Five Stages of the Demogorgon Life Cycle From 'Stranger Things'

Netflix’s Stranger Things became an instant hit when the series premiered in 2016, with fans finding the cast of kids charming, the 1980s vibe inviting, and above all, the scary stuff truly frightening. Instead of simple jump scares to get viewers’ attention, the monsters of Hawkins, Indiana are real—and are shown in great detail.

The show’s main antagonist is the Demogorgon, a monster that came from the Upside Down, a.k.a. the parallel universe Eleven opened when she first made contact with the alien-like creature. The monster’s appearance, which is complete with a flower-like mouth and sharp teeth, is terribly scary to both the kids in the show and viewers at home. And it was very carefully thought out. So much so, that a companion book entitled Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down, explains the whole life cycle of the Demogorgon.

According to a Reddit post, the five stages of a Demogorgon are explained as followed in the book:

1. Pollywog

When Dustin finds the creature he initially considers cute in Season 2 (and even names D'Artagnan/Dart), it grows up extremely fast and the gang quickly realizes how dangerous it is. Dustin finds Dart in his Pollywog stage. The companion book reads of the Pollywog: “It begins life looking something like a tadpole with front legs and no real bone structure. Its skin has a translucent quality—the creature’s internal organs, including the throat, can be seen under direct light.”

"Dart has this kind of yellowish birthmark over his hind leg—that’s sort of how you can tell it’s Dart, because he has always the same pattern, no matter what his body looks like," senior visual-effects supervisor Paul Graff shared.

2. Frogogorgon

The second stage shows a bit of growing for the creature, as it has four legs and is the size of a toad. "The Frogogorgon was trotting forward, and for some render error reason, it had a limp. We thought the limp was really cool. That’s what makes it come alive,” Graff explained.

3. Catogorgon

The third stage is pretty self explanatory, as it’s when Dart is the size of a cat, and eats Dustin’s cat Mews. The Demogorgon signature petal mouth is also first developed here.

4. Demodog

Many fans know the Demodog stage as it’s the creature who ultimately takes down Bob Newby in Season 2. This is when the creature is the same of a dog, and even “adopts certain canine behaviours—prowling in packs as wild dogs do, for example.”

5. Demogorgon

And finally, they reach their full grown stage as the terrifying and deadly Demogorgon. Dart does not get to mature into one, but we’ve seen examples the series.

If the step by step cycle doesn’t totally gross you out and you find yourself wanting a Demogorgon of your own, check out this hilarious video below from Cardboard Mayhem.

Stranger Things returns for its third season on July 4.