D&D 5E Intelligent Undead: do they have souls?

[Voi_D_ragon]

As the title suggests, do intelligent undead have souls? Obviously basic undead such as zombies and skeletons, which are simply corpses moved by magic with no intent other than to follow orders or instincts (if your zombies are the independent, brain-eating types), do not have souls, but what about Whights, or Revenants, or Lichs?
As they retain some or all of their personality, does this mean that their soul still resides within their body?

My gut answer would be no, the magic that animates them and keeps their bodies semi-intact and functioning also keeps their brains in an operable state, and their mannerisms and personality are simply a consequence of all (or most) of their brain cells still retaining their former configuration (for the sake of this argument, I'm assuming that the physical position, development and connection between one another of brain cells is the sole cause of personality traits, memories, etc) and functioning in some manner, without the spiritual essence actually being there (this means that the creature also can't learn any new skills, and probably has very short-term memory of events happening after its death)

But I want to hear what you think.

(I want to know this because I want to put an undead guard in a room containing a tainted artifact, and would like to think up of the effects it could have on its personality-in my example, the artifact doesn't drive the guardian insane because it can't physically alter the structure of its brain, thus it retains the traits it had in life)

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I tend to think of intelligent undead as being run by what amounts to a very sophisticated computer program that models the soul right before undeath (and in the case of the hungry/angry undead imparts new imperatives into the model): Acerek the lich is a dungeon creating machine that thinks it is Acerek the man just made into undead.

The benefits for the force of darkness are two-fold: you actually get the souls right away if becoming undead involves corruption (and it doesn't matter if the soul gets killed in the Blood War, the undead is still running around), and the "sophisticated computer program" makes the undead better at their jobs without having to worry that Joe the lich is suddenly going grow a conscience, because that isn't in the program (although faking it is useful--"that poor vampire with a soul" has been turning suckers into thralls for generations even while genuinely believing that it isn't evil).

Event though the undead program isn't actually the dead person, it is close enough that it creates interference if you try to raise the dead person who the undead program is modeled after, kind of like "two things can't occupy the same space at the same time", so you have to remove the interference (killing the undead) first.

 

[zeldafan42]

I feel like this is a huge case of “it depends.” If depends on the setting, the DM, the specific type of undead....there’s probably not an easy answer to this question.

That said if you want a few of my takes on the question:
-Liches and Death Knights do retain their soul...just not in their own body. The rituals to create them talk about binding the soul to an outside object, which allows the undead in question to transcend death and even revive themselves if their body is destroyed but the vessel containing their soul is intact.
-A Revenant also possesses a soul. They’re a weird type of undead anyways, created when a deity places a soul in a corpse and animates it for a purpose.
-Vampires though? I’m going to say they’re probably soulless. The lack of a soul is often used to explain stuff like why they don’t show up in mirrors or photographs. Whatever it is that animates a vampire and causes them to resemble the person that occupied their body when alive isn’t a soul. Unless you’re Angel or Spike.
-Ghouls are intelligent too, right? I feel like they also fall into the soulless camp. Maybe that’s the clue: Intelligent undead that feed on the living are soulless, animated by something that makes them hunger for something that the living possess that they don’t, and not necessarily consciously realizing that the thing they lack is a soul.
-And then you have Ghosts, which are the opposite idea: all soul, no body. Which could lead to an interesting encounter where you simultaneously fight a zombie and a ghost that are from the same guy.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The 5e Monster Manual has a lot to say about the specific origins of various undead and what happens to their souls.

 

[Oofta]

In my campaign I've actually thought about this a bit, the short answer is "it depends".

Most undead are simply magical entities with no souls, even powerful undead such as vampires. Liches are a weird case - they have a soul but it does not animate them, the soul is stored in their phylactery.

In other cases people that die have their souls go to the Shadowfell (all souls go through the Shadowfell on their way to their final resting place). If the soul doesn't get to their destination (Valhalla, Helheim or wherever) their soul slowly "evaporates"* until there is merely a spell created by the imprint of the soul. Thus ghosts that are "fresh" may have a remnant of a soul, but the older they are the less soul they have.

On the other hand creatures such as vampires are just improved versions of zombies. The person died and their soul went elsewhere.

However, sometimes a soul can get "stuck", and are never able to get to their final resting place because their body is animated. This is why necromancy is considered EVIL. It also means that occasionally certain undead may have special powers or be susceptible to other influences.

*I think I stole this idea from Supernatural when Bobby died

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Remember that some undead are souls, and nothing else: ghosts and the like.

So I don't think any sort of blanket answer to the question is going to be adequate.

 

[Yaarel]

There are different kinds of undead.

Ghosts are nothing but a soul.

Vampires and Liches are sorta like a ghost animating a corpse.

But this kind of ghostliness is only part of the living person − a half life − an echo of a life that has passed.

Other aspects of the living consciousness have moved on.

These undead cannot grow nor evolve the way a living being can.

For example, if the undead died as a teenage, the undead always perceives and behaves as if still that teenager.

 

[cbwjm]

I tend to consider most intelligent forms of undead have cheated death and have their souls still tied to them although some forms might be simply a corrupting force that has taken over the body once the soul has departed. Vampires, Mummies, and Liches I'd say still have their souls. Any non-corporeal undead is probably a soul twisted into undeath. Something like a wight could have a soul or it might even be something else inhabiting the body. I haven't really looked much into what happens to the souls of undead though so the game might have something different to say.

 

[Sunseeker]

Lich's explicitly have souls, they're trapped in the phylactery. I think revenants might have souls, but revenants are IMO, unique, each has a unique circumstance to its death and a unique reason for returning to "life". I think that certain reasons for returning to the "living" might bring the soul with it, while others might not. I disagree with some of the above posters about ghosts being souls. I think that's another "depends on the undead" situation. A ghost could easily be a remnant of the spirit left on the material plane for one reason or another, perhaps an incredibly powerful feeling left behind after death.

I view vampires as their souls being trapped and tortured by the curse of vampirism. Their personalities become twisted by the pain their soul endures by constantly trying to move on while simultaneously being trapped.

I don't usually view wights as having the soul trapped within, just a twisted version of the personality.

 

[clearstream]

As the title suggests, do intelligent undead have souls? Obviously basic undead such as zombies and skeletons, which are simply corpses moved by magic with no intent other than to follow orders or instincts (if your zombies are the independent, brain-eating types), do not have souls, but what about Whights, or Revenants, or Lichs?
As they retain some or all of their personality, does this mean that their soul still resides within their body?

My gut answer would be no, the magic that animates them and keeps their bodies semi-intact and functioning also keeps their brains in an operable state, and their mannerisms and personality are simply a consequence of all (or most) of their brain cells still retaining their former configuration (for the sake of this argument, I'm assuming that the physical position, development and connection between one another of brain cells is the sole cause of personality traits, memories, etc) and functioning in some manner, without the spiritual essence actually being there (this means that the creature also can't learn any new skills, and probably has very short-term memory of events happening after its death)

But I want to hear what you think.

(I want to know this because I want to put an undead guard in a room containing a tainted artifact, and would like to think up of the effects it could have on its personality-in my example, the artifact doesn't drive the guardian insane because it can't physically alter the structure of its brain, thus it retains the traits it had in life)

In my campaign I make the assumption that undead are created by summoning a corrupted soul from the Shadowfell to possess the corpse. In the case of some intelligent undead (such as liches), they bind their own soul into the body in the same way. Thus all undead have souls.

This is chosen to be consistent with Speak with Dead (we know the original soul leaves the body) and Raise Dead (we know that making a corpse undead prevents raising). Essentially, I'm saying that the reason reanimating a corpse as undead prevents raising is because the body becomes occupied by another soul.