Are the Elantrians zombies? I’ve been asked this question before. The answer is a little bit yes, a little bit no. I very intentionally don’t make any references in the story to them being zombie-like, and I certainly don’t call them ‘undead.’ Both words bring a lot of baggage with them.
No, the Elantrians aren’t ‘zombies.’ However, they certainly would fit the standard fantasy definition of being ‘undead.’ After all, their bodies aren’t really alive, but they can think. Still, I resist comparisons to established fantasy traditions. I wanted the Elantrians to be their own genre of creatures. In the world I have created, they are simply ‘Elantrians.’ They are people who don’t need to eat, whose bodies only function on a marginal level, and whose pains never go away. For the function they fill in the world and the story, I’d rather that they be compared to lepers.
That said, I always have wanted to do a story with a zombie as a main character.
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