History Main / RevenantZombie

* The [[ComicBook/BlackestNight Black Lantern Corps]] is definitely this version; they retain the powers and attitudes of the live characters, but pursue those who appeared to have "[[DeathIsCheap cheated]]" Death. In the DCU, this could mean just about everyone, but there actually are SOME distinctions.
%%* The Returners from ''ComicBook/DeadEyesOpen''.
* A great many undead in the various Creator/ECComics were revenants out to deal KarmicDeath. (The others were usually {{Voodoo Zombie}}s.)
* The "slashers" in ''ComicBook/HackSlash'' are another rare example of a modern canon repeatedly depicting this kind of undead. Scientists researching them actually refer to them as "revenants", or "revs".
* Gwen, of ''ComicBook/IZombie'', though technically a zombie by the series' classifications, does not rot (though she can't naturally heal, either), and retains her life's memories and personality, though she requires brains to maintain them. The series also has creatures called revenants, who also retain their intelligence, but require living human flesh to survive.
* Harald Jaekelsson and his crew in ''ComicBook/ThorVikings'' are undead products of a wise man's spell, who cursed them to wander aimlessly for a thousand years. They are [[AxCrazy violent and psychotic]], but only because that's what they were like when they were alive.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': Zeus creates his "Gargareans" in an attempt to replace the Amazons. The Gargareans are a bunch of Classical Greek Heroes raised from the dead, with their memories intact but their bodies looking a bit off. The only one of them who actually looks like a living human is Achilles, and Zeus put more effort and a stolen god's heart into Achilles' new body.
* ''ComicBook/WormwoodGentlemanCorpse'' is a hybrid of this and the ParasiteZombie: he's an extra-dimensional grub-like creature who possesses and manipulates human bodies, but he's an independent and fairly moral person with no interest in reproducing himself or attacking random people.
* Dead Girl in ''ComicBook/XForceMilliganAndAllred'' is fully sentient, doesn't rot, and first rose to take vengeance on the guy who murdered her. She has limited memories of her life, however, which causes her some angst.
* In ''ComicBook/ZombiesChristmasCarol'' many of the Hungry Dead are like their normal selves, just constantly starving and undead.

* The movie adaptation of ''Dylan Dog'' has Dylan's sidekick come back as a zombie after one monster or another kills him. It takes him quite some time to get the message that he is a zombie. Without adequate care and counseling, it is stated that he could end up like a Romero zombie.

* In ''Film/{{Ghost Town|1988}}'', Devlin and his gang of outlaws are physical revenants, granted a physical existence courtesy of Devlin's DealWithTheDevil. The other inhabitants of the town are more like ghosts; trapped in the town by the sheriff's curse.

* Some of the infected in ''Series/AllOfUsAreDead'' may retain some aspects of their humanity, particularly their personality as a human. Granted these "hambies" as they are called are still driven to bite humans like their fully infected counterparts. [[spoiler:But at least one of them, Choi Nam-Ra, does her best to fight these impulses, to the point of biting her own flesh, and departing from the group of protagonists to keep from endangering them.]]

* Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, the protagonist's LoveInterest in ''Series/PushingDaisies'', is this. She was brought back to life by her boyfriend after being murdered, and though she completely retains her human soul, personality and her good looks, she is actually undead.
* Billy Russo in ''Series/ThePunisher2017'' calls Frank Castle one of these while interrogating him, claiming he's "wandering the earth completely unaware he's already dead". But in another point of view Frank fits the trope to a tee; he's a vengeful warrior that came back to life out of sheer determination for revenge after being shot (seemingly) fatally in the head.
* French drama series ''Series/LesRevenants'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin obviously]]) revolves around said revenants and their return to a "normal" life.

** The shows host The Cryptkeeper may well be one as, while he appears to be a rotting corpse, he still displays a fair amount of intelligence and eloquence, despite some... [[FauxAffablyEvil unsavoury habits]].

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' has [[spoiler:Michael Afton, aka [[PlayerCharacter Eggs Benedict]]. The game's true ending has Ennard remove his insides to use his body as a skin suit to escape. The Custom Night cutscenes reveal this didn't work exactly as hoped: eventually Michael's body decayed to the point where it wouldn't be viable. However, once Ennard is ejected Michael sits up with glowing white eyes. The "Golden Freddy" cutscene shows that even he is confused about his survival. This does not mean that he is not going to track down his father ([[BigBad William Afton]]) to end him. [[VideoGame/FazbearPizzeriaSimulator He and Henry make good on that.]]]]

* Some of the infected in ''Series/AllOfUsAreDead'' may retain some aspects of their humanity, particularly their personality as a human. Granted these "hambies" as they are called are still driven to bite humans like their fully infected counterparts. But at least one of them, Choi Nam-Ra, does her best to fight these impulses, to the point of biting her own flesh, and departing from the group of protagonists to keep from endangering them.

* [[spoiler: The resurrected Number Ones]] in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}''.

* In the story "It" in the Warren Comics magazine Eerie in the 1970's, the zombie of a mentally challenged young man who was an adult physically when he died goes back on a quest to the home he and his family were unfairly forced out of. Rather subverted in that he doesn't kill or injure anyone directly in the course of his quest, although he does indirectly cause plenty of havoc what with being a walking, decomposed corpse and all. His quest? Bringing his much-loved teddy bear back to his grave with him. When he gets back, one of the men who screwed over his family is waiting for him, expecting to be killed- the zombie simply gets on with going back into his grave, and the man realizes that he is dead as well, and fades into the grass.

* ''Fanfic/WhenReasonFails'': Stalkers are revenants that return from death because of the intense love they feel for someone else (called their Bonded). They retain their human appearance, but only require affectionate/romantic contact with their Bonded to remain alive, which causes the Stalker to be completely devoted to their Bonded. The main problem with them is that they tend to slowly evolve into {{Yandere}}s that are willing to do anything to keep the Bonded all to themselves, even murdering the latter's friends. The only way to kill them is if the Bonded dies or genuinely stops loving them, and even then, it's not permanent - if the Bonded ever feels even a bit of nostalgia for the Stalker, the latter will return from death. [[spoiler:Ochako is a Stalker, with Izuku as her Bonded, but according to Shoto she's the most high-functioning Stalker he's ever seen, since she's actually willing to share Izuku with Himiko - even after she went berserk because TheMasquerade kept them from being affectionate with Izuku for what might have been ''years''.]]

* The zombies in ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' will slowly decompose and will follow any order given by their master, but they retain all their memories and their personality. This gets played for laugh when [[spoiler:Vaurien Scapegrace]] is zombified and order to bite some mortals and turn them into zombies - because they retain their personalities, the members of the zombie horde act like average people, at one point bickering about whether or not flesh or brains would taste better.
* ''Literature/TheSpear'': The [[{{Ghostapo}} Thule Society]] keeps custody of [[spoiler: Heinrich Himmler]]'s mummified corpse. Trained to drain the vitality of living bodies, [[spoiler: Himmler]]'s discarnate spirit eventually returns to its decayed earthly vessel.

* ''Literature/ZombiesVsUnicorns'' story "Cold Hands" has zombies most like this - something about the area makes dead people just rise from the grave sometimes, but they're fairly benign, retain some intelligence and memories, and are usually put to work doing menial labor. James especially is a Type R.

* ''Series/GhostWhisperer'' had "step-ins", souls who posses very recently dead bodies, usually out of love. The problem is if the transfer's successful [[VictoryGuidedAmnesia the soul loses its memories]] and, not knowing why its doing things like stalking strangers, eventually goes insane and commits suicide. For example, a guy who possessed a badly damaged corpse whose "owner" really didn't appreciate being [[GrandTheftMe body-jacked]] ([[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness this was before step-ins were properly explained]]), a guy who entered a man's body to reunite with his girlfriend but didn't remember why he kept stalking her, and [[spoiler: main character Melinda's husband, who eventually regained his memories after a near-death experience]]. The explanation was provided by [[spoiler: the ghost of an insane asylum's doctor who talked to living patients while they were having electroshock therapy in order to drive them more insane and become step-ins themselves because he wanted to find a way to become one without losing his memories]].

* [[http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15987636 "Night Walker"]] by Hayakawa-P feat. [[{{Music/Vocaloid}} Kagamine Len]]. Len rises from the dead out of the blue one night. He doesn't remember exactly how he ended up in a grave nor who he even ''is'', but he does remember his lover, Rin, and trudges through to see her again and make sure she's not alone. As the song goes on, he starts to remember more about Rin and his life before he died - it's heavily implied that [[spoiler:Rin is the one responsible for his death]], but he doesn't care and ventures all the way to see her anyways.

** Revenants in 5e are humanoids that willed themselves back to life to accomplish some purpose, usually revenge on somebody. They are absolutely unkillable until they accomplish their goal, and always know where their target is. The catch is that when the goal is completed, they die for good- and since they have nothing left to tie them to the world, ''nothing'' can bring them back.

* ''VideoGame/CodeVein'': Despite clearly being intended as essentially vampires, the protagonists of the game are reffered to as Revenants and, blood thirst aside, ''do'' have more in common with this trope than they do with vampires: they are created by implanting a parasite into a dead human being that grants ResurrectiveImmortality, along with various other super-human abilities, with the intention to create an army of undying super-soldiers in the war against [[spoiler: the Aragami]]. The blood-drinking was a side-effect the scientists couldn't figure out how to cure.

** ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' ups the ante: in this continuity, Revenants are made from human volunteers who are butchered and cybernetically augmented without anesthetics, then zapped with unfiltered demonic energy until they expire and almost immediately come back to life from said energy - all in order to be used as a SuperSoldier.

* The Unsent in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' are a heavy-duty version. They're dead people who are driven to complete a task or take care of their unfinished business. Many who die violently in Spira end up going insane and becoming fiends, but an Unsent retains their human form and sentience through sheer force of will and nothing short of completing their task or a Summoner's ritual will send them to the afterlife.[[spoiler: Auron reveals himself to be one of the rare good Unsent in the game close to the end. Though if the player pays close enough attention, it's hinted at earlier on when Yuna is sending another spirit and Auron grunts and falls to his knees, resisting her sending. [[IdiotBall For whatever reason, the rest of the party seem to fail to notice that one of their own is doubled over, in pain, on the ground.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemptionUndeadNightmare'' has [[spoiler:John Marston]] become this after completion of the main story - this is stated to be because he was buried with a flask of Holy Water, giving him the body of a zombie but the soul of a man. His appearance in this state strongly implies that [[spoiler: his death in this alternate timeline is the same as in the [[VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption original game]], with him retaining some of the bullet wounds from being shot by Ross' firing squad, and running lopsidedly due to being shot in the leg, as well as his default pose being the same stance he held after he was riddled with bullets.]]