We have been betrayed: Squidward from ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ is NOT a squid

2000s babes, I have some very unsettling news: Our beloved anti-hero of the cartoon sea, Squidward Tentacles, has been deceiving us this ENTIRE time (aka, since since 1999, the year Spongebob Squarepants was brought to life on Nickelodeon). It was recently discovered that Squidward is NOT a squid, but rather, an octopus.

Stephen Hillenburg, the dude who created the cartoon, decided to make Squidward an octopus because he thought the size of his head was fitting. “Squidward thinks he’s an intellectual. So of course he’s going to have a large, bulbous head,” Hillenburg states.

I mean, that’s cool and all, but WHY NAME HIM “SQUIDWARD”? I mean, come on Stephen Hillenburg, could you BLAME us for believing Squidward to be a squid? Why give the character a name that is very clearly supposed to indicate that he’s a SQUID?

Maybe because Octoward just doesn’t sound as good. Or maybe because the plan all along was to confuse us and break our hearts a little bit. Whatever the reason is, we’ll have to find a way to move on from this and embrace the fact that Squidward is actually an eight-tentacled, brainy monster, whom we still love no matter what.

Images: Nickelodeon, Giphy