Blood-red glister

Bungus Septrill taking on the blood-red glister.

The blood-red glister, also known as the rogue glister, was a hideous monster created in the experiments of the First Scholars in the Ancient Laboratory.

An enormous, throbbing red mass covered in random body parts, the blood-red glister was said to constantly change its shape 'like a sackful of fighting fromps'. The Blood-Red Glister fed on fear and drained the life out of victims. Upon realizing what a terrible monstrosity they had created, the First Scholars enlisted the help of the Knights Academy to seal the rogue glister in the Ancient Laboratory, and, to cover up their folly, eliminated all records of the event. Over time, however, the Stonecomb shifted, creating an escape route for the monster, and, during the later years of Sanctaphrax, the blood-red glister spent its time roaming through the network of tunnels inside the Sanctaphrax rock, killing those hapless explorers of the rock interior who encountered it. Not even treasury-guards could stop it.

Role in the Edge Chronicles

Bungus after the glister's attack

During the events of The Curse of the Gloamglozer, Quint and Maris were attacked by the rogue glister, but were rescued by Bungus Septrill. Later on, Bungus attacked the glister again. The glister sapped his emotions and strength, and his last act was to trigger a rockslide in the Stonecomb, imprisoning the glister in its lair forever.

Behind the scenes

"Glisters are the building blocks of life in the Edge, just as prehistoric single-cell organisms led to life on Earth. Today, millions of years later, cells can still go wrong, sometimes with bizarre and frightening results. And so can glisters, as testified to by the terrifying blood-red glister that Quint encounters deep down in the Sanctaphrax rock"

—Paul Stewart in a Facebook post

In a social media post, Paul Stewart shared the inspiration for the blood-red glister. A German friend on his was diagnosed with a ‘teratoma’, a tumour that can contain sometimes "rogue parts of the body". And just like tumours are caused by cells that "go wrong", the blood-red glister is what happens when glisters, the building blocks of life on the Edge, mutate in horrifying ways.