Myth Zombie Analysis
WARNING: THIS WILL TALK ABOUT SOME THINGS FROM THE LATEST MOTM UPDATE! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, I SUGGEST DOING SO BEFORE READING THIS!
Alright. Let's talk about these zombies.
So far, we have seen 4 zombies. Charly, Barley (in the back with his head on the line), one who I think is Edgar (it very well might not be), and the brute wolf/dog Bendy mistakes for Boris.
All of them have been horribly mutilated in some way, shape, or form. Charly is missing some limbs and an eye, Barley's head is held on by a string, and the brute zombie's chest and neck hacked open to show its bones. All quite gruesome to think of or look at. But this also bears another implication. That they have been experimented on in some fashion.
See, Charly's eye isn't just missing. It's straight up sewn shut. And the one that could be Edgar also has similar stitching on its head, right above its single eye. This isn't something they could do as mindless zombies. Someone had to try to stitch them up and keep them together. Additionally, they've been confirmed to be missing for years at this point.
I don't think they would randomly pop up after disappearing for years. Someone had to have taken them, and done this to them. Tortured them, experimented on them, and once their lives gave out, denied them even that. They now exist as mindless husks who follow whatever objective their given, or pursue any available soul they can get their mitts on.
I fully believe the current objective they have is to go after the bbros. When Cups and Bendy first see the Butchers, Charly gets in Bendy's face instead of Cups. This is despite the fact that a free soul is floating next to the demon he could grab at any moment. No, Charly is focused entirely on chasing Bendy over Cups. This is further shown when Charly manages to catch up to the two while their trying to pull their hands apart.
If you look at Charly's hand, it's aimed lower than Cups' soul on his person. Additionally, in the prior panel, Bendy was on the left while Cups was on the right. This means that Bendy was closer to Charly when he tried to lunge for them. The only reason Charly was unable to grab him was because Cups simultaneously pushed Bendy out of the way while putting himself between the two of them. This meant that Charly now had an obstacle to remove to get to his target. And that obstacle was something his body was lacking. A soul.
At that point, any commands that were lodged into his head flew the coop. Every instinct in his body would be screaming at him to fill the gap with whatever is available. And in this case, that would be Cups. It isn't just Charly who has this instinct either. The brute themself says as much when they encounter Bendy.
They are empty bodies just yearning for a soul to complete them. To give back what they have lost by being restored to unlife.
Now we come to the question: who tried to bring them back to life? Who would do something like this? And why? The way I see it there are two possible answers. One obvious one, and one that's a bit of a long shot.
The Mad Doctor, or Dandy.
The Mad Doctor is an obvious choice. It's in the name after all. But further evidence is Bendy stating that Charly and his gang disappeared in the war against the Doctor. It's possible that followers of the Doctor would kidnap toons and bring them to him for experimentation. No one could find them if they were behind enemy lines and they could never get to them. Jessica adds onto this with her statement that the Doctor is still at large. So it's possible that he's the one who let out these husks for a test drive. A little test for his latest batch of soldiers.
While highly probable, I still don't think the Doctor sent the husks after them. After all, why would he send the zombies into the forest when he could have sent them to the town to spread terror? It just doesn't feel like the right M.O. for a follower of Doom and someone who waged a war. So, that leaves the only other suspect.
Dandy.
Now, this is a long shot. But something I feel is likely. Dandy is stated to be the Star of Health, as seen with Dyle's introduction at the meeting. The Health department would have access to alot of medical equipment and technology other departments wouldn't. And, if we consider that the zombies were experimented upon, they would have the means to do so. Adding fuel to this theory is that Mickey and Dandy have an as of yet unspecified deal. Something that has to do with Gardenview. Something that has to do with unfiltered ink. This is something that Mario attempts to address in the meeting before he is cut off.
The moment Mario tries to talk about the ink waste, Dyle interrupts. The only reason he would do something like this is if Mario was about to say something incriminating to him and Dandy. So he cuts him off to avoid the other stars becoming suspicious of their activities. This only adds onto my suspicions that something shady is going on at Gardenview regarding the unfiltered ink and its use. This "ink" might actually be Ichor.
As stated in the Prologue, Ichor is what give toons life. It is the lifeblood of the planet that was then used to make them as well. So if you have the means to breaks through the surface, you can gain access to the Ichor and use it for your own purposes. To create, to build, to give life. But it can be dangerous. This inky essence is a living thing that can grant its own life if left unchecked. Hence, "Searchers" being associated with it. The best answer would be to destroy it or filter it to lessen the chance of a Searcher spawning. Unless, you can use it for something else. Like "Reanimation".
What happens when you introduce living ink into something already dead? What does it do to a body that has become empty? Something without a heart, without a soul? Would nothing happen? Or, would some semblance of life, return? Would the body walk again, even without a soul to pilot it?
My final evidence to Dandy being responsible actually comes from something Sheba said.
'butchers all over the forest after you heads'. BUTCHERS. Not bounty hunters. Not ruffians. Butchers. The name of Charly's gang. The name of the zombies if you look in the tags. This means when Sheba and Felix were in the forest, they saw the zombies roaming around. And they recognized them. They knew what they were. What they were there for.
This means one thing: this has happened before. Someone learned something they shouldn't have, and the butchers A.K.A the zombies were sent out to take care of the problem. Tear them apart before they could do anything about it. And at that point, only a handful of people knew they were out there. The cupbros, Felix and Sheba, and MICKEY. The mouse himself, who is shown to have some connection to Dandy. The person who most likely experimented on these husks. Who would be more then happy to help out a "friend" with his "problem".
And a final problem to puzzle out. How have these zombies not been seen by anyone? How were they not found after they went missing if Dandy had them? For the latter, no one would think to look to the Health department for missing people during a war. It would be far more likely that the enemy took them or they simply ran to a different town. As for the former, let's be honest. Who would believe them that the dead walked? That the missing had risen from the grave? And with the power they have at their fingertips, Mickey or Dandy could bury them before they got a peep out. Dead as the butchers they saw.
...OK, I'M DONE RANTING! WHEW!
Thanks you @flygutzz and @nortsauce for the amazing update! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! But man, I had alot I wanted to say about these guys and my thoughts on it!
