History Main / AnimateDead

* ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup': Does it count if you animate the skeletons ''before'' the owners are dead? ''Immediately'' before?

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Inferi. Dumbledore mentions in his notes on Beedle the Bard that Necromancy is "a branch of magic that has never worked." Whilst it is possible to create Inferi, these are mindless creatures with no soul or intelligence, despite possessing human corpses and hence are not truly "raised" persons. Therefore, Necromancy does not work in this respect and it is indeed known to be impossible to truly resurrect the dead.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' uses this trope in a really awesome way with a ''TyrannosaurusRex''. It also specifies that a drumbeat is part of the spell (to control the zombie). If the drumbeat stops, [[OhCrap zombie does whatever the hell it wants]].

* ''VideoGame/ShadowWarrior'': What makes Necromancers so much of a threat is that they can resurrect chunky salsa enemies. That's right: you can slice 'em, dice 'em, bake them, marinate 'em, zest 'em, and even harvest their spirit's life force, and they'll STILL COME BACK. They also summon demonic skeletons, but those are MUCH less of a threat and more of an opportunity if you have the right skills.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': In the Silver Age Diana finds herself fighting the skeletal remains of the Amazon's previous champion Artemis, who it turns out ComicBook/{{Circe}} "revived" as a vengeful shadow of her former self to taunt and torment the Amazons.

See also {{Necromancer}}, CavalryOfTheDead, NightOfTheLivingMooks. Contrasts ReviveKillsZombie and TurnUndead. Not to be confused with [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead Praise Dead]].

->Awake O Dead, for there can be no rest for ye beneath the earth. Let the splintered bones burrow from the grave pall. Let cold fingers grip time-worn blades, and unseeing eyes survey the fields of slaughter. For your time has come once more. And the dead shall walk.

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'': The appropriately named Necromancer commits crimes using freshly animated corpses that he usually steals from the local morgue (he finds bodies taken from graves to just be too "icky" to use). Despite the name, his powers come from a mutation and not from magic. And he strenuously objects when anyone suggests that he's ever killed anyone, because he hasn't. Ever.
[[/folder]]

If you lack the necessary skills, of course, you can always employ someone else to handle the casting for you. But watch out for your opponents to figure out what you're up to — if the [[InstantWinCondition caster goes down]], there's a good chance the [[KeystoneArmy entire army]] will [[NoOntologicalInertia crumble into dust on the spot]] (invoking ShootTheMageFirst and GoForTheCommander).

Incidentally, this is how [[OurZombiesAreDifferent traditional ("Type V") zombies]] are made — a voodoo bokor revives a dead person, who is then under their control.

* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': Nekron has the ability to do this by giving Black Lantern Rings to the dead, turning them into an extension of his will while possessing a twisted version of their personalities in life.

* ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'': The FinalBattle has King Aeetes summoning the skeletons of all the people killed by the Hydra, and setting them upon the Argonauts. Fittingly of undead mooks, the skeletons seem to be rather poor fighters, but there's [[ZergRush a lot of them]], and they just keep coming no matter how many times the Argonauts hit them or knock them down. They kill off the two RedShirt Argonauts and Jason himself has to take a plunge to escape them.

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'': The second book's (and the [[Disney/TheBlackCauldron Disney movie's]]) titular Black Cauldron is an ArtifactOfDoom that can do this. Dipping corpses into the cauldron turn them into unstoppable undead soldiers.

* ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron'': The reason the Horned King seeks the eponymous Cauldron is because it's a magical ArtifactOfDoom which can create an undead skeletal army known as the Cauldron-Born under the summoner's control, which he aims to use to conquer the world.

If you lack the necessary skills, of course, you can always employ someone else to handle the casting for you. But watch out for your opponents to figure out what you're up to - if the [[InstantWinCondition caster goes down]], there's a good chance the [[KeystoneArmy entire army]] will [[NoOntologicalInertia crumble into dust on the spot]].

Incidentally, this is how [[OurZombiesAreDifferent traditional ("Type V") zombies]] are made - a voodoo bokor revives a dead person, who is then under their control.

* Persephone, the BigBad of ''ComicBook/HuntForWolverine'' and ''ComicBook/ReturnOfWolverine'' can do this. However, doing this to Wolverine's corpse after ''ComicBook/DeathOfWolverine'' [[NiceJobFixingItVillain is ultimately what leading to the titular return of Wolverine]] as it also reactivated his HealingFactor, [[BackFromTheDead ending up truly resurrecting him]].

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1348998069080720100
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* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has several of these. At the low end there is the thaumaturgical discipline known as Arts of the Dead, which allows familiar with it to raise a dead body as a zombie - this costs quite a bit and only lasts a few days. Midnight Caste Abyssal Exalted have the particular ability to animate any number of bodies with a simple touch. And then there is proper Necromancy, which ranges from 'animate a horde of zombies' to 'animate necromantic warmachine' to 'summon the souls of a dead Titan'... Even the Lunar Exalted get in on the fun, animating corpses using parasitic worms in a technique known as Wasp of the Labyrinth.

** The Fantasy World of Yrth has the nation of Abydos. Zombies do the routine and repetitive work, which makes farming really creepy. Nobody minds much because their version of Christianity considers necromancy to be holy (BTW their neighbors think they are heretics).
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', this type of necromancy is a trademark of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] [[AristocratsAreEvil Counts]] and [[{{Mummy}} Tomb Kings]] armies. Necromancers/Liche Priests are vital for holding the undead armies together, and can use their magic to replenish the ranks of their forces with freshly raised dead. They can even conjure skeletal or * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The Necron Lord can do just this, leading to many OhCrap moments. Although a Necron Lord can only animate other Necrons, not the corpses of enemies (and many Necrons get back up ''anyway'' as long as they haven't taken too much damage).
zombie units out of nowhere to surprise their foes. Sieges get tricky when skeletons are sprouting in your courtyard like daisies...

* Kagura from ''Anime/InuYasha'' can use her fan to control corpses.
* Done by [[CastingAShadow Gekko Moria]] in ''Manga/OnePiece'', who can reanimate zombies by putting shadows of living people inside corpses.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[spoiler:Captain Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto's Bankai]] can, among other things, bring back the corpses of everyone he has ever killed to fight under his command.

* A common Black effect in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', starting with, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin what else]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159249 Animate Dead]].
* Many card effects in ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', albeit often without turning the targets into undead. The most famous examples include [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Monster_Reborn Monster Reborn]], [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Soul_Charge Soul Charge]], and [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Call_of_the_Haunted Call of the Haunted]].

* Nekron from the ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' mythos has the ability to do this by giving Black Lantern Rings to the dead, turning them into an extension of his will while possessing a twisted version of their personalities in life.

* The Horned King's reason for seeking the eponymous Cauldron in ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron'' is because it's a magical ArtifactOfDoom which can create an undead skeletal army known as the Cauldron Born for the summoner to conquer the world.

* {{Subversion}} in ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness'': The titular army of undead is ''accidentally'' spawned when Ash screws up the pronunciation of a spell that renders the TomeOfEldritchLore safe to handle.
* The FinalBattle of ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'' has King Aeetes summoning the skeletons of all the people killed by the Hydra, and setting them upon the Argonauts. Fittingly of undead mooks, the skeletons seem to be rather poor fighters, but there's [[ZergRush a lot of them]], and they just keep coming no matter how many times the Argonauts hit them or knock them down. They kill off the two RedShirt Argonauts and Jason himself has to take a plunge to escape them.

* In ''[[Literature/TheBible Book of Ezekiel]]'', {{God}} commands his prophet Ezekiel to resurrect [[CavalryOfTheDead a whole army of skeletons]], which were the people of Israel, to reclaim their homes. Unlike any [[DemBones typical skeletal army]], they were [[MassResurrection fully resurrected]] into living beings [[note]]and by modern day RPGMechanicsVerse, it's more closer to ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons True Resurrection]]'' rather than this trope[[/note]]. This was done [[OlderThanFeudalism before video game necromancy was a thing]].
* A power of the Graveyard Hag, a goddess in the ''Literature/TortallUniverse''. She [[spoiler:temporarily gives the power to Daine]] in ''Literature/TheImmortals'' to deal with Emperor Ozorne. This is an unusual example because [[spoiler: Daine uses it to resurrect the emperor's collection of extinct large animals, including dinosaurs, rather than humans. The result is the rather spectacular destruction of the emperor's beautiful palace in one night.]]

* Inferi in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. Dumbledore mentions in his notes on Beedle the Bard that Necromancy is "a branch of magic that has never worked." Whilst it is possible to create Inferi, these are mindless creatures with no soul or intelligence, despite possessing human corpses and hence are not truly "raised" persons. Therefore, Necromancy does not work in this respect and it is indeed known to be impossible to truly resurrect the dead.
* The titular Black Cauldron from the second book of ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' (and the [[Disney/TheBlackCauldron Disney movie]]) is an ArtifactOfDoom that can do this. Dipping corpses into the cauldron turn them into unstoppable undead soldiers.
* The magic system in ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'' allows for the animation of ''anything'' made from organic material. Animated dead (called Lifeless) are particularly useful, however -- ordinary Awakened objects can just be given one command, which they will then fulfill mindlessly, whereas Lifeless can be "programmed" to perform more complex tasks.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** The first lesson to student wizards on the topic of Necromancy is contained in ''Wodelley's Occult Primer'', the standard text. "Chapter Seven: Elementary Necromancy" begins, "First, take thy spade..."
** In the modern cutting-edge Unseen University, the Department of Post-Mortem Communication Studies (formerly "Necromancy") employs Charley, a fully animated skeleton, who does the lab technician and odd-job funtions.
* In the ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'' novels by Creator/CharlesStross, creating zombies is relatively simple: take a relatively fresh corpse, summon up a Feeder in the Night, and have it inhabit the corpse's nervous system. (Other varieties can inhabit skeletonized corpses, feeding on [[OurSoulsAreDifferent the informational echoes of the deceased inhabitant's mind.]]) Since the Feeders aren't very intelligent and can be bound and programmed, the eponymous budget-conscious occult intelligence agency uses the [[InsistentTerminology 'Residual Human Resources']] in a variety of roles: nightwatchmen, door guards, shelf-stackers...
* Sorcerer-Captain Emorc resurrects a [[CavalryOfTheDead whole army]], in the appropriately titled ''Literature/AnArmyOfTheDead''. Interestingly enough, that army is the ''heroes'' of the story.
* Neocromancers can do this in ''Literature/{{Noob}}''. OneShotCharacter Athreyü is shown reanimating a skeleton and later the corpse of a dead fellow PlayerCharacter.
* ''Literature/WisePhuul:'' The Necromancers of the Viiminian Empire use this to fulfil the economic needs of the country. The reanimated undead ensure a reliable supply of unskilled labour.

* In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E18HollywoodBabylon "Hollywood Babylon"]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Walter Dixon controls the vengeful spirits of those who died on a movie set to taken revenge on those who changed his script for the movie.

* This is the goal of the "Raise the Dead" mode in Bally's ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily''.

* In the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'', the appropriately named Necromancer commits crimes using freshly animated corpses that he usually steals from the local morgue (he finds bodies taken from graves to just be too "icky" to use). Despite the name, his powers come from a mutation and not from magic. And he strenuously objects when anyone suggests that he's ever killed anyone, because he hasn't. Ever.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', this type of necromancy is a trademark of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] [[AristocratsAreEvil Counts]] and [[{{Mummy}} Tomb Kings]] armies. Necromancers/Liche Priests are vital for holding the undead armies together, and can use their magic to replenish the ranks of their forces with freshly raised dead. They can even conjure skeletal or zombie units out of nowhere to surprise their foes. Sieges get tricky when skeletons are sprouting in your courtyard like daisies...
* The "Zombie" and "Mass Zombie" spells in ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' can be used to create any sort of undead. Stronger undead (mummies) take more energy than weaker ones (skeletons) and often require special preparation.

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' The Necron Lord can do just this, leading to many OhCrap moments. Although a Necron Lord can only animate other Necrons, not the corpses of enemies (and many Necrons get back up ''anyway'' as long as they haven't taken too much damage).
* ''Oh so many ways'' in both [[TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness old]] and [[TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness new ]] ''World of Darkness'':
** A few [[PrestigeClass bloodlines]] in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' -- such as the Burukamin, who originate from the Japanese underclasses that deal with "unclean" jobs such as funeral duties, and the Sangiovanni, who are [[BigScrewedUpFamily just]] [[ParentalIncest fucked]] [[ILoveTheDead up]] -- have bloodline-exclusive Disciplines that allow them to reanimate the dead as servitors. The Lancea Sanctum also have a Theban ritual called the Gift of Lazarus that allows them to create a sentient undead servitor that's perfectly aware of its condition and wants to go back to being dead, but is still beholden to the person that raised it.
** The [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade original]] [[TheMafia Giovanni]] could make zombies as well (one sidequest in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' has you stealing an instruction manual), and...the less said about the [[BodyHorror Tzimisce]] the better.

** ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'' has a Ceremony that allows for the reanimation of corpses, as well as some interesting uses of the Marionette Manifestation.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has several of these. At the low end there is the thaumaturgical discipline known as Arts of the Dead, which allows familiar with it to raise a dead body as a zombie - this costs quite a bit and only lasts a few days. Midnight Caste Abyssal Exalted have the particular ability to animate any number of bodies with a simple touch. And then there is proper Necromancy, which ranges from 'animate a horde of zombies' to 'animate necromantic warmachine' to 'summon the souls of a dead Titan'... Even the Lunar Exalted get in on the fun, animating corpses using parasitic worms in a technique known as Wasp of the Labyrinth.

* All ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' games have at least one unit able to raise the dead.
** Necrolytes in ''VideoGame/WarcraftOrcsAndHumans'' are orcs trained in the black arts to raise skeletons from corpses.
** Similarly, death knights from ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'', themselves undead corpses (the souls of orc warlocks stuffed into the corpses of human knights), have the Raise Dead ability, which produces a single humanoid skeleton warrior with a sword.
** In ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', Scourge {{Necromancer}}s can raise [[DemBones Skeleton Warriors]] from corpses, and the [[ClownCarGrave Graveyard]] is a building which produces an infinite number of corpses. Thus the only limiting factor is [[ManaMeter mana]]. Inexplicably, one corpse of any unit type produces two humanoid skeletons with swords.
** ''Warcraft III'' also features the [[SummonMagic Avatar of Vengeance]], which spams a shorter-duration Animate Dead spell while ''not'' being squishy at all.
** The Death Knight, a Scourge hero unit in ''Warcraft III'', has as his [[LimitBreak Ultimate]] move "Animate Dead" which raises up to six nearby dead units (of any allegiance) to fight for the Death Knight for forty seconds. One update made them ''invulnerable'' for the duration.
** Death Knights in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' have several spells that allow them to raise undead Ghouls from corpses. The basic raise dead spell creates an NPC Ghoul that will follow the player around and attack his target (Unholy gets a permanent pet under the player's control), Raise Ally raises a dead group/raid member (though mechanically it now just acts as a combat ressurection rather than raising an ally as a ghoul). And Army of the Dead summons about 20 Ghouls at once (although they're individually weaker than the ones summoned through raise dead).
** Because the Forsaken, a faction of undead people allied to the Horde, [[ImmortalProcreationClause cannot reproduce by usual means]], their queen, Sylvanas has engaged {{Valkyries}} (sorry, Val'kyr) to, you guessed it, animate dead.
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', Necromancers have a variety of spells to create undead minions of various sizes and strengths out of "fleshy" enemy corpses.
* ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'' - Animate Dead is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and is irreversible unless the character in question is killed again. Often spammed by [[spoiler: Death and [[BigBad Saruin]]]]
* The [[AllThereInTheManual website]] for ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' gives an interesting [[JustifiedTrope justification]]: instead of animating individual skeletons (which might be damaged, too small, etc.), skeletons are actually amalgamated bone dust and dirt, held together by the magician.
* In ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic 3'', the Necromancy skill raises a percent of the (non-undead) casualties from each successful battle as skeletons (or, in the case of dragon casualties, ''Bone Dragons''). There is also a structure in the Necropolis (Necromancer/Undead City) that allows you to do this with 100% efficiency using your [[WeHaveReserves own]] [[HumanResources troops]]. ''Heroes 2'' also had the Necromancy skill (it was the first game in the series with skills ''and'' the first game with Necromancer-type heroes), though it lacked the aforementioned 'Skeleton Transformer' (but on the other hand, the ''Price of Loyalty'' expansion introduced a buildable building that raised the efficiency of necromancy for ''all'' your heroes by a set percentage). Additionally, the [[VideoGame/MightAndMagic RPGs]] of the HOMM2-4 period featured an Animate Dead spell, which resurrected the target corpse as a friend of the caster.
** Heroes V had a spell to raise any unit to fight again, but living units would die for good after the fight. The Necromancy skill originally worked the same as in III, but in the Tribes of the East expansion it was reworked into a fairly complex system that allowed Necromancers to raise defeated enemies as the type of undead most appropriate.
* This is how the undead other than death knights and possibly ghouls are created in ''VideoGame/BattleForWesnoth''.
* ''[[VideoGame/CityOfHeroes City of Villains]]'' has the Necromancy power set for Masterminds, which allows the player to summon up to three zombies, two grave knights (armored zombies with broadswords and some dark powers), a ghost, and a lich. Also, there's Mr. Bokor in Port Oakes who gives you a temporary power that lets you summon a zombie to fight for you.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', there's a literal Animate Dead spell. It raises the corpse of a single ''humanoid'' dead foe (e.g., the Darkspawn counts, bears do not) as a skeleton the same class of the corpse, armed with the same weapons, and lasts until it's dead, or you deactivate the spell, or you travel to another area.
* In ''VideoGame/FableII'', a Hero can summon the spirits of the dead to fight for him for a short time with the Raise Dead ability. These are not skeletons or zombies, but literal spirits. Shades can be summoned from thin air, but the spirits that come from the corpses of slain foes are stronger and more durable. Eventually, however, the spirits disappear.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Sacrifice}}'', the spell "Animate Dead" is available to your wizard if they serve Charnel.
* Paladins from the ''Videogame/{{Clonk}}'' [[GameMod fan-mod]] Metal and Magic can do this. They create ghosts or [[DemBones skeletons]], depending on which god they serve.

* This trope is half of what makes [[Videogame/{{Doom}} Arch-viles]] [[DemonicSpiders so damn nasty]].
* What makes ShadowWarrior's Necromancers so much of a threat is that they can resurrect chunky salsa enemies. That's right: you can slice 'em, dice 'em, bake them, marinate 'em, zest 'em, and even harvest their spirit's life force, and they'll STILL COME BACK. They also summon demonic skeletons, but those are MUCH less of a threat and more of an opportunity if you have the right skills.

* ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'', being a game based off of Dungeons and Dragons(more specifically, it's arcade games), features the Warlock boss who will even say "Animate Dead" when summoning zombies. The Sorceress can also learn a skill that allows her to turn any of the random bone piles of dead characters into skeleton allies. Of course, you have to be quick around CPU Sorceresses if you want to recruit more allies, they'll only wait a few seconds to create skeletons.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Dominions}}'', the animation of the dead is available through death magic or the holy magic of certain nation's priests and all undead priests.
* A speciality of the Vampire Counts in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer''. Available to all Lords outside battle, it allows the instantaneous... um, "recruitment" of units anywhere on the map. You can raise low-level zombies and skeletons just about anywhere, but for the really special high-tier units, you'll have to track down old battle sites -- the level of the troops who fought (and died) there determines the level of the troops you can raise. Certain Lords can even use it in the middle battle in the form of a spell to instantly raise a fresh unit, which is kept from being a game breaker by both the spell's cost and the fact that it's limited to raising cheap zombies (skeletons if it's cast too often), which in the later game are only really useful as cannon fodder to distract the enemy from your better units. The Grim and the Grave adds two variations of this spell - "Awaken from the Grave", unique to Helman Ghorst, which summons Grave Guard or a Wight King; and "Command of the Unliving", unique to the Strigoi Ghoul King, which summons Crypt Ghouls or Crypt Horrors. The [[GhostPirate Vampire Coast]] in ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammerII'' gets another variation called "The Drowned Dead," which summons a Zombie Pirate Deckhands Mob or a Zombie Pirate Gunnery Mob.
* Liches in ''VideoGame/NexusClash'' can raise the recently slain as increasingly-powerful undead minions. If there aren't recently dead corpses at hand, it's possible to bribe the spirits that enforce NoBodyLeftBehind in the Nexus to deliver bodies to the Lich instead.
* The Necromancer role in ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'' is a failed [[SalemIsWitchCountry Coven-aligned]] Retributionist who can choose to zombify a dead player at night and use their ability on another player. They can only do this once per corpse however, as the bodies rot after reviving them.
* Some of the easiest rituals in ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'' animate the corpse of, for example, Inspector Wakefield.
* In Adult Swim's ''VideoGame/VivaCaligula'', Caligula may resurrect the skeletons of his slain foes to go forth and destroy.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Several of the villains in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' are fond of raising undead, including [[OurLichesAreDifferent Xykon]], [[TheDragon Redcloak]] and especially [[ILoveTheDead Tsukiko]].

* The liches in ''Literature/AngelOfDeath'' command the [[YourSoulIsMine souls they've devoured]] to enter corpses in order to re-animate them.

** Also the Mask of Undeath, technically. It lets its user live after they've been killed, but only 'till they finish their task at hand. ''Then'' they die.

* In ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' The Necron Lord can do just this, leading to many OhCrap moments. Although a Necron Lord can only animate other Necrons, not the corpses of enemies.

** Similarly, death knights from ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'', themselves undead corpses, have the Raise Dead ability, which produces a single humanoid skeleton warrior with a sword.

** The Death Knight, a Scourge hero unit in ''Warcraft III'', has as his [[LimitBreak Ultimate]] move "Animate Dead" which raises up to six nearby dead units to fight for the Death Knight for forty seconds. One update made them ''invulnerable'' for the duration.

** Because the Forsaken, a faction of undead people allied to the Horde, [[ImmortalProcreationClause cannot reproduce by usual means]], their queen, Sylvanas has engaged {{Valkyries}} to, you guessed it, animate dead.