MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

As death is the final frontier for humanity, the undead, or revenants, are a long-standing example of a liminal being, stranded on the border between life and death and between person and thing. The perceptions and treatment of revenants change throughout time and cultures.

I examined how the perception and treatment of the undead differs between the European Middle Ages narratives and Medieval Fantasy RPGs (role-playing games), using Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder as examples. I have reviewed period literature sources mentioning undead and revenants, and compared their treatment, prevention, and disposal in Medieval Europe to the same in RPG systems.

The medieval literature tends to regard revenants as individuals, their prior lives referred to and contrasted with their post mortem existence, and, with few exceptions, as single entities. In RPGs, the undead are often a multiple, morally unambiguous enemy, bereft of individuality, almost mechanical monsters whose sole purpose is to provide XPs (experience points) for the players. In cases where the revenant serves as a bigger part of the adventure background, their treatment is more similar to medieval narratives.

In fantasy RPGs, where, unlike in medieval literature, the players do have narrative agency to influence the outcome, the undead are used as a way to greater power, but also serve as tools to solve difficult moral and ethical problems too uncomfortable to confront in a non-fantasy setting.