# Lich - Creature: Undead - Date: 1975 - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/lich/ > An undead wizard who hid its soul in a box to cheat death: the lich is one of the few great fantasy monsters invented by Dungeons & Dragons itself, assembled from pulp sorcerers and an Old English word for corpse. **Why it matters:** The lich shows D&D acting as a myth-maker rather than a borrower: a 1975 game term that became the standard fantasy name for an immortal undead sorcerer across novels, cartoons and video games. ## Quick answers **Where does the Lich come from?** Dungeons & Dragons, Greyhawk supplement (1975); name from Old English līc, 'corpse' **When did the Lich first appear?** 1975, in Supplement I: Greyhawk. **How did the Lich get into games?** Key appearances: Supplement I: Greyhawk (1975), Monster Manual (1977), S1 Tomb of Horrors (1978) and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (2008). **Why is the Lich significant?** The lich shows D&D acting as a myth-maker rather than a borrower: a 1975 game term that became the standard fantasy name for an immortal undead sorcerer across novels, cartoons and video games. ## Origins Unlike the [Vampire](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/vampire/) or the [Ghoul](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/ghoul/), the lich has no folklore of its own. Its name is simply an old English word for a body: Old English *līc*, "corpse", which survives in "lychgate", the roofed churchyard gate where coffins once rested, and in German *Leiche*. Ambrose Bierce and [H. P. Lovecraft](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/h-p-lovecraft/) used the word in its archaic sense, and so did [Clark Ashton Smith](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/clark-ashton-smith/) in "The Empire of the Necromancers" (1932), one of his [Weird Tales](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/weird-tales/) stories of sorcerers raising the dead. The idea — a sorcerer who outlives his own flesh — came from the same pulp shelves. [Robert E. Howard](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/robert-e-howard/)'s *Skull-Face* (1929) and Smith's many necromancers kept shriveled, ageless bodies moving by will and magic alone, and [Fritz Leiber](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/fritz-leiber/)'s early story "Thieves' House" supplied a jeweled skull that later shaped the demilich. But the direct source, according to [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/), was a single story: Gardner Fox's "The Sword of the Sorcerer" (1969). ## Into the dungeon The lich as a named monster was born in *Supplement I: Greyhawk* (1975), the first expansion to [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/), by Gygax and Rob Kuntz. It was described in a sentence or two: a skeletal creature, formerly a magic-user or magic-user/cleric, that kept its spellcasting and could send weaker characters fleeing in fear. In 1976 *Eldritch Wizardry* added the Hand and Eye of Vecna, relics of a lich destroyed long ago; Brian Blume, who invented them, took the name as an anagram of [Jack Vance](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/jack-vance/), whose [Dying Earth](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-dying-earth/) had given D&D its [spell system](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/vancian-magic/). The first-edition *Monster Manual* (1977) of [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/advanced-dungeons-and-dragons/) said the lich kept its existence "by certain conjurations, enchantments, and a phylactery" — and explained nothing more. The word, borrowed from the small boxes of scripture worn in Jewish prayer, took on its gaming meaning over the next decade: Len Lakofka's article "Blueprint for a Lich" in [Dragon](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/dragon-magazine/) #26 (1979) described a ritual that stored the soul in a jar, and by the second edition the phylactery was explicitly the vessel of the lich's life force. Destroy the body and the lich returns; find and destroy the phylactery first, and the adventure can end. That structure — a villain who cannot die until a hidden object is found — made the lich a natural campaign boss. Gygax's [Tomb of Horrors](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/tomb-of-horrors/) (1978) ended with Acererak, a demilich reduced to a jeweled skull. Vecna rose from legend to demigod in the 1990 adventure *Vecna Lives!*, and [Ravenloft](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/ravenloft/)'s Demiplane of Dread gave the lich Azalin a whole domain. Computer games followed the tabletop: liches are optional high-level bosses in [Baldur's Gate II](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate-ii/), recruitable undead in [Heroes of Might and Magic](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/heroes-of-might-and-magic/), and in [Blizzard](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/blizzard-entertainment/)'s Warcraft saga the fallen prince Arthas becomes the Lich King, the villain of the 2008 [World of Warcraft](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/world-of-warcraft/) expansion *Wrath of the Lich King*. ## Variations D&D itself has spun off a small taxonomy. The **demilich**, first seen with Acererak, is a lich so ancient that only its skull and soul-gems remain. The **dracolich** is an undead [Dragon](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/dragon/); the **baelnorn** is a good-aligned elven lich guarding its people's ruins in the [Forgotten Realms](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/forgotten-realms/); the **archlich** is another good-aligned variant. Outside D&D the lich spread wherever D&D's vocabulary did — into [Pathfinder](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/pathfinder-rpg/), *Warhammer*, the cartoon *Adventure Time* and countless roguelikes. Readers have also noticed the family resemblance in [Harry Potter](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/harry-potter/), whose Voldemort splits his soul into hidden horcruxes; the books never use the word "lich", but the logic of the phylactery is unmistakable. ## Migration - 1932: Clark Ashton Smith, "The Empire of the Necromancers" — Weird Tales writers use 'lich' in its archaic sense of a corpse, amid sorcerers who cheat death. - 1969: Gardner Fox, "The Sword of the Sorcerer" — The sword-and-sorcery tale Gygax later named as his model for the lich's description. - 1975: Supplement I: Greyhawk — Gygax and Rob Kuntz introduce the lich: a skeletal former magic-user who keeps its spells after death. - 1976: Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry — Brian Blume invents the Hand and Eye of Vecna, relics of a destroyed lich whose name is an anagram of Vance. - 1977: Monster Manual — The lich gains its mysterious 'phylactery', left unexplained for years. - 1978: S1 Tomb of Horrors — The demilich Acererak, reduced to a jeweled skull, waits at the bottom of Gygax's killer dungeon. - 2008: World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King — Arthas Menethil, the Lich King, becomes the face of an MMO expansion. ## Facts - 'Lich' comes from Old English līc, 'corpse', cognate with German Leiche; before D&D, pulp writers used it only to mean a dead body. - Gygax said he based the lich on Gardner Fox's 1969 story "The Sword of the Sorcerer", not on any folklore creature. - The 1977 Monster Manual mentioned a lich's 'phylactery' without explaining it; Dragon #26 (1979) first described storing the soul in a jar. - Vecna, D&D's most famous lich, began in 1976 as two artifacts, a hand and an eye; his name is an anagram of Jack Vance. - The demilich, a lich worn down to a floating skull, first appeared with Acererak in Tomb of Horrors (1978). - The Ravenloft setting's domain of Darkon is ruled by the lich Azalin. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lich) - [Wikipedia: Lich (Dungeons & Dragons)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lich_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) - [Wikipedia: Vecna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vecna) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.