SCP-173

Biodata

Appearance

SCP-173 is a small, large-headed humanoid sculpture whose shape resembles a peanut 2.

• Its body is made of concrete and reinforcing steel and bears traces of black Krylon spray paint 2.
• The Foundation notes that Krylon paint had not been invented when SCP-173 first appeared 2.
• Although it looks like an ordinary concrete sculpture, viewing its image causes many observers to experience an inexplicable chill or dread 2.

Abilities & Skills

Observation-dependent movement

• SCP-173 cannot move while it remains in someone’s direct line of sight. Maintaining uninterrupted visual contact immobilized it during both a Gluttonous containment attempt and the Foundation’s recovery operation 2 8 10.
• When observation breaks, it can move too quickly for viewers to follow. A flash that forced its watchers to close their eyes allowed it to kill more than a thousand Gluttonous soldiers in five or six seconds 3 9.
• It can move through open space without a foothold, pass through a battleship’s energy shield, and dent alloy armor by ramming it 7 8.
• Direct observation can immobilize SCP-173 even when maintained by a large group. More than a thousand Gluttonous warriors successfully held it motionless by surrounding it and keeping it in sight 8.

Neck-snapping attack

• SCP-173 breaks victims’ necks with its hands. Its published description also states that it can strangle victims, and that the neck-snapping effect may operate at the base of the skull 2.
• Gluttonous armor offered no protection, and it killed Angel Yan despite her third-generation divine body 2 3 5.
• Its attack also damaged the data needed to repair Yan’s body, including Dark Universe backups. At the time, neither her Void Engine nor Kesha’s attempts could restore her 6 8.
• In a Foundation experiment, it repeatedly snapped SCP-682’s neck whenever the reptile lost sight of it. After more than a thousand repetitions, SCP-682 adapted: SCP-173 could no longer break its neck 48 49 50.

Perceptual and communications interference

• Angel Yan instinctively overlooked SCP-173 even as it approached her. She had to concentrate fully and use her third-generation divine body’s computing power at its limit to remain aware of it 3 4.
• The statue’s presence or image produces an unexplained sense of dread in many observers, despite its mundane appearance 2.
• Near SCP-173, Yan could not establish dark-energy communication or upload her final report to the Holy Knowledge Treasury. Kesha’s attempts to restore contact also failed 4 6.
• Kesha could not read SCP-173’s data even after allocating Meleon Celestial City’s and the Divine Armory’s computing power 3.
• Kesha and Morgana were likewise unable to retrieve meaningful data about SCP-173 or the Foundation beyond the information released through the livestream 3.

Resistance to destruction

• Yan’s Flame Blade heat did not visibly affect SCP-173 or its paint. Her god-slaying Flame Judgment destroyed the surrounding flagship and an asteroid and made the statue appear to vanish, but it reappeared unharmed behind her 4 5.
• SCP-173’s neck-snapping ability was initially effective against SCP-682, but SCP-682’s adaptive evolution eventually made it immune to the attack 48 49 50.

Associated duplicate phenomenon

• According to Doctor Kuroto, SCP-173’s appearance disrupts the laws governing the universe for five to ten years 10.
• While the disruption persists, duplicates of SCP-173 can appear randomly anywhere in the universe. Their circumstances and killing rules may differ from those of the contained instance, but all known duplicates stop moving when directly observed 10 11.
• Nothing except SCP-173’s original body has been shown capable of destroying a duplicate. Duplicates may also vanish after remaining under observation for an unpredictable period, ranging from seconds to thousands of years 11.
• The Foundation cannot rule out that the contained SCP-173 is itself a duplicate because its properties closely resemble those of the other instances 11.

Power Progression

History

Jiang Chen fabricated SCP-173 and released it as the first public move of the SCP Foundation. Its appearance coincided with the Foundation’s first warning to the wider universe about the Gluttonous invasion of the Red Crow Star System 1 2.

SCP-173 escaped containment after the Gluttonous Legion entered the Red Crow Star System. The Foundation announced the breach and published its observation rule to prevent casualties. SCP-173 appeared aboard a Gluttonous battleship, where it killed a squad and then many more soldiers throughout the ship 2 3.

Kesha sent Angel Yan to investigate and, if possible, retrieve the statue before Morgana could acquire it. Yan’s attempt to destroy SCP-173 with Flame Judgment failed; it appeared behind her and snapped her neck. Kesha arrived with angel warriors but withdrew rather than continue the attack, leaving the Foundation to handle containment 3 4 5 7 9.

A Gluttonous force later held SCP-173 motionless by watching it from every angle. When the Foundation’s countdown ended, a grenade emerged from a spatial rift and flashed brightly enough to make the soldiers close their eyes. SCP-173 killed the surrounding force, after which a task-force squad kept three members watching it and carried it through the rift in less than a minute 8 9 10.

The Foundation subsequently isolated its neck-snapping property conceptually and placed it under surveillance. Dr. Kuroto warned that SCP-173’s appearance disrupts universal laws for five to ten years, during which duplicates can manifest at random. Their other rules may differ, but all stop moving under direct observation. He also stated that duplicates may vanish after an unpredictable period of observation and that the contained SCP-173 might itself be one 10 11.

The Foundation later used SCP-173 in an authorized interaction experiment with SCP-682. SCP-682 stared at the statue for six hours, preventing it from moving. After its eyes were destroyed, SCP-173 repeatedly snapped its neck, but SCP-682 regenerated and eventually adapted to the conceptual attack. It then grew eyes across its body, including behind protective coverings, and kept SCP-173 immobilized under constant observation 48 49 50.

Angel Yan was later revived, but her survival remained dependent on an Eclipse Pendant whose markings resembled those of the Eclipse Obelisk associated with another Foundation experiment. When He Xi removed the pendant to study it, Yan’s neck twisted and she died again. Reattaching the pendant restored her body and revived her, showing that the consequences of SCP-173’s attack had not been fully erased 72.

Relationships

• SCP Foundation — fabricated, contains, monitors, researches, and conducts interaction experiments with SCP-173. Its task force recovered the statue after the initial breach, and the Foundation later isolated its neck-snapping property conceptually 10 11 48.
• Jiang Chen — creator and operator behind the public release of SCP-173 and the Foundation’s first containment operation 1 10.
• Angel Yan — sent to investigate SCP-173; killed when it snapped her neck. The attack initially prevented her revival by damaging her body and backup data, though she was later revived through an Eclipse Pendant and remained dependent on it 3 5 6 72.
• Holy Kesha — sought to secure or destroy SCP-173, then deferred to the Foundation after Yan’s death and the disruption of angel communications. Kesha was later unable to analyze SCP-173 or reliably counter its effects 3 4 7 9.
• Morgana — attempted to obtain SCP-173 for use against Kesha but allowed Yan to test it first. She was also unable to access SCP-173’s or the Foundation’s data 3.
• SCP-682 — initially kept SCP-173 immobilized by staring at it; later survived repeated neck snaps, adapted against the attack, and developed additional eyes that held SCP-173 under observation 48 49 50.