Beholder

The **beholder** is a fictional monster in the *Dungeons & Dragons* fantasy role-playing game. Its appearance is that of a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and many smaller eyestalks on top with powerful magical abilities.

The beholder is among the *Dungeons & Dragons* monsters that have appeared in every edition of the game since 1975. Beholders are one of the few classic Dungeons & Dragons monsters that Wizards of the Coast claims as Product Identity and as such was not released under its Open Game License.

## Publication history

Unlike many other *Dungeons & Dragons* monsters, the beholder is an original creation for *D&D*, as it is not based on a creature from mythology or other fiction. Rob Kuntz's brother Theron O. Kuntz created the *Beholder*, and Gary Gygax detailed it for publication.

### *Dungeons & Dragons* (1974–1976)

The beholder was introduced with the first *Dungeons & Dragons* supplement, *Greyhawk* (1975), and is depicted on its cover (as shown in the section below). It is described as a "Sphere of Many Eyes" or "Eye Tyrant", a levitating globe with ten magical eye stalks. The beholder later appears in the *Companion Rules* set, in the *Dungeon Masters Companion: Book Two* (1984). In 1991, it appears in the *Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia*.

### *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons* 1st edition (1977–1988)

With the release of *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons* 1st edition, the beholder appeared in the first edition *Monster Manual* (1977), where it is described as a hateful, aggressive, avaricious spherical monster that is most frequently found underground. Ed Greenwood and Roger E Moore authored "The Ecology of the Beholder", which featured in *Dragon* #76 (August 1983).

### *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons* 2nd edition (1989–1999)

Second edition supplements to *Advanced Dungeons & Dragons*, especially those of the *Spelljammer* campaign setting, added further details about these classic creatures' societies and culture. Beholders feature prominently in the Spelljammer setting, and a number of variants and related creatures are introduced in the *Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space* campaign set, in the *Lorebook of the Void* booklet (1989). It also appeared in the *Monstrous Compendium Volume One* (1989), and is reprinted in the *Monstrous Manual* (1993). The book *I, Tyrant* (1996), and the *Monstrous Arcana* module series that accompanies it, develops the beholder further. *I, Tyrant* expands the information on beholders through details of the race's history, religion, culture, settlements and psychology, and more.

Based on Tom Wham's depiction in the first edition *Monster Manual*, TSR artist Keith Parkinson characterized its popular appearance with plate-like armored scales and arthropod-like eyestalks. Jeff Grubb cites Keith Parkinson's artwork as the inspiration for the beholder-kin created for the Spelljammer campaign setting. The Beholder's xenophobia towards other subraces of Beholders was added after Jim Holloway submitted multiple designs for the Beholder's spelljamming ship and Jeff Grubb decided to keep them all and used xenophobia to explain the differences in design style.

### *Dungeons & Dragons* 3.0 edition (2000–2002)

The third edition of *Dungeons & Dragons* included the Beholder in the *Monster Manual* (2000) with the expanded monster statistics of this release. Beholder variants appear in *Monstrous Compendium: Monsters of Faerun* (2001).

### *Dungeons & Dragons* 3.5 edition (2003–2007)

The beholder appears in the revised *Monster Manual* for the 3.5 edition (2003). The mindwitness was a sample creature of the half-illithid template using a beholder as the base creature, featured on Wizards of the Coast's website on August 14, 2003. The beholder receives its own chapter in the book *Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations* (2005).

### *Dungeons & Dragons* 4th edition (2008–2014)

With the release of the fourth edition of *Dungeons & Dragons*, the beholder once again appears in the *Monster Manual* for this edition (2008), including the *beholder eye of flame* and the *beholder eye tyrant*. Variants of the beholder also appear in *Monster Manual 2* (2009), and *Monster Manual 3* (2010).

### *Dungeons & Dragons* 5th edition (2014–)

The beholder appears along with the more powerful undead **death tyrant** and the spectator in the 5th Edition *Monster Manual* (2014). Additionally, a zombie beholder also appears under the *zombies* section later in the book. *Volo's Guide to Monsters* (2016) provides more detail on beholder culture and contains stats for the **death kiss**, **guath** and **gazer** beholder kin. The half-illithid **mindwitness** also makes an appearance in this book. The book *Xanathar's Guide to Everything* (2017) contains various notes written from the perspective of the beholder known as Xanathar. Xanathar is also one of the possible villains adventurers can face in the adventure module *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* (2018)*.*

## Description

 File:Greyhawk Supplement 1975.jpg
 File:Gen-Con Beholder Sculpture, 2010.JPG
A Beholder is an *aberration* comprising a floating spheroid body with a large fanged mouth and single eye on the front and many flexible eyestalks on the top.

A beholder's eyes each possess a different magical ability; the main eye projects an anti-magical cone, and the other eyes use different spell-like abilities (disintegrate objects, transmute flesh to stone, cause sleep, slow the motion of objects or beings, charm animals, charm humans, cause death, induce fear, levitate objects, and inflict serious wounds). Many variant beholder species exist, such as "observers", "spectators", "eyes of the deep", "elder orbs", "hive mothers", and "death tyrants". In addition, some rare beholders can use their eyes for non-standard spell-like abilities; these mutant beholders are often killed or exiled by their peers. Beholders wishing to cast spells like ordinary wizards relinquish the traditional use of their eyestalks, and put out their central anti-magic eye, making these beholder mages immediate outcasts.

In 4th edition, different breeds of Beholders have different magic abilities. Beholder Eyes of Flame only have *Fear*, *Fire*, and *Telekenesis Rays* ; Eyes of Frost are the same, with fire replaced by frost. The Beholder Eye Tyrant is mostly unchanged from traditional beholders, but the *Death Ray* causes ongoing necrotic damage rather than an instant kill, and the *Disintegration Ray* does not automatically kill its target. Other Beholder types each have their own set of abilities. In this edition, the Beholder's central eye no longer cancels out magic, instead dazing or giving some vulnerability to its victim.

### Society

Beholders are extremely xenophobic. They will sometimes take members of other, non-beholder races as slaves; however, they will engage in a violent intra-species war with others of their kind who differ even slightly in appearance. This intense hatred of other beholders is not universal; the most prominent exceptions are Hive Mothers, who use their powers of mind control to form hives with other beholders and beholder-kin. Beholder communities in the Underdark often, when provoked, wage war on any and all nearby settlements, finding the most resistance from the drow and illithids.

Beholders worship their insane, controlling goddess known as the Great Mother, though some also, or instead, follow her rebel offspring, Gzemnid, the beholder god of gases.

Some beholder strains have mutated far from the basic beholder stock. These are aberrant beholders, of which there are numerous different types. These aberrants may have differing abilities and/or appearances but the unifying feature among beholders and the various aberrant beholders seems to be a simple, fleshy body with one or more grotesque eyes.

## Campaign settings

### *Forgotten Realms*

Beholders are especially prominent in the *Forgotten Realms* campaign setting, where they infiltrate and seek to control many sectors of society—many beholders are allied to the Zhentarim, some work with the Red Wizards of Thay, and a particularly powerful beholder, known as "The Evil Eye" or "The Xanathar" controls Skullport's influential Thieves Guild.("The Xanathar" being the title of the thieves guild leader, passed from one to the next.) Beholders also compete to control the Underdark from where most of them originate, with their base of power in the City of the Eye Tyrants, Ootul.Known for shooting beams from their medusa-like eye tentacles and petrifying would-be adventurers.

### Spelljammer

According to Ken Rolston, the beholder and the mind flayer "win starring roles as intergalactic menaces" in Spelljammer, and notes that the beholders, "with their abundant magical powers, are perhaps the most formidable warrior race of the universe, but fortunately they are too busy slaughtering one another to present a big threat to other spacefaring races".

Beholders in the Spelljammer campaign are common antagonists, like the deadly neogi and sadistic illithids. However, one thing prevents them from being the most dangerous faction in wildspace: the beholders are engaged in a xenophobic civil war of genetic purity.

There are a large number of variations in the beholder race with some sub-races having smooth hides and others chitinous plates. Other noticeable differences include snakelike eyestalks or crustacean like eyestalk joints. Some variations seem minor such as variations in the size of the central eye or differences in skin colour. Each beholder nation believes itself to be the true beholder race and sees other beholders as ugly copies that must be destroyed.

Lone beholders in wildspace are often refugees who have survived an attack that exterminated the rest of their nest or are outcasts who were expelled for having some form of mutation. The most famous lone beholder is Large Luigi, who works as a barkeeper on the Rock of Bral.

Beholders use a large number of different ship designs. Some of these ships feature a piercing ram but others have no weaponry. All beholder ships allow a circuit of beholders to focus their eye stalks into a 400-yard beam of magical energy. These ships are powered and navigated by the "orbus" (plural "orbii") race of beholders, who are stunted, albino, and very weak in combat.

### Eberron

Beholders served as living artillery during the Daelkyr incursion, using the terrible power of their eyes to shatter whole goblin armies. In Eberron, beholders do not reproduce naturally and have not created a culture of their own—they are simply the immortal servants of the daelkyr. Most continue to serve their masters, commanding subterranean outposts of aberrations or serving as the hidden leaders of various Cults of the Dragon Below. Others lead solitary lives, contemplating mysteries or studying the world. Such lone beholders may manipulate humanoid communities, but their actions are rarely driven by a desire for personal power.

Members of the Cults of the Dragon Below believe that these creatures function as the eyes of a greater power. Some insist that they serve Belashyrra, a powerful Daelkyr who is also known as the Lord of Eyes. Others claim the beholders are the eyes of Xoriat itself—that while they serve the daelkyr, they are conduits to a power even greater and more terrible than the shapers of flesh.

## Variants and kin

Information about beholder variations and related creatures has been made available in *Dungeons & Dragons* publications.

## Reception

A reviewer for *Arcane* magazine described the beholder: "11 eyes, paranoid, xenophobic, having a taste for live animals and being deadly with magic."

Artist Chris Hagerty called the beholder a "creature that looks at you and is destroying you by the power of its magical eyes".

*Wizard* magazine's top 100 greatest villains ever list selected the Beholder as the 99th greatest villain. Rob Bricken from io9 named the beholder as the 1st most memorable D&D monster.

SyFy Wire in 2018 called it one of "The 9 Scariest, Most Unforgettable Monsters From Dungeons & Dragons", saying that "Beholders are an iconic *Dungeons & Dragons* monster and one you don’t want to come face to eyestalk with if you can help it."

The beholder (gauth) was ranked sixth among the ten best mid-level monsters by the authors of *Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies*. The authors described the true beholder as an iconic creature of the game, "What could be more fantastic than a giant floating eyeball with little eye stalks sticking out, all of which shoot magic rays?" Of the gauth, the authors say "its ability to inflict a bewildering variety of damage on a party of heroes is unparalleled... until they fight a true beholder, that is."

The *Envoyer* magazine called the beholder a terrible beast, properly shown as such in 3rd edition *Monster Manual*, in contrast to earlier depictions where it rather looked like "a cuddly rosy ball with too many eyes".

## Appearances in other media

Beholders have appeared in many D&D related or licensed products including :

* Two Beholders are seen briefly in the 2000 motion picture *Dungeons & Dragons*.
* The *Dungeons & Dragons* TV cartoon series featured a Beholder in the 1983 episode *Eye of the Beholder*.
* A Beholder also appears in the interactive movie *Scourge of Worlds: A Dungeons & Dragons Adventure*.
* *Dungeons & Dragons* licensed computer and video games, including the *Eye of the Beholder* series; throughout *Baldur's Gate 2*; and one named Xantam in *Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance*.

### *D&D* Miniatures

* A Beholder is featured in *D&D Miniatures: Deathknell* set #32 (2005).
* The Beholder Eye Tyrant was included as a random packed figure in *D&D Miniatures: Dangerous Delves* (#5/40) (2009).
* The Beholder Ultimate Tyrant was available as a visible piece *Legendary Evils* set (#6/40) (2009).

### Media unrelated to Dungeons & Dragons

* The *Futurama* episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" features a Beholder who guards the Central Bureaucracy. He is a Grade 11 bureaucrat who begs the Planet Express crew not to tell its supervisor that he was sleeping on the job. He has another cameo in "Lethal Inspection", still working at the Central Bureaucracy.[*citation needed*]

* The *Goblin Slayer* series features a "Giant Eyeball" (episode 8 of the anime and volume 5 of the manga), which closely resembles a beholder with disintegration and magic dispelling abilities.
* Beholders appeared as a boss and recurring monster in the original Japanese version of *Final Fantasy*, but was renamed to "Evil Eye" and redesigned for the game's North American release to avoid copyright issues with TSR. Current installments of the *Final Fantasy* series have continued to use the monster with the design and name heavily altered.

## References

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1. ↑ Carton, Jans. Frequently Asked Questions. The Hypertext d20 SRD. Retrieved on January 22, 2008.
2. ↑ Gary Gygax Interview. Archived from the original on March 8, 2007. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
3. ↑ Gygax, Gary and Robert J. Kuntz. *Supplement I: Greyhawk* (TSR, 1975)
4. ↑ Mentzer, Frank. *Dungeons & Dragons Set 3: Companion Rules* (TSR, 1984)
5. ↑ Allston, Aaron, Steven E. Schend, Jon Pickens, and Dori Watry. *Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia* (TSR, 1991)
6. ↑ Greenwood, Ed, and Roger E Moore. "The Ecology of the Beholder." *Dragon* #76 (TSR, 1983)
7. ↑ Cook, David, et al. *Monstrous Compendium Volume One* (TSR, 1989)
8. ↑ Stewart, Doug, ed. *Monstrous Manual* (TSR, 1994)
9. ↑ Allston, Aaron. *I, Tyrant* (TSR, 1996)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Comford, David (October 1996). "Games Reviews". *Arcane*. Future Publishing (11): 72.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
11. ↑ Jeff Grubb's blog Saturday, October 29, 2005.
12. ↑ Grubb Street, Friday, April 18, 2008: Beholder - *So when I asked for beholder ships, he* (Jim Holloway) *gave me a wide variety. And we decided to use ALL of them, and since they were radically different we decided that beholders were xenophobic and hated other beholders. And since various artists over the years made beholders look doughy, crab-like, tentacled, and a variety of other shapes, the idea of different species of beholders (all looking different) made sense.*
13. ↑ Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. *Monster Manual* (Wizards of the Coast, 2000)
14. ↑ Wyatt, James, and Rob Heinsoo. *Monstrous Compendium: Monsters of Faerun* (Wizards of the Coast, 2001)
15. ↑ Mat Smith reveals what's "In the Works" for fall.. (September 14, 2003). Archived from the original on November 4, 2012.
16. ↑ Baker, Rich, James Jacobs, and Steve Winter. *Lords of Madness* (Wizards of the Coast, 2005)
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. *Monster Manual* (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
18. ↑ Mearls, Mike, Greg Bilsland, and Robert J. Schwalb. *Monster Manual 3*. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2010
19. ↑ Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. *Monster Manual* pages 26-30 (Wizards of the Coast, 2014)
20. ↑  (2014) *Monster Manual*. Wizards of the Coast, 316.
21. ↑ Volo's Guide to Monsters (Wizards of the Coast, 2016)
22. ↑ Sheehan, Gavin (September 20, 2018). Making Money!: We Review Dungeons & Dragons - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist.
23. ↑ *Dungeon Master's Guide* (2008)
24. ↑ Rolston, Ken (February 1990). "Role-playing Reviews". *Dragon*. Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR (#154): 59–63.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
25. ↑ *I, Tyrant* p 36, TSR 1996
26. ↑ Lorebook of the Void, from the *AD&D Adventures in Space* boxed set
27. ↑ Eberron Expanded — Lords of Madness. Wizards.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved on July 29, 2009.
28. ↑ Smith, Mat. In Like a Beholder, Out Like a Beholder. Previews. Wizards of the Coast, Inc.. Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved on September 21, 2015.
29. ↑ Amazon.com: Dungeons & Dragons Beholder Collector's Set: Toys & Games
30. ↑ Hagerty, Chris (2011-11-06). Allison, Tavis (ed.). *Panel Discussion*. D&D in Contemporary Art. New York.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
31. ↑ Wizard #177 - July 2006
32. ↑ Bricken, Rob (September 16, 2013). "The 10 Most Memorable Dungeons & Dragons Monsters". *io9*. Retrieved January 20, 2016.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
33. ↑ Granshaw, Lisa (October 24, 2018). The 9 scariest, most unforgettable monsters from Dungeons & Dragons.
34. ↑ Bill Slavicsek (2006). *Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies*. For Dummies, 373. Retrieved on February 12, 2009.
35. ↑ Bogdanski, Stefan (February 2003). "D&D: Monster Set 3te Edition". *Envoyer*. FZ Werbung Hannover (76): 15–16. ISSN 1433-2892.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
36. ↑ Handlen, Zack (12 Feb 2015). "Futurama: "A Clone Of My Own"/"How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back"". *AV Club*.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
37. ↑ https://comicbook.com/anime/2018/11/28/goblin-slayer-dungeons-and-dragons-easter-egg-eyeball-beholder/
38. ↑ Final Fantasy Encyclopaedia: Evil Eye". ffe.hendersongdi.com. Retrieved 2017-12-14.

## Further reading

* Cagle, Eric. "Worshipers of the Forbidden." *Dragon* #296 (Paizo Publishing, 2002).
* Collins, Andy, Bruce R. Cordell, and Thomas M. Reid. *Epic Level Handbook (Wizards of the Coast, 2002).*
* Demokopoliss, Dougal. "The Ecology of the Spectator." *Dragon* #139 (TSR, 1988).
* Greenwood, Ed. "The Ecology of the Eye of the Deep." *Dragon* #93 (TSR, 1985).
* Mearls, Michael. "Eye Wares: Potent Powers of the Beholders." *Dragon* #313 (Paizo Publishing, 2003).
	+ Template:OpenLinkMike Mearls|Mearls, MikeTemplate:CloseLink (2006-10-27). Monster Makeover: The Beholder. Design & Development. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.