'Stranger Things' Season 3 Monster May Be Named After This D&D Beast

Since the series’ beginning, Stranger Things has thrived on ‘80s nostalgia and an infusion of Dungeons & Dragons references. The tabletop RPG has grown in popularity in recent years, thanks in no small part to the Netflix series continuing devotion to the game.

The kids in Stranger Things have previously named both Season 1 and Season 2’s big bads after D&D monsters. First, the Demogorgon and then the Mind Flayer. (Lesser Demodogs were just a novel riff on the Demogorgon.)

With the release of the Season 3 trailer on Wednesday, we can’t help but wonder what Dustin will wind up naming the new horrific monstrosity that emerges in Hawkins, Indiana.

Toward the end of the trailer, a series of quick cuts include a few super-short clips of a squelching monster transforming in some kind of hallway while Jonathan Byers looks on.

Then, shortly after the 2:20 mark, we see this absolute nightmare:

Back in April 2018, New York-based artist Jared Flaming posted photos to his Instagram account (which have since been deleted), revealing that he was at the Twenty Sided Store in Brooklyn with the Stranger Things prop master, essentially teaching them more about Dungeons & Dragons. That’s reason enough to assume that Stranger Things Season 3 will continue with the D&D naming conventions.

What’s this new one called? We have a few guesses.

Much like previous monsters from the Upside Down, this newcomer has a gaping maw of a mouth with lots of teeth. Generally speaking, its physiology looks pretty similar to the Demogorgon or Demodogs, but it’s asymmetrical, like some kind of Rick and Morty Cronenberg monster. It has far too many legs of different sizes. Is this a human that was corrupted by the Upside Down and transformed? We really can’t tell.

Given the overarching themes of Stranger Things, the new monster could probably be considered some kind of Eldritch Aberration or Abomination, firmly rooted in Lovecraftian horror.

It looks a little bit like a Gibbering Mouther, except it doesn’t have a bunch of mouths and eyes around its body.

Another contender is a monster called the Otyugh, a three-legged creature with several different appendages it uses to grasp at prey.

Another similar monster is the Xorn.

Perhaps the most likely comparison, especially in terms of a name, is to the Chaos Beast, a creature that in Pathfinder (a game that’s D&D-adjacent) is described as being comprised of “barbed tentacles, glaring eyes, and gnashing teeth, twisting upon itself and reshaping into new forms.” The form-changing aspect is consistent with what we see in Stranger Things.

If Stranger Things follows through on its trend of naming new creatures based on Dungeons & Dragons characters, then it’s totally possible that it might borrow one of these names in Season 3. But we probably won’t know until we get closer to release.

Stranger Things Season 3 will be released on Netflix July 4, 2019.