• onion@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      The original story’s medusa was cursed so anyone would turn to stone when looking at her (in general not just her eyes)

      • Allegedly she was so hideous that anyone who gazed upon her would be petrified. It was her contrarian personal aesthetics that killed. Lethal vanity.

        It’s very Lovecraftian. Maybe its a Color Out of Space sort of thing.

        Basillisks sometimes had to lock eyes to petrify, though the cockatrice version spit extremely corrosive acid. I suspect there’s a link by storytellers unifying their world building.

        I know of some women who have practiced a withering stare that can paralyze with fear or shame. I seek to master such techniques.