Warhammer’s Origins of Nagash: Tabletop Legendary Heroes – PRIME
Let’s look at the inspiration for one of the biggest bads of the Old World and the New – The Great Necromancer, Nagash.
When you think of bad guys for the Warhammer Fantasy universe, your mind is probably drawn to either Archaon or Nagash. While he didn’t have as much of a physical presence as his Chaos colleague, Nagash was nonetheless influential in all the major events of the Old World and has been at least the partial cause of most of the world events of the Realms. He’s been around to see several major shifts of power and has used his superior intellect and extraordinary magical power to maneuver himself into positions of power over and over. Also, he invented necromancy, so that’s a thing. Here’s a quick overview of his lore history and where Games Workshop may have drawn their inspiration for the Great Necromancer.
One day Teclis will kick my ass.
Nagash’s Tale
Nagash began his life as the second son of a powerful Nehekharan king in the ancient city-state of Khemri, land of Settra the Great. As a second-born, he was destined never to see the throne, rather serving his elder brother as a Mortuary Priest, seeing to the rites of the ancient gods and overseeing the burial of the nobility of his land. This didn’t sit right with Nagash, who craved power and despised his idiotic brother. He would often visit the great tomb cities and maze-like mausoleums, trying to find a loophole or answer to his prayers. Fate, it seemed, was on his side, as one day he stumbled on a trio of Druchi that had been stranded and were taking refuge in the undercity.
Nagash promised to make sure the Druchi would be kept safe and secret, and in return, the Druchi would teach him Dark Magic. Their plan had always been to kill this upstart human once their strength had returned, but they did not count on Nagash’s tenacity nor his quick understanding of their lessons. He was able to grasp what they left out in their lessons and, combined with the limited magic his people already practiced, he became a powerful sorcerer. He found that by infusing his body with dark magic, he could extend his life indefinitely, and he poured all his power into a set of magical tomes.
He usurped his brother, conquered the other Nehekharan city-states, and ruled a deathless empire that fueled his own dark magic. When a magical warpstone blade finally slew him, his tomes were claimed by both his followers and his enemies and scattered to the winds, preserving his dark power even past the destruction of his corporeal form. He would be raised again several times, and when the Realms shattered apart, he was reborn as the God of Death, claiming dominion over the Realm of Shyish.
Origins & Inspirations
Vecna – One of the first inspirations we can see for Nagash is the dark god of the Forgotten Realms, Vecna, the god of Death. Like Nagash, he was a mortal man who gained extraordinary magical powers to extend his life, and like Nagash, he was eventually “slain” by a magical blade. They both transcended their deaths, of course, and became god-like beings in their own right, and the theme of their hand surviving and giving magical power to the wielder is present in both as well. Vecna premiered in the Eldritch Wizardry supplement for the original Dungeons and Dragons game back in 1976, but he was only mentioned as a powerful lich that died many years ago, and his Hand and Eye were presented as artifacts. Vecna himself wouldn’t show up until 1990 when his history was expanded, so it’s possible that Vecna and Nagash both owe each other their origins and that the two grew alongside each other as similar entities.
Sauron – Of course, the obvious correlation with the Great Necromancer is Sauron, referred to in The Hobbit as “The Necromancer”. While Sauron seems to have inspired several Warhammer antagonists, specifically Archaon and Malekith, his aspect as the Necromance seems to correlate to Nagash directly. Both were powerful, god-like entities with mastery over the power of death, and both were bound to magical items. Nagash even has his own version of the One Ring, known as the Crown of Sorcery, which would imbue the wearer with extraordinary magical power but would also slowly corrupt them, leading them to resurrect its original owner.
The One Ring functioned the same, bearing an almost sentience that drew the bearer closer and closer to its true master. Nagash and Sauron also share a fear of a specific sword, but while Nagash fears the Fellblade because it is the only weapon that could truly kill him, Sauron only fears Anduril (or Narsil in its shattered form) because of WHO it represents, not what. Still, the parallels are pretty clear, and Nagash is most likely a direct rip-off of Sauron in his wraith form.
For more information about Nagash, be sure to check out Time of Legends Trilogy written by Mike Lee, available from the Black Library.
