I never liked the explanation for ash zombies in Lost Mine of Phandelver:

These zombies were created by the magical devastation when Mount Hotenow erupted thirty years ago.

These zombies are burnt to a crisp to the point that, when hit with a melee attack, they produce an ash puff (or crumble into an ash cloud when slain in Phandalin & Below: The Shattered Obelisk) – yet they’re substantial enough to exist 30 years after the volcanic eruption that spawned them.

Magical or not, that seems implausible – especially when there’s a better explanation for ash zombies in a previous version of the game.

The 4E Neverwinter Campaign Setting refers to Evernight and The Burning Woods, which are Shadowfell reflections of Neverwinter and the Neverwinter Wood. For fans of Stranger Things, these locations are basically the Upside Down.

The Burning Woods is described as a “wasteland with calf-deep mounds of gray ash and faintly glowing embers,” and a place where “extreme heat, pervasive smoke, piles of ash, and raining fire were potentially fatal obstacles.”

To me, this is where a crispy zombie should come from.

There’s a shadow crossing (a vortex or portal that connects the Material Plane to the Shadowfell) in the vicinity of the Dread Ring in the Neverwinter Wood; these crossings can also appear at random in dark, shadowy places where the veil between the Material Plane and the Shadowfell is thinnest, which could plausibly be a place like the dark, magical, and foreboding Neverwinter Wood.

Thundertree is located right at the edge of the Neverwinter Wood.

Reframing the ash zombies as creatures that crossed over from the Shadowfell resolves their implausibility while strengthening Thundertree’s ties to established Forgotten Realms lore. Rather than fragile remnants inexplicably surviving for decades after Mount Hotenow’s eruption, they become recent intrusions – charred undead, spilling through a shadow crossing in the Neverwinter Wood.

Seen this way, ash zombies can go from a questionable footnote into an opportunity for characters to arrive at the realization that there are other planes of existence, and that there’s more to the Neverwinter Wood than just trees.

If you’d like to support my work, please consider checking out my free/pwyw supplements for Lost Mine of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak over on Dungeon Master’s Guild!