History Main / BlackMagic

* Black Magic--defined primarily by source--typically isn't available to PlayerCharacters in ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}''. After all, you're supposed to be fighting pawns of darkness, not helping them. There are PC-approved "Gray Magics" that ''can'' be used; wily Hucksters make [[DealWithTheDevil Bets With]] TheLegionsOfHell, with the caveat that they never intend to ''lose.'' Syncretic religions like voodoo and the [[{{Mayincatec}} Aztec]]-[[NunsNRosaries Catholic]] blend Anahuac have adherents that can do unseemly things with a death motif, but the practitioners aren't necessarily [[DarkIsNotEvil bad people]], just… very different. Then, there's [[BigScrewedUpFamily Whateley clan]] [[BloodyMurder blood magic]]. (That last one can still cost you your soul if you're not careful.)

** Free Magic is [[WildMagic primordial and chaotic]] rather than ''evil'', but humans aren't physically or mentally equipped to handle it, so sorcerers inevitably get warped into amoral megalomaniacs with various RedRightHand deformities. It can also be physically corrosive to things it touches.

* In Creator/GarthNix's ''Literature/OldKingdom'' trilogy, there is Charter Magic and Free Magic. Free Magic is used by necromancers and various [[OurDemonsAreDifferent non-demonic]] creatures. It's frequently described as having an acrid, metallic smell and being physically corrosive. Humans who dabble in it for too long usually develop some kind of horrible appearance which they can only do so much to mask. Charter Magic is generally benevolent, but a number of instances in the books point out that that it's not a toy, either (one character loses her voice for a few weeks after speaking a particularly strong spell, and is told that she's extremely lucky that she wasn't completely destroyed by it). Not so much Good vs Evil as Order vs Chaos.
** The Abhorsens, whose job it is to reverse any raising of dead done by necromancers, use both without bad effects.
*** At least we never see it happen, although the upper example was the current Abhorsen-in-waiting. So they're probably not immune, just more careful.
*** Abhorsens are not immune to the corrupting influence of free magic and necromancy, just resilient and religiously committed to using it carefully and correctly. At least one of the Greater Dead is described as being a former Abhorsen, so even they can screw up and suffer the [[FateWorseThanDeath Fate Way Worse Than Death]]

* * In ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', Dark Magic is used for CastingAshadow, to form Tendrils of Darkness, and to absorb/copy other forms of magic.

-->-- ''"Black Magic", Music/LittleMix''

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
* The dark side of the Force in ''Franchise/StarWars.'' The more you use it, the more physically and mentally corrupt you become, and the more corrupt you become, the less you worry about little things like morality and bodily corruption-it's a vicious cycle. Strangely, no source ever seems to mention how one side effect of long-term exposure to the Dark Side is [[EvilIsHammy an increased amount of hamminess]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' all magic is Black Magic, and is referred to as the 'dark arts', though some spells are more corrupting than others. In season six Willow becomes addicted to the stuff like a drug, and people freak out whenever she uses magic that does nothing more than decorate the house or levitate a book. In season seven, Willow struggles with overcoming her old habits, and briefly snaps after using a simple barrier spell.
** Willow even uses [[spoiler:innocent blood, the blood of a fawn, in her resurrection spell for Buffy. Kind of a trade-off, as one must die for another to live.]]
* On ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', practically all dark witches, warlocks, demons, dark lighters, and so forth have used one form of evil-based magic spell one way or another.

* On ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'' we have the Sabbath, a ritual which creates a magic circle by sacrificing four magical beings placed at key points. Anybody within the circle dies one of two ways: if they have magic potential, their [[EnemyWithin Phantom]] is released, killing them and taking over their identity; if they're {{Muggles}}, the released magic energy just kills them outright. The entire purpose of the ritual is to release a massive quantity of mana and focus it into a PhilosophersStone.
* ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'': [[WickedWitch Bandora the Witch]] dabbles in it, and invokes the Darkest of Black Magic to summon her master, Dai {{Satan}}, to Earth to bolster her power and attempt to kill off the Zyurangers and Daizyujin and lay waste to the Earth.
** In ''Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger,'' dark magic is used by fallen members of the Heavenly Saints, a corrupted version of their own magic that has all the same rules but a different set of spell words (which mean the same thing.) In ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce,'' all the villains' powers are considered dark magic. In both cases, it would seem Black Magic and WhiteMagic are more down to how you use your powers than anything like PoweredByAForsakenChild vs. ThePowerOfFriendship. Your InstantRunes seem to know your alignment and change accordingly, too.
* On ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}'', Morgause and Morgana practice Dark Magic. Merlin, in contrast, practices WhiteMagic.

* While magic is rather vaguely categorized in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' there are times when "black magic" is explicitly used. They tend to involve ritual sacrifices, human bones and control of powers and beings best left alone. The clearest example is in the episode Malleus Maleficarum where a coven of witches unknowingly gain magic power through a DealWithTheDevil--in exchange for magic, their soul belongs to Hell. This seems to be a common subset of magic--Ruby was once this flavor of witch and witches of this nature appear throughout the show.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E76StillValley Still Valley]]", Teague uses a book of black magic to [[TimeStandsStill freeze Union soldiers in time]]. He would like to use it to defeat the entire Union Army but he can't as he is dying.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E77TheJungle The Jungle]]", the Kekouyu put a curse on Alan Richards using a form of black magic known as Umchawi in revenge for his company building a hydroelectric dam that will result in the loss of their homes. It first manifests in the form of a dead goat being dumped outside of his apartment. In the early hours of the following morning, Richards is haunted by sounds of the jungle and tribal drums in the street. When he returns home, he finds that his wife Doris has been killed by a lion, which then pounces on him.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E120TheBard The Bard]]", a hack writer named Julius Moomer buys a book of black magic called ''Ye Book of Ye Black Arte'' at a second hand bookshop in order to research a pilot script. He accidentally summons the ghost of Creator/WilliamShakespeare, who writes a television film script for him entitled ''The Tragic Cycle''.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Cold Reading", Sol acquired a real voodoo artifact for the radio writer and director Nelson Westbrook, who always insists on his dramas being as realistic as possible. Westbrook dismisses it as nothing but a dime store novelty. He then says that if he had one wish, it would be that every sound effect in his latest script for ''Dick Noble, African Explorer'' would come from something real. His wish comes true and [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor proves to be more than he bargained for]].

** Any type of necromancy would count. In the Potter Verse, this includes such acts as creating {{Voodoo Zombie}}s called "Inferi" (singular "Inferius"), and resurrecting someone who's been physically killed but preserved through one or more Horcruxes. Harry has the pleasure of witnessing the latter in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire the fourth book]], and it's [[BodyHorror not pretty]].

* Curiously, in ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', Black Magic is in fact fueled by the dark energy radiated by the various demonic Mazoku Lords. However, humans can tap into this without ill effects, since this is a divine function to maintain the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil.
** The only rule is the mazoku themselves are immune to any spell from them or a mazoku subservient to them. Thus Shabranigdo, the main Dark Lord, can just choose to not be affected by ''any'' Black Magic. [[spoiler:This is most dramatically demonstrated in the last novel, when a shard of Shabranigdo chooses ''not'' to be unaffected by the dragon slave, and is killed that way.]] Using against a Mazoku Lord a spell summoning the power of him-/her-/itself (or power of servants they created), as Lina put it,
--->…is like saying: 'Hey, you! Can you help me kill you?'
*** There's a second rule about Black Magic for Mazoku. They can't cast Black Magic of other Mazoku. Meaning that even as strong as [[BigBad Hellmaster]] and Dynast are, they can't cast a Dragon Slave or any spells of other Lords without killing themselves in the process.
** Further, there's a distinction made within Black Magic between Curses and Destructive spells. Curses are almost uniformly seen as evil (though the ''really'' twisted stuff is exclusively used by demons). Destructive spells, on the other hand, are value-neutral, given that a large number of Shamanic ([[ElementalPowers elemental]]) spells can accomplish the same result (Fireball, for instance, uses fire spirit, not Mazoku).

** Really, belief in some form of Black Magic is nearly universal, and even a cursory examination of cultures will reveal endless variations. Just to give you a modern example: the United States in the '70s and '80s entered a period called the Satanic Panic, where Satanists were supposedly everywhere causing possessions, influencing politics, and working evil. Inspired by books like ''Michelle Remembers'' and movies like ''Film/TheExorcist'', police departments hunted down a non-existent threat. Belief in this sort of black magic would push for attempts to censor music, art, and games considered subversive. Psychics and religious leaders were on major TV networks and training police departments to hunt down non-existent Satanic cults full of occultists in what can only be called a modern witch hunt. More information at SatanicPanic.

** The real example of this in Masquerade is Daimonion. A discipline which features a ritual called "Summon the Great Beast, Devourer of Worlds" can hardly be anything else.

* Subverted in the ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' by Max Frei.

** Moreover, this means Black magic is used ''mostly'' in the kitchen or to make amulets, while strong White is what's used to make things... less corporeal. The highest-level White magic spell humans can cast is the highly destructive Green Fire: if it touches anything (save the strongest barriers), that something vanishes--no remains.

* Somewhat subverted in Michael Moorcock's ''[[Literature/TheElricSaga Stormbringer]]'' universe--all magic is inherently chaotic, even when used by the powers of Law, but chaotic isn't ''inherently'' evil.

* In ''Literature/ShamanBlues'', any magic that involves blood sacrifices and draws energy from death and suffering is black magic, as it upsets the natural balance, not to mention necessiting killing animals and, eventually, humans.
* In ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'', it's magic derived from death, and is mainly used for necromancy. It could presumably be utilized in the same manner golden and green magics are used, as the two are already interchangeable, but if you're willing to kill someone for their mana, you're likely not using it to light a fire.

* '''Cost''': What is required to make the magic work. Even if it saves kittens, if fueling {{mana}} requires committing heinous acts of evil, such as [[PoweredByAForsakenChild stealing others']] LifeEnergy, [[YourSoulIsMine souls]], or [[BloodMagic blood]]; HumanSacrifice; [[ColdBloodedTorture cold-bloodedly torturing others]]; murdering others; destroying innocence; or even working with [[HumanResources dead bodies]] (because it shows a lack of the respect DueToTheDead); it's probably Black Magic. (Note, using your ''[[CastFromHitPoints own]]'' LifeEnergy doesn't necessarily fall under this.) Using EyeOfNewt that you had to do [[KickTheDog horrible]] [[MoralEventHorizon things]] just to collect is also a bad sign.

** ''Thou Shalt Not Reach Beyond the Borders of Life''. How powerful the result of Necromancy is depends on the strength (life force) and age of the corpse. Most corpses intact enough haven't been dead all that long, so for the most part it's useless unless used on a human. Harry himself stays within the rules by [[spoiler:using it on the complete skeleton of a sixty million year old dinosaur found in a museum.]]

** The [[OldMaster Greybeards]] consider the [[BrownNote Dragonrend]] [[LanguageOfMagic Thu'um]] [[MakeMeWannaShout Shout]] to be this. It forces the immortal, [[DragonsAreDivine Aedric]] dragons to briefly experience mortality, which leaves them so disoriented that they cannot fly or use Thu'um shouts for a time. Being under the effects of Dragonrend is the ''only'' thing which makes [[BeastOfTheApocalypse Alduin]] vulnerable.

While a BlackMage tends to use BlackMagic, this isn't always the case. See also BadPowersBadPeople, PsychoSerum. Not to be confused with Creator/ShirowMasamune's ''Manga/BlackMagicM66'', using magic to [[CastingAShadow manipulate and create darkness]], or magic users of African stock.