"Why are zombies always mindless?" Topic

after all if you're willing to overlook all the science and admit to walking corpses, why not let them be smart too?

Isn't a smart zombie a litch?

You have three types of undead
1 Vampires which are slick and cool in leather and hot babes

2 Werewolves who are street style fighters wild and untamed.

3 Zombies, brainless

It's the order of things.

I'm still trying the figure out how a rotting corpse zombie can run. I remember the good old days when all zombies shuffled about aimlessly, but these days it is all about speed and getting there quicker.

Its the times we live in.

To give survivors a chance?

If there was a Zombie invasion AND they were intelligent, this would be over pretty quickly. No good drama in that.

Err, werewolves aren't normally numbered among the undead, at least wher I come from…

I'm not sure the premise is entirely true. In Return of the Living Dead, they had the smarts to call for more paramedics (a great scene), and the ones in Zombieland obviously retained some of their former intellect, for example the one that hides in the back of main character's car at the beginning of the movie. Billy Connoley in Fido wasn't so dumb for a zombie, either.

But mostly I think they're made mindless to make them impersonal and so more threatening, or as a commentary on humanity's lack of intelligence in general.

First of all…who says that you have to be 'MINDLESS' to be a ZOMBIE????? (besides all the folks texting and talking on cellphones while TRYING to drive…or walk a straight line…etc)

And 'mindless' is such a generic term…vs BRAINLESS…BIG difference…(and on TMP, I shouldn't have to explain that…John the OFM can do a dissertation for us and explain it to folks better than I could…like zombie cannibal squid and comcast…

AND…even if the zombie has no 'brains' or 'mind' w/wo brain…RNA scattered throughout rotting cells in the body still contain memories and other things…primal urges, survival, eat, etc…

So like anything else of 'legend'…they can be whatever YOU want them to be…that makes them annoying, scary, stinky but fun to kill…and other amusing pastimes..

Sgt DWW-btod

after all if you're willing to overlook all the science and admit to walking corpses, why not let them be smart too?

They can be. Coming next month.

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If you take a look at the Fallout video games (my experience is mostly with Fallout 3) or the Exodus RPG, they portray "the undead" as living decomposing beings.

At first glance, they're zombies… They're intelligent, maybe not so quick or "lively" as they once were, but they have some memories of "before they died". Eventually they go senile and become fast, violent and completely feral.

As Mserafin mentioned, RotLD zombies were far from mindless. They were just a tad monomaniacal, thus the battle cry: "Braaiiinnnnssss!" They were, however, completely capable of holding conversations (as aptly exemplified by the "I can feel myself rot" scene to the "I know you love me, Tina" scene).

There's no rule that says zombies can't be intelligent – it's just that they're most often portrayed that way. Maybe some people just think they're scarier like that?

(I wonder how many folks out there nowadays realize that before RotLD, the whole zombies-need-brains wasn't a standard fixture of the zombie sub-genre. Sure, they ate people, but it was RotLD that brought that aspect to – erm – life.)

Realism.

I guess it depends on what "reality" you buy in to. I personally don't buy in to "smart Zombies" because if it's smart, it ain't a zombie. :)

Fallout "Zombies" are radioactive decaying mutants which come in two flavors, "Ghouls" (just plain folks who happen to be dead) and "Feral Ghouls" (dead and want to make you dead too). Only "scary" because of their hideous appearance, or in the way that a trained guard dog is scary.

RotLD was a comedy, so they don't count. :) The "Brainzzzz!" thing is certainly fun, but the idea that eating brains is the only thing that takes away the pain of being dead shouldn't be taken too seriously. Just my opinion though. :)

"Classic" Voodoo Zombies – pretty much "Flesh Golems", which don't have any more will of their own but can respond to commands. Scary because of the ultimate degradation of the human being that they represent, even if the Zombies themselves aren't really scary. (That is, I'd be way more afraid of the guy who could make ME a zombie than the poor bastard he already made in to a zombie.)

"Romero" Type Zombies – mindless ghouls that only want to feast on the flesh of the living. These are scary because of their relentlessness, unnaturalness (Hell is too full of souls, so the dead must walk among us, etc.) and complete inability to be reasoned with, as well as their frightening appearance of course. Though many movies have used their single-mindedness to comedic effect.

They can be. Coming next month.

You're such a bloody tease, Ed!

Zombies. Another tribute to the decline of imagination in a once-interesting strand of the hobby.

Get a new night-sweat, people. Zombies are stale.

"If there was a Zombie invasion AND they were intelligent, this would be over pretty quickly. No good drama in that."

It happened. We lost.

Nous sommes tous des zombies…Government policy proves it.

1. Werewolves aren't undead.
2. Zombies are mindless because if they had actual legitimate intelligence, they would be cannibalistic decaying humans.

Well the zombies in Deadlands and Deadlands: Hell on Earth were intelligent. They were more of the supernatural types and had a demon inhabiting their bodies.

Then there were the Harrowed, who were heroes and villians that came back from the dead, they too had a demon (manitou) in them but they could at least fight the demon for control of their body. They were fully intelligent, even had some supernatural powers, but were decaying, didn't heal, required lots of raw meat to keep them alive and didn't smell very well.

Because if they weren't they could find something better to eat than human flesh. Like a hamburger.

I mean think about it. If they were not mindless why would they risk getting their brains blown out for what otherwise is just another form of meat.

I mean even Vampires who have a lot more superpowers than zombies are not stupid enough to walk down the middle of the street at night biting people and sucking their blood. Even they wouldn't last long doing that.

Why are zombies always mindless?"

Because they work where I do?

Some of the zombie unit types in Apocalypse-Z retain enough of their memories to use guns. The Zombie Overlord is more like a boss villain from a Resident Evil game, so I am not sure that he still counts as being a zombie. He retains all his memories, but has lost his humanity. He welds a few psychic powers, so that would imply some level of advanced mental awarness.

Too much TV and videogames.

Warzone's Undead Legion were intelligent enough to fire a weapon and to take orders. If their commander was taken out they wander aimlessly until another suitable model takes command of the unit.

No it's Bainssss…Zombies can't pronounce "r's"….

RAGERS!I CANT WAIT!I cant wait to be employed again so i can buy some of Ed's cool product's.

Brian

In 'Day of the Dead', Bub the test zombie shows item recognition, some capability for impulse control, appropriate etiquette (saluting an officer)and basic handgun use. Some training was involved, but much of the behaviour was spontaneous, and obviously derived from pre-death memory.

In 'Land of the Dead' Romero introduced signal response, tool use, learning from observation, purposeful teaching-by-example, and fairly elaborate fire-starting technique. All the behaviour in LotD is spontaneous, but centred around one or two more 'alert' zombies.

In "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War", Max Brooks (son of Mel) presents a very well thought out "history" that includes they whys of zombie behavior. His story is very much of the 'slow' zombie variety, but makes it plenty terrifying/fun by making them acutely aware of sound. No smarts, no running and no learning, but they just keep coming and coming. His "Zombie Survival Guide" is also a lot of fun.

I use these as the historical basis for my zombie games, simply because they're so complete.

- Bob

Want inte3llegent Zombies? Try Brian Keene's "ead" series of books. Extra dimensional beings take over the bodies of the recently dead, after their souls have left.

RotLD was a comedy, so they don't count. :) The "Brainzzzz!" thing is certainly fun, but the idea that eating brains is the only thing that takes away the pain of being dead shouldn't be taken too seriously. Just my opinion though. :)
>>
I can't stand this movie!! YES, it doesn't count,its a comedy!

Romero zombies all the way! The way zombies should be! :-)

Bob

…but the idea that eating brains is the only thing that takes away the pain of being dead shouldn't be taken too seriously.

This in a serious discussion of the nature of reanimated human corpses? And comedies don't count? This thread has taken a turn into the surreal…

(BTW: I disagree about RotLD – yeah, there are comedic elements, but it takes the subject matter as seriously as any Romero film ever did.)

Look at some of the Left For Dead (L4D) special zombies. Not exactly intelligent but have hunting skills of a sort.

Because Zombies are dead re-animated bodies, they are not humans, only walking human corpses.

Zombie Pirates always Aaaaare

Just for some geek clarification….the 'gouls' in Fallout are alive. 2 flavors, really old pre-war people and the same just feral. As for smart/dumb, fast/slow, that's up to the scriptwriters and authors not any reality or lore.

"Mindless" Zombies are genre based, as has been noted above. It all depends on how the author wishes to "authoritatively" portray them. This is the same sort of argument that can be made about aliens: "Why are extraterrestial beings always bent on conquest of the earth and enslaving the women to be sex slaves?" or "Why are extraterrestial beings who are "good" humanoid in appearance, while "evil" aliens are non-humanoid?"

If you are in a particular "universe" i.e. Star Trek vs. Star Wars vs. Aliens, etc. then it ends up the vision of the author that determines the psychology and physiology of the aliens. The same can be said for Zombies. It depends on the particular "universe" the zombie exists in. In "World War Z" they were the mindless type that had particular instincts and sensory attractions. Romero Zombies have more self-actualizations and cognition. In many Role Playing Games (i.e. D&D) they are nothing more than animated constructs (i.e. Golems) who can accept rudementary instructions and that were at one time beings of living tissue.

Comes down to what the author wants for her/his zombies in her/his universe.

Andy Welkley
"Your Phrendlee Hevy Phzyx T-chrr"