Are Warlocks/Witches just Clerics but for evil (or just less pompous) entities?

Are Warlocks/Witches just Clerics but for evil (or just less pompous) entities?

No.

a) no
b) depends on the setting, but probably still no

Depends on the setting

Warlocks and witches are just pagans or hipster wizards. They get power from an alternative deity usually .

I will buck the trend and say yes. The titles are just that and have no bearing on the game mechanics of various systems that try to differentiate a cleric from a warlock

This and also, depends on the setting.

Just casually borrowing the power of demon or your ancestors. Many lore depict these magician with tragic end usually. like how the summoned demon instead killing the summoner, or having the body possessed and the soul devoured.

Basically the favorites of edgy teens.

Depends on the setting. On my end, warlocks and witches are the offspring of a mortal woman and an incubus, and their highly potent magic comes from the demonic heritage.

What is the difference, then?

Think of it like this.
>A Cleric is given the company credit card.
>A Warlock is handed a briefcase of untraceable bills.

In general D&D terms, a Cleric is rewarded for their faith/devotion, while a Warlock enters a contract.

clerics have a religious theme and warlocks have a dark magic theme

D&D wise:
Witches: Or better known as hags. Innate spell casters that use curses, and brew magical concoctions. They steal children, and turn them into hags or eat them outright. They make covens with other witches to increase powers, and steal children.

Warlocks: Make deals with powerful entities. Think stories of those who sell their soul to the Devil for fame, fortune, power, knowledge, etc. They Warlock is a conduit of this power entity, and can call on it's powers.

The Warlock is essentially the Cleric of the arcane classes. Not exactly the same, as Clerics are devout followers that do their deities bidding. Clerics are then blessed with power from their deities. If Clerics don't do what their deities want, or do the complete opposite of what makes up their portfolio...the deity can cut the cleric off from their power (cold turkey).

I like this one.

Nope.

Clerics get their power through devotion

Warlocks get their power through bargaining and being an asset

The core difference is that Warlocks need not evem like their patron

The only difference is between organized religion and pagan religion.

Clerics are willing servants doing the will of their patron, warlocks are dipshits who think they can outsmart their patron.

I love that picture. I like to imagine a 12 year old farm kid made a warlock pact to kick raider ass and save his family and is now a force to be reckoned with but still a kid under all the crazy warlock effects.

According to Christian theology, all magic users are serving Satan in one of his many guises, whether they realize it or not. Some schools of thought argue that purely Christian magic that makes its appeals to Christ are the exception, but others argue that even that is sophistry used by the Devil to corrupt the faithful. For those people, only devout prayer for miracles is valid as a magic source.

depends on the player and the deity

calcifer from howls moving castle is a fire demon, and howl got powers from him, making him a wizard warlock multiclasd

but neither howl nor calcifer are evil, in fact they may be eveb be good

conversely, a cleric who fights for vecna or anubis would be evil, despite having cleric levels

D&D fucking ruined the actual proper depiction of spellcasters by deconstructing the trope.

Real life 'magicians' were a mix of wizard/sorcerer & cleric/warlock. Moses was practically a wizard.

Real life magic was always a heavily religious undertaking, be it through faith, respect or reverence. Really, Conan did it the best. Sorcerers were the high-priests of their patron entities.

Witches come from traditions of magic and mysticism that are older than even the office of cleric. Clerics are reliant on liturgy, while the knowledge possessed by witches is either passed down through oral traditions or experiential in their own right. Now, old doesn't make it good, but there is a distinct appeal to arcane lore, occult mysteries, and banal realizations about the cosmos that make witches magically "sexy"

You can blame king James for that one. Magic is inexorably tied with religion. Ever look at the mechanics of the Eucharist? "Magic" had been conflated with "charlatan" so unfairly that modern religious folk don't recognize the magic within their own faith.