Basilitrice

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Bet you can't guess which one this is!

What though the Moor the Basilisk hath slain, and pinned him lifeless to the sandy plain, up through the spear the subtle venom flies; the hand imbibes it, and the victor dies. —The Roman poet Lucan as quoted by Thomas Bulfinch, The Age of Fable

The basilisk and the cockatrice are two relatively small creatures that have appeared in folklore, with roots dating back as far as Pliny the Elder (making them far Older Than Feudalism). The creatures have shared very similar descriptions since those early times, especially in heraldic depictions - indeed, they are often still conflated in the modern day, and many languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, and Greek still translate the term "cockatrice" as "basilisk" in some form. Basilitrice is a portmanteau of their names that alludes to these common traits.

The basilisk is first explicitly described in Pliny's Natural History. The word originates from the Greek form basilískos (Greek: βασιλίσκος; Latin: basiliscus), meaning "little king"; the serpent was reputed to have a mitre or crown-shaped crest adorning its head, leading some scholars to believe the description was based off that of various cobras. Various sources in medieval-era Europe began attributing chicken-like traits to the beast, with the most prominent originating in the late 12th century: the basilisk was supposedly created by a cockerel hatching the egg of a serpent or toad.

Meanwhile, the cockatrice first appears in its 'modern' form as early as the twelfth century, depicted as two-legged and draconian or serpentine, with the head of a rooster. The name itself first appeared in the later fourteenth century, translated from the Old French cocatris - which was derived from medieval Latin calcatrix, a translation of ichneumon from Greek. The cockatrice's birth was the reverse of the basilisk: a cockatrice would spawn from a chicken egg incubated by a serpent or toad.

Related to both is the ichneumon, or "weasel", a creature said to target the basilisk and cockatrice alike - it was not only immune to both their gazes, but a reputed reliable killer of both creatures, able to bring down the vicious monster before succumbing to its poisons at minimum. Similarly, the ichneumon was said to target and kill crocodiles as well, waiting for the reptile to bask in the sun with its mouth open - after which it would enter and eat its way through its insides.

Parts of this collective folklore are likely derived from early descriptions of the Nile crocodile, as well as a possible root in Egyptian folk tales - ibis eggs were regularly destroyed for fear that their diet of venomous snakes would create a snake-bird mix, i.e. a cockatrice. Said eggs may also have been preyed on by the aforementioned "weasel" - likely a type of egg-eating mongoose, perhaps specifically the Egyptian mongoose. Mongooses are known to tangle with venomous snakes, including cobras believed to be the basilisk's inspiration (e.g. the spitting cobra and king cobra), and have an immunity to snake venom.

The following traits are generally associated with these creatures:

• Mix-and-Match Critters: Naturally a subtrope of this, as they are usually a mix of a serpent and a chicken as detailed above; though this is slightly more associated with the cockatrice nowadays, the basilisk still retains its origin of "snake hatched by a chicken".
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Both have serpentine features, including a pr and are generally foul or nasty in mannerisms.
• Poisonous Person: Both have incredibly potent poisons that make any kind of contact with it - even eye contact, contact with its breath, or handling its corpse - fatal, often instantaneously so.
• Enemy to All Living Things: Both actively seek out victims to kill with their poisons, often because they were...
• Made of Evil: They were often symbols or incarnations of wrath and malice, on top of being quite sneaky.
• Walking Wasteland: Some accounts assert that, if unable to find a "live" victim, they would turn their powers upon the surrounding plant life instead.
• Taken for Granite: The instant fatality associated with them sometimes manifests as a form of petrification, possibly based off the fact that venom from various cobras and other snakes can immobilize victims. Dungeons & Dragons in particular popularized this aspect of the cockatrice.

Modern incarnations of the basilisk and cockatrice, such as those seen in Dungeons & Dragons, Harry Potter and various other fantasy media, portray them as distinct creatures: The basilisk is usually a vicious low-slung reptile that is either lizard-like or serpentine, and the cockatrice is usually a bird-like reptilian monster with a snake's tail, if not an outright snake-bird hybrid. Both creatures are invoked as metaphors for something incredibly poisonous or downright evil in nature.

For the manga named after the former creature, see Basilisk. For "basilisk images" and other similar hazardous media, see Brown Note, which The Basilisk redirects to.

Examples of Basilitrice include:

Anime and Manga

• The Rental Magica episode "Red-Headed Girl" (episode 7 in broadcast order, episode 11 in chronological order) has a basilisk as its initial threat. A Biblical description of the monster is mentioned, and the basilisk in the show has the ability to kill a person simply by meeting their gaze.
• The first episode of Little Witch Academia has a cockatrice as the main antagonist.

Literature

• In the Harry Potter franchise, basilisks are far larger and longer-lived, with lengths upwards of fifty feet and a lifespan of several centuries, and draw from folkloric depictions in several aspects, including its weaknesses to the crow of a rooster and the musk of a weasel, both of which are said to kill it. In The Chamber of Secrets, a massive female basilisk is revealed to be the fabled beast within the Chamber - Tom Riddle had opened the Chamber 50 years ago and set it upon several Muggleborn students, with one killed and the rest temporarily petrified. In the present day, the Chamber is opened again - several Muggle-borns are petrified, and all the school's roosters end up killed. Most of the basilisk's victims in both cases saw it indirectly (i.e., through a reflection or a lens) and were thankfully cured with phoenix tears. The sole person to directly meet its gaze did so twice - she was instantly killed the first time, and had the misfortune of encountering it again 50 years later as the already-dead Moaning Myrtle. When Harry discovers the chamber, he learns that Riddle had possessed Ginny Weasley through his old diary. Riddle sets the basilisk upon him, but with the aid of Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes and the sword of Gryffindor, Harry is able to kill the basilisk and destroy Tom Riddle's ghost. The basilisk fang's and the venom absorbed by the sword play a major part in destroying most of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
  • Cockatrices are mentioned briefly by Hermione in chapter 15 of Goblet of Fire.
  • In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the first basilisk is reported to have been birthed by Herpo the Foul, a Greek Dark wizard and Parselmouth (able to communicate with snakes) who hatched a chicken egg under a toad. Basilisks are said to be uncontrollable except by Parselmouths, and are the mortal enemy of spiders (who flee from their presence). Their venom and stare are differentiated, but no less deadly than the original folklore, and the male basilisk's head has a distinct scarlet plume.
• In Chapter 4 of The Worm Ouroboros, King Gorice shows Gro a live cockatrice.
• In Dracula, Jonathan Harker likens the titular vampire's gaze to a basilisk's as he attempts to destroy the sleeping Count, only for his gaze to turn upon Jonathan mid-swing and throw off his aim.
• Walter Wangerin Jr. novel The Book of the Dun Cow features a cockatrice as the main villain, born of a rooster's Deal with the Devil (who is aptly named Wyrm). With the help of a sycophantic toad, he creates an army of wicked basilisks.
• As indicated by the description above, the basilisk lends its name to the idea of a specific type of Brown Note, codified by science fiction author David Langford in the short story BLIT. The title itself ("Berryman Logical Image Technique") also refers to the concept - a form of image with patterns designed to lethally exploit flaws in the structure and cognition of the human mind.
  • Langford's later sequel story, "comp.basilisk FAQ", makes explicit mention of similar concepts in William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984), Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud (1957), J. B. Priestley's The Shapes of Sleep (1962), and Piers Anthony's Macroscope (1969).
  • The works of Ken MacLeod and Greg Egan specifically refer to the idea as "the Langford hack" (The Cassini Division) and "the Langford Mind-Erasing Fractal Basilisk" (Permutation City). Charles Stross's works also refer to a "Langford Death Parrot" (The Fuller Memorandum) and "Basilisk attacks" with "Langford fractals" (Accelerando). More modern works influenced by the concept include Eclipse Phase (the viral "Basilisk hacks") and SCP Foundation ("memetic kill agents").

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

• The Bible:
  • The English Revised Version of the Book of Isaiah has chapter 14:29, the prophet's exhortation to the Philistines after the fall of Israel. The text claims that a "basilisk" shall arise from its remains, and the King James translation uses "cockatrice"; in either case, said beast represents the nation's resurgence, and would itself beget a "dragon".

Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.

• In the Latin Vulgate and Septuagint translations of Book of Psalms, Psalm 91:13 is translated as "You will tread on the lion and the dragon,/the asp and the basilisk you will trample under foot".

• Pliny the Elder's Natural History arguably provides the Trope Codifier, if not the Ur Example.
• Similar creatures with varying amounts of resemblance to the basilisk and/or cockatrice crop up in folklore around the globe, such as the half-reptile half-bird snallygaster of eastern American folklore that originated from the tales of 18th-century German immigrants; Whittaker Chambers famously likened U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy to the monster. Others include the Chilota basilisco chilote and the Mapuche Colo Colo, both originating in South America.
  • The basilisco chilote is described as a rooster-crested serpent, while the Colo Colo is unusual in that is much more ratlike - both are still hatched from an egg laid by a snake and incubated by a rooster. Both creatures like to hide in inhabited houses and feed on the residents' saliva and phlegm, and already-hatched ones are usually impossible to get rid of (short of burning down the entire house).

Theatre

• In Shakespeare play Richard III, the Duchess of York likens her son Richard to one.

O ill-dispersing wind of misery! O my accursed womb, the bed of death! A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world, Whose unavoided eye is murderous.

• In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet laments apparent news of Romeo's suicide as follows:

Hath Romeo slain himself? Say thou but 'Ay,' And that bare vowel 'I' shall poison more Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice.

• Nathan Field invokes the cocktrice's gaze as a metaphor in the first scene of The Honest Man's Fortune.

... never threaten with your eyes they are no cockatrice's...

Video Games

• In NetHack, the cockatrice is a class of creatures represented by the C glyph, and includes its namesake and their younger form, the chickatrice; their encyclopedia entry is a quoted excerpt that touches on their the relationship to the basilisk. They are always hostile and generally infamous for being a source of many a stupid death and several of the game's worse One-Hit Kills - all related to its ability to turn the player to stone. Just bare skin making contact with its body (e.g., via weaponless melee without gloves or being bitten) is enough to turn a victim into a statue, unless they're incorporeal, already made of stone or are acidic in nature. Even a well-armored player character can be turned to stone if bitten.
  • After the bite attack, the cockatrice will attempt a touch attack; if it lands, there is then a 1 in 3 chance that the cockatrice will hiss at you. Following this, there is a 10% chance that you will begin slowing down and turning to stone, losing any intrinsic speed you have in the process. (On a new moon, this becomes 100% unless you are carrying a lizard corpse.) This is a 'delayed instadeath' that can be cured through a few means, so hopefully you have at least one of them available.
  • Even its corpse has this property - touch a corpse without gloves or try to eat one, and unless you're stony or acidic it's game over. On top of that, its corpse is also poisonous to eat, and being hit with or eating an egg will similarly induce a slow stoning. If you're in a form that's immune to stoning and poison, however, then footrice corpses taste just like chicken! Grab a corpse with gloves, however, and you have an Improvised Weapon that turns non-immune monsters to stone, even including many later bosses! Players tend to call these "rubber chickens", and this can also be done using the eggs as projectiles.
  • ...but intelligent enemies that can wear gloves will do the same to you, if they find a rubber chicken or some footrice eggs. (Thankfully, this is non-instantaneous as above.) There's also the still-present danger of touching the corpse in other ways - better not fumble or fall onto it!
  • Of note is that golems and skeletons are also immune, partly due to being non-living. Golems have their body turned to stone but remain mobile otherwise, while skeletons are completely unaffected - likely as a result of not being bothered by instant fossilization.
• NetHack variants often add an additional spin on the cockatrice and its kin, and some even introduce its close cousin in the basilisk.
  • SLASH'EM adds both the basilisk and another close relative to both in the asphynx - they can petrify the player in a manner similar to cockatrices, and are different classes of monster from them, making "solving" the stoning problem via scrolls of genocide much more difficult.
  • SpliceHack has werecockatrices.
  • EvilHack improves enemy monster AI to the point that glove-wearing monsters 'lucky' enough to get a wish might well choose a footrice corpse to smack you with!
• In Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hand, cockatrices appear as enemies in Sol City.
• Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time features the cockatrice from the first episode of the anime (mentioned in Anime & Manga above) as a dungeon boss in the underground labyrinth.
• Mother 3 has the Slitherhen - a Chimera with a snake's body and chicken's head. Though it visually resembles a cockatrice, it thankfully isn't very poisonous.

Western Animation

• In one episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, a cockatrice turned Twilight Sparkle and a chicken to stone, and was in the process of turning Fluttershy to stone when she stares the monster down while sternly lecturing it on its rude behavior.