Inferi

Inferius, plural form Inferi, is a dead body that is controlled by a dark wizard. They are not, however to be mistaken as being “alive” or a ghost. But rather they are a corpse that has been enchanted to do the wizard’s bidding. That is their only purpose for being. Therefore they are unable to think for themselves. Ghosts, on the other hand, can think for themselves and act on their own accord. Muggles have another word for inferius in their culture and that is the word zombies. Muggles’s conception of inferius is fairly accurate. They describe them as mindless body forms that roam the earth. However, there are a few misunderstandings that they have about inferius/zombies. In horror films, big moving screens with stories, zombies are known to walk the earth and kill other living humans that cross their path to make them into zombies also. This is not entirely true. Inferi are only to do the dark wizard’s bidding and they are to remain idle until the job needs to be done. Another common mistake that is portrayed in movies, such as Dawn of the Dead, is that zombies can only be killed by a gunshot to the head. This is also not true because Inferi are only disturbed by fire and this should cause them to retreat back to their idle state.

There are many different origins of this word but the most common one links back to Greek mythology. Inferi is another name for the Greek god of the Underworld Hades. He received powers of the underworld as his two brothers Zeus and Poseidon got the air and sea. His duties are to take the sick who are about to die to the underworld and control the demons within his rule. Although many stories show him as evil and cruel, these are actually misconceptions. He is a just ruler that does not discriminate. He also does not let his demons leave the Underworld to go to earth. Any that disobeys his rules shall be harshly punished.


Sources- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferius, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades

Over word count and rather interesting to read - 50 points.