What happens to a person's soul when said person becomes a zombie? (Please note this is from a religious perspective, if you have no religion or don't believe in souls, I respect that.) Does that person's soul leave them? Does their soul stay in the body, to be judged for the actions of their undead counterpart? What, in your opinion happens?
What happens to someone's soul when they become a zombie?
- Thread starter AzureArchon
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I think the general consensus in nerd circles is that the soul is gone, and the zombie is just an animate corpse.
There are, of course, exceptions, depending on the fiction we're dealing with, but in general? Yeah, just a body, no soul.
Also, I find it weird that you would bring religion into a topic about zombies. Just saying.
There are, of course, exceptions, depending on the fiction we're dealing with, but in general? Yeah, just a body, no soul.
Also, I find it weird that you would bring religion into a topic about zombies. Just saying.
Working under the assumption that the soul is a real thing, I'd say that it depends on the type of zombie. If it's created by a disease of some sort then the soul probably leaves on death and the zombie is just a walking corpse. If it's created by evil magic then the soul is probably bound to the body to reanimate it.
Well, you generally have two choices:
1. The soul is gone and you're dealing with basically a fleshy automaton. Or something.
2. The soul is in the body. Depending on how much you believe the soul can do, it can be "locked away" and the body controlled by someone/something else or it may be just like the clothes on their back - still present but helpless.
At any rate, I doubt the soul could be held responsible for what essentially somebody else does.
Still it really depends on what religion/mythology/belief you're talking about, as I'm pretty sure zombies do not exist (not exactly sure on the voodoo ones, though).
1. The soul is gone and you're dealing with basically a fleshy automaton. Or something.
2. The soul is in the body. Depending on how much you believe the soul can do, it can be "locked away" and the body controlled by someone/something else or it may be just like the clothes on their back - still present but helpless.
At any rate, I doubt the soul could be held responsible for what essentially somebody else does.
Still it really depends on what religion/mythology/belief you're talking about, as I'm pretty sure zombies do not exist (not exactly sure on the voodoo ones, though).
Whatever you want to happen to the soul, because ZOMBIES AREN'T REAL. It's like asking what elf farts smell like. Whatever the author of the story wants because they don't actually exist.
Depends on the source material, doesn't it? I've seen fiction where a zombie is a corpse reanimated by a soul, I've seen others where the question of a soul is never addressed at all, and still others say that the lack of soul is essentially what makes them a zombie in the first place. So the big question is...whose fiction are we basing the question off of?
When you become a zombie, your body - or at least your brain - has died. Because it no longer supports your personality, all evidence of your soul has been deleted. You have passed on, you are pushing up the daisies, you are no more, and you have ceased to be. You...are an ex-person!AzureArchon said:
Monty Python aside, this means your soul has gone to wherever souls GO when you die.
Unless speaking about some types of living zombies, in which case the process is more like a potent mind-control and/or trance state - it may or may not grant corpse-like features (no need to eat or insensitivity to pain, for example). With that said, sometimes a living zombie may be missing its soul or it may not.FalloutJack said:
Again, depends on what zombie myths you're referring to.
You...are referring to the voodoo zombie, which is an act of neurotoxins. That wouldn't have any effect on the soul because they are NOT dead. They are also not really zombies in the sense of fantasy (necromancer servants, say) or modern (viral-made ones or George Romero zombies).DoPo said:
I'm basically speaking of all the actual zombies. Whether you mean Romero, Resident Evil, or World War Z, the notion here is that the human has expired beyond recovery, not been suspended. Mind control is mind control and zombie-ism is zombie-ism. And never between shall they meet.
Romero zombies, by the by, some to have some sort of past-life-memory of when they were alive. However...these are flashes of info, not personality. Not even in Romero's world where a zombies HAS figured out how to use a gun have they ever retained any humanity or memory or mercy that would make them human. Ergo, the soul has fled and will not be back.
When you become a zombie your soul also becomes a zombie, so when you die your zombie soul will go to heaven/hell/purgatory where it will try to eat/infect the other souls. The only person immune will of course be Jesus, since he is already a zombie.
Well....
Bio-zombie (virus): The host has already died before the body has zombified so the soul would have left the body before zombiefacation
Magic-zombie: Magical undead of either reanimated by pure magic or possessing the body with a soul that is in your control. If it's the former no soul is used, but if it's the latter someone's soul is used but it is USUALLY not the victim's soul (as they have usually moved on before the necromancer has had a chance to reanimate it)
Bio-zombie (virus): The host has already died before the body has zombified so the soul would have left the body before zombiefacation
Magic-zombie: Magical undead of either reanimated by pure magic or possessing the body with a soul that is in your control. If it's the former no soul is used, but if it's the latter someone's soul is used but it is USUALLY not the victim's soul (as they have usually moved on before the necromancer has had a chance to reanimate it)
Well, what makes a voodoo zombie not an actual zombie? It uses the same word and shares some characteristics. That's why I keep saying that it depends on what zombies we're talking about - there are a lot of types, some are even sentient, and they aren't much of Romero/virus ones or a necromancer's puppets - some zombies are merely dead people who refused/couldn't go in the afterlife or something. In their case, the soul may be present (depends on what belief of the soul is, too) so they would be most definitely people-like, just dead. Example, the zombies in the Discworld. Alternatively, a zombie may be a corpse animated by a soul or a ghost (whether or not they are different/separate whatever is up to debate, again) and nervelessly its own. In that case, the zombie can still be sentient, sapient, have memories etc.FalloutJack said:
Focussing on one type and calling that "true zombies" is really missing the point, it's like claiming all cars are (for example) green and if it's painted red, it's not a "real car".
Duuude. I think you missed a few things. First...Terry Pratchett's world is for Rule of Funny, not what we're discussing here. Second, the voodoo zombie is not a 'real' zombie. It is the act of putting a person in a zombie-like status. It was misconstrued for being the walking dead because people didn't know when this stuff happened. So happens one can even recover from it and maybe there isn't brain damage. Maybe.DoPo said:
THIRD, did you READ the OP? He was asking about the judgement of the soul in regards to the actions of the UNDEAD COUNTERPART. So, just to review: Terry Pratchett zombies have a mind because it's funny and voodoo zombies are not dead. THEY DON'T COUNT. And let's not even bother with 'the undead who are just people who refuse to go on'. He wasn't asking about them. He was asking about those vicious SOBs who eat brains and kill en masse.
So! Your analogy falls flat, really. Zombies are cars, voodoo zombies are pick-up trucks, Discworld zombies are Vespas, and by gods how did you miss the part where I treated Romero and viral zombies differently? Just stop, REALLY just stop. I'm from Pittsburgh. That basically makes me a veteran WITHOUT having read the classroom material, and I did.
Oh, and also? What I said about no humans souls in zombies? That goes double for Deadites.
Groovy.