Necromancy, Liches and Vampires

[Avonu]

I always thought that Zom is zombie.


I don't see his 2 long "vampire" teeth ;P

And no, no where is official info which of them is vampire, human, lich or other species.

Actually, he is a half-zombie.

Yes, I talked about his dead half but general he is half zombie, half human.

[GreatEmerald]

Zam and Zom, really? Did they put references to every single MM game that came before it?

[Avonu]

Yes, did you read town names in H1-2? Did you remember what artifact you must search in one of H1 campaign scenario (answer: Eye of Goros; hint: it's from MM1)? And so on... there are plenty of MM1-5 references in H1-2.

[XEL II]

Actually all the heroes from MM 1-5 in HoMM 1-2 that weren't confirmed to be canonical characters with same names (like Sandro, Yog, etc.) are non-canon. Same with the towns.

By the way, didn't Lord Ironfist got Eye of Goros from Archipelago of the Ancients? I wonder where this Archipelago is located.

[Avonu]

Nope, he got it from continent. Archipelago of the Ancient was before four lords landed on continent (Enroth I suppose).

EDIT:
HoMM1 campaign maps and walkthrough

[GrayFace]

Vampires are thousand years old so I suppose they are from another planet. Maybe it is evolution (different sun) or maybe they catch some virus or disease (like mix of XP and Leukemia in our world).

"Ancient legends of our people speak of a curse that was placed upon us. It is my belief that we are indeed cursed. Once you have felt remorse the only desire you have is for forgiveness. For me this is now only a dream.

Ciatlen"

Vampires use Mansion to sleep at daylight hours.
"The great Vampire, Korbu was known to use living men to guard his crypt during daylight hours."
In transformation there is some sort of grave involved, that I guess may be located anywhere, but dirt from it has a special meaning:
"Korbu scattered vials of the dirt from his original grave to safe guard himself. This way he could always gain access to the dirt and move his crypt if he needed to."
"There is a Vial of Grave Dirt kept hidden in the Vampire Crypt in the region of Shadowspire that is instrumental in bringing Korbu back to life."

So, transformation to a vampire is a sort of ritual, not just a single bite. It probably can be performed without a mansion or crypt etc.

b. The jar itself is VERY big. and it will be placed INSIDE liche's rib cage (maybe this could be a reason why a lich wears metal cuirass)

No, in MM7 and/or MM8 filled lich jars are placed in inventory, so it's up to lich to secure his jar. IMO having it in ribcage would be silly - it's rather easy to break it there.

[Corlagon]

Vampires are thousand years old so I suppose they are from another planet.

I know that that quote saying Vampires are at least a thousand years old does exist (I've seen it too), but I'm currently unable to relocate it anywhere. I believe it was in MM8, but could you please pinpoint where it is found?

[Avonu]

Flamestryke MM8 weapon section is not working from long time, so you must find English description yourself:

[Corlagon]

Many thanks!

The grip on this blade has clearly been rewrapped many times. It is said that such blades were used by the first Vampires who appeared millennia before the Silence. Could this possibly be one of those ancient weapons?

[GreatEmerald]

They could be native vampires, too. Or maybe they are descendants of vampires who lived on VARN which in turn are descendants of vampires that were native to Earth or another colony, but that doesn't mean that they needed unconventional methods of getting to Enroth - after all, it doesn't say where they appeared.

[Slayer of Cliffracers]

Be bothered.

Actually neither of us is correct. There is no quote that says that Gauldoth is a vampire, nor is there any quote that says that he is a zombie. There is no canonical statement as to what he is. He could be zombie, liche or vampire.

By the way, how exactly did you extract those text files?

Anyway to the reason why I think that Gauldoth's undead half is a vampire.

I slapped him with all the strength in the undead half of my body. The blow might have killed a living man.

As an answer, I crushed the holy man's skull against the nearest wall, and then I used my magic to open the sarcophagus silently. Korbert's dry, rotten body rested within as if he were sleeping. Clutched under his arms were his sword and shield. I didn't care for the sword.

Gauldoth's undead half is extremely strong, so much that without using a weapon he can basically crush bone. Zombies cannot be that strong, else they would be a far higher level creature than they actually are, hence I feel that only a vampire is sufficiently powerful to do justice to that kind of power.

We know that temporarily we can create vampires using spells and also through necromancy in Heroes IV.

For another reason I think he is half-vampire, look at the portrait.



Compare it with the Vampire.



Or the zombie.



The vampire has red eyes, the zombie doesn't. Gauldoth Half-Dead is a vampire because he has the cleaner smoother look of the vampire with the red eyes, rather than the mangled zombie look.

Although he doesn't have gray skin.

[ThunderTitan]

No blood drinking, no vampire...

[GreatEmerald]

I'd vote for a lich, since that's his in-battle sprite, liches also have red eyes and the undead part does look like a skull. Plus liches are always powerful. Although I would wonder where he lost half of his soul, then...

[Slayer of Cliffracers]

No blood drinking, no vampire...

He's part vampire, not fully vampire. Thus he has all the blood of living half to sustain him. He's always pretty scared of the prospect of his living half dying, perhaps that's the reason.

I'd vote for a lich, since that's his in-battle sprite, liches also have red eyes and the undead part does look like a skull. Plus liches are always powerful. Although I would wonder where he lost half of his soul, then...

A Liche? That was my least likely option. And who said anything about his in-battle sprite? All the sprites for heroes are the same.

Naked and with burns that would soon claim my life, I opened a scroll that was far beyond my power. I was dying. I could feel my scorched lungs slowing, unable to take another breath. So, I read the words on the ancient parchment. It was my last chance.

I was under the understanding that becoming a Liche required funny rituals with funny jars.......

You can't just cast a spell you don't understand and become a half-Liche.

[Corlagon]

He's half-human, half-undead. H4 doesn't specify what kind of undead. Probably a totally unique "species" altogether. It isn't possible from the campaign to conclude that he's specifically half-Zombie or half-Vampire or half-Lich.

[Slayer of Cliffracers]

He's half-human, half-undead. H4 doesn't specify what kind of undead. Probably a totally unique "species" altogether. It isn't possible from the campaign to conclude that he's specifically half-Zombie or half-Vampire or half-Lich.

I said that first.

[ThunderTitan]

Actually when you think about it the there is little physical difference between a zombie and a lich... or a skeleton (less flesh on and that's about it). And if we take into account that there where Zombie heroes that could cast spells magic power doesn't seem like a difference either.

The difference seems to be more spiritual then anything (and for vampires dietary). Otherwise they're all simply corpses (with vampires being the odd ones out, feeding on something physical).

So being only half dead might simply make him a new type of undead based simply on the fact that he doesn't fit well in any of the existing definitions...

No blood drinking, no vampire...

He's part vampire, not fully vampire. Thus he has all the blood of living half to sustain him.

If i feed through an IV my stomach will still grumble... G. shows no tendency towards blood... it might not be the best evidence against it, but it is evidence against it.

[Croix]

I said that first.

That's taunting, and you should know better. He wouldn't have been compelled to repeat it (and more clearly I add) if you didn't forget it so obviously.

_On the argument itself, regardless of any portraits or pictures, consider the conditions under which he cast the spell; pumped full of adrenaline and on an emotional high, lacking the time to pay any conscious thought or attention, choosing the most powerful and complicated thing he could lay his hands on, and giving it everything he had. He was choosing to try his luck against an ocean of chances, over choosing death.
_You better bet he made something unique!


(This forum lacks a decent darkling theme.)

[GrayFace]

Gauldoth's undead half is extremely strong, so much that without using a weapon he can basically crush bone. Zombies cannot be that strong, else they would be a far higher level creature than they actually are, hence I feel that only a vampire is sufficiently powerful to do justice to that kind of power.

Zombies do more damage than peasants, despite not having a pitchfork weapon. So, yes, they can be that strong and his body didn't rot in grave, which may also increase his strength.
The text Carlagon gave states that the undead part didn't want to eat, it was empty, that's certainly uncommon for vampires.

By the time the first waft of smoke hit my nostrils, I felt the skin of my dead right hand come loose just enough for me to slip free of my bonds.

And that's very common for zombies.

[Avonu]

I don't have much time now, so only a small note: game texts are not only source of official information. You have: manuals, game boxes, interviews and of course (official) forums... and many more...

BTW - Gauldoth (his half-dead part) reminds me more Straker or Winsela then any Vampire hero. He's not pale but more like (rotten) green.