All Of Us Are Dead: What Is A Hambie And What Can They Do?

One of the things that makes the Korean zombie series "All of Us Are Dead" so satisfying to watch is how it introduces new wrinkles in the archetype of the flesh-hungry horde. This is by no means the only time this has been done. CW's "iZombie" gave us a couple of different iterations of zombies. Syfy's "Z Nation" gave us all sorts of zombies, from plant zombies to irradiated zombies to weird zombie-human hybrids. 

"All of Us Are Dead" depicts zombies akin to the infected in "28 Days Later." Overcome with a hunger for flesh, they're still biologically alive, with all human capacities replaced by feral rage. However, the show also includes "Hambies" (or, as rendered in the English subtitles, "Halfbies"). 

Hambies are people who have been bitten or otherwise infected with the Jonas Virus that turns most hosts into zombies. Rather than going fully feral, they retain a sense of human intelligence and impulse control. Like other zombies, they have enhanced strength, agility, and eyesight, but they can think and reason and have all of their memories and sense of identity from before they were bitten. It is suggested that Hambies could be an evolution of zombies and, by extension, humans. Sounds pretty good, right? All the perks and none of the drawbacks. Except there is a drawback — a fairly big drawback.

As with others infected with the Jonas Virus, Hambies still hunger for flesh. Given that Hambies retain their impulse control, along with pretty much all of their human faculties, they can keep the craving at bay. Unfortunately, hunger inevitably wins. 

Hambies can deal with this in a few ways. One is to eat animal flesh. For example, Min Eun-ji (Oh Hye-soo) is seen eating live fish from teacher Jun Yong-nam's (Yoon Kyung-ho) fish tank before deciding to devour him too. Hambies can also satisfy their craving by eating the flesh of other zombies. Those Hambies with more humanity try to opt for this choice or, if pushed to the brink (as in the case of Choi Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun)), eat their own flesh. 

Thus far, nobody in "All of Us Are Dead" has determined exactly what makes some infected with the Jonas Virus Hambies rather than just run-of-the-mill feral zombies. Some characters have speculated that it may have to do with the degree of fear one feels when bitten. This may be plausible, given that the Jonas Virus was created to remove fear. However, there's also a very good chance that this is one of those questions that a zombie property never answers.