Will is intentionality — the fundamental driving force of physical reality. Everything in the material world persists through a kind of will: atoms hold their form, organisms insist on living, consciousness pushes against entropy. In this sense, will is also Hell, also Mara — the raw insistence of matter against dissolution.

Will is emphasised in Tianmu above many other concepts because it is the lever by which everything else moves. Only through free will can one change one's karma. Only through will can one alter one's Doom. The cultivation of genuine, freely exercised intentionality is the practical foundation of all Tianmu practice.

Will is not the same as desire, though the two are easily confused. Desire is will trapped in Hell — will that has become compulsive, that grasps without clarity. Freed from compulsion, will becomes the instrument of Heaven: directed, purposeful, aligned with one's Wyrd.

In the Old English tradition, the alignment of will with word and deed was considered the mark of an honourable life. When a person's wordhoard matched their deedhoard, their Hamingja grew strong. When the two were misaligned, their luck withered. Will is the force that holds word and deed together.