Ghouls in popular culture

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A Ghoul is a mythical creature originating in pre-Islamic Arabia, often described as hideous human-like monster that dwelt in the desert or other secluded locations in order to lure travellers astray. It was not until Antoine Galland translated Arabian Nights into French that the western idea of Ghoul was introduced. Galland depicted the Ghoul as a monstrous creature that dwelled in cemeteries, feasting upon corpses. This definition of the Ghoul has persisted until modern times, with Ghouls appearing in literature, television and film, as well video games.^[1]

Anime and manga[]

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• Tokyo Ghoul depicts Ghouls as living beings visually identical to humans, save for their eyes; while feeding on human flesh or using supernatural powers, their irises turn crimson red and their scleras turn black. They live among humans, and only need to eat human flesh. In the anime, they say that a whole human body can last them a month. If a Ghoul consumes human food, not only does it taste horrible, but if it is not thrown back up, makes them ill. Human/Ghoul hybrids are rare, but are said to possess much greater strength than ordinary ghouls. Hybrids were believed to only appear on the rare occasion that a human and a Ghoul successfully mated, until the advent of protagonist Kaneki Ken, a regular human until ghoul organs are transplanted into his body.
• In Hellsing, ghouls are zombie-like creatures that are created when a "chipped" (technological) vampire drains a victim to death, or, in the manga, where a vampire drains the blood of someone who is not a virgin. If fatally wounded, they instantly crumble to dust. They are under the control of the vampire who bites them, eat human flesh, and are intelligent enough to use firearms. It is not rare to see a vampire amass a small army of Ghouls for offence and defence.
• In the manga Rosario + Vampire, ghouls are a type of mindless, cannibalistic monster that are created in two manners. Ordinary ghouls are created when an evil spirit possesses a corpse. Rarely, ghouls are created when a human repeatedly has monster blood injected into their veins. The monster blood grants the ghoul supernatural power but at the same time destroys the psyche, leaving them a mindless killing machine. They resemble vampires but are easily identified by the web-like marking surrounding the bite mark where the monster blood was injected and their complete lack of self-control. The lead male character, Tsukune Aono, eventually becomes one such ghoul due to the continuous intake of vampiric blood from Moka Akashiya. Although thanks to some intervention he was able to regain almost all of his humanity and senses by having the vampire blood sealed through a Holy Lock. Although, for a time, there's still a danger he'll revert to a ghoul again. Eventually, Tsukune overcomes the vampire blood and becomes a full-fledged vampire himself.

Literature[]

"Amine Discovered with the Goule", from the story of Sidi Nouman, of the One Thousand and One Nights.

• One Thousand and One Nights is the earliest surviving literature that mentions ghouls,^[2] and many of the stories in that collection involve or reference ghouls. A prime example is the story "The History of Gherib and His Brother Agib", in which Gherib, an outcast prince, fights off a family of ravenous Ghouls and then enslaves them and converts them to Islam.^[3] Other stories that feature Ghouls are The Story of Sidi-Nouman, and the Tale of the Prince and the Ogress (which had ghouls instead of ogres).
• Vathek is an Arabian Gothic Novel that has an entry on Ghouls.
• In Hans Christian Andersen's literary fairy tale, "The Wild Swans" (1838), the heroine Eliza has to pass a group of ghouls feasting on a corpse.
• Edgar Allan Poe mentions ghouls in the despairing fourth section ("Iron Bells") in his 1848 poem "The Bells", describing them and their king as "the people, they that dwell up in the steeple" tolling the bells and glorying in the depressive effect on the hearers. "They are neither man nor woman— / They are neither brute nor human— / They are Ghouls."^[4] His 1847 poem "Ulalume" also features ghouls.
• In the fiction of H. P. Lovecraft, a ghoul is a member of a nocturnal subterranean race. Some ghouls were once human, but a diet of human corpses, and perhaps the tutelage of proper ghouls, mutated them into horrific bestial humanoids. In the short story "Pickman's Model" (1926), they are unutterably terrible monsters; however, in his later novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926), the ghouls are somewhat less disturbing, even comical at times, and both helpful and loyal to the protagonist. Richard Upton Pickman, a noteworthy Boston painter who disappeared mysteriously in "Pickman's Model", appears as a ghoul himself in Dream-Quest. Similar themes appear in "The Lurking Fear" (1922) and "The Rats in the Walls" (1924), both of which posit the existence of subterranean clans of degenerate, retrogressive cannibals or carrion-eating humans. This theme is elaborated on in Anders Fager's "Grandmother's Journey" in which a large family have degenerated (or changed) into a brood of sub-human beast men.
• In the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and in the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Ghouls are shown as loyal soldiers of the White Witch. In The Horse and His Boy, they are revealed to also live in Calormen where like in Arabic folklore and mythology they tend to dwell near tombs, attack travelers, and befriend jackals.
• Ghouls appear in the comics produced by Creepy.
• In Edward Lee's horror novel called Ghouls a scientist manages to bring three ghouls with him to Washington D.C. from Arabia only for them to escape and cause havoc in a small town.
• In J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, ghouls are comparatively harmless creatures that live in the homes of wizards, making loud noises and occasionally groaning; a ghoul resides in the attic of the Weasley family's home as the family's pet. Context implies that in the Harry Potter universe, ghouls are closer to animals than human beings.^[5][6] This "innocuous",^[7] "somewhat anodyne depiction" in popular children's books "has placed the ghoul at the heart of mainstream film and literature".^[8]

Television and film[]

• Although many screenplays have featured ghouls, the first major motion picture of this theme was the 1933 British film entitled The Ghoul. Boris Karloff plays a dying Egyptologist who possesses an occult gem, known as The Eternal Light, which he believes will grant immortality if he is buried with it, and thereby able to present it to Anubis in the afterlife. Of course, his bickering covetous heirs and associates would rather keep the jewel for themselves. Karloff vows to rise from his grave and avenge himself against anyone who meddles with his plan, and he keeps this promise when one of his colleagues steals the gem after his death.
• While considered "Zombies" by modern standards, the undead monsters of the 1968 film "Night of the Living Dead" are actually ghouls. They are mentioned as ghouls during a news report the characters watch while trapped inside the house. The writer/director, George A. Romero, has also been quoted in an interview as saying "Actually I never called ours zombies. That description appeared in an article in Cahiers du Cinema. 'They're zombies,' it said. We originally thought of them as ghouls."^[9]
• The 1980 anthology film The Monster Club featured a segment about a village of ghouls stumbled upon by an unwary traveller (Stuart Whitman), who temporarily escapes the creatures with the help of one half-human girl, but he is recaptured when it turns out that the ghouls have representatives inhabiting our normal human world.
• In It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Charlie Kelly lists "little green ghouls" among his interests.
• The Netflix original series Ghoul is set in India in a dystopian future where fascism is at its top, and the story's main plot is the interrogation of a dreaded terrorist Ali Saeed in a secret government internment camp that ignites a series of horrifying and supernatural events in the aftermath.
• In Season 4 of Supernatural, Episode 19, "Jump the Shark", Sam and Dean come across two ghouls.

Video games[]

• Ghouls make an appearance in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and quite possibly Middle-earth: Shadow of War where they are shown to travel and attack in swarms, are led by a Matron, and choose to live in Caves, Underground Lairs, Tombs, and fetid nests, also in the game the word Ghoul is spelled as Ghūl. They can also spit a toxic venom at their prey. They are some of the most dangerous forms of wildlife in Mordor.
• In Warframe, Ghouls are a special type of enemy who have been "planted" into the soil of Earth and grow up there to become, for the most part, mindless, blood thirsty, and horrifically deformed human clones with the only purpose to kill.
• In Wizard 101, Ghouls appear both as enemies the player can fight, and in spells the player can cast.

Tabletop Games[]

• In the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game, ghouls are monstrous, undead humans who reek of carrion and were described as being able to paralyze anyone they touch. A ghoul is said to be created on the death of a man or woman who savored the taste of flesh. They not only eat the dead, but also prey on the unwary living. Ghouls can paralyze their victims with a touch, though elves are immune. Aside from the standard variety, a number of other forms, like the abyssal ghoul, exist. These extraplanar versions of the standard ghoul have fiendish characteristics that make them far more formidable than their cousins. The ghast is similar to the ghoul, but is distinguished by its monstrously foul and supernaturally nauseating stench. It is also more powerful than a standard ghoul; even elves can fall victim to a ghast's paralytic touch. It very closely resembles its undead cousins, but is far more deadly and cunning. They are chaotic evil in alignment.^[10][11][12]
• Within the Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Requiem roleplaying games, ghouls are humans fed vampire blood. While they aren't vampires, this allows them to use several of their powers, and they do not age. In VTM Bloodlines game, your ghoul shows an almost fanatical devotion to your character as well. Ghouls are an intrinsic part of vampire society, with entire families that often live to serve one undead master. However, whether treated as friends, servants or property (cattle) to be used up and disposed of depends on their master. While ghouls do not age while being regularly fed the blood, without a constant source of vampire blood they will eventually start aging to their proper age again over the course of a month. While this is what ghouls are to the World of Darkness universe at large, the more classic example that eats corpses (called 'ghuls') have been described and detailed in several sourcebooks, such as .

References[]