History Main / OurWightsAreDifferent

* ''Fanfic/NineDaysDown'': Wights are pony-like creatures, but not ponies themselves. They have no hair besides a thin white mane, and gray leathery skin. They have a pair of bony, clawed arms mounted like a pegasus' wings, and another set of fingers and a thumb where the front a pony's hoof would be. They live in the caverns of Tartarus, and are predators who will gladly eat other sapients.

* ''Literature/GrettirsSaga'': The 1869 translation 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 same translations also uses the phrase "evil wight" several times for various trolls and undeads.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Traversing the barrow-downs, the Hobbits have a nasty encounter with a "barrow-wight", which is 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." The creature traps them in an underground burial chamber and is apparently trying to kill them when Tom Bombadil comes to the rescue. From what Tom says about the barrow-wights, they seem to be evil spirits possessing the corpses of long dead kings in their barrows, and using magic to lead travelers astray. The Rohirrim also use the term "elvish wights" of those who seek to ride the Paths of the Dead.

* 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]] [[FireKeepsItDead to]] [[WeakToFire 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.]]

* ''Series/LostGirl'' has a "Landwight" as one a MonsterOfTheWeek. Rather than being any kind of undead, they're a type of fae who bring good luck to anyone who eats the food grown on their land. Unfortunately, the one Bo encounters is aligned with the Dark Fae and is happy to use human victims as fertilizer.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' borrowed wights from Tolkien and made them into undead monsters that drain energy levels from their victims and [[TheVirus are created by draining a character of all their levels]]. They're almost immune to conventional steel weapons and can only be seriously damaged by weapons made of silver, or with magical weapons and spells. Third edition did away with their resistance to non-magical weapons and nerfed their level-draining power, making them give a character "negative levels", which they then have to roll against to avoid losing that level permanently. If a character ever has more negative levels then actual levels they die and become a wight.

* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', a wight is what happens when a vampire loses all of their humanity and falls completely to the Beast. They are completely feral and bestial, existing only to kill and feed. Vampires that reach this stage are very rare, because other vampires actively hunt down and destroy them to prevent breaches of TheMasquerade.
* ''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.

** ''Warhammer''[='=]s undead come in two distinct flavors -- 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.

* ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'': Wights are undead warriors that tend to come in groups. Not only do they tend to carry high-quality weapons (which were often [[CursedItem cursed]] back when curses were more common), but their strikes can also LevelDrain you.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'': Wights are a monster class which functions as a stronger PaletteSwap of the Bonewalker class. More specifically, they are reanimated skeleton warriors wielding various weapons.
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'': Wights are phantasmagoric floating spirits with multiple arms [[MadeOfMagic made out of sentient, furious magic]] due to unstability of runic magic caused by the approach of the Ragnarök. They are created when three Wisps -- other kind of enemies -- converge with each other, and thus, [[MookMaker turn into Wisps upon being defeated]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Majesty}}'': A mission in the expansion 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.
* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic 7'': Wights, wraiths and barrow wights (in order of increasing power) are undead that wear long brown robes and tote really nasty knives. Aging, spell point drain and magical terror may result from their attacks.

* ''VideoGame/ProjectWight'': The titular creature is some form of monster rather than an undead entity. It's also capable of [[NotQuiteFlight gliding long distances]] and a using a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic shriek]].

An entire race of inherently evil creatures has some [[UnfortunateImplications unfortunate implications]]. This is especially the case when their design borrows traits from stereotypes.

An entire race of inherently evil creatures has some [[UnfortunateImplications]]. This is especially the case when their design borrows traits from stereotypes.

An entire race of inherently evil creatures has some [[Unfortunate Implications]]. This is especially the case when their design borrows traits from stereotypes.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': In the sequel ''Ghosts of the Past'', Harry and the Triwizard champions encounter some wights during the First Task. They're mummified, animated corpses compelled to guard the caverns and tunnels under Hogwarts' lake, forcing anyone they catch to join their ranks, all at the behest of something much, much worse [[spoiler: an Elder Wyrm in service to Surtur]].

* ''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.

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

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', or to be more precise, its sequel ''Ghosts of the Past'', Harry and the Triwizard champions encounter some wights during the First Task. They're mummified, animated corpses compelled to guard the caverns and tunnels under Hogwarts' lake, forcing anyone they catch to join their ranks, all at the behest of something much, much worse [[spoiler: an Elder Wyrm in service to Surtur]].
* In ''Fanfic/FrozenWight'', the main villain is, as the title implies, a wight, who appears to be a frostbitten zombie more than the classical European version. [[spoiler:We later learn that wights are [[AnIcePerson cryomancers]] whose magic animates their corpses after they've died.]]
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBoilingPoint'' makes them a form of NonHumanUndead. More specifically, they're undead [[spoiler: witches.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', a wight is a degenerate vampire who has lost all of their Humanity and became irreversibly bestial. These creatures are very rare, because other vampires actively hunt and destroy them to prevent breaches of TheMasquerade.

* ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'': Wights are insubstantial undead monsters that can drain your experience with their attacks.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': During their duel, the Stranger defeats the three worshipers of Sauron by turning them into wraith-like creatures, reminiscent of the ghostly forms of the Nazgûl from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing''.

* ''VideoGame/TheHeroesOfKarn'' has a barrowwight in a place called "the long barrow". No description of it is given, but it can be killed using a bible.

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', or to be more precise, its sequel, Harry and the Triwizard champions encounter some wights during the First Task. They're mummified, animated corpses compelled to guard the caverns and tunnels under Hogwarts' lake, forcing anyone they catch to join their ranks, all at the behest of something much, much worse.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Traversing the barrow-downs, the Hobbits have a nasty encounter with a "barrow-wight", which is 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." The creature traps them in an underground burial chamber and is apparently trying to kill them when Tom Bombadil comes to the rescue. From what Tom says about the barrow-wights, they seem to be evil spirits possessing the corpses of long dead kings in their barrows, and using magic to lead travelers astray.

Has nothing to do with the UsefulNotes/IsleOfWight nor Wrestling/{{WWE}} wrestler Wrestling/BigShow (whose real name is Paul Wight, [[DoNotCallMePaul but don't call him that]]).

* ''Film/TheNorthman'' includes a [[spoiler:fight sequence with a traditional ''haugbui'' called "The Mound-Dweller." The movie's protagonist, Amleth, must raid the creature's barrow and retrieve a magical sword he needs to avenge his father's death. The Mound-Dweller is, needless to say, not happy about being disturbed.]]

* ''Film/TheNorthman'' includes a fight sequence with a traditional ''haugbui'' called "The Mound-Dweller." The movie's protagonist, Amleth, must raid the creature's barrow and retrieve a magical sword he needs to avenge his father's death. The Mound-Dweller is, needless to say, not happy about being disturbed.

* ''Film/TheNorthman'' includes a fight sequence with a traditional ''haugbui'' called "The Mound-Dweller." The movie's protagonist, Amleth, must raid the creature's barrow and retrieve a magical sword he needs to avenge his father's death. The Mound-Dweller is, needless to say, not happy about being disturbed.]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'', as a LiveActionAdaptation of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', follows the same rules as the source material; except now they can be killed with dragon glass.
[[/folder]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Talislanta}}, Shadowights are the spirits of deceased persons sentenced to spend eternity as specters. When they touch a mortal, they drain substance from them to make themselves corporeal. A living being drained of all of its substance becomes a shadowform.

%% The examples on this page have been sorted alphabetically. Please help keep this page tidy by adding new ones in order. Thank you!

* 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]] [[FireKeepsItDead to]] [[WeakToFire 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.]]