Guild Wars 2

So, we all know how it goes: Necromancer likes living, doesn’t want to die, and hey, there’s a way to stay alive, and get a power boost from it, to boot!

So, you do a ritual to become a Lich.

Now, we all know that Necromancers who get to a high enough level gain the ability to turn into a Lich. However, we have no idea how this works in the slightest, besides “it’s a Necromancer thing” which, quite frankly, doesn’t quite cut it for me.

How do they do it? How does the ritual go? What is needed? And the most blasphemous question…

Can a Necromancer turn someone else into a Lich?

Anyways, if anyone has any theories on this, feel free to drop them here; I’d love to hear your take on this!

This thread may actually get more constructive posts in the Lore/Story section, because this involves more about what Lore we know about Liches in terms of GW Universe.

Also spoiler warning ahead. If you haven’t played GW1 and intend to but don’t want its story ruined feel free to turn away.

That being said, we know for certain two different Liches that have existed in the GW Universe along with a smattering of other cases of ‘longer than natural life’ or ‘unlife’ as it were.

The two Liches we know of are Vizier Kilbron and Palawa Joko.

It’s heavily implied (albeit never confirmed) that Vizier Khilbron’s Lichdom was a side effect of him reading the Forbidden Scrolls beneath Orr that caused the Cataclysm. As he promptly also began using the undead of the Nation as a personal army against Kryta in his search for the Staff of Orr.

Then we have Palawa Joko. We honestly don’t know much about how he attained Unlife Immortal save that he had some kind of relationship with Khilbron. Whether they were friends at one time, co-conspirators, peers in the school of Necromancy doesn’t ever really say. However since his lichdom, he’s mostly been a scourge for all of Elona using Undead armies/ghosts to invade from the inhospitable wastes of the Desolation south of the Crystal Desert.

Other characters more pertinent to GW2 with some form of power after death you could describe probably include characters like the Mad King. As well as somebody else who is apparently still alive from GW1 but that’s a spoiler I don’t feel comfortable getting into (though apparently you should read Sea of Sorrows if you’re interested). TIP: They’re also a Necromancer.

The last clue we have towards ‘Liches’ in the Guild Wars universe is the current elite skill labeled ‘Lich Form’. This doesn’t appear to be your typical understanding of Liches as you turn into the jolly green giant. There’s no ritual involved and the effect is temporary. While you do take on a more demonic appearance (similar to Vizier Khilbron’s Lich form in some respects) you do not gain any other similarities to being undead.

Both Khilbron and Joko have shown that Liches in the Guild Wars universe though, and I mean actual Liches, are notoriously powerful and also dreadfully hard to kill. Khilbron for instance needed to be killed on a Bloodstone as a sacrifice, using it to power the Soul Barrier that locked the Foundry of Failed Creations away from Tyria.

Joko was actually buried ‘alive’ in a tomb for hundreds of years before he was released due to the magic weakening with Abbadon’s incursion. He was so powerful they literally could not kill him, merely imprison him. He survives to this day as the King of Elona after having conquered it years after the events of Guild Wars: Nightfall.

I usually just hit my keybind and it happens after a second or so.

I don’t believe we truly become a Lich. We channel the power of one for a limited time, but do not become a Lich, which to my knowledge is an irreversible thing.

To explain it in easy detail: you get one of these http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Khilbron%27s_Phylactery – but personalized, then you would select this – http://www.guildhead.com/search/Lich#traits if it were still in game, then you probably ripped your soul out in a cruel and unusual way, stuck it in there, probably hid it under zhaitans pillow, in jormags panty drawer or next to your parents grave site (if human noble ofc). Then went batkitten insane and finally transform back human till you need the powers of the stygian pits of the underworld again while fighting a Smeerp, a girl which explodes hard every few seconds, a flaming kitty cat and a kittened off two headed non-human thing (aka your typical valve fanboy).

Also you can kinda check out the original GW necro lore, youll see we have this little tendency to do more harm than most of the main/long arc villains.

+1 Andele, every post of yours makes me happy.

Screw logic and lore in favor of a ""cool""-bad developed spell.
Even if it seems to be one of the few inspired spells, it clearly testify the fail design line from ANET.