Things you should never try to raise as a necromancer in Warhammer

[General Nuclear]

There have been a number of times where raising the wrong type of dead beings have back fired greatly up on necromancers in Warhammer, so i figure i would make a small list of dead beings you absolutely would not want to raise.



Number five betrayers.

You really think someone who just betrayed you in life would not also do so in death?
This is how we got the cursed company.


Number four someone of a very high authority or someone with a massive Ego.

Do i really need to explain this?
This is basically how we got settra.


Number three would be Flagellants.

Getting raised as undeads would not stray them from their mad quest of doom, not even the strongest necromancer would be able to hold them, which is why the empire uses them against necromancers.


On a split second place savage orcs and or skinwolfs.
What makes you think you can hold one of these if not even their war boss can?


And The Number one thing you would absolutely not want to try and raise would have to be a Slayer dwarf.

You have to be pretty dense if you think you can hold the will of a slayer dwarf for even a second, Because Not even nagash himself would be able to break the magical bounding the slayer oath have on them. In the matter of fact you just greatly strengthen it. And all you ended up doing is creating a super strong, Ultra pissed, almost/if not unstoppable killing machine, That's coming right at you, blow out their now undead lungs and your ear drums screaming at you, as it grounds you to a thin paste with it's axes because you just undid his/her ultimate death.


(Might extend)

[Darth Wadewilson]

I think the normal undead is just plain dead bodies. No mind of their own. So the necromancer or the vampire can raise them as zombies. With a bit more power and concentration they can raise better/bigger corpses. And a very powerful caster can even raise a dragon corpse and make it fly etc. But none of these undead creatures have their old minds and are much less powerful than they were in life. Unless the caster put more effort into actually bringing them back, the raised undead don't have much of a mind on its own. That's how i understand the raise dead concept in Warhammer.

There are ofcourse exceptions.

People of nehekara who came back remembering who they were coz of the unique circumstances under which they were raised.

Another exceptions are vampires since you can't raise them and expect to be just zombies. This was how mannfred got resurrected after Hel fenn.

[Xaphnir]

Originally posted by General Nuclear:

Number four someone of a very high authority or someone with a massive Ego.

Do i really need to explain this?
This is basically how we got settra.

Settra and other Tomb Kings retained their minds because they were entombed with special protections from the Mortuary Cult.

[General Nuclear]

Originally posted by Darth Reyns:

I think the normal undead is just plain dead bodies. No mind of their own. So the necromancer or the vampire can raise them as zombies. With a bit more power and concentration they can raise better/bigger corpses. And a very powerful caster can even raise a dragon corpse and make it fly etc. But none of these undead creatures have their old minds and are much less powerful than they were in life. Unless the caster put more effort into actually bringing them back, the raised undead don't have much of a mind on its own. That's how i understand the raise dead concept in Warhammer.

There are ofcourse exceptions.

People of nehekara who came back remembering who they were coz of the unique circumstances under which they were raised.

Another exceptions are vampires since you can't raise them and expect to be just zombies. This was how mannfred got resurrected after Hel fenn.

The cursed company was raised by a master necromancer, but they remembered everything, And There was nothing special about the mercenary company before they got killed, Other then that they decided to betray the master necromancer that hired them in the first place after they learned about how scumy he was. The necromancer did everything right when he raised them, But their willpower alone prevented him from being able to control them, and now they wanders around taking jobs from the dogs of wars after they killed him.

Not to forget that MORR the grim reaper of warhammer canonically Hates necromancers more then anything else, Because they are in the matter of fact bringing the dead back to life with their soul, and not just always filling some random corpses up with dark magic in order to do their bidding, Grave gurads being a good exsample.
It makes his job a unliving nightmare as people who should be dead are now suddenly walking again, giving him a whole bunch of extra paper work to deal with.

There is a whole faction buildt around explaining this, the cult of morr which does nothing else other then hunt undeads for the sake of bringing the dead back to rest.

But you are not wrong that about most undeads being mindless flesh bags, but for those that arn't because of The memorie loss is all due to the necromancer's willpower alone, But if someone have a stronger willpower then them, then they wont be able to control them in death.

Another good example is the vampire coast's zombies, as they may not have their memories, But are in fact fully sentient beings which don't fully rely on the will of their necromancer in order to stay alive, It's also why we pay them instead of just filling them back up with new dark energy. One of their buildings even explains that they still have to feed & entertain them to prevent them from breaking free of their will.

Also when it comes to dragons in warhammer, well they are mostly just big lazy sentient wild cats, And no this is not just a dragon trainer referance, This goes way back before the dragon trainer movie was a thing, As empire's karl franz's peronal dragon have thought us, Since it was never actually tamed at all, and it only came to stay because it figured out that it would get free food and a nice place to stay as long as it wiped out a few minor armys for them, It genuinely acts like their house cat, and could have easily left if it wanted to, It will refuse to fight in battles where they are out numbered, and would rather more then happily unhinged the saddle mid flight, then YEET the empire karl franz off it's back and into the enemies if it figures that it was part of a weaker army, And then go back to the city in order to grab some food, Maybe scratch it's claws on some buildings, knock over some monuments, Set fire to some things just for fun, And then take a long nap back at their zoo, meanwhile the empire comes back all bloodied and brushed ready to kick the so-called dragon trainer's ass for it.

In the meanwhile the High elfs and dark elfs have dragon's who's willpower have been mostly broken, And which will fight for them even if they are out numbered, proving that dragons can in the matter of fact be fully tamed and trained even thought they are highly intelligent sentient, but mostly lazy beings.

[Darth Wadewilson]

I think the difference is reanimated zombies vs bringing back their souls or a portion of it and truly raising them from death.

I don't know about the dragon trainer movie either. I was basing that on how mannfred raised a dragon's Skelton to fight for him which is described in detail in one of the endtimes books. Even though he was reanimating the skeleton it he thinks of the strength required to keep such a big thing moving.

The cursed company story seem very similar to that of nehekarans. Only difference is in nehekara is they are not reanimated zombies but their souls actually have comeback from their underworld. So may be the necromancer didn't simply reanimate their bodies like that of zombies but actually tried to raise them? Or may be morr wanted this guy to suffer to sent back their souls?

Most probably it's just inconsistencies in writing across so many books and stories

[Mr Robert House]

A steam tank.

Seriously, it still irritates me that you can heal them with life magic.

[General Nuclear]

Oh i almost forgot there actually was necromancer dence enought to try and raise a slayer dwarf, and well you can guess the rest.

https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Balkrag_Grimgorson