Necromancy and those that practice it

[Apocrypha]

With all the stories I've ever come across, whenever they mention Necromancers, they're usually the evil creepy guy raising the army of zombies and skeletons to conquer the world.

My question is, has there ever been a story (or what not) where necromancers were good?  Or at least not seen as evil?

[matorade]

With all the stories I've ever come across, whenever they mention Necromancers, they're usually the evil creepy guy raising the army of zombies and skeletons to conquer the world.

My question is, has there ever been a story (or what not) where necromancers were good?  Or at least not seen as evil?

Anita Blake's def one but I only read the first nine books and am not sure if her "good guy" stance changed afterward.

[Starbeam]

Ditto for Anita Blake, though the later books tend to be less about her ability to raise the dead.  The other that might possibly fall under good necromancer(I don't know cause I haven't read it, and can't ask my b/f as he's in the shower) is a series by Gail Z Martin, I believe the author is, and I don't know what the titles are.  Those are on my to-read list.

[Apocrypha]

(I don't know cause I haven't read it, and can't ask my b/f as he's in the shower)

Why aren't you in the shower with him then?

[The Corvidian]

There is one in Yasmine Galenorn's Demon Mistress. He is a secondary character, and he is more of a shaman.

[DominicJ]

The First Von Carstein Vampire to rule a province of the empire did raise an army of zombies and skeletons to try and conquer the world (or empire at least) but he wasnt "evil" in any great sense.
He raised an army from his Human subjects as well as his zombie army, and didnt exterminate human populations he conquered.

There was also a short lived kingdom in which the king was in possession of the Crown of Nagash, and they just used zombies as slave labour in the fields.

[LizW65]

Terry Pratchett's Making Money plays with this; the wizards' university Department of Necromancy has re-named itself the Department of Postmortem Communications, since they're very genre-savvy and recognize that all necromancers are supposed to be evil.

[Nickeris86]

the anita blake series but after a while the story takes a sharp turn away from her powers as a necromancer and just focuses on her supernatural sex life, it gets rather boring after that.

Sabriel (i think thats how its spelled) has a good necromancer but she uses her skills to more to banish evil undead creatures and commune with the dead rather then raising them.

i don't remember the authors name but there is a series in which the main character is a necromancer of sorts, the tittles of the two that i have are the Summoner and Blood King, and their also pretty good.

i am also writing a book in which the main character is a Necromancer who uses his power to help people who are being haunted as well as other supernatural weirdness.

[Starbeam]

i don't remember the authors name but there is a series in which the main character is a necromancer of sorts, the tittles of the two that i have are the Summoner and Blood King, and their also pretty good.

This is the Gail Martin series I couldn't think of.

[Thrythlind]

most real world style occult interactions with the dead are benevolent and respectful, asking for advice and communing with ancestors mostly...in the Odyssey, it is not so much that the ghosts are dangerous in and of themselves but the fact that humans are innately fearful of mortality that makes Odysseus and his men nervous

in one of my game settings, necromancy itself is a neutral art and there are both good and evil undead (the terms would be ancestor and ghoul)....it is, however, considered rude in that setting to animate a dead body without permission...the connected spirit (if it hasn't crossed over completely) might be forgiving in extreme cases

[daranthered]

While the stereotype is there, I think there's room in necromancy for variations on the the theme.  Necromancy can ease spirits into the next world or raise hordes of raving zombies.  One of my favorite things about necromancy is its scope.  I've used a field of dead wheat, and reanimated chicken bones to get my character out of trouble.

I don't really think that the practice itself has to carry with it some negative connotation.  I would be more concerned with the underlying reason the magic is employed.  A horde of raving zombies that saves a village from evil invaders isn't just a good deed, it's also awesome.

[Apocrypha]

You guys are guys are great!

I was totally unaware of these examples but am glad that I wasn't the only one who was intending to use Necromancy as something other than evil.

Who says that army of zombies has to be bad.  Perhpas they're just misunderstood! 

[belial.1980]

I don't really think that the practice itself has to carry with it some negative connotation.  I would be more concerned with the underlying reason the magic is employed.  A horde of raving zombies that saves a village from evil invaders isn't just a good deed, it's also awesome.

Even Aragorn led an army of the dead when the need came up. 

[Nickeris86]

i think a lot of the negative comes from the fact that in a lot of settings Necromancers enslave the souls of the dead to fuel their spell craft, and that most mortals have a great deal of fear of death (something i personally have never really understood).

being a christian i don't like the idea of my necromancers meddling with someones soul, so i made my necromancers power come the darker energies of life. every action produces energy in my world, dark energy (where necromancy comes from) is created by death, sorrow, anger, pain, sickness, decay, aging, and a whole hose of other things. these things are part of life and force people to change, whether its for good or ill. a True Necromancer uses these natural energies to preserve the natural order of life and death.

[Thrythlind]

You guys are guys are great!

I was totally unaware of these examples but am glad that I wasn't the only one who was intending to use Necromancy as something other than evil.

Who says that army of zombies has to be bad.  Perhpas they're just misunderstood! 

Heck, there's a lot of what you could consider to be technically necromancy involved in the Catholic faith...and no, I'm NOT talking about Jesus Christ...but think about the Saints...know how someone gets to be a Saint?

Live an exemplary life, or have an exemplary moment of redemption or revelation
Die - usually in the pursuit of holy ideals, or as a martyr at the hands of unbelievers
Perform three miracles...yes...after death

basically, if it can be documented that people have prayed to an individual on at least three different occasions and that something miraculous has occurred afterwards, then that person can be put for to be canonized as a Saint.

We basically appeal to ancestors in the hopes that they'll be more willing to intercede on our behalf than God, who would rather guide us and let us solve our own problems.

And then, once someone is a Saint, different cultures raised in the Catholic faith have their own bizarre list of rituals appealing to said dead people in an attempt to achieve some end...such as burying the statue of a particular saint in the yard, head downward and facing the street in order to have good luck in selling a house...