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[[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]]s 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."
There are human, [[Non-Human Undead|non-human]], and weirder variants, and in 99% of their appearances, they're enemy [[Mooks]]. Their prevalence in [[RPG]]s is owed to ''[[Dungeons
Often enough, Dem Bones are reused in the same game ''à la'' [[Underground Monkey]]. Expect, in the spirit of a Zombie Minotaur, to find [[Hybrid Monster|double-category monsters]], like a skeletal mammoth or dragon. Also for some odd reason, many games have even tougher skeletons that are [[Palette Swap|colored red]].
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== Comic Books ==
* In one crossover, [[Savage Dragon]] and [[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]] fought the undead skeletons of pirates while inside of a giant sea monster.
* Mr. Bones, a man whose body is invisible except for his skeleton, has been a recurring ''[[Infinity, Inc.]]'' villain, before his [[Heel Face Turn]], at which time he briefly joined Infinity Inc.
* In DC's [[Blackest Night]] event, black power rings re-animate dead characters, typically making them look like slightly-decayed versions of their former selves. The body of Boston Brand, aka ''Deadman'', however, had been dead so long that his Black Lantern version is little more than a skeleton with a black version of his costume stretched over it.
** In some stories [notably, [[Kingdom Come]]], Deadman's ghostly form also appears significantly more skeletal than usual.
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* There's a "very old zombie" in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''[[Discworld/The Last Hero|The Last Hero]]'' who is basically a skeleton. Additionally, Death uses a living horse because he hates having to keep wiring the skeletal one together.
** And now there's Charlie, the Department of Necr- Post-Mortem Communications' resident skeleton, who's been there "forever".
* The [[Andre Norton]] novel ''Quag Keep'', which was based on [[Dungeons
* The eponymous character of [[Bruce Coville]]'s "[[Young Adult]]" novel ''The Skull of Truth'' (part of the ''[[Magic Shop]]'' series) is completely immobile, but telepathic. He's also Yorick from ''[[Hamlet]]''. For real, yo.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' is borderline - there's Bob the Skull, a spirit who lives inside a skull, but it is merely a casing, and Bob leaves it when he needs mobility. When a {{spoiler|Tyrannosaurus Rex}} skeleton was reanimated in book 7 "Dead Beat"; the higher quality a reanimated being, the more life-like they appear. (broadly)
* The titular character of the ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]'' books is a centuries old living skeleton. The secondary protagonist, when being introduced to the supernatural for the first time, actually points out that he has no muscles to move with or lungs to speak with and asks how he works. He is rather disgruntled and gives the simple answer [[A Wizard Did It|"it's magic".]] Later on, she wonders if he can whistle without lungs (he can).
* There are living skeletons in ''[[Xanth]]''. Some are the spirits of people who starved to death while their minds were trapped in the Gourd Realm. Others are their descendants. All of them need to aquire a part of a soul to spend much time in Xanth proper.
* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer
* In the books of the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' series, there is an entire race called the T'lan Imass, who manage to be both skeletal and cool. Their ancestral enemy started an ice age to wipe them out, but they made themselves immortal and continued to beat their enemies for the next several millenia. Having won that war, they are now 125 millenia out of purpose, having plenty of combat experience and an inability to feel pain.
* A number of animated skeletons, including a skeletal ''dragon'', appear in ''Pillars of Pentagarn'', the first D ''[[Choose Your Own Adventure]]'' book.
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== Tabletop RPG ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** While most [[Dungeons
** Apart from the lich, D&D featured many other skeletal sentient undead, like the [http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/dreo/20071003a Death Knight] (skeletal warrior), the Huecuva (skeletal divine spellcaster), or skeletal Ancient Dead (variant of the [[Mummy]] from the [[Ravenloft]] setting).
** 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.
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* Skeletons are the basic grunt troops of the undead armies in the wargame/[[Tabletop Games|Tabletop RPG]] ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]''; serving the factions of [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampire Counts]] and [[Mummy|Tomb Kings]].
** 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.
* ''[[Warhammer
** Floating servo-skulls—although they're robotic rather than undead.
** Not to mention the Necrons. No really, don't mention them.
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* Morte, your first ally in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', is a wise-cracking, floating skull. Inexplicably, he has unrotted eyes in his sockets, no doubt preserved through his sheer will to roll them at every opportunity.
** Being based on a ''[[Dungeons
* In ''[[Chrono Cross]]'', one of the early [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] you can meet is the disembodied skull of a clown looking for the rest of his body parts. Naturally, he asks you to help him find them all. He appears to have been getting around until then by hopping with his jaw. Later, you get to meet his family, who has been wondering what happened to him.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series has both the floating skulls - Bubbles - and skeleton swordsmen - Stalfos - as common monsters. The dungeon boss Stallord from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' is a gigantic, non-human example.
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* ''[[Wario World|Wario World's]]'' [[Big Boo's Haunt|Horror Manor]] has enemies that are skeletal versions of the enemies from the first two levels.
* In ''[[Light Crusader]]'', the only way you can kill this type of enemy is the "Turn Undead" spell or kill the wizard controlling them.
* In ''[[
* One of the fighters in ''[[Killer Instinct]]'' was a skele-warrior ala Jason & The Argonauts named Spinal.
* ''[[Monster Rancher]] 2''. Dragon + Joker = Death Dragon
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[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]
[[Category:Dem Bones]]▼
[[Category:Our Monsters Are Different]]
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