Former human


 * "Zombie" redirects here. For information about the Doom 3 monster, see Zombie (Doom 3). For information about zombie players, see Voodoo doll. For information about the total conversion, see Zombies TC.

Former human monsters are zombies possessed by the evil forces of hell, and are Doom's most common opponents of the player when considered as a group. They were once UAC marines, like the player, but have been somehow turned undead, (possibly by Arch-vile magic). Inside the Doom source code and in the Doom Bible they are called Possessed humans, and their sprite prefix always contains an abbreviation for "possessed". Because of their immediately human origin, they attack with hand-held firearms instead of innate attacks or cybernetic implants as other monsters do, and are easier to eliminate than most of their fully demonic counterparts. Because of their relatively low hit points, they are often gibbed when struck by more powerful opponents.

Former humans drop weapons or ammunition when killed; this sets them apart from the purely hellish monsters. A dropped item remains even if the zombie respawns or is resurrected by an arch-vile; if killed again, the zombie will drop yet another item. Being humans that somehow become possessed by demonic forces, they are not generated by the final boss of Doom II.

Former human types

 * Zombieman
 * Shotgun guy
 * Heavy weapon dude

And, relatedly:


 * Wolfenstein SS

Trivia

 * In the Doom Bible, a sketchy plan of the first level of the game, called "Level one: Secondary hangar", marks the locations for "dehumans"; perhaps using the "de-" from demon to make a reference to the Black Sabbath album from (June) 1992, Dehumanizer, especially considering Tom Hall has demonstrated a preference for inserting popular references in his game design.