Inhuman Human: Difference between revisions

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* The SF short story ''"Heal the Sick, Raise the Dead"'' by Steve Perry also features a form of resurrection that will reliably restore consciousness to a dead body- for about five minutes. The chemicals that make the process possible jump start a dead nervous system at the cost of rapidly burning it out; almost everyone comes back blind. But hey, if all you want is one last chance to say goodbye...

* In the series [[Mortal Engines]], cyborg soldiers called "Stalkers" (no, [[Stalker with a Crush|not that kind]]) can be made. They are essentially robotic components and a robot brain in a human body, but two of them (Stalker Shrike and {{spoiler|the Anna version of Stalker Fang's second incarnation}}) are closer to Inhuman Humans. Shrike is capable of genuine emotion and love, treating Hester Shaw like a daughter and {{spoiler|deeply mourning her death, going into a coma for several thousand years}}–though he is [[Body Horror|nowhere]] [[Uncanny Valley|near]] [[Humanoid Abomination|a physical]] [[Back ~~From~~ the Dead|human being.]] {{spoiler|Stalker-Anna}} doesn't even inhabit the [[Uncanny Valley]], and even when her death-mask is wrenched off, she does not have a lot of [[Body Horror]]. Of course, she's younger than Shrike, to the tune of about a thousand years, but she actually approaches [[Cute Monster Girl]] territory once or twice, and is almost the same as the real {{spoiler|Anna Fang}}. The only difference is that she's...[[Captain Obvious|dead]].

* In the series [[Mortal Engines]], cyborg soldiers called "Stalkers" (no, [[Stalker with a Crush|not that kind]]) can be made. They are essentially robotic components and a robot brain in a human body, but two of them (Stalker Shrike and {{spoiler|the Anna version of Stalker Fang's second incarnation}}) are closer to Inhuman Humans. Shrike is capable of genuine emotion and love, treating Hester Shaw like a daughter and {{spoiler|deeply mourning her death, going into a coma for several thousand years}}–though he is [[Body Horror|nowhere]] [[Uncanny Valley|near]] [[Humanoid Abomination|a physical]] [[Back from the Dead|human being.]] {{spoiler|Stalker-Anna}} doesn't even inhabit the [[Uncanny Valley]], and even when her death-mask is wrenched off, she does not have a lot of [[Body Horror]]. Of course, she's younger than Shrike, to the tune of about a thousand years, but she actually approaches [[Cute Monster Girl]] territory once or twice, and is almost the same as the real {{spoiler|Anna Fang}}. The only difference is that she's...[[Captain Obvious|dead]].

* Frankenstein's monster may fall under this type. In the movie ''Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'' the monster kills Frankenstein's wife after he refuses to create a monster bride. Frankenstein uses his science to bring her back, but the monster decides that she is rightfully ''his'' bride now. They both try to win her over, resulting in a heart-wrenching dance that ends when she sees her reflection in a mirror and immediately kills herself in horror.

* Shadow's wife Laura from ''[[American Gods]]'' is an Inhuman Human. Her chemically preserved body slowly decomposes, but she still loves her husband and behaves like a normal human (aside from a certain flatness of affect, and her unnerving willingness to kill anyone who poses a threat to Shadow).

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** In "The Thing on the Doorstep", dead villainness Asenath Waite switches minds with her asylum-imprisoned husband and killer... who raises from the grave in the [[Body Horror|decomposing and liquefying body]] of his wife to give a last call for aid to a friend.

** Did we mention [[wikipedia:Herbert West--Reanimator|''Herbert West, the Reanimator'']]?

* The short story the "Monkey's Paw". The paw allowed someone to make three wishes, but they would all be answered in a way that brought misfortune on the wisher. So, when the Mom wants to [[The Necromantic|resurrect the son]] who died because of the [[Be Careful What You Wish For|first wish]] by being [[Death by Disfigurement|caught in an industrial machine]], she wishes the [[Back ~~From~~ the Dead|son back to life]]. A few creepy paragraphs later the disfigured abomination that is their son is [[Nightmare Fuel|pounding on the door, with the mother desperately wanting to embrace it]] emphasis on the IT. Finally, the Dad wishes his son to have peace, with the mother opening the door to a cold, empty street. Needless to say, [[Tear Jerker|it sucks for her.]]

* The short story the "Monkey's Paw". The paw allowed someone to make three wishes, but they would all be answered in a way that brought misfortune on the wisher. So, when the Mom wants to [[The Necromantic|resurrect the son]] who died because of the [[Be Careful What You Wish For|first wish]] by being [[Death by Disfigurement|caught in an industrial machine]], she wishes the [[Back from the Dead|son back to life]]. A few creepy paragraphs later the disfigured abomination that is their son is [[Nightmare Fuel|pounding on the door, with the mother desperately wanting to embrace it]] emphasis on the IT. Finally, the Dad wishes his son to have peace, with the mother opening the door to a cold, empty street. Needless to say, [[Tear Jerker|it sucks for her.]]

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': It is possible for some priests of R'hllor to bring back the dead, and usually it's a pretty smooth and painless process. At the very end of the third book, this method is used to revive {{spoiler|Catelyn Stark}} - but she'd been a corpse too long and the manner of her death left her not only with a horribly disfigured and mutilated body, but filled her with a terrible sense of [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|vengeance]] as well.

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== Tabletop Games ==

* A rather common result of the ''[[Dungeons ~~and~~ Dragons]]'' spell ''Reincarnate'', especially with [[House Rules]] or the rules from the earlier editions, although thankfully and surprisingly this doesn't involve shambling undead. The spell returns characters, with their original knowledge and abilities, into the adult body of a random species. That's often not a problem, until your Warrior comes back as a wren, or your Wizard as a badger.

* A rather common result of the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' spell ''Reincarnate'', especially with [[House Rules]] or the rules from the earlier editions, although thankfully and surprisingly this doesn't involve shambling undead. The spell returns characters, with their original knowledge and abilities, into the adult body of a random species. That's often not a problem, until your Warrior comes back as a wren, or your Wizard as a badger.

** By Third Edition, the spell's results are limited to a d100 table with only humanoid results, and weighted towards the regular PC races. Chances are you're not going to be the same species you started out as, but you probably will still be something allowed in polite company, rather than a kobold or something. Of course, there's still one entry for the most horrible result of all: ''DM's choice''.

** Fourth Edition did away with ''Reincarnate'': with ''Raise Dead'' (a type of resurrection that averts all versions of this trope) available to 8th level characters as a ''[[Hermetic Magic|ritual]]'' now, there's no reason (at least from a gameplay perspective) to bring back ''Reincarnation,'' which was always the poor man's ''Raise Dead''. However, there ''is'' the [[Revenue Enhancing Devices|subscriber-only]] ''Revenant'' race in ''[[Dragon (magazine)]]'' that often is the result of being brought back in the manner of an Inhuman Human.