The creators of Stranger Things love Dungeons and Dragons, the classic tabletop RPG that’s still enjoyed by millions to this day. Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas are all D&D fanatics, and they even name the Upside Down’s frightening creatures after classic monsters from the game.
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Both the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer are among D&D‘s most iconic monsters, but there’s still plenty left for Stranger Things to take inspiration from. So what classic monsters could get referenced in Season Three? We’ve pulled out our Monster Manuals to find some of the creepiest and coolest monsters that could make an appearance next year.
The Beholder
The Beholder is arguably Dungeon and Dragons‘ most iconic monster, a floating disembodied head with a large eye in the center of its head, a mouth full of pointy teeth and tentacle-like eyestalks that each shoot off a different type of deadly arcane energy. The Beholder was one of D&D‘s first original monsters and has its origins in one of the game’s earliest supplements.
Beholders are notable for often being the “final bosses” of campaigns due to their diverse abilities and their anti-magic eye, which can negate the spells of opposing wizards and mages. While the shadow monster/mind flayer seems to be in control of the Upside Down, the Beholder could be given to the name of another creature from the alternate dimension that has its own agenda and abilities to somehow stop Eleven’s psychic powers.
Githyanki
In D&D lore, the mind flayers are a group of underground dwelling creatures with psychic abilities that feast on the brains of lesser species. When they’re not feasting on the brains of others, they also collect slaves for their vast empire, including the once-human githyanki.
The githyanki are gaunt yellow-skinned humanoids descended from human slaves of the mind flayers. They eventually developed a psionic resistance due to their time being oppressed by the mind flayers and rebelled. When the rebellion reached an impasse, the githyanki moved into the timeless and strange Astral Plane.
Considering that Will was once under the sway of the mind flayer but broke free, we wouldn’t be surprised to see someone refer to him as a githyanki at some point next season.
Displacer Beast
The displacer beast is a deadly creature from D&D that uses its innate illusory abilities to trick foes when it attacks. Displacer beasts are cat-like creatures with two long tentacles that stick out of its back, which act as the creature’s primary weapons when hunting.
These critters have a “displacement” ability that makes them appear to be a few feet from their actual location, creating a decoy for prey to attack. While its prey will aim at a foe that isn’t actually there, the actual displacer beast will attack with its long tentacles. The scary thing about displacer beasts is that their illusions can’t be dispelled via usual magic. Only a character with true sight (the ability that Will supposedly has in Stranger Things) can see where the displacer beast really is.
With all the weird dimensional stuff that goes on in Stranger Things, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the displacer beast get brought up next season.
Rust Monster
The rust monster is one of D&D‘s most terrifying creatures, even though they rarely kill any adventurers directly. No, the rust monster instead hurts a player where it really counts: by eating their weapons and armor.
The rust monster is basically an oversized cockroach with a taste for metal. When it smells metal around it, it only needs to touch the object with its antennae to instantly cause it to corrode into a more appetizing form. Even special metals like gold, adamantine, and mithral aren’t immune to the rust monster’s corrosive touch — anything made of metal can be broken down, robbing them of their effectiveness. That’s why anyone who value their weapons and armor usually runs away as soon as they see a rust monster approach.
So far, we’ve see that bullets and fire are two of the few things that can actually hurt one of Stranger Things‘s demogorgons. But what if the Upside Down actually has a creature that’s not affected by bullets? That could prove to be even more dangerous to Mike, Eleven, and their friends than the other threats they’ve faced thus far.
Umber Hulk
What if a beetle could walk on two legs, were the size of a gorilla, and had the ability to confuse and horrify its prey with a merely a look? That’s basically an umber hulk in a nutshell.
Umber hulks are one of the more dangerous creatures that live in the underground caverns and tunnels that populate the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons. These massive creatures are difficult to kill not only because of their armored bodies and crushing attacks, but also because its attackers can’t look directly at it or risk being stunned by the umber hulk’s natural confusing glances.
The Upside Down tunnels found underneath Hawkins are the perfect places for umber hulks to make their home. Don’t be surprised if some new creature takes up residence there and ends up getting nicknamed after these fearsome D&D monsters.
