Moore authored 'The Ecology of the Beholder', which featured in Dragon #76 (August 1983). With the release of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition, the beholder appeared in the first edition Monster Manual (1977), where it is described as a hateful, aggressive, avaricious spherical monster that is most frequently found underground. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977–1988) In 1991, it appeared in the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia. The beholder later appears in the Companion Rules set, in the Dungeon Masters Companion: Book Two (1984). It is described as a 'Sphere of Many Eyes' or 'Eye Tyrant', a levitating globe with ten magical eye stalks. The beholder was introduced with the first Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Greyhawk (1975), and is depicted on its cover (as shown in the section below). Rob Kuntz's brother Terry Kuntz created the Beholder, and Gary Gygax detailed it for publication. Unlike many other Dungeons & Dragons monsters, the beholder is an original creation for D&D, as it is not based on a creature from mythology or other fiction.

Beholders have been used on the cover of different Dungeons & Dragons handbooks, including the fifth edition Monster Manual. Beholders are one of the few classic Dungeons & Dragons monsters that Wizards of the Coast claims as Product Identity and as such was not released under its Open Game License. The beholder is among the Dungeons & Dragons monsters that have appeared in every edition of the game since 1975. It is depicted as a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, single central eye, and many smaller eyestalks on top with powerful magical abilities. The beholder is a fictional monster in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Tom Wham's illustration of a beholder from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, 1977

Dnd beholder anatomy