Appendix N Connection: The Origins of Shadows in Dungeons & Dragons

An in-depth look at the origins of the shadow and the influence of A. Merritt’s novel Creep, Shadow, Creep! on Dungeons & Dragons.

By R. Nelson Bailey

The original pulp appearance of Creep, Shadow, Creep! in 1934 (right), and a 1942 reprint (left).

Introduction

Most of the classic undead monsters in Dungeons & Dragons originate in mythology and folklore. Novice players, encountering the game for the first time, usually possess at least some knowledge of zombies, skeletons, ghosts, spectres, vampires, mummies, and other horrors drawn from countless books and films. But not every creature in the game has a folkloric basis.

Some undead arise instead from literary invention. Two prominent examples are the wight, derived from Tolkien, and the lich, adapted from Gardner F. Fox’s sword-and-sorcery novel Kothar, Barbarian Swordsman (1969). Fox’s lich may itself have been modeled on the undead wizard in Robert E. Howard’s Hour of the Dragon, since Fox’s fiction frequently echoes Howard’s depictions of Hyboria. Another possible source is the arch-mages who haunt Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique and Poseidonis cycles.

A third non-folkloric undead, however, is distinctive. The shadow derives directly from Abraham Merritt’s novel Creep, Shadow, Creep!, a work that exercised a lasting influence on the early development of Dungeons & Dragons.

Sorceress of Shadows

Creep, Shadow, Creep! (also published as Creep, Shadow!) appears on Gary Gygax’s Appendix N list of inspirational readings printed in the 1^st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide (1979). First published in 1934, the novel blends fantasy and horror, much like its predecessor Burn, Witch, Burn! (1932), which also introduced the murderous doll trope later popular in horror fiction and film. Gygax himself acknowledged Merritt as a more direct influence on Dungeons & Dragons than H. P. Lovecraft, whose impact on the game was largely thematic rather than mechanical.

Set in New England in the 1930s, Creep, Shadow, Creep! reads much like a Lovecraft tale — though Merritt’s fiction features more women, stronger sexual themes, greater psychological reflection, and an adjective-laden, phantasmagorical style. Lovecraft admired Merritt’s works, and indeed, Merritt’s The Moon Pool is often cited as an influence on “The Call of Cthulhu.” Lovecraft also borrowed Merritt’s “cyclopean” descriptions, ruin-haunting explorers, and motifs such as the subterranean city in “People of the Pit,” which closely resembles the Elder Things’ city in At the Mountains of Madness.

The novel’s protagonist, Alan de Caranac, is a scientist and explorer who encounters Demoiselle D’Ys — known as Dahut — and her father, Doctor de Keradel. Dahut is revealed to be a witch, and her father an occultist sorcerer. As in many of Merritt’s works, the male protagonist is irresistibly drawn to a powerful yet malevolent female antagonist. Dahut tells Alan they are reincarnated lovers from the fabled city of Ys, sealing his attraction to her.

Alan, however, remains wary. Alan suspects Dahut’s role in the death of a close friend, who confessed before dying that he was stalked by a murderous shadow. Alan eventually discovers that Dahut uses sorcery to create living shadows from human beings. As the “Queen of Shadows,” she commands them to slay her enemies. Together with her father, she plans to summon a shadowy being known as the Gatherer — through dozens of human sacrifices — in order to restore the glories of ancient Ys within New England.

Shadowy Connections

Shadows first appeared in Dungeons & Dragons in the original 1974 three-book boxed set, but they were not fully described until the 1976 Greyhawk supplement.

Form

The Greyhawk supplement notes that shadows are semi-corporeal and can be touched. The 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual (1977) does not clarify whether they are semi- or non-corporeal; it merely states that “they exist primarily on the Negative Material Plane.” Later works — the Holmes, Moldvay, and Mentzer Basic Sets — make their incorporeal nature explicit.

Lurking in Shadows

In Merritt’s novel, shadows appear as silhouettes that slip unseen through darkness. Likewise, the Monster Manual describes them as nearly undetectable except in the brightest light.

Killing Touch

Merritt’s shadows feed on the living, though the novel never details their exact method of killing. Those slain by shadows, such as Alan’s friend, return as new shadows under Dahut’s command. In Dungeons & Dragons, shadows feed on life force by draining Strength points; those reduced to zero Strength become shadows themselves.

The shadow was an “abominable grotesque” from the Monstrous Compendium.

Appearance

Merritt describes shadows in two forms: some are indistinguishable from ordinary human shadows, while others appear “deformed, distorted, and changed into abominable grotesques.” Their hues range widely: some are pure black, while others appear pale or silvery. A few are even tinted pink, blue, green, or gray. In Dungeons & Dragons, shadows are described only as resembling human silhouettes. No official artwork appeared until the 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Compendium (1993), whose illustration — curiously — depicts a grotesque shadow reminiscent of Merritt’s descriptions.

As Undead

In the novel, Dahut’s sorcery is described vaguely, but references suggest that her shadows are semi-living. When Alan travels to the Shadow Realm, its inhabitants express surprise that he is still alive, raising doubts about their true nature. It is unclear whether they are the same as those in the physical world or merely aspects of them.

In early Dungeons & Dragons texts — Greyhawk and the Basic Sets — shadows were described as “not undead, per se,” and clerics could not turn them. It was not until the 1st edition Monster Manual that shadows were granted full undead status. Later, the 2nd edition Monstrous Compendium speculated that shadows were created by a magical curse, suggesting their state might be reversible — a faint echo of Merritt’s Appendix N influence.

Other Influences from Creep, Shadow, Creep!

The Plane of Shadow

In Merritt’s novel, Alan is transported to a semi-solid Shadow Realm populated by predatory shadow-beings, including a medieval warrior astride a shade horse who has been trapped there for six centuries. This realm likely inspired AD&D’s Plane of Shadow.

Gary Gygax first introduced the Plane of Shadow in his “From the Sorcerer’s Scroll” column (Dragon #37, May 1980). Soon after, it appeared in the Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia (1980), which described it as “a place of distorted and mutable shadow-creatures, of white, black, and all shades of gray.” Over the next decade, it resurfaced repeatedly: Unearthed Arcana (1985) referred to it as “Shadowland,” and the Manual of the Planes (1987) classified it as a demiplane of the Ethereal. Gygax also noted that Skip Williams was developing a module titled Shadowland — planned as an adventure on the Plane of Shadow with sequels to follow. The module never saw release.

Shadow Mastiffs

Alongside her human shadows, Dahut keeps a pack of supernatural hounds with red eyes, shadowy bodies, and a terrifying bay. Their bite inflicts a numbing cold, akin to the Strength-draining touch of Dungeons & Dragons shadows. These hounds were almost certainly the inspiration for the shadow mastiff, introduced in the Monster Manual II. Like their literary precursors from Appendix N titles, shadow mastiffs are tied to the Plane of Shadow.

The statistics and illustration of the shadow mastiff from Monster Manual II.

Shadow Illusions

Illusionist spells involving shadow first appeared in the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook (1978), with examples such as shadow monsters and shadow magic. Unearthed Arcana later tied them more explicitly to the Plane of Shadow through the spell shadow walk. This echoes Merritt’s sorceress Dahut, who frequently manipulated shadows and illusions — sometimes by singing spells, which hypnotized or confused Alan. Merritt’s deliberate vagueness about whether Alan’s experiences were reality or sorcery is central to the novel’s effect.

Illusionist shadow magic in Dungeons & Dragons was also influenced by Roger Zelazny’s Jack of Shadows (1971), another Appendix N title. Zelazny’s protagonist could travel across the world using shadows, much like the shadow walk spell.

One anomaly is the illusionist spell summon shadow, first published in The Strategic Review #4. Unlike most wizard spells, it calls forth an undead creature — a domain typically reserved for clerics. This oddity may preserve the shadow’s pre-undead status in early Dungeons & Dragons and recalls Dahut’s power to summon shadows to her service.

Conclusion

Unlike most undead in Dungeons & Dragons, the shadow does not descend from folklore but from Abraham Merritt’s Creep, Shadow, Creep!. Merritt’s imagery of living silhouettes, grotesque distortions, and the Shadow Realm shaped the creature’s design and inspired broader elements such as the Plane of Shadow, shadow mastiffs, and illusionist shadow spells. These features demonstrate that Merritt’s novel influenced not only the game’s atmosphere but also its mechanics. Among the authors of Appendix N, Merritt thus stands out as a creator whose work furnished Dungeons & Dragons with enduring monsters and metaphysical concepts.

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Works Referenced

Fox, Gardner F. Kothar, Barbarian Swordsman. Paperback Library, 1969.

Grubb, Jeff. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of the Planes. TSR, 1987.

Gygax, Gary. “From the Sorcerer’s Scroll: Greyhawk — The Shape of the World.” Dragon #37 (May 1980), p. 10.

Gygax, Gary. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual II. TSR, 1983.

Gygax, Gary. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. TSR, 1977.

Gygax, Gary. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook. TSR, 1978.

Gygax, Gary. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Unearthed Arcana. TSR, 1985.

Howard, Robert E. Hour of the Dragon. Donald M. Grant, 1977. Originally published 1935–36.

Lovecraft, H. P. At the Mountains of Madness. Arkham House, 1964. Originally published 1936.

Merritt, Abraham. Burn, Witch, Burn! / Creep, Shadow, Creep!. Leisure Books, 1996.

Robinson, Weinberg, & Broecker. Art of Imagination. Collectors Press, 2002.

Smith, Clark Ashton. Poseidonis. Ballantine Books, 1973.

Smith, Clark Ashton. Zothique. Ballantine Books, 1970.

Stewart, Doug. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monstrous Compendium. TSR, 1993.

Ward & Kuntz. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Deities & Demigods Cyclopedia. TSR, 1980.

Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows. Walker and Co., 1971.