I’ve recently gotten the Dark Ranger skin option and used it on my Night Elf, and I’m really enjoying it. However, I had a thought. I’m loving the new dogs in Dragonflight, but I’m wondering if a living animal would follow around an Undead Elf. Does anyone else play as a Dark Ranger? How do you do it?
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The ability to tame certain undead pets was added in Shadowlands
So that’s an option!
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I’ve tried to mirror what I’ve seen in-game, or stuck with pets in the Forsaken zones, but I don’t think anyone would give you too much hassle if you wanted a Taivan.
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As a longtime undead RPer, I would encourage you to feel like you have a lot of freedom with how you RP your character’s undeath manifesting in the world around them—correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t remember if there was ever a specific instance in Warcraft where living animals (mounts and pets) refuse to respond to the call of an undead master. Even Blightcaller’s hounds were classified as beasts, not undead, a category which was also shared by his pet bat Bloodwing.
I realize that the trope of living animals being unsettled by the dead is something we see in other fantasy universes, so if you wanted to RP it that way, I don’t think anyone would take issue—but honestly, I think it really depends on the character. I can see arguments either way, but what matters at the end of the day is that you choose a pet that suits your character and that you’ll enjoy having.
My undead hunter has a spider and a darkhound, and rides a bat, so I generally stick to the “undead-adjacent” animals… but again, I don’t think there’s anything that says you have to. 
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I agree with Maerlyn’s points, and I would add that even if you do play it as being the case that living animals instinctively find the undead unsettling, that doesn’t mean that an undead can’t have living pets. Many animals can work past or learn to tolerate both learned and instinctual fears given the right person and the right handling.
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This actually sounds like a fun RP premise.
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Sorry, but I read that as dark rangers as pets. lol
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