Ligeia is a Gothic Horror Short Story written by Edgar Allan Poe, published in September 1838.
The narrator begins the story talking about his beloved wife Ligeia, an unconventionally beautiful woman who impressed him with her beauty and knowledge of sciences and "forbidden" wisdom. However, their happiness is cut short when she falls ill, composes a poem called "The Conqueror Worm" and discusses the idea of how one only truly dies due to a weak will, then dies.
Wracked by grief, he moves into an abbey in England. Later, he enters into a new marriage with Rowena Trevanion. However, she falls ills and dies days later. While keeping vigil during the night, he witnesses a shocking scene where Rowena comes back from the dead - only to have slowly transformed into the lady he loved first.
The story has been adapted by Roger Corman into the 1964 film The Tomb of Ligeia, starring Vincent Price.
"These are the full, and the black, and the wild eyes - of the tropes - of the Lady Ligeia!"
- Arranged Marriage: Possibly. Sometime after Ligeia's death and making a home in a refurbished abbey, the narrator enters into a loveless marriage with Rowena.
- Brainy Brunette: Besides her striking beauty, the narrator loved Ligeia for her intellectual personality and her knowledge of sciences, languages and metaphysical wisdom.
- Grand Theft Me: A variation of this. Not only does Ligeia take complete possession of the body of Rowena, but she also transforms the new wife's body into her own.
- The Lost Lenore: The narrator mourns the loss of Ligeia, even when he later married Rowena.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Similar to Morella, it's debated on whether the narrator witnessed the gradual transformation of Rowena into Ligeia due to Ligeia successfully returning from death, or if everything that happened was all the result of the narrator's opium-induced hallucination.
- Victorian Novel Disease: Sometime after having been married to her, Ligeia falls ill to a disease that affects her health until her death.
