Dem Bones: Difference between revisions

[[File:skeletons_663.jpg|link=Jason and the Argonauts|frame|They've got a ''[[A Worldwide Punomenon|bone]]'' to pick with you.]]

[[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|Beings made entirely of ossific material]] are a very common form of [[The Undead]] in video games, but much rarer in other media. They're a cousin to the [[Zombie Apocalypse|Zombie]] in spirit, but remain explicitly separated in the public consciousness by the lack of muscles and other juicy bits. This raises a [[Fridge Logic|troubling question]]: [[A Wizard Did It|where do the motor skills come from]]? And [[The Dead Have Eyes|how are they capable of seeing and hearing?]] What makes these [[Perpetual Motion Monster|Perpetual Motion Monsters]] keep going? In some depictions, even the connective tissue physically binding bones into a coherent whole is optional, making this creature firmly an inhabitant of [[Fantasy]] works. You might know them as [[Skeletons]]. We call 'em "Dem Bones."

In [[Mexico]], [[Dem Bones]] are called ''calacas'' and are associated with the Day of the Dead holiday much the same way bunnies are associated with Easter, making them less common as stock spooky elements (they tend to be more comedic). It helps that said calacas are made of sugar and chocolate.

Not to be confused with [[Star Trek: The Original Series|Bones McCoy]], who has [[The McCoy|his own trope]] too. Also not to be confused with the [[Alice in Chains]] song "Them Bones" or the ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' Gamestop Preorder map. See also [[Bad with the Bone]] if bones are used as [[Improvised Weapon|Improvised Weapons]], and [[Ballistic Bone]] if they're used as [[Abnormal Ammo]].

* ''[[One Piece]]'': In the Thriller Bark arc, the Straw Hats meet Brook, who's eaten a Devil Fruit that lets him come back to life once. But due to the fog in the area he was in, he got lost on his way back to his mortal body. By the time he found it, it was nothing but bones. Although initially freaked out by his own appearance, he eventually adapted and grew a habit of making [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Incredibly Lame Puns]] about it. Constantly.

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' [[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]] novel ''The Killing Ground'', Togandais has an animated skull -- with glowing eyes -- bringing him books in the library.

* Inverted in the [[Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser]] stories: "Lankhmar Ghouls" are perfectly normal, living, breathing humanoids who just happen to have invisible body tissues--except for their bones.

** While most [[Dungeons and Dragons]] settings are full of undead, [[Forgotten Realms]] are especially fond of this theme and has the remarkable collection of unusual bones. For example, there lived--until she tried to raid a big temple of the god of wizardry, that is--Tashara of the Seven Skulls who seduced and tricked into becoming spellcasting flying skulls ([[More Than Mind Control|under her control]]) 7 archmages, one after another. There's even [http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Skullport one city] ''openly ruled by'' floating skulls (no, ''not'' Tashara's seven). Realms also are the origin of both baelnorn and banelich.

** Should also be noted that, in 3rd edition anyway, just about ''anything'' with bones that isn't already dead can be turned into [[Dem Bones]] through application of the Skeleton template. This includes everything from normal humanoids, to dragons, to bizarre aberrations with bone structures such have never been seen by mortal eyes.

** To specify. The Vampire Counts use [[Dem Bones]] as expendable meat(bone?)shields, and that would be about it. The Tomb Kings are a army of nothing but skeletons, with some mummies, animated statues and ancient, immortal priests to taste.

** Floating servo-skulls -- although they're robotic rather than undead.

** Being based on a ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' setting with a heavy emphasis on death and unlife, the standard [[Dem Bones]] from the source material also exist in the game. As the necromantic Dustmen repair the bodies of decaying zombie slaves, eventually they are reduced to [[Dem Bones]], held together with iron and leather.

** ''[[Monkey Island]]'' had more examples in LeChuck's demonic crew. ''[[Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge]]'' notably featured [[Dem Bones]] actually singing "[[wikipedia:Dem Bones|Dem Bones]]".

* Some of the Bonus content in ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'' talked about how they wanted to put [[Dem Bones]] in the first game, in [[Shout-Out|direct homage]] to [[Harryhausen Movie|Ray Harryhausen]]. Naturally, they appeared in the sequel, and first show up when you catch up to Jason and the Argonauts.

** [[World of Warcraft]] actually has a surprising amount and diversity of [[Dem Bones]], from typical meleeing mooks, to spellcasting mooks (often referred to as Bonecasters), to more elaborate skeleton mooks such as Bone Golems with their scythe hands, as well as many unique skeletons (including one rare mob who can return from the dead if not killed fast enough and is therefore rather hard to kill), and some Skeleton bosses, as well as Liches of course. The newly introduced Lord Marrowgar tops most of them, being a 10 to 25-man boss in the hardest raid so far (though an early one), and is basically a floating mass of bones with 4 heads armed with a massive bone axe.

** ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' also features some [[Dem Bones]] noncombat pets. To wit, the collector's edition pet Frosty, a baby Frostwyrm, and the Ghostly Skull.

* In ''[[Runescape]]'', in addition to the [[Mook|Mooks]], there is a skull postman.

* [[Dem Bones]] appear as mooks in ''[[Dungeon Siege]]''.

* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' is a lich, Xykon. At one point, decoys of him are created by making three other [[Dem Bones]] forms of undead and sticking them in his clothes. None of them are mooks though, being intelligent and quite powerful.

* Lore Sjoberg's "Talk with Monsters" comic, based on D&D, features a hero that scoffs at having to fight skeletons, maintaining that skeletons are not dangerous--they're what you get when you take a normal guy and remove things. In the dungeon, however, he sees the error of his ways: "Gaah! Super-pointy elbows!"

* ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]'': The ever-cheesy, [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/12/16/ ever-ineffectual] [[Big Bad]] Skeletor -- although he had a human body with a skull head. Wherever there's actual muscles under his suit or just a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] (a la [[Earthworm Jim (video game)|Earthworm Jim]]) is never addressed.