Mogwai (Gremlins)

As depicted in the 1984 Joe Dante film Gremlins and its 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the word mogwai is used to describe a rare sentient being as that is furry, cute, and very curious.

There are "rules" for keeping a mogwai:


 * 1) "Keep him away from bright lights... especially sunlight." Sunlight will kill a mogwai and bright light is known to hurt it.
 * 2) "Don't get him wet" as, when exposed to water, it immediately reproduces more of its kind asexually by budding from its back.
 * 3) "Never feed him after midnight" because if it eats food after midnight, it will create a cocoon and emerge as a reptilian monster called a gremlin.

Gremlins are bigger than mogwai and possess sharp claws and fangs. They are governed by the first two rules of owning a mogwai; however, eating after midnight has no effect on them, and any spawn they produce immediately start out as gremlins. Mogwai creatures are mean-spirited and mischievous, with Gizmo, Billy Peltzer's pet mogwai as a rare exception.

Little else is revealed about the mogwai's biology. In Gremlins 2 Gizmo is taken to a laboratory, where the scientists speculate that mogwai are rodents. However, when confronted with gremlins, they believe that the gremlins are reptiles or viruses. The scientists also note they are uncertain as to whether Gizmo's cuteness is genetic. They also explain Gizmo's fear of bright lights by calling it an allergy.

In the novel Gremlins, by George Gipe, published by Avon Books in June 1984, it is stated mogwai were created as gentle contemplative creatures by a scientist on an alien world, and that the transformation into gremlins was an unintentional side-effect.

Also, in the novel, it is stated that for some reason, mogwai are now almost always born mischievous or just plain evil, with a very rare (1 in a thousand) gentle one (such as Gizmo) viewed as an anomaly and hated by other mogwai. The book also states that there are 3 other "minority" mogwai on this planet, hinting that they were once plentiful.

A side-note, the "minority" are also referred to as the "eternal ones" as they are, for all intents and purposes, immortal. From the list of Gizmo's previous owners in the book, Gizmo has been around since at least the Renaissance and presumably later moved to China and became a legendary Chinese folklore creature. However, in the event that an "eternal" eats after midnight, he becomes like his majority brethren, "short lived and violent".

Other appearances

 * The Scottish post-rock band Mogwai is named after the creatures who make an appearance in the film Gremlins, although the guitarist of the band, Stuart Braithwaite, comments that "it has no significant meaning and we always intended on getting a better one, but like a lot of other things we never got round to it."
 * In 2009, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association released a strategy board game titled "Gremlins: Gizmo's Great Escape".