Is this just The Cavalry but with ghosts?
Aside 1. the support having something personal against the enemy 2. lasting only one battle, which I doubt are common in examples, this is The Same, but More Specific
Check if there's even a personal reason and temporary-ness?
Unsorted:
- Backup From Otherworld
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- Boss Arena Idiocy
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- Fantastic Legal Weirdness
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- Revival Loophole
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- The Necrocracy
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Quotes wicking. Zero Context (2)
- Badass Army:My peerless army! Their bodies may return to ash, but their spirits still hear my call! These men are my legendary heroes – my loyal followers!They’re my true friends - breaking the rules of space and time to fight once more at my side! They are my treasure within treasures; they’re my right to rule! They make up my mightiest Noble Phantasm — Ionian Hetairoi!!— Rider (Alexander the Great), Fate/Zero
- Hollywood Exorcism:->"You come to conquer.
You come in fury.
You come bearing ancient weapons.
You come with a sword of the Ninth House.
You come to claim a body. This is all we know. You helpless ghost, this is not supplication... We came at invitation; whither did you? I am a spirit-caller of the House of the Fifth. I am Abigail for my mothers, Pent for my people. I who died am come in the fullness of my power, at the bidding of the Lyctor you seek to supplant. I will sever the thanergetic link you have to this woman, and I bid you—get the hell out."— Abigail Pent, Harrow the Ninth
Indexes (10)
Other:
Just mentioning as comparison:
Unintentional undead army
- Literature.Maresi:* Cavalry of the Dead: In the climax to Red Mantle, the dead themselves come from the silverwood trees where they've been buried to stop the nádor's men from slaughtering their still living descendants.
Something else resurrects, and singular resurrectee
- Literature.Bloodbones:* Cavalry of the Dead: If you defeat the Ghost Pirate Captain Velyarde, you can enlist his help to pursue Cinnabar's ship, the Virago.
No statement of undead-ness.
- Literature.Corum:* Cavalry of the Dead: The Margrave's crew chase off Glandyth's invading forces though Corum accuses them of not being able to do anything other than look scary.
Not warrior undead
- Music.Ayreon:* Cavalry of the Dead: In "The Castle Hall", everyone that the Barbarian and the Knight had slain comes back from the dead to haunt them.
Just mass Summon Magic of ghosts / undead?
- AdaptationalBadass.Anime And Manga:* Ryu in Street Fighter Alpha: Generations is able to summon the Cavalry of the Dead to fight with him, a power he most certainly doesn’t possess in the games.
- Webcomic.I Log In Alone:* Cavalry of the Dead: Jung developed the power to summon an army of the souls of players that he collected.
Just using semi-individual undead against enemies.
- StarWarsTheCloneWarsSeasonOneToSeasonSix.Tropes A To F* Cavalry of the Dead: The Nightsisters are able to revive the corpses of their fallen to battle on their behalf. Though effective against the Separatist droids, Grievous treats them like only a nuisance.
Temporary Summoning / return of the undead
- Breather Level:For all the game hyping it up, Evil version of Minas Tirith is an absolute breather in terms of difficulty. Enemy does not attack you at all, allowing the player to take over pretty much all the resourses on the map, the Rohan reinforcements are easily dealt with with the usage of pikemen, and when Aragorn comes with the Army of the Damned, said army will vanish way before it can hurt you much at all. Sadly Minas Tirith is also the final level of the campaign.
- Hellgate:* The Underworld Gates in Ushio and Tora are scattered all over Japan and usually resemble caverns or holes, sometimes closed by boulders wrapped in shimenawa. Harmless to living humans, they drag in wandering souls and living Youkai, sending them to the Underworld. Tora mentions seeing the claw marks of a monster outside one of these gates and he's nearly sucked inside one too. During the manga-only Mist arc, they encounter a portal in northern Japan near Tono and use it to dispose of the Nigh-Invulnerable mist Youkai Shumuna. During the final battle against Hakumen no Mono, the mystic Saya and her Zashiki-warashi open a gate to the Underworld resembling an elaborated Japanese-style door to allow the Cavalry of the Dead to join the battle. A special ritual involving a bonfire and Sacred Bow and Arrows is required to open it, and the Zashiki has to sacrifice himself to close it from the inside once the battle is over.
- Anime.Kemurikusa:* Cavalry of the Dead: Episode 12 has the dead sisters, Riku, Ryoku and Ryou returning one last time for the final battle. They vanish soon after, not without saying their goodbyes.
- Big Bad Wannabe.Literature: Presumably lasts for only a single battle, since it's listed on the trope page.Sauron effectively pins down Gondor with an advance force that is a fraction of his military might and is only defeated with help from a 3,000 year old forgotten ghost army
Just the undead?
- Anime.Ginga Densetsu Weed:* Cavalry of the Dead: While they're not doing any actual fighting, the spirits of all the past Ohu soldiers (including the recently deceased such as Smith and John) appears at Weed's battle against Hougen, giving Weed the strength to stand up again after he's nearly been defeated, and simultaneously gives Hougen a bad scare by directly speaking to him, apparently only being visible to him and Weed. And when Weed's next Battouga misses, a sudden powerful wind is created to send him spinning straight back towards Hougen. (The manga version is especially intense.) In the anime only, they're also implied to have created the lightning that ultimately kills Hougen.
- ComicBook.Fables:* Cavalry of the Dead: In The Good Prince, Ambrose takes advantage of the fact that all of his subjects from the well are technically ghosts, and summons their forms to take out the Adversary's army by having the ghosts terrify the army into fleeing.
- Characters.Young Justice Abridged Unaffiliated Villains:* Cavalry of the Dead: The assorted Talons, which they brag about to Batman, a man who has a code against killing. Finding himself up against mooks that don't die from lethal force is overjoying to Bruce.
- Recap.Star Wars The Clone Wars S 4 E 19 Massacre:* Cavalry of the Dead: Old Daka can resurrect the dead Nightsisters to protect the coven. And this army is truly nightmare-inducing!
Zero Context Pothole:
- Awesome.Catch Your Breath:* Wei Wuxian's first appearance in the story is during his independent hunt for Wen cultivators in the backwoods of Yunmeng. Tomoe is the one who runs into him first and instantly realizes he has the kind of power that can turn the tide of the war.
- Fridge.Cuphead:* Well, considering that he's a decorated soldier, based on the background of his stage... Perhaps Werner's fellows still got his back.
Unclear resurrection
- Literature.Commonweal:* Cavalry of the Dead: Literally: everyone who dies latched to a Standard of the Line will be necromantically preserved and still active within the Standard. Chloris and the other students are told that they'll eventually learn how to raise skeletons.
Non-temporary resurrection?
- Animate Dead:* An Army of the Dead: Sorcerer-Captain Emorc resurrects a whole army. Interestingly enough, that army is the heroes of the story.
Mentioning as a ZCE side event
- Stock Scream:* The Return of the King uses it twice. First, during the scene in which Faramir's troops are being pursued by fellbeasts, a Gondorian soldier utters one after a fellbeast drops him. The second one occurs when Legolas knocks a Haradrim off the latter's oliphaunt perch and right into the Cavalry of the Dead.
- Awesome.Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation Mo Dao Zu Shi:** The scene where Wei Wuxian arrives in Chongyang is as nightmarish as it is awe-striking. It's only a minute long and nothing actually happens yet, but it leaves one hell of an impression. Wei Wuxian then proceeds to command the Cavalry of the Dead to kill every Wen in sight (with the exceptions of Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu) before slowly descending from above and personally torture the aforementioned two himself.
- Characters.Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation Mo Dao Zu Shi Wen Clan Of Qishan:* World's Best Warrior: He effortlessly beat Nie Mingjue into the ground and was hinted to be the strongest cultivator barring immortals like Baoshan-sanren. It took an army of thousands of cultivators, Wei Wuxian's Cavalry of the Dead, along with some infiltration on Jin Guangyao's part, to finally take him down.
- Characters.Kemurikusa:* Cavalry of the Dead: They show up one last time in the Final Battle, using all of their remaining strength to defeat the Red Tree and say their goodbyes to Rin.
- Characters.Medi Evil:* Hoist by His Own Petard: Zarok creates a Cavalry of the Dead, but this is also what brings Sir Daniel back to life, which ultimately leads to his defeat.
- Recap.Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation Season 1 Episode 15 Peace:* In the novel, Wen Zhuliu got his arm injured and was then strangled to death by Zidian. In this episode, his arm gets twisted off, his Golden Core is destroyed, and he's then Eaten Alive by Wei Wuxian's Cavalry of the Dead.
- Trivia.The Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King:** The role of the Cavalry of the Dead is considered by Jackson to be this due to its Story-Breaker Power and "being unbelievable". If it had appeared any earlier, the Siege of Minas Tirith would have been one-sided and the Ride of the Rohirrim would have been unnecessary.
- Recap.Angel S 05 E 06 The Cautionary Tale Of Numero Cinco:* Rise from Your Grave: Número Cinco's brothers rise from their graves to fight Tezcatcatl once again.
- StarWarsTheCloneWarsSeasonOneToSeasonSix.Tropes G To Z* Double Subverted during the Nightsisters and Brothers arc. In "Massacre", the Separatist droid army lands in an open area with little cover, indicating that the Nightsisters will engage them directly. Instead, Ventress orders the Nightsisters into elevated sniper positions where they will be safe and provides support for a ground counteroffensive by the more hardy and expendable Cavalry of the Dead
- CurbStompBattle.Film:** The Dead Men of Dunharrow at the Battle of Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King.
Shoehorning:
- Animate Dead: Not undead.* The Bible: In the Book of Ezekiel, God commands His prophet Ezekiel to resurrect a whole army of skeletons, which were the people of Israel, to reclaim their homes. Unlike any typical skeletal army, they were fully resurrected into living beings note . This was done, obviously, before video game necromancy was a thing.
- Back from the Dead: Not undead.In Book of Ezekiel 37:1-3, Ezekiel is shown a vision of an army brought back to life with just their scattered bones for a starting point.
- Dem Bones: Not undead.* The Bible had the story of Ezekiel and the Valley of the Dry Bones that came to life and inspired the Trope Namer "Dry Bones"/"Dem Bones" song. The trope-naming song is based on a Biblical incident involving Ezekiel, who was told by God to create an army of these things with a prophecy. The Bible is surprisingly metal, in places. The bones are immediately given flesh and souls during their resurrections, instead of being a literal skeleton army like those created by Ray Harryhausen.
- Mass Resurrection: Not undead.In Book of Ezekiel, God commands Ezekiel to resurrect a whole army of skeletons into living beings in order to reclaim Israel.
- Necromancer: Not undead.* In the Book of Ezekiel, God Himself commands Ezekiel to resurrect a whole army of skeletons, which were the people of Israel, to reclaim their homes. Unlike any typical skeletal army, they were fully resurrected into living beingsnote , subverting the typical expectation of this trope.
- Awesome.The Bible: Not undead.* Ezekiel 37:1-14. The Prophet Ezekiel raises a ZOMBIE ARMY.
- Music.Sabaton: Not undead.* Cavalry of the Dead: "The Attack of the Dead Men" plays up the historical attack by Russians
through Deadly Gas as if they really were fighting on in undeath to counter-attack the Germans.
Just mentions:
- Pantheon.Toxicity:* Portfolio: Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever, Cavalry of the Dead
Just undead army:
- Awesome.Horus Heresy:** When the Emperor sets the Webway ablaze, it's shown that amidst the flames he summons a legion of dead Custodes and Space Marines to fight the Daemons, all wreathed in fire and with blackened armor. And at their head is "a giant among giants, its great hands bared and ready as it seared forwards at the crest of the tidal fire. The tenth son of a dying empire, so briefly reborn in his father’s immolating wrath." For the briefest of moments, Ferrus Manus gets to fight for his father from beyond the grave.
- Awesome.Yesterday Upon The Stair:* Izuku giving power to the dead, creating a army of the dead
- Literature.Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation Mo Dao Zu Shi:* Grave Robbing: During the Sunshot Campaign, Wei Wuxian exhumed several graves to add the corpses to his own Cavalry of the Dead.
- CharacterDerailment.Film:Badan raises a literal undead army
- Characters.Hellcat:* To Hell and Back: She died at least twice, once when an evil Asgardian tried to take over Valhalla with a Cavalry of the Dead
- Characters.Ninjago:
- Characters.Titan Quest:* Cavalry of the Dead: In Atlantis, the new top-level skill allows them to summon a phantom phalanx to aid them for a short while.
- Film.The Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King:* Cavalry of the Dead: In the book, they're ghosts who accompany Aragorn to prove his kingship, inspire fear and awe, and ensure only stone cold badasses are brave enough to fight alongside him and help defeat the Corsairs of Umbar. In the film, they are the cavalry.
- Recap.Star Wars The Clone Wars Nightsisters And Brothers Arc:* Hollywood Tactics: In "Massacre", the Separatist droid army lands in an open area with little cover, indicating that the Nightsisters will engage them directly. Instead, Ventress orders the Nightsisters into elevated sniper positions where they will be safe and provides support for a ground counteroffensive by the more hardy and expendable Cavalry of the Dead
- TabletopGame.Deadlands:* Cavalry of the Dead: The Black Regiment is a rare evil example of this, though technically more an example of Night of the Living Mooks. They are a regiment of Walking Dead created from fallen soldiers, their uniforms stained a blackish color due to being soaked with half-dried gore (hence the name), who mysteriously appear on battlefields to turn the battle in favor of the losing side with their vicious tactics. Of course, they fight for the Union or the Confederates as they see fit, as their purpose is to basically keep the deadly stalemate between the countries going, and they're perfectly happy to turn on their "allies" of a given battle if they get in the way.
- TearJerker.Panopticon Quest:* During the rise of the Cavalry of the Dead in Moscow, one of the ghosts appears to recognise a nearby Void Engineer.
- VideoGame.The Battle For Middle Earth:* Cavalry of the Dead: Summoning them is the ultimate power of the Good general powers, and a level 10 skill of Aragorn. They also intervene during scripted events, led by Aragorn in both cases: the siege of Minas Tirith in BFME (both campaigns), and the siege of Rivendell in BFMEII (end of the Evil campaign). The dead are immune to most weapons or powers. The only ones who can really do damage to them are units with strong area-of-effect attacks such as Sauron, the Witch-king, the Balrog, and flying units like the Eagles and Fell Beasts.
- WebVideo.Belkinus Necro Hunt* Cavalry of the Dead: According to the earliest-dated pages of Kara's journal that the party reads in Session 15, she had actually started work on necromancy during the war, to create one of these and spare mortal lives. However, fear from her superiors led to this plan being refused, which in turn led to Abigail dying in the war and Kara refocusing her work into resurrecting her sister.
Big Damn Heroes zombies / undead:
- BigDamnHeroes.Literature:In Toll the Hounds, right when the forces of Chaos are about to devour those few still dragging the waggon within the warren of Dragnipur, Anomander Rake kills Hood, the to-date God of Death. His soul being sucked into Dragnipur opens the way for his Cavalry of the Dead, which consists of all those who have ever died, to swoop in and close with the forces of Chaos just in time to save the day.
- Characters.The Shadowhunter Chronicles Shadowhunters:* Cavalry of the Dead: Post-mortem, Rupert's soul goes to a very distant afterlife, far enough that even his son Jesse, who is trapped in the in-between world after he succumbs to his first rune-marking ritual, never contacts him. Lucie still manages to bring his ghost into the mortal world to stop Tatiana's rampage in the London Institute.
- WesternAnimation.Axe Cop:* Big Damn Heroes: Probably the only instance of zombies fulfilling this trope. Liborg pulls it off in the pilot, although it's more of a Gondor Calls for Aid situation.
