to divine by means of the runes. This etymology seems to have been created to support neopagan beliefs about the past, inasmuch as warlock then appears to be a slang word of Christian coinage pejoratively used for those who remained Pagan and practising the art of the runes. However, its dependence upon sarcastic Christians referring to small pieces of wood as 'logs' makes it extremely unlikely, especially since the etymological roots of 'log' are believed to refer to felled trees or equally massive objects.

Warlocks in books and comics

In the Sword of Shannara books by Terry Brooks, the Warlock Lord was Brona, a druid who delved too deeply and quickly into forbidden knowledge and was corrupted by it.

Christopher Stasheff wrote a series of science fiction/fantasy novels about a technological warlock, beginning with The Warlock in Spite of Himself.

Warlocks are an alien race in the comic book series Nemesis the Warlock, which was adapted into a Commodore 64 video game. There, a warlock possesses the ability to alter his body to become different objects, and he finds sustenance by absorbing the energy from organic materials, leaving a lifeless husk in its wake.

Warlock is Monster in My Pocket #51. In the comic book series, he led the evil monsters and his portrayal hinted at Magneto. In the video game, he was immediately established as the villain and was the final boss, who attacks in a completely different way after being defeated once. In the second attack, he produces Windigos from his eyes. In the 2003 animated series, Warlock became the hero, and his evil brother Morlock became the villain.

In JK Rowling's Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore is Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. As Dumbledore is one of the chief protagonists of the series, the term seems to have no negative connotation here.

In Mollie Hunter's Thomas and the Warlock, Hugo Gifford is a wicked and fearsome warlock with black eyes who casts no shadow due to a trick he played on the devil.

In the book "Warlock" by Wilbur Smith, the Egyptian slave Taita becomes "The Warlock", after spending years in the desert, studying and praying.

Adam Warlock is a popular character in the Marvel Comic Universe. The first appearance of the character was in 1967 in Fantastic Four 66 & 67, and he was originally called "Him". He next appeared in 1969 in The Mighty Thor 165 & 166 under the name "Him", and did not receive the name "Adam Warlock" until the High Evolutionary gave him this name in 1972 in Marvel Premiere #1. After Marvel Premier #2, Warlock went on to have his own series, "The Power of Warlock", but the title failed miserably after only 8 issues leaving reader's on a cliffhanger, with the storyline concluding months later in Incredible Hulk 176-178. A couple of years later the character was revamped by Jim Starlin in a 4 issue run of Strange Tales 178-181, which led to the reinstating of his own title, picking up at issue 9-15. Although the character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Starlin storyline is considered to be the defining story arc of Warlock's character. Starlin's original storyline was designed to bring the character to the potential he had, and then resolve the character's Marvel comics arc with his "death" in 1977 in Avenger's Annual 7 and Marvel Two-In-One Annual 2, when during a battle with his arch nemesis Thanos his soul was absorbed into the Soul Gem that he wore on his forehead for several years. As with most Marvel comics' characters, Warlock was resurrected in 1987 with an appearance in Silver Surfer 46 & 47 in the spirit world of the Soul Gem, and then his actual physical resurrection in issue 1 of the mini-series "The Infinity Gauntlet". The character's popularity reached its peak in the 1990's when Marvel's cosmic storylines were prominent. Adam Warlock was the main character in four inter-related mini-series (Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, and Infinity Abyss). After Infinity Gauntlet he was again given his own title, "Warlock and the Infinity Watch," which was published for a period of nearly 4 years in the early to mid-1990's (ran for 42 issues, plus the 8 issue mini-series "The Warlock Chronicles", which ran concurrently with Infinity Watch). After the cancellation of that title, Warlock was crossed-over into the Malibu Comics Ultraverse in 1995 for a one year-plus long storyline with the character Rune, until he found his way back to the Marvel Universe in 1996. Warlock was given another 4 issue mini-series in 1998, and made various appearances in several cosmic mini-series titles (Marvel: The End, Thanos). Warlock continued to make various appearances in the Marvel Universe up until another 4 issue mini-series in 2004 where a new version of Warlock was created, only to have the reader discover that this new Warlock nothing more than a dream. The original Warlock did make a minor appearance in this storyline, but he has not been a major player in the Marvel Universe for the last couple of years.

Warlocks in games

In the Shadowgate series, the Warlock Lord, Talimar, betrayed the Circle of Twelve and summoned the Behemoth, but was unable to control it.

In the Warcraft series, warlocks are evil sorcerers, drawing their powers from demonic sources in exchange for their souls. In World of Warcraft, a warlock is a cloth-wearing spellcasting character class. It can summon and enslave demons to fight alongside itself, although those requiring enslavement can turn on the warlock and his allies. The warlock plays a valuable damage dealing class role, he can cast curses, and also play a minor support role by creating healthstones and soulstones (in order to let other players reincarnate from it).. The warlock is a master of powerful curses that have the ability to deal damage over time (DOT) and can also do some direct damage to its enemies by, for example, burning their souls.

There was a game called Warlock for the Sega Genesis that involved a powerful warlock attempting to gain a series of rune stones that the player (a Druid) is pressed to seek out first. The game is known for its extreme difficulty and unique yet solid control scheme.

In the Shadowbane MMORPG, warlocks are psychokinetic telepaths that attack and defend themselves using only the will of their minds, utilizing self-awareness and intense focus where other classes would rely on magic, armor, or physical strength and dexterity. In Shadowbane, Warlocks can be mage or fighter-based, and are known somewhat for their rare damage type, (mental), and for their ability to take on a wide variety foes without the help of others.

In Dark Age of Camelot, the warlock is a spellcasting character class in the realm of Midgard. Norse, Frostalf, and Kobold are the races capable of becoming a warlock. Warlocks in DAoC are unique casters in their ability to cast and land two spells at once, although they trade longer casting times for this ability. Their other defining trait is the ablitity to "chamber" spells: they can cast and hold spells to trigger for instant effect.

In the RTS Battle Realms, the warlock is the third thier unit of the Lotus Clan. Warlocks are powerful sorcerers, striking with bolts of destructive magic at their enemies. They are feared for they're Battle Gear "Soul Chill", which is a stackable Area of Effect magic attack. Warlocks are also unnafected by speed reduction from terrain and are often the fastest when moving up slopes. However, they have a disadvantage when fighting at units on cliffs, as they're attacks often strike the cliff face instead of they're intended tragets. Massing warlocks are a tactic often used by beginners, and they are effective even at few numbers. Warlocks can further be trained into Master Warlocks, who are spiritual beings of arcane might.

In Tactics Ogre, a Warlock was a scholarly type of magician who researched ancient languages. They could boost the power of nearby golems and help troops out with support magic, slow down enemies with status-inducing magic, or use Dragon Magic to attack all enemies at once. They were very fragile and easily killed, however. In Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, Warlocks were changed from a pure spellcaster to a hybrid of an attacker and a spellcaster. Their preferred weapon of choice was a sword and they could use their ability, Barren Soul, to attack an enemy with a sword of the opposite element. (It did not work on enemies of the Virtue or Bane elements, however) If they weren't aiding the front lines, they were in the back slowing down the enemy with status inducing spells or aiding allies with spells.

In Dungeons & Dragons, Warlocks are an alternative arcane spell-casting Core Class introduced in the Complete Arcane sourcebook. Warlocks do not learn or gain spells like other mages, instead they have access to a small pool of Invocations, special Spell-Like Abilities that suffer some of the drawbacks of conventional spells, such as the ability to be interrupted and the requirement of somatic components. They also have other special abilities, such as their primary weapon; the Eldritch Blast. What makes them a match of other mages is that their Invocations can be used an unlimited amount of times per day, so they do not run the risk of running out of spells. Warlocks gain their power through ties, forged intentionally or unintentionally, with alien, chaotic forces, primarily fiends.

In Rifts, Warlocks are spellcasters who join into a pact with Elementals, and bind themselves to their power. Warlocks have a kind of brotherhood with both Elementals and other Warlocks, and will treat each other cordially and with respect, even if they're about to battle each other.

There is an online game server, Warlocks, which is based on the game Spellbinder by Richard Bartle.

In The Legend of Zelda, Ganondorf is a warlock who can change into Ganon.

In Eternal Champions and its follow-up, Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side, the character Xavier Pendragon's backstory shows him to be a warlock.

In the Myth series, mainly in Myth II: Soulblighter and Myth III: The Wolf Age, there are the Warlocks of Scholomance, they cast powerful fireballs as their main attack.

In Halo 2, it is a small, 8-player multiplayer map.

In Lineage II, its one of the three advanced jobs that can be chosen by a player who has taken the Human Wizard path, after completing the quest "Mark of the Summoner". Warlocks are mages specialized in summoning magic, using the "arcana" (the path to other realms) to make a vow with extradimentional beings ,which become their "servitors", and to call for magical spirits known as "cubics" . Warlocks can summon Kai the Cat, as well as Kat the Cat and Mew the Cat (Human Wizards can summon Kat and Mew only), which are player controlled servitors, as well as Binding and Storm Cubics (non controlled spirits that assist the player). When a servitor is defeated or a cubic called by a Human Wizard vanishes, the player must wait three hours before summoning again. In the other side, Warlocks can do summoning magic instantly after their servitors are defeated. They can summon instantly after the servitor or cubic "contract time" expires. Warlock's equivalent should be Elves' Elemental Summoner and Dark Elves' Phantom Summoner.

In role-playing game Mage: The Awakening, Mages walking the Mastigos path are often referred to as Warlocks. These Mages are connected to the Watchtower of the Iron Gauntlet in the Realm of Pandemonium, and use magic as a means to gain personal power. The Arcana they're assosiated with are Mind and Space, subtle Arcana used to gain control over others. They have more difficulty using the Matter Arcana than other Mages.

The majority of these, as well as many other computer role playing games, share the fundamental mistake in that they allow players to create their Warlock character as a female, contradicting common folklore and mythology which predominantely elaborate the Warlock as a male witch.

Warlocks in film and television

• Warlock is a 1959 film based on a novel by Oakley Hall.
• The movie Warlock, from director Steve Miner, shows a warlock as being the son of Satan.

• In the television series Dark Shadows two warlocks make their presence known. In 1968, the evil warlock Nicholas Blair appeared. Later, in 1970, the decapitated head of warlock Judah Zachery unleashed terror upon the Collins family. Both warlocks received their powers from a diabolic source.

Music

In music, the guitar company B.C. Rich, has an electric guitar body design called the Warlock. Warlocks are commonly seen with the widow headstock, but occasionally have a standard electric guitar headstock. Mick Thompson of the band Slipknot used to play a signature solid black warlock B.C. Rich electric guitar, but he switched over to Ibanez.

The Warlocks was also the original name of the San Francisco-based 1960's rock band that came to be known as the Grateful Dead. The band's original core members included Jerry Garcia (lead guitar), Bob Weir (rhythm and lead guitar), Phil Lesh (bassist), Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (organ and harmonica), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums).

Warlock is the name of a late '80s rock band, whos lead singer is Doro Pesch.

Warlocks is the name of a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Warlock/Worlock is the name of a song by Skinny Puppy from their 1989 album, Rabies. Besides being a top fan favorite, the song is somewhat 'infamous' for several reasons; primarily the gruesome x-rated music video which is a collage of hundreds of violent clips from horror films (Making it essentially banned due to complete copyright infringement) and also in regards to an incident involving a group of young boys beating and torturing another to death while forcing him to listen to the song on repeat. The theme of the song could be seen as comparing a drug addict who has betrayed his girlfriend to an actual warlock.

References

¹: Pavlac, Brian A. "10 Common Errors and Myths about the Witch Hunts, Corrected and Commented," Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Resource Site. (October 31, 2001) [1] (October 8, 2003).

See also

• Kalku
• Magus
• Seid (shamanic magic)
• Sorcerer

External links

• What is a Warlock?