Lich
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The term lich comes from the Old English word lic, which means "body" or "corpse". The word is cognate with modern German Leiche, meaning "corpse".
In modern fantasy fiction, a lich is a type of undead creature, usually an evil magician. The usage of the term "lich" as a specific type of undead creature originates in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game; previous works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's "Empire of the Necromancers", had used the term as a general term for an animate or inanimate corpse.
In Roman Catholicism or the Church of England, the "lych gate" is a covered area at the entrance to the cemetery where the casket awaits the clergy before proceeding into the cemetery for proper burial. In fantasy, the Lich is an undead creature that was never properly buried, never made it to the grave. This is different from other types of undead creatures, such as vampires and zombies, who were buried and returned from the dead. Since most religions maintain that only God or a god can bring someone back from the dead, there is also a suggestion of hubris in the idea of anyone but a deity reanimating dead. Hence, the idea of Undead is the idea of an unclean, unholiness.
Liches in Dungeons & Dragons
In the Dungeons & Dragons game (and many unrelated works of fantasy fiction that draw upon D&D for inspiration), a lich is a spellcaster who seeks to defy death by magical means. Liches convert themselves into an undead skeleton by means of black magic and necromancy, storing their souls in magical receptacles called phylacteries.
Liches in other fiction
Many other works of fantasy fiction have borrowed the term and concept of the lich from D&D to lend an element of supernatural fear to their cast or atmosphere. Such works include the computer and video games NetHack, Warcraft III, ' and ', the Might and Magic, Final Fantasy, Tales of Phantasia, Warlords,Secret of Mana As a final boss and Ultima, ADOM series of computer and video games, the and Shadowrun role-playing games, and the novel The Scar by China Miéville. They also appear in The Kingdom of Loathing, but are featured as "lihcs" because they are found in the "Misspelled Cemetary". David Drake's Lord of the Isles series of novels used the term to mean the corpse of a drowned man, animated by magic, which can only be destroyed by smashing its skull. In the video game Disciples II, the most powerful liches are referred to as Arch-liches, though several other varieties of this term have appeared in other works. Andrew J. Offutt's Conan and the Sorcerer, a 1978 pastiche of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, features the Sand-Lich, Tosya Zul. The book series Rise to Heaven features the lich Soveliss, who chose the path of lichhood instead of succumbing to a life-threatening disease.
Other notable sightings include:
- Skeletor, the primary villain of Masters of the Universe, could possibly be considered a lich, because he has a bare skull for a face and possesses extensive magical abilities. Since he was mortally wounded in his original near-human Keldor identity and then immediately brought from the brink of death and transformed by his former master Hordak's dark magic (although this origin only applies to the more recent, revised continuity), he may qualify as undead and uninterred.
- In the animated film Anastasia, Grigori Rasputin appears as a magic-using undead creature whose soul is held in an external container.
- The Pastmaster from Swat Kats has some lich-like qualities.
- Liches also appear as high-level Necromancer soldiers for hire in the popular Heroes of Might and Magic computer game series, where they act as the Necromancer army's only ranged attack unit.
- In the Warhammer world, undead wizards are known as necromancers rather than liches; a necromancer who fails, for whatever reason, to control the process of becoming undead becomes a ghostly wraith. A liche is simply a supremely powerful necromancer. The most famous are Nagash, the powerful "Father of All Undead", and Heinrich "the Lichemaster" Kemmler, the most feared necromancer in the Old World. The priests of the undead civilization of Nehekhara (featured in the Tomb Kings Army Book) are referred to as Liche Priests, who preserve the Tomb Kings´ bodies and summon their armies. Liches do not appear in the Vampire Counts army anymore, as the undead have been split into two different armies (the gothic themed Vampire Counts and the Egytian themed Tomb Kings of Khemri) in Warhammer Fantasy Battles, 6th edition.
- In the Warcraft Universe, liches are undead necromancers and warlocks with additional powers over frost. The first liches were death knights and Orc warlocks under Ner'Zhul, who were confronted by Kil'jaeden after the destruction of Draenor. Ner'Zhul was offered a choice between serving the Burning Legion or eternal punishment. Selfishly choosing servitude, Ner'Zhul was then torn apart, and his soul was given great psychic powers and then placed in a tomb of ice that would later become the Frozen Throne. After his transformation into the Lich King, Ner'Zhul's minons were then transformed into Liches. Under the Lich King's power, their necromatic powers became terrifyingly amplified and were also granted magical control over ice.
- In the card game, there are 3 lich-themed cards ([Lich], [Nefarious Lich], and [Lich's Tomb]). In exchange for paying with life points every time damage is suffered, they enable the player to pay with a different resource (either game permanents or cards in the graveyard). The player doesn't lose for having 0 life or less, so if used correctly, they can be very powerful.
- The "Undead Lich" plays an important role in Guild Wars, being the ultimate villain. His true identity is revealed once he has successfully tricked the storyline driven players into, without realisation, foolishly obeying his will.
- In , the Mages Guild are constantly battling against the Necromancers led by Mannimarco, The King of Worms, who is attempting to become a Lich. The Lich is the pinnacle of the Necromancer's art, a state of being where one can live forever naturally unless slain. Other Liches are also regularly found at higher player levels in dungeons with an undead theme.
- Lichs feature prominently in the "Monster" serial novels by David Wellington.
- In the online RPG, AdventureQuest, training to a level 10 Necromancer allows you to transform into a Lich once you die in battle, and gain power over undead, including abilities such as summon Death Dog, Undead Giant, Undead Assault, and Undead Mutant, the most powerful undead minion you can call to your aid.
Historical background
While this usage of the term "lich" is particular to Dungeons & Dragons and other modern fantasy fiction, the underlying idea of eluding death by means of arcane study and black magic is not. It can be traced to Middle Eastern folklore, and the method of achieving immortality by placing one's soul in a jar (which is usually hidden in some vast fortress) is suggestive of the burial practices of Egypt. This would make the Lich a very-far-from-its-roots mythologization of Egyptian pharaohs. It should be noted that the Ancient Egyptians did not fear death (they were not eluding death), and that the creation of the mummy was for the soul to fly back to; it was free to exist in both the afterlife and physical world (to commune with its descendants).
Eastern Slavic legends tell of a powerful dark wizard or a demon, Koschei the Deathless, who evades death by having his fiery soul placed in the eye of a magical needle. The needle is inside an egg, which is inside a duck, which is inside a hare, which is locked in an iron chest, placed at the roots of a great oak tree, on a magical island of Buyan. Koschei can be killed only by breaking the magical needle, which is much like a phylactery of a lich.
Like many of the creatures found in Dungeons & Dragons, the Lich was derived from monsters found in classic sword and sorcery fiction, which is filled with powerful sorcerers who used their magic to triumph over death. Many of Clark Ashton Smith's short stories feature powerful wizards whose magic enables them to return from the dead. The term "lich", used as an archaic word for corpse, is commonly used in these stories. Other imagery surrounding demiliches, in particular that of a jeweled skull, is drawn from the early Fritz Leiber story "Thieves' House".
External links
- [A detailed description of liches in fantasy]
- [An article about the lich cards in Magic: The Gathering]
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