Cockatrice
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A cockatrice is a legendary creature about the size and shape of a dragon or wyvern, but in appearance resembling a giant rooster, with some lizard-like characteristics. It was supposed to be born from an egg laid by a cockerel and incubated by a toad or serpent. There are two other images which go under both the name cockatrice and basilisk.
Its reputed magical abilities include turning people to stone or killing them by either looking at them, touching them, or sometimes breathing on them, like a dragon breathing fire. The cockatrice is very similar (if not identical) to another legendary creature, the basilisk; the Jewish Encyclopedia considers them identical.
It is said that the weasel is the only animal that is immune to the glance of a cockatrice. Cockatrices are very closely associated with (if not the same as) the basilisk. It is also thought that a cockatrice will die instantly upon hearing a rooster crow. According to legend, having a cockatrice look itself in a mirror is one of the few sure-fire ways to kill it.
Like the head of Medusa, the cockatrice's powers of petrification are still effective after death.
In the King James Version of the Old Testament cockatrice is used several times.
Isaiah 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
Isaiah 14:29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
Isaiah 59:5 They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Jeremiah 8:17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
The last public record of a cockatrice occurs in a Church document of births and deaths in Warsaw, dated 1587. Written by monks, the entry states that two young sisters died when exposed to the breath of a cockatrice in their cellar. The document calls for God to bless the girls' family and to keep it from the evil that takes innocents. The Dragonology book, however, says a cockatrice kills by breathing on its victims. Its breathe contains poisonous droplets. The book also says the cockatrice does not kill by looking at its prey.
Cockatrice in modern fiction
- Several of the monsters in the Monster Hunter series of games resemble cockatrices.
- Cockatrices are the main villains in Gerald Durrell's fantasy story "The Talking Parcel"
- In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there was once a cockatrice loose at the triwizard tournament.
- In Dungeons & Dragons, there is a cockatrice (classified as a Magical Beast) in the Monster Manual.
- There is also a cockatrice card, similar to the basilisk.
- In the game Mega Man Zero 4, one of the Ragnarok Agents is a cockatrice called "Popla Cockapetri".
- In the console role-playing game Final Fantasy IV, the cockatrice (or "cocatrice") is a summoned monster with the power to turn an enemy monster into stone. It appears as a random encounter enemy in most other Final Fantasy games and can petrify party members.
- In the computer role-playing game RuneScape, a cockatrice is a monster which you have to have 25 Slayer (a skill) and a Mirror Shield in order to kill.
- As a creature in the roguelike game NetHack, its petrification capabilities make it a particularly fearsome monster.
- It can also be found as a DDS card in video game for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. Cockatrices are also found in other Castlevania games as enemies.
- Cockatrice are in the game EverQuest.
- Cockatrice are also in the N64 strategy game .
- 2 Digimon (Kokatorimon and Akatorimon) are based on the cockatrice.
- In Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the third Hades Beast is called Cockatrice, which is half cockatrice and half-lobster. Incidentally, the monster also appears in Power Rangers Mystic Force under the name Clawbster.
- In the 1988 WonderWorks Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, a cockatrice fights in Aslan's army against the White Witch.
- In the video game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time one of the bosses and normal monsters are cockatrice. They are deadly without proper items due to their petrification attacks.
- Cockatrice appear in Tales of Symphonia as an enemy with a wind elemental capability.
- In the console role-playing game the cockatrice is a commonly found monster with a weakness to ice.
- In the PlayStation game Valkyrie Profile, the cockatrice also makes an appearance as one of the bosses in the Elvish forest.
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