It's likely Gygax's coinage that influenced George R.R. Martin when he chose the word to describe his own, more zombie-like, beings. However, in his universe, it's the White Walkers that most closely resemble D&D's wights, although there are a number of clear differences, not least in terms of how they are created.
Tolkien's barrow-wight, however, was quite closely based on the undead of Norse myth - named draugr in the original language - and the original D&D version is clearly, in turn, based on that. These mythical "wights" were said to be corpses animated by the souls of their original inhabitants, pulled back from the afterlife, usually to guard their tombs, although they were capable of travelling out at night to take revenge on those who had wronged them, and they often had a range of magical abilities.
1E
The wight in the illustration has unkempt hair and long nails, but is basically just an animated corpse, albeit more intact than the typical zombie. Wights are slightly harder to hit, and can sustain more damage, than ghouls but, like them, don't appear to wear any armour or carry weapons. Much of their resistance, therefore, is, like that of ghouls, probably due to the absence of any blood or vital organs, and perhaps the stronger essence of "negative energy" flowing through them.
Unlike ghouls, wights retain their full human intelligence and their "lawful evil" descriptor implies a greater degree of cooperation. They seem to exist in small communities of up to a dozen or so individuals, haunting ancient tombs, although no details of how they organise themselves are given. They are said to hate sunlight, so even though it doesn't physically harm them, it seems unlikely that they travel between tombs, or are likely to be encountered elsewhere.
This implies that it must be possible to create them spontaneously, but whether this is by an evil spirit possessing a corpse (as in Tolkien's barrow-wights) or an evil departed soul re-animating its original body isn't stated. In fact, the only way that we are told new wights are made is by contagion, with the souls of those they slay becoming weaker wights under the control of their killer. That this generally happens through the use of energy drain, rather than the use of physical weaponry, probably explains why their bodies look so intact. Presumably, dwarven, halfling, etc., wights exist, although the reliance on tombs might rule out less architecturally inclined races such as, say, nomadic orcs.
The 2E version is very similar, but with glowing eyes, and actual claws instead of long fingernails. They - perhaps more plausibly - are solitary, aside from any servitor wights they may have created, and even these are rare.
3E
Compared with some other creatures, wights don't really change much in 3E. In terms of appearance, they are back to having nails instead of claws, and their teeth are now needle-like. The one shown is cadaverous, rather than having the muscular build of the 1E version, but presumably, there has to be variation between individuals, so that may not mean much. They are, once again, more likely to live in packs, apparently being driven by a desire to create more of their kind, although these packs are typically smaller than those in 1E.
Changes in the rule system mean that we now know that wights are slightly stronger and faster than living humans, although this is only by a narrow margin, and they are, in fact, less physically potent than the otherwise easier-to-kill ghouls. They are, however, remarkably quiet when they move (perhaps not breathing helps here, or their movements are steadier) and they also have acute senses.
The Liber Mortis indicates that, while most wights are the former victims of other wights, they do also arise spontaneously from humans, orcs, hobgoblins, and, occasionally, dwarves. The details remain unclear, although the implication is that they are animated by their original soul - unlike Tolkien's barrow-wights.
The wights of Pathfinder are, unsurprisingly, similar to the 3E version, but far more visibly decayed, and with the glowing eyes of 2E.
The wights of Pathfinder are, unsurprisingly, similar to the 3E version, but far more visibly decayed, and with the glowing eyes of 2E.
5E
The 5E version of the wight has undergone much more drastic changes, to the point that it's hard to imagine scholars within the world would consider them truly the same kind of entity. Having said which, some of the changes are relatively minor. For instance, while prior versions of the wight seem to be physically intact, albeit with an extreme bloodless pallor, the one in the illustration appears to suffer from some slight degree of bodily decay, in that's its nose has apparently rotted off... but it's hardly comparable with a zombie. Wights are also now weakened and near-blinded by sunlight, but then, they always avoided it anyway.
Wights in 5E also wear armour and carry weapons, while all previous versions were dressed in funereal clothing and attacked with fists or claws. However, since wights are of fully human intelligence, there was presumably nothing to stop them doing this before, especially if they happened to belong to a culture that buries their dead warriors alongside the tools of their trade, as many real-world peoples have. It's a difference in attitude on the part of the wight, but not a change in their essential nature.
In a more significant change from 3E, wights are now physically stronger than ghouls, as well as more intelligent and strong-willed. There's also a trade-off in terms of their physical resilience - an unarmoured wight is no longer any harder to hit than a regular human, but mundane weapons inflict less damage (in 1E, though, they had both innate armour and complete immunity to mundane weapons...) In addition, it's clear now that they can speak, in whatever language they knew in life; this wasn't explicitly stated before in the core rulebooks, although Liber Mortis mentioned it.
The most dramatic change, however, is how new wights are created. Previously, most wights were the creation of other wights, who were, in fact, psychologically compelled to make more of their own kind - now, they have lost that ability entirely. Instead, all wights are spontaneously created, differing from ghouls in that they make an active choice to enter the ranks of the undead at the point of their physical death. (We're told this doesn't always work, presumably to stop PCs trying it). This means that they are, as in 2E, more likely to be solitary, but that they explicitly serve evil deities rather than being independent operators. They have switched from lawful to neutral evil, which sort of makes sense for a being selfish enough to choose wight-hood over their deity's afterlife.
As wilful corporeal undead, wights face many of the same biological issues as ghouls. The most significant are the two related questions of how their energy drain ability works and how and why people rise again as wights, as opposed to some other kind of undead.
Energy drain is the signature attack of wights, and, in 1E, they are the weakest form of undead to possess this ability. As described in that edition, it is a terrifyingly powerful ability for something with so few hit dice - permanent loss of a level is about the worst thing one can do to a character in D&D without killing them - and it's noteworthy that the effect is progressively tuned down in later editions. It also fades more rapidly, so that, by 5E, the effect, such as it is by that edition, is entirely cured by a good night's sleep.
We're told that the energy drain works because of the strong aura of "negative energy" that animates the wight. However, its effect is so tightly bound with the rules mechanics of D&D that it's hard to explain exactly what it's doing, from the perspective of somebody living in that universe. It doesn't induce lethargy or physical weakness, or obviously cloud the mind, but it does render the victim less effective at fighting, and, in earlier editions, at spellcasting, too. Somehow, it affects skill and experience, without also causing loss of the memories that go along with them.
In 5E, however, perhaps it can be justified as weakening the bonds between the soul and the body, draining away the victim's "will to live" as the darkness rises inside them.
When this ability entirely overwhelms someone, they die (brain death, presumably, with the rest of the body following). In most editions, they then become undead themselves, and some, probably most, wights are created this way. Some versions state that they retain their original soul when this happens, although, given that they always shift alignment to lawful evil, that may not really mean very much. Perhaps it's more like an evil spirit possessing the corpse and being able to access the original's memories.
But, even so, some must arise spontaneously, and only 5E provides an explanation as to how this might happen. That version, however, doesn't seem to fit with what we know of wights from earlier editions, leaving the question open; perhaps a combination of events is required.
Because the signature power of wights is so tightly bound to the D&D mechanics, there is often no direct counterpart in other systems that use widely variant rules. The basic concept of moderately intelligent, active undead may certainly exist, but without the energy drain, they are arguably closer to D&D ghouls than to wights. With that proviso, the closest examples would be barrow-wights in directly Tolkien inspired games, or anything based on the draugr of Norse myth from which Tolkien drew his own inspiration.
For the same reason, trying to more directly simulate an original-style D&D wight in a system that doesn't use levels can be tricky. They are typically somewhat stronger and more combat capable than regular humans, and, in the earlier editions are resilient to damage, probably because they don't bleed or have vital organs. But the energy drain is problematic. Each drain reduces the victim's skills by 5% or the nearest system-equivalent, but the nature of any other penalties may be difficult to carry over meaningfully, and, will, in any case, vary a fair bit depending on how the system works. As a result, it's probably best to avoid trying to stick too closely to the original concept.
Fortunately, though, simulating the 5E version of energy drain is not as complicated as that of earlier editions. While it's not what described as happening - that is, not what an observer in the universe would see - game mechanically, a wight's energy drain attack in 5E simply gives the victim a wound that cannot be healed until the effect wears off (which takes a single night, in the standard version). That's easily enough simulated, although, in many systems, it will mean that a wight is significantly more powerful than it's intended to be in 5E, if it normally doesn't take many blows to kill someone...
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