Hawkman

Verified against the spelunky.ai port v0.1.10 on 27 October 2026.

Hawkmen live in the Temple. A Hawkman behaves much like a Caveman, wandering until it sees the player and then charging, but it leaps as it runs, and its touch is a throw: it grabs the player and flings him away, and he's hurt when he lands. Like a Caveman, it survives most single hits, which stun it instead.

A Hawkman stands still for a while, then sets off walking in a random direction, turning around at walls ^{[7] [8]}. Its code sets its speed to 1.5 pixels per step, but, like a Caveman, it covers 4 pixels every 3 steps (40 per second): friction takes 0.1 off before it moves, and the game moves it in whole pixels ^{[9] [10]}. It stops dead at the edge of a ledge, and with a 1 in 100 chance each step, to stand for 20–50 steps (0.67–1.67 seconds) ^[11]. Standing beside a wall, it hops ^[12].

Every 6 steps while it stands or walks, a Hawkman sends an invisible sight check flying ahead of it, as a Caveman does ^{[13] [14]}. When one reaches the player, every Caveman and Hawkman within 100 pixels of him that isn't stunned starts charging, whichever sent it and whichever way it faces ^[15].

A charging Hawkman runs at 3 pixels per step (90 per second) the way it faces, turning only at walls, and leaps every time it lands, unless there's a block right above it ^[16]. It keeps charging until something stuns it. The leaps often carry it clean over the player, as in the last clip on this page.

The throw. When the player touches a Hawkman that isn't stunned, unless he's invincible from a recent hit, and there's no block right above it, it grabs him and flings him back the way he came, at 6 pixels per step sideways and 6 upward. He's stunned in the air and drops whatever he's holding ^[5]. The first wall or floor he hits costs him 1 heart, unless the fall is long enough to hurt him by itself ^[17]. The clip shows a Hawkman spotting the player, charging, and throwing him across the room, where he loses a heart as he lands; then it charges again ^[18].

A Hawkman only acts while it's on screen or just off it ^[19].

A Hawkman under a low ceiling can't throw the player, so it bites him instead, as a Yeti does. The clip shows one charging the player along a low tunnel and biting him ^[21]. A stunned or dead Hawkman does nothing to him ^[22].

Most hits stun a Hawkman as well as hurting it: it's knocked back and lies on the ground for 200 steps (6.67 seconds), counted down only on the steps it's on the ground or carried, and then gets up if it has hit points left ^[23]. The clip shows the Whip stunning a Hawkman, which bounces, lies still, gets up about eight and a half seconds after the hit and charges again, leaping over the player ^[24]. The Whip, a stomp and thrown items can't hurt a Hawkman that's already stunned:

When its hit points run out, a Hawkman dies and leaves its body, which, like a stunned Hawkman, can be picked up and thrown ^{[39] [40]}. Hawkmen killed count toward the player's kills, and the screen between levels draws a Hawkman for each ^{[41] [42]}. One that Spikes, Lava or a Spear Trap killed doesn't count ^{[43] [44] [45]}.

A stunned or dead Hawkman left lying still on Kali's altar for 20 steps is sacrificed to her, adding 6 to her favour if it's stunned and half that if it's dead, unless her favour is already −8 or less ^[46].

Level generation makes Hawkmen only in the Temple, on top of blocks with open space above them, outside the starting room: a 1 in 40 chance for each such block, once the rolls for a Tomb Lord and a Caveman have failed ^[47].

In Olmec's Lair, a Hawkman bows before Olmec. When Olmec cracks open, it's flung away, stunned for 300 steps, with 1 hit point ^[6].

Custom levels can have them, as the level editor's tile H ^[48].

• In the open, a Hawkman's touch throws the player rather than hurting him, but he drops what he's holding: an item can end up out of reach.
• A charging Hawkman leaps as it runs, so it can be ducked under rather than outrun: it often clears the player.
• One bullet kills a Hawkman. The Whip can't hurt a stunned one, so with the Whip alone it takes four hits, each after it gets back up.
• A stunned Hawkman is worth 6 to Kali, more than a stunned Caveman.

• Its code names it "Yeti", a copy of the Yeti's, while the game's tables name it HAWKMAN ^{[49] [50]}. It makes no difference: every check that names "Hawkman", for Spear Traps, Spikes, thrown items and bullets, names "Yeti" too ^{[51] [52]}.
• A Hawkman that throws a player carrying the golden idol lifts the idol 8 pixels before he drops it ^[53].