Aoandon
A horned apparition of blue lantern-light that waits at the edge of the hundredth ghost story, when everyone in the room knows the last flame should not be extinguished.
The danger begins before it appears: every story makes the room darker.
Aoandon—“blue lantern”—is the apparition associated with Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, the gathering of one hundred strange tales. As the stories accumulate, the light is reduced. When the final tale ends and the last blue-lit lantern is extinguished, something may answer the invitation.
Toriyama Sekien gave that danger a face: a pale or blue-tinged woman with long dark hair, horns and sharp teeth. Earlier Hyakumonogatari accounts describe uncanny events at the end of—or even before the end of—the game, but do not consistently name one specific being. Aoandon is therefore best understood as Sekien’s personification of the fear that the ritual of storytelling might actually call the supernatural into the room.
Within the campaign, an Aoandon can become a real manifestation when a gathering is pushed through the final tale despite warnings, when a storyteller deliberately uses the game as a summoning rite, or when a place already heavy with supernatural activity gives the stories something to gather around.
Game Statistics
Pathfinder 1e has an official Aoandon in Bestiary 4. The other three tabs are campaign conversions that preserve the same high-level threat while using the native presentation and action economy of each edition.
Aoandon — 5.5e / 2024
Medium Undead, Chaotic Evil • CR 12
Skills Arcana +8, Deception +10, Intimidation +10, Perception +7, Stealth +9
Resistances Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning; Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing from nonmagical attacks
Immunities Necrotic, Poison; Charmed, Exhaustion, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained
Senses Truesight 120 ft.; Passive Perception 17
Languages Common plus languages known in life; Telepathy 120 ft.
CR 12 (8,400 XP; PB +4)
Traits
Incorporeal Movement. The Aoandon can move through creatures and objects as if they were Difficult Terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) Force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Blue Lantern Gloom. Nonmagical flames within 30 feet of the Aoandon shed Dim Light only. The Aoandon can extinguish an unattended nonmagical flame it can see within that range at the end of its turn.
Actions
Multiattack. The Aoandon makes two Touch of Madness attacks.
Touch of Madness. Melee Attack Roll: +10, reach 5 ft. Hit: 28 (5d8 + 6) Psychic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or become maddened until the end of its next turn. While maddened, it can’t take Reactions, and at the start of its turn it rolls 1d4: on 1–2 it takes no Action; on 3 it must use its Action to make one melee attack against a randomly determined creature within reach; on 4 it acts normally.
Suffocating Curse (Recharge 5–6). Constitution Saving Throw: DC 18, one creature the Aoandon can see within 60 feet. Failure: 36 (8d8) Necrotic damage, and the target can’t speak or take Reactions until the end of its next turn. Success: Half damage only.
Darkness. The Aoandon casts Darkness, requiring no material components.
Bonus Actions
Fade Between Lanterns. The Aoandon teleports up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space it can see in Dim Light or Darkness.
Aoandon — 5e / 2014
Medium undead, chaotic evil
Armor Class 18
Hit Points 168 (16d8 + 96)
Speed 5 ft., fly 60 ft. (hover)
Saving Throws Dex +9, Con +10, Wis +7, Cha +10
Skills Arcana +8, Deception +10, Intimidation +10, Perception +7, Stealth +9
Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained
Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Common plus languages known in life, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 12 (8,400 XP)
Traits
Incorporeal Movement. The Aoandon can move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Innate Spellcasting. Charisma is the Aoandon’s spellcasting ability (save DC 18, +10 to hit). It can innately cast the following spells without material components: at will—darkness; 3/day—bestow curse; 1/day—eyebite.
Actions
Multiattack. The Aoandon makes two Touch of Madness attacks.
Touch of Madness. Melee Spell Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 28 (5d8 + 6) psychic damage. The target must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or use its reaction, if available, to make one melee attack against a randomly determined creature within reach. If no creature is within reach, it instead moves up to half its speed in a random direction.
Suffocating Curse (Recharge 5–6). One creature the Aoandon can see within 60 feet must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. On a failed save the creature also can’t speak until the end of its next turn.
Aoandon — Pathfinder 1e
CR 12 XP 19,200
CE Medium outsider (incorporeal, native)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., true seeing; Perception +20
Defense
AC 24, touch 24, flat-footed 16 (+6 deflection, +7 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 152 (16d10+64)
Fort +14, Ref +12, Will +12
Defensive Abilities incorporeal
Offense
Speed fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Melee touch of madness +19 touch (10d6)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +22)
Constant—true seeing
At will—darkness
3/day—bestow curse (DC 20), suffocation (DC 21)
1/day—mass pain strike (DC 21), waves of fatigue
Statistics
Str —, Dex 24, Con 19, Int 20, Wis 15, Cha 22
Base Atk +16; CMB +23; CMD 40
Feats Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Mobility, Skill Focus (Fly), Skill Focus (Intimidate), Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (touch)
Skills Acrobatics +22, Bluff +25, Diplomacy +19, Fly +40, Intimidate +31, Knowledge (arcana) +20, Knowledge (history) +10, Knowledge (local) +10, Knowledge (nobility) +12, Knowledge (planes) +18, Knowledge (religion) +13, Perception +20, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +22, Stealth +22
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Giant, Infernal
Special Abilities
Touch of Madness (Su). As a standard action, the Aoandon makes an incorporeal touch attack dealing 10d6 damage. A living creature damaged by the attack must succeed on a DC 24 Will save or be confused for 1d4 rounds. A creature that succeeds can’t be confused again by that Aoandon’s touch for 10 minutes. This is a mind-affecting fear effect; the save is Charisma-based.
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure none
Aoandon — D&D 3.5e
| Size/Type | Medium Outsider (Incorporeal, Native) |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice | 16d8+64 (136 hp) |
| Initiative | +11 |
| Speed | Fly 60 ft. (perfect) |
| Armor Class | 24 (+7 Dex, +6 deflection, +1 dodge), touch 24, flat-footed 16 |
| Base Attack/Grapple | +16/— |
| Attack | Touch of madness +23 melee touch (10d6) |
| Full Attack | Touch of madness +23 melee touch (10d6) |
| Space/Reach | 5 ft./5 ft. |
| Special Attacks | Touch of madness, spell-like abilities |
| Special Qualities | Darkvision 60 ft., incorporeal traits, true seeing |
| Saves | Fort +14, Ref +17, Will +12 |
| Abilities | Str —, Dex 24, Con 19, Int 20, Wis 15, Cha 22 |
| Skills | Bluff +25, Concentration +23, Diplomacy +19, Hide +26, Intimidate +25, Knowledge (arcana) +24, Knowledge (planes) +24, Knowledge (religion) +24, Listen +21, Search +24, Sense Motive +21, Spellcraft +26, Spot +21 |
| Feats | Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (touch) |
| Environment | Any |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Challenge Rating | 12 |
| Treasure | None |
| Alignment | Usually chaotic evil |
| Advancement | 17–24 HD (Medium) |
| Level Adjustment | — |
Special Abilities
Touch of Madness (Su). As a standard action the Aoandon makes an incorporeal touch attack. A hit deals 10d6 damage; the target must also make a DC 24 Will save or become confused for 1d4 rounds. A creature that succeeds is immune to that Aoandon’s confusing touch for 10 minutes. The effect is mind-affecting and fear-based.
Spell-Like Abilities. Caster level 16th. Constant—true seeing; at will—darkness; 3/day—bestow curse, suffocation; 1/day—mass pain strike, waves of fatigue.
Behaviour
An Aoandon is most interested in fear that people create for themselves. It listens from mirrors, doorways, screens and the edge of lantern-light while stories grow darker. Before manifesting fully, it may answer details from one tale inside the next, move an object mentioned by a storyteller, or let someone hear a voice from the room where the extinguished lanterns are kept. Once it manifests, its control of darkness turns those same rooms into hunting ground.
It does not need to attack immediately after appearing. The first moments are often spent watching the gathering realise that the game worked. An Aoandon may ask for another story, repeat a secret that no storyteller spoke aloud, or single out the participant who insisted the hundredth tale be told.
The creature is intelligent enough to bargain and cruel enough to exploit hesitation. It prefers frightened groups whose members mistrust one another, because confusion and darkness become more dangerous when nobody agrees where the spirit is.
If Violence Starts
It kills the light first. Darkness is battlefield control, concealment and psychological pressure all at once.
It attacks judgement rather than armour. Touch of Madness is used against whoever is most likely to turn confusion into friendly fire or a broken formation.
It moves through walls. The Aoandon does not remain in a doorway trading attacks. It passes through screens, floors and walls, appearing where the group is weakest.
It uses suffocation on isolated targets. A creature cut off from allies becomes the ideal victim for curses and choking magic.
It retreats into the structure if pressed. Destroying the apparition’s current position is not the same as ending the haunting. The ritual, lantern, gathering place or story that called it may still matter.
Hyakumonogatari & the Last Lantern
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai is a gathering built around telling frightening or strange stories while the light is reduced one step at a time. Different historical descriptions use different arrangements—multiple candles, blue-paper lanterns or a single lamp prepared to count down the tales—but the dramatic principle is the same: every story leaves the room darker than before.
Early accounts do not consistently say that one named creature appears after the final tale. Toriyama Sekien’s late-eighteenth-century image gives that final dread a body and a name: Aoandon, the Blue Lantern. His figure has long hair, horns, sharp teeth and the appearance of a woman standing beside the light that should perhaps never have been extinguished.
Pathfinder’s Aoandon
Pathfinder Bestiary 4 reimagines the Aoandon as an incorporeal outsider formed from the spirit of a woman who died pursuing an ill-fated relationship, then turns that spirit toward revenge or a surrogate for the person who wronged her. It also supplies a separate lantern-based calling ritual.
That is useful RPG material, but it is a later game interpretation rather than the historical origin of Sekien’s Aoandon. The campaign keeps the official Pathfinder statblock in its PF1e tab while grounding the shared lore of the page in the Hyakumonogatari and blue-lantern tradition.
Related Japanese Supernatural Beings
Oni. Horned beings from Japanese folklore, but fundamentally different from Aoandon: oni are powerful embodied predators and shapechangers rather than a manifestation tied to the final lantern of a storytelling rite.
Jakotsubaba. A kami associated with guarding the dead. Where Aoandon turns fear and storytelling into an invitation, Jakotsubaba provides a contrasting Japanese spirit whose role is protective rather than predatory.
Jikininki. Corpse-eating undead from Japanese tradition. They make a useful comparison for GMs because both belong in Japanese supernatural horror, but their themes are hunger, death and graveyards rather than ritual storytelling and blue lantern-light.
For a wider regional sweep, use the Asian Mythology Monsters hub and the Japanese Pantheon alongside this entry.
Encounter Ideas
The Hundredth Story
Ninety-nine tales have been told. The host offers a purse of silver to anyone willing to provide the final story and extinguish the last blue lantern.
The Story Nobody Told
After the gathering ends at ninety-nine, everyone hears a hundredth tale being whispered from the empty lantern room.
The Mirror
A participant returns from extinguishing a lantern visibly shaken. Her reflection is still standing in the room she just left.
The Borrowed Voice
Each new story begins in the voice of the person telling it, then ends in a voice belonging to somebody dead.
The Blue Lantern
An old andon purchased from an estate cannot be kept lit after midnight. Anyone who relights it dreams of a room with ninety-nine extinguished flames; repeated dreams may begin to overlap with the Plane of Dreams.
The Deliberate Summoning
A courtier has learned that Hyakumonogatari can call something real and intends to complete the rite in the house of a political rival.
Explore Further
Sources & Licensing
Japanese folklore: Toriyama Sekien’s Aoandon in Konjaku Hyakki Shūi and documented Hyakumonogatari traditions provide the historical basis for the Blue Lantern apparition. Modern scholarship and translations are used to distinguish Sekien’s image from later embellishments.
Pathfinder 1e: Aoandon, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 4, CR 12. The PF1e tab preserves the published mechanics.
5.5e / 2024, 5e / 2014 and D&D 3.5e: campaign conversions using the shared Hyakumonogatari-based identity and the Pathfinder creature’s threat level as the mechanical benchmark.
Further folklore reading: Aoandon — The Blue Lantern Ghost, translated and discussed by Zack Davisson.