Edit: so far Shuma Gorath (from Marvel’s Dr Strange in 1973) is the only example. Know another? Please let us know
According to Wikipedia, the Beholder is a Dungeons and Dragons original creation and it is copyrighted. Its first appearance was in 1975.
In case you are not familiar with these, a beholder is basically a floating eye with tentacles that also have eyes, often able to shoot rays off the eyes. You have probably seen some similar creature type in a myriad other media such as videogames, tv shows and whatnot.
Now I’m really surprised something like this only surfaced in the 70s. Is there anything similar in any type of media or culture prior to the 70’s? The only thing that pops to mind is the ancient biblical angels with abstract forms and many eyes, but I’m hoping someone here can show me more and better examples.
Or not. I don’t know.
I wonder if they could have been inspired by the writings (and some illustrations) of HP Lovecraft? I’m no lore expert there, but a Beholder wouldn’t be out of place by the side of some of the others.
Yeah. Lovecraft was one of the popular authors the creators of D&D had read. Sci-fi, fantasy, horror etc genres did not have tons of superstars in the 70s, so a lot of people were reading the same books/authors. It’s similar to how everyone had seen movies like Jason and the Argonauts.
Lovecraft was writing back in the 30’s, the same era of early Conan etc, but had become much more popular by the 70s.