The Official Difference Between a Zombie & a Vampire

by Colin Tandel
(Oklahoma)

Dear Zombie Master,

What is the difference between a Vampire and a Zombie?

No, don't look at me like I'm an idiot, there is an obvious difference, I just can't put my finger on it.

They both are the living dead, they both consume the living, and if you get bitten you turn into one. There are some traditional differences (i.e. can't stand garlic, lives in a coffin rather than can't get away from a coffin fast enough, hates crosses, and can't be in sunlight), but these just seem to me like traditions and nothing more. What is the official difference?

Colin, Oklahoma

Colin,

Both the zombie and the vampire are members of the "undead". Put in simplest of terms, the undead are dead beings that behave as if they were alive. The difference then becomes strictly on a behavioral basis.
Vampires are typically intelligent with some having a super intelligence. Vampires do not consume the living as a whole but they do require fresh blood to survive. Zombies on the other hand are dumb as a box of rocks and they do not require anything for survival they just have an unquenchable hunger for flesh.
Again, the main difference between any members of the undead becomes behavior.

Good hunting and aim high,

The Zombie Master