Clove of garlic
A clove of garlic is a type of veggy comestible that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Priests start with 1-2 cloves of garlic in their inventory.[1] Tourists will sometimes start with cloves of garlic among their initial stacks of food.[2]
Cloves of garlic make up 7⁄1000 (0.7%) of all randomly-generated comestibles. General stores, delicatessens and health food stores can sell cloves of garlic.
Description
When eaten, cloves of garlic take one turn to eat and grant 40 nutrition - garlic is vegan and can be used to tame domestic herbivores and pacify domestic carnivores.[3] Garlic also has a secondary use for warding off certain monsters.
Undead and garlic
A clove of garlic on a square will prevent any undead monster other than a ghost or shade from entering that square;[4] covetous undead such as master liches can still warp to a stair with garlic on it. Hitting an undead monster with a clove of garlic will scare them for 2-8 turns.[5]
If a hero eats a clove of garlic while polymorphed into an undead monster, they will vomit.[6] Undead pets will not eat garlic.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit 1d8c944c, eating garlic makes nearby non-breathless monsters flee temporarily.History
The clove of garlic first appears in Hack 1.0.
Origin
Garlic (Allium sativum) is a species of bulbous flowering plant whose close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeastern Iran and has long been used as a seasoning and traditional medicine worldwide for several thousand years. Garlic is present in the folklore of many cultures that treat it as a means of protection or white magic, perhaps owing to its reputation in folk medicine.
Central European folk beliefs in particular consider garlic a powerful ward against demons, werewolves, and vampires - to ward off vampires, garlic could be worn, hung in windows, or rubbed on chimneys and keyholes. The use of garlic to specifically ward against vampires was popularized by novels such as Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula, which provides the encyclopedia entry.
Variants
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM incorporates the Dungeon Growths patch, allowing garlic and other herbal comestibles to multiply while left on the floor.
The Undead Slayer role starts each game with 5–10 blessed cloves of garlic.
UnNetHack
UnNetHack also implements the Dungeon Growths patch that allows garlic and other herbs to multiply while left on the floor.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, Chefs and Paladins also start with cloves of garlic.
Hack'EM
Hack'EM also incorporates the Dungeon Growths patch and retains the Undead Slayer role's starting inventory from SLASH'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
1 November - All day long we have travelled, and at a good speed. The horses seem to know that they are being kindly treated, for they go willingly their full stage at best speed. We have now had so many changes and find the same thing so constantly that we are encouraged to think that the journey will be an easy one. Dr. Van Helsing is laconic, he tells the farmers that he is hurrying to Bistritz, and pays them well to make the exchange of horses. We get hot soup, or coffee, or tea, and off we go. It is a lovely country. Full of beauties of all imaginable kinds, and the people are brave, and strong, and simple, and seem full of nice qualities. They are very, very superstitious. In the first house where we stopped, when the woman who served us saw the scar on my forehead, she crossed herself and put out two fingers towards me, to keep off the evil eye. I believe they went to the trouble of putting an extra amount of garlic into our food, and I can't abide garlic. Ever since then I have taken care not to take off my hat or veil, and so have escaped their suspicions.
