Difference of soul and spirit?

[Kenert]

What is the difference between a soul and a spirit?

They both seem to be the forces keeping your body moving, but at the same time I doubt a warlock could be said to be draining someone's spirit and a Shaman who uses souls to do what he wants sounds kind of wrong as well, from my point of view.

[Dae]

As far as WoW goes, soul is the life existence essence, while spirit is the personality and identity of an individual.

If you caught someone's soul, you'd have magic power stuff, while if you captured someone's spirit, you'd have captured their personality and identity.

"spirit" can also refer to entities that don't have a corporeal form.

[Beltharean]

I'd argue they're one and the same. The reason it seems weird for a Shaman to use a 'Soul' is because culturally, they just call them Spirits... A spirit (In orcish terms) is just the soul of the deceased, left without a body because they've died and gone on to the Spirit World.

[Grakor456]

If this is due to the odd definitions put in place by warlocks and shamans, then the distinction usually made is that a soul is specifically referring to one's "life force" still connected to the body, while usually the word "spirit" is mostly used in the context of elemental and nature spirits, as well as souls that have already left the body.

Usually. The distinction is a bit odd and probably does vary a bit based on culture more than actual definition. Would that mean an orcish warlock would call his soul shards "spirit shards" instead?

[Ural]

A snippet from a guide I've really found useful with my own warlock.

Drain soul does not necessarily kill somebody but it does very much hurt them, leaving them with a lack of energy and somewhat withered (like stealing blood).

Draining a person's soul will very much so zap their energy. Think of when you run up a flight of stairs. Now run up ten.

When I think of spirit, I revert to the human racial ability, The Human Spirit. It is the motivation, the drive, indeed the very essence of that person. I believe that is why Shamans deal with spirits rather than souls.

The spirit is the sail, and the wind the soul.

[Vrahn]

As far as I would consider lore wise they are the same, and it's more of what Grakor was talking about being a cultural difference.

I would consider the proof of this as Frostmourne, where we see Arthas nomnomnoming souls but those souls also carry their personality with them.