The Behemoth (also known as "The Impossibly Tall Creature") is a gigantic, six-legged creature encountered by the escapees from the Grocery Store while driving through the Mist.
The Behemoth never harms any living thing and doesn't appear to be hostile in nature, but it is said to be larger than anything that ever lived on Earth. Its lack of hostility could be due to its sheer size - it simply does not notice anything beneath it. Its very size is a hazard and it frightened the survivors into thinking that there was nothing any better ahead of them.
History
Novella
The Behemoth passes directly over David's Scout while the Scout is driving through the Mist.
Film
While the escapees from the market are driving the Land Cruiser on an unknown highway through the Mist, the Behemoth moves across the highway directly in front of the Land Cruiser, snapping power lines with its slow strides and flattening utility poles beneath its feet. Its steps cause the earth to shake violently, which in turn repeatedly makes the cruiser bounce significantly.
Anatomy
The creature's exact size is never specified, but it has six massive legs.
Novella
Fan art of the Behemoth from the film.
The Behemoth's legs have hundreds of Scorpion-Flies attached to them, and slaty-grey skin mottled in places to dark brown, but apart from that, the creature is unseen.
David gets an impression that the Behemoth's size would make a blue whale resemble a trout and also dwarf the largest dinosaur. Its weight is sufficient to leave footprints the size of large SUVs in solid concrete. It seems to be larger than the film version.
Film
The Behemoth has six double-jointed legs, hundreds of multiple-jointed appendages on its underside, and tentacles above its head. The Behemoth's height is estimated at over 240 feet, larger than anything that ever lived on earth. Its lowest leg joints tower over utility poles and can be measured to be at a height of around 111 feet (33.8 meters).
Gallery
Trivia
- The Behemoth is by far the largest creature seen in either the novella or the film.
- Originally, the Behemoth was cut from the film adaption, but Frank Darabont was later convinced by the special effects crew to put it back in.
- Some fans believe that the Behemoth is the creature which the Tentacles from Planet X are attached to. However, this is very unlikely, as the Behemoth only has tentacles on its underside and above its head, and even then, these tentacles are not near long enough to grab human victims that are at ground level. That and the people in the supermarket would have heard the creature coming.
- In the film adaption, in place of the hundreds of Scorpion-Flies clinging to its legs in the novella, the Behemoth has a more scattered swarm of small, winged creatures flying around its underside. It is unknown if they are related to Pterobuzzards or not.
- It is possible to suggest that the Behemoth is a Scorpion Fly Queen, due to their similar appearance, both are hexapods, and have a similar body shape, Scorpion Flies are mentioned to cover the massive legs of the Behemoth in the novella, suggesting either a possible mutualistic relationship or the aforementioned hive lifestyle.