Origin of the concept of Liches

[Tonguez]

I think it was either Jingle All The Way or First Kid.

lol I just got it

 

[Roman]

Right, so so far it appears that although the world Lich derives meaning from corpse, the Lich first refers to something akin to D&D Liches only in relatively recent literature/history - with the possible exception Russian mythology, legends and folklore.

 

[Desdichado]

North Germanic (of which Danish and Swedish are a part) branched out from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language tree at much the same time as the Western Germanic languages (who would eventually evolve into English, Dutch, German, and many, many more).

Somewhat later, I'd think. West Germanic is kinda the "default" Germanic whereas North Germanic underwent a series of predictable and consistent sound changes. Prior to that, the inhabitants of Denmark, at least, spoke something very much like later West Germanic languages; in fact, many of the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons were from Denmark specifically.

 

[kengar]

The lich's appearance, burning eyes in a skull for an undead spellcaster, shows up in an R.E. Howard King Kull story where the evil spellcaster (thulsa doom? Theleb Karna? I forget his name.) attacks Kull in his chamber, Kull's pictish companion sticks a sword into the wizard's ribs and the wizard's illusion drops revealing his burning eyed skull visage and the pict is dumbstruck as the sword comes out of the wizard without harming him.

FWIW, Theleb Ka'arna was a Pan Tang sorcerer in Moorcock's Elric books.

 

[devilish]

By the way, here's the Gygaxian response:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1864749&postcount=24

 

[Roman]

By the way, here's the Gygaxian response:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1864749&postcount=24

Thanks for this!

 

[Aaron2]

By the way, here's the Gygaxian response:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1864749&postcount=24

I wonder which story he's refering to. I think I've read every one of Howard's fantasy stories but I don't remember anything even close to a lich in them.


Aaron