View source for Undead

{{Short description|Beings in mythology and fiction}}
{{otheruses}} 
[[File:Wojciech Gerson - Zjawa Barbary Radziwiłłówny.jpg|thumb|''The Ghost of [[Barbara Radziwiłł]]'' by [[Wojciech Gerson]]. Ghosts are a common form of the undead.]]

The '''undead''' are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if they were alive. A common example of an undead being is a [[cadaver|corpse]] reanimated by [[supernatural]] forces, by the application of either the deceased's own [[Energy (esotericism)|life force]] or that of a supernatural being (such as a [[demon]], or other evil spirit). The undead may be [[Incorporeality|incorporeal]] ([[ghost]]s) or [[Human body|corporeal]] ([[mummy (undead)|mummies]], [[vampire]]s, [[skeleton (undead)|skeletons]],  and [[zombie]]s).

The undead are featured in the belief systems of most cultures, and appear in many works of [[fantasy fiction|fantasy]] and [[horror fiction]]. The term is also occasionally used for real-life attempts to [[Resurrection#Technological resurrection|resurrect the dead with science and technology]], from early experiments like [[Robert E. Cornish]]'s to future sciences such as "chemical brain preservation" and "[[cryonics]]." While the term usually refers to corporeal entities, in some cases (for example, in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''), the term also includes [[Incorporeality|incorporeal]] forms of the dead, such as [[ghost]]s.

== History ==

[[Bram Stoker]] considered using the title, ''The Undead'', for his novel ''[[Dracula]]'' (1897), and use of the term in the novel is mostly responsible for the modern sense of the word. The word does appear in English before Stoker but with the more literal sense of "alive" or "not dead", for which citations can be found in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. In one passage of ''Dracula'', ''[[nosferatu (word)|Nosferatu]]'' is given as an "Eastern European" synonym for "un-dead".<ref>*{{cite book | last = Stoker | first = Bram | editor = [[Leonard Wolf]] | title = The Annotated Dracula | publisher = Crown | year = 1975 | orig-year =1897 | isbn = 978-0-517-52017-8 | page= 193 }}</ref>

Stoker's use of the term "undead" refers only to vampires; the extension to other types of supernatural being arose later. Most commonly, it is now taken to refer to supernatural beings which had at one point been alive and continue to display some aspects of life after death, but the usage is highly variable.<ref>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030216141734/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=BieCans.sgm&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1 | archive-date=2003-02-16 | url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=BieCans.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1 | title=Can Such Things Be | publisher=Etext.virginia.edu | access-date=2012-07-31 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Reanimation or the creation of zombies through non-supernatural means has been a trope since at least the 19th century. ''[[Frankenstein]]'' used unspecified technological means; mechanisms in more recent stories include germs (''[[I Am Legend (novel)|I Am Legend]]''), radiation (''[[Night of the Living Dead (1968 film)|Night of the Living Dead]]''), and toxic gas (''[[The Return of the Living Dead]]'').

The undead have become popular adversaries in fantasy and horror settings, featuring prominently in many [[role-playing game]]s, [[role-playing video game]]s, [[MMORPG]]s and [[strategy games]].

== Literature ==
[[file:Anonyme germanique Amants trépassés.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Dead Lovers]]'', ca. 1470 ([[Strasbourg]], [[Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame]])]]

In [[Bram Stoker]]'s novel ''[[Dracula]]'', [[Van Helsing]] describes the Un-Dead as the following:
{{Quote|‘Before we do anything, let me tell you this. It is out of the lore and experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers of the UnDead. When they become such, there comes with the change the curse of immortality.  They cannot die but must go on age after age adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world. For all that die from the preying of the  Undead become themselves  Undead,  and prey on their kind.  And so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the ripples from a stone thrown in the water&nbsp;... But of the most blessed of all, when this now UnDead be made to rest as [[True death|true dead]], then the soul of the poor lady whom we love shall again be free. Instead of working wickedness by night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she shall take her place with the other Angels. So that, my friend, it will be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her free.|[[Van Helsing]], [[John Seward|Dr. Seward]]'s Diary, 29 September; ''[[Dracula]]'', Chapter 16}}

Other notable 19th-century stories about the avenging undead included [[Ambrose Bierce]]'s ''[[The Death of Halpin Frayser]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=BieCans.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1 |title=Can Such Things Be |publisher=Etext.virginia.edu |access-date=2012-07-31}}</ref> and various [[Gothic Romanticism]] tales by [[Edgar Allan Poe]]. Though their works could not be properly considered zombie fiction, the supernatural tales of Bierce and Poe would prove influential on later writers such as [[H. P. Lovecraft]], by Lovecraft's own admission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/superhor.htm |title=Supernatural Horror in Literature (1927, 1933–1935) by H.P. Lovecraft |publisher=Gaslight.mtroyal.ca |date=1988-01-01 |access-date=2012-07-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012165932/http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/superhor.htm |archive-date=2009-10-12 }}</ref> In Russia, the undead was the theme of [[Alexander Belyaev]]'s novel ''[[Professor Dowell's Head]]'' (1925), in which a mad scientist performs experimental head transplants on bodies stolen from the [[morgue]], and reanimates the corpses.

[[File:Utagawa Yoshiiku Specter.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Utagawa Yoshiiku]], ''Specter frightening a young woman'']]

== List of undead forms ==
<!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->

=== Physical corpses ===
{{div col|colwidth=10em}}
* [[Ahkiyyini]]
* [[Anchimayen]]
* [[Deildegast]]
* [[Draugr]]
* [[Drekavac]]
* [[Fext]]
* [[Gashadokuro]]
* [[Ghoul]]
* [[Gjenganger]]
* [[Hone-onna]]
* [[Jiangshi]]
* [[Kukudh]]
* [[Langsuyar]]
* [[Lich]]
* [[Lugat]]
* [[Mummy (undead)|Mummy]]
* [[Nachzehrer]]
* [[Orek]]
* [[Qutrub]]
* [[Revenant]]
* [[Ro-langs]]
* [[Rusalka]]
* [[Skeleton (undead)|Skeleton]]
* [[Strzyga]]
* [[Upiór]]
* [[Vampire]] / [[Nosferatu (word)|Nosferatu]]
* [[Vetala]]
* [[Vrykolakas]]
* [[Wiedergänger]]
* [[Wight]]
* [[Wendigo]]
* [[Wurdulac]]
* [[Zombie]]
* [[Zombie animal]]
{{div col end}}

=== Incorporeal spirits (Non-physical) ===
{{div col|colwidth=10em}}
* [[Ayakashi (yōkai)|Ayakashi]]
* [[Bal-Bal]]
* [[Banshee]]
* [[Baykok]]
* [[Bhoot (ghost)|Bhoot]]
* [[Chang (monster)|Chang]]
* [[Dullahan]]
* [[Dunnie]]
* [[Dybbuk]]
* [[Funayūrei]]
* [[Ghost]], phantom, or spectre
* [[Goryō]]
* The [[Personifications of death|Grim Reaper]]
* [[Headless Horseman]]
* [[Hitodama]]
* [[Hortdan]]
* [[Hupia]]
* [[Ikiryō]]
* [[Inugami]]
* [[Jikininki]]
* [[Korean Virgin Ghost]]
* [[Kuntilanak (folklore)|Kuntilanak]]
* [[Kuchisake-onna]]
* [[La Llorona]]
* [[Lemures]]
* [[Lietuvēns]]
* [[Mavka]]
* [[Mhachkay]]
* [[Mogwai (Chinese culture)|Mogwai]]
* [[Mononoke]]
* [[Moroi]]
* [[Myling]]
* [[Noppera-bō]]
* [[Onryō]]
* [[Penanggalan]]
* [[Pocong]]
* [[Poltergeist]]
* [[Pop (ghost)|Pop]]
* [[Preta]]
* [[Pricolici]]
* [[Sayona]]
* [[Shade (mythology)|Shade]]
* [[Shadow person]]
* [[Shikigami]]
* [[Shiryō]]
* [[Sluagh]]
* [[Strigoi]]
* [[Ubume]]
* [[Umibōzu]]
* [[Vengeful ghost]]
* [[Yuki-onna]]
* [[Yūrei]]
* [[Ghosts in European culture#Terminology|Wraith]]
* [[Will-o'-the-wisp]]
{{div col end}}

=== Mixed ===
* [[Dying-and-rising deity]]

== See also ==

* [[Afterlife]]
* [[Grógaldr]]
* [[Immortality]]
* [[Necromancy]]
* [[Personifications of death]]
* [[Resurrection]]
* [[Spirit possession]]
* [[Soul]]
* [[The Undertaker]]

== References ==

{{refs}}

== External links ==

* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Commonscatinline}}

{{Fantasy fiction}}
{{Horror fiction}}
{{Death}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Undead| ]]
[[Category:Paranormal terminology]]
[[Category:Demons]]