Elder beholders are the masters of that necromantic race. They have grown enormously over times and outlived the usual lifespan of its kind by cheating death in some sinister way with its necromantic powers. Just like the the size of this creature has enlarged also its evilness and power has done. Its magic outshines that of an ordinary beholder and its mastery of the necromantic arts has reached levels that had so far been unknown to beholders. It is them who spawn the dreaded gazers that grow into new beholders and ensure the existence of the race. It is them who lead the other species of their kind with an iron will and brutal suppression. And it is them who have accumulated knowledge about magic and especially necromancy that was never meant to be known by any creature, dead or alive.