Necromancy?

[Androxine Vortex]

The type of magic that my characters use in my novel revolves around harvesting the souls of the living and the dead and absorbing them to further expand their lifespans and rejuvinate them; a means of life eternal. At first I thought, "Okay so they are necromancers."

But I did lots of research into necromancy and that's not what it is at all. Necromancy was a practice of magic to communicate with the dead in order to reveal the future or hidden secrets. So i ask myself if Necromancy was an art of divination, why then has it's image changed so much? When you think about necromancy, you probably think of an evil wizard summoning skeletons and zombies right? Thats how they are in the movies and especially the video games nowadays.

I'm just a little skeptical if I should refer to the magic in my novel as necromancy since technically it's not although it is portrayed as such in today's terms and understandings.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Saying that "technically" it's not necromancy implies some sort of authoritative source for the definition of the word "necromancy." Which there isn't. These days, the word "necromancy" is used to mean the skeletons-and-zombies thing, and using it to mean "communicating with the dead for purposes of predicting the future" will confuse people if you don't explain it that way.

It shouldn't be a problem to use the word "necromancy" to mean "communicating with the dead etc." as long as you immediately explain (and reinforce with further explanations) that in this story, "necromancy" means what it originally meant. Words change their meanings in English; there's no way around that. You might be better off simply coming up with a new word.

From a strictly numerical perspective, A >> B, where

A = the number of people who will be confused if you say "necromancy" but mean "communicating with the dead"
B = the number of people who will get offended if you use "necromancy" to mean "summoning the undead"

 

[Giant]

I think as long as you explain what necromancy is in your characters society, there shouldn't be a problem. When you mentioned necromancy in the post I automatically thought of commanding a dead army. And when you mention communicating with the dead, I think of seance and maybe a witch or dark wizard.

You could always modify "necromancy" into a similar word that could be defined as you wish. That is what I am doing in my wip to make things more adaptable to my world. I think changing some small things can help give the world its own identity.

Maybe you can give the ruler of the dead a specific title, or you could need more then one necromancer? Perhaps only male necromancers can bring dead the back to life, but only female necromancers could communicate with them once they are out of the grave?

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Well in my novel they aren't going to be using necromancy for divinational purposes but more along the lines of the harvesting of souls to make the caster immortal. I wasn't saying I wanted to use necromancy for it's original "purpose" but that I wasn't sure if it would be proper to call the magic necromancy in the first place.

I was thinking of naming it something new but wasn't sure about it.

 

[Devor]

So i ask myself if Necromancy was an art of divination, why then has it's image changed so much? When you think about necromancy, you probably think of an evil wizard summoning skeletons and zombies right? Thats how they are in the movies and especially the video games nowadays.

I think it's mostly that the modern image of a necromancy is . . . well . . . modern. There isn't an old and ancient word for someone raising an army of the dead. Nobody would have had a concept for it. And the only people I'm aware of who really even believed in raising zombies from the dead (as opposed to a more natural, ghostly kind of thing) are practitioners of Voodoo and its related religions. It wouldn't be appropriate for every necromancer to look like he's doing African hoodoo or Brazilian voodoo.

Tolkein used "necromancer" on occasion to refer to Sauron. I've no idea if the usage originated with him or not. But etymologically the word fits as closely as any.

You can use whatever you want for the people in your story. Necromancer might have a few connotations to it, but once you explain what you're doing, those connotations should vanish for your readers.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

I think it's mostly that the modern image of a necromancy is . . . well . . . modern. There isn't an old and ancient word for someone raising an army of the dead. Nobody would have had a concept for it. And the only people I'm aware of who really even believed in raising zombies from the dead (as opposed to a more natural, ghostly kind of thing) are practitioners of Voodoo and its related religions. It wouldn't be appropriate for every necromancer to look like he's doing African hoodoo or Brazilian voodoo.

Tolkein used "necromancer" on occasion to refer to Sauron. I've no idea if the usage originated with him or not. But etymologically the word fits as closely as any.

You can use whatever you want for the people in your story. Necromancer might have a few connotations to it, but once you explain what you're doing, those connotations should vanish for your readers.

True, some things are not written in stone and can change. I think I am just going to use the term Necromancy for this magic, especially aftr reading this
The connection between zombies and necromancy - by John Welsh - Helium

I wouldn't even have the slightest clue what else to call it

 

[ThinkerX]

In ancient times, one of the big goals of a mage was to gain control of a 'spirit' which in addition to providing supernatural knowledge, would also increase the mages supernatural abilities. Said 'spirit' was sometimes meant to be the 'soul' or 'ghost' of a human being. (Jesus, at one point in the NT is accused of using the 'spirit' of John the Baptist to perform his miracles).

 

[Xanados]

My entire project revolves around necromancy by the original definition; that is to say the ability to commune with the dead. When I say my entire story revolves around necromancy, I do mean my entire story, so I'll be checking on this thread a lot.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

My entire project revolves around necromancy by the original definition; that is to say the ability to commune with the dead. When I say my entire story revolves around necromancy, I do mean my entire story, so I'll be checking on this thread a lot.

So does mine. I plan to use all views/aspects of necromancy. Divination, Conjuration, Immortal-sustenance, etc. Can I get a little bit of insight on your plot? I would like to see an interesting storyline involving necromancy in its original intention.

 

[Ravana]

If you want to get completely technical about it, the root "-mancy" definitely means "divination," no matter what it's combined with. In the fantasy world, it's long since become more generalized, however, so I'm not sure it's worth worrying too much about. If you really want a technically correct generalized term, you'll probably have to use an invented one: "necronomy" ("knowledge of death/dead things") is the best I can suggest off the top of my head.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

If you want to get completely technical about it, the root "-mancy" definitely means "divination," no matter what it's combined with. In the fantasy world, it's long since become more generalized, however, so I'm not sure it's worth worrying too much about. If you really want a technically correct generalized term, you'll probably have to use an invented one: "necronomy" ("knowledge of death/dead things") is the best I can suggest off the top of my head.

I'm pretty sure I am going to just use the word and invlove all general aspects of it. I did like your necronomy suggestion. I might even include that too.