History Main / UndeathlyPallor

* The Beastmaster, a [[RevenantZombie revenant]] who appears in the ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'' WebOriginal/JennyEverywhere comic ''[[https://thecrewofthecoppercoloredcupids.wordpress.com/2022/08/13/jenny-everywhere-and-the-master-of-monsters/ Jenny Everywhere and the Master of Monsters]]'', sports pale-green skin as the only conspicuous sign of his undead nature.

Characters who become one of TheUndead will develop pale or sometimes blue or green-tinged skin. In severe cases with visible (and deathly still) [[TaintedVeins purple veins]] underneath the skin. Even people who were dark-skinned[[labelnote:*]] (Or had a fake tan. Can you imagine facing an undead eternity with skin the color of a bleached-out orange?)[[/labelnote]] in life will have it turn [[HadesShaded ash grey, or dark like soot]].

** Maria's case may be FridgeBrilliance since not all Latins are brown-skinned.
* Variation in the ''Literature/OldKingdom'' series. The actual Dead aren't noted to be pale (since most of them that actually have physical bodies are too badly decayed to tell) but {{Necromancer}}s (as well as Abhorsens, who practice necromancy to destroy, rather than create or control, the undead) are described as noticeably paler than those who don't practice that art. So it's pallor from associating with death and the undead, rather than from ''being'' dead yourself.

* ''Film/DarkCity'' - The Strangers are [[spoiler: alien energy forms who inhabit human corpses as a means of performing routine physical actions]].

* The Morlocks in ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'' have a similar reason for their pallor.

* PlayedWith in ''The Ashtown Burials'' with Nolan, who is unsettlingly thin and deathly pale with hair "the colour of dust" (despite being born in Persia) and creepy jutting veins. He shrugs off deadly venom and notes it will make him feel alive, and the heroes start to wonder...but it turns out he's not dead after all: he's ''[[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortal]]''. Subverted further when we meet other transmortals, who look perfectly normal, so Nolan's creepy appearance is more likely due to [[DisproportionateRetribution the curse]].

* The [[TabletopGame/{{Exalted}} Abyssal Exalted]] get this in spades - As they get more powerful, Abyssals are required to either become pale (if they were light-skinned in life) and [[EvilIsSexy beautiful]], or decayed and monstrous. As a high Appearance Abyssal's colors change towards the natural extreme they are closest to, Abyssals who were dark-skinned in life invert this trope, with skin colors resembling obsidian.

This trope is so common it's usually a [[IncrediblyLamePun dead]] giveaway that [[VirusVictimSymptoms something is wrong with Alice/Bob]] when they suddenly show up this shade of pale. Smart characters will have their NotAZombie sense ping them as being "[[NotHimself somehow]] [[GlamourFailure off"]]. Which of course makes the [[DefiedTrope defiance]] of this trope a #1 priority on every smart undead's list of {{Masquerade}} reinforcing tricks. Settings where this trope is subverted have much more dangerous undead for being indistinguishable from the living. Another curious exception is that sometimes people who were brown-skinned or darker in life may look exactly as vivid after death as they did when they were alive for unexplained reasons. Probably something to do with the SpecialEffects budget and wanting to avoid a [[SpecialEffectsFailure gaffe]].

* Franchise/TheHauntedMansion: naturally, most of the deceased denizens of the Haunted Mansion have this kind of appearance. Special mention, though, should go to the narration by the Ghost Host, who suggests that the ride-goers themselves have this: "Your '''cadaverous pallor''' betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis."

Characters who become one of TheUndead will develop pale or sometimes blue or green-tinged skin. In severe cases with visible (and deathly still) [[TaintedVeins purple veins]] underneath the skin. Even people of color[[labelnote:*]] (Or fake tan. Can you imagine facing an undead eternity with skin the color of a bleached-out orange?)[[/labelnote]] who were dark-skinned in life will have it turn [[HadesShaded ash grey, or dark like soot]].

Characters who become one of TheUndead will develop pale or sometimes blue or green tinged skin. In severe cases with visible (and deathly still) [[TaintedVeins purple veins]] underneath the skin. Even people of color[[labelnote:*]] (Or fake tan. Can you imagine facing an undead eternity with skin the color of a bleached out orange?)[[/labelnote]] who were dark-skinned in life will have it turn [[HadesShaded ash grey, or dark like soot]].

* ''ComicBook/GIZombie'': Jared Kabe, the titular zombie, has paper white skin with visible veins.

* ''WesternAnimation/NightOfTheAnimatedDead'': The undead in the movie have chalk white skin.

* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'' plays this trope straight with caucasian vampires, but Laurent presents an odd contrast. He's not at all pale in the first movie, but was washed out and greyish though, at least in the second film.

* All the zombies in ''Series/InTheFlesh'' look white and their pupils in their eyes look like crosses. They wear make-up and contacts to appear like the living.

* The zombies of ''Series/IZombie'' become noticeably pale with bleached out hair. At least one zombie deliberately dyes his hair to conceal this.

* ''VideoGame/BladedFury'' has the supernatural-themed enemies and humanoid demon bosses like General Wu and Bogu, all of them who looks human except for having pale, blue-white skin - an indicator that they're no longer mortals.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' the Forsaken have skin in various shades of grey, green and blue. Death Knights also tend to be paler than a living character with the same setting of skin shade. They also have access to several different skin tones not available to living players, mostly in greens and greys. Though some of them are a bit odd - blood elves apparently decay into charcoal.
* ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' has the Drowning Doom, whom all their units have this look to them. Most noticeable is Drowned Ophelia, the doppelganger counterpart of Ironheade's Ophelia, who, naturally, turns from a healthy looking, yet slightly pale PerkyGoth, to an openly corpse blue after her transformation into the Queen of Black Tears.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' likes to vary with this, as the zombies in game can be anywhere from grey or blue skinned, to a sickly looking yellow.

* In ''Webcomic/ZombieRanch'' people turned into zombies become noticeably green. Other mammals just seem to go green on the inside.

* ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'': When they're not under the ''substantial'' amount of prosthetic makeup their manager Kotaro uses to make them look alive for public appearances, the girls of Franchouchou are all a grayish-blue. [[ShrinkingViolet Junko]], who died when her plane exploded and had to be reassembled from her LudicrousGibs fished out of the sea, additionally has patches of pale green, white, and dark gray, presumably from her pieces being in different states of decay when they were recovered.

* ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'': The girls of Franchouchou have skin in various shades of blue, green, and grey, which their manager Kotaro has to cover up with extensive make-up work so they can pass for human.

'''Answer:''' You actually checked? Wow, okay. It's [[WesternAnimation/CorpseBride Emily]], the girl on the right with the boney arms.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' plays this trope straight with caucasian vampires, but Laurent presents an odd contrast. He's not at all pale in the first movie, but was washed out and greyish though, at least in the second film.

* In the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' books, Maria the vampire looked "porcelain" despite being Mexican. The book is pretty inconsistent about what happens to People of Color when they become vampires. Maria was really pale and Laurent was olive-skinned (but it was never stated what race he was). There are some other vampires who are non-Caucasian, but their skin color isn't really mentioned. The male half vampire from South America was definitely dark-skinned, though.

* Laura Moon on ''Series/AmericanGods2019'' gets a paint job from Mr. Ibis in order to avert this effect, although it deteriorates along with the rest of her. It's fairly subtle since actress Emily Browning is pretty fair-skinned to begin with.

* In the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E20WhatIsAndWhatShouldNeverBe "What Is And What Should Never Be"]], this is a SubvertedTrope. Sam finds Dean and the woman in white hanging limply with pale faces and unblinking red-rimmed eyes, but they both survive.
** [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghosts and vengeful spirits]] play it straight, as does [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Angela Maison]] in [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E04ChildrenShouldntPlayWithDeadThings "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things"]].

* Laura Moon on ''Series/AmericanGods'' gets a paint job from Mr. Ibis in order to avert this effect, although it deteriorates along with the rest of her. It's fairly subtle since actress Emily Browning is pretty fair-skinned to begin with.

* ''WesternAnimation/NightOfAnimatedDead'': The undead in the movie have chalk white skin.

* ''Film/NightOfAnimatedDead'': The undead in the movie have chalk white skin.

[[folder:Films]]
* ''Film/CallOfTheUndead'': The zombies in the film have a pale white complexion.

* ''Film/DarkCity'' - The Strangers are [[spoiler: alien energy forms who inhabit human corpses as a means of performing routine physical actions]].
* The zombies in ''Film/DawningOfTheDead'' tend to have pale white skin.
* ''Film/TheJurassicDead'': Most zombified people in the movie turn grey. For some reason, Gunnar's skin just turned a noticeable shade of green.