Quotes / Necromancer

Fan Works

I hope you don't mind. I brought some... Friends? ...Associates? ...Slaves. I brought- I brought slaves.

— Alucard, Hellsing Ultimate Abridged

Film — Animated

Now I call my army of the dead, the Cauldron Born, arise, my messengers of death, our time has arrived.

— Horned King, The Black Cauldron

Literature

But folk who have tasted of death are only partly alive. In the dark corners of their souls and minds, death still lurks unconquered. By night the people of Dagon moved and loved, hated and feasted, and remembered the fall of Dagon and their own slaughter only as a dim dream; they moved in an enchanted mist of illusion, feeling the strangeness of their existence but not inquiring the reasons therefor. With the coming of day, they sank into deep sleep, to be roused again only by the coming of night, which is akin to death.

— Conan the Barbarian, "The Devil in Iron"

Strictly, necromancy was the telling of the future by summoning up the spirits of the dead and asking them searching questions. [...] Over the years, however, it became clear that necromancy, necromancer, and necromantic were fine words wasted on useless definitions, and the lexicological group consciousness gently slid them over a few notches so that they now pertained to something more interesting — i.e., magic involving the dead. This was far more satisfying: summoning up the ghost of Aunt Matilda for an insight into next week's lottery numbers was dull; a maniac with a pointy beard unleashing an army of skeletal warriors, however, was fun.

— Johannes Cabal the Detective

That means I have the power to make the people I kill into my personal zombies.

— Usagi, Juni Taisen: Zodiac War

That's what I can do — take the life of one thing and give it to another, either clay like this or something that used to be alive but ain't anymore.

— Enoch, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

The classic Callowan blunder. Sending an army into the Wasteland that you can't handle if it comes marching back as undead.

— Dread Emperor Sorcerous, A Practical Guide to Evil

NECROMANCY is, in Fantasyland, the art of raising the dead, and you need a specialized MAGIC USER to do it. You must expect to need to consult someone who is dead about two-thirds of the way through your Tour. You must hire or call in a favour from a Necromancer, who will do things with little pots of smoke over the grave and then summon the dead person in words that vibrate the earth and the air. After this, a misty version of the corpse (or sometimes one not misty enough for comfort) will arise, bringing with it a cold blast of air and a strong graveyard SMELL. This simulacrum will be able to speak and will have all the memories of the dead person. You must ask it what you want to know. But take care to ask the right questions. Usually such a rite cannot be repeated, and the dead are often as literal-minded as computers

—The Tough Guide to Fantasyland

"Yes, I know... it's hideous. But I'd rather spend dead men twice than any more of the living."

— The Dragon, Uprooted

Glaistig Uaine: It's the approach that makes sense. The, er, parahumans... they tend towards conflict.
Dr. Yamada: There is a lot of evidence to suggest that's the case. Do you? Tend towards conflict?
Glaistig Uaine: No. Which is a good thing, I imagine. My other half was always more patient, more relaxed than most. Its duty was always at the end.

— Worm

Music

Seances and ceremonies
Behind closed doors
Abandoned words
And ancient symbols covers the floor
Singing songs
And burning candles
In the Graveyard
We must eradicate
This vicious killer at large
Its not too late to stop this
As we journey into darkness
Where Gods fear to tread
The time has come to be renewed
And now before the night is through
We'll wake the dead!

— Creature Feature, "Wake the Dead"

Brooding in the tower
Watching o'er his land
Holding ev'ry creature
Helplessly they stand
Gaze into his prisms
Knowing they are near
Lead them to the dungeons
Spectres numb with fear
They bow defeated

— Rush, "The Necromancer"

Tabletop Games

Power corrupts. Power over life and death corrupts absolutely. The power to raise an undying servant from the husk of the formerly living is darkly tempting - and certainly evil. Those who seek such unyielding obedience from the dead willingly tread the path of necromancy.

— Dungeons & Dragons: Libris Mortis

The dead make good soldiers. They can't disobey orders, never surrender, and don't stop fighting when a random body part falls off.

— Nevinyrral, "Necromancer's Handbook," Magic: The Gathering, "Drudge Skeletons"

Stop complaining. You can rest when you're dead. Oh— sorry.

— Liliana Vess, Magic: The Gathering

In that dread desert, beneath the moon's pale gaze, dead men walk. They haunt the shifting dunes of the breathless, windless night, brandish weapons of bronze in mocking challenge and bitter resentment of the life they no longer possess. And sometimes, in ghastly dry voices, like the rustling of sun-baked reeds, they whisper the one word they remember from life. The name of the one who cursed them to their existence, more than death but less than life. They whisper the name, "Nagash."

— Warhammer

Life is temporary. Death is eternal. One who comprehends death, who makes an ally of it, can comprehend eternity... or at least, get a fair leg-up on other, squeamish mortals. The Necromancer takes the Reaper's hand and joins him in the dusty graveyards, exhuming corpses, lopping off bits of gibbet-fruit and building sculptures out of bone. Sometimes she whistles up a ghost or draws the essence of death into a living body. To master such arts, she auctions her soul to Infernal masters - demons or Spectres swimming in the Underworld. Sometimes, she even lets them enter her, channeling the spirits in her own living flesh.

— Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade - Infernalism

Video Games

Mastery over life and death was chief among my early pursuits. I began in humility, but my ambition was limitless. Who could have divined the prophetic import of something as unremarkable... as a twitch in the leg of a dead rat?
I entertained a delegation of experts from overseas, eager to plumb the depths of their knowledge and share with them certain techniques and alchemical processes I had found to yield wondrous and terrifying results. Having learned all I could from my visiting guests, I murdered them as they slept.
I brought my colleagues back with much of their intellect intact - a remarkable triumph for even the most experienced necromancer. Freed from the trappings of their humanity, they plied their terrible trade anew: the dead reviving the dead, on and on, down the years. Forever.

— The Ancestor, Darkest Dungeon

Would they die for you, your men? Perhaps they would. But mine learned to cozen death for me. When your men lay down their lives, mine will raise them up against you.

— Flavour Text for Ornerin, Dawn of the Dragons

Web Original

The career of necromancer is an excellent choice for evil-doers who are not a "people person." Though some might say there is not much point to turning the earth into one gigantic graveyard, these people are fools and will never understand anyway. Good career entry points for becoming a necromancer include occultists, dabblers in voodoo, grave diggers, morticians, possessed eight-year-old girls, and inheritors of scary books wrapped in human flesh.

— Neil Zawacki, "How to be a Villain"

Steve: You know, necromancers are like the only kind of wizard that wears a uniform. Evokers? Conjurers? Those guys all look about the same, but if you're a necromancer you've always got to strap on skulls and wear black robes.
Zack: Yeah, but if you capture one you have to treat him according to the Geneva Convention. You can do anything you want to an evoker. Anything...
Steve: I think it's just stereotypes. Just once why can't the necromancer be a really nice dude who dresses nice?

— WTF, D&D!?: "The Book of Wondrous Inventions"

Western Animation

Tiny Attorney: Dr. Orpheus, could you tell the court what it is that you do? You're a type of magician?
Dr. Orpheus: Well, if you must call me that, yes. But if you are after mere parlor tricks you will be sorely disappointed, for if I reach behind your ear, it will not be a nickel I pull out, BUT YOUR VERY SOUL!

— The Venture Brothers, "The Trial of the Monarch"

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