Overlordhas no shortage of class types, races, abilities, and magic types. It’s aworld based on fantasy, so what does one expect? Still, certain forces of magic or energy or shrouded in mystery, while others are just kind of there without being thoroughly explained. Negative energy is one of those forces.
It’s introduced in the series rather early on, and it has its moments to shine, more than some of the series’ other magic forces that shall not be named. Let’s take a look at negative energy inOverlordand see if there’s something more to it.
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What is it?
In the world ofOverlord, negative energy is something of a phenomenon. Borne seemingly from another world, this energy naturally spawns from corpses in the new world. Thisenergy is tied to deathand the undead in different ways. Not only does it emit from corpses and the dead, but it can also be used to create new undead. Undead creatures all have some negative energy within them, but only certain creatures like Elder Liches can naturally harness it to use against others. Killing a whole city’s worth of people has been known to produce large amounts of negative energy.
For the most part, negative energy is a force of energy that directly drains life force. Consequently, it’sespecially lethal to living creaturesand can even pass through armor. So all that decked-out, shiny armor won’t make much of a difference. Conversely, negative energy heals the undead, so anyone trying to use negative energy against them is likely to face a rude awakening. Negative energy can be infused into items, physical attacks, and magic attacks.
In the new world, there are pockets of negative energy that naturally exist throughout. These patches of negative energy are dense enough to spawn low-ranking undead at any given point. Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Negative vs. Positive
If there’s a negative, then there has to be a positive, right? InOverlord, the twoenergy forces work againsteach other as one would expect. They directly oppose one another. Positive energy is mostly produced through divine or holy magic, although the jury’s still out on whether that’s the only way to produce it. Positive energy is lethal to the undead, just as negative energy is fatal to the living. Healing spells and healing potions are made from positive energy.
Here’s where it starts to get a little iffy. Since the two are so diametrically opposed and essentially the yin and yang ofenergy forces, it’s difficult to really saywhich is more powerful. It’s more likely that neither is more powerful, but rather that it comes down to how it’s wielded and how powerful the user is.
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Since negative energy is more widely available and can be used effectively against a wider array of enemies, it would make more sense to say that negative energy is more dangerous. After all, just how many undead creatures is the average New World citizen really encountering?
If an instance of positive energy is powerful enough, it can be used to disperse the negative energy of a place overrun by the undead. Although, the negative energy could easily be dense enough that it wouldrequire several magic usersin order to produce enough positive energy. There are different defensive spells that can be used to protect against negative energy or positive energy. “Protection of Negative Energy” does just that against positive energy and the opposite does so for positive energy.
A Bunch of Negative Nancys
So far the anime series hasn’t shown too many negative energy users. Most of them have beenundead, like Shalltear Bloodfallenor others, but there have been some other cases where they were of the living. Of course, Ainz Ooal Gown is the most prominent negative energy user that viewers meet in the series. Since Ainz is an undead creature, he naturally embodies negative energy.Due to how powerful he is, he’s capable of using it against others. His “Negative Touch” ability drains living creatures of their vitality and causes pain while it does so. Characters who’ve experienced the sting of negative energy have described it as a cold, sharp feeling.
Khajiit Dale Badantel, a magic caster based in necromancy, used negative energy through an item called the Orb of Death. At times like this, it’s easy to wishOverlordused some more creative titles. Khajiit shoots negative energy rays with the orb and even uses it to create an undead skeletal dragon. Certain items can be used to collect and store negative energy, then use it at will.
There have certainly been other uses of negative energy throughoutOverlordand the coming seasons are sure to continue showcasing it. Still, it may not have as big of a presence as the first season, with one of the main antagonists of that season using negative energy as a big part of their overall plan.
