There have been many notable new characters in Shadow of the Erdtree’s first trailer: future controller-snapping megaboss Messmer, zombie Lion Dance man, gross bisected and impaled outdated dude, and, after all, the Wicker Man. The true individuals’s champion, nevertheless, appears to have been squirreled away in supplemental promo screenshots—I am speaking concerning the little worm man.
Blue and ethereal, it appears to occupy the identical zone of the Realm of Shadow because the duel between a samurai and a dervish proven half means by the trailer. On the finish of its wrinkly physique is a small, shocked face like a wizened Shy Man, with two diminutive arms sprouting out of its trunk, wildly out of proportion to the remainder of its physique.
The lengthy and wanting it’s that the worm is extraordinarily cute and bizarre, inspiring adoration from one and all. It would not present up on the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer, official web site, or Steam web page, however fairly was shared in a bundle of promo pictures that went out to some retailers and influencers like VaatiVidya.
I’ve already discovered Twitter and the Elden Ring subreddit festooned with expressions of affection and assist for the mysterious worm. Demon’s Souls modder and dataminer Thens echoed that query hanging between each fashionable couple: “Would u nonetheless love me if I used to be a worm?” Given the worm in query, I am unable to think about any doubt.
Auroraunity_ on Twitter and artjoey on Reddit have already produced fan artwork of the worm, whereas Alltheheroes on Reddit posits a lore rationalization for the worm’s resemblance to the true life Mexican Mole Lizard—it ties into merchandise descriptions for the Crucible Knights’ gear and spells, when you had been questioning. Others, like sawblll52 and Femboy_Ghost on Reddit or werupz on Twitter had been content material to specific their admiration and curiosity relating to the noble beast.
All of this pleasure and pleasure has an undercurrent of melancholy although: what sorts of horrible issues may occur to the gorgeous worm, given the notoriously tragic storytelling favored by FromSoftware? Is the worm a mere discipline enemy to be prevented or killed? Does it have a gut-wrenching quest arc just like the equally cute Boc the Seamster within the base recreation, as proposed by OwlScowling on Reddit? Will we crew up with the worm and develop into comrades, solely to see it fall to our enemies or have its hand compelled towards us like V.IV Rusty in Armored Core 6, a form of “Metal Haze Worm” state of affairs?
RiyaB1999 on Reddit paints these prospects because the lone potential disappointment risked by SOTE, whereas others, like maczn, insist {that a} creature this cute couldn’t be hostile. Just a few, nevertheless, have chosen to embrace the trail of ache: Rojom and hunterslugdaddy have every supplied an inventive tackle a extra hostile worm, the previous as a boss combat, the latter as having a extremely jacked physique hidden underground like these Diglett memes that get handed round once in a while.
We simply will not know for positive till June 21. Till then, I can solely see the hypothesis engine for worm man persevering with to overheat and strip its personal gears, churning out new artwork and theories primarily based on the true star of the DLC.