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Lich

Lich · The Undying Mage — An Archmage Who Refused Death by Sealing the Soul

A powerful mage who became undead through obsession with knowledge and power. Sealing its soul in a vessel called a phylactery, it revives so long as the vessel remains, even if its body is destroyed. With a decayed skeletal form, cold intellect, and immense dark and necromantic magic, it schemes through undying time.

Origin

Named from 'lich,' Old English for corpse. The undying-mage tradition of pulp fantasy was established by Dungeons & Dragons as 'an undead mage with its soul sealed in a phylactery,' becoming a signature boss of modern fantasy.

Features

Decayed skeletal form, cold intellect
A phylactery sealing the soul (vessel of life)
Immense dark and necromantic magic
A schemer through undying time

Stories

Appears as a final-boss-tier mastermind and a tragic sage who abandoned humanity chasing forbidden knowledge. A central being of narratives on the price of immortality and the arrogance of knowledge.

Weakness

Even if its body is destroyed, it revives while the phylactery remains; only finding and destroying the hidden phylactery brings true annihilation. Its very obsession with immortality is its greatest flaw.