Cephalopods and Evil

[Ishmayl-Retired]

What is our fascination with cephalopods and their relationship to evil?  I just watched Hellboy again (great movie, BTW), and it's weird how we as humans seem to equate tentacles with pure evil.  There's Cthulhu, the Ogdhu Jahad, illithids, the Kraken, and I'm sure many more.  Why do we make the relationship?  Just a curious observation...

[Gamer Printshop]

Its because invertibrates are completely "alien" compared to idea of most life forms having similar layout - head on top, torso in center, 4 limbs, etc, whether you're talking about mammals or reptiles, this is most common idea of lifeforms.

Yet invertibrates and cephalopod-like boneless tenticles is essentially alien to mammalian life thinking.

Plus anything with more than two arms is alien as well.

Anything alien or weird, falls under "scary/creepy" - thus  the commonality of tenticles as evil.

[Xeviat]

Gamer Printshop has summed up my response as well. All I can really add is that, in recent times, we've been finding out that octopus and, to a lesser extent, squids are quite intelligent.

I wish I had the creativity to create something that was truly alien, and not just a different version of things we have on this world.

[Xathan]

Gamer's right, IMO. We don't understand the way they work and cannot, even on a purely biological level. The same goes for why we give the same treatement to arthropods and why "good" reptiles are warm-blooded and "evil" ones are cold blooded.

As for Xev's last comment, it's really hard to do so, and whenever you do, it tends to come across as just being wierd. Most creatures I've seen that are truely alien are also not carbon-based, with intelligent crystals and other silicate lifeforms taking the cake, followed by energy beings. It does raise an interesting question: can you create something truely beyond your understanding?

[Epic Meepo]

I'm not so sure it's true that cephalopods have always been viewed as evil. To my knowledge, there are few, if any, old myths about evil cephalopods. (According to Wikipedia, the kraken was depicted as a crab or a whale prior to the 18th century. It was changed later when biologists became fascinated by the idea of the giant squid.)

In fact, I'm guessing that tentacled horrors weren't at all common prior to Jules Vernes' Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu. (Incidentally, a biography I once read claimed that Cthulhu was described as a cephalopod because Lovecraft was both allergic to shellfish and phobic of sea creatures in general. That allergy and phobia may very well be the sole reason modern writers frequently associate tentacles with evil.)

[Snargash Moonclaw]

To expand slightly on GP's observation about morphology, I think any excess limbs - insects, arachnids, jellyfish etc, produce an almost instinctive aversion - especially since many of them can be toxic and/or associated with death/decay/sepsis. Radial symmetry seems even more disturbing perhaps suggesting to the subconscious in inherent recognition that such a creature perceives the world in a very different manner, having no front/back.

While specific exceptions can be found in most cultures, shamans worldwide generally caution against interacting with insects and spiders in the Otherworld, usually advising to seek another route when they are encountered and treating them as dangerous obstacles. Rarely are insects viewed as potential totems or allies, and those which are constitute a very short list. Some are viewed as carrying medicine which can be useful to learn by observing their examples, but the rare shaman who actually builds a close relationship with them is generally viewed with distrust as someone, not always necessarily evil, but at least dangerously alien.

[Haphazzard]

I'm not sure why cephalopods are viewed as dangerous, specifically, but generally speaking people are afraid of things that kill and hurt you (as previously stated).  Since people didn't always write things down history and life lessons were passed on through stories.  Especially life lessons.  If you look at the details of religion they tend to be built off of the observations and fears of the humans involved.  In the Bible Hell is a flaming inferno because in the arid land water was scarce and dying of the heat and thirst were their main worries.  Not to mention snakes that could be in many small crevaces (satan as snake).  So, it would make sense for shamans of other religions to warn against worldly fears in the afterlife (bugs that are poisonous, etc).

Also (and I just wrote a decent paper on this) people tend to be afraid of things that are generally different from what's "accepted" and what's known (giant squids?)  Sailors feared being eaten alive and having whole ships being pulled under by a giant squid, but I'm not sure how far back those stories go.  If you want a good example of people being afraid of what isn't accepted or known watch Horton Hears a Who.  Yes, it's a kid's move.  Yes, it's amazing. Yes, I wrote a 5 page paper on this subject in that movie (with no problem at all).

[Snargash Moonclaw]

So far I've been unable to locate or recall any examples of shamanic lore regarding cephalopods. Given that shamans are invariably astute observers of their environments there is sure to be some accounts among oceanic cultures though. As a side note, the shamanic Otherworld is not the realm of the dead, although it is usually perceived as bordering upon it. It is more along the lines of the astral plane, though various differences both in its topography(ies) and the methods of shamanic trance journeying vs astral projection (as practices of spiritualism and New Age) can be drawn. The warnings of shamans then have to do with spiritual interactions paralleling physical interactions with concomitant effects upon the living. Interestingly, the cautions regarding insects seem to be based more upon their "alienness" than being viewed as dangerous creatures. Very dangerous predators can still be befriended in the Otherworld and frequently are. Even reptiles are sought out as potent medicine allies and guides.

[SA]

I don't!  I love cephalopods, as I'm sure my setting can attest.  They're warm, squishy and cuddly-wuddly, even if they've got villainous and unfamothable minds, and barbed, clinging limbs.

"My, such plentiful arms you have."
"All the better to hug you with, my dear."

As an aside, I've made one of the cephalopod's close cousins, the bivalve, the principal force of nastiness in the gloomy deep.  Ever wondered what a clam thinks behind that bulwark of calcite and evil?

You don't want to know.

[Snargash Moonclaw]

So is anaphylactic shock an offensive power? Evil on a half shell. . . I like it!

I always knew there was something creepy about June Cleaver. The pearl necklace was a mind control device.

[beejazz]

Most of the body is the head. The rest of the body is a set of arms that don't require opposable thumbs to accomplish fine manipulation.

It's the ideal physical form for intelligent life, and somehow we didn't end up with that body. It's not fear, it's envy.

The things that prevent us from competing are coincidence (they haven't quite developed equal intelligence... yet) and the divide between aquatic and land-based life.

[Gamer Printshop]

Well consider that Cephalopod means "head foot", because though you say most of their structure is head, not exactly true, the top of their "head" is their foot. This is true of octopi, squid, nautili and really all other cephalopods.

In truth their "heads" are located very near the start of their tentacle limbs, mouth parts underneath and eyes just above the tentacle area, thus the rest to "head" structure is more of an abdomen/torso with their foot on the opposite end of this "head" structure. Very little of the structure is actually the head.

You're thinking like a mammal... :P

[beejazz]

I'm thinking in terms of appearance, yes. It isn't so much that it doesn't have a torso as that it has its torso on top of its head, as it were. Still, the appearance is that of this bulbous head with low-set malevolent eyes. Look at human evolution and the lower smaller faces correspond with the bigger brains. Add to that that the face is unexpressive. It lacks the jaw or brow lines we use to tell one human (or other vertebrate) face apart from another. It also lacks the visible mouth and expressive eyes we use to communicate.

So... from the way we judge faces, a cephalopod is both intelligent and inscrutiable. It doesn't even have to be evil for that combination to be scary.

And even if it is very mammal thinking, wouldn't it be cool to be a cephalopod? Like... some kind of hyperintelligent giant squid or something.

[sparkletwist]

I think all this really means is that the simple answer is because they are evil! :P

[Epic Meepo]

Did someone say evil cephalopods?

(Though I must admit, I think the Necronomicon Pillow is even more awesome than any of those Cthulhus.)