First use of an invincible monster with a "core"

Question

I realized when watching an anime recently that there is a common trope of a powerful monster that can regenerate until you destroy its "core". What is the first use of this in fiction?

I'm sure this evolved from just finding an enemy's weakness/weak point, but I'm curious specifically about a powerful near-invulnerable enemy whose only weakness is the "core".

Clarification: For the purposes of this question we will consider a "core" needing to be inside the body. It could be a specific organ, or just some random shape, but must be within the being.

Clarification 2: It does not need to be called a "core", just to follow the above rules.

Answer 1

In Jewish folklore, there is a being called a golem, formed of clay and animated by a holy name of God which is variously inserted into it on a scroll, written on its forehead or hanging from its neck.

Golems are said to have defended cities so they must be able to resist damage, but when the letters animating they are removed they crumble into dust.

These aren't a perfect match for your sense of a 'core', but there is certainly a strong resemblance and stories of golems (in this sense) have circulated since the Middle Ages.

Answer 2

In "Sad Giant's Shield" (1964), the third of the four novellettes that make up Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer, the Chaos Lord Pyaray has a gemstone set in his octopoid forehead, and his body regenerates all damage except that dealt directly to the gem.

Halfway through the story, Elric and his companions learn from Straasha, kind of the water elementals—who has a long-running enmity with Pyaray—about this gem (or core) that hold's the soul and life force of the Duke of Chaos.

“Slay Pyaray, Lord of the Fleet of Hell, and, lacking his direction, the fleet itself would perish. His life-force is contained in a blue crystal set in the top of his head and striking at that with a special weapon is the only means of killing him.”

After further adventures, Elric returns to face off against Pyaray, who is commanding the camp of Chaos from his castle-ship that sails on the land as well as the sea.

He reached the ship’s rail and hauled himself over it, spitting bile from his throat as he entered a peculiar region of darkness and came to the first of a series of decks that rose like steps to the topmost one where he could see the occupants—a manlike figure and something like a huge, blood-red octopus. The first was probably Jagreen Lern. The second was obviously Pyaray, for this, Elric knew, was the guise he took when he manifested himself on Earth.

Reaching the bridge, Elric attacks the gem, Pyaray's only permanent weak point.

Elric saw the blue radiating crystal which he had originally taken to be one of Lord Pyaray’s several eyes.

He moved in towards the roots of the tentacles, leaving his back badly unprotected, but there was nothing else for it. As he did so, a huge maw gaped in the thing’s head and tentacles began to draw him towards it. He extended his shield towards the maw and had the satisfaction of seeing yellow jelly-like stuff spurt from it as the Lord of Chaos screamed in pain.

He got his foot on one tentacle stump and clambered up the slippery hide of the Chaos Lord, every time his shield touched him creating some sort of wound so that Lord Pyaray began to thresh about dreadfully. Then he stood above the glowing soulcrystal. For an instant he paused, then plunged Stormbringer point-first into the crystal!

There came a mighty throbbing from the heart of the entity’s body. It gave vent to a monstrous shriek and then Elric yelled as Stormbringer took the soul of a Lord of Hell and channelled this surging vitality through to him. It was too much. He was hurled backwards.

Answer 3

Until the question is clarified, I'm putting in an initial suggestion of Koschei the Deathless.

The most common feature of tales involving Koschei is a spell which prevents him from being killed. He hides "his death" inside nested objects to protect it. For example, his death may be hidden in a needle that is hidden inside an egg, the egg is in a duck, the duck is in a hare, the hare is in a chest, the chest is buried or chained up on a faraway island of Buyan. Usually he takes the role of a malevolent rival figure, who competes for (or entraps) a male hero's love interest.

The story has been documenting in folklore since around the 18th century. He was immortal unless his "death" was damaged (often by squeezing or stabbing the egg), which seems to match. What may not match is if you require the core to be on the subject itself.

Answer 4

Isn't Achilles in the Iliad a kind of unkillable monster from the Trojan's point of view? For sure his example makes me think that the trope of an agent who is invincible except for one weak spot might be very old indeed.

Answer 5

This is a common trope in Chinese folklore and fantasy fiction. Mystics, and monsters that exist in the same paradigm, have a 'core' (or 'golden core', 'golden pill', or 'golden elixir' - it's a bit ambiguous) which is the primary seat of their powers and life force, and usually depicted as a glowing golden sphere which is stored in a magical organ in the abdomen.

They generally are described as living forever without need for sustenance or air, explicitly because of this core. They aren't usually invulnerable to damage, but supernatural regeneration and toughness are certainly common powers in the genre (I am much less familiar with actual folklore). If the core is shattered (by an opportune stab with a sword or because a monster has spat out its core in a last-ditch attempt to maximise its power), that means instant death, and possibly an explosion.

According to Wikipedia this concept has existed at least since the 6th century:

Arthur Waley proposed that it was first recorded in the 559 vow taken by Tiantai Buddhist patriarch Nanyue Huisi praying to successfully make an elixir that would keep him alive until the coming of Maitreya.

This is explicitly an 'inner core' [neidan]:

Thus, by the aids of external elixirs [waidan] I shall be able to cultivate the elixir within [neidan].

I'm not able to easily say when an inner core being a weak point that an attacker must target to truly kill their enemy was first used, though. I'd welcome comments or edits adding more information.

Answer 6

With the clarification of the nature of the "core", I'll put in one possible earliest case (I doubt it... but it's the best I can find so far). Cell, of Dragon Ball fame, was introduced on February 16th, 1992 in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Gohan effortlessly, violently kills all the Cell Juniors, and then proceeds to effortlessly overpower Cell, aiming to prolong his suffering, dealing so much damage that Cell regurgitates Android #18 and reverts to his previous form. In desperation, Cell tries to self-destruct and destroy the Earth, but Goku sacrifices himself to ensure that Cell detonates elsewhere.

However, Cell is able to survive thanks to his unique physiology, which allows him to regenerate from a special nucleus in his head and grow more powerful whenever he has almost been killed, returning to his Perfect form even stronger than before.

The special nucleus is even referred to as his "core cells". Possibly worth noting that, in later appearances, after someone pointed out that his entire upper body was vaporized in earlier appearances (presumably taking out that nucleus), they did change it to that he could regenerate from any cell of his body, which kind of eliminates the "core" aspect.

Answer 7

Since nobody made it into an answer yet ... in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897), the titular monster is only killed for good when it's decapitated and its heart stabbed with a wooden spike.

Answer 8

I am surprised that nobody mentioned Hydra, though it needs a grain of salt.

• It had regenerative powers: for every head chopped off, the Hydra would regrow two heads.
• Hercules managed to kill it -with the assistance of his nephew Iolaus, by cutting of all the heads and then burning the neck tendons. So arguably, the necks can be considered as some kind of "core".

Additionally:

• Hercules used Athena's golden sword to cut off the Hydra's one immortal head.
• Hercules buried the Hydra's head under a rock on the road between Lerna and Elaeus, and
• dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood.

Answer 9

In the Niebelungenlied dating back to around 1200AD, the hero Siegfried bathes in dragon's blood to make himself invulnerable everywhere the blood touches his skin, except that the leaf of a lime tree falls onto his back between his shoulder-blades and prevents his skin from being exposed the dragon's blood at that spot. Siegfried is later killed by being speared in this exact spot where he is vulnerable.

The story of Achilles' Heel, which has been mentioned by other answers, dates to Ovid's Metamorphoses in 8 CE.

However, it seems that the earliest mention of such a vulnerability may have been in the Mahabarata that dates as early as the third century BCE, in which Duryodhana dies only after receiving a blow to his thigh from Bhima, who had to be reminded by witnessing Krishna slapping his own thigh that he had sworn an oath after a dice game to crush Duryodhana's thighs.

Answer 10

Almost all vampire and zombie stories could be seen as a form of this, with the “core” in each case being the heart (and even then only if it is destroyed by a stake in most versions) and the brain (“shoot the head to kill the ghoul!” etc), respectively.

Though in both cases while they may be based, at least in part, on much earlier myths/legends, the idea of a singular weak spot to take them down permanently where other damage will not is a fairly modern addition.