Resident Evil 2 (1998) Zombies~ My view on them

[Zacmac90]

The zombies I think are one of the most scariest {opinion}, deadliest {opinion} monsters in the Resident Evil games due to their ability to quickly multiply and never stop hunting until they or their victims die. But I also think that they deserve a lot of sympathy since they{RPD, civilians,} were just innocent people living their lives until the T-Virus wiped them out. But I've always wondered what goes on as they turn into undead and afterwards

1. Do they still recongize friends, family, co workers, etc but are powerless to stop their hunger?

2. Even though most can't speak, do they seek death to rid themselves of this horrible fate forced upon them

3. What does it feel like to be a zombie?

I've always felt bad for the zombie and wonder if the zombie can ever be truly understood

 

[TheMixedHerb]

Hm, I see what you're saying here but I personally think it comes in a little bit.
Examples of this would be Edward (RE0) and Forest (RE1), they knew the people that they attacked (assuming that Rebecca canonically meets up with zombie Edward in the train, which I do) but they still did it nonetheless. They may have some form of memories retained but they are only powered by the need to feed on the living.

If you want to take it a step further you could also say this for Yoko, Alyssa, David etc from Outbreak since if they're not in your party you can find them zombified on specific scenarios, during which they'll attack the player character (though I'm not sure which of these, if any are canon or not). Perhaps zombies do retain some of their feelings from life but I think the insatiable hunger for flesh powers above it all, you never know.

They do seem to see the value of teamwork, or so it would seem. They're mostly seen in groups and multiply as much as possible, though this could be sheer animalistic instinct. It seems to always be a competition as to who gets the kill first, or who gets to the flesh first (I'm making this sound really pleasant aren't I?), so perhaps certain traits can stay the same.

I'm not sure if I'm making much sense here, but I do think that they may keep certain traits or memories from being a human, but they all still have the same agenda regardless. I don't think they'd really reflect on who or what they are too much, all they 'live' for is to eat, it's all they focus on until they're destroyed or decompose.

 

[KennedyKiller]

I think a bit differently than Herbie here when it comes to the undead...see, i don't think they value teamwork at all, but rather, they all need the same thing to survive...flesh...so they all flock to where the warm, living flesh is, and it attracts all zombies...you can't have teamwork without some sort of communication, zombies don't communicate withone another...they moan, but it's not an intelligable language understood by one another...if that were the case then zombies would in fact have some sort of intelligence...

As far as memories go...they could probably have the visual memories(Though very little) of their past, but they don't have the intelligence to acess the specific parts of the memory...i.e. names of the people they have memories with for example...

Do they seek death to rid themselves...Hmmm...NO...They aren't aware of anything aside from the want for food...so the have no concept of death, therefore, cannot want it...what does it feel like? Nothing...you can't feel anything...any emotion, or any capability to learn...You feel nothing...but hunger...

 

[TheMixedHerb]

they all need the same thing to survive...flesh...so they all flock to where the warm, living flesh is, and it attracts all zombies...you can't have teamwork without some sort of communication, zombies don't communicate withone another...they moan, but it's not an intelligable language understood by one another...if that were the case then zombies would in fact have some sort of intelligence...

You know, I think of this as a possibility as well, perhaps they only do it because they sense flesh, the only reason there are so many grouped together is because they're being lured towards the prey. I imagine that their hearing and possibly sight are somewhat heightened to regular humans, I see it as a somewhat animal like state rather than simply undead human.

I wouldn't say they communicated at all, my point was that they all know that they want the flesh, they need the flesh so they don't see each other as a threat but more of an ally. I've always wondered why they never attacked each other in honesty. (Story line, gameplay mechanics, yeah I know) Perhaps only fresh flesh is what they want? Though sometimes you can find corpses still being eaten by zombies (before the Bus/Coach in RE2's A scenario) or zombies being eaten by zombies (I think it's a zombie anyway, or a dead patient, in Code Veronica's Doctor's area.)

 

[KennedyKiller]

You know, I think of this as a possibility as well, perhaps they only do it because they sense flesh, the only reason there are so many grouped together is because they're being lured towards the prey. I imagine that their hearing and possibly sight are somewhat heightened to regular humans, I see it as a somewhat animal like state rather than simply undead human.

I wouldn't say they communicated at all, my point was that they all know that they want the flesh, they need the flesh so they don't see each other as a threat but more of an ally. I've always wondered why they never attacked each other in honesty. (Story line, gameplay mechanics, yeah I know) Perhaps only fresh flesh is what they want? Though sometimes you can find corpses still being eaten by zombies (before the Bus/Coach in RE2's A scenario) or zombies being eaten by zombies (I think it's a zombie anyway, or a dead patient, in Code Veronica's Doctor's area.)

Well the corpeses still being fed on are still recently dead, therefore, still warm, wich works for the undead...

And it's not a state of hightened animalism...at least whn it comes to the T-Virus...because the point of the T-Virus is to reanimate dead cells...it brings whats dead back to life...but take the Rage Virus, like from 28 Days/Weeks later, then i agree...it's humans, but with a more animalistic nature...

To answer your question about zombies eating other zombies...nope...dosn't happen because zombies aren't drawn to one another...they really aren't even aware of each other because their ONLY focus is what's living...they can't sense the warmth of another zombie becasue there isn't one...they have no body heat...they can hear the moaning of other zombies sure, but they can't comprehend that it's another zombie...to them it's just another noise they're attraced to...youre right about a hightened sense of smell though...

When it comes to sight, i'm really not sure...i mean i personally belive they have little if any...especially considering they don't need eyes...the only thing that keeps them going is an active brain...but if that were the case then they wouldnt have any other senses either...and i also belive the HAVE smell, hearing, and the like...so saying theyre blind wouldn't fit logically...i just don't feel like they see...not like us at least...

 

[Professor X]

^ Agreed. Most of the Zombie's we see in the games have completely white eyes, so they couldn't possibly see. When you go blind, your eyes apparently turn white - So most of the Zombie's are probably blind.

The Zombie seen eating Kenneth and the Zombie lying in the cop car in the RE2 intro come to mind.

 

[Zacmac90]

Wow, a lot of good answers...i always did wonder why zombies don't attack each other...now I know. But did they ever explain why the t-virus kills almost everything in the zombies brain other than motor functions and the senses

plus, if zombies eat to survive, why don't they eat the entire body instead? Gross but curious

 

[KennedyKiller]

Wow, a lot of good answers...i always did wonder why zombies don't attack each other...now I know. But did they ever explain why the t-virus kills almost everything in the zombies brain other than motor functions and the senses

plus, if zombies eat to survive, why don't they eat the entire body instead? Gross but curious

The body probably reanimates or gets too cold for the zombies need...

The virus reanimates, not kills...it also mutates...but to answer your question it probably is just because the virus isn't advanced enough to reanimate any more than that...

 

[T-Vaccinated Kid]

Its hard to know when your talking about zombies from RE as Capcom doesn't seem to think things through. In the Keeper's Diary (found in the Arklay Faciltiy) it is shown that once infected the host's brain cells start dying and their flesh starts to decay, all prior to the apparent death or zombification. And even before all conciousness is lost the host becomes extremely aggressive and begins to hunger for human flesh. The zombies also have a blood pressure so that means their heart is pumping. These were the zombies introduced in the original RE. Living people infected with a virus. But Capcom had to screw things up in RE3 and RECV. I hate that they have zombies that dig their way out of their graves. A virus needs living cells to reproduce so they can't infect dead organisms. In a zombie movie this would have been correct since a zombie is supposed to be a person who died and woke up but it doesn't make sense with the T-Virus.

Anyways screw ups aside, a zombie is walking corpse. A corpse is dead so naturally it is in the process of decaying. Thats why zombies move slowly and stiffly. As far as senses go they can probably see a bit, like light and shadows. They deffinately can't smell since they don't breathe. A zombie's best way of locating its prey is hearing. Human voices get zombies very excited. Zombies are dead so of course they don't need to eat. The reason they do is because pretty much the only healthy part of their brain is the core (until eventually it too decays) As Dr. Logan put it "the last bit of prehistoric jelly we inherited from the reptiles." This also explains why they lose their humanity; memories, emotions, ect. So zombies are only feeding on instinct. If you want to learn more about zombies, check out any movie by George A. Romero with "of the Dead" in the title. He did invent the zombie after all.

 

[T-Vaccinated Kid]

The body probably reanimates or gets too cold for the zombies need...

The virus reanimates, not kills...it also mutates...but to answer your question it probably is just because the virus isn't advanced enough to reanimate any more than that...

The virus does not reanimate dead cells. If it did the zombies would be nearly indestructable, like the Trioxin zombies from the "Return of the Living Dead" series (stupid). Your thinking of the movie version of the virus which was invented as a cure rather than as a bioweapon.

 

[Professor X]

Anyways screw ups aside, a zombie is walking corpse. A corpse is dead so naturally it is in the process of decaying. Thats why zombies move slowly and stiffly. As far as senses go they can probably see a bit, like light and shadows. They deffinately can't smell since they don't breathe. A zombie's best way of locating its prey is hearing. Human voices get zombies very excited. Zombies are dead so of course they don't need to eat. The reason they do is because pretty much the only healthy part of their brain is the core (until eventually it too decays) As Dr. Logan put it "the last bit of prehistoric jelly we inherited from the reptiles." This also explains why they lose their humanity; memories, emotions, ect. So zombies are only feeding on instinct. If you want to learn more about zombies, check out any movie by George A. Romero with "of the Dead" in the title. He did invent the zombie after all.

This is good to know. Thanks, T-V.

Anyway, I think a Zombie's way of detecting pray is through hearing, smell, and sometimes sight.

That is the only way the Zombie who killed Kenneth could've done so, via hearing and smell, because that Zombie was more or less blind. His eyes are white.

 

[Capcomplicated]

Its hard to know when your talking about zombies from RE as Capcom doesn't seem to think things through. In the Keeper's Diary (found in the Arklay Faciltiy) it is shown that once infected the host's brain cells start dying and their flesh starts to decay, all prior to the apparent death or zombification. And even before all conciousness is lost the host becomes extremely aggressive and begins to hunger for human flesh. The zombies also have a blood pressure so that means their heart is pumping. These were the zombies introduced in the original RE. Living people infected with a virus. But Capcom had to screw things up in RE3 and RECV. I hate that they have zombies that dig their way out of their graves. A virus needs living cells to reproduce so they can't infect dead organisms. In a zombie movie this would have been correct since a zombie is supposed to be a person who died and woke up but it doesn't make sense with the T-Virus.

Anyways screw ups aside, a zombie is walking corpse. A corpse is dead so naturally it is in the process of decaying. Thats why zombies move slowly and stiffly. As far as senses go they can probably see a bit, like light and shadows. They deffinately can't smell since they don't breathe. A zombie's best way of locating its prey is hearing. Human voices get zombies very excited. Zombies are dead so of course they don't need to eat. The reason they do is because pretty much the only healthy part of their brain is the core (until eventually it too decays) As Dr. Logan put it "the last bit of prehistoric jelly we inherited from the reptiles." This also explains why they lose their humanity; memories, emotions, ect. So zombies are only feeding on instinct. If you want to learn more about zombies, check out any movie by George A. Romero with "of the Dead" in the title. He did invent the zombie after all.

Well said mate. I agree with every part except the "They definitely can't smell since they don't breathe" bit. Just because they dont function like humans do out of necessity doesnt mean thier senses are wiped out because they dont have a need for them. Like eyesight and hearing dont dissipate because they're necrotic. They have to 'breathe' or atleast expel some sort of air because zombies moan. While they arent required to breath like us, i think it still functions if for no other reason than basic cognitive retention. Yea?

 

[T-Vaccinated Kid]

Well said mate. I agree with every part except the "They definitely can't smell since they don't breathe" bit. Just because they dont function like humans do out of necessity doesnt mean thier senses are wiped out because they dont have a need for them. Like eyesight and hearing dont dissipate because they're necrotic. They have to 'breathe' or atleast expel some sort of air because zombies moan. While they arent required to breath like us, i think it still functions if for no other reason than basic cognitive retention. Yea?

Well eyesight deffinately gets bad but they still could have some light sensitivity at least for a while. Hearing of some kind must be present though, even if they don't use their mammalian ears, since they just have to feel vibrations.

Maybe they do try to breath, just from muscle memory. They would of course be forced breaths though and that would cause the moaning sounds. But I think its possible that the moaning could be caused by the gases building up from their rotting insides. Then they force the gas out in a moan, kind of like how reptiles hiss.

But I still don't think they use smell, even if they can still detect and recognize scents. How could they discern the smell of fresh blood over the smell of their own rotting flesh?

 

[KennedyKiller]

The virus does not reanimate dead cells. If it did the zombies would be nearly indestructable, like the Trioxin zombies from the "Return of the Living Dead" series (stupid). Your thinking of the movie version of the virus which was invented as a cure rather than as a bioweapon.

Sorry...guess I'm mixing the two RE Universis...my mistake...

 

[KennedyKiller]

Its hard to know when your talking about zombies from RE as Capcom doesn't seem to think things through. In the Keeper's Diary (found in the Arklay Faciltiy) it is shown that once infected the host's brain cells start dying and their flesh starts to decay, all prior to the apparent death or zombification. And even before all conciousness is lost the host becomes extremely aggressive and begins to hunger for human flesh. The zombies also have a blood pressure so that means their heart is pumping. These were the zombies introduced in the original RE. Living people infected with a virus. But Capcom had to screw things up in RE3 and RECV. I hate that they have zombies that dig their way out of their graves. A virus needs living cells to reproduce so they can't infect dead organisms. In a zombie movie this would have been correct since a zombie is supposed to be a person who died and woke up but it doesn't make sense with the T-Virus.

Anyways screw ups aside, a zombie is walking corpse. A corpse is dead so naturally it is in the process of decaying. Thats why zombies move slowly and stiffly. As far as senses go they can probably see a bit, like light and shadows. They deffinately can't smell since they don't breathe. A zombie's best way of locating its prey is hearing. Human voices get zombies very excited. Zombies are dead so of course they don't need to eat. The reason they do is because pretty much the only healthy part of their brain is the core (until eventually it too decays) As Dr. Logan put it "the last bit of prehistoric jelly we inherited from the reptiles." This also explains why they lose their humanity; memories, emotions, ect. So zombies are only feeding on instinct. If you want to learn more about zombies, check out any movie by George A. Romero with "of the Dead" in the title. He did invent the zombie after all.

One question...if zombies don't smell then how do they have such a strong attraction to blood...I believe we've heard people comment on their sense of smell before as well.

 

[Professor X]

One question...if zombies don't smell then how do they have such a strong attraction to blood...I believe we've heard people comment on their sense of smell before as well.

Indeed... The Zombie's are never seen eating rotten flesh in the games, but instead always attack live people, so I believe it's because of smell... The smell of living meat (Humans) attracts a Zombie to it just like the smell of cooked chicken attracts a person to it...

 

[Capcomplicated]

Well eyesight deffinately gets bad but they still could have some light sensitivity at least for a while. Hearing of some kind must be present though, even if they don't use their mammalian ears, since they just have to feel vibrations.

Maybe they do try to breath, just from muscle memory. They would of course be forced breaths though and that would cause the moaning sounds. But I think its possible that the moaning could be caused by the gases building up from their rotting insides. Then they force the gas out in a moan, kind of like how reptiles hiss.

But I still don't think they use smell, even if they can still detect and recognize scents. How could they discern the smell of fresh blood over the smell of their own rotting flesh?

It could be a viral reconstruction of the senses, like you said feeling vibrations in lieu of hearing. Being that most of the brain is virtually dead i doubt any of them would be functioning at 100% but perhaps a compensation would occur like when blind people have exceptional hearing and whatnot. Whatever it is that they are attracted to 'the hunger' it happens naturally through the instinct to feed, which it usually coupled with either sight or smell. Idk i'm not fully convinced that zombies can't smell because for some reason they can tell which is their own and which is fresh blood.

As for the moaning i'm gonna have to side against you again lol. Well with you and against you sorta. While i agree theres alot of nasty sh!t going on inside the zombie intestinal tracks. I think the 'moan' comes from a phonetic expression and an accidental blarahghgh. If i'm right then zombies breathe only as a means of sound and smelling not because oxygen is necessary.

 

[T-Vaccinated Kid]

Well its really hard to know with RE zombies given that they are dead and alive at the same time. I think that they must still alive and their brain functions like a normal animal. Maybe they moan as a way of recognizing their own kind. Another theory: what if they moan to smell? If they can't use their noses to smell, maybe they draw air in and out of their mouths to taste scents.

But when we are talking undead zombies, I'm pretty confident with my theories. I mean those suckers are dead for sure. No matter how unrealistic they may be, Romero zombies are what I consider "true zombies."

 

[Capcomplicated]

Well its really hard to know with RE zombies given that they are dead and alive at the same time. I think that they must still alive and their brain functions like a normal animal. Maybe they moan as a way of recognizing their own kind. Another theory: what if they moan to smell? If they can't use their noses to smell, maybe they draw air in and out of their mouths to taste scents.

But when we are talking undead zombies, I'm pretty confident with my theories. I mean those suckers are dead for sure. No matter how unrealistic they may be, Romero zombies are what I consider "true zombies."

Thats an interesting theory too. Much more interesting than mine anyway. But i'll be stubborn and say my zombies smell lol. And i cant argue with you about anything Romero related because that would be heresy.

 

[T-Vaccinated Kid]

Thats an interesting theory too. Much more interesting than mine anyway. But i'll be stubborn and say my zombies smell lol. And i cant argue with you about anything Romero related because that would be heresy.

Well its kind of hard for me to think of them separately from the Romero zombies I've loved for so many years. I guess in RE its pretty possible that they do smell, seeing as how they still have a pumping heart and all that. Or do they? Damn you Capcom and your grave zombies. I wish they had never seen "Return of the Living Dead!"

Hehe. "heresy" Thats a new word for me. Thanks for broadening my vocabulary. At first I thought you meant hearsay but that made no sense. I agree though, you can't knock Romero's zombies.