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Q&A Am I describing a zombie?

Definitely not a traditional zombie. There are alternative depictions of zombies which you might want to draw on, but all of them have more zombie-like characteristics than you describe. Still, t...

posted 7y ago by Graham‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:07:00Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33694
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Graham‭ · 2019-12-08T08:07:00Z (about 5 years ago)
Definitely not a traditional zombie. There are alternative depictions of zombies which you might want to draw on, but all of them have more zombie-like characteristics than you describe. Still, the film [Warm Bodies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warm_Bodies_(film)) and the British TV series [In the Flesh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Flesh_(TV_series)) are worth looking at, for characters who start as traditional zombies and come back to being human. [Game of Thrones](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones) also has some resurrected characters, although they lose some of their ability to feel human emotions each time they are resurrected (and the longer they stay dead). You may need to decide whether the person comes back exactly as they were, or whether some part of them is lost when they come back.

Assuming you want them to come back as they were, other answers have referenced Doctor Who. They're close, but not quite there. The character you need is [Captain Jack Harkness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Harkness). His body regenerates, no matter how badly damaged - one episode features him regenerating from nothing more than a pile of scorched bones after being literally blown to pieces in an explosion. He's basically human, but with a handwavy pseudoscience reason for regenerating. It's all just a magic spell, basically. Another Doctor Who character [Ashildr (Me)](http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Ashildr) is also unable to die, although she is not shown as regenerating in the same way. The immortals in [Highlander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highlander_(film)) are similarly unable to die, and heal almost immediately from any wound except decapitation. And of course you've got vampires - [Interview with the Vampire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_with_the_Vampire_(film)), for example.

This should give you some reference points for your own interpretation. You may somewhat be asking the wrong question though. A creature's nature is not defined by its name, it is defined by _what it does_. And the story is not really about how it got those powers, it's about _what it does when it has them_. (Every superhero has an origin story, and they're always the boring exposition part of the character arc.) Some of the best supernatural films like [Groundhog Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_(film)) don't even try to explain it - they simply roll with it.

What makes the writing around Doctor Who, Highlander and Lestat compelling is not that those characters can't (easily) be killed, but the effect this has on them and those around them. To start with, it's great that they can't be killed (Connor Macleod has a brilliant duel scene), but eventually they all realise that they're going to keep living while everyone they love dies. Are you going to stick with this trope too? Or are you going to allow them to die of old age, even though everything else heals? Good character writing isn't just showing what they do, it's showing what they think about what they do.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-02-22T11:34:55Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 1