History Main / OurWightsAreDifferent

In much of modern fantasy (specifically of the MedievalEuropeanFantasy variety), wights are a kind of undead. This is owed to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', in which "barrow-wights" appear as undead creatures haunting gravemounds. In this, Creator/JRRTolkien was inspired by the 1869 translation of the Old Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' by William Morris and Eirik Magnusson, which used "barrow-wight" once to translate the Old Norse ''haugbui'', which is a type of undead (namely, the living corpse of a man buried in a barrow, intent on defending his residence from graverobbers and trespassers). Following that trail, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and other works of the fantasy genre have loosely based their concept of 'wights' on the ''haugbuar'' and ''draugar'', the undeads of Literature/{{the Icelandic sagas}}. This equation of wights and undeads is entirely a modern development.

In much of modern fantasy (specifically of the MedievalEuropeanFantasy variety), wights are a kind of undead. This is owed to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', in which "barrow-wights" appear as undead creatures haunting gravemounds. In this, Creator/JRRTolkien was inspired by the 1869 translation of the Old Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' by William Morris and Eirik Magnusson, which used "barrow-wight" once to translate the Old Norse ''haugbui'', which is a type of undead (namely, the living corpse of a man buried in a barrow, intent on defending his residence from graverobbers and trespassers). Following that trail, ''TabletopGame/DungeonAndDragons'' and other works of the fantasy genre have loosely based their concept of 'wights' on the ''haugbuar'' and ''draugar'', the undeads of Literature/{{the Icelandic sagas}}. This equation of wights and undeads is entirely a modern development.

The word comes from a Middle English word meaning literally 'being' (or by extension, 'person').More or less the mummy's northerly cousin, associated with MedievalEuropeanFantasy. Tolkien popularized them as wights [[note]]more properly a barrow-wight, meaning a "barrow man", with "wight" being simply an antiquated word for "man"[[/note]] and established the modern interpretation, but, as Tolkien himself would've been the first to admit, [[OlderThanYouThink they appear in Norse oral tradition]] [[note]]as ''haugbui'', which is essentially "barrow-man" -bui (pronounced "''bwIgh''") is related to "wight" etymologically[[/note]]. The first ''written'' appearances are OlderThanPrint but these are only the first formal recordings of an oral tradition OlderThanDirt, probably a part of European folklore since the first kid dared another kid to spend the night next to a burial mound. The wight is an old, buried, usually desiccated or naturally mummified corpse[[note]]Some traditional stories also include reanimated drowning victims[[/note]] that rises up to guard its tomb or place of death from intruders. More eldritch and drier than a zombie, but fresher and much less powerful than a lich. Undead that are not called wights in-universe but conform to this basic description can, too, be considered wights.

And no, there is not a Sister Trope called [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome Our Wefts Are Different]]. Also has nothing to do with the UsefulNotes/IsleOfWight, nor with [[DoNotCallMePaul the real name]] of WWE's Wrestling/TheBigShow.

No, that isn't a typo. Nor does this trope have anything to do with race.

* The 1869 translation of the Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' by Creator/WilliamMorris and Eiríkr Magnússon coined the term "barrow-wight" as a translation of the Old Norse ''haugbúi''. A ''haugbúi'' is a resident (''búi'') of a gravemound (''haugr''), meaning the animated corpse of a man buried in a barrow. In the saga, Grettir breaks into the gravemound of Karr to carry off the treasures buried with Karr; he is a attacked by the undead Karr and, after a hard fight, wrestles him down and cuts off his head.

* The 1869 translation of the Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' by Creator/WilliamMorris and Eiríkr Magnússon coined the term "barrow-wight" as a translation of the Old Norse ''haugbúi''. A ''haugbúi'' is a resident (''búi'') of a gravemound (''haugr''), meaning the animated corpse of a man buried in a barrow. In the saga, Grettir breaks into the gravemound of Karr to carry off the treasures buried with Karr; he is a attacked by the "barrow-wight" Karr and, after a hard fight, wrestles him down and cuts off his head.

* The 1869 translation of the Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' by Creator/WilliamMorris and Eiríkr Magnússon coined the term "barrow-wight" as a translation of the Old Norse ''haugbúi''. A ''haugbúi'' is a resident (''búi'') of a gravemound (''haugr''), meaning the animated corpse of a man buried in a barrow. In the saga, Grettir breaks into the gravemound of Karr to carry off the treasures buried with Karr; he is a attacked by the undead Karr and, after a hard fight, wrestles him down and cuts off his head.

* The 1868 translation of the Icelandic ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'' by Creator/WilliamMorris and Eiríkr Magnússon coined the term "barrow-wight" as a translation of the Old Norse ''haugbúi''. A ''haugbúi'' is a resident (''búi'') of a gravemound (''haugr''), meaning the animated corpse of a man buried in a barrow. In the saga, Grettir breaks into the gravemound of Karr to carry off the treasures buried with Karr; he is a attacked by the undead Karr and, after a hard fight, wrestles him down and cuts off his head.

* Creator/JRRTolkien had "Barrow-Wights", which were described as "a tall dark figure like a shadow against the stars... two eyes, very cold, though lit with a pale light that seemed to come from some remote distance. Then a grip stronger and colder than iron seized him. The icy touch froze his bones and he remembered no more."
** From associating descriptions, they seem to be evil spirits possessing the corpses of long dead kings in their barrows, and using magic to lead travelers astray.
** An early draft toyed with the idea of making the Nazgûl simply horsed versions of the Barrow-wights.

And no, there is not a Sister Trope called [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome Our Wefts Are Different]]. Also has nothing to do with the UsefulNotes/IsleOfWight, or with [[DoNotCallMePaul the real name]] of WWE's Wrestling/TheBigShow.

And no, there is not a Sister Trope called [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome Our Wefts Are Different]]. Also has nothing to do with [[DoNotCallMePaul the real name]] of WWE's Wrestling/TheBigShow.

* In NorseMythology, "Wights" (Vaettir) essentially means DifferentlyPoweredIndividual - the term covers any non-divine magical beings, including [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves]], [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarfs]], [[OurGiantsAreBigger Giants]] and [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]].

* ''VideoGame/NetHack'' runs with this, giving wights an attack that drains character levels. Interestingly, when eaten, they [[spoiler:provide zero nutrition but also raise the consumer's level]].

* The small-press [=RPG=] ''Nightlife'' had wights (spelled "wyghts") as a PC race, which resembled dried-up human corpses and could drain the youth from victims by touch.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the wights are the reanimated corpses of humans, used as [[NightOfTheLivingMooks undead foot soldiers]] by the mysterious Others. They're cosmetically similar to Tolkien's (right down to the fact that in their first appearance a hand is chopped off but keeps moving by itself), but their origins are very different. Also, the Others have been seen using wight horses and other animals as [[HellishHorse mounts]]. They are [[KryptoniteFactor vulnerable only]] to [[KillItWithFire fire]] or [[ChunkySalsaRule being chopped into little bits]] - not even RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain does them in, and contrary to some characters' belief [[spoiler:they aren't vulnerable to [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells dragonglass]] like their eldritch masters are.]]
* ''Literature/TheWardstoneChronicles'' describes wights as the corpses of drowned sailors that witches bind souls to for sinister purposes. They are usually blind, but have very good hearing, and are fast and strong.
* The small-press [=RPG=] ''Nightlife'' had wights (spelled "wyghts") as a PC race, which resembled dried-up human corpses and could drain the youth from victims by touch.

* The ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' features the Cavewights, many of whom live in a system of caves called the Wightwarrens. However, they have nothing whatsoever to do with the undead; being physically powerful but weak-willed subterranean creatures who form the bulk of the BigBad's forces, they're closer to traditional depictions of [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]].
* In ''Literature/MonsterHunterInternational'' wights are high-level undead that can paralyze with a touch and have to be burned. Chopping them up just leaves you with a lot of wiggling undead bits. Can be made and controlled by vampires.
* In O. R. Melling's ''The Hunter's Moon'', two cousins camp out inside an Irish burial mound, and the barrow wight, the spirit of a sacrificial victim, appears to one of them in a dream to warn her that the king of TheFairFolk is about to abduct the other.
* In Creator/MontagueRhodesJames's [[http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/james/mr/warning/chapter5.html "A Warning to the Curious"]], the last custodian of an Anglo-Saxon mound becomes a shadowy, implacable guardian spirit who "has some power over your eyes."

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' Wights are dead knights and guardians of ancient kings; essentially, the PraetorianGuard of an Undead army. In a possible inspiration from Tolkien, they have health-draining weapons.
** There is an UsefulNotes/{{Isle of Wight}}s off the south coast of Albion. As one might expect, it's full of wights.
** Warhammer's undead come in two distinct flavours - the cold, wet, barrow-dwelling Old World undead in the Vampire Counts army and the dry, desiccated, pyramid-dwelling Nehekharan undead in the Tomb Kings army. Both kinds have their own wights, known as "grave guard", "black knights" and "wight kings" for the former and "tomb guard", "necropolis knights" and "tomb heralds" for the latter. Both flavours are the partially mummified corpses of nobles, guards and tribal chieftains, and use pretty much exactly the same rules.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' borrowed the wight from Tolkien and made it an undead monster that drained energy levels (Character Levels) from its victims and [[TheVirus was created by draining a character of all their levels]]. To make matters worse, they're almost immune to conventional steel weapons and can only be seriously damaged by weapons made of silver, or magical weapons and spells.
** The Third edition did away with their resistance to non-magical weapons, and nerfed their level draining power, making it give a character "negative levels", which they then had to roll against to avoid losing the level permanently. If a character ever had more negative levels then actual levels they died and became a wight.
* ''VideoGame/NetHack'' runs with this, giving wights an attack that drains character levels. Interestingly, when eaten, they [[spoiler:provide zero nutrition but also raise the consumer's level]].

* The Wights of ''[[FireEmblem Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones]]'' are a monster class which functions as a stronger PaletteSwap of the Bonewalker class: here, they are reanimated skeleton warriors wielding various weapons.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' has a version of wight which is basically a teleporting ghost. [[spoiler:It's implied they're darkspawn, but which race they come from isn't established.]]
* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire'', the wights are the reanimated corpses of humans, used as [[NightOfTheLivingMooks undead foot soldiers]] by the mysterious Others. They're cosmetically similar to Tolkien's (right down to the fact that in their first appearance a hand is chopped off but keeps moving by itself), but their origins are very different. Also, the Others have been seen using wight horses and other animals as [[HellishHorse mounts]]. They are [[KryptoniteFactor vulnerable only]] to [[KillItWithFire fire]] or [[ChunkySalsaRule being chopped into little bits]] - not even RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain does them in, and contrary to some characters' belief [[spoiler:they aren't vulnerable to [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells dragonglass]] like their eldritch masters are.]]
* In the first ''KingdomHearts'' game, in the HalloweenTown world, there are [[IncrediblyLamePun Wight Knights]], undead enemies that can best be described as [[{{Mummy}} mummies]] with super-long arms and massive claws.
* The adventure game ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heroes_Of_Karn The Heroes of Karn]]'' had a barrowwight in a place called "the long barrow". No description of it is given, but it can be killed using a bible.
* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic 7.'' Wights, wraiths and barrow wights (in order of increasing power) are a somewhat rare sort of undead that wear long brown robes and tote really nasty knives. Aging, spell point drain and magical terror may result from their attacks.
** And by 'Somewhat rare' we mean 'You fight them every ten feet in The Barrow Downs. And less often in other areas too.'
* Similar to the TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons wights, ''VideoGame/{{Exile}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' have wights that are higher-level undead who drain experience on hitting.
* Wights in ''VideoGame/{{Myth}}'' are zombies that [[ActionBomb explode]] when attacked or when they get close to enemies, and spray a paralyzing toxin over nearby units.
* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind'', "heartwight" is an alternate name for an ash vampire. It fits better, since they aren't vampires at all.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', Wights (and [[MonsterLord Wight Lords and Overlords]]) are higher-levelled versions of the Draugr, mummified Norse dead buried in ornate coffins, many of which use cold magic and have other powers.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Wights are one of the rarer types of Undead in the Scourge. They appear as zombies mutated to monstrous sizes, though are otherwise fairly unremarkable.
* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', the wight is the name given to a stronger enemy that appears when you defeat several [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]] in an area. As for ghouls, they are only a PaletteSwap of zombies.
* ''Literature/TheRunelords'' has wights as a type of mage/ghost. It is deadly to touch them as they will freeze you; [[spoiler: Borenson's wife]] almost dies from trying to kill one, which is possible in that universe.

* Color Wights from ''Literature/TheLightbringerSeries'' are ''very'' different. A Drafter (someone who uses the local form of FunctionalMagic) can only use so much power in their life; go over that limit and you "break the halo", with your eyes becoming shot through with [[ColorCodedWizardry your color or colors]], your powers enhanced, and usually [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity great insanity following shortly]]. Color Wights are no longer considered human, and many will attempt to remake themselves using magic, resulting in self-inflicted BodyHorror. [[DarkMessiah The Color Prince]], the series BigBad, is a Polychrome Wight- ie, a Wight created from someone who overused ''all seven colors''- and he denies that the WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity part is anything but propaganda.
* The Endermen in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' bear a striking resemblance to [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Tolkien's]] description of a Barrow-Wight.
* Wights in ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'' are insubstantial undead monsters that can drain your experience with their attacks.
* The Wight enemy in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' is a dark blue PaletteSwap of the orange and much weaker Zombie enemy.

* In MonsterHunterInternational wights are high-level undead that can paralyze with a touch and have to be burned. Chopping them up just leaves you with a lot of wiggling undead bits. Can be made and controlled by vampires.
* In the expansion for ''VideoGame/{{Majesty}}'', one of the missions requires the player to defeat two Wights, named Styx and Stones, described as the Queen and the most trusted General of said queen, respectively. Apparently, their bond in life was so strong that it still exists after death. When they are awakened, the player is supposed to kill them both. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. If you kill one and the other one isn't killed in less than 2 minutes (on normal game speed), then the one you killed comes back to life. To make matters worse, they summon speedy undead predators and they can teleport at will to the other one's location.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' borrowed the wight from Tolkien and made it an undead monster that drained energy levels (Character Levels) from its victims and [[TheVirus was created by draining a character of all their levels]]. To make matters worse, they're almost immune to conventional steel weapons and can only be seriously damaged by weapons made of silver, or magical weapons and spells.

** ''{{Nethack}}'' runs with this, giving wights an attack that drains character levels. Interestingly, when eaten, they [[spoiler:provide zero nutrition but also raise the consumer's level]].

* The book series ''Literature/TheLastApprentice'' describes wights as the corpses of drowned sailors that witches bind souls to for sinister purposes. They are usually blind, but have very good hearing, and are fast and strong.

The word comes from a Middle English word meaning literally 'being' (or by extension, 'person').More or less the mummy's northerly cousin, associated with MedievalEuropeanFantasy. Tolkien popularized them as wights [[note]]more properly a barrow-wight, meaning a "barrow man", with "wight" being simply an antiquated word for "man"[[/note]] and established the modern interpretation, [[OlderThanYouThink but they appear in Norse Oral tradition]] [[note]]as ''haugbui'', which is essentially "barrow-man" -bui (pronounced "''bwIgh''") is related to "wight" etymologically[[/note]]. The first ''written'' appearances are OlderThanPrint but these are only the first formal recordings of an oral tradition OlderThanDirt, probably a part of European folklore since the first kid dared another kid to spend the night next to a burial mound. The wight is an old, buried, usually desiccated or naturally mummified corpse[[note]]Some traditional stories also include reanimated drowning victims[[/note]] that rises up to guard its tomb or place of death from intruders. More eldritch and drier than a zombie, but fresher and much less powerful than a lich. Undead that are not called wights in-universe but conform to this basic description can, too, be considered wights.

* In ''CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', the wight is the name given to a stronger enemy that appears when you defeat several [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]] in an area. As for ghouls, they are only a PaletteSwap of zombies.

* The Endermen in {{Minecraft}} bear a striking resemblance to [[TheLordOfTheRings Tolkien's]] description of a Barrow-Wight.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' borrowed the wight from Tolkien and made it an undead monster that drained energy levels (Character Levels) from its victims and [[TheVirus was created by draining a character of all their levels]].

** There is an {{Isle of Wight}}s off the south coast of Albion. As one might expect, it's full of wights.

The word comes from a Middle English word meaning literally 'being' (or by extension, 'person').More or less the mummy's northerly cousin, associated with MedievalEuropeanFantasy. Tolkien popularized them as wights [[note]]more properly a barrow-wight, meaning a "barrow man", with "wight" being simply an antiquated word for "man"[[/note]] and established the modern interpretation, [[OlderThanYouThink but they appear in Norse Oral tradition]] [[note]]as ''haugbui'', which is essentially "barrow-man" -bui (pronounced "''bwIgh''") is related to "wight" etymologically[[/note]]. The first ''written'' appearances are OlderThanPrint but these are only the first formal recordings of an oral tradition OlderThanDirt, probably a part of European folklore since the first kid dared another kid to spend the night next to a burial mound. The white is an old, buried, usually desiccated or naturally mummified corpse[[note]]Some traditional stories also include reanimated drowning victims[[/note]] that rises up to guard its tomb or place of death from intruders. More eldritch and drier than a zombie, but fresher and much less powerful than a lich. Undead that are not called wights in-universe but conform to this basic description can, too, be considered wights.