The eye of Cthulhu is one of the first bosses that a player will face in a new Terraria world. This monster is a massive floating eyeball, and it has two phases.
In the first phase, it floats above the air and spawns smaller versions of itself to attack the player. In the second, the eye's iris opens to reveal massive teeth, at which point the Eye of Cthulhu will charge the player and try to kill them. While everyone's no doubt familiar with these two phases after countless encounters with the boss, there are still some things that many players don't know about.
10 The Boss Is Optional
Even though most players defeat the Eye of Cthulhu when they first encounter it, there's no real reason to fight the boss. In fact, it's one of the bosses that doesn't help players win the game.
This boss is wholly optional and has no effect on a player’s progression in Terraria, so it’s entirely possible to beat the game’s final boss without first killing the Eye of Cthulhu. Yet, many fans decide to kill the boss anyway because its drops can come in handy.
9 The Boss Only Spawns On The Surface
Terraria’s fans have noticed that the Eye of Cthulhu only spawns on the surface of the world. Players cannot use a Suspicious Looking Eye while underground. The boss also refuses to follow someone if they head beneath the surface. Players can avoid the boss entirely if they head underground after the status message appears.
While well-equipped players have nothing to worry about from this easy-to-beat boss, new players can use this fact to their advantage by staying underground until they feel confident enough to face this monster.
8 It Isn't Cthulhu's Real Eye
Players who defeat most of the game’s bosses and make it to the end will have to face the Moon Lord, the final boss who closely resembles Cthulhu. During their fight with the final boss, players will notice it spawning an unkillable enemy called the True Eye of Cthulhu.
This suggests that the first boss players encounter isn’t actually the Eye of Cthulhu! Many fans have wondered what this means for the game’s lore, but no one knows the answer, especially since the game’s developers have been silent on the matter.
7 The Boss Drops Badger's Hat
Longtime fans of Terraria know Badger as a popular Twitch streamer. He frequently does Terraria speed runs, and one of his signature moves is to kill the Eye of Cthulhu and the Wall of Flesh on the same in-game day.
Terraria’s developers have decided to incorporate a reference to the popular streamer in the form of a colorful hat. Players have to earn this item by killing the Eye of Cthulhu and the Wall of Flesh on the same day, copying the streamer’s popular tactic.
6 Terraria Has Two Eyes Of Cthulhu
Terraria is a game with a lot of content, and it’s seen several massive updates since its launch. Yet, it’s still a bit odd that the developers have added another object to the game called the Eye of Cthulhu.
This, however, isn’t a boss. It’s instead a late-game yoyo that can do insane amounts of damage. It’s the game’s second strongest yoyo, after the Terrarian, and can stay in the air indefinitely, making it a great option for players who want to fight with yoyos.
5 Two Instances Can Spawn At The Same Time
Fans have figured out that they can have two versions of the Eye of Cthulhu spawn in at the same time. This never happens by itself, and it will only occur if players do some pre-planning and get the timing right.
Players will first have to acquire a Suspicious Looking Eye, a boss summoning item. They then wait for the Eye of Cthulhu to spawn naturally, as indicated by a status message. Finally, players should use the summoning item before the naturally spawned Eye of Cthulhu appears. By doing this, players can fight two instances of the same boss at once.
4 The Boss Flies In The Background
Keen-eyed fans have noticed that the Eye of Cthulhu appears in different forms in the background. At night, the boss travels from one end of the screen to the other.
Players can also spot the boss during an in-game day where it appears as a cloud. There are actually two different versions of the cloud, one for each of the boss’s phases. One version of the cloud features the massive floating eyeball. The other depicts a terrifying image of the fanged Eye of Cthulhu.
3 The Eye Of Cthulhu Loves RGB Keyboards
PC players have noticed something very interesting happening when fighting the Eye of Cthulhu. Those with RGB keyboards have witnessed the in-game boss jumping into the real world, where it appears on the keyboard in a marvelous flash of showmanship from the game’s creators.
A white circle with red tendrils can be seen flying from one side of the keyboard to the other, all while the player is engaged in an intense, in-game battle. This may not affect gameplay, but it’s certainly enough to put a smile on fans’ faces.
2 The Boss Appears In Other Games
Fans of Terraria can find their favorite floating eyeball in other titles as well. Most notably, the Eye of Cthulhu makes an appearance in Dungeon Defenders 2. This happened after a crossover between the two games, and it led to the existence of Terraria’s Tavernkeeper and the Old One’s Army.
Dungeon Defender’s Eye of Cthulhu behaves identically to the one in Terraria. It has two phases. It spawns miniature versions of itself in the first phase, and it chases after the player with fangs in the second.
1 The Boss Has Central Heterochromia
It’s hard to take a close look at the Eye of Cthulhu when it’s busy trying to kill a player, but some fans have peeked at the boss’s sprite and noticed something odd. The Eye of Cthulhu has two colors in its iris. It has a blue layer on the outskirts and some green closer to its pupil.
This is a real-life condition called central heterochromia. This condition makes two colors appear in the same eye, with one forming an inner layer and the other an outer layer. In these cases, the eye’s true color is the one in the outer layer, so the Eye of Cthulhu is meant to have a blue iris.