"This nightmare creature is loathsome beyond description and has no redeeming features. Its body resembles that of a huge, bloated buffalo and gives off an offensive odor. The catoblepas' neck is long and thin, and perched atop it is a big head uglier than that of a warthog. Its legs are thick and stumpy, much like a hippopotamus. The creature's tail is strong and snakey, however, and moves with amazing swiftness to strike enemies. The gaze of the catoblepas is equal to a death ray, extending 6" from the eyes (even into the astral and ethereal planes). Any creature which meets this gaze dies without any chance to save itself."
Gary Gygax, Monster Manual
First appearing in the first Monster Manual with an illustration by D.A. Trampier the catoblepas seems so bizarre, such an amalgamation of disparate creatures that it had to be made up specifically for D&D.
Well, it's actually got some legendary parentage! In Ethiopian folklore the catoblepas is said to resemble a water buffalo but with a head so heavy that it's constantly pointed down. It's gaze can turn people to stone or kill them. This puts its in the tradition of such creatures as the basilisk or the gorgons.
An illustration of a catoblepas from Jan Jonston's Historia Naturalis de Quadrupedibus (1614).
Naturalists suspect the catoblepas was actually inspired by real life encounters with a wildebeest. Their elongated heads and weird necks along with some "telephone" resulted in the legendary creature.
Actually, the catoblepas is mentioned in Strategic Review Vol II No. 2 with a brief uncredited description believed to be authored by Gygax himself. Gygax was known to use The Book Of Imaginary Beings as inspiration. Published in 1957, The Book Of Imaginary Beings was written by artist Jorge Luis Borges with Margarita Guerrero. Borges provided some great illustrations but, unfortunately, not for the catoblepas.
One of Borges' non-catoblepas illustrations.
The catoblepas also brings to mind another creature of African folklore, the Mokêle-Mbêmbe. It's a wild amalgam of elephant, unicorn and alligator and I've drawn it before! Actually, I've drawn two versions; they version from folklore and the version that Charles Saunders folded into his Dossouye story.
This is also another guy that was really fun to draw because I've had experience with all the animals that are thrown into this melting pot. Warthogs, rhinos, water buffaloes and wildebeests are all animals I saw up close and person on my trip to Kenya in 2007.
Here's a collection of photos from that trip!
Naturalists suspect the catoblepas was actually inspired by real life encounters with a wildebeest. Their elongated heads and weird necks along with some "telephone" resulted in the legendary creature.
Actually, the catoblepas is mentioned in Strategic Review Vol II No. 2 with a brief uncredited description believed to be authored by Gygax himself. Gygax was known to use The Book Of Imaginary Beings as inspiration. Published in 1957, The Book Of Imaginary Beings was written by artist Jorge Luis Borges with Margarita Guerrero. Borges provided some great illustrations but, unfortunately, not for the catoblepas.
The catoblepas also brings to mind another creature of African folklore, the Mokêle-Mbêmbe. It's a wild amalgam of elephant, unicorn and alligator and I've drawn it before! Actually, I've drawn two versions; they version from folklore and the version that Charles Saunders folded into his Dossouye story.
This is also another guy that was really fun to draw because I've had experience with all the animals that are thrown into this melting pot. Warthogs, rhinos, water buffaloes and wildebeests are all animals I saw up close and person on my trip to Kenya in 2007.
Here's a collection of photos from that trip!
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