You can't manually turn it off, it's a fully automatic lantern :) . To make it turn off, step out into a lit area.

You can chose to not replenish the oil, once it's been used up.

Some additional stuff:

1. Lora leaves as soon as you get to the Draracle himself. Remove her items before the second and final steps to the
Draracle. It is obvious enough you are getting there, you will know.
2. Timothy (if you have him) leaves when you return to Gladstone to tell Richard the Ruby is stolen. Remove his items before you enter Richard's throne room (to be safe, remove them as soon as you enter the castle itself).
3. You can go to Roland's Manor without Timothy, either by accident or by choice.
4. If you go to Roland's Manor before Grey Eagle, Roland's chest will have the compass in it.
5. Without Timothy in your party, the second Marina travel only costs 100 *BUT* without Timothy, Roland's chest only
gives enough for 1 person passage (YOU) therefore there is no silver advantage to this; the chest gives enough for you
and Timothy if he is with you.
6. In the Gohrka Swamp, DO *NOT* USE FREEZE ABOVE LEVEL 1! Anything more than 1 can hurt any Gohrka nearby.
This won't break your game, but it can make it more difficult.
7. You might find a Green Skull in some woods. Keep it, but don't use it right now. You'll know when to in the future. I
THINK it has limited use, so best be on safe side.
8. I think just about ANY "heavy" item can be thrown for damage, not just rocks and stars and such.
9. (This happened when I first played as a teen back in the 90s) If (WHEN) you come across a big slug thing that's hard to kill, and if for some reason you don't have a certain skull (hint hint), remember tip 8; ALMOST ANYTHING CAN BE THROWN and throwing has no cooldown like your attacks do. I actually beat that huge slug that way (with liberal healing...).
10. Be careful where you sleep in the White Tower.
11. There's no good reason to kill the beggar.
12. The option to fight is better than the options to bluff or sneak. If you're prepared.

1 and 2 seem like a waste of time; just give your best equipment to the champion and Baccatta. Timothy and Lara aren't with you long enough for it to be worthwhile to deck them out in prime gear.

7 - It's not limited. It just draws on your MP supply, so if you're trying to use it with the same character repeatedly, they'll run out of MP to use it.

12 really depends on the situation. Fight is a bad choice at some branches.

My own advice:

Always keep at least one bashing weapon, one cutting weapon, and one bow or crossbow in your inventory.

Heal, as in many RPGs, is by far the most efficient spell available. But it does not increase your magic EXP.

Click on anything and everything. You're punished for doing so rarely and mildly, and you can get useful items and important clues this way.

And seriously, don't leave Gladstone Keep without the Magic Atlas.

These are some pro tips. Thanks!
Lots of other heroes in this thread, too. Thanks, everybody.

An awesome thread, just wanted to thank all of you guys for the advice. Always wanted to play Lands of Lore, and now its time has come. Just played for several hours and loving it so far.

I too am finally playing Lands of Lore for the first time, and am enjoying it very much. Wondering if someone can help me with a question, I just got my first spell scroll and the manual says take it in hand and right click the player portrait to add a spell from it to your spellbook. But I can't seem to take it in hand, and nothing is working, any tips?

SO I figured out that the spell was already in my spellbook, it just hadn't shown before because I only had Spark before that. The Draracle cave is pretty tough so far, even with two companions!

Ok, my biggest advice : be very careful with your items, because the game really wants to screw you and have you start over. Last time it happened to me ? In the last castle, there's a niche where you can put an object : niche and object just disappear into oblivion forever. So if you put a quest item inside, and assumed that - because the item and the niche vanished - you did what the game expected from you, you might progress the game and write over your save files until you realize it was a trap and your quest item is lost forever, preventing you from finishing the game. You basically have to start over from whichever backup save file you have. Mine is at the start of said castle, which is not too bad all things considered, but some parts of this castle are annoying enough that i think i'll leave my game unfinished again.
Lands of lore is a game i pick up every 10 years and give up at castle Cimmeria like every time, apparently.
There's something in that game that draws me to it strongly, but the endgame feels so rushed and poorly designed that i can't bring myself to the finish line, every time.
I'll see in 10 years if i remember where i screwed up.