Meet the mythology of the Undead. Characters that live forever in our legends and attack eternal primitive fears.
What are the Undead?
The undead are mythological creatures, usually monstrous, that exhibit characteristics of living beings after their death. Their level of sophistication varies from creature to creature and from story to story.
For example, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a classic undead character, is well-dressed, soft-spoken, and sometimes indistinguishable from a living person. On the other hand, the undead zombies that tear apart today’s horror and science fiction novels are grotesque, unintelligent, and uncoordinated.
These mythological beings are certainly a varied and diverse crew, but some of their characteristics are universal. The undead are capable, at the very least, of moving about and manipulating their environments. They are typically interested in the living and try to communicate with or take advantage of them, and they are not vulnerable to death by natural causes.
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Undead, History and Evolution
Legends about the afterlife are as old as human culture itself, and for almost as long as the afterlife has gripped our imagination, undead creatures have been emerging from it.
“Vampire tombs” discovered in the ruins of ancient Greco-Bulgarian cities show that people were taking precautions against the rise of the undead as early as 800 years ago. Corpses suspected of having itchy feet were buried face down or with stakes driven through the heart.
During China’s Qing dynasty, which reached its golden peak more than 400 years ago, scholars spoke of an undead folk creature belonging to Chinese folklore. This creature was said to sleep during the day, hunt at night and suck the life force from living victims. At the same time, in the epic poems of Norse mythology appeared undead creatures, ready and able to kill if their graves were disturbed.
Over the past 200 years, the undead have undergone considerable changes. Although they are still the stuff of horror movies, they are certainly more glamorous, even more human, than they used to be. Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula were instrumental in the revival of the Undead. These novels, published during the heyday of Gothic romance, were the first steps toward an undead monster that readers could relate to.
Timeless fashion
Years later, they would be followed by the Twilight series and its endless twists, which brought undead creatures into the spotlight as beautiful, romantic, misunderstood heroes. Finally, as dystopian and apocalyptic literature gained popularity, television shows like The Walking Dead and movies like Night of the Living Dead and World War Z have brought the undead back to mindless, blood-hungry monsters.
Tellingly, however, the ferocious appetite and violent strength of the undead is not the true horror of these films. The real horror is psychological; it is the knowledge that the living are just one bite away from joining the ranks of the undead. Over time, the undead have evolved from terrifying monsters, which inspired ordinary people to hang garlic in their windows and keep jars of holy water in their pockets, to symbols of caution, which we can identify with and learn from.
Types of Undead
Vampires
Of all the undead creatures, vampires bear the closest resemblance to the living. They are usually physically attractive, but if you look closely, you might be disturbed by their pale skin, sharp teeth, and dark eyes that change color. Vampires can keep up with the pace of a conversation. In fact, they often have an air of wisdom and sophistication; they can be hundreds of years old and have accumulated great wealth and knowledge over the years. They have complex emotions and plans, and can often blend in with a population of living people undetected.
A living person becomes undead when bitten by a vampire. Once bitten, you could immediately transform into a vampire, or you could transform only when you die. Often, a vampire bite leads to a quick death, as the vampire continues to drain blood from its victim’s body. Like most other undead creatures, vampires are immortal beings. They cannot die of natural causes. However, they can be destroyed if exposed to sunlight, if their heads are cut off or if a wooden stake is driven through their hearts. In Chinese folklore, the jiangshi is similar to a vampire. These are night hunters who rise from the dead, but instead of sucking blood, they suck qi (or life force) from their victims.
Liques
Although liches could never stand up to vampires in a beauty contest, they are among the most advanced creatures of the Undead. They have all the cunning and complex desires of a living creature, and many of them are even in possession of their souls.
Powerful mages who desire immortality can enter an undead state by transforming into lichens. The transformation is complicated and usually involves transferring their soul to a phylactery, a magical object that traps and protects the soul.
The new lich’s body will gradually wither to a skeletal condition, but will remain flexible and soul-driven. Lichens are dangerous enemies, but their undead state can only last as long as the phylactery is intact. If the phylactery is destroyed, the soul of the lich will lose its hold on the earth, and the body will collapse into an inanimate form.
Zombies
Zombies are perhaps the crudest form of the undead. Although they are animate, their bodies are not well preserved. They are actively decaying and, as expected, their movement and thought processes are clumsy. These retained only the most primitive survival instincts from the days when they were alive. They eat, and defend themselves if attacked.
There are many ways to turn a living person into one of the undead zombies. Their corpse can be magically or scientifically reanimated, they can be exposed to a zombie pathogen while alive, or they can be bitten by a zombie. Zombies do not die of natural causes, and destroying them is no easy task.
They are unaffected by most injuries, rip off a zombie’s arm or punch a hole in its stomach, and it will keep coming at you. The only sure way to stop a zombie is to destroy his brain or break his body into pieces so small that none of them pose a threat.
Mummies
Mummies rival zombies for the position of the most primitive undead creature. Petrified and bound in cloth, mummies are poorly coordinated and lack social skills, like zombies. Perhaps the biggest difference between mummies and zombies is the drives that propel them.
While zombies are driven solely by survival instincts, mummies are a bit more complex. They usually exist to guard the body of a deceased ruler or treasure, and hunt anyone who disturbs the tombs they guard.
The mummy’s path to the realm of the undead is by far the most complicated. After a person has passed away, their corpse must be prepared through an elaborate ritual, involving both embalming techniques, to preserve the body, and magical incantations, to instruct the spirit on its responsibilities as the undead.
Once a mummy has awakened and become an active undead creature, it is difficult to dispose of it. Like zombies, mummies are not slowed by physical injury.
Fire or a magical enchantment are the most common weapons used against mummies. In Norse mythology, draugrs are very similar to mummies. They guard the tombs and treasures of deceased Normans.
Ghosts
Ghosts are unusual among the undead because their bodies are not animate. Only their spirits persist in undead form. Still, ghosts are not powerless in the physical world.
They can appear in dark or translucent forms, and they can use the energy of their restless spirits to cause temperature changes or flickering lights. They can also slam doors, send objects flying across the room, and make eerie noises.
Unlike the other mythological undead creatures, ghosts usually choose to enter the realm of the undead. They often have some unfinished business with the realm of the living, and are not ready to retire to death. Often, ghosts choose an undead existence because their lives came to a traumatic end.
They may want to convey a message to the living, so that their deaths can be avenged, or they may be so shocked by their own gruesome end that they are not ready to accept death. Occasionally, a ghost may stay for a more peaceful reason. Perhaps, the ghost is unwilling to leave behind a loved one or a beloved place.
Because ghosts choose their existence as undead, the best way to dispose of them is to convince them to relinquish the last fragments of their existence on earth. Arranging revenge for a ghost or simply empathizing with them and counseling them about the trauma of their death can help them decide to move on to the realm of the dead.
Banshees
Like ghosts, banshees do not have a specific undead form. They may appear as beautiful pale women, witches, or washerwomen, but they are not bound to these bodies. If approached, a banshee may turn into a small animal or disappear in curls of mist.
Exactly how a banshee enters the realm of the undead is uncertain. They are said to be the spirits of murdered women or women who died in childbirth, and are bound to the earth by servitude to a specific family.
The banshee warns the family, with its piercing, mournful cry, when one of its members is going to die. Although their cries can be bloodcurdling, banshees are benevolent creatures. They are not easily shaken from the families they serve, nor do families try to chase away forbidden people.
