Creatures (Bird Box)

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Hostile Species
Full Name	Unknown
Alias	The Creatures The Entities Beautiful Things (by River Man and Fish Fingers) Angels (by Sebastián)
Origin	Bird Box
Homeworld	Unknown
Abilities	Madness inducement Shapeshifting
Members	None known.
Hobby	Driving humans insane.
Goals	Unknown, seemingly destroy humanity (ongoing).
Crimes	Mass murder by proxy Mass enforced suicide Psychological torture Madness inducement Mayhem inducement
Type of Hostile Species	Enigmatic Mind-Breakers

“	They're coming! They won't hurt you. As a matter of fact, it's a beautiful thing, friend.	„
	~ An insane follower of the Creatures to Tom.

The Creatures are the main antagonists of Josh Malerman's 2014 post-apocalyptic novel Bird Box, its 2018 film adaptation and the 2023 film Bird Box Barcelona, a spin-off sequel set in Spain.

They are malevolent, unseen monsters who cause humans who look at them to go insane and become suicidal.

Description

“	They go by different names. You got world religion and mythology that's full of mentions of demons or spirit creatures. People who've seen these creatures almost always describe their encounter as this... as with an entity that takes on a form of your worst fears or... your deepest sadness or your greatest loss. They come in all different forms. You got the Aka Manah, the Varios Daevas from ancient Zoroastrian legend. You've got the Surgat from ancient Christian occult beliefs that made pregnant women encounter their unborn children as other creatures such as lobsters or spiders. You've got the Huli-jing from China. You've got the Puca from Celtic mythology. All different names, but the same thing.	„
	~ Charlie says that humanity has been judged, and the appearance of the creatures is a sign of the end times. He mentions that those spiritual beings have different names in various cultures

The Creatures' origin, motives, intent, and appearance are unknown beings. Their physical presence involves a shadowy wind that blows and sweeps over leaves where they pass. However, besides that, they appear unable to affect anything physically. Charlie, a store clerk, theorizes that they are demons capable of assuming the appearance of a target's worst fears. Although this is never confirmed, it is shown that they have the ability to produce human voices to their mesmerized victims. The damage they inflict is not biological but rather mental.

Any human who looks at the Creatures immediately suffers from severe psychological damage, apparently entering a trance evidenced by the victim's eyes turning grey. This drives the victims to commit suicide by any means available. Others, seemingly those already suffering from mental instability, come to revere the Creatures in an almost holy manner, referring to them as "Beautiful" and helping them in hunting down other humans, usually by persuading them to look at the Creatures, and when they cannot, killing them.

Any life form possessing sight is immediately driven to some form of madness and eventually suicide. For example, a seagull who saw the creatures immediately dove for glass, instantly killing it.

There is only one known case of an affected able to resist the impulse of killing himself, Tom, and only for several seconds to kill another affected to save his wife, Malorie.

Spread

Starting in Romania, at some point, the Creatures began appearing in Russia. They eventually spread via Alaska towards the western coast of North America. A map shows that, at some point, they were also present in Japan, the Korean Peninsula, much of the Middle East, almost all of Europe, northern Africa, Peru and Colombia, and southern Greenland.

Victims

In the movie, a total of 7 named characters are seen possessed by the Creatures by looking at them and eventually kill themselves. In order, those were:

1. Jessica, when driving with Malorie.
2. Lydia, when coming to help Malorie.
3. Greg, when looking at security cameras.
4. Charlie, after he stopped his possessed co-worker from affecting the group.
5. Olympia, by running towards the window and jumping out of it.
6. Cheryl stabs herself with a pair of scissors.
7. Tom kills himself when fighting a group of possessed humans.

The only main characters who never see the Creatures are Malorie, her children, Lucy, Felix, and Douglas, although they were all tempted at some point.

Theories

There are several theories about what the Creatures are and represent. Some of these are presented here.

What are they?

• Alien invaders trying to wipe out humanity by using our own weak minds.
• Friendly aliens trying to contact humans without knowing that their presence drives us mad.
• Beings from another dimension accidentally transported to our own.
• Demons, especially in a biblical context.
• Ancient prehistoric creatures reappeared in the modern world.
• Biological warfare – insanity caused by weapons for warfare goals or terrorism.
• Mass hysteria – a massive panic caused by a simple suggestion that there is danger
• Cthulhu - the titular antagonist from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

What do they represent?

• Depression – how the truth about the world can depress people.
• Social media – how it makes people unaware of important events.
• Mental illnesses – how sane people see the mentally ill.
• The difficulties of parenthood.
• People's greatest fears and their hesitation in facing them.

Gallery

Design of the Creatures as they would look to Malorie.

Gary's drawings of the creatures.

Distribution of the Creatures at a given time.

Trivia

• Originally, the Creatures were going to have a physical form in the movie. They would look different for each person, and Malorie would see them as beings with withered, bald, baby-like heads. There were even doll models for Malorie's vision of the Creatures, but the idea was dropped because Sandra Bullock found them too ridiculous.
• In the sequel, Octavio explains the creatures are quantum beings using the observer's effect on humanity. Because of this causes humans to perceive them differently; some see their fear, grief, and pain, while others see demons, angels, aliens, and even their deities.

Navigation

Villains

Franchise-wide Creatures Books Gary | The River Man | Fish Fingers Movies Bird Box: Infected People (Gary, The River Man and Fish Fingers) Bird Box Barcelona: Infected People (Padre Esteban, Sebastian and Anna)