Lich (undead)

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A lich from Battle for Wesnoth

A Lich [ ˈlɪtʃ ] is an undead fictional character who appears in the pen and paper role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons as well as in several computer games and television series .

Word origin

The term Lich is an Old English word for a corpse ; the old English líc corresponds to the German word.

Many of Clark Ashton Smith's short stories tell of how magic enabled powerful wizards to rise from the dead. Several stories by Robert E. Howard (such as the novella Skull Face ) tell of immortal wizards who also extended their lives through magical means. However, this turned their bodies into parched shells that kept them alive but made it impossible for them to act normally. Gary Gygax , one of the co-founders and creators of Dungeons & Dragons, said he took this description as a basis and implemented a lich into the game based on the short story The Warlocks Sword by Gardner Fox . Other descriptions of the lich indicate jeweled bones. These descriptions come from an early story called Thieves' House by Fritz Leiber .

Fantasy

In the game Dungeons & Dragons , a lich is a necromancer who tries to defy death by magical means. The magician tries to extend his life and increase his power by storing his soul in a magical vessel called a phylacter . Then he can only be killed if the Phylacter has been destroyed beforehand, which makes him a great threat as a ruler over other undead. In German versions, Lich is simply translated as “Leichnam”.

The games in the Warcraft series, especially the second expansion of the game World of Warcraft from 2008, which is entitled Wrath of the Lich King , made the term more popular.

In the 2011 broadcast fantasy series The Cape , a double episode (7th and 8th episode of the 1st season) was named after the Lich The Lich occurring there .

In Death Didn't Become Him , the eighth episode of the second season of the television series Lost Girl , which aired in 2011 , the main character is also a lich.

In 2012, the first two episodes of the fifth season of the television series Adventure Time , which were conceived as a double episode Finn the Human / Jake the Dog , also addressed a lich.

Lichs also appear under this name in many other fantasy games, for example in Battle for Wesnoth , Enclave , The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Heroes of Might and Magic .

See also

credentials

  1. ↑ http://www.bartleby.com/81/10211.html
  2. ↑ a b http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031212a
  3. ↑ The Cape: Season 1, Episode 7 The Lich in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ↑ Death Didn't Become Him on syfy.com
  5. ↑ Adventure Time: Season 5, Episode 2
  6. ↑ Adventure Time: Season 5, Episode 2

Web links