Condolences and the undead?

A very interesting question was just posted to me by a good friend of mine, that question being are condolences appropriate when speaking of the loss of undead minions? That very question has officially blown my mind. Is it ever appropriate to express condolences when the undead are involved? This is a multi-faceted question that I will (of course) try to explore at length.

Though there are many different categories of the undead, I think the first one question about the undead that we must consider is the difference between mindless undead and sentient undead. Mindless undead would be skeletons and zombies, unthinking minions who follow a necromancer's every command. I am aware that one can also raise a zombie through ritual magic, but for the purposes of this particular discussions we will consider the ritual magic practitioner to be a necromancer as well. It would seem immediately apparent that a mindless undead minion would certainly not be condolence worthy, but, as you might have expected, I have thought of a scenario that might be appropriate. What if the necromancer in question had lost a loved one and, lacking any other appropriate skill, raised the dead body of said loved one in a way to always remember that person. Then consider if that zombie was destroyed in a fire or some other accident. It would seem to me that condolences would be at least appropriate at that point. The grief of that loss could be as bad or worse than the original death since this time the loss truly is forever.

Intelligent undead an an entirely different ball of wax. Imagine the spirit of an old friend shirks the afterlife and stays with you as a ghost or ghoul after his or her demise (either due to necromancy or stubbornness). That person would almost be the same, save the lack of actual life, and you could continue to feel for the now dead person as you felt for them in life. If that person were to be suddenly taken from unlife to plain old death, it would be just as if the person had died properly in the first place! Once again, condolences would seem to be appropriate here as well. Of course if the persistent shade were, say, an unloved mother-in-law, congratulations might be in order. Seems rather dependant on situation, no?

But we must go farther. Most necromancers aren't raising friends to hang on to the good old days a bit too long, they're raising small or possibly large armies to destroy those who would stand against them. The only way that condolences could possibly be appropriate in this situation would be if the necromancer were to gain some kind of affectionate feelings towards one of his minions. If he's got a pile of undead people milling about, I doubt that to be very likely. But imagine, if you will, if the necromancer raises, say, a dog or a wolf. Even though those creatures would be minions just like the other minions, no one ever said that people are very logical What if the necromancer began to treat that dog zombie more as a pet than as a minion? Over time it is conceivable that the necromancer could develop a weird sort of affection for that minion. If it were to be destroyed in some way, say by being turned to stone (no, I'm not bitter, really), it would not be inconcievable that the necromancer would be unhappy enough that perhaps even then condolences would be appropriate.

And there's yet more to say! Imagine that the intelligent undead became a necromancer himself and began to raise mindless undead all around him! Would he feel some kind of odd attachment to these other undead due to their similar places in unlife? Could he develop affectionate feelings for these creatures under his control over time? And that is where it comes down to the necromancer himself (or herself). If that unliving monster is actually a decent person who raises the dead not as meat puppets but as companions, the loss of those companions is certainly worthy of condolences. However, if the unliving monster is more interested in what those minions of his can do for him than in anything else, than I imagine the loss of his creations would be nothing more than an irritant, and annoyance. Any condolences offered would likely be met with derision or even laughter, even when genuinely intended.

In conclusion, I would have to say that condolences and the undead are very much situational based mostly on the necromancer and his or her reasoning for raising the horrible creations that are the undead. So before you offer your condolences to your necromancer friend, be sure of the intent behind the raising of the creature. If they are good of heart and use their powers for good rather than for awesome, you may be doing a good thing for an unhappy necromancer. If they are, on the other hand, say Neutral Evil, assume they have already forgotten that minion and are focused on the next horrible creation they can breath unlife into. Of course, if you have Neutral Evil friends, you have other problems you should probably look into in a hurry.