D&D (2024) D&D Marilith Is Far More Bestial In 2025

The new 2025 Monster Manual has all-new art, and one major change is the depiction of the marilith. Up until now, the marilith has been depicted as a six-armed humanish female from the waist up; while in the 2025 book, the picture is far more bestial in nature.

Not only is the imagery more demonic, it also features the creature in action, simultaneously beheading, stabbing, and entwining its foes with its six arms and snake-like tail.

Left 2025 Marilith / Right 2014 Marilith​

 

[dave2008]

Here are some fan and other publisher mariliths I found with a quick search:

Fan

Fan

from PF

PF2?

Final Fantasy

4e product

Fan?

 

[Reynard]

Well that stinks. What’s next the succubus will look like a scaled horror 2. But it was offensive and the masses demanded it .

No, they are pretty much the same:
View attachment 397788

I would not be surprised if they decided to de-sexify the Marilith because they already has the Succubi. How many hawt fiends do you need?

 

[wicked cool]

I would not be surprised if they decided to de-sexify the Marilith because they already has the Succubi. How many hawt fiends do you need?

I’d be upset if it was the other way so it’s not the sex stuff
It’s the tradition and the lore etc etc

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I would not be surprised if they decided to de-sexify the Marilith because they already has the Succubi. How many hawt fiends do you need?

I'm fine with there being a bunch of them. I still want the Lilitu back.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That is good (wish there was some gore though; bloodless decapitation is weird).

I was presuming those were constructs or undead myself, the complete lack of any flesh on display and identical-ness of the armour seems to hint at constructs.

I'm not keen on this Marilith because it looks like a Demon, and Demons and Devils need more visual separation, not less. I think they should have kept it as sort of elegant and competent looking, rather than bestial and berserk, whatever else they did.

 

[dave2008]

I'm not keen on this Marilith because it looks like a Demon, and Demons and Devils need more visual separation, not less. I think they should have kept it as sort of elegant and competent looking, rather than bestial and berserk, whatever else they did.

A marilith is a demon. Did you make a mistake/typo here somewhere?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

A marilith is a demon. Did you make a mistake/typo here somewhere?

Haha I thought they were a Devil, the only mistake is IN MY BRAIN.

So yeah that's actually fine, maybe an improvement!

(You can also see how often I use higher-end Devils/Demons here - I am honestly a Yugoloth kind of guy!)

 

[Corinnguard]

Since 5.5e now has Male Dryads and Male Hags, perhaps this Marilith is a male of its' kind?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't like this version of the Marilith which looks closer to some versions of the Glabrezu.

Anyways I'd say that Mariliths associated with Grazz't, Malacanthet and Pale Night would look closer to feminine humanoid types from before.

 

[Demetrios1453]

As I said in the threads on the new dragon looks, there's no reason that both new and old can't exist side by side. No species has every single member look exactly the same, or even necessarily similar (after all, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and kale are all the same species - yet they all look very distinct from each other). Demons, being creatures of chaos, even more so.