The Monstrefact: The Crimson Mist of Dungeons and Dragons

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses the Crimson Mist entity from the world of Dungeons and Dragons, as well as its folkloric relatives…

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the
Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow
Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters. In
time for today's episode, I turned once more to the
world of Dungeons and Dragons and a particular raven loft
monster that I remember quite fondly from my own monstrous

(00:33):
compendium binder from way back in the day. The creature
was the Crimson Death. Known in other editions of D
and D, including fifth Edition, as the Vampiric myst It
is typically described as a pale or gray mist, otherwise
indistinguishable from mundane fog, but it is in reality an

(00:54):
undead vampiric entity. It creeps up on unwary victims, envelops
them in tentacles of mist, and then begins to draw
the blood from their body, even through their very skin pores,
staining its vaporous substance ever deeper shades of pink and

(01:14):
red in the process, eventually raining droplets of blood like
a heavy seguine cloud. The monster's compendium entry lists several
possible origins for the crimson death. Perhaps it is a
particularly evil air elemental or the bodyless remnants of a
slain vampire, the origin that is also presented in fifth edition.

(01:38):
But it may also be the spirit of a mortal
who became a vampire. This spirit evil and separated from
its physical blood drinking form, and if one could bring
these two back together again, then the vampiric curse might
be lifted. Now there's an obvious link to Dracula's mist
form in Bram Stoker's novel. We also find evil milk

(02:00):
in smokelike creatures in various folklores as well. In Japan,
there is the smokelike Ininra, said to emanate from bonfires
to creep out onlookers. In addition to the human tendency
to see patterns as something as shifting and abstract as smoke,
it may also link to the common illusion where smoke
seems to follow one, due in part to the vacuum

(02:23):
created by our movements, which of course draws the smoke
in after us. In Wales, the civil duo or water
horse may take a mortal on a supernatural ride into
the very sky, only to then transform into a mist
and drop the unfortunate rider, and in the poetic Eda,
mist is the given name of a particular valkyrie, the

(02:44):
chosen of the slain of Valhalla. And of course, we
also have to acknowledge the role of miasma theory, the
outdated pre germ theory idea that human illnesses are caused
by bad air and foul smells, such as those that
might drift over into populated areas from swamp lands or cemeteries.

(03:05):
As we've discussed on Stuff to Blow your mind in
the past, this idea was advocated by the likes of Hippocrates,
among others, and again the notion was that bad and
foul air would allow disease to travel and infect. Therefore,
the removal of bad air, or positioning yourself further from it,
prevents or combats illness. Now, as we've discussed before, this

(03:27):
approach can work accidentally in some cases, but it is
not correct, but it is a basic concept that stretches
back into the ancient world. Now, turning once more to
the crimson death or vampiric myst we can see how
easily miasma theory melds with ancient ideas of invisible spirits,

(03:48):
demons and fairies that might creep into our homes to
do us ill seek us out across great distances with
the evil eye. The very sorts of threats we might
set out witch bottles to catch, and as such, the
Crimson Death or Vampiric Myss seems a fitting fantasy world
synthesis of miasma theory and supernatural apparel with more than

(04:10):
a dash of Dracula. Tune in for additional episodes of
The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email
us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
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