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​

 

[Maxperson]

Maybe they changed the marilith because it looked like Kali. I mean, they cut all the real world pantheons.

It didn't look like Kali. Kali has legs and a lower humanoid body. The Maralith has a snake body. Kali has four arms. The Maralith has six.

 

[Maxperson]

Eh, I don’t think that’s the reason. If it was, no one told the artist that made the new Nalfeshnee art, which is is definitely Kali-coded.
View attachment 397922

That's not Kali-coded, either. There are only so many ways to depict evil things. Worn skulls and walking on skeletons is fairly common in these sorts of depictions.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

That's not Kali-coded, either. There are only so many ways to depict evil things. Worn skulls and walking on skeletons is fairly common in these sorts of depictions.

I’ve seen others make the same observation I did. It was the combination of blue skin and the skull belt that did it for me. And I swear I’ve seen art of Kali with her hands facing up in a similar manner to that Nalfeshnee.

 

[Seramus]

Kali has four arms. The Maralith has six.

Thou art Kali, Tarini, Durga, Shodashi, Bhuvaneshvari, Dhumavati. Thou art Bagala, Bhairavi, and Chhinna-mastaka. Thou art Anna-purna, Vagdevi, Kama-lalaya. Thou art the Image or Embodiment of all the Shaktis and of all the Devas. Thou art both Subtle and Gross, Manifested and Veiled, Formless, yet with form. Who can understand Thee? For the accomplishment of the desire of the worshipper, the good of the world, and the destruction of the Danavas, Thou dost assume various forms. Thou art four-armed, two-armed, six-armed, and eight-armed, and holdest various missiles and weapons for the protection of the Universe ~Mahānirvāņa Tantra

She can even have a thousand arms!

 

[Maxperson]

Thou art Kali, Tarini, Durga, Shodashi, Bhuvaneshvari, Dhumavati. Thou art Bagala, Bhairavi, and Chhinna-mastaka. Thou art Anna-purna, Vagdevi, Kama-lalaya. Thou art the Image or Embodiment of all the Shaktis and of all the Devas. Thou art both Subtle and Gross, Manifested and Veiled, Formless, yet with form. Who can understand Thee?. For the accomplishment of the desire of the worshipper, the good of the world, and the destruction of the Danavas, Thou dost assume various forms. Thou art four-armed, two-armed, six-armed, and eight-armed, and holdest various missiles and weapons for the protection of the Universe ~Mahānirvāņa Tantra

She can even have a thousand arms!

Okay. That just makes the Marilith even less like Kali. It just has six.

 

[Maxperson]

I’ve seen others make the same observation I did. It was the combination of blue skin and the skull belt that did it for me. And I swear I’ve seen art of Kali with her hands facing up in a similar manner to that Nalfeshnee.

I'm not saying that there aren't some similarities. The thing is, humans are predisposed to look for patterns, and as a result we often find patterns that don't exist. Our minds take those similarities and associate them with something else we've seen, even if there's no true association.

 

[Incenjucar]

There are many, many deities and other supernatural beings of myth and religion that have a variety of number of limbs. It's the compound of similar traits you have to worry about. Otherwise every blue monster would be a reference to Shiva. Watch out, Smurfs!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I'm not saying that there aren't some similarities. The thing is, humans are predisposed to look for patterns, and as a result we often find patterns that don't exist. Our minds take those similarities and associate them with something else we've seen, even if there's no true association.

On a closer look, I can’t tell if the Nalfeshnee looks blue because that’s its skin color, or if that’s just the blue lighting from its flaming hands.

 

[Weiley31]

The Lamia is another monster in DND that has different versions. Lamia with lion legs, snake lower half, and one with deer legs. What I'm trying to say is: use the version ya want!

 

[Seramus]

I'm not saying that there aren't some similarities. The thing is, humans are predisposed to look for patterns, and as a result we often find patterns that don't exist. Our minds take those similarities and associate them with something else we've seen, even if there's no true association.

Honestly, the Marilith is most likely a combination of two famous Ray Harryhausen monsters: