Any good (opposite of evil) necromancers in fiction?

[Neverhoodian]

"HEROES NEVER DIE"​

Mercy's pretty much the embodiment of a benevolent necromancer. She travels the world giving medical assistance to those in need, up to and including literal resurrection in the game.

...Well, unless you use some of her alternate outfits.

"MY SERVANTS NEVER DIE" (Demon/Imp skin)

"HEROES NEVER DIE...FOR A PRICE" (Witch skin)

 

[Kae]

In a D&D group, I was once arrested for practising necromancy, I was told that simply practising necromancy was an extremely evil act and the local ruling priest cast had summoned in an angel to execute me. During my trial I argued that I was doing no different than the priests themselves, messing with the powers of life and death, although I was doing it through knowledge and experimentation rather than god given powers, but I didn't mention that.

The angel decreed that they couldn't rule against me without also ruling against the priests, so I was let off. The advantages of being lawful-evil in a lawful-good land.

So technically D&D clerics are all necromancers who deal with resurrection, causing and undoing wounds and talking with the dead so there we have a bunch of 'good necromancers' on a technicality.

Y?s that thing that all Magi know, clerics are naught but glorified Necromancers, alas since they are typically not very smart they often don't bother reading the school tags of their healing magics, which are almost all Necromancy and Transmutation, one a forbidden school and the other one a fairly risqu? school of magic due to its close ties to Necromancy and other illicit activities.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

How are we classing Norman Babcock from Paranorman? He can get the dead to do his bidding, but only if he asks them very nicely so I suppose he's more of a medium than a necromancer

What about Toa Matoro from Bionicle? During one year he gains a Mask of Reanimation which lets him reanimate and control corpses. Which he at one point uses to fight off an army of sharks

 

[GeneralChaos]

The Tomb Kings from warhammer fantasy. Due to the animating ritual that killed/resurrected them all going wrong, they're just normal people who happen to be skeletons/mummies. They are very benevolent and protective of the few living subjects they have left, and only really leave their lands if someone decides to steal from them. Every Tomb King army is lead by an undead wizard who strengthens and animates other undead, so I'd definitely count that as Necromancy.


There's a story in one of the warhammer books (probably tomb king army book, can't recall exactly). This guy hears about the vast wealth of Nehekara and hires a guide to help him go there and find what he needs. Once they get there, the guide starts robbing everything in sight, while the guy just pours over every scroll he can find, carefully reading through all the libraries he can. Then the Tomb Kings show up and arrest them. The guide is executed as a thief, but the undead king asks why the man was only searching their scrolls. The man explains that his wife is dying, and only the great knowledge of (what he thought to be) lost Nehekara could save her. The king nods and commands his servants to help the man search, and allows him to take any books or scrolls he needs. When the man asks why, the king replies "I too once loved"

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Aren't Necromancers in Diablo supposed to be totally neutral, but typically end up working for the good guys because evil is always at an advantage? Does that count?

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In a D&D group, I was once arrested for practising necromancy. The angel decreed that they couldn't rule against me without also ruling against the priests, so I was let off.

Beautifully done, I love it. XD

--

While I'm not 100% sure it counts as they're never referred to explicitly as a necromancer despite atually practicing necromancy, there's a character in one of the RPGs I've made.

No one here's ever gonna play it, most likely, so I'll just say it (Which is a shame, "Cursed Crown" is pretty fun. Deliberately super retro looking, can make a party of 4 from 6 different people, etc).

So, in the story roll at the start, there's a mage-ruler who uses dark magic to protect their kingdom from perpetually invading armies, and does a bang up job of it too. This includes not just your average hexes and stuff, but also making themselves immortal with lifesteal spells and raising a personal army of skeletons and Dark Knights (both undead). Eventually they get exiled when some plucky hero type people invake and kick him out...Causing the whole land to be rendered completely cursed and hostile to literally everything.

Similarly, there's our main hero (Somewhat customizable, nameable, etc) whose skills are balanced between "heroic" stuff (a cure for debuffs, a leader's charge that buffs ally attack) and "Dark Magic" (A spell that drains an enemy's life if you land a kill with it and gives you extra actions, and a spell that forces your debuffs onto an enemy) and is never really called out on his dark magic.

Spoiler: Sooo, basically...

I'm sure half of you called it, the hero is actually the old ruler of the kingdom, here to take it back from the curse. Having survived the last century of exile by using that life-steal skill on monsters to extend his lifespan.

You also find out that he was an ethical necromancer too. The skeletons in his army are legit just mindless corpses that no one really minded going missing, and the undead Dark Knights are actually given free will and only raised with their consent (until he was kicked out and their freedom was lost).

That and the curse that ravaged the land after he left was literally a protective mechanism for the kingdom. It's supposed to turn the land hostile against any enemy of whoever wears the Crown on their head. The king/queen was literally using it to make the land hostile against not only invading armies, but also roaming monsters, disease, etc. Getting booted from the kingdom basically allowed the curse to go wild and become hostile to EVERYTHING.

Sooo, technically he's a necromancer if not referred to as one explicitly, and he's very much a good guy. He was just misunderstood beause using necromancy and life-stealing spells to become effectively immortal scares people and attacts pucky hero type people to defeat you.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

The Dragonborn in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. After the corpses have done their job, you just cast the spell on them again and sometimes they'll say "Thank you ..." for being freed.

.... Seriously? That's.....That's really really neat.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I don't know if it was mentioned or not, but Gail Z. Martin's quadrilogy Chronicles of the Necromancer is ostensibly just this. The main character is the heir to his grandmothers necromantic arts which in this world is a good thing. IIRC necromancers are tasked with bringing peace to the dead, acting more like a Medium (a go between between the living and dead) and the like. I bought the books because I thought the idea sounded really good, but they're awful books and as interesting as the premise might be, I can't recommend these in good conscience. She's not a good writer, the characters are terrible, the story is awful, the villain could not be more cliche and the writing is actually amateurish. The fourth book has almost nothing to do with the first three and it's almost a terrible fanfic, except that the author wrote it.

Still, bad as they are they do have a good necromancer headlining.

 

[crypticracer]

Awa from The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington

From Publishers Weekly
A Moorish slave cast out of her Spanish home by war, Awa is captured by a necromancer who forces her to learn his skills. When she eventually flees, she discovers the necromancer placed a curse on her that will destroy her soul in 10 years' time-unless she can find his book of secrets, which could be hidden anywhere in the world. During her quest, Awa befriends Manuel, a painter-turned-mercenary; Monique, a lesbian gunsmith-turned-madam; and others both dead and undead. Bullington (The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart) bounces almost giddily between gruesome and tongue-in-cheek, from more horrific aspects of raising the dead to the odd problems faced by a necromancer with a conscience. Spiritual terror, Awa's star-crossed loves, and Manuel's guilt over becoming a mercenary to pay for art supplies are all grist for a relentless dark humor blended with occasional tragedy.


So yeah, Awa is the main character, and part of her story is learning to use her necormantic magic respectfully.

 

[RaikuFA]

Faust from Shaman King counts, right? He helps Yoh and joins his team after beating him.

 

[JCAll]

There's the Fey family from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, who regularly summon the spirits of the dead. Maya Fey is your main sidekick throughout the series, and might be the nicest person in the world.

If I remember right, Cornet, the heroine of Rhapsody a Musical Adventure (part of the Disgaea/Nippon Ichi multiverse), has the power to put souls inside dolls to fight for her. She's also adorable.

 

[mecegirl]

There's The Old Kingdom series (or if you're a dirty Yank, The Abhorsen series) that features good necromancers. The background is essentially that the titular Abhorsen is selected from the Abhorsen family (not the actual surname but each Abhorsen is blood related) with the express purpose of using necromancy to seal the dead to death.

They are effectively the only good necromancers although not for the reason of it being just illegal for everyone else. They have a special magical resistance to the negative effects of what is termed as "free magic" (magic that hasn't been bound by the Charter) that regular people just lack. Side effects include generating an ozone smell, withering of the body, and insanity.

This was the first series to cross my mind. A really wonderful set of books. https://www.goodreads.com/series/44888-abhorsen

 

[PointlessKnowledge]

If I remember right, Cornet, the heroine of Rhapsody a Musical Adventure (part of the Disgaea/Nippon Ichi multiverse), has the power to put souls inside dolls to fight for her. She's also adorable.

Marona from Phantom Brave (also from the Disgaea/Nippon Ichi multiverse) might possibly count. She can communicate to the spirits of the dead and let them possess physical objects to let them temporarily rejoin the physical world, altering the object to look like the spirits original body.

She only wants to help the world, and yet people hate and fear her for her powers.

 

[RBarlow]

Well its really big post to read.

 

[Pseudonym]

I don't precisely know when somebody counts as a necromancer. Does Goku count? He does revive the death using dragon balls. Or would it be the dragon that is properly the necromancer?

If you define a necromancer more narrowly as somebody who uses magic to puppet corpses, well, that violates corpses, is creepy and obscene and one wonders where such corpses were found. It doesn't have to be evil, but I'm not surprised that such people are rarely portrayed as good.

 

[jim61980]

The nercomancers from Diablo are not evil they are the guardians of balance in that world