Necromancer

The is a recurring enemy in the Castlevania series. He is an evil magic user who made a deal with the Devil, allowing him to summon monsters one after another.
==Origins==
The word "necromancer" is a portmanteau of nekrós (dead) and -mancy + -er (a practitioner of divination), giving the definition "Death Sorcerer". Early necromancy most likely evolved from shamanism, which calls upon spirits such as the ghosts of ancestors.
Necromancy was prevalent throughout Western antiquity with records of its practice in Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome. In his Geographica, Strabo refers to necyomanteis, or "diviners by the dead", as the foremost practitioners of divination among the people of Persia, and it is believed to have also been widespread among the people of Chaldea, Etruria and Babylonia.
The oldest literary account of necromancy is found in Homer's Odyssey. Under the direction of Circe, a powerful sorceress, Odysseus travels to the underworld in order to gain insight about his impending voyage home by raising the spirits of the dead through the use of spells which Circe has taught him. The Odyssey's passages contain many descriptive references to necromantic rituals: rites must be performed around a pit with fire during nocturnal hours and Odysseus has to follow a specific recipe, which includes the blood of sacrificial animals, to concoct a libation for the ghosts to drink while he recites prayers to both the ghosts and gods of the underworld.
==Description==
Necromancers are wizards with the power to raise the dead. They usually have a frail complexion and are indeed physically weak, so instead of engaging the player directly, they generally try to keep distance from them and employ magical arts to revive and summon infinite hordes of undead, which are mainly comprised by Zombies and/or Skeletons. These reanimated corpses will either rise up from the ground or be magically teleported in place, appearing in random spots across the screen, and will slowly shamble toward the player, although they can usually be put down with just a few strikes, with the main threat they pose being in potentially crowding the room if allowed to.
A trait seen on all necromancers that have appeared in the series is that they all wear hooded robes. Some of these garments feature elaborated designs, implying that the person belongs to a sect; and in some cases they do, mainly pertaining to a group of occultists known as the Followers of Darkness, which seek the resurrection of Count Dracula.
Of all the necromancers that have appeared in the series, the dark priest Shaft is without a doubt the most famous of all, who in 1792 successfully resurrected Dracula and pledged as his loyal servant in the vampire's plan to conquer the land, which also included hindering the threat that the Belmont Clan posed against them by abducting a maiden called Annette, the fiancée of Richter Belmont, the current heir to the legendary Vampire Killer whip. Other maidens were abducted as well, with one of them, called Maria Renard, having strong –although still latent– magical powers, which Shaft immediately discovered and attempted to awake in order to make them his own. However, Richter arrived just in time to save her from this fate and thus the dark priest inadvertently added another powerful enemy against his and his master's cause.
During all this struggle, Shaft was eventually defeated by Richter, although this would not be the last that would be seen of him, as, being a necromancer, he successfully managed to come back from the dead twice in the form of a ghost.
==Appearances==
===Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Castlevania: Symphony of the Night===
===Castlevania: Dracula X===
===Castlevania: Circle of the Moon===
The Necromancer appears as a boss in this game, but this time he also plays a similar role to a low-level Death and Shaft combined (even though the former does appear later in the game as a boss, although with no involvement in the storyline whatsoever). He is one of Dracula's minions, and presumably high enough in rank to have detailed knowledge on his master's revival. His primary form is that of a cloaked being similar to Shaft's ghost, although his true form is eventually revealed to be a winged skeletal demon. He taunts Nathan Graves at the beginning of the match by informing him that Morris Baldwin is now within Dracula's grasp and that they intended to drain his soul during the full moon to restore his master's power.
The first phase of the battle has the Necromancer surrounding himself with six orbs that spin around his body, while he flies all across the room in an attempt to bump into Nathan. As he flies around, he'll send out the orbs as projectiles: three first, sent forth one after another, and then the remaining three in the same manner. He'll also periodically cast a square-shaped energy shield in front of him, although Nathan's attacks –both melee and ranged– will still be able to pass through it and damage him (likely being just an aesthetic animation for when he's about to summon more orbs). Every once in a while, he'll stop in midair and start summoning Zombies to aid him in battle, moment at which he is the most vulnerable.
After his first form is defeated, the second phase begins, in which he ditches his hooded ghostly appearance and instead takes the form of a winged skeletal demon (not unlike the other elemental demons that appear in the game). He forsakes the energy orbs from the first phase and instead flies all across the room at great speed, once again in an attempt of bumping into Nathan. Every once in a while, he will encapsulate himself within a green magical barrier, which renders him completely impervious to attack, and start bouncing all across the room for a short time. He will also periodically stop and summon enemies during this phase, although they'll be Skeletons this time around; again, he is the most vulnerable during this part.
===Castlevania: Curse of Darkness===
Necromancers are first encountered at the Eneomaos Machine Tower. They wear a plague doctor mask in this incarnation. They summon Skeleton-type enemies and are capable of teleporting. They commonly drop Red Steel, and rarely, Spirit of Fuji.
===Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia===
Necromancers in this game can be encountered in Ruvas Forest. They have no attacks of their own, but are shown to cast the Fidelis Caries spell to summon Zombies to fight for them. Stealing the Fidelis Caries glyph will allow Shanoa to summon zombies of her own.
Due to the Necromancer's ability to infinitely cast this spell, Fidelis Caries is notoriously easy to level up to its maximum level. This glyph is especially useful against Brachyura, the boss of the Lighthouse, as it allows Shanoa to summon up to three Zombies at the same time which will be walking over and damaging the boss throughout the whole encounter.
===Castlevania: Lords of Shadow/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate===
==Other appearances==
===Castlevania (animated series)===
A necromancer –referred to as the "Vampire Magician"– appears in the Season 4 episode "Murder Wakes It Up". He is seen controlling a group of skeleton warriors which are fighting Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades in a dead forest at night. At one point, the continuous attacks from the skeletal enemies make Sypha lose her balance and she falls all the way to the ground, although during her trip down she catches a glimpse of a cloaked man who appears to be involved in the battle somehow. Unfortunately, she is unable to do anything about it and barely manages to break her fall using her magic; and when she finally reaches the ground, she falls unconscious. The magician sees her, stands up and starts walking menacingly toward her, when suddenly Trevor descends from the treetops swinging by his trusty Morning Star whip and slays the foe, and with him the magical link to the skeletons, making them all to crumble into a pile of bones.
It's worth mentioning that the cloak the Vampire Magician wears is very similar to those used by other necromancers from the games, being purple colored and with some decorations along it. In addition, the orbs that float around him are reminiscent of those of the Necromancer from Circle of the Moon.Adam Deats later confirmed that the Vampire Magician was in fact based on the Necromancer from Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. - @AdamDeats at X (May 23, 2021). Furthermore, necromancers (such as Shaft) are often associated with magical orbs, whether they appear around the wizard himself or are employed by them during combat.
In one of the same season's later episodes, the vampire warrior Dragan is seen in command of four other necromancers –referred under production as: Castsper, Duster Buster, Hell Doll and Stitchy Witchy–. These minions are put in charge of preparing the Rebis, an artificially made corpse that would serve as a vessel to contain both Dracula and Lisa's souls when they're brought back from Hell. They are then seen carrying the body to the castle to commence the ritual for this end.
==Named necromancers==
Cdxc-shaft.jpg|link=Shaft|Shaft
DX Ghost.JPG|link=Ghost#Dracula X|Ghost(Dracula X)
Necromancer Circle of the Moon.JPG|link=Necromancer|Necromancer(Circle of the Moon)
Death (Lords of Shadow) - 02.jpg|link=Zobek|Zobek"Lord of the Necromancers"
MoF Necromancer.jpg|link=Necromancer (Lords of Shadow)|Necromancer(Lords of Shadow)
Vampire Magician - Animated series - 01.png|link=Necromancer#Castlevania (animated series)|Vampire Magician(Castlevania animated series)
Castsper.png|Castsper(Castlevania animated series)
Duster Buster.jpg|Duster Buster(Castlevania animated series)
Hell Doll.jpg|Hell Doll(Castlevania animated series)
Stitchy Witchy.jpg|Stitchy Witchy(Castlevania animated series)
==Dialogue==
==Enemy Data==
==Item Data==
==Gallery==
===Artworks===
Necromancer Circle of the Moon.JPG|Necromancer from the Circle of the Moon instruction booklet.
E1cox1JWUAU6ghN.png|Vampire Magician model sheet from the Castlevania animated series.
Castsper (Dragan's Necromancer) Model Sheet.jpg|Castsper model sheet from the Castlevania animated series.
Duster Buster (Dragan's Necromancer) Model Sheet.jpg|Duster Buster model sheet from the Castlevania animated series.
Hell Doll (Dragan's Necromancer) Model Sheet.jpg|Hell Doll model sheet from the Castlevania animated series.
Stitchy witchy.jpg|Stitchy Witchy model sheet from the Castlevania animated series.
===Screenshots===
CotM-03 Audience Room 24b.PNG|Necromancer with orbs protecting him.
CotM-03 Audience Room 24c.PNG|Necromancer using the orbs as projectiles.
CotM-03 Audience Room 24d.PNG|Necromancer summoning Zombies.
CotM-03 Audience Room 24e.PNG|Necromancer using an energy shield.
CotM-03 Audience Room 24f.PNG|Necromancer before transformation.
CotM-03 Audience Room 24i.PNG|Necromancer [Second Form] summoning Skeletons.
CotM-03 Audience Room 24h.PNG|Necromancer [Second Form] turning into an energy sphere.
Necromancer COD Unused Portraits.PNG|Unused portraits of Necromancer from Curse of Darkness.
Necromancer - Animated series - 01.png|The Vampire Magician, a necromancer, in "Murder Wakes It Up" from the Castlevania animated series.
Dragan's necromancers creating the Rebis body.jpg|Dragan's necromancers creating the Rebis corpse in "The Great Work" from the Castlevania animated series.
Dragan and his necromancers carrying the Rebis body.jpg|Dragan and his necromancers carrying the Rebis corpse to the castle in "The Endings" from the Castlevania animated series.
==Trivia==
*thumbIn Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, it is possible to defeat the Necromancer in his first form by using the Pluto + Black Dog DSS combination if Nathan manages to use the big bone against him. To use the combination early, either the DSS glitch must be used or Nathan must be in Magician Mode.
==See also==
*Followers of Darkness
*Necromancer (Lords of Shadow)
*Wizard
==References==
Category:Flying Bosses
Category:Flying Enemies
Category:Greek Monsters
Category:Male Characters
 
Category:Skeletal Bosses
Category:Circle of the Moon Bosses
Category:Circle of the Moon Characters
Category:Curse of Darkness Enemies
Category:Order of Ecclesia Enemies