Death knight
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In fantasy literature and role-playing games, a death knight (sometimes referred to as a shadow knight or dread knight) is an undead corruption of a righteous warrior who broke his or her code of honor and embraced evil.
Dungeons & Dragons
In Dungeons and Dragons a death knight is a mighty warrior resurrected as an undead creature by the gods of death in order for it to lead as a general of undead armies. A paladin or lawful good warrior can also become a Death Knight after being cursed by the gods for committing a particularly evil act or betraying the code of honor they held in life.
Death Knights often have a variety of undead servants such as Skeleton Warriors, Liches and Banshees.
A Death Knight retains its personality from its former life. It is condemned to remember its downfall through song on any night when the moon is full. Sometimes the chilling melody is sung by musically-inclined servants instead of the Death Knight itself. Whilst the song is being sung, the death knight will ignore the outside world, unless the song is disturbed, causing the knight to attack with utter ferocity. Death Knights still use the code of honor they held in life (never attacking from behind for example) and retains all of its fighting skills. They will never surrender and will only parley if their opponent possesses something they want (such as knowledge of the fate of a former family member).
In Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition, a death knight has a number of powerful spell-like abilities that allow it to kill, paralyze, blind, burn, or cause fear or pain in its foes. Death knights usually wield powerful magic swords.
The most famous of all death knights is Lord Soth, from the Dragonlance and Ravenloft campaign settings, who was cursed after he murdered his wife to continue an affair with an elfmaid.
Warcraft
In the Warcraft Universe, the original Death Knights were knights raised from the dead by the Orcish Warlock Gul'dan and possessed by the spirits of the slain Shadow Council warlocks.
In Warcraft games they were portrayed as:
- The primary spellcasting unit of the orcish Horde in Warcraft II. Their leader was Teron Gorefiend
- A warrior hero of the undead race in Warcraft III. They are corrupted Paladins serving the Lich King and share both namesake and powers with the original Death Knights. Also, they are one of the few units of the undead that are still (technically) alive, although their souls are so tainted that they appear dead.