维基上关于1989年版的《龙与地下城怪物汇编·卷2》
TSR 2103 – MC2 – Monstrous Compendium Volume Two(当时还是AD&D2版时代,怪物书是用活页编的)的信源引述到了一个互联网图书馆
The Hahn Library的《龙与地下城文学史料》
Literary Sources of D&D,其中认为DND的独眼巨人来自希腊神话,是根据荷马史诗《奥德赛》
Odyssey创造的:
Cyclops, Cyclopes
Greek mythology, most famously in the story of Ulysses in Homer's Odyssey.
我去翻了一下奥德赛,在
第9卷的8—11行找到了如下记载:
A wizard, grand and wondrous, lived here—Telemus,
a son of Eurymus great length of days
he had in wizardry among the Cyclopes,
and these things he foretold for time to come:
my great eye lost, and at Odysseus' hands.
其中提到的“he had in wizardry among the Cyclopes”就是指Telemus此人在独眼巨人中也是非凡的先知,换一个更易读的译本:
Alas!
Now an ancient prophecy about me
has truly been fulfilled! Telemus,
fine, tall son of Eurymus, a seer
who surpassed all men in prophecy,
reached old age among the Cyclopes
as a soothsayer. He said all these things
would come to pass someday—I'd lose my sight
at the hand of someone called Odysseus.
重点部分我加粗标注了,实际上那个老外写的《龙与地下城文学史料》里提到的尤里西斯
Ulysses就是奥德修斯
Odysseus的罗马名,也就是我们熟悉的奥德修斯刺瞎独眼巨人波吕斐摩斯
Polyphemus的预言,本身就是出自独眼巨人族群中的长者、著名的占卜者与预言家泰勒玛斯
Telemus之手。不知道为什么奥德赛这段的翻译资料在中文互联网讨论得特别少,这俩角色也不是很出名,以至于大家都只知预言中被刺瞎的独眼巨人波吕斐摩斯,而不识作出这个预言的独眼巨人泰勒玛斯。估计也是因为这个历史悠久的文脉,老外觉得独眼巨人能预言是个常识,而我们不看奥德赛的就一头雾水。
方舟的独眼巨人大概是进一步延拓了这个神话的寓意,
“独眼巨人的远见,最后看到的都是悲惨结局”的出处应该就是这段预言作为波吕斐摩斯瞎眼的诅咒,当然后续
波吕斐摩斯对奥德修斯的诅咒,还有预言的一系列自实现问题我们就不展开了。
However, the cyclops, after unsuccessfully hurling a boulder to try and smash the fastly-disappearing Greek ship, cursed Odysseus, predicting the loss of his men, a wearisome voyage home, and disaster when he finally arrived there. Calling on the help of his father Poseidon, Polyphemos ensured that it would be many a storm and ten long years before Odysseus reached Ithaca.
反正DND这里只借了能够独眼巨人先知能够预言未来这一部分,PF的
独眼巨人先知Cyclopean Seer和
独眼巨人头盔Cyclops Helm也是这么个路数,但那本书出的应该比ADND这边要晚。
瞬间洞察,每天一次,独眼巨人以一个直觉动作凝视由诸多可能的未来所组成、相互交错的影像,以获得洞察力,这让它能在投一个关键骰之前就选择投骰的结果。此效果仅作用于独眼巨人自身所采取的行动,对于他人的投骰没有效果。