The Tentacled Monster

This impressive creature from the game Might and Magic (Ubisoft) is a fine specimen of the tentacled monsters and pseudopods that are so present in fantasy — the slimy menace threatening numerous intrusions into our physical integrity. Their great ancestors are the infernal creatures like Cthulhu or Nyarlathotep dreamed up by the master of horrific fantasy, H.P. Lovecraft, and the sea monsters such as kraken (giant octopus) are also part of their story. In this image, typifying the hybridity that characterizes the monster, we see webbed feet, the crest spreading out like an immense hood of stingrays and cobras, and the arms extending to red points stand out vividly against the dark, like whips of fire that also evoke mollusc claws.