Back whenLostwas a thing, a major hook for audiences was the introduction of polar bears to what appeared to be an otherwise tropical island. Fast-forward nearly 15 years and that hook is still in people’s minds, especially for those of us who have become ensnared by AMC’s period-piece mystery/thriller/dramaThe Terror. A twist on thereal-life tale ofCaptain Sir John Franklin’s 19th century voyage to find a way through the icy, treacherous Northwest Passage, the crews of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror find themselves hunted by a mysterious and massive creature.
The stealthy, off-camera approach to the show’s predator was already haunting; revealing the creature in the fifth episode feels a bit too soon, even if the real terror of the story has more to do with isolation, the elements, and the behavior of your fellow man than a near-mythical monster. However,there’s plenty to be explained and uncovered aboutThe Terror’s monster, which appears to be more than your average polar bear. We’ll get into the mythological explanations and prehistoric possibilities in a bit, but first, let’s revisit the show’s compelling creature known as the Tuunbaq.
What Is the Creature Stalking Franklin’s Crew in ‘The Terror’ Season 1?
If starvation, dehydration, hypothermia, fatal ailments, and a descent into paranoid madness aren’t enough of a threat to the crews of Erebus and Terror,an elusive and mountainous creature that is hellbent on hunting them downis thrown into the dreadful mix. It begins hesitantly, with the destruction of supply sleds, but takes a drastic and murderous turn after the death of an Inuit shaman. Not only has the creature been brutally killing their crew members, including Captain Franklin (Ciarán Hinds), it’s been doing so in intelligent, almost surgical ways. The ambiguous nature of the monster is fuel for the fear, allowing the imaginations of both crew and audience to run wild.
We learn the term “Tuunbaq” thanks to the interrogation of Lady Silence (Nive Nielsen) — the team’s best efforts only yielded a rough translation from a similar “Russian America” term for a “spirit.” Eventually,we discover that the creature is somewhat linked to the Inuit shamans. Lady Silence’s father had been connected to the Tuunbaq, and thus, after his death, the Tuunbaq turns his aggressive vengeance on the perpetrators. Then Lady Silence cuts off her tongue and offers it to him as a part of aceremonial ritual to connect to the Tuunbaqand achieve a semblance of control over him.
The villainous Cornelius Hickey (Adam Nagaitis) had glimpsed this bond momentarily when he went to capture Lady Silence, and had also witnessed the death of one particular unfortunate soul, Henry Collins (Trystan Gravelle), where hissoulwas seemingly taken up by the Tuunbaq during the man’s death by disemboweling.This is what inspired Hickey to try and tame Tuunbaqin the season finale, where he manically cuts out his tongue and offers it to the Tuunbaq, only to be viciously killed. In the end, the giant polar bear-likemythical creaturealso staggered towards death, after the countless fights against the poisonous invaders.
How Was the Tuunbaq from ‘The Terror’ Season 1 Created?
The show’s VFX supervisorFrank Petzoldlaid out the creation of the creature during a press event. It all started with an illustration byNeville Page(Star Trek: Discovery,Goosebumps,Falling Skies) and then the VFX team and animators made Tuunbaq their own thing. Here’s what Petzold had to say:
We all started with an illustration by the creature designer Neville Page, so he got the creature approved by David [Kajganich] and Soo [Hugh]. Of course, that was just one glimpse of the creature, and we started to translate it into the computer, not just the model and the form but we also had to start thinking about the character and who is he really. Because if you’re animating a creature and you really mean it, you don’t look at it as a device, you actually give it a name and you talk about it. Quite often people say, “Oh no, he wouldn’t do that.”
You can expect the mortality of both the creature and the crew to be put on display as the series goes on:
The other thing we had to think of as doing the story, it’s sort of a parallel evolution with the crew. The crew is suffering, starving to death, freezing to death, there’s personal terror, and at the same time, they’re also trying to attack the creature because the creature is attacking them and in return, the creature gets shot at, he gets burnt… so he deteriorates as well. There’s a little bit of a parallel evolution where in the end you’ll actually feel some compassion for the creature.
Still,the terrifying creature isn’t wholly animalistic; there’s a disturbing human likenessbaked into its design, as confirmed by co-showrunner Soo Hugh:
“We never wanted to scare the audience. We wanted to make sure he looks human.”
That’s partially due to the intention of making it easier to feel compassion for the creature, and perhaps partly due to the monster’s mysterious mythology.
What Is Tuunbaq From ‘The Terror’ Inspired By?
IfThe Terrorwanted to go with the more realistic angle that an apex predator who had weathered the brutalities of the frozen north fed on human populations and became folded into their mythology, there are some intriguing possibilities. Sure, polar bears come to mind. Weighing in at up to 1,500 pounds and roughly 8 to 10 feet long, modern polar bears would make for a formidable predator, especially against ice-locked humans out of their element and armed with 19th century munitions.The polar bear’s natural coloring and cold resistance make it perfectly suited to the arctic environment, where stalking sedentary humans would be much more efficient than chasing down seals.
But let’s say that the 19th century, though a mere blink of the evolutionary eye between now and our modern era, still had some scary secrets in uncharted territories. Perhapsit’s possible that someprehistoric holdoversremained in the arctic circleand just happened to cross paths with the crews, to their detriment. The largest bear ever,Arctotherium angustidens, weighed in at maximum of about 3,500 pounds and was more muscular and stoutly built than modern bears. It could go toe to toe with other apex predators of the time, like saber-toothed cats, but it was isolated to South America — the opposite end of the planet fromThe Terror. Other creatures like the cave bear and the giant short-faced bear are certainly possible explanations for the monster, butthere is also theUrsus maritimus tyrannus,a.k.a. King Polar Bear.This mysterious monster was considered a top predator among other predators, even scaring off other meat-eaters from their meals. That’s a definite possibility for the beast hunting the crew ofThe Terror.
However, as we discover in the series, the Tuunbaq is both a physical being and a supernatural one. It is a creation by the novel’s author,Dan Simmons,who borrowed heavily from Inuit mythology. While its physicality is inspired by polar bears and, eerily enough, humans,its essence seems to mirror the"tupilaq,“which is a spirit creature in Inuit mythology.Shamans would conjure these vengeful spirits and send them out to sea to target a specific enemy. However, if the enemy was experienced in magic, there was also the dangerous possibility that they could send the tupilaq back. The Tuunbaq may not specifically be created for vengeance, but the idea of scouring a vast region to hunt down a target certainly tracks.
Tuunbaq Has Symbolic Significance in ‘The Terror’ Season 1
While acertain function of the Tuunbaq is to elicit mind-numbing fear in the explorers, chipping away at their psychological health more and more as the series progresses, it also has a symbolic function inThe Terror. In the end, the Tuunbaq binged on the sickened members of the expedition one last time. The combination of gorging on lead-poisoned sailors, the fork wrapped Mr Blanky (Ian Hart) and the doubly-poisoned cannibals who had consumed the flesh of the toxin-dosed Dr. Goodsir (Paul Ready) eventually led to the Tuunbaq’s death. (Remember to chew your food, kids, and try not to swallow boat chains while you’re at it). Additionally, Lady Silence feels Tuunbaq’s passing, as does a fellow shaman who communicates the sad news to their tribe. She then leaves the community to live alone as a shaman, which is what’s expected in their culture, a fact of life that Crozier (Jared Harris) is forced to accept.
As such, it seems thatTuunbaq is a spirit that enforces and maintains the balance of naturein this area, which is why it is so revered in the Inuit community and why Lady Silence has to leave after it dies in her care. While initially, it may have targeted the crew out of revenge, eventually, their invading presence became a striking unbalance on these primal plains, and the Tuunbaq is compelled to destroy them. It almost becomesa symbol ofresistance against colonialismand the exploitation of nature by humans. However, as it continues to consume these corrupted souls, it eventually reaches its limit, gargling on the toxic and parasitic invaders who disrupt the balance of nature. As such, the Tuunbaq is instrumental in understanding the show’s core themes, as it valiantly retaliates against the human mission to subjugate the natural world.
The TerrorSeason 1 is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
The Terror
Supernatural, semihistorical, horror anthology series, where each season is inspired by a different infamous or mysterious real life historical tragedy.
