Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Zombies – Why do they eat brains?

OK a disclaimer first. I am not a big fan of horror movies, and don’t really see the fun in being either frightened, or sickened by excessive gore. So this may already have been discussed and I may have just missed it.

Having said the above I have to admit to enjoying the TV show The Walking Dead.

But it does make me wonder, why do Zombies (the traditional shambling raised from the dead type, not the infected/possessed sort) eat people?

Originally Zombies were recently dead people brought back to live to work as slaves on plantations. They were under the control of an “overseer” who could command them to murder people (and often did in fiction) but that was about it.

So, thinking about it, we get a reanimated corpse shuffling around. It has no brain functions to speak of, no language, no memory of what it once was. It does not need calorific energy to power its body, its dead. It has no emotions no hate, its dead. It can’t be jealous of the living. Its dead.


So why does it want to eat the living? And when it does eat the living what happens to that food? Have we ever seen Zombie poo?

Any ideas?

Well, it's going to depend on the individual zombie fiction.

Presumably zombies who are reanimated by some sort of disease are going to be compelled to spread the disease.

For the brain-eating zombies of the Living Dead series, it seems to have something to do with the fact that ingesting of brain material helps keep their own consciousness functioning at at least a primitive level.

I forget where I read this (it may have been in Max Brooks stuff) that the Zombies there eat, but will eventually burst open under the pressure of the ingested material...as they do not actually process it.

Also, the main thrust seems to be the fight for base needs that the Zombies carry over from the living side...that of nurishment...even though they do not actually need it. Think of man's primal instinct to eat as it's origin.

But I thought (and this might be a bit gross for a board like this) that the main primal driving force in all living things is the force to reproduce. So if it’s mans primal instinct to eat that drive them then shouldn’t the instinct to reproduce take priority shouldn’t that mean Zombies try to impregnate women not eat them.

So if Zombies eat but don’t process food, and then burst how long would that take? Could humanity just wait for them to all burst then clean up the mess.

EDE if Zombies retain consciousness does that mean they know what they are doing? If so how come not one ever says no I will not do this

Frank Cho did a zombie one-shot where the undead lead violated a cow Cobalt-style...

Well, at some point the compulsion to eat brains overwhelms everything else. It's not unknown for Living Dead zombies to destroy themselves before completely giving into the compulsion, however. One of the warehouse employees that originally release the zombie gas in Return of the Living Dead ends up cremating himself, while the other one basically holds out until the pain become unbearable, and then starts trying to eat his friend's brains.

Dont remind me. I nearly opened that Cobalt Kid website at work

OK. As I say I don’t watch much of this stuff so forgive the stupid questions.

But were these guys actual Zombies at this stage or were they in some form of Pre Zombie phase. Or are they some sort of 28 hours later infected humans?

I knew zombie BDSM porn would get Pov to check this thread.

I dont think it takes the mention of Zombies or BDSM just ..........

Well, they are medically dead and walking around. I suppose one could argue that they don't fully become zombies until they give into the brain-eating compulsion. It should be noted that the zombies from Return of the Living Dead are among the smartest you'll find in zombie fiction, being capable of speech and even deceit to get what they want (namely, brains). As I recall there's even a scene in one of the sequels where a zombie basically gives his girlfriend a "if you really loved me, you'd let me eat your brain" speech, which she falls for.

From The Return of the Living Dead:

Why zombies eat brains.

In the Mike Allred-drawn series IZombie, Gwen has to ingest brains about once a month or she risks becoming a shambling mindless zombie-monster. She chooses to partake of brains of the recently dead.

It's a bit awful for her too... beyond the whole "eating brains is GROSS" thing, there's the little matter of her also adopting the memories and need to fulfill last desires of the owners of those brains.

[snip]

Eh.

But if they rip humans apart and eat them then there are no more humans left so no reproduction. The only time humans turn into zombies seems to be if one gets bitten, gets away and then turns into a Zombie later. So reproduction is an accident not a plan (if nature plans things)

EDE's link is interesting. To take the pain of mortification away?? I guess that makes some sense (well in an non sensical universe that includes Zombies anyway)

OK next question

Why no rigor mortis?

This idea fits in very well with virus-driven reanimation, as found in The Walking Dead, for instance. The viruses just reactivate enough of the host as necessary to allow the virus to spread to new hosts through biting. So, ultimately, the zombies are just the means by which the virus reproduces.