Could a ghost possess a zombie created from its own body? Could this ghost-zombie hybrid, hypothetically, continue their career in law?
Dying is no excuse to stop working, after all.
But lawyers have no soul
Devils are LE, and work with lawyers frequently enough that they manage to buy their souls rather frequently. They had souls, they just have probably sold their soul. The lawyer one should be terrified of isn’t the LE lawyer, it’s the CG lawyer
It’s called a Lich, isn’t it?
I knew lawyers had to be into some dark magic
In at least two campaigns I’ve been in, the wizards college’s law department was always on fire and smelled of burning sulfur. Apparently they just like it that way?
Both times we ended up down there to summon an Arch devil so they could properly word a Wish for us.
I’d watch it.
Szeth-son-son-Vallano, truthless of Shinovar, wore white on the day he was to become a magical flying ghost cop possessing his own corpse
Depends entirely on the limitations of the ghost’s possession ability, but if the ghost can possess a living person and control them, then an animated corpse should work as well. The problem with continuing the career is that the body would continue to decay until the ghost wouldn’t be able to move it any more.
The problem with continuing the career is that the body would continue to decay until the ghost wouldn’t be able to move it any more.
Just like a living body 🙁
Indeed, but much faster.
I like Pratchett’s zombies. Where the force of will of the soul of the person is so strong that they refuse to dis-inhabit their body. But since the subconscious did so many things on autopilot, they now are forced to do every function of their body deliberately. That’s why they move so stiffly and strangely.
You know what? Go read Reaper Man. It’s great. And Windle Poons was never so alive until after he died
Gnu Sir Terry Pratchett ❤️
Any recommendations for a Pratchett audiobook? I’ve got like 6 audible credits I need to use.
What is your interests? Sir Terry was a consummate satirist, able to reach the heart without being too serious. Here’s what I’d recommend off the top of my head:
Pure entertainment: Moving Pictures - an alchemist invents Film, and suddenly everyone is moving to Holy Wood. But as Moving Pictures blur the line between fantasy and reality, something Else wants to see reality as well
It Makes You Think: Small Gods - What is faith? What happens when people replace belief in their god with the institution that surrounds the god? What if the god in question is a bastard? What is worse, the god, or the holy wars that will be made by the next “prophet”? Religion and philosophy clash with the sound of lightening hitting a copper roof
You’ll think, but with wordplay: The Truth - Dwarves have learned how to turn lead into gold. The hard way. The printing press has come to Anhk Morpork, and with it, the Press. A commentary on truth, journalism, and politics, with a healthy dose of classism and privilege
For the Feels: Feet of Clay - (this one drops you in the middle of the Watch series, but you won’t be in the weeds for long. If you don’t want mild spoilers from earlier in the series, save this for later) A priest and a baker are murdered, and the Tyrant of the city has been poisoned. It’s up to Sam Vimes to find out what’s at the bottom of this mystery. And he could probably do so if it weren’t for all of the damned clues. And what do the Golems, those silent machines who toil in the worst places, have to do with any of this? When the servant class isn’t considered living, who cares what happens to them?
More Feels: Reaper Man - Death has been fired. But he has been given a retirement gift: The Time of his Life. There’s not much of it, because when the next Death is chosen the Reaper Man’s time will have run out. A reflection on mortality, time, and the obligation of the Reaper to respect the Harvest. And who will care for the harvest, if not for the Reaper Man?
Do you want to spend one credit or several?
Just one atm
Most libraries will have copies of Pratchett. I can’t promise they’ll have audiobooks, but mine does on Libby and there are options that will let out of state (or country?) people sign up for memberships.
Monstrous Regiment is I think a pretty good entry point. It’s relatively new but it stands alone quite nicely and doesn’t need much background knowledge.
If you’d prefer something more early in his writing then Small Gods is a good one. It outlines a lot of how the world works, but again isn’t deeply connected.
Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards!, and Mort are also good entry points and are the start of the Witches, City Watch, and Death subseries respectively.
Only if the person had multiple-personality disorder. You need at least one consciousness per entity.
Is a zombie considered conscious?
Depends on the zombie type - if it’s raw instinct only, there is no higher level of consciousness required, right?
So your generic shambling, biting, non-speaking but still groaning zombie would work in this scenario I’d think.
I love this idea.
Just make sure at least one member of the party is in a compromised position when they bite it. Example: not wearing any pants.
Orel! Think of the decency issue!
If the zombie retains memory/personality, then I’d say that if a soul exists in the setting, that it is still in the body or has been returned to the body. Therefore no separate ghosts.
If the zombie exists only as a husk to be used as a puppet by some other intelligence or entity, then I’d say ghosts of those people make sense.
Why is the soul in the mind?
I recognize the weird state that would exist where the mind is fully copied into the ghost, having two entities with the same mind.
I still think that would be interesting fiction though.
P-zombie-zombie
Why is the soul in the mind?
Or the body. I think the main thing is that a single entity only has a single animus, another word for a soul.
So a necromancer may lend a body a “false” animus to animate it, while the “real” animus (or soul, if you will) is in a spirit form.
They definitely could in D&D lore. You die. Your soul goes to whatever plane of existence. Your body gets left behind and a necromancer raises it as a zombie for menial labor. Your soul comes back as a ghost to complain to a party of adventurers about how a necromancer has defiled your body and you wish to put an end to it. The bard says something stupid like “well it doesn’t sound like you were using it anymore. You know what they say: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
One of the characters in the “what we do in the shadows” show is a vampire whose ghost inhabits a doll.
“ooooveerrruuuulllleeeed”
/eats brains
I want an anime of this. haha.
“The Unwanted Undead Adventurer” is a pretty close approximation of this.
It’d be great; the main plot will be the ghost possessing his zombie body, so now he’s the only intelligent, reasonable zombie in a zombie apocalypse world. Obviously the living are going to be skeptical, and there’ll be issues with him occasionally losing control of the body…this has the makings of a great anime
Then eventually the original zombie body is too decayed and he’s pissed he has to start switching bodies, probably because it takes so long to get used to each and get control
Love this idea.
If the zombie’s body still has some link to the soul such that it could see and react to the ghost, they could make an extremely awkward yet dangerous team.
“Come over this way, buddy! Brains over here!”
“Brainsh?” Shuffle, shuffle.
“Yup, see?” The ghost points triumphantly at a hamster cage. “Lots of juicy little brains to eat!”
“Awww… Tired of mowsh brainsh! WANT HOOMAN BRAINSH!”
Zombie takes another vicious swipe at the ghost but finds only air.
“Why can no eat you brainsh again?”
“As I’ve explained all evening, I’m ethereal, not really here, sorry, friend. It’s mouse or nothing.”
The zombie’s shoulders slump in disappointment, but he turns to the hamster cage. The hamsters peer back, vaguely uneasy.
“C’mere cute liddle mowshes…”
Clang, squeak, munch, munch, munch.
Kingdom Hearts kinda had this with the Heartless (from a person’s heart) and the Nobodies (from a person’s body).
Kingdom Hearts
Edit: looking at the other comments I’m glad I’m not the only one with that brainrot.
This is literally my experience of ADHD
I’m putting this in my next D&D campaign
Does it count if the ghost is bound to a suit of armour and the zombie is animated by some random lab animal’s soul…?
This honestly fits the prompt almost perfectly
