page_title: Koschei
section_title: Derivative works
hierarchical_section_title: Koschei / In popular culture / Derivative works
caption_attribution_description: English: Koshchei the Deathless. An illustration to the fairy tale Mariya Morevna. Published in Bilibin’s Skazki: Marʹya Morevna. St. Petersburg: Expeditsii Zagotovleniia Gosudarstvennykh Bumag, 1903. Русский: Кащей Бессмертный. Иллюстрация к сказке «Марья Моревна».
context_page_description: Koschei, often given the epithet "the Immortal", or "the Deathless", is an archetypal male antagonist in Russian folklore.
  The most common feature of tales involving Koschei is a spell which prevents him from being killed. He hides his soul inside nested objects to protect it. For example, the soul may be hidden in the needle that is hidden inside the egg which is carried by the duck that flies away whenever anyone tries to catch it. Usually he takes the role of a malevolent rival father figure, who competes for a male hero's love interest.
  The origin of the tales is unknown. The archetype may contain elements derived from the 12th-century pagan Cuman-Kipchak leader Khan Konchak, who is recorded in The Tale of Igor's Campaign; over time a balanced view of the non-Christian Cuman khan may have been distorted or caricatured by Christian Slavic writers.
context_section_description: Film
  The Book of Masters, Russian Книга Мастеров, 2009 fantasy
  Lilac Ball, Russian  Лиловый шар, 1987 science fiction
  After the Rain, on Thursday, Russian  После дождичка в четверг, 1985 musical children's fantasy
  Along Unknown Paths, Russian Там, на неведомых дорожках, 1982 children's fantasy
  New Year Adventures of Masha and Vitya, Russian Новогодние приключения Маши и Вити, 1975 children's film
  Television
  In Little Einsteins, Koschei is a nesting doll named Katschai tried to steal the music power from the magical Firebird. Katschai used animal nesting dolls to try and stop the Little Einsteins team from getting to the Firebird which Katschai had locked up at the top of a building in Russia.
  Novels and comics
  In James Branch Cabell's Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice, and in Robert A Heinlein's retelling of the story Job: a Comedy of Justice, Koshchei the Deathless appears as the most supreme being who made things as they are and is therefore universally unappreciated before Jurgen's kind words are spoken.
  In Alexander Veltman's Koshchei bessmertny: Bylina starogo vremeni (Koshchei the Immortal: A Bylina of Old Times, 1833), a parody of historical adventure novels, the hero, Iva Olelkovich, imagines that his bride has been captured by Koschei.
  Mercedes Lackey's novel of Stravinsky's Firebird features Katschei as the main villain, retelling the classic tale for a modern audience.
  Catherynne Valente's novel Deathless is a retelling of the Koschei story set against a backdrop of 20th-century Russian history.
  In the 1965 science-fiction Monday Begins on Saturday by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, he is one of the creatures held in the NIIChaVo institute.
  Koschei appears as a character in John C. Wright's "War of the Dreaming" novels. He offers to save the hero's wife, if the hero will agree to take the life of a stranger.
  Koschei appears as a slave to Baba Yaga in the Hellboy comic book series, first appearing in Hellboy: Darkness Calls. Koschei's origin story is later revealed in backup stories to single issues of Hellboy: The Wild Hunt. The story is also collected in Hellboy: Weird Tales and expanded upon in Koshchei the Deathless.
  Koschei also appears in DC Comics The Sandman: Fables and Reflections.
  In the Webcomic PS238 by Aaron Williams, the child hero 84 is currently trapped in Koschei's egg, trying to find the "eye", and in doing so, will become his new Champion of Earth to battle from now on.
  Koschei is the primary antagonist in Marina Frants' short fiction piece "Death Becomes Him", the sequel to "A Bone to Pick".
  Games
  In the tabletop RPG Pathfinder, he is the inspiration for the Demon Lord Kostchtchie.
  Koschei appears as a character in the MMORPG RuneScape, under the name "Koschei the Deathless".
  In the video game series The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, the Death of Koschei is a key plot item in the second game. In the third game, recurring supporting character Prisoner Seven is revealed to be Koschei the Deathless, and becomes the main antagonist.
  In the videogame Shadowrun: Hong Kong, the supporting character Racter has a drone named 'Koschei', which later in the game can gain an upgrade named "Deathless" that makes the drone unkillable.
  In the computer game Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension, Koschei appears as a hero character for Bogarus, a faction inspired by medieval Russia and Slavic mythology.
  The legend of Koschei the Deathless serves as an inspiration for the narrative of Rise of the Tomb Raider. 
  In the digital card game Mythgard, "Koschei, the Deathless" appears as a mythic minion in the Dreni faction.
  In the videogame Arknights, the duke of Ursus (a fictional country based on Russia) is named Koschei, and is hinted to posess the main antagonist after being killed by them.
caption: Koshchey the Deathless by Ivan Bilibin, 1901
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