I'm going to be arrogant and decide that this doesn't really require spoiler space. :-P >The Necromancer is a demon. Apparantly that's a subset of the undead in >Steve's world. She's always been a demon, as I understand it. A "demon" in Dragaeran terms is really nothing more than an entity who has been summoned from another world and who can be controlled by those with the knowledge and power to do so. In _Issola_, Sethra has a conversation with Vlad about the Gods in which she asserts that in some ways the only difference between a demon and a God is that the former can be controlled while the latter cannot. The Necromancer is, I think, just undead due to the nature of her studies rather than due to undeath being a defining characteristic of demons. She also happens to mention to Vlad at this point that The Necromancer is a demon. When he asks a question about controlling her, she recommends that he not try as she might take it amiss. :-)