EYEWING

EYEWING
"Three hideous creatures soar through the clouds about 100 feet overhead. Their bodies are oval balls of matted black fur about 5 feet wide dominated by a single, bulging 4-foot-wide eyeball. The eyeball is black with a blood-red pupil that continually leaks bluish fluid. Leathery bat wings, each 5 feet long, extend from their bodies. Each wing ends in three razor-sharp talons. An 8-foot rat’s tail hangs limply below. These are eyewings, evil servitors of Artha, scouting the city for victims."
Rick Swan, Dragonlance: Dragon Magic

"Eyewings are loathsome inhabitants of the Abyss. They are obedient, loyal, and dumb -- perfect servitors for the dark gods and their more powerful minions.

An eyewing's body is a fat, egg-shaped ball covered with matted black fur. The 5-foot-wide body is supported by a pair of five-foot-long leathery bat wings. Each wing is tipped with a set of three razor-sharp talons. An 8-foot-long rat's tail dangles from the back of the body. The tail ends in a small, sharp spur. It has no feet and has never been known to land.

The body is dominated by the single, bulging, 4-foot-wide eyeball. The eyeball is black with a blood-red pupil. A vile blue fluid continuously leaks from the eye, soiling its fur. Great leathery eyelids squeeze this fluid out and away from the creature. The stench is unbelievable. It gives off an acidic smell that scorches the sensitive tissues in other creatures' noses and mouths."

Mike Breault & Kim Mohan editors, Monstrous Compendium Volume II

After my last set of D&D inspired monsters I put out a call looking for a copy of the 1st edition of Deities & Demigods. I love Erol Otus' illustrations and I wanted to see the Nehwon, Melnibonéan & Cthulhu Mythos stuff. An angel in the form of Skinner sent me not only Deities & Demigods but the Monstrous Manual folder! The Monstrous Manual is a bit of a weird one. It's got a ton of monsters but the artwork is starting to get more professional  and therefore less fun to reinterpret. 

The eyewing first appeared in Dragon Lance supplement Dragon Magic from 1989 but it's only mentioned. It's not until the Monstrous Compendium that we get the first illustration by Mark Nelson. My favorite thing about this description is how judgmental it is. They're not creatures that are attacking an unknown species in their land, these guys are assholes! They were born with a bad attitude.

Mark Nelson's eyewing illustration from the Monstrous Compendium II.

I tried to find some mythological inspiration for these things and all i came up with is, in the mythology the Iglulik Inuit, the god Issitôq sometimes takes the form of a massive flying eye. However, his form is usually quadrupedal with multiple eyes. 

I suspect the acid tears of the eyewing are a riff on the centaur's poisonous blood.


The Inuit shaman Anarqáq’s drawings for Knud Rasmussen of Issitôq (1921).

While they eyewing may not be directly influenced by mythology it certainly did influence a bunch of of video games. There's a flying eye in Phantasy Star (oddly named Owl Bear), Ahriman in Final Fantasy, AdventureQuest has something unoriginally named Flying Eye, Team Fortress 2 has Monoculus and the Bilocyte in Zelda (though this does have a body but is essentially an eye with wings).



I'm sure there's more I missed. Let me know if you can think of any mythological influence.

Also worth noting is a part of this description that's often misinterpreted by illustrators. It's the eyewing's distinctive eye! The actual description is a "black eyeball with a blood red pupil". Most people draw it as a black sclera (the white part of our eyes) with a red iris and a black pupil. I think it’s an important distinction because I imagine the fluid filling the eye is blood!

Special thanks to Andrew Reichart for help with research!