Mirror
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | mirror |
| Appearance | looking glass |
| Base price | 10 zm |
| Weight | 13 |
| Material | glass |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A mirror is a type of tool that appears in NetHack. It is made of glass, and appears as a looking glass when unidentified.
The mirror is the base item for the artifact The Magic Mirror of Merlin.
Contents
Generation
Mirrors make up 2⁄25 (8%) of all randomly-generated tools, and are always generated uncursed outside of bones levels and trap "bones". General stores and hardware stores can sell mirrors.
Nymphs have a 1⁄2 chance (50%) of being generated with a mirror.
Description
Applying a mirror will prompt the player for a direction to display it in, and selecting a direction uses up a turn and has various effects (including simply printing messages) depending on who or what the mirror is applied towards, where the hero is located, and whether or not the hero is hallucinating.[1][2] A cursed mirror only reflects what it is directed at half of the time, having no effect otherwise.[3] A hero applying a mirror anywhere other than at themselves while underwater will have no effect.[4]
A hero applying a mirror towards a close-enough monster that is not humanoid or a unicorn and can see the hero (including being able to see invisible if the hero is invisible[5]) has a 4⁄5 chance of scaring that monster for 2-8 turns, assuming it does not fall into one of the special cases listed below.[6][7] The mirror will have no effect if the monster is asleep, blind, eyeless, or paralyzed.[8][9][10] Applying a mirror has no effect on a monster engulfing the hero.[11]
The following reactions occur when applying a mirror towards specific monsters:
- A ghost or a vampire in any of their forms will not have a reflection, nor will a hero in the form of one.[12][13]
- Medusa will have her stoning gaze reflected upon herself, turning her to stone unless she possesses reflection and breaking pacifist conduct.[14]
- A floating eye will be paralyzed by its own passive gaze for several turns depending on its monster level, with a 1⁄4 chance of being paralyzed for exactly 120 turns.[15] A hero in the form of a floating eye that does not have free action will similarly be paralyzed for several turns.[16]
- An umber hulk will become confused by its own gaze.[17] A hero in the form of an umber hulk will become confused for 3-12 (more) turns.[18]
- A nymph or foocubus will admire themselves in the mirror and steal it, then teleport away unless they are on a no-teleport level.[19]
A hero applying a mirror at themselves will usually print YAFM dependent on their charisma unless they are polymorphed into any of the monsters listed above—see the "vanity" subsection of messages for further details.
Mirrors are fragile and will break when hit by a force bolt or wand of striking, and will also break if they are kicked, thrown, dropped down a flight of down stairs, dropped while levitating, or else are in a non-magical container that is subjected to any of the above.[20][21][22] A hero that actively breaks a mirror by any means takes a −2 luck penalty.[23] A hero hitting a monster with a wielded mirror will break that mirror and deal one point of damage to the monster[24]—this damage also applies to shades due to the silver in the reflective surface, though it will still break despite them being noncorporeal.[25]
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 c2802dba, major demons other than foocubi are no longer scared of their reflections.Strategy
Common uses of a mirror include applying it to monsters with gaze attacks, such as floating eyes, umber hulks and Medusa, in order to reflect them. However, it will not reflect the gaze of Archons, pyrolisks or Baalzebub. Mirrors can also be used against nymphs and foocubi to prevent the theft of more desirable (and possibly dangerous) items, as well as unwanted removal of armor.
As nymphs are often generated with mirrors, it is a bad idea to attack them with force bolt spells or a wand of striking and risk your luck. However, the luck penalty from breaking a mirror can be used to intentionally avoid being crowned while praying and/or altar farming.
History
The mirror first appears in NetHack 2.2a.
From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, only succubi are tempted into stealing a mirror the hero applies at them, rather than both succubi and incubi.[26] The mirror having the same effect on an incubus is added in NetHack 3.6.0.
From NetHack 3.1.0 to NetHack 3.1.3, applying a cursed bell can be used to summon nymphs indefinitely with their usual starting inventory, and there is no risk of extinction, paralysis or generating a fast nymph.[27] This is commonly used in farming large numbers of mirrors for polypiling, among other strategies[28]—NetHack 3.2.0 fixes this by ensuring that the summoned nymph has no starting inventory.
Messages
The messages below replace "mirror" with "looking glass" depending on if the item is identified.
- You reflect the ceiling.
- You applied the mirror up.
- You reflect the floor.
- You applied the mirror down.
- You reflect the murky water.
- You applied the mirror in any direction other than at yourself while underwater.
- You give the fish a chance to fix their makeup.
- As above while hallucinating.
- <The mirror> fogs up and doesn't reflect!
- The mirror was cursed and did not reflect what it was pointed towards.
- <The monster> is frightened by <its> reflection.
- You applied the mirror at a monster and frightened it.
- <The monster> doesn't seem to notice <its> reflection.
- You are invisible and the monster cannot see you.
- <The monster> ignores <its> reflection.
- You applied the mirror at a monster that cannot be frightened by it, or else you failed to frighten it.
- <The monster> doesn't have a reflection.
- You applied the mirror to a vampire or ghost.
- <The monster> admires <him/her>self in your <mirror>.
- <He/She> takes it!
- You applied the mirror at a nymph or foocubus.
- It steals your <mirror>!
- As above, but you could not see the nymph or foocubus in question.
- <The monster> is too tired to look at your <mirror>.
- The monster is asleep.
- You discern no obvious reaction from <the monster>.
- The monster is paralyzed.
- You feel a bit silly gesturing the <mirror> in that direction.
- As above, but you cannot see the monster.
- <The monster> can't see anything right now.
- The monster is blinded.
- You reflect <the monster>'s <stomach/interior>.
- You applied the mirror at the inside of a monster that is currently engulfing you.
Vanity
Applying a mirror at yourself will often produce YAFM depending on your current status: if more than one of the conditions for charisma apply, the message corresponding to the one that is highest on the list below will be displayed.
- You look <color>.
- You are hallucinating, which produces one of the following "colors" at random: ultraviolet, infrared, bluish-orange, reddish-green, dark white, light black, sky blue-pink, salty, sweet, sour, bitter, striped, spiral, swirly, plaid, checkered, argyle, paisley, blotchy, guernsey-spotted, polka-dotted, square, round, triangular, cabernet, sangria, fuchsia, wisteria, lemon-lime, strawberry-banana, peppermint, romantic, or incandescent.
- You look peaked.
- You are sick.
- You look undernourished.
- You are weak or worse from hunger.
- You look as ugly as ever.
- Your charisma is 14 or lower.
- You can't see your ugly face.
- As above, but you are blind, or you are invisible and cannot see invisible.
- You look as <handsome/beautiful> as ever.
- Your charisma is 15 or higher, with the word chosen depending on the hero's gender.
- You can't see your <handsome/beautiful> face.
- As above, but you are blind, or you are invisible and cannot see invisible.
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 2f0676c1, there are more possible descriptions of your appearance when applying a mirror to yourself while you are not hallucinating, sick or weak from hunger.
Depending on your charisma, you might look "sublime" (charisma ≥ 25), "splendorous", (charisma ≥ 19), "beautiful"/"handsome" (charisma ≥ 16), "winsome"/"amiable" (charisma ≥ 14), "cute" (charisma ≥ 11), "plain" (charisma ≥ 9), "homely" (charisma ≥ 6), "ugly" (charisma ≥ 4) or, if none of the previous conditions apply, "hideous".Polymorph
The following messages apply instead of the above if you are polymorphed into a particular monster:
- Yikes! You've frozen yourself!
- You are a floating eye without free action, and become paralyzed.
- Yow! The mirror stares back!
- As above, while you are also hallucinating.
- You stiffen momentarily under your gaze.
- As above, but you have free action.
- You don't have a reflection.
- You are a vampire.
- Huh? That doesn't look like you!
- You are an umber hulk, and become confused.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the mirror has various uses outside of the ones available from NetHack:
- A hero applying a mirror at themselves with more than 20 insight will learn the location of a "silver light", which can be used to become a follower of The Silver Flame. Upon The Silver Flame taking up residence in an appropriate weapon or pair of gloves, a mirror in the open inventory will be converted to a purified mirror, which appears as a silver disk when unidentified and can be used to consult The Silver Flame.
- Spellcasting Kamerel are always generated with a mirror of varying object materials depending on that Kamerel's type. The mirror each Kamerel generates with counteracts the increases in their spell failure rates induced by the Outlands and Outlands Rings.
- Andromalius is a spirit whose binding ritual can use a mirror as one of the two items placed in his seal, and using two non-mirror items in the binding ritual may generate a mirror as the third item the hero receives if they successfully bind him.
- The "argent sheen" madness obtained from seeing Graz'zt directly causes a hero to intermittently lose turns by stopping to admire themselves in a mirror, among other detrimental effects—a hero with the madness that applies a mirror at themselves can trigger this effect.
The Hand-Mirror of Cthylla is an unaligned artifact mirror exclusive to Binders that is generated in the same circumstances as The Silver Key for other heroes.
Binders may wish to apply a mirror at themselves and check for spirit signs that are not visible on the normal base attributes screen.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, mirrors have additional special and general interactions:
- A racial shopkeeper that is a nymph will not be tempted into stealing a mirror applied at her.
- A monster with ultravision can see their reflection in a mirror applied at them.
- Applying a mirror at a magical eye can scare and cancel it.
- Medusa will avert her gaze from a mirror applied in her direction 24⁄25 (96%) of the time. This makes it harder to kill her with in comparison to passive reflection, but also means that a hero can still potentially kill her without being subjected to stoning bites from her hair's snakes in melee.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, upgrading a mirror can produce an expensive camera and vice versa.
Silver dragon-scaled armor can scare monsters adjacent to the wearer as an applied mirror.
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"Cross reference with Evil above to see what does and doesn't still apply."
Encyclopedia entry
But as Snow White grew, she became more and more beautiful,
and by the time she was seven years old she was as beautiful
as the day and more beautiful than the queen herself. One
day when the queen said to her mirror:
"Mirror, Mirror, here I stand.
Who is the fairest in the land?" -
the mirror replied:
"You, O Queen, are the fairest here,
But Snow White is a thousand times more fair."
References
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 838: use_mirror function
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3680: called by doapply function
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 853
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 898
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 933
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 980
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 992
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 926
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 930
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 984
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 892
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 942
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 876: ghosts are excluded since both are nopoly
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 945
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 952
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 862
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 961
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 926
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 965
- Jump up ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 425
- Jump up ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1583
- Jump up ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2091
- Jump up ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1974
- Jump up ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 880
- Jump up ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1353: shade_aware function
- Jump up ↑ apply.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 715
- Jump up ↑ apply.c in NetHack 3.1.0, line 1315
- Jump up ↑ The NetHack Code 1.1, a resource used by players to communicate their precise playstyle for NetHack 3.1.3 and variants of the time
