I am one of the people who is confused by this concept that those wielding Light are unable to wield Shadow, and vice versa. I've never ever read this in any of my searches for more lore-based information. Then again, I'm not the comprehensive source of lore, but I like to think that I have a fairly firm grasp on its intricacies.
I
think that a lot of the confusion arises from the definition of Shadow magic. Shadow magic is
not (not, not, not!) necessarily synonymous with the fel. Remember: fel magic is actually corrupted arcane magic that is typically perverted from demonic sources, including the application of demon blood. The term Shadow, however, can refer to a variety of different types of energy.
The roleplaying guides actually splits Shadow magic into distinct categories:
- Darkness
- Negative
- Death
- Destruction
- Chaotic
- Evil
- Fel
While some of those words have the perception of being evil, they're not necessarily the polar opposite to the Light. Darkness can be drawing power from the night. Death is an eventual conclusion to life and so isn't necessarily evil. We often need to destroy things before we're able to build; think of the effort of cutting down a tree in order to build a house. Without some measure of chaos, we can't survive; there is randomness even within our own bodies. I mean, there's even an element of Shadow in illusion magic, which inherently has no positive or negative twist.
As you can see, these elements of Shadow aren't necessarily evil. Sure, there
are fel and evil and negative subcategories, but what is there that says that the energy upon which a priest draws
has to be one of those? Shadow is a type of energy available on
every plane of existence. Saying Shadow is
evil is like saying a gun is
evil; both are tools that inherently lack any semblance of good or evil. It's how we apply that energy that dictates what it is.
Now, we now how utilizing the Light works, particularly for paladins. They have two requirements in order for their efforts to work:
- Paladins must believe that their actions will work, and
- They must believe that they are doing good.
As noted in numerous discussions before, wielding the Light is based on perception and not truth. So, we can look at the Scarlet Crusade as see how their actions could pretty much be considered
evil and yet that still have functional paladins and priests within their ranks. How can this happen? The Light-wielders believe that what they're doing is right and good and just; so even as they're killing innocent people because they could possibly be evil, the Scarlets believe that they're doing the right thing.
So, say we apply the same concept and stipulations required of paladins to Light wielding priests (remember, what constitutes a priest in one race and culture is not necessarily the same in others; for example, this argument is moot when applied to trolls). This priest has learned to wield the Light and is inherently good. Say that she has also learned to utilize Shadow energy in the pursuit of her goals, which are also -- by extension -- inherently good. She uses her powers to protect others. Does the Shadow make her evil? Goodness, no!
I think that it would be best to move away from this concept that Light is synonymous with good and Shadow with evil. The Light can -- and frequently has -- been used to harm others. On the other hand, application of the Shadow has
also been used to help others, even to
heal in the case of the Forsaken.