
Draugr
The draugr is the corporeal revenant of Old Norse literature: a dead man who leaves, or defends, his grave in his own bloated, discoloured body. The Icelandic sagas show it killing shepherds and livestock, emptying whole districts and passing its condition on to its victims. Because ordinary weapons often fail, heroes have to wrestle it down, behead it and burn it to ash. With its physical decay, contagion and need for total destruction of the body, it is the closest medieval European ancestor of the modern zombie.12
- decapitation
- burning the body and scattering the ashes at sea
- wrestling it back into the grave
- a formal 'door-court' judgment followed by holy water (Eyrbyggja saga)
- iron wounds it but does not stop it
Quand est-il apparu pour la première fois ?
Icelandic sagas written down in the 13th and 14th centuries
Ce que disent les sources
Pourriez-vous le distancer ?
Classe de vitesse d'après la description des sources (variable), pas une mesure.
Sources
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