Spoiler Warning!












In the end of Arena, Jagar Tharn is killed by destroying a gem which holds his "life essence". This sounds alot like a phylactery that liches uses, so was he a lich?

I dont think he was a Lich, He was just a powerfull mage, He derived the source of his power from that gem and his life force, Hence why he was killed when it was destroyed.

Was Voldemort a lich?

The D&D is strong in this one.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-path-transcendence

Entry 2 of The Path of Transcendence actively mocks the concept of a phylactery, saying that once your a lich, you are no longer subject to such a weakness as the phylactery. (something similar is used during transformation, but is a useless trinket once transformation is complete)

So essentially, No, Jagar Tharn wasn't a lich, he was trying to keep murder off the list of ways to die.

Indeed, he is strong in the D&D. I kind of like the originality of TES on Liches. Personally, I love brilliance when it comes to lore for TES.

I don't think giving away the plot to Arena is going to surprise anyone here But in the future, if you really want to, use spoiler tags

Oh come one guys! I still haven't finished Arena! We don't all play as fast as you. but to answer your question no don't think so.

I'm just going to say he was a powerful mage. Better than some cheap lich, who is obviously not as awesome as Daggerfall Mannimarco. That lich has practically naked dancers in his crib, with other liches and ancient vampires as his servants. He is that powerful and awesome.

I thought he was just a very powerful necromancer...

Nope, he's a lich. First one too, if I remember correctly. And what better way to give Arkay the finger as a mortal than becoming a lich yourself.

I don't think that how liches currently work in the Elder Scrolls has too much bearing on the Arena plot, since we must remember that when Arena was released, much of the current lore was not established, and a lot of things had their roots in D&D, I could very easily imagine liches in the Elder Scrolls at the time using this old cliche. But I don't really believe that Jagar Tharn is a lich, after all, he doesn't look like one, and while I suppose he could have used magic to disguise his undead appearance, simply assuming he is not a lich seems to be the more obvious explanation. Most likely, he was just a very powerful sorcerer. As to the melting thing? I can only assume that it's some sort of measure to stop any assassination attempts, making it so that just attacking him won't work, and you have to destroy his gem. Now, you'd think he could have implemented some sort of failsafe in the thing, maybe make it so that even if you break it, he'll just become mortal and you still have to kill him normally, kind of like how in Morrowind once you severed Dagoth Ur's connection to the Heart of Lorkhan you still had to kill him after that, but I guess Jagar Tharn didn't count on anyone breaking his shiny thing, it's a pretty common mistake for villains to make.

Well ya never know.



That's what I was thinking, Since he was so powerful he could probably make himself look like a living human.

I highly doubt that the Imperial Battlemage, and a good friend of Uriel, would have been a lich all along. Its just requires too much weaseling.

Yeah, no way he could have hid the smell of rotting flesh for so long, and under such constant scrutiny.

It would be almost as hard as making a hundred golbins look like palace guards.

Thankfully, we're not in Overlord 2.