The title of the comics actually refers not to the walkers but to the survivors. We are the "walking dead".
Personally I find this method of transmission more likely to result in apocalypse than the infection method. This way, the apocalypse is never truly over. 100 years from now, the dead will still rise as walkers. I could never find peace like that.
I haven't read all the comics. Just because in my country the translation and the distribution sucks, at best (we're at volume 11, sold out in a few weeks, and don't know when we're gonna have more volumes, really no clue).
Anyway, as to be IT: yeah, other people told you. That "you die, you come back" is a central theme of the franchise. You think "the walking dead" are the zombies going around? No. The walking dead are the characters of the story.
So, my theory on the zombies.
Who ever told you it was an infection? It really has to be a virus?
I don't know, the virus theory always looked a bit lame to me. It's just to easy and predictable. Also it gives me the feeling like "ok it's a virus, it's reasonable, I know what is a virus, what I know doesn't scare me".
And that's the point!
If you KNOW why the dead are coming back, they start to lose charm. You don't have that "fascination of the unknown" that makes sci fi so interesting.
Making every dead come back gives us infinite possibilities!
What if there are some radiation going on (not chernobyl style, like radiation from the deep space, or the sun)? what if it's the end days and a divine intelligence has just decided to end life on the planet? what if it's evolution? what if it had to happen but there was something that prevented it from happening from the beginning of live... but now it's gone and dead comes back (the way it should be)?
No matter what, I really prefer a "non explanation" and a "constant research for the truth" than a very easy "itsavirus!"
As for the bite. Meh. I really never believed that a bite could be poisonous. It's just a bite from a dead, decaying person. His mouth it's full of germs! That thing is DEAD! And you are away from any kind of medical facility. I'm really not surprised if the wound gets infected very easily and you die. You die because of a wound infection. Something that would kill you even if not in a "zombie apocalypse world".
That's why bitten people die, because there are no more hospitals =D
The comics did the exact same thing and the games go off the comics.
Zombies are a much bigger threat this way because you can never wipe them out this way. Even if somehow every zombie was killed so no one can get bitten, they are still rising and still a threat.
I blame the TV show for this one. In the comics, it never feels like a virus is the answer. That goes further out the window when the un-infected return as zombies.
In the show, the first thing that happens is the CDC examines what's going on and responds with "we don't know." After that, everyone starts assuming there's a SECOND virus that accompanies the one that's spread through bites. It's pretty mind boggling that people complicate the hell out of something that doesn't work. There is no virus, there is no explanation. It isn't science, it's the apocalypse.
All you need to know is that there is no hope for any of them. It doesn't have a cure. There's a reason the series is called "The Walking Dead". If you haven't read the comics, let me spell it out for you - the title doesn't refer to the undead characters.
I wonder if it could simply be that the Walkers' mouths are loaded with necrotic bacteria. Having a load of that stuff injected into a deep wound would be pretty much always fatal, in exactly the way shown, as the infection goes systemic.
No poison exactly, just a normal reaction to being bitten by something dead and rotting.
Also, for another approach to the "we're all infected" plot, read Mira Grant's Feed trilogy. The virus is dormant in us all, but can be "activated" by a sufficient load of live virus. Such as would be administered by a bite.
Comments
SHAME ON YOU!!!!!
go read it now! honestly you are missing out of so much great story its insane.
Personally I find this method of transmission more likely to result in apocalypse than the infection method. This way, the apocalypse is never truly over. 100 years from now, the dead will still rise as walkers. I could never find peace like that.
Anyway, as to be IT: yeah, other people told you. That "you die, you come back" is a central theme of the franchise. You think "the walking dead" are the zombies going around? No. The walking dead are the characters of the story.
So, my theory on the zombies.
Who ever told you it was an infection? It really has to be a virus?
I don't know, the virus theory always looked a bit lame to me. It's just to easy and predictable. Also it gives me the feeling like "ok it's a virus, it's reasonable, I know what is a virus, what I know doesn't scare me".
And that's the point!
If you KNOW why the dead are coming back, they start to lose charm. You don't have that "fascination of the unknown" that makes sci fi so interesting.
Making every dead come back gives us infinite possibilities!
What if there are some radiation going on (not chernobyl style, like radiation from the deep space, or the sun)? what if it's the end days and a divine intelligence has just decided to end life on the planet? what if it's evolution? what if it had to happen but there was something that prevented it from happening from the beginning of live... but now it's gone and dead comes back (the way it should be)?
No matter what, I really prefer a "non explanation" and a "constant research for the truth" than a very easy "itsavirus!"
As for the bite. Meh. I really never believed that a bite could be poisonous. It's just a bite from a dead, decaying person. His mouth it's full of germs! That thing is DEAD! And you are away from any kind of medical facility. I'm really not surprised if the wound gets infected very easily and you die. You die because of a wound infection. Something that would kill you even if not in a "zombie apocalypse world".
That's why bitten people die, because there are no more hospitals =D
/thread
In the show, the first thing that happens is the CDC examines what's going on and responds with "we don't know." After that, everyone starts assuming there's a SECOND virus that accompanies the one that's spread through bites. It's pretty mind boggling that people complicate the hell out of something that doesn't work. There is no virus, there is no explanation. It isn't science, it's the apocalypse.
All you need to know is that there is no hope for any of them. It doesn't have a cure. There's a reason the series is called "The Walking Dead". If you haven't read the comics, let me spell it out for you - the title doesn't refer to the undead characters.
I wonder if it could simply be that the Walkers' mouths are loaded with necrotic bacteria. Having a load of that stuff injected into a deep wound would be pretty much always fatal, in exactly the way shown, as the infection goes systemic.
No poison exactly, just a normal reaction to being bitten by something dead and rotting.
Also, for another approach to the "we're all infected" plot, read Mira Grant's Feed trilogy. The virus is dormant in us all, but can be "activated" by a sufficient load of live virus. Such as would be administered by a bite.