Eyes of Cthulhu
(Terraria)
Context
These monsters (a loose Cthulhu Mythos reference) are from the Terraria video game. Our profile has background explanations, so you don’t need to know much about the game.
Terraria is a fun, hugely popular free-form game released in 2011. Using simple, 2D pixel art it’s about exploring, building, crafting, fighting, mining and surviving.
- This profile features tabletop RPG mechanics about the video game’s gameplay. See our video games writeups FAQ for more
- This profile features non-canon hypotheses about in-game events and mechanics. See our video games writeups FAQ for more
Advertisement
Overview
Eyes of Cthulhu are giant floating killer eyeballs. Though their name derives from their appearance, it also seems to hint at their function.
Apparently, they watch over the worlds in the Terraria video game and will intervene if somebody therein seems to have grown strong enough to pose a danger to their master’s interest.
Eyes of Cthulhu are visually similar to Demon Eyes – hostile and possibly undead creatures that hunt at night. They are also capable of summoning servants that look like smaller version of the Demon Eyes. It is highly likely that all these creatures share an origin or even a hierarchy.
Other creatures that likely have a tie with Eyes include Brains of Cthulhu (who might act as supervisors for Eyes) and True Eyes of Cthulhu (who seem to serve the Moon Lord, who may be a Lovecraftian Great Old One ).
This corruption
This Lovecraftian-themed bestiary likely has ties to at least two forms of infection of the land that threaten the worlds in Terraria.
Both these infections slowly convert the earth and plants to their own toxic ecology, and spread mutated creatures. If left unchecked, they both can take over an entire world – but only one is ever present on a given world.
Advertisement
The two most dangerous forms are :
- The Crimson, dominated by gory themes and bloody colours.
- The Corruption, a disease of the land and air of purplish hues
There exists a third form of corruption, the Hallows, but it doesn’t seems tied to those two and might even oppose them in some way.
Brains of Cthulhu are more strongly associated with the Crimson, which might indicates that it resembles their native ecosystem.
Powers & Abilities
Eyes of Cthulhu can fly and can will themselves to become almost fluid, easily flowing through tiny apertures to chase their target anywhere.
(This latter characteristic is an equivalent to their ability to fly through blocks in the game, albeit in a 3D world and without video game logic.)
Eyes can “spit” out small Demon Eye servants, which are akin to dog-sized version of themselves. These aggressive things can appear in such number as to swarm almost anyone, but that takes time – and Servants need a few seconds to orient themselves and start attacking when they appear.
The Eye prefers to attack via its servants, but if wounded will charge in itself and morph the front half of its body into a many-toothed maw.
It would seem that the Eye flies through space, looking at worlds over vast distances for potential opponents. If somebody catches an Eye’s gaze, they might sense that they are being observed by a presence of great evil. This seems to require but a crude degree of supernatural perceptions.
DC Universe History
In the DCU the events in Terraria would occur in the far, far past – before the creation of the Green Lantern Corps, on the outskirt of the Empire of Tears. The Eyes and their ilk would be agents of the Empire.
If they indeed patrol and watch selected space sectors, they might have been a distant inspiration for the Guardians when creating the GL Corps !
During the Golden Age, Centaur Comics had a character, The Eye, who was also a floating ocular globe with strange powers. Perhaps he was an ancient enemy of Eyes of Cthulhu.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Generic Eye of Cthulhu
| Dex: 05 | Str: 05 | Bod: 07 | Motivation: Unrevealed |
| Int: 06 | Wil: 03 | Min: 06 | Occupation: Unrevealed |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 07 | Resources {or Wealth}: Unrevealed |
| Init: 015 | HP: 015 |
Powers:
Claws: 05, Cold Immunity: 03, Detect (Powerful individuals): 21, Flight: 16, Growth: 03, Sealed Systems: 09, Shrinking (Only To Squeeze Through): 11, Telescopic vision: 16, X-Ray vision: 12
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Growth is Always On and Already Factored In.
- Flight is restricted to 6 APs once in a breathable atmosphere.
- Sensing that one is observed by an Eye through Telescopic Vision and/or X-Ray Vision is a 03/03 Awareness/Awareness check.
- X-Ray Vision has no revealed taboo substance.
Skills:
None demonstrated.
Advantages
Iron Nerves, Pets (Servants of Cthulhu).
Drawbacks:
SPR (Eyes have no manipulative appendages), Strange Appearance, Misc.: OV/RV to detect their evil via Mental or Mystical Powers are lowered by 1 CS.
The Servants of Cthulhu
These have DEX 03 STR 02 BODY 02, Claws: 04, Flight: 05. The Eye can summon one per Phase with a Dice Action – how many it can field simultaneously is unrevealed. During the Phase when they appear as they are summoned, Servants have an OV of zero and cannot take any Action of either kind.
Design notes
The stats are highly speculative, given Terraria’s gameplay.
The assumption of scale (one is necessary to set APs for several Powers, such as Flight) is that the Terraria worlds constitute a sort of asteroid belts with a breathable atmosphere (thicker close to surfaces, thinner between asteroids) and that a number of Eyes patrol this belt, each having been assigned a sector.
Detect (Powerful individuals) is left vague since the in-game criteria get lost in translation. 5 APs in a “significant” score might work.
Source of Character: Terraria video game.
Helper(s): Darci, Ethan Roe, Peter Piispanen.
Writeup completed on the 5th of December, 2015.