Chapter II: The Laws of Magic

This is the second chapter of the book Magic in Azeroth.

II: The Laws of Magic
Traditionally, there are four laws of magic, which are transmitted to new apprentices as something approaching cautionary mantras. This author contends that these four laws, which shall be detailed hereafter, constitute a confused mixture of natural and normative principles. In presenting the laws of magic, we shall endeavour to discern their factual content, removed from their often judgmental character.

Magic is Powerful
The first law states simply that magic is powerful. In Archmage Runeweaver’s writings on the subject, he states that “Magic in Azeroth is the difference between a slave and a master, a foot soldier and a king. Few races and nations can operate without powerful mages and warlocks”. Thus the law is set within a sociological context: magecraft is rare and necessary, therefore it is powerful. This may be true, but it tells us nothing about the fundamental nature of magic, only about its place within the civilizations of Azeroth. Instead, strip the law of its traditional interpretation. In this light, the law ‘magic is powerful’ comes to mean ‘magic is full of power.’ This is what I take to be the original and proper sense of this law (though Archmage Runeweaver’s usage is doubtlessly also correct). In this sense, the law makes the practitioner of magecraft aware of the fact that she is engaged in harnessing potent forces.

Magic is Corrupting
The second law states that magic is corruptive to the souls of those who employ it. Archmage Emerson, in his influential lecture following Archmage Runeweaver, describes the chief corruption caused by magic as pridefulness, and the hubristic notion of one’s invincibility.

For the discerning student of magic, the question is this: to what extent is the warning that magic is corruptive based on conventions of morality, as opposed to actual, tangible corruption? That is, do we suppose that magic is corrupt merely because we take pridefulness to be a moral failing, or does magic in fact lead to physical or mental degeneracy?

The answer posited here is that, under certain extreme circumstances, arcane magic does cause the latter form of corruption. Fel magic and necromancy taint the body and spirit, and drawing on any magic far beyond one’s potential to handle is similarly problematic. As well, all magic is ‘addictive,’ and thus corruptive insofar as it introduces a desire not previously held prior to the use of magic. But arrogance in itself, if it does follow inextricably from the practice of magic, is not in the same category of corruptions. While pridefulness is undoubtedly harmful to the aspiring mage, in the sense that it clouds one’s vision, it cannot be said to be more than that.

There is a second sense in which magic can be taken as corruptive, however. That is in a cosmological sense, whereby magic itself lies outside the natural order of the universe, within the chaotic Twisting Nether. From this view, whenever magic touches the world, it is corruptive, introducing an outside chaos to it. It should be noted, however, that corruption in this sense implies only a form of change by a foreign force, and not degradation in the common sense, that is, of good turning to evil. The law, read in this way, gives us insight into the mechanical operation of the cosmos.

Magic is an Addiction
This law states that the power inherent in magic creates a drive to use it, and for greater and greater uses. There is considerable empirical truth to this law, and so it will not be disputed at length. All mages feel the pull of magic on their psyches, but with careful training and willpower, these urges can be mitigated. Apprentices and those new to the magical arts are urged rightly to remain cognizant of this fact, and seek guidance if faced with difficulties.

Nonetheless, this author would dispute the notion that often is thought to follow freely from magic's addictive quality, namely, that addiction is necessarily wrong. Addictiveness in itself is not a harmful quality. Rather, it is the results of the addiction in question that are harmful. If a mage can be properly directed such that her powers are harnessed for good ends, then addiction need not be a problematic feature of her art.

Magic Attracts the Twisting Nether Like Flies to Honey
As we have seen, all arcane magic draws to some degree on the Twisting Nether, which is its original source. The traditional reading of this law is that the beings of the Twisting Nether, principally demons, are drawn to concentrations of arcana. They seek it out, as the Burning Legion has done in its invasions of Azeroth. There is undeniable truth to this, and mages who practice dangerously, overdrawing or utilizing fel magic, risk terrible consequences.

However, I wish to suggest an alternate view of this law. That is, because magic stems from the Twisting Nether, the attraction of the Twisting Nether to it becomes a natural consequent. Here I mean not beings of the Nether, but the Nether itself. Thus the principle becomes: “Magic attracts magic”, or “magic concentrates itself.” Empirically, this principle is made manifest repeatedly. The region of Netherstorm draws mana from the empty space around it, and the Nexus operates similarly. The tower of Karazhan, a place where the material world is only weakly separated from the Twisting Nether, is the point at which all ley lines in Azeroth meet. It also explains the operation of the ley lines generally: their magic does not become diffuse because of its concentration. Once more, seen in this way, the laws of magic can provide guidance as to the fundamental operation of magic.