From TES issue 18 (November 2002)

Series 2. Level 1/2.
CAVERNWRAITHS

These were ghosts that looked like white sheets, which can be found in many children's programmes or stories. The transparent cavernwraiths used to haunt some chambers in series 2, emitting a ghostly noise. The danger they presented to dungeoneers was a threat to life force - like skull ghosts - as, because they were dead, they wanted to feed off the living for sustenance. ("Contact with this cold one will cost you dearly in life force." - Treguard.) Sometimes, the dungeoneer would merely have to complete the chamber while avoiding the ghost, as in the case of Karen on the Mills of Doom and Julian in the room usually inhabited by Cedric.

On occasion, though, escape was more complicated. When Neil met a wraith in the level one wellway room, he had to hold up a dagger from the clue room to get rid of it, as it was hovering over the well and blocking the way down to level two. ("The dagger may be used, but not against flesh." - Granitas.) In the level two clue room, Steven and friends discovered a wraith and had to get rid of it with an AVAUNT spell that Cedric had given them. On one occasion, a cavernwraith actually spoke to a dungeoneer. In the level two clue room again, Jamie was asked by a reedy female voice to turn over the talisman that held the wraith prisoner. This he did, and the wraith awarded him the spell FREE.
This does not mean that wraiths were friendly creatures, though, as the very first wraith to appear on Knightmare brought an end to the quest. When the second dungeoneer, Claire, entered - surprise, surprise - the level two clue room, a wraith was there waiting for her. She was supposed to have a spell from Cedric to use against it, but she didn't. The wraith moved ominously towards Claire and killed her off. ("Claire appears to have come to rather a ghoulish end!" - Treguard.) So, despite their somewhat stereotypical ghostly appearance, I like wraiths as Knightmare creatures and find them to be a genuine threat, fitting nicely into the dark and ominous atmosphere of the second series.

Fear Factor: 8 Always eerily peaceful.
Killer Instinct: 7 Killed one, always on the lookout for more.
Humanity: 6 I suppose they were human at one point.
Gore Factor: 1 I kinda like them, actually.

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