Origin

Innately cowardly but highly intelligent, Puppeteers (so named because the first human to see them, Pierson, in a drunken stupor likened their snakelike dual heads to Cecil the Sea Serpent puppets) manipulate other species to ensure their own survival, weakening the more belligerent species by tricking them into wars with one another. Since they consider even the slightest interaction with another species to be dangerous, and since Puppeteers considering bravery, even the most moderate kind, to be a form of insanity, any and all Puppeteers who serve as ambassadors to other worlds or agents on same are, by Puppeteer definition, insane.

Creation

Puppeteers were created by author Larry Niven as part of his Known Space universe. They have made cameos in a number of comics, most notably in titles worked on by John Byrne, an avowed Larry Niven fan. A Puppeteer is also among the Green Lanterns depicted in Ganthet's Tale, a comic written by Niven and drawn by Byrne.