!WARNING! The post ahead contains minor spoilers for Pirate and major spoilers for Wiz. !WARNING!

Many moon ago, a magic known as shadow existed in the spiral. Our wizards were introduced to it in the world of Khrysalis, and we have slowly seen in take over the world of wizard. Today, I am going to argue that our pirates have been dealing with a form of shadow magic long before our wizards had ever heard of it. Case and point: The Duck of Death.

To understand this theory, we first have to understand the effects shadow magic has on the user.

Basic effects:

Shadow magic, if used correctly, can be used to empower the user. It can help defend, attack, and even pierce through the defenses of others. Nothing much here, but the really interesting part is next.

Full takeover:

We have only seen 2 characters in wiz be fully taken over by shadow magic. When a character is "fully taken over", it means that their entire body has succumbed to shadow magic, and there is no way for them to turn back. We have seen this happen to both Morganthe and Malistaire in Wiz. Morganthe turned into a giant shadow spider, and was unable to be harmed directly, and our wizards had to destroy her shadow projections to anger her. At the end of the battle, she attempts to call down the song of creation on us, which becomes too powerful, killing her. Malistaire, on the other hand, is only fully taken over at the very end of Darkmoor, and beforehand he only dabbles in shadow. We see Malistaire become simply a shadowy form of himself, showing that just because someone is taken over, does not mean their entire form is changed, unlike Morganthe who was completely changed.(edited)
Now, onto the pirate stuff. I would argue that the Duck of Death was fully taken over by shadow magic, like Morganthe and Malistaire.

How did the Duck of Death come in contact with shadow magic?

This is an easy question to answer. We learn from the puppet show that he fled to Darkmoor and met with a spider from the "before time" who had the ability to give him "the power to take his vengeance." We have seen spiders in the past in Wiz like Atlach-Lang, the spiders in the Hive, and of course the infamous Old Cob who have all been able to wield shadow magic. Considering the wording of this, and the fact that this puppet show was released the same year Old Cob was introduced into the Wiz lore, I would find it very likely that this ancient being bestowed shadow magic upon him.

I can't post the next paragraph without hitting the character limit, so I'll continue this whenever the thread gets posted. I still have so much more evidence for this theory, and of all the theories I have made, I believe this one the most. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this theory so far, so feel free to comment below, and see you in the Spiral!

Also 275th post, woo.

Edit: Fixed many many grammatical errors.

Phenomenal analysis, Alex the Pirate! I hope that when we pirates finally get to follow the Duck to Darkmoor, we learn more about what he found there.

anecorbie on Aug 8, 2018 wrote:

Far from his magic "empowering" DoD, we actually were able to remove his immunity, he didn't use magic, he was a musketeer.
Did we even see him summoning these undead or were they self-willed undead ( like Old Scratch, Dead Mike, or the Lost Ranger )? If evidence of shadow magic relies on control of the undead what does that say about our witchdoctors?
I will just say, I'm vehementlly opposed to any shadow magic, ( or Celestial ) being included in this game.
However, I will agree with Willowydream that your theory was well thought out and presented in a coherent form, ( if that matters to you. )

I would assume that the silver has some sort of magical ability to take away the power of shadow. Something like the Luphilim in the Timeless Tower in Mirage who is able to use the power of light to turn shadow pips into normal pips. As far as the undead point, you have me there. I would assume that shadow heightens death magic to a point where it can control the dead more easily, but these minions could also very well just be inhabitants of Darkmoor that duck brought back with him. I can understand a distaste towards the involvement of any shadow or celestial magic in Pirate, as it complicates things in the story quite a bit, but I thought this theory was a bit of creative fun to have with the facts that we are given.
Thanks for the reply!