Medusa
@ Medusa 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 25 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 20 |
| Base experience | 634 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 2 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | -15 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | Poison, Stoning |
| Resistances conveyed |
Poison (100%) (but see warning about being turned to stone) |
|
Medusa:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2286 |
Medusa is a dangerous unique monster that appears in NetHack. She is always found in the Dungeons of Doom between the level containing the magic portal to the Quest and the level containing the Castle.
Contents
Generation
Medusa will always appear on own level; the first and second variants will place her on the downstair along with a statue of Perseus, while the third raven-populated version has 3 eligible areas for Medusa and the downstairs to be generated. The snake-infested fourth version will place her on the leftmost and largest island, with four eligible squares for Medusa and the downstairs to be generated on.
Multi-Medusa bug
Medusa will never directly appear in a bones file.[1] However, her statue can; this is bug C342-54. As this will not prevent generation of an ordinary Medusa in the game loading the bones until the statue is unstoned, this can be used to have two or more Medusas in a single game. Any corpses of unique monsters can be left in bones files, allowing you to use undead turning to get multiple Medusas as well.
Strategy
The most difficult part of reaching Medusa is crossing the sea monster-infested waters. Levitation or water walking boots are the most common ways to cross the water. Using a wand of cold, a frost horn or the cone of cold spell to freeze a path across the water is another option, as is filling the water with boulders and/or some means of jumping.
If you are trying to reach the island using boulders, the most efficient method is an uncursed scroll of earth. If need be, you can also push any boulder you find on the level above to the downstair and throw items to make them roll down. 8 boulders are needed for the first version, and 16 are needed for the second; this can be reduced to 7 and 14 respectively if you are willing to jump into water and crawl out. An amulet of magical breathing may also be used to traverse the level underwater, though you should waterproof you inventory beforehand to prevent as much of it getting wet as possible.
If crossing the water is not an option, you may also opt to dig a hole to the next level and then come back up by using the staircase. The stairs to the next level are always in the same room as Medusa, so be sure you are ready for her before going up!
Combat
Beware—as in Greek mythology, her gaze can turn people to stone, as will attempting to eat her corpse - which, among other things, makes facing her as a purple worm or mind flayer a very bad idea.[2] The quickest way to deal with Medusa is to have reflection or apply a mirror towards her, which will reflect her gaze back upon her and turn her to stone. Alternately, blinding yourself or polymorphing into a stoning-resistant creature protects you from her gaze; rendering yourself invisible will make reflection ineffective against Medusa's gaze.
You can also try to bank on the speed system to kill her in one turn, e.g. with a spell or wand of death; do not rely on the sleep spell to neutralize her gaze. Hallucination can protect against all gaze attacks 75% of the time,[3] but this should not be relied upon.
Cancelling Medusa renders her gaze ineffective and generates YAFM: "Medusa doesn't look all that ugly."[4] You can then take her on like any other monster.
Pacifists will want to avoid reflecting Medusa's gaze to kill her, which breaks the conduct; they can instead blind her and leave her to their pets, or additionally blind themselves, prepare a source of reflection, and give Medusa some powerful attack wands so she can kill herself with the rebounds.
While she is not covetous, Medusa can and will escape to the stairs and travel up/down them if made to flee; should you lose track of her (e.g., seeing her disappear from the level while blind and using telepathy, but not finding her corpse or seeing a death message), beware of her around her lair and on the levels immediately above and below.
Players lacking reflection might like to find and investigate the statue of Perseus on the level before or after killing Medusa, depending on the layout of the level.
Origin
In classical folklore, Medusa was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human women with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Medusa was the only mortal among the trio - a later version of her origin written in Ovid's Metamorphoses asserted that she was originally a mortal human maiden, transformed into her current state by Athena as a punishment. While the Bulfinch variant of the tale assert this was a result of Medusa's own hubris regarding her beauty (as quoted by the encyclopedia entry), other versions of the tale have this take place after Poseidon and Medusa lay together in one of Athena's temples and desecrated it; the original Latin Metamorphoses and other interpretations indicate this was against her will.
The tale of Perseus has him sent to fetch her head by King Polydectes of Seriphus, who wanted to marry Perseus's mother Danaë, with an and gave Perseus the task as a means of procuring a gift for him (in truth hoping to get rid of Perseus). The gods were well aware of this, and gave him divine assistance in the form of a mirrored shield (from Athena), gold winged sandals (from Hermes), a sword forged by Hephaestus, and Hades's helm of darkness (both given by Zeus). These items were entrusted to the Hesperides, who also gave him a knapsack to safely contain Medusa's head.
Perseus used the reflection from the mirrored shield the view Medusa safely and beheaded her; as she was pregnant by Poseidon, Pegasus the winged horse and the golden sword-wielding giant Chrysaor sprang from her body. Perseus then bagged the head and used the helm to escape the other two Gorgons; upon returning to Seriphus and discovering that his mother was taking refuge from Polydectes's violent advances, Perseus saved her by showing the king Medusa's head, turning him and his attendant nobles to stone.
In popular culture, her "weakness" to reflection is often made more direct, with games such as NetHack making her vulnerable to her own reflected gaze.
History
Medusa first appears in NetHack 2.2a. Her lair first appears in NetHack 3.1.0; before that version, she appeared in an ordinary room-type level. It seems likely that many an adventurer met an untimely end from not knowing he would soon see Medusa. NetHack 3.0.0 adds a number of statues to her room, but this is an ambiguous clue. The use of telepathy or a potion of monster detection is advisable.
Nethack 3.6.0 added two new possible layouts for Medusa's Island.
Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, hallucination protects you from the stoning gaze.
Encyclopedia entry
Medusa, one of the three Gorgons or Graeae, is the only one
of her sisters to have assumed mortal form and inhabited the
dungeon world.
When Perseus was grown up Polydectes sent him to attempt the
conquest of Medusa, a terrible monster who had laid waste the
country. She was once a beautiful maiden whose hair was her
chief glory, but as she dared to vie in beauty with Minerva,
the goddess deprived her of her charms and changed her
beautiful ringlets into hissing serpents. She became a cruel
monster of so frightful an aspect that no living thing could
behold her without being turned into stone. All around the
cavern where she dwelt might be seen the stony figures of men
and animals which had chanced to catch a glimpse of her and
had been petrified with the sight. Perseus, favoured by
Minerva and Mercury, the former of whom lent him her shield
and the latter his winged shoes, approached Medusa while she
slept and taking care not to look directly at her, but guided
by her image reflected in the bright shield which he bore, he
cut off her head and gave it to Minerva, who fixed it in the
middle of her Aegis.
