D&D 5E Why is animate dead considered inherently evil?

[Tolerable Tyrant]

I'm having a troublesome time understanding why the animate dead spell is considered evil. When I read the manual it states that the spall imbues the targeted corpse with a foul mimicry of life, implying that the soul is not a sentient being who is trapped in a decaying corpse. Rather, the spell does exactly what its title suggests, it only animates the corps. Now of course one could use the spell to create zombies that would hunt and kill humans, but by that same coin, they could create a labor force that needs no form of sustenance (other than for the spell to be recast of course). There have also been those who have said "the spell is associated with the negative realm which is evil", however when you ask someone why the negative realm is bad that will say "because it is used for necromancy", I'm sure you can see the fallacy in this argument.

However, I must take into account that I have only looked into the DnD magic system since yesterday so there are likely large gaps in my knowledge. PS(Apon further reflection I've decided that the animate dead spell doesn't fall into the school of necromancy, as life is not truly given to the corps, instead I believe this would most likely fall into the school of transmutation.) PPS(I apologize for my sloppy writing, I've decided I'm feeling too lazy to correct it.)

 

[Tonguez]

But zombies are no smarter than a large predatory cat. You know, the kind of neutral creature that's perfectly capable of murdering people it comes across.

Again natural tendencies - large predatory cats may be capable of killing people, and may be hungry enough to do so, but generally they wont do it indiscriminately*
Zombies on the overhand outright want to kill every living thing they come across for no better reason than its alive.

*of course domestic cats absolutely are evil and probably do want to enslave all humans

 

[Lanefan]

The MM states zombies and skeletons are powered by evil energy, possessed by a hateful entity and desire nothing more than to destroy life. Not neutral automatons. I'm just stating this as a baseline for reasons why a Necromancer might be perceived as evil.

But, for some reason, the books that were written for the game and that the monsters therein are being ignored for the purpose of this thread. I'm not even sure what people are arguing.

We're not all coming from a 5e perspective.

Edit to add: even though the thread is flagged "5e" the question applies to other editions as well.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

We're not all coming from a 5e perspective.

Edit to add: even though the thread is flagged "5e" the question applies to other editions as well.

So, you're trying to answer the OP by coming at it from the perspective of a game that they aren't playing?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I think D is your strongest argument about undead creation as inherently evil but it does not come from anything the book asserts or points out, it is just your observation that created undead are evil.

I'd also like to point out (again, but it was last year, so I understand if people don't remember) that alignment in statblocks is just a suggestion and individual entities may differ. So zombies are not any more inherently evil than orcs or goblins are. And there are a lot of creatures in MM that have evil alignment in their stablocks. So I think that arguing that making creatures that that have evil as their default MM alignment is an evil act is pretty damn questionable, as it would literally mean that orcs having babies is an evil act.

 

[MGibster]

What makes him a villain?

He's raising an army of undead.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

He's raising an army of undead.

Well, he needs the army to defend the nation from a mind flayer invasion.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Man, if making things that are inherently harmful was 'evil', we'd all be in trouble.

Which us why I loved the 'negative energy causes entropy or is inherently destructive to life, which is evil' thing from the BoXDs. All of us are smuggling enough fungi, prions, bacteria and viruses to make Asmodeus look like Pippi Longstocking. And he can't harbor disease, so he's morally better than all of us by that logic.

 

[payn]

Well, he needs the army to defend the nation from a mind flayer invasion.

Ends don't justify the means. Sometimes the world needs evil to fight evil. Like assassins... oh no lets not get into good assassins...

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I'd also like to point out (again, but it was last year, so I understand if people don't remember) that alignment in statblocks is just a suggestion and individual entities may differ. So zombies are not any more inherently evil than orcs or goblins are. And there are a lot of creatures in MM that have evil alignment in their stablocks. So I think that arguing that making creatures that that have evil as their default MM alignment is an evil act is pretty damn questionable, as it would literally mean that orcs having babies is an evil act.

I didn't look at the 'alignment' in the stat block of skeletons and zombies. I read the description. It was pretty easy to infer they might be evil just from the description. Animate dead isn't the only way to create zombies and skeletons even.

"They heed the summons of spellcasters who call them from their stony tombs and ancient battlefields, or rise of their own accord in places saturated with death and loss, awakened by stirrings of necromantic energy or the presence of corrupting evil."

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I think it has everything to do with expectations. Players expect zombies to eat their Characters' brains. If Players Characters' go to a cemetery at night and encounter some zombies having a bake sale for charity, then one of two things is going to happen: A) The Players won't bat an eye because this what is expected of zombies. Or B) The Players are going to be surprised because this is unexpected behavior and now the Dungeon Master has some explaining to do. That last part is crucial, if the Dungeon Master doesn't explain why the zombies are behaving in an unexpected way then it's just confusing.