A lich as depicted in Battle for Wesnoth. The Battle for Wesnoth, or simply Wesnoth, is a free Turn-based strategy game designed in June 2003 by David White

In modern fantasy fiction, a lich (IPA: /ˈlɪtʃ/) (sometimes spelled liche, cognate to German Leiche "corpse") is a type of undead creature, usually formerly a powerful magician or king, who has used evil rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a perverse form of immortality. Fantasy is a Genre that uses magic and other Supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting Cognates in Linguistics are words that have a common origin They may occur within a language such as shirt and skirt as two English words descended from The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Undead is a collective name for fictional beings that are deceased yet behave as if alive Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of living in physical or spiritual form for an Infinite length of Time. Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous (as opposed to the generally more appealing forms of vampires), their bodies desiccated or even completely skeletal. Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living Liches are often depicted as holding power over hordes of lesser undead creatures, using them as their soldiers and servants, and thus are a threat both individually and as leaders of belligerent forces.

Various works of fantasy fiction, such as Clark Ashton Smith's "Empire of the Necromancers", had used lich as a general term for any corpse, animated or inanimate, before the term's specific use in fantasy role-playing games. Clark Ashton Smith ( January 13, 1893 - August 14, 1961) was a Poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy The more recent use of the term lich for a specific type of undead creature most likely originates in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. In the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing game, the Lich is an undead creature a Spellcaster who seeks Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters.

Historical background

The lich developed from monsters found in earlier classic sword and sorcery fiction, which is filled with powerful sorcerers who use their magic to triumph over death. Sword and sorcery ( S&S) is a fantasy subgenre generally characterized by swashbuckling heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts Many of Clark Ashton Smith's short stories feature powerful wizards whose magic enables them to return from the dead. Clark Ashton Smith ( January 13, 1893 - August 14, 1961) was a Poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy Several stories by Robert E. Howard (such as the Skull-Face novelette and the short story Scarlet Tears) feature undying sorcerers who retain a semblance of life through mystical means, their bodies reduced to shriveled husks which they manage to maintain mobile and active. Robert Ervin Howard ( January 22 1906 &ndash June 11 1936) was an American pulp writer of Fantasy, Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, has stated that he based the description of a lich included in the game on the short story The Sword of the Sorcerer by Gardner Fox^[1][2]. Ernest Gary Gygax ( July 27, 1938 &ndash March 4, 2008) ( IPA:) was an American Writer and Game designer Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (Speed Saunders was initially credited to "E The term "lich", used as an archaic word for corpse (or body), 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". This article refers to the science fiction writer For the actor see Fritz Leiber Sr

In Roman Catholicism and the Church of England, the word "lychgate" refers to a covered area at the entrance to the cemetery where the casket awaits the clergy before proceeding into the cemetery for proper burial, "lych" being a word meaning body or corpse derived from Old English. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English lic, corpse is a gateway A coffin (also known as a casket in North American English) is a funerary Box used in the display and containment of deceased remains – either for In fantasy, the lich is an undead creature that was never buried in a grave. This is different from other types of undead creatures, such as vampires and zombies, which were buried and subsequently returned from the dead. Vampires are mythological or folkloric revenants who subsist by feeding on the blood of the living zombie is a reanimated human corpse Stories of zombies originated in the Afro-Caribbean spiritual belief system of Vodou, which told of the people being controlled

The underlying idea of eluding death by means of arcane study and black magic 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. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. History The concept of folklore developed as part of the 19th century ideology of Romantic nationalism, leading to the reshaping of oral traditions to serve modern ideological This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. This would make the lich a very-far-from-its-roots mythologization of Egyptian pharaohs. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods (For the Ancient Egyptians, the purpose of the mummy was to provide a place for the soul to fly back to; it was free to exist in both the afterlife and the physical world [the latter to commune with its descendants]. A mummy is a Corpse whose Skin and Flesh have been preserved by either intentional or Incidental exposure to Chemicals extreme AfterLife is a film drama set in Scotland directed by Alison Peebles made in 2003 about an ambitious Scottish journalist forced to choose between )

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. Slavic mythology is the Mythological aspect of the Religion that was practised by the ancient Slavs. In Russian folklore, Koschei (Коще́й Koshchey, also Kashchei or Kashchey or Kościej (Polish is an evil person of ugly senile 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 the magical island of Buyan. In Russian folklore, Buyan (Буян is described as a mysterious Island in the Ocean with an ability to appear and disappear Koschei can be killed only by breaking the magical needle, which is much like the phylactery of a lich. This image is consistent with the modern interpretation of the lich, possibly marking it as the "truer" origin of the concept. In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter, the villain, Tom Riddle, wanted to extend his life, so he split his soul into several parts, storing them in precious artifacts special to him, creating horcruxes. Joanne "Jo" Rowling OBE (born 31 July 1965 who writes under the Harry Potter is a series of seven Fantasy novels written by British author J Lord Voldemort (ˈvoʊldəmɔrt or ˈvoʊldəmɔr is a Fictional character and the main antagonist in the Harry Potter novel series written A Horcrux is a fictional magical object in the Harry Potter series by J The horcruxes had to be destroyed before Voldemort himself could actually die. Lord Voldemort (ˈvoʊldəmɔrt or ˈvoʊldəmɔr is a Fictional character and the main antagonist in the Harry Potter novel series written The horcrux is thus similar to a lich's phylactery.

Liches in Dungeons & Dragons

Main article: Lich (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons game (and other works of fantasy fiction that draw upon D&D for inspiration), a lich is a spellcaster who seeks to defy death by magical means. In the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing game, the Lich is an undead creature a Spellcaster who seeks Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by In the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Role-playing game, the Lich is an undead creature a Spellcaster who seeks Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and They are necromancers who are unsatisfied with the level of power that they currently have, wish for longer lives, and seek to unburden themselves from the necessities of bodily functions (such as eating and sleeping) so that they might dedicate every moment of their existence to the attainment of knowledge and power. Liches convert themselves into skeletal undead creatures by means of black magic and necromancy, storing their souls in magical receptacles called phylacteries. Undead is a collective name for fictional beings that are deceased yet behave as if alive Black magic or dark magic is a form of sorcery that draws on malevolent powers Necromancy ( Greek νεκρομαντία nekromantía) is a form of Divination in which the practitioner seeks to summon "operative spirits" The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living Tefillin, ( תפילין) also called phylacteries, are a pair of black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with biblical verses They do so to extend their lives in order to study the deepest levels of magic. With their souls bound to material focuses, they can never truly die. If its body is destroyed, a lich can simply regenerate or find a new one. According to the Dungeons & Dragons mythos, the only way truly to destroy a lich is first to destroy its phylactery, thereby removing its anchor to the material world, and then to destroy its physical form. Since removing one's own soul in order to evade mortality is against the natural order of the universe, and the process involved in becoming a lich is unspeakably evil, they are almost always evil-aligned (Vecna is a canonical example). In the World of Greyhawk Rarely, a lich can be good or neutral due to the events driving them to become a lich. They are among the more powerful and dangerous undead, and are frequently served by other undead creatures. A lich can only create one phylactery, which if lost can never be replaced [1].

See also

• List of fictional liches
• Baelnorn
• Koschei
• Nazgûl
• Wight
• Wraith

References

External links

• A detailed description of liches in fantasy
• An article about the lich cards in Magic: The Gathering