Lich

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Lore & Background

The literary development of the lich traces back to classic sword and sorcery fiction featuring powerful wizards who triumph over death. Clark Ashton Smith's 'The Empire of the Necromancers' (1932) used the term generally for any corpse, while Robert E. Howard’s works like 'Skull-Face' (1929) depicted undying sorcerers with shriveled husks maintaining active thought. H.P. Lovecraft also utilized the word in 'The Thing on the Doorstep' (published 1937). The modern specific definition was solidified by Gary Gygax, who based his game description on Gardner Fox’s short story 'The Sword of the Sorcerer' (1969). In these narratives, liches use phylacteries to anchor their souls, allowing them to rise again as long as the device remains intact. The imagery of demiliches, specifically the jeweled skull, draws from Fritz Leiber’s early story 'Thieves' House'.

In Their Own Story

In fantasy fiction, a lich is often the result of a willful transformation where a powerful necromancer uses rare substances in a magical ritual to become undead. This process differs significantly from other undead; while zombies are mindless, liches remain sapient and retain their intelligence. A pivotal moment in a lich's existence involves the creation of a soul-artifact. If a lich's corporeal body is destroyed, the portion of its soul anchored by this artifact does not pass to the afterlife but persists in a non-corporeal form capable of reconstitution. The creature can be resurrected indefinitely provided at least one soul-artifact survives. Conversely, if all soul-artifacts are destroyed, the lich's only remaining anchor becomes its physical body, meaning its destruction leads to permanent death.

Reader's Guide

In popular culture, liches appear across various media formats with specific roles and attributes. In print, Acererak serves as the final boss in the Dungeons & Dragons module 'Tomb of Horrors' and appears in Ernest Cline's 'Ready Player One'. The webcomic 'The Order of the Stick' features Xykon as a main villain lich. In film and television, the series 'Adventure Time' features an antagonist named 'The Lich,' described as an ancient cosmic being manifesting death. Tabletop games like 13th Age, Pathfinder, and Warhammer Fantasy draw inspiration from D&D. Video games feature liches prominently: Sandro is a prolific character in the Might and Magic series; Baldur's Gate includes them as optional bosses; Warcraft III and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King introduce Arthas Menethil, the Lich King of Northrend; Dota features Lich as a playable hero; League of Legends has Karthus as a lich; and 'Enter the Gungeon' concludes with a lich boss in the Bullet Hell.

Did You Know?

• The word 'lich' is derived from the Old English līċ, meaning 'corpse', and is cognate with the German Leiche and Dutch lijk.
• Gary Gygax based the Dungeons & Dragons description of a lich on Gardner Fox's 1969 short story 'The Sword of the Sorcerer'.
• Liches achieve immortality by surrendering their souls to create soul-artifacts called phylacteries; if all are destroyed, permanent death occurs.
• Robert E. Howard's novella 'Skull-Face' (1929) features undying sorcerers whose bodies are reduced to shriveled husks yet retain active thought.
• The imagery of a jeweled skull associated with demiliches is drawn from Fritz Leiber's story 'Thieves' House'.