List of fictional worms
This is a list of fictional worms, categorized by the media they appear in. For the purpose of this list, "worm" does not simply refer to earthworms, but also to mythological and fantastic creatures whose description as a "worm" descends from the Old English word wyrm, a poetic term for a legless serpent or dragon. For a comprehensive account of worms in fiction, please see Fictional depictions of worms.
Mythology and legends
Literature
- Beowulf slays a 50-foot serpentine creature. It is described variously as a 'wyrm' (18 instances) or as a dragon (11 instances).[1]
- John Brunner's 1975 Shockwave Rider describes computer 'tapeworms' as capable of reproducing themselves as long as networked computers enable their survival.[6]
- The Worm of the World's End, whose body underlies the lands and ocean and whose thrashings will destroy the world when it awakes, in The One Tree, the second book of the second trilogy of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever fantasy series written by Stephen R. Donaldson. According to the most recent book in the series the worm is not physically very large, but its hunger will nonetheless lead to global ruination.
- Gary Larson narrates the adventures of a nuclear worm family in his 1998 There's a Hair in My Dirt: A Worm's Story.[8]
Television, music and film
- Space slugs, also called exogorths or "giant asteroid worms"[1], are silicon-based gastropods, capable of surviving in a vacuum. First seen in Star Wars: star wars (5)
- Phish performed a version of the song "Swingtown" in Amsterdam, about giant worms in the city's sewers, known as "Wormtown".
- Inchworm, a song first recorded by Danny Kaye and since covered by several other artists, asks an inchworm to appreciate the beauty of marigolds rather than measuring their length.
- In the 2005 film King Kong, a giant bloodworm-like predator called the carnictis lives in the rents and chasms of Skull Island. They grow to be 7–13 feet long, and they kill a character named Lumpy in the film.
- In the AVP series, Alien Chestbursters are Xenomorph larvae that incubate within a human host and rip out of the chest cavity when partially mature.
- The Giant flesh-eating worms from Pre-cambrian rimes in Primeval, this Worms life in sulphur gases which come from the anomaly, oxygen is poison for the Worms.
- In the Worms Series, Boggy B, Spadge, and Clagnut are named characters who appear in title songs and the like.
- The Bookworm, supporting character in Warner Brothers' Sniffles cartoons
- The Bookworm, a character Spider-Man fought in an episode of The 1970s PBS TV series The Electric Company
- The Bookworm character of various children's reading programs.
- Boreworms an (unseen) animal used as an implement of torture in the movie Flash Gordon.
- The Slurm Queen from Futurama, the only source of the Slurm brand of soda.
- The Sweet Worm from Hamtaro (Japanese 'Hamu Hamu Paradai~chu!' season), a giant worm who ate the sweets in Sweet Paradise, then went through metamorphosis and turned into Sweet Butterfly.
Role-playing games
Video games
- Annelids, from System Shock 2.
- Boreworms, from Splatterhouse.
- Burrow Beast, a man-eating worm weapon from Destroy All Humans! 2
- Earthworm Jim, the protagonist of the video game series with the same name.
- Earthworm Kim, the female version of Jim from Earthworm Jim 3D.
- Fat Worm, from Fat Worm Blows a Sparky
- Long and purple worms, from NetHack.
- Mindworms, from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
- Moldorm, from The Legend of Zelda and its sequels.
- Multiworms and hyperworms, from X-COM: Apocalypse.
- The Pit Worm and Geneworm from Half-Life: Opposing Force.
- Sandworms, from the Dune computer and video games.
- Sandworms, from the Diablo I & II computer and video games.
- Sandworms, from the Final Fantasy series.
- Tapeworm Slim, a new character planned to be in the cancelled Earthworm Jim PSP.
- The King of Worms, a fictional character from the games Daggerfall and Oblivion in The Elder Scrolls series.
- Burrowers and Dune Worms (possibelly Young Burrowers) from WarCraft series.
- The worms from the Worms series.
- The various types of Worms in Guildwars.
- Zerg larvae and Cerebrates from StarCraft.
- Caterpie, Weedle and Wurmple from Pokémon.
- Rockworms and the Riftworm from Gears of War 2.
- Molgera, a boss from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
- Worm, referring to various types of creatures in the Monster Rancher series.
- Magmaw, a boss from "World of Warcraft: Cataclysm".
References
- ^ Christine Rauer (2000). Beowulf and the dragon: parallels and analogues. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9780859915922. http://books.google.com/books?id=wbzQ97DfsjIC&pg=PA32&dq=beowulf+worm+times&hl=en&ei=7ZsuTPrYCJH7nAflkv3hAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=beowulf%20worm%20times&f=false.
- ^ Carlson, Eric (1996). A companion to Poe studies. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 92. ISBN 9780313265068.
- ^ a b c d Trent Walters (2005), "Snakes and Worms", The Greenwood encyclopedia of science fiction and fantasy, 2, p. 729, ISBN 9780313329500, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3JXnz9x9sO4C&pg=PA729
- ^ William Morris (1911). The collected works of William Morris, Volume 7. Longmans, Green and company. p. 328. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZQNHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA328&lpg=PA328&dq=fafnir+worm+william+morris&source=bl&ots=ODIZj0hRK5&sig=hAIz0KFhQW39b6THvYbeVWtiRtY&hl=en&ei=hMwYTJfmD8f7nAfqvMC7Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ Drout, Michael D. C. (2007). J.R.R. Tolkien encyclopedia: scholarship and critical assessment. CRC Press. p. 636. ISBN 9780415969420. http://books.google.com/books?id=B0loOBA3ejIC&pg=PA636&lpg=PA636&dq=great+worm+tolkien+internet&source=bl&ots=hgIFcC6h1e&sig=5wLR0oqMobTBP3l7oYN4BkHJdTw&hl=en&ei=u-wYTIyIHoG-nAeZyfy2Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBgQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=great%20worm%20tolkien%20internet&f=false.
- ^ Rick Lehtinen, Deborah Russell, G. T. Gangemi (2006). Computer security basics. O'Reilly. p. 85. ISBN 9780596006693. http://books.google.com/books?id=fqCFfuAJ4uEC&pg=PA85&dq=worm++fiction+shockwave+rider&hl=en&ei=4-cXTPW2GISlnQf5s52iCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=worm%20%20fiction%20shockwave%20rider&f=false.
- ^ Dilys Evans (2008). Show & tell: exploring the fine art of children's book illustration. Chronicle Books. p. 86. ISBN 9780811849715. http://books.google.com/books?id=DS207n6I0cgC&pg=PA86&dq=Harry+Bliss+worm&hl=en&ei=vHMZTM3uH4SHnQeSoIHGCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ Angier, Natalie (28 April 1998). "AFICIONADO OF SCIENCE: Gary Larson; An Amateur of Biology Returns to His Easel". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/28/science/aficionado-of-science-gary-larson-an-amateur-of-biology-returns-to-his-easel.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
- ^ Marc Okrand (1992). The Klingon dictionary: English-Klingon, Klingon-English, Volume 1992, Part 2. Simon and Schuster. p. 149. ISBN 9780671745592. http://books.google.com/books?id=dqOwxsg6XnwC&pg=PA149&dq=Regulan+bloodworm&hl=en&ei=ih4aTL6gIcKDnQejxoSkCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Regulan%20bloodworm&f=false.