A beholder, sometimes called a sphere of many eyes or an eye tyrant, was a large aberration normally found in the Underhollow. These large, orb-shaped beings had ten eyestalks and one central eye, each containing powerful magic. Powerful and intelligent, beholders were among the greatest threats to the world. Beholders were immediately identifiable, being essentially a floating head with one single, cyclops-like eye surrounded by ten smaller eye stalks.
Other than this, the main feature of a beholder's anatomy was its massive, gaping maw. Because of these features, beholders were occasionally known as "spheres of many eyes" or "eye tyrants," although the latter also referred to a specific type of beholder. Beholders of the Realms tended to be slightly larger than beholders found on other worlds, growing up to six feet in diameter where on other worlds they would average five feet wide.
The majority of beholders living in the far reaches of Osira had skin colored in cool colors - purples and blues - on the top of their bodies that graduated into earth tones further down. Because their entire body was covered in eyes, beholders had the capacity to see in all directions at once, making it nearly impossible to ambush them while also giving them an unusually high degree of perceptive ability.
Although beholders lacked the capacity to see color, they had the ability to perceive even in the most darkened environment, under conditions in which a human or similar creature would be rendered blind. Beholders were also capable of flight, in spite of their lack of wings or similar physical features, simply hovering above ground effortlessly. The effects of this flight resembled those of the wizard spell levitation.