Walking Dead -- Zombie "Rules"

[Bullgrit]

I've mentioned before that I've tried to watch The Walking Dead but just couldn't get past some plot issues. This weekend I watched the first episode of the show, and it got me thinking about what are the "rules" of these zombies.

For instance, head shots kill these zombies, (as it the trope for Zombie Apocalypse tales).

Everyone is already infected, so any death leads to zombification.

Apparently these zombies can stop moving and lie still until alerted or disturbed.

Sounds attract these zombies.

And apparently they can use door knobs. This surprised me.

They seem to have some memory. They don't stop pursuing when someone gets out of site/hearing. Do they have some memory of their life? The zombie little girl stopped and picked up her stuffed animal.

Are they attracted to "life"? -- I mean, they seem to go towards groups of humans. Like they seem to swarm to the prison from great distances.

What are the other rules of these Walking Dead-style zombies?

Bullgrit

 

[Umbran]

And apparently they can use door knobs. This surprised me.

I cannot recall them ever doing so in the TV show, but I may simply have forgotten.

They will certainly batter down doors or windows to reach people, however.

Do they have some memory of their life?

That is a question characters in the series raise.

Spoiler

No answer has yet been given.

Are they attracted to "life"? -- I mean, they seem to go towards groups of humans. Like they seem to swarm to the prison from great distances.

I don't know about them being "attracted to life". They can hear. I expect they can smell at least somewhat - so a large group of stationary humans may be enough to gain their attention. I, personally, see no sign that they have some ESP for living things.

Spoiler

It is also possible that someone (like the Governor) is engineering the swarms the group is currently seeing.

These zombies cannot run. They can lurch a few steps quickly, at best.

These zombies do apparently degrade with time - they can starve if they do not eat. However, it is a very slow process.

Zombie bites lead to zombification. However, given how often characters splatter zombie goo around while shouting with mouths open, ingestion seems to be a far lesser danger.

 

[Jet Shield]

Zombie bites lead to zombification. However, given how often characters splatter zombie goo around while shouting with mouths open, ingestion seems to be a far lesser danger.

Given that they're all infected anyway, I doubt anyone's overly concerned with a few splatters. Do bites actually lead to zombification directly, or is it that zombie bites lead to a raging bacterial infection (human bites are prone to nasty infections, and one can assume that the bites of rotting human corpses would be worse) that ends in death?

 

[PigKnight]

This post contains massive marked spoilers.

Awareness: While they can see, they seem to have very, very bad eyesight and appear to have cataracts; they rely more on smell

Spoiler

(and can be easily tricked)

and sound

Spoiler

(they seem to ignore small levels of sound, but typically people will end up making a lot of sounds and panicking for no reason if they step on a twig or something). Also, if you walk over a "passive" one they will ignore you unless you make noise directly over them in which case they will lunge.

Movement: They are able to make short bursts of speed: "lunging".

Infection: From what I can tell you can eat all the blood splattery gooeyness you want but if one bites you then you'll get very sick and die;

Spoiler

this is more likely a case of some sort of mundane illness caused by the fact that they are actively decaying; furthermore, complete amputation of a bite wound shortly after a bite will stop the infection.

Herd Forming: They seem to like to form herds. If they are inside a building they will typically go passive and stay there.

Massive spoilery spoiler goodness on another zombie trait:

Spoiler

If they are physically no longer able to consume they will go docile. This is different from going passive: they will still move around but will no longer attack people.

 

[Bullgrit]

I cannot recall them ever doing so in the TV show, but I may simply have forgotten.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?346705-Walking-Dead-Zombie-quot-Rules-quot#ixzz2hkWm7J2q

The first episode, the wife of the man and boy Rick meets tries to open the house door.

And for memory of life, again in the first episode, the little blonde girl Rick sees: She stops walking, reaches down and picks up a stuffed animal. That made me think she was alive. But then she turned around and was obviously a zombie.

So it seems the series may have made two zombie-character mistakes right in the pilot episode that they after decided to ignore. ??

Bullgrit

 

[Kramodlog]

Or writers just need that for their plot. Lazy rather.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Okay, my way out there thoughts. One, everyone is infected, in "live people" this results in a "smell" that attracts the dead, think of it as a pollen, so the dead follow the wind. The greater number of people, the greater the smell and the more zombies show up.

Noise just causes a reaction or memory, people = noise.

These zombies, like a number of other zombies still have basic memories of day-to-day stuff, opening doors is a good example because we do it so many times a day, they may have issues on the pull or push but will figure it out.

------------------

My biggest issue with zombies of any type is wear and tear, feet, fingers should be numbs after a few months. Fences should be grief for zombies, even if they are knocked over. Hell, put a wall of cars on an overpass, they should go over the edge.


Plus, people seem to be smarter as zombies.

 

[Umbran]

Okay, my way out there thoughts. One, everyone is infected, in "live people" this results in a "smell" that attracts the dead

That's a level of unnecessary pseudoscience. Live people have a smell even if they aren't infected. It isn't like we need to have the zombies attracted to infected people, but not attracted to uninfected people - they just come after people. So, they just need to smell or hear or see humans, period.

And the implication is that they don't just come after humans - any mammal, at least, seems to be okay food to them.

These zombies, like a number of other zombies still have basic memories of day-to-day stuff, opening doors is a good example because we do it so many times a day, they may have issues on the pull or push but will figure it out.

Except generally, they don't. They usually attempt to beat down doors, rather than use doorknobs. I think we can chalk it up to writing in early episodes that later just got dropped.

 

[NewJeffCT]

The first episode, the wife of the man and boy Rick meets tries to open the house door.

And for memory of life, again in the first episode, the little blonde girl Rick sees: She stops walking, reaches down and picks up a stuffed animal. That made me think she was alive. But then she turned around and was obviously a zombie.

So it seems the series may have made two zombie-character mistakes right in the pilot episode that they after decided to ignore. ??

Bullgrit

They only showed the doorknob moving on the inside of the house. While the implication was the zombie was turning the doorknob, did they actually show the lock on the front door? It could have been a latch or lever that the zombie was brushing or pushing against, causing the knob inside to jiggle.

 

[amerigoV]

These zombies, like a number of other zombies still have basic memories of day-to-day stuff, opening doors is a good example because we do it so many times a day, they may have issues on the pull or push but will figure it out.

Zombie or genius, you decide.