Created By: fzzr_miller on October 9, 2009


Examples
- In Warcraft 3, Scourge Necromancers can raise Skeleton Warriors from corpses, and the Graveyard is a building which produces an infinite number of corpses. Thus the only limiting factor is mana. Inexplicably, one corpse of any unit type produces two humanoid skeletons with swords.
- Similarly, Warcraft 2 has Raise Dead, which produces a single humanoid skeleton warrior with a sword.
- Warcraft 3 also features the Avatar of Vengeance, which spams a shorter-duration Raise Dead spell while not being squishy at all.
- The Death Knight, a Scourge hero unit in Warcraft 3, has as his Ultimate move "Animate Dead" which raises up to six nearby dead units to fight for the Death Knight for forty seconds.
- Death Knights in World of Warcraft have several spells that allow them to raise undead Ghouls from corpses. The basic raise dead spell creates an NPC Ghoul that will follow the player around and attack his target (there's a talent that will turn it into a permanent pet under the player's control), raise ally raises a dead group/raid member as a Ghoul they have control over. And the army of the dead summons about 20 Ghouls at once (although they're individually weaker than the ones summoned through raise dead).
- Erfworld, being a RPG-Mechanics Verse, does this with "uncroaking" and the more powerful and permanent "decrypting".
- In Guild Wars, Necromancers have a variety of spells to create undead minions of various sizes and strengths out of "fleshy" enemy corpses.
- Subversion in Army of Darkness: The titular army, of undead, is accidentally spawned when Ash screws up the pronunciation of a time travel spell that was meant to get him home.
- In Warhammer, this type of necromancy is a trademark of the Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings armies. Necromancers/Liche Priests are vital for holding the undead armies together, and can use their magic to replenish the ranks of their forces with freshly raised dead. They can even conjure skeletal or zombie units out of nowhere to surprise their foes. Sieges get tricky when skeletons are sprouting in your courtyard like daisies...
- Plenty of Necromancy spells from Dungeons & Dragons, of course. With all the various Undead monsters, you never know exactly what the Big Bad is going to turn your fallen henchman into next.
- The Dresden Files uses this trope in a really awesome way.
- The website for Diablo 3 gives an interesting justification: instead of animating individual skeletons (which might be damaged, too small, etc.), skeletons are actually amalgamated bone dust and dirt, held together by the magician.
- In Heroes of Might and Magic 3, the Necromancy skill raises a percent of the (non-undead) casualties from each successful battle as skeletons (or, in the case of dragon casualties, Bone Dragons). There is also a structure in the Necropolis (Necromancer/Undead City) that allows you to do this with 100% efficiency using your own troops.
- This is how the undead other than death knights and possibly ghouls are created in Battle for Wesnoth.
- Looking for Group
Richard: In case you weren't sure, the skeletons are on our side.
Hello, Unknown Troper. You'll need to get known to lend a hand here.
Community Feedback
Replies: 29
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I think the description is a little unfocused, but only because I'm not sure what you're trying to trope here. Is it the act of raising armies of the dead for combat, the fact it's in a graveyard, or just raising the dead to create the undead? Anyway, Film example: this trope is subverted in Army of Darkness. The titular army, of undead, is accidentally spawned when Ash screws up the pronunciation of a time travel spell that was meant to get him home.
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This trope is for a when someone casts a spell on a corpse and gets an undead minion.
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Undead Minion Maker
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Aw, what's wrong with Raise Dead? Also, we must mention the Necromancer character trope, of course.
- In Warhammer, this type of necromancy is a trademark of the Vampire Counts and Tomb Kings armies. Necromancers/Liche Priests are vital for holding the undead armies together, and can use their magic to replenish the ranks of their forces with freshly raised dead. They can even conjure skeletal or zombie units out of nowhere to surprise their foes. Sieges get tricky when skeletons are sprouting in your courtyard like daisies...
- Plenty of Necromancy spells from Dungeons And Dragons, of course. With all the various Undead monsters, you never know exactly what the Big Bad is going to turn your fallen henchman into next.
- The Dresden Files uses this trope in a really awesome way.
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Examples added, thank you Unknown Troper and Tacitus. Not sure how to improve the description, any suggestions?
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The Diablo 3 site gives an interesting explanation for skeletal warriors: Instead of animating individual skeletons (which might be damaged, too small, etc.), skeletons are actually amalgamated bone dust and dirt, held together by the magician. I don't know about the description, seems clear enough to me.
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That fits just fine, really. Example added.
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Death Knights in World Of Warcraft have several spells that allow them to raise undead Ghouls from corpses. The basic raise dead spell creates an npc Ghoul that will follow the player around and attack his target (there's a talent that will turn it into a permanent pet under the player's controll), raise ally raises a dead group/raid member as a Ghoul they have controll over. And the army of the dead summons about 20 Ghouls at once (altho they're individually weaker than the ones summoned through raise dead).
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Examples added, description expanded. Be careful, opening an edit window for this seems to cut off the end of the text. Is there a character limit on YKTTW?
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I suggest either Undead Minion Maker or Raise Undead (as "Raise Dead" makes me think of resurrection spells).
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I like Raise Undead, anyone else for that as eventual launch title?
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The PSP game Undead Knights revolves around this.
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"Raise dead" is a resurrection spell in D&D. "Animate dead" will produce zombies and skeletons.
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Yeah, it shouldn't be called Raise Dead, since that's the name of a resurrection spell in many games. Perhaps Animate Dead would be a better choice.
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Animate Dead is even better (do I go with the flow or what). Any takers?
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This is how traditional ("Type V") zombies are made - a voodoo bokor revives a dead person, who is then under their control.
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I'll add that as a note on launch, if we get that far. As it is, the edit window refuses to auto-include all the markup.
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This is how the undead other than the deathnights and possibly the ghouls are created in Battle For Wesnoth. In A Softer World, two characters use magic to raise their dead mother as some sort of vampire.
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"two characters use magic to raise their dead mother", you say... Now where have I head that before...
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Those examples are more Back From The Dead. This trope is for using any corpse available to make undead mooks.
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Looking For Group
- Richard: In case you weren't sure, the skeletons are on our side.
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Lets get a title pinned down! Choices include Raise Dead, Animate Dead, Raise Undead, and Undead Mook Maker. I like Animate Dead.
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bump, anyone else got naming comments?
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The Black Cauldron from the second book of the Prydain Chronicles (and the Disney movie) was an Artifact Of Doom that could do this. Dipping corpses into the Cauldron turned them into unstoppable undead soldiers.
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In terms of names, how about So You Want To Raise The Dead (taken from So You Want To Live Forever), or just How To Raise The Dead.
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I like Animate Dead, if only because it can be used as both a noun and a verb without having to Pot Hole.
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The Inferi in Harry Potter.
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Note, this is not Raise Only Mostly Dead
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Another vote for Animate Dead.