Wights
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Wights was a name used for undead beings, especially as a short form for the Barrow-wights.[1]
Etymology
wight is an Old English word for "human being" or "person".
Due to its obscurity, there is a popular misunderstanding that "wight" means "spirit" or "ghost"; however it is cognate to modern German "Wicht", meaning "unpleasant person".
Due to the misunderstanding, many works of fantasy fiction, role-playing games and computer and video games use the term as the name of spectral creatures very similar to Tolkien's Barrow-wights; DnD has created a monster called "Wight", a kind of undead; the new terminology is also exemplified in A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin, book IV A Feast for Crows (2005). ("Who has been beyond the wall of death to see? Only the wights, and we know what they are like. We know.")
See also
External links
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, passim