History Main / ParasiteZombie

* YES, Real Life! Scary as it sounds, there are certain parasites and other critters that can take over another critter, making them effectively their own personal zombie. Of particular note is [[http://people.smu.edu/eheise/Leucochloridium_paradoxum.htm Leucochloridiom paradoxum]], which completely turns a snail into its slave. It first fills the snail's body cavities so it can't retract its antennae/tentacles, then forces it to move out into the open where birds can find it. Since the infection also makes the antennae look like tasty caterpillars instead of nasty snail bits, this ensures the bird eats said antennae - and then gets infected itself. Though not mind controlled, of course.

*** That and [[FridgeLogic somehow not attack other infected animals]]
* [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13860891 Zombie ladybirds]], controlled by a parasitic wasp. Around 25% of victims can actually survive the experience--which is unusual, as most parasitic wasps inevitably kill their victims.

* Toxoplasm is a parasite that has a lifecycle that involves moving from mice to cats and back again. Cats are infected when they eat infected mice. The mice have their minds warped by the parasite so that they are ''attracted to cats''. This decreases their life expectancy considerably. There's a theory that this is the reason the CrazyCatLady exists. It is unproven if the parasite is capable of affecting human behavior to any large extent, but if it does, the supposed changes to behavior the parasite causes in humans (surrounding themselves with cats) increases the likelihood that they will be ''eaten by cats when they die''.

** [[BeeAfraid Hell Wasps]] are intelligent wasp swarms that have the ability to reanimate the body of anything they kill as a zombie to serve them as a temporary mobile shelter. Upon killing the zombie, the wasps swarm out and attack.

* [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13860891 Zombie ladybirds]], controlled by a parasitic wasp. Around 25% of victims can actually survive the experience.

The Parasite Zombie is a subtrope of the PlagueZombie and of ParasiticHorror. [[PuppeteerParasite These zombies are created specifically via exposure to a form of parasitic lifeform]], be it the only stage or part of a series of life stages. Good for video games, as the [[MetamorphosisMonster advanced forms]] allow for advanced enemies and bosses to still be zombies. Also can be used to justify why the heroes are miraculously uninfected: It's generally easy to avoid the parasites that cause this type, once you know what they are.

The Parasite Zombie is a subtrope of the PlagueZombie. [[PuppeteerParasite These zombies are created specifically via exposure to a form of parasitic lifeform]], be it the only stage or part of a series of life stages. Good for video games, as the [[MetamorphosisMonster advanced forms]] allow for advanced enemies and bosses to still be zombies. Also can be used to justify why the heroes are miraculously uninfected: It's generally easy to avoid the parasites that cause this type, once you know what they are.

[[quoteright:275:[[VideoGame/HalfLife https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_parazomb_9882_1260.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:275:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CP30zgAw2o "HGAAAAAAAAAAAAA EM PLEH...PLEH DOG HO...HGAAAAA"]]]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'': According to Kamisaman, [[spoiler:Zombified Magical Girls a.k.a. heroines' Zombified Selves]] in Demon's Tower dungeon, are heroines' alternate selves who are infected by Earworms (a [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic fungus]] from Demon Realm). Earworms infect the hosts' brains through their ears and gradually corrupt them into zombies, both physically and mentally.

* ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'': According to Kamisaman, [[spoiler:Zombified Magical Girls a.k.a. heroines' Zombified Selves]] in Demon's Tower dungeon, are caused by Earworms (a [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic fungus]] from Demon Realm), which infect the hosts' brains through their ears and gradually corrupt them into zombies, both physically and mentally.

* ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'': According to Kamisaman, [[spoiler:Zombified Magical Girls a.k.a. heroines' Zombified Selves]] in Demon's Tower dungeon, are created when Earworms, a type of [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic fungus]] from Demon Realm, infect the hosts' brains through their ears and gradually corrupt them into zombies, both physically and mentally.

* ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'': According to Kamisaman, [[spoiler:Zombified Magical Girls a.k.a. heroines' Zombified Selves]] in Demon's Tower dungeon, are created when Earworms, the {{puppeteer parasite}}s from Demon Realm, infect the hosts' brains through their ears and gradually corrupt them into zombies, both physically and mentally.

** In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'', the first thing Samus goes to do is find the members of the Galactic Federation that went down in the area. She finds them dead... and they're still shooting at her. As it stands, the Ing have somehow infected them and turned them into meat puppets, but the Ing also run about the planet of Aether doing the same to living creatures as well and taking them over like puppets. At least any infected ones are always purple which makes them easy to spot.

* ''{{Starcraft}}'': Averted in the first game, where the Parasite ability only serves to give you permanent vision of an enemy unit. The second game has the Infestors, who mind-control units via a bif fleshy tentacle implanted in the target's brain (including, somehow, vehicles and spaceships).

* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' has Spider Drones, which are Hollows whose bodies have been taken over by the spiders that overran Brightstone Cove Tseldora. The spider legs are latched on to the backs of the Undead by their fangs and most of their legs, ripping away the skin on the stomach and chest, while one limb punctures the body through the back of the neck, dislocating the jaw so it can poke out from the mouth.

* The X-Parasites in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' are something like this, though they basically clone the creature they infect,
* In ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'', the first thing Samus goes to do is find the members of the Galactic Federation that went down in the area. She finds them dead... and they're still shooting at her. As it stands, the Ing have somehow infected them and turned them into meat puppets, but the Ing also run about the planet of Aether doing the same to living creatures as well and taking them over like puppets. At least any infected ones are always purple which makes them easy to spot.

* ''VideoGame/BugFables'' contains a rare heroic example, in [[spoiler:Leif]].

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', while NotUsingTheZWord, has the Flood, an alien parasite who can use small squid-like 'infection forms' or airborne spores to turn dead or living bodies into highly-mutated zombies with CombatTentacles. Once the infected are too damaged or decayed to fight, they begin to bloat and explode, releasing more parasites, which go on to infect other organisms and so on and so forth. After the Flood infect enough bodies, they form a HiveMind known as a Gravemind, as well as a variety of other creatures and environments that made of pure Flood biomass. They are highly adept, if somewhat suicidal, in their tactics and strategies, and perfectly capable of utilizing all sorts of advanced technology, from plasma rifles to teleportation grids. The most recent Gravemind incarnation even enjoys speaking in [[GratuitousIambicPentameter trochaic heptameter]]. The only organic sentient beings that seem truly immune to direct infection are those lacking a central nervous system, though they can still be killed and converted to Flood biomass. To top it off, the Flood are revealed in ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'' to be [[spoiler:the malevolent remains of an ancient and highly-advanced species known simply as the Precursors.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', while NotUsingTheZWord, has the Flood, an alien parasite who can use small squid-like 'infection forms' or airborne spores to turn dead or living bodies into highly-mutated zombies with CombatTentacles. Once the infected are too damaged or decayed to fight, they begin to bloat and explode, releasing more parasites, which go on to infect other and so on and so forth. After the Flood infect enough bodies, they form a HiveMind known as a Gravemind, as well as a variety of other creatures and environments that made of pure Flood biomass. They are highly adept, if somewhat suicidal, in their tactics and strategies, and perfectly capable of utilizing all sorts of advanced technology, from plasma rifles to teleportation grids. The most recent Gravemind incarnation even enjoys speaking in [[GratuitousIambicPentameter trochaic heptameter]]. The only organic sentient beings that seem truly immune to direct infection are those lacking a central nervous system, though they can still be killed and converted to Flood biomass. To top it off, the Flood are revealed in ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'' to be [[spoiler:the malevolent remains of an ancient and highly-advanced species known simply as the Precursors.]]

* The infected crew members of ''VideoGame/SystemShock2''.

** ''Franken Fran'' gets in on this again in chapter 47, with more traditional-style Romero zombies and a small parody of ''Film/DawnOfTheDead''. Notably, after being bitten by a zombie and examining the effects (by decapitating herself and remotely dissecting her own body, because [[MadScientist that's how Fran rolls]]), Fran discovers that [[spoiler:the victims are actually alive and [[AndIMustScream entirely aware during their zombie condition but unable to control themselves]], and that the zombie plague is easily reversible with the right treatment - ''but nobody knows this,'' and have used the zombie outbreak as an excuse to go on rampaging kill-sprees]].

The Parasite Zombie is a subtrope of the PlagueZombie. [[PuppeteerParasite These zombies are created specifically via exposure to a form of parasitic lifeform]], be it the only stage or part of a series of ilife stages. Good for video games, as the [[MetamorphosisMonster advanced forms]] allow for advanced enemies and bosses to still be zombies. Also can be used to justify why the heroes are miraculously uninfected: It's generally easy to avoid the parasites that cause this type, once you know what they are.

* ''VideoGame/CodeVein'': The Revenants all carry a parasite called BOR inside their hearts that allows them to constantly regenerate despite the parasite technically making them walking dead. The parasite however needs to be constantly fed or else it will start to erode both their body and mind, causing them to become Lost which are a more straight example of the trope.

The Parasite Zombie is a subtrope of the PlagueZombie. [[PuppeteerParasite These zombies are created specifically via exposure to a form of parasitic lifeform]], be it the only stage or part of a series of ilife stages. Good for video games, as the [[MetamorphosMonster advanced forms]] allow for advanced enemies and bosses to still be zombies. Also can be used to justify why the heroes are miraculously uninfected: It's generally easy to avoid the parasites that cause this type, once you know what they are.

The Parasite Zombie is a subtrope of the PlagueZombie. [[PuppeteerParasite These zombies are created specifically via exposure to a form of parasitic lifeform]], be it the only stage or part of a series of mutations. Good for video games, as the advanced mutations allow for advanced enemies and bosses to still be zombies. Also can be used to justify why the heroes are miraculously uninfected: It's generally easy to avoid the parasites that cause this type, once you know what they are.