The unpopular types of undead that could be used in fantasy novels

[OP1000]

Whenever I read stories that include undead creatures, they are either vampires or zombies. Are there any other types of undead creatures that can be used in fantasy novel settings that aren't used frequently?

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Whenever I read stories that include undead creatures, they are either vampires or zombies. Are there any other types of undead creatures that can be used in fantasy novel settings that aren't used frequently?

Draugr and chinese zombies. Forgot the name of those. Jiangshi? Something.

They are like puppets, with some sentience depending on rank, that keep all the abilities of when they were alive. Fucking menaces if they had a high cultivation

 

[Syringe]

Fungal-based zombies.

Have a beautiful biome teeming with giant mushrooms (to lure the unsuspecting adventurers). Have the people walk in normally, then walk out with a giant mushroom tube growing straight out of their heads. Can even dial the horror to 10 and have them climb and rest their carcasses up the highest towers of a city where they release spores and contaminate the immediate vicinity.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Banshee, Upior\Wurdalak.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Dryads are undead tree creatures. I like using them.
Banshee
La Lorona
Tokoloshe
Baba Yaga(technically)

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Baba Yaga(technically)

She is not an undead.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

She is not an undead.

Baba Yaga is the shared name of three immortal ogress witch sisters who share a hut that spins on birds legs. Although immortals aren't technically undead, how they came to be immortal in some folklore and myths makes me personally believe that they are a type of undead.

 

[Domoviye]

Banshees

Flesh golems

Undead animated plants

Shadow Person

Rusalka: Slavic water ghost of drowned young women. Would lure people to their death, by singing and calling them to the edge of the river. Depending on the folklor they either always had their feet and hem of their skirt wet, or they had to have a foot in the river.

Ro-Langs: Tibetan zombie, can barely move its joints, walks and moves stiffly. Can turn people into Ro-Langs by touching their head.

Nachzehrer: German undead. Some suicides, or the first victim of a plague would come alive in the grave. They'd eat themselves, and the more they ate the sicker their family would get until it is almost gone and the family dies.

Ahkiyyini: Inuit ghost/skeleton. Always dancing using its bones as drums. Causes earthquakes and tidal waves as it dances capsizing boats.

Anchimayens: Indigenous Chile ghost. Dead child raised by a wizard to do his bidding. Appears as a small child, can also turn into a small glowing ball that looks like fire to gain flight.

Vetala: Hindu undead. Comes to life near charnel grounds. Can be destroyed by funeral rights, or held at bay by changing religious mantra. Doesn't follow the rules of time, so it knows the past, present and future, making it valuable to magicians that want to question it. Hates humans. its a spirit that can hope between corpses.

Langsuyar: Malaysian vampire. A woman that died in childbirth. Ankle length black hair, incredibly long arms and nails that can reach their feet. They wear a green robe. Some folklore says they are a flying head with an exposed backbone and organs. They hunt at night looking for newborns, particularly males, to drink the blood from, but will drink from anyone.

Bal-Bal: Philippine ghoul. An undead monster with strong sense of smell. It digs up recently buried corpses, feasting on them, then replacing the body with a banana tree trunk. It uses magic to create an illusion that the tree trunk is the corpse. It has batlike wings, long fingers and claws, a rotting appearance and is horrifying.

Busaw: Philippine Ghoul. Similar to the Bal-Bal, it would eat recently buried corpses and replace them with a tree trunk. But it looked and acted human. It would scatter the bones of its food around it's farm. It would also cook the corpse like a pig and feed it to its neighbours turning them into ghouls as well.

Hungry Ghost: Buddhist/Taoist spirit. When a person died violently, by suicide, neglect, or the person wasn't good enough to be reincarnated as an animal, but wasn't bad enough to end up in hell, or they come from hell once a year to eat (lots of different stories and origins for these guys), a hungry ghost could arise. They are constantly searching for food, some will never get full no matter how much they eat, others have a neck so thin they can't swallow, or a mouth so tiny they can barely eat, and some could only eat a certain type of food.
Sometimes they ate humans sucking the life out of them, other times feces and garbage.
Feasts are held in China, giving them food and lighting incense to send them back to hell.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Baba Yaga is the shared name of three immortal ogress witch sisters who share a hut that spins on birds legs. Although immortals aren't technically undead, how they came to be immortal in some folklore and myths makes me personally believe that they are a type of undead.

It's my first time hearing Baba Yaga is the shared name of three ogresses. Perhaps in some Slavic countries, however, in every fairy tale I've read, she is basically a witch or\and an owner of the forest. Sometimes she is described as having a skeleton leg, but I doubt this counts as being undead. If you overanalyze her, you might tell that she guards the gates to the netherworld. But I don't like it when people overanalyze fairy tales, and even then, does a guard count as undead or not?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

It's my first time hearing Baba Yaga is the shared name of three ogresses. Perhaps in some Slavic countries, however, in every fairy tale I've read, she is basically a witch or\and an owner of the forest. Sometimes she is described as having a skeleton leg, but I doubt this counts as being undead. If you overanalyze her, you might tell that she guards the gates to the netherworld. But I don't like it when people overanalyze fairy tales, and even then, does a guard count as undead or not?

It's such a popular Slavic fairytale that there are tons of versions. Each one dependant on the area. The three witches all names baba yaga is one of the more common ones. Though all the stories share the belief that baba yaga was immortal but each have their own reasons for why though. Some say it's because she or they are ogres and are immortal for that reason while others say it's due to her guarding the netherworld. Some of those involving the netherworld imply or state that baba yaga was born of being from the netherworld(undead) or went to the netherworld to receive immortality before returning to guard it. It isn't in all the tales but this does make me think that Baba Yaga may be an undead.

 

[TASTYLEADPAINT]

Baba Yaga(technically)

There is only one BABA YAGA

 

[RepresentingWrath]

It's such a popular Slavic fairytale that there are tons of versions. Each one dependant on the area. The three witches all names baba yaga is one of the more common ones. Though all the stories share the belief that baba yaga was immortal but each have their own reasons for why though. Some say it's because she or they are ogres and are immortal for that reason while others say it's due to her guarding the netherworld. Some of those involving the netherworld imply or state that baba yaga was born of being from the netherworld(undead) or went to the netherworld to receive immortality before returning to guard it. It isn't in all the tales but this does make me think that Baba Yaga may be an undead.

Hmm, I think this disqualifies her as her status depends on a country of origin and fairy tale. Rusalka, or Koschei, is a better choice.

 

[Armorien]

Fungal-based zombies.

Have a beautiful biome teeming with giant mushrooms (to lure the unsuspecting adventurers). Have the people walk in normally, then walk out with a giant mushroom tube growing straight out of their heads. Can even dial the horror to 10 and have them climb and rest their carcasses up the highest towers of a city where they release spores and contaminate the immediate vicinity.

Ooh, that's a real cool idea! Very morbid.

 

[AuntieMaysLittleCousin]

View attachment 16089

There is only one BABA YAGA

True, very very true.
"With a f*cking pencil!!!"

Anyways, I like revenants and skeletal hounds. Armors and weapons possesed by the spirits of the decayed also count as a type of undead. And Abominations, which are corpse frankenstains. I think Flesh Golem also applies to this cathegory.
Hmmm, what else?
Wraiths, and will o' wisps as well. Anything I'm forgetting? Necroslimes which are an invention of mine that forms with the corruption of corpses in large battlefield (Ugly to see, uglier to fight).

 

[RepresentingWrath]

It's such a popular Slavic fairytale that there are tons of versions. Each one dependant on the area. The three witches all names baba yaga is one of the more common ones. Though all the stories share the belief that baba yaga was immortal but each have their own reasons for why though. Some say it's because she or they are ogres and are immortal for that reason while others say it's due to her guarding the netherworld. Some of those involving the netherworld imply or state that baba yaga was born of being from the netherworld(undead) or went to the netherworld to receive immortality before returning to guard it. It isn't in all the tales but this does make me think that Baba Yaga may be an undead.

I forgot to mention the most important thing. Translation and spelling. I'm not sure about my examples, but the thought behind it isn't wrong, I think. Baba Yaga is more of a translation\transcription of "Баба-яга" which is used mainly in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folklore. A quick google search tells me that the same being in other folklore would probably be transcripted(translated) differently. "Ježibaba" is a Czech variant, and I don't think Baba Yaga will fit here, while in Polish, it is "Baba Jaga."

And if we look at Baba Yaga as a being of Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folklore, she is mostly a witch or\and an owner\guardian of the forest.

 

[AliceShiki]

Uhn... Ghosts and Skeletons?

Or rather, those aren't unpopular at all. I just dunno why OP excluded them when mentioning undead types... Honestly, they're the first ones that come to mind to me. Shortly before Zombies and long before Vampires.

 

[LilRora]

I forgot to mention the most important thing. Translation and spelling. I'm not sure about my examples, but the thought behind it isn't wrong, I think. Baba Yaga is more of a translation\transcription of "Баба-яга" which is used mainly in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folklore. A quick google search tells me that the same being in other folklore would probably be transcripted(translated) differently. "Ježibaba" is a Czech variant, and I don't think Baba Yaga will fit here, while in Polish, it is "Baba Jaga."

And if we look at Baba Yaga as a being of Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folklore, she is mostly a witch or\and an owner\guardian of the forest.

In Polish folklore Baba Jaga is a witch who kidnaps and eats people, especially children, who wander around the forest.

As for the topic of the thread, you can use a Dullahan (basically a fancy name from irish mythology for a headless knight, but I don't think it was mentioned here), or a Sluagh (from celtic mythology, they are wandering spirits of people that were rejected by the gods when passing to afterlife; they are basically wandering malevolent spirits).

There was also an undead dwarf vampire that comes back to life if you don't bury him upside down, but I don't remember the name or the source.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

In Polish folklore Baba Jaga is a witch who kidnaps and eats people, especially children, who wander around the forest.

Baba Yaga does the same thing in some fairy tales.

 

[OP1000]

Uhn... Ghosts and Skeletons?

Or rather, those aren't unpopular at all. I just dunno why OP excluded them when mentioning undead types... Honestly, they're the first ones that come to mind to me. Shortly before Zombies and long before Vampires.

Well, it never occurred to me to include ghosts and skeletons as popular undead while I was typing the thread. I just forgot about them when I came up with the question for the thread. Thank you for pointing that out to me.

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

Revenants, jiangshi, ghouls, mummies, lich/lich kings, moving skeletons.