| “ | Ambition can become an addiction of the mind and spirit. It builds beyond a driving flame into an insidious inferno that burns a mage hollow until only the desire for more magical power remains. | „ |
| ~ Ravenloft: Van Richten's Guide to Liches |
Liches are a type of undead which are actually the transformed state of witches or warlocks who cheated death with sorcerous means.
History[]
A lich is originally a witch or wizard and sometimes a warrior who utilized a form of necromancy or other form of dark sorcery to attain an eternal life, often by binding his/her soul upon an object dubbed "phylactery" and thereby achieving a form of immortality. Because of his/her transformation, the lich's body becomes cadaverous, desiccated, mummified, non corporeal like ghosts, sometimes a normal human body or completely skeletal as result of being freed from mortal weaknesses and limtations.
Rather than mythological accounts, the lich is 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. Several stories by Robert E. Howard, such as the novella Skull-Face (1929) and the short story "Scarlet Tears", feature undying sorcerers who retain a semblance of life through mystical means, their bodies reduced to shriveled husks with which they manage to maintain inhuman mobility and active thought. Sauron, the well-known Dark Lord from The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien, is an example of Lich since he imprinted his essence onto One Ring which allowed him to survive his physical death.
Other Media[]
Adventure Time[]
- Main article: The Lich (Prime World)
Anastasia[]
- Main article: Rasputin (Don Bluth)
Middle-earth[]
- Main article: Witch-king of Angmar (Middle-earth)
A Song of Ice and Fire[]
- Main article: Undying Ones
Dungeons and Dragons[]
The lich is an enemy encountered in the Dungeons & Dragons game. It is one of the best known sources of this monster in the game, Dungeons & Dragons. It has removed its soul and stored a repository of some kind.
Gauntlet: Dark Legacy[]
The lich is the final boss in the Forsaken Province in this video game. It is the first boss encountered in the video game, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. One must be at least Level 20 to kill it.
The Elder Scrolls[]
There are many liches in the elder scrolls series one of the known liches Lorgren Benirus
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Lich is an old English word for "corpse", with the gate at the lowest end of the cemetery where the coffin and funerary procession usually entered was commonly referred to as the lich gate. This gate was quite often covered by a small roof, where part of the funerary service could be carried out.
