I see Warlocks as learning secrets.
Sorcerers begin to display their powers as those powers begin to manifest.
Wizards learn spells through dedicated study and experimentation.
Clerics pray for spells and are granted favor.
But Warlocks make a deal for some secret knowledge. And once they know the secret... the secret can't be taken away. They're now in on the secret.
Secrets implies knowledge that has to be learned...I seriously doubt an 8 INT warlock has the mental acumen to learn advanced spells. And it seems that pretty much every person in this thread describes the precise method in which the warlock is given power in a different way. The precise details are unspecified, all we really know is that it is magic given, not learned by a warlock(ie he didn't sign a contract to go to warlock school) and it's not innate ability as it is with Sorcerers. Added details there are all just headcanon...people trying to say that the sorcerer is irreversably changed, or that the spells are "told secrets", etc. are all speculation. Additionally enforcement of warlock contracts is also entirely 1000% left to the DMs. So if the DM says that every one of your warlock spells is magic channeled through you by your patron then that is what they are. I have seen DMs strip warlocks of their powers, reducing them to level 0 no class characters, and that is a very valid way of enforcing pact breach.
