RUTTERKIN

RUTTERKIN

"Rutterkin look much like ugly humans or humanoids. They are nearly hairless and have pointed skulls, large features and backward pointing ears. Rutterkin have misshapen bodies and limbs. They are one of the weakest but most bullying kinds of demons."

Gary Gygax, The Lost Caverns Of Tsojcanth

"This hunched and misshapen figure stands 6 feet tall. Its features are asymmetrical and deformed, and its mottled green and violet skin is hairless except for one or two uncomfortable looking patches of wiry bristles. The fiend has an elongated head with tiny red eyes that swell with hate."

Ed Stark, Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

The rutterkin first appeared in Gygax's The Lost Caverns Of Tsojcanth with an illustration by (I believe) Jim Holloway. It's a pretty simple illustration given the grotesque nature of the creatures. Holloway gives it another go in Monster Manual II.

These are fine but basically just look like demons. It's not until Arnie Swekel's illustration from Fiendish Codex I: Hordes Of the Abyss that we see someone really sticking to the description.

As far as mythology goes, the name Rutterkin comes form the Beresford witch trials. Three women, Joan Flowers and her daughters, were charged with witchcraft. The daughters confessed (after brutal torture) to all kinds of misdeeds, including feeding their pet cat Rutterkin. Because simply having a pet was enough to cast suspicion on a person.

Tomorrow is a really grotesque monstrosity, related to this one!