Golem
The golem is a monster class that appears in NetHack, and is represented by the apostrophe glyph ('). Golems are designated internally by the macro S_GOLEM.[1]
The monster class contains the following monsters:[2]
- ' straw golem
- ' paper golem
- ' rope golem
- ' gold golem
- ' leather golem
- ' wood golem
- ' flesh golem
- ' clay golem
- ' stone golem
- ' glass golem
- ' iron golem
Contents
Common traits
Golems are large humanoid monsters that are neutral-aligned, and are all unbreathing and mindless. Golems typically attack using 'claws' - the iron golem is the only one that can wield weapons and attack with them. Many of the weaker golems up to the wood golem lack any MR score, while the stronger golems have significant MR scores ranging from 30 for flesh golems to 60 for iron golems.
Golems possess sleep resistance and poison resistance - any golems subjected to stoning will turn into stone golems if they are not yet extinct (with the obvious exception of the stone golem itself), and will otherwise be unaffected.[3]
Generation
Randomly-generated golems are always created hostile.
Polymorphing enough items of a particular material or set of materials has a chance of causing them to form a golem, destroying those items in the process.[4] Golems always generate with a set amount of HP, and except for the flesh golem they do not leave corpses on death, with many instead leaving behind special death drops based on their material[5][6][7] - all of these are described in the list below:
| Monster | Corpse[5] | Hit points[6][7] | Material(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ' clay golem | 51-69 rocks[8] | 50 | copper, silver, platinum, gemstone, mineral[9] |
| ' glass golem | 2-8 random pieces of worthless glass[10] | 60 | glass[11] |
| ' iron golem | iron chains[12] | 80 | iron, metal, mithril[13] |
| ' leather golem | 2-8 sets of leather armor[14] | 40 | leather[15] |
| ' paper golem | 1-4 scrolls of blank paper[16] | 20 | paper[17] |
| ' rope golem | (none) | 30 | cloth[18] |
| ' stone golem | statue of a stone golem[19] | 60 | copper, silver, platinum, gemstone, mineral[9] |
| ' straw golem | (none) | 20 | liquid, wax, veggy, dragon hide, plastic[20] |
| ' wood golem | 2-8 quarterstaffs[21] | 50 | wood[22] |
| ' gold golem | 101-199 gold pieces (dependent on luck[23] | 40 | gold[24] |
| ' flesh golem | flesh golem corpse | 40 | flesh, undefined[25] |
While not considered a golem, skeletons can be created in a similar manner by polymorphing enough items made of bone.[26]
Golems cannot be selected as a target for genocide of any kind.
History
The golem monster class is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0 along with most of the golems - the paper golem, gold golem and glass golem are introduced in NetHack 3.3.0.
Origin
The gōlem, originating from Jewish folklore, is an animate, anthropomorphic being created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The most famous golem narrative is "The Golem of Prague", which tells of the late 16th century rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel and his creation of a golem from clay gathered at the banks of the Vltava River, which he brought to life to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks and pogroms. Golems in this and various other tales are inscribed with Hebrew words that animate them; one particular example is the word emét (אמת, "truth" in Hebrew), which could be used to deactivate the golem by removing the aleph (א) from the word, changing the inscription to mét (מת, "dead").
In modern popular culture, the word became generalized to refer to any crude anthropomorphic construct that is made of inanimate material and brought to life by some means, with the method of animation and the resulting creation's sapience and/or sentience varying wildly. Fantasy media such as Dungeons & Dragons and science fiction works popularized various types of this modern 'golem', such as the iron golem and stone golems.
Variants
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM features the following new golems:
| Symbol | Monster | Corpse | Hit points |
|---|---|---|---|
| ' | wax golem | wax candles | 40 |
| ' | plastic golem | credit cards; cheap plastic imitations of the Amulet of Yendor in older versions | 60 |
| ' | ruby golem | rubies | 250 |
| ' | diamond golem | diamonds | 270 |
| ' | sapphire golem | sapphires | 280 |
| ' | steel golem | iron chains | 290 |
| ' | crystal golem | random gems | 300 |
UnNetHack
UnNetHack includes wax golems, as described above.
In addition, the Sheol branch contains two new golem types, the ice golem and the crystal ice golem.
dNetHack
dNetHack adds many new golems. Some drop rare and magical items, and some are unique monsters.
Encyclopedia entry
The following encyclopedia entry is returned when searching "golem" or the name of any golem monster that lacks their own entry:
"The original story harks back, so they say, to the sixteenth
century. Using long-lost formulas from the Kabbala, a rabbi is
said to have made an artificial man -- the so-called Golem -- to
help ring the bells in the Synagogue and for all kinds of other
menial work.
"But he hadn't made a full man, and it was animated by some sort
of vegetable half-life. What life it had, too, so the story
runs, was only derived from the magic charm placed behind its
teeth each day, that drew down to itself what was known as the
`free sidereal strength of the universe.'
"One evening, before evening prayers, the rabbi forgot to take
the charm out of the Golem's mouth, and it fell into a frenzy.
It raged through the dark streets, smashing everything in its
path, until the rabbi caught up with it, removed the charm, and
destroyed it. Then the Golem collapsed, lifeless. All that was
left of it was a small clay image, which you can still see in
the Old Synagogue." ...
References
- ↑ include/monsym.h in NetHack 3.6.7, line 69
- ↑ src/monst.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2040
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2525
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1271: create_polymon function
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 297: golem cases are handled as part of make_corpse
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 990: is_golem(ptr) in newmonhp
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1967: golemhp
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 389
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1306: equal chance to produce clay or stone golem
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 383
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1335
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 380
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1298
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 407
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1320
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 418
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1340
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1324
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 395
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1345: straw golems act as fall-through for materials that are not listed in specific cases
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 400
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1316
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 413
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1324
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1312
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1328
