Which Are Scarier, Zombies or Demons?

Both are practically staples of the horror genre, but which one do you think is the most horrifying?

You can outrun (some) zombies and kill them with a blow to the head,but you can't do that to a demon,a demon is often smarter and more dangerous although it depends on the type of demon.You can't just kill a demon either,you have to banish them somehow

edited 19th Jan '17 4:14:23 PM by Ultimatum

With a demon, it's usually just that: one demon. Zombies come in swarms or hordes or whatever the term is. And if you get bitten, you'll become one of them, your mind and body wasting away while you're still alive and conscious of the fact.

A single demon versus a horde of zombies brings to mind something like to the Conservation of Ninjutsu trope.

Well, traditionally demons leave you alone unless you go looking for them. Zombies'll come and find you, regardless of where you hide (Max Brooks, writer of World War Z has said that's why he thinks Zombies are the scariest monsters). Still, demons mess with your soul, whereas Zombies just kill you (which results in the reanimation of your corpse, but what do you care? You're dead). Depends on which of those things bothers you more.

edited 19th Jan '17 5:17:37 PM by Robbery

How about a demon that turns people into zombies that one bite or scratch can possess someone sort of like how saika from durarara!! x2 does it in the last episodes?

Or rather, a demon with the power of necromancy?

Maybe

Zombies have been overexposed and no longer particularly work as anything other than mooks. Demons have gotten a lot of exposure as well, but the concept is vague enough that authors can still do interesting things with them

Demons, by far.

Demons

Neither. They're fucking fictional.

I find it amusing that we take the word "Zombie" from the "Zuvembies" of African folklore, which were traditionally tribal or family guardian spirits (often a re-animated ancestor) but that the Zombies that appear in Western fiction bear much more resemblance to the Revenants ("revenant" means "one who returns") of European folklore. This is perhaps understandable, given the context.

Which is why I vote for demons every time.

> Neither. They're fucking fictional.

We knew that from the beginning,no one is disputing that they are both fictional

Not to mention the fact that while zombies are mindless, shambling hunks of rotting flesh, demons are highly intelligent creatures capable of stalking their prey in methodological ways.

A demon can hunt you down through it's scrying powers,zombies just wonder aimlessly

edited 20th Jan '17 2:25:11 PM by Ultimatum

It depends on what kind of demon. The question is too vague in order for me to determine which would be more scarier.

Been generally, I find the concepts of demons damning you to a more explicit Fate Worse than Death to be scarier, so I guess they have that going for it.

Then why should you be scared by either?

Its called a thought exercise

" If demons and zombies were real,which would you be scared of the most?"

better worded question

edited 20th Jan '17 4:53:28 PM by Ultimatum

Gonna need some specifics because it depends a LOT on the rules they follow.

Zombies could be slow, they could be fast. They could be infectious, or they might not be. Maybe they rise from the recently dead/infected, maybe they rise from the grave (often corresponds with infection vs. black magic as a source). They could be fragile, or they could be borderline indestructible. Maybe severing a limb re-kills that limb, maybe it just makes an independent, active, unliving zombie arm. How smart are they? Completely unthinking, essentially human-shaped automotons? Animal-like intelligence? Semi-intelligent? Still fully capable of rational thought (rare, but not unheard of)?

Demons could be all kinds of things. Maybe they're invulnerable to mortal weapons, or maybe only Cold Iron works, or maybe they can be killed by pretty much any weapons if you apply enough force. Maybe they can act independently in our plane, maybe they can only exert their will on Earth by possessing people. And what kind of demon are they? Flying, humanoid, flying humanoid, aquatic, naga, gorgonoid, various Hindu demons? How truly evil are they? What if Satan Is Good and they follow his orders?

There are so many variables that it's almost impossible to answer for sure, but I would say that, for most rule sets that each has been known to follow in media and mythology and assuming ill intent or nature towards humans, on a one-for-one basis, demons are probably scarier than zombies, but some of the lamer demons, or not-actually-so-evil demons, or particularly smart/capable/unkillable zombies, the zombie would be scarier, even on a one-for-one basis. Even with numbers, in general, sheer media overexposure makes zombies a less frightening concept, I think. After all, we're all pretty sure as to how to kill a zombie (we might not be right, depending on what kind of zombie), but we're rather less clear (and less united) on how we think you go about killing demons, or even if you can do that.

TL;DR version: Probably demons, but it depends.

I think we need less flesh-eating zombies and more flesh-throwing ones. XD

And I can't think of that, because I'm doing my thinking in a world where they are fictional.

Then perhaps this topic isn't one that you ought to be participating in. Allow the rest of us to have some fun with our overactive imaginations.

Demons because they're real.