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In Slavic mythology, Koschei (Template:Lang-ru, Koshchey, also Kashchei or Kashchey or Kościej (Polish) or Template:Lang-uk, Koshchiy) is an evil person of ugly senile appearance, menacing principally young women. Koschei is also known as Koschei the Immortal or Koschei the Deathless (Template:Lang-ru, Template:Lang-uk), as well as Tzar Koschei. As is usual in Russian transliterations, there are numerous other spellings, such as Koshchei, Kashchej and Kaschei. The spelling in Russian and other Slavic languages (like Polish "Kościej") suggests that his name may be derived from the word kost' (rus. кость, pol. kość) meaning 'bone', implying a skeletal appearance. Alternate etimology of the name is from turquian (not to be confused with turkish) word koshchi, meaning slave (in slavic vocabulary, word slave sometimes means archenemy).

Koschei cannot be killed by conventional means targeting his body. His soul is hidden separate from his body inside a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest (sometimes the chest is crystal and/or gold), which is buried under a green oak tree, which is on the island of Buyan, in the ocean. As long as his soul is safe, he cannot die. If the chest is dug up and opened, the hare will bolt away. If it is killed, the duck will emerge and try to fly off. Anyone possessing the egg has Koschei in their power. He begins to weaken, becomes sick and immediately loses the use of his magic. If the egg is tossed about, he likewise is flung around against his will. If the egg or needle is broken (in some tales this must be done by specifically breaking it against Koschei's forehead), Koschei will die.

All this is strongly related to German myths of liches, dead sorcerors' ghosts which need to keep their phylacteries safe, due to these items hold their souls bound to real world, and cannot be destroyed other then through shattering the specified item. Due to this, some translators use koshchey as noun to translate word lich.

Appearances

• In Vasilisa Prekrasnaya (Vasilisa the Beautiful), a Russian cartoon based on the Russian fairy tale.
• A villain in Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird.
• In the Soviet animated film Beloved Beauty (1958).
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote an opera involving Koschei, titled Кащей бессмертный —Kashchey the Immortal.
• Mercedes Lackey's novel "The Firebird" features Katschei as the main villain, retelling the classic tale for a modern audience. Also, in her 500 Kingdoms series, the Katschei is reference in the novels The Fairy Godmother and "Fortune's Fool."
• Koschei appears as an antagonist to the hero in the 2007 comic book Hellboy: Darkness Calls. The Baba Yaga will grant him death only through Hellboy's destruction. Vasilisa Prekrasnaya also appears and helps Hellboy. Koschei's origin story is later revealed in Hellboy: The Wild Hunt.
• In The Sandman: Fables and Reflections, Koschei's emerald heart (or, more likely a piece of green glass being passed off as such) passes into the possession of a Gypsy trader, then a werewolf, and finally Baba Yaga.
• In the comic Atomika, he appears as one of the old gods of Rus who fight Atomika, the new god of the Soviets. In the comic's mythology, he murdered Lada, causing Rus to be covered in ice and snow.
• In Monday Begins on Saturday by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky as one of the creatures held in the NIIChaVo institute.

Other uses of the name

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• James Branch Cabell used the spelling Koshchei in several of his books. His character, however, was a sort of over-deity who presides over all the "first-level" human gods (such as Jehovah and Loki). Robert A. Heinlein used Cabell's version in his book Job: A Comedy of Justice.
• In John C. Wright's War of the Dreaming Koschei is the bringer of death, the taker of souls when someone has to die.
• In Keith Taylor's novel Bard II, Koschei appears to menace Felimid mac Fal, a roving Irish bard who is the novel's lead character, and his lover Gudrun Blackhair, a female pirate chieftain.
• In Charles Stross's novelette A Colder War, Koschei is the American code name for sleeping Cthulhu, captured along with shoggot'im (shoggoths) from Nazi Germany by the Soviet Red Army.
• In David A. McIntee's Doctor Who novels The Dark Path and Face Of The Enemy, Koschei is a name used by a Time Lord who will later call himself the Master. Iris Wildthyme briefly wonders whether a character she hunts in rural Russia is the same Koschei, in Stewart Sheargold's short story 'The Scarlet Shadow' from the collection Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus.
• In Andrei Belyanin's Tsar Gorokh's Detective Agency series of novels, Koschei is the main villain of most of the stories. He is described as a criminal mastermind a hundred times worse than Osama bin Laden.
• In Rifts, a roleplaying game, a type of demon in Russia is the Koschei (Rifts typically turns individual demons in mythology into species).
• In the MMORPG RuneScape, one of the quests (the Fremennik Trials) features Koschei the Deathless as a mysterious warrior whom the player must best thrice in combat to prove their worth as a warrior.
• The Werewolf RPG sourcebook Rage Across Russia mentions Koschei as one of the five Talons of the Wyrm. It is summoned from the Umbra by Baba Yaga during her battle with Nosferatu.
• In The Deathless by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the modern day resurrection of Koschei is thwarted by Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer.
• In The Witcher (both video game and the story "The Road with No Return"), Koschei is a species of huge, magically-created spider-like creature. In the video game, Koschei serves as one of the "boss" creatures.
• Russian punk group Sektor Gaza produced one of its albums in a form of rock-opera named "Koschei" in 1994.
• On the MMORPG Tibia, Koshei The Deathless' Phylactery is a broken amulet, separated on 4 pieces hidden on the world. To kill Koshei, you have to reforge the amulet, bring Koshei down, and Use the amulet on his dead body.

See also

• The Death of Koschei the Deathless
• Lich
• Phylactery
• Baš Čelik, arguably the same figure in Serbian folklore.

External links

• Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). The Golden Bough.
• The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer (Project Gutenberg)
• The Death of Koshchei the Deathless from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book
• Old Russia Entry on "Koshchey" also contains a link to a folk story proper.

• Characters of Russian folklore
• Fairy tale stock characters
• Fictional immortals