origin of "Lich"

[demiurge1138]

On a similar note to Agback's, I recall reading a short story titled "Sticks" in the collection Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (I don't remember the story's author). In it, the undead cultist was referred to as a lich, and the story was written in the Sixties.

Demiurge out.

 

[Alzrius]

The way I heard it from a gamer friend of mine, the origin of the lich as a monster (not the word, which has already had its origins described) was that it, like a lot of D&D, came from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The explanation was that Sauron was a lich, and the ring was his phylactery, hence, the entire story is an epic saga to destroy the lich's phylactery to prevent his return.

 

[Mark]

On a similar note to Agback's, I recall reading a short story titled "Sticks" in the collection Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (I don't remember the story's author). In it, the undead cultist was referred to as a lich, and the story was written in the Sixties.

Demiurge out.

Could this be the author?

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Karl_Edward_Wagner.htm

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