History Main / BasiliskAndCockatrice

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Basilisks and cockatrices are separate creature types aligned with Green, the color of nature, with basilisks being more strongly tied to Green and also more common. They all have the keyword deathtouch, meaning they instantly destroy any creature they deal damage to, or the ability to destroy any creature that they block or that blocks them, representing their deadly petrifying gaze.

Basilisks are reputed as the king of serpents (the name comes from the Greek for "king", "''basileos''"), and some bestiaries depicted them with crowns, if not with crown-like features such as a cock's comb. They are often [[PoisonousPerson extremely venomous]] and can cause instant death or [[TakenForGranite petrification]] to anyone who [[DeadlyGaze looks directly at them]], which makes them a BrownNoteBeing. [[WeaselMascot Weasels]] are its natural enemy, not unlike [[SnakeVersusMongoose the mongoose and cobra]], and the crowing of a rooster has a fatal BrownNote effect on it. It is also said that one can kill it by [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turning a mirror on it]], as [[WeaksauceWeakness it is not immune to its own gaze]].

** Cockatrices appear in the games. If you hear the cockatrice's hiss or are touched by a living cockatrice there's a chance that you'll slowing start [[TakenForGranite turning to stone]]; this can be cancelled by [[spoiler:eating a lizard corpse or eating/drinking something acid]]. Touching a cockatrice (living or dead) with your bare skin will ''[[OneHitKill instantly]]'' turn you to stone. Gloved characters can take advantage of this by picking up a cockatrice corpse [[ImprovisedWeapon and using it to bash monsters]] (in which case ''[=NetHack=]'' players will call it a [[FanNickname "rubber chicken"]]). But keep in mind that gloved monsters can ''also'' pick up a cockatrice corpse and use it against you. And if you trip while wielding a cockatrice corpse, you ''will'' [[YetAnotherStupidDeath accidentally touch it and die of stoning]].

** An early chapter has the main party capturing a basilisk and roasting it. The basilisk appears as a giant chicken with a snake tail, although in a twist it's said that the snake is the real head. Its eggs (which later they made omelettes with) appear more like snake eggs rather than chicken eggs. Laius noted that the cockatrice is a close cousin of the basilisk and resides deeper in the dungeon.

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See also SnakesAreSinister, FeatheredFiend and GiantFlyer. Compare FeatheredSerpent, another bird-snake hybrid monster.

* In ''Literature/DragonRider'', a basilisk appears as a sort of enormous, evil bird-like monster with a killing gaze. It’s never seen fully, and is killed when it’s forced to look at its own reflection in a mirror.

* In ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'', the heroes help a dwarven community which is being terrorized by a house-sized basilisk demanding to be given fifty virgins. Since basilisks don't actually grow that big and cannot speak, they become suspicious and Shelena and Veres set out to investigate disguised as virgin nuns. They discover a group of thugs hired by the villains, who pretend to be the basilisk by magically projecting the illusion of a giant one onto the road, while the real basilisk is held in a cage -- it's about wolf-sized and ''can'' turn people into stone with its eyes, but that takes energy and the basilisk in question is in such a sorry state that it makes a dash for the nearest wood when released.

** The basilisk is a fifty-foot snake that uses the school plumbing system to get around. It attacks several times, but the insta-death gaze apparently needs to be direct, or else the victim will merely be Petrified, which is reversible. Ghosts who see it get Petrified by default, [[YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead since they're already dead]]. Miraculously, the victims in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' all manage to escape death this way: one saw it reflected in a puddle, one saw it through a camera lens, one was already a ghost, one saw it through the ghost's translucent form, and two saw it in a mirror. They can also be controlled by Parseltongues (snake talkers) such as Salazar Slytherin and [[spoiler:Lord Voldemort]].

The Basilisk is a mythological creature which has shown up in many bestiaries and fantasy works. Described as being hatched from the egg of a snake (or a toad) by a cockerel, it is generally portrayed with a [[MixAndMatchCritters mix of reptilian/amphibian and bird features]]. This makes it similar in appearance to its cousin the Cockatrice, a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon with birdlike features]] which is said to be hatched from a chicken egg (sometimes [[MisterSeahorse a rooster egg]]) by a snake.

* ''TabletopGame/TheDarkEye'': Basilisks, also called toadspawn, are large serpents with metallic crests on their heads. They are unnatural aberrations and intensely deadly -- they can petrify any creature they look upon, merely touching one's dead body is a death sentence, and their passage kills plants, mildews soil, and turns water to polluted filth and air to toxic gas; any area they pass through becomes tainted unlivable. They do not need to drink, eat or sleep -- they are sustained purely by magic -- and legend says that only one is born every 700 years. They are very greatly feared, and the title of Basilisk Slayer is coveted and respected.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': Desert basiliscs -- that being the official spelling -- are Wyld-twisted creatures found in the deep deserts of the South. They resemble serpents with the heads, wings and legs of peacocks (although the official art gives them the legs and wings of insects instead) and produce coronas of flame from a gem set in their foreheads. They hate all other creatures and try to kill anything they meet; this including other basiliscs, and these creatures always fight to the death when they meet -- how they breed is something of a mystery.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'': Both the Basilisk and Cockatrice are encounterable enemies by the Vesperpool area of the main open world map. They are depicted as overgrown (the size of a large emu) roosters with dragon tails and feet. The Cockatrice, as the slightly harder version to fight, has more dragon-like features (more scales and horns) than the Basilisk, but not enough to warrant thinking of them as wholly separate entities.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'''s basilisks are huge snakes with arms who can induce Petrification on the party. Running into them is often the player's first experience with the NonStandardGameOver when all active characters are petrified.

* ''Basilisk: The Serpent King'', a Film/SyFyChannelOriginalMovie, has a centuries-old basilisk being unwittingly reawakened by archeologists during a solar eclipse after it was originally petrified thanks to a gold scepter.

* In ''Andrew and the Alchemist'' by Barbara Ninde Byfield, basilisk blood is one of the components to create the Philosopher's Stone. It's revealed near the end of the book that the alchemist kept one of the basilisks he raised, which is now very old and spends most of its time hibernating in a dark corner of his cellar. The book doesn't give a physical description, since the only person who gets a good look at it is the villain, and he isn't in any condition afterward to describe it.

** In a later chapter they encountered a cockatrice. The cockatrice is similar to the basilisk, but is bigger, leaner, has claws, and is more aggressive. Also, getting bitten by the snake tail causes the victim to [[TakenForGranite be petrified]].

* In the third ''Literature/DanShambleZombiePI'' novel, Rusty the werewolf operates a cockatrice-fighting ring as a lowbrow BeastlyBloodsport. His cockatrices' ability to petrify has been suppressed, so the gamblers at the fights won't get TakenForGranite. [spoiler: He secretly keeps some full-strength cockatrices too, which turn out to be a useful (albeit ''very'' double-edged) weapon against the novel's villains.]