The Undead: Difference between revisions

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* [[Dem Bones|Skeletons]]: Zombies without meat, so to speak. Tend to be difficult to hurt because they are all bone, so blunt weapons (or magic, if available) are required or at least useful. Other versions are simply cannon fodder undead. Most of them aren't particularly smart (not having a brain and all). Only really common in out-and-out fantasy as they're a little too fantastic for sci-fi or horror; expect them to be magically reanimated soldiers for the [[Evil Sorcerer]] or [[Vain Sorceress]] that [[Perpetual Motion Monster|don't need to eat or sleep]], and stand guard over tombs for centuries if need be. Despite being fleshless, [[The Dead Have Eyes]].

* [[Undead Child|Undead Children]]: Take one of the above kinds of undead, but make it a [[Fetus Terrible|Fetus]] or [[Enfant Terrible]]. Now they're twice as creepy and hard to shoot at.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampires]]: Like zombies, only faster, stronger, and smarter. They suck blood, and may spend a lot of time angsting about it. Usually highly attractive, and both genders tend to be somewhat... [[Ho Yay|festive]]. Dislike [[Turn Undead|holy stuff]], [[Weakened by the Light|bright light]], and pointy sticks. [[Lost in Imitation|Originally]] they were not attractive, at all (even the original Dracula, well, [[Looks Like Orlok]], except when he was well fed, then he looked very good. Most of the novel he is quite handsome. After all Bram Stoker modeled him after a man he had a boycrush on. Sir Henry Irving. A handsome actor. Stoker wanted Irving to portray the count in his theater. Besides that look at Varney the Vampire, who looked like Lord Byron. ), and they also tended to have ruddy complexions (from all the blood) rather than [[Undeathly Pallor|pale ones]].

* [[Our Werewolves Are Different|Werewolves]]: They are ''occasionally'' considered undead in older myths, but generally modern werewolves are not undead, being people who ''survive'' a werewolf attack, as those who die usually do not return as werewolves.

** Sometimes they're just [[Discworld|lumped in the same category]] of 'creepy things', regardless of the level of truth to it. To quote one Ankh-Morporkian: "They're big and scary, come from [[Uberwald]], and don't die when you stick a sword in them. What more do you want?"

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One way undead vary is the nature of their mind and soul. In some cases, including liches, most ghosts, and some vampires, they keep their original soul. They can still remember the simple pleasures of life, but they can no longer experience them, a frustration which may fill them with hatred of the living, or simply make their existence an unliving hell. Sympathetic undead are most often from this category.

In other cases, including many traditional vampires and some zombies, the undead are actually animated by evil spirits or demons. They may have access to the memory of the person whose corpse they are wearing, but they are not truly the deceased. These types are almost [[~~Always Chaotic~~ Evil|invariably evil]], and are much more likely to be vulnerable to religious symbols and rituals.

In other cases, including many traditional vampires and some zombies, the undead are actually animated by evil spirits or demons. They may have access to the memory of the person whose corpse they are wearing, but they are not truly the deceased. These types are almost [[Exclusively Evil|invariably evil]], and are much more likely to be vulnerable to religious symbols and rituals.

The remaining undead may be little more than puppets of a necromancer, or they may be powered by magic alone, but they have no animating spirit.