|
In fiction, Necromancy is often not a form of divination but a discipline of "dark" or "black" magic used to raise the dead as "undead," typically as zombies under the necromancer's control, though the binding of ghosts and spirits is also common. Necromancers often become powerful undead creatures themselves; in modern fantasy fiction, the Dungeons & Dragons-derived term "lich" (originally a word meaning 'corpse') is often applied to such beings. Necromancers are, in rare cases, capable of raising the dead or restoring vitality to the living, though in some cases the life energy involved must be transferred from another living creature.
The short horror story The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs is considered a classic of the genre. In the X-Files television series 7, the episode Millennium deals extensively with the subject of necromancy.
In Brian Lumley's Necroscope series, the villains often perform a particularly gruesome form of necromancy.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction, The Necromancer was a name applied to Sauron in The Hobbit, and Morgoth's magic is sometimes described as necromancy. Notable are the Barrow-wights as evil undead spirits, as well as the phantom that ensnared Gorlim in The Silmarillion and the army of the dead that helped Aragorn defeat Sauron's attacking forces.
In Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels, the title character, Anita, is a powerful necromancer. She raises zombies for a living and can also use her control over the dead to aid her in the slaying (and dating!) of vampires.
In the anime and manga Shaman King there is a character named Faust VIII who is a necromancer. His main corpse is the skeleton form of his deceased love, Eliza. For his oversoul, he magically grafts skin, hair, and clothes to her walking corpse. He is a descendant of the infamous Dr. Faustus.
In the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix, necromancers use seven bells to raise and control dead spirits. Most of the necromancers are seen as evil because they use Free Magic (an unacceptable, evil branch of magic) to raise the dead. The exception to this is the Abhorsen, who uses the bells and "good" magic, Charter Magic, to send back the dead that are raised by others into the river Death.
The title of the Thai movie Jomkhamungwej translates to The Necromancer in the context of Vedic Occultism
In the television show The Venture Brothers, The character of Dr. Orpheus refers to himself as a necromancer. However, despite aiding Hank and Dean against the ghost of "Major Tom", Orpheus himself does not really have/use any powers in relation to necromancy.
In John Bellairs’ young adult novel, The House With a Clock in Its Walls, Lewis Barnavelt unwittingly manages to raise the evil spirit of one of the previous occupants of his home.
Necromancy in role-playing games
The Necromancer is also a common character class in role-playing games. In such games as Dungeons & Dragons and Diablo II, the Necromancer is a practitioner of Necromancy, but is not necessarily a force of evil. It simply represents a collection of skills relating to raising the dead, and/or death-related magic spells, and is sometimes a subclass of the general class "Mage".
In Dungeons & Dragons, necromancy is one of the eight magic disciplines, representing a collection of spells which fall under a common heading. The Necromancer in second and third edition rules, is a subclass of the general Mage or Wizard class, who is most proficient in Necromancy spells.
In Diablo II, the Necromancer is one of the five original classes. He is always represented as an elderly white male, good-natured but fascinated by death, and aligned neither to the light nor to the darkness but fighting to maintain the balance of all things and keep extraplanar influence out of the mortal plane, both angel and demon. His skill set in the game includes Summoning Spells (which aid him in the creation of Golems, and raising the dead), Poison & Bone Spells, and Curses. He worships "Rathma" and believes in a dragon "Trang-Oul" (which is manifested in the item set "Trang-Oul's Avatar") on whose back the world lies, even though neither appears anywhere else in the game's story line.
In Ultima VIII: Pagan, Necromancy is one of the four main magic disciplines, which is focussed around the element of Earth, and is less to do with death itself. However, it does relate to death, raising and communicating with the dead, and also the creation of Golems. Necromancy is governed by Lithos, the Titan of Earth. In the game, The Avatar trains as a Necromancer after finding them in the graveyard.
In Warcraft III, the Necromancer is a spell casting unit on the Undead race who was once a human mage, but tempted into the service of the Lich King. It has the ability to raise "Skeleton Warriors" and "Skeleton Mages" (one of both from one corpse). Other characters that exhibit the ability to raise defeated units or create new units from the death/corpses of other units include the "Paladin" (Resurrection), "Death Knight" (Raise the Dead), "Spirit Walker" (Ancestral Spirit), "Dark Ranger" (Black Arrows), "Naga Siren" (Parasite), and "Pitlord" (Doom).
In World of Warcraft, the Warlock class practices necromancy, including the summoning/binding of diverse demons and resurrecting the dead, as well as life-draining spells and curses. Their alignment to the causes of good or evil are irrelevant in this particular universe, where there are no good/evil alignments, only political ones, most prominently alliegence to the Alliance or the Horde, which is based exclusively on race.
In EverQuest the online roleplaying game and it's sequel game EverQuest II, the Necromancer is portrayed as always evil. The original game set this by automatically setting their religious alignment to one of the dark gods of the game (Innoruuk, Cazic Thule, etc.), while EverQuest II requires mage players pursuing the path of the Necromancer to be a citizen of the evil city of Freeport. Shadow Knights, unholy knights serving the dark gods, were also able to raise the dead in the original EverQuest.
|
