Miss Cellania
Ten Tentacled Characters
by Miss Cellania - June 15, 2010 - 9:14 AM
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No matter how well modern filmmakers can create characters with no human attributes, we still find it easier to communicate with and relate to humanoid forms. What’s the simplest way to take a humanoid fictional character and make it different, frightening, and maybe even disgusting? Put some tentacles on it! On the surface, tentacles evoke a mental image of the octopus, a strange and mysterious creature of the deep we never encounter in everyday life. Its tentacles are far-reaching, flexible, and numerous -attributes that can each be threatening. On a deeper psychological plane, tentacles remind us of snakes and the near-universal fear they inspire. Extending on that association, Freud would say the snake is a metaphor for the penis. That said, this post will not include tentacle porn -you can look that up yourself if you choose. Instead, let’s look at some pop culture characters presented as different, frightening, or disgusting through the appearance of tentacles.

1. Monster from Outer Space

In the 1958 film I Married a Monster from Outer Space, a new nightmare for brides was introduced as Marge Bradley gradually realized that the body of her husband Bill has been co-opted by a tentacled alien from a race of males who have invaded earth seeking to mate with human women. This apparently happened a long time ago, meaning she has been sleeping with a monster.

2. Squidward Tentacles

Squidward is a friend and co-worker of the cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants. Designed to be the antithesis of Spongebob’s optimistic and bubbly personality, Squidward is cynical and slightly unpleasant, but isn’t particularly threatening, possibly because he has only six tentacles. Or possibly because he is a cartoon character.

3. Purple Tentacle

Here’s a character that doesn’t have tentacles -he IS a tentacle! Purple Tentacle is the villain in the video game Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle. He was created in the first Maniac Mansion game, along with his cohort Green Tentacle. Purple, however, sprouts arms and becomes evil in the sequel in which he stars. Purple Tentacle also appears in the game Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

4. Ursula

The tentacled villainess in the 1989 Disney movie The Little Mermaid is named Ursula. She has no redeeming values whatsoever, and therefore is depicted as the scariest of undersea creatures (at least for little girls) -an octopus.

5. Davy Jones

The pirate Davy Jones is depicted in the second and third movies of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End as a tentacled sea monster. His disgusting appearance reinforced his standing as the villain of the second movie, but created a bit of cognitive dissonance when he emerged as an ally to the principle pirates in the third movie.

6. District 9 Aliens

The aliens from Neill Blomkamp’s 2009 movie District 9 are derogatorily called “prawns”. The species is designed to be hideous to human eyes, with the appearance of tentacle-like appendages growing from their faces, to highlight the “otherness” of an immigrant population of sentient beings.

7. Dr. Zoidberg

Dr. John Zoidberg is the incompetent medical doctor on the TV series Futurama. Although he is listed as a crustacean instead of a cephalopod, the appendages on his face are clearly seen as tentacles. He also squirts ink, a truly octopus habit.

8. Doctor Octopus

Otto Octavius is a nuclear physicist in the Marvel Comics universe. He invented a set of mechanical arms resembling tentacles which became fused with his body during a nuclear accident. However, the supervillain known as Doctor Octopus could control the arms with his mind, even after they were surgically removed. The doctor is Spider-Man’s frequent nemesis, and has battled other superheroes in his time.

9. Kraken

The Kraken is a legendary sea monster which is undoubtedly an octopus or squid pumped up to gigantic dimensions. It disguised itself as a mile-wide island and attacked when sailors from passing ships lit fires upon it. These stories go back hundreds of years, and are possibly based on sightings of a giant squid. The Kraken appeared in the 1981 movie Clash of the Titans (and the 2010 remake) and in the 2006 TV movie Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep. The Kraken had its most widely-seen moment in the 2006 movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, when it devours Captain Jack Sparrow and his entire ship.

10. Cthulhu

The most popular tentacled fictional character on the internet by far is Cthulhu, from the story “The Call of Cthulhu” by H. P. Lovecraft. The ancient god rises from the sea occasionally to haunt mankind. The sheer horror of this character has inspired fan clubs, blogs, art, games, a political campaign, and other projects created to bring him down to a psychologically manageable level.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Maybe you can contribute other tentacled characters in the comments.

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Comments (30)

  1. How about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. His noodly appendage looks like tentacles.

    Tim

    posted by Tim on 6-15-2010 at 9:24 am

  2. Ursula scared me as a young one. I hated her.

    posted by Julie on 6-15-2010 at 9:42 am

  3. Ia ia Cthulhu fhtagn.

    posted by Big Fat Earl on 6-15-2010 at 10:29 am

  4. The Ood. from Dr. Who.
    The red-eyed ones from Ep.9 (2006)

    posted by lydia on 6-15-2010 at 11:12 am

  5. sorry, Ep. 8 and 9.
    (was a two parter!)

    posted by lydia on 6-15-2010 at 11:13 am

  6. Sigmund the Sea Monster from the old Sid and Marty Krofft show.

    posted by Jay on 6-15-2010 at 11:21 am

  7. There’s a tentacled toy in Toy Story 3 who’ll probably jump to the top of the list!

    And don’t forget Hokusai’s octopus art!

    posted by Davey on 6-15-2010 at 11:33 am

  8. Mind flayers, or illithids, from the Dungeons & Dragons universe, are tentacle-faced creatures, known for reading minds and eating brains, earning them the reputation as one of the most feared intelligent beings in that fantasy world.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illithid

    posted by Alex on 6-15-2010 at 11:34 am

  9. @lydia – I immediately thought of the Ood too!

    Personally, I think there are far stranger creatures lurking in the water than octopus. The blob fish was the first one to come to mind, but I’m sure there are plenty more if you Google bizarre sea creatures.

    Also, I’m surprised the giant squid from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea didn’t make this list.

    posted by Jina on 6-15-2010 at 11:49 am

  10. Squiddly Diddly from the Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

    posted by David on 6-15-2010 at 12:20 pm

  11. I thought of the Ood instantly.

    posted by GH on 6-15-2010 at 12:40 pm

  12. The squid from “Aaagh, It’s the Mr. Hell Show!”. Poor lonely guy… Slightly NSW link in my name.

    posted by Sarah in Canada on 6-15-2010 at 12:49 pm

  13. Ka D’Argo from Farscape

    posted by JMA on 6-15-2010 at 1:00 pm

  14. The octopus from The Goonies. Deleted scene.

    posted by Eric on 6-15-2010 at 2:12 pm

  15. Can’t believe Predator didn’t make this list. Tentacle-y hair!

    posted by Cody on 6-15-2010 at 2:38 pm

  16. Space 1999 had an episode with an abandoned starship… that harbored an evil squid creature that sucked people inside it under its tentacles and then spit them out all crispy. Nightmares!!! But you know, that was a pretty good series… Dragon’s Domain was the ep title, just looked it up. You can find anything on the Internet!

    posted by Marion on 6-15-2010 at 3:09 pm

  17. I don’t remember Davy Jones emerging as as ally. I’ll have to watch the movie again, apparently I missed something.

    Yeah Ka D’Argo! I had forgotten about him!

    How about the Twi’leks in Star Wars? Bibb Fortuna and Oola come to mind…

    posted by Carole on 6-15-2010 at 4:47 pm

  18. The Ood from Doctor Who!

    posted by Stephanie on 6-15-2010 at 8:02 pm

  19. Of course there was Sigmund and his brothers and Squiddly Diddly. Now we have the Squidbillies! They must not be forgotten… unless we really want to forget Squiddly Diddly… but he DID play a horn; does that make Squidward a ripoff? Considering how much use aquariums can get out of seals that honk horns with their noses, you’d think his aquarium would have made better use of a cephalopod who played the sax….

    posted by Calumny on 6-15-2010 at 8:18 pm

  20. & while you’re mentioning Zoidberg, didn’t Leela have a one-eyed and tentacled mother, Munda?

    posted by Calumny on 6-15-2010 at 8:32 pm

  21. Am I the only one who read the title and thought the list would only include creatures with ten tentacles?

    posted by Jim on 6-16-2010 at 10:35 am

  22. This list just isn’t complete without Kang and Kodos from The Simpsons.

    posted by keith on 6-23-2010 at 9:55 pm

  23. I agree with Keith. Kang and Kodos have been around longer than many of the “tentacled” creatures of this list. They deserve some recognition.

    posted by Amelia on 6-27-2010 at 2:16 am

  24. Londo Mollari.

    posted by Doug Glendower on 6-28-2010 at 5:22 pm

  25. @ Jim
    No you’re not the only one…I had to do a double take myself when I read the title (glad I wasn’t the only one)
    : )

    posted by Karen on 7-2-2010 at 5:25 pm

  26. Let’s not forget “The Thing That Should Not Be,” from Metallica’s “Master Of Puppets.

    –RKJ

    posted by Robert K. Johnston on 7-4-2010 at 6:18 pm

  27. What about Colonel Brandon in the wonderfully twisted Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters???

    posted by Hierophantria on 7-5-2010 at 2:30 am

  28. the Ood from dr who

    posted by emily on 7-12-2010 at 2:17 am

  29. How about Kit Fisto from the Star Wars prequels?

    posted by TS on 9-14-2010 at 5:58 am

  30. I loved to hate Ursula when I was a kid, but I wasn’t really scared by her. Her song was one of my favorites in the entire movie. :D

    posted by Heather on 10-21-2011 at 4:05 pm

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