After the Night of Broken Blades, Willowshore's governor caved to the demand for a new lantern at the entrance of the town to augment the protection afforded by the Eternal Lantern at the town's heart. While the original plan was for the carpenters of Willowshore to build a tori gate or Tian-shu gateway on which lanterns could be hung, a Lung Wa aristocrat offered a free stone guardian spider from his garden since it no longer fit in with the garden's decorations.
Most Willowshorers thought the giant statue was the ugliest thing they'd ever seen. Nevertheless, they assumed the statue housed a guardian spirit and respected it accordingly. In time, villagers accepted their unique entrance guardian, even adopting it as their mascot and naming it “Ugly Cute.” The lantern Ugly Cute holds in its fangs is a regular lantern, unlike the Eternal Lantern found at Dawnstep Bridge, but the people of Willowshore value it just as much and strive to keep it lit at all times.