History Main / TheWormThatWalks

* In ''Fanfic/{{Daemorphing}}'', Kelbrid are hive-minds of thousands of bioluminescent worms.

* ''WebOriginal/Athyrmagaia'' has the Athyrmatherians, which, in a strange example of this trope, resemble familiar Earth animals like lions, gazelles and wildebeest: except that the head, thorax, abdomen and rump of each Athyrmatherian is a ''separate animal'' of its own, having metamorphosed from four separate sibling larvae that then proceeded to unite at adulthood.

* One of the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen cut final lifeforms]] of ''Website/{{Serina}}'' is a descendant of ants that forms these, supported by the bones of their prey (which they seize with CombatTentacles made from their own bodies) on which the ants themselves work as muscles. Fittingly, they're called [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos shoggoths]]. [[note]]We still have their ancestors the Sea Shoggoths, so the land ones might be coming back! Besides, sea Shoggoths are also quite terrifying.[[/note]]

** Devils are a smaller scale version of this. They are quite literally bee hives in skin suits. Yes, ''hives''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Anthem 2019}}'' has the Scars; essentially colony-swarms that imitate other forms of life, and they've decided that humanity is the best thing to emulate. They're not especially intelligent by themselves, but they're excellent scavengers and surprisingly good with technology. Swarms that grow old enough and large enough can become ''Escari'' - more intelligent, more cunning, and most of all, ''more ambitious''.

* Arakune from ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' fits this trope faithfully. What makes him horrifying is that he used to be human before a hideous accident, and his current form is very much a case of AndIMustScream.

* It's technically "the swarm of frog fetuses that crawls", but ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'''s [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/ovulooge.htm Ovulooge]] fits here like a glove. For a more traditional example (even though they don't quite look the part) are the Wormbrains. In their case, the creature itself is merely a (Usually [[WasOnceAMan formerly human]]) meat puppet for the billions of parasitic worms living inside of it.

* This is one theory behind what exactly [[spoiler: Ace]] of ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'' is.

* One of the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen cut final lifeforms]] of ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'' is a descendant of ants that forms these, supported by the bones of their prey (which they seize with CombatTentacles made from their own bodies) on which the ants themselves work as muscles. Fittingly, they're called [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos shoggoths]]. [[note]]We still have their ancestors the Sea Shoggoths, so the land ones might be coming back! Besides, sea Shoggoths are also quite terrifying.[[/note]]

* All the enemies from the Subspace in the Subspace Emissary mode for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' are constructed of [[http://super-smash-bros.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_Bug "shadow bugs"]] [[spoiler: extracted from Mr. Game & Watch.]]

* ''TabletopGame/EarthDawn'' 1st edition lists a creature called Wormskull that is just that -- a humanoid creature with a mass of worms as its head (a wormskull's body can look different, however, and is usually heavily armoured).
* In ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' one of the many Synth bodies resembles a swarm of robotic bees. They can move as a regular swarm, or combine into a roughly human-shaped mass. They're also fully playable, and far more affordable then those based around OrganicTechnology.

* In ''Franchise/MagicTheGathering,'' there's the Planeswalker [[https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/202/grist-the-hunger-tide Grist, the Hunger Tide.]] Technically, she's just a single insect with the power to [[PestController control others of her kind.]] (This is symbolized by her being considered a small Insect-type creature when she's anywhere but in play.) However, when she invokes her powers, she forms herself a humanoid body composed of multiple vermin all working together.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Little Brother," Kent fights the Rat King, who seems to be a giant rat head attached to a body made of rats. Oddly, Kent himself is ''literally'' a worm that walks, but doesn't fall under this trope (he just has legs and arms, for some reason).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "Welcome Home", Cricket sees a person on the subway only to find that it's actually several rats bundled together in a hoodie, and is understandably horrified.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In one episode, an angry mob of wheelchair users joined together to form "Crippletron".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "Benderama", Bender assembles microscopic clones of himself into one giant Bender to fight an alien giant.

** In "Tourist Trapped", the gnomes first try a TotemPoleTrench, then gather together into a giant gnome in order to get Mabel to become their wife.
** The Summerween Trickster from "Summerween" is actually composed of "loser candy", [[AnthropomorphicFood all the Halloween candy that no one wants and throws away]].
** The denizens of Mabeland in "Weirdmageddon Part II" are this, as Mabeland Wendy dissolves into maggots when Dipper rejects her advances (a ploy to get him to stay in Mabeland forever).

-->"''FORM GIGANTO-BABY!''"

** Taken UpToEleven with the ouroboros, a titanic extraplanar being that combines this trope with DrosteImage: it's a gigantic snake whose body is made up of smaller snakes. Which are made of even smaller snakes. Which are made of, et cetera, right down to the atomic level.

** The first ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' game has Boolossus, which doubles as an AsteroidsMonster. This monstrous ghost absorbs his 14 comrades to begin his battle. The Big Boo in the [[VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon second game]] as well, absorbing 9 other ghosts.

* Blister Beetle Grubs form themselves into the shape of the female of a certain species of bee, in order to lure it into trying to mate with the bee-of-worms, which secretes pheromones to help the process along ("Hey, that doesn't look like a bee and *sniff sniff* Oh Baby..."). Then they cling to the male, transfer to the female when Real Bee-boinking goes on, all to hitch a ride to the female's nest, which is full of tender bee larvae.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has Mindleech Mass from the ''Ravnica: City of Guilds'' expansion. It's hard to see the individual leeches at card size, but [[http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/914 when you look closer...]]

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' featured Bem, a colony organism that used this trait to mess with the crew of the ''Enterprise''.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' featured Bem, a "colony creature" that used this trait to mess with the crew of the ''Enterprise''.

*** The [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] Zygarde is actually composed of many smaller green creatures known as Zygarde Cells (too small and weak to individually be called Pokémon), as well as other small creatures called Zygarde Cores, which serve as the "brains". The form Zygarde takes is actually determined by how many of the cells it has gathered to itself -- the serpent-like form encountered in the games is actually only its "50 Percent" Forme, and it possesses a much stronger Complete Forme resembling a [[http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/1/14/718Zygarde-Complete_XY_anime.png bipedal mecha-esque kaiju]].

* In ''Manga/TalesOfWeddingRings'', the part encounters a GiantSpider which is really a colony of countless tiny, silverfish-like monsters that have joined together to form a single entity. Cutting off its limbs is nearly pointless, since the severed appendages will break apart into their component critters and swarm back into the main body, letting it regenerate.

** ''Cold Days'' has the "rawhead". It is a huge beast made out of the discarded bones and flesh of slaughtered cattle and such, with no skin. The detailed descriptions are... horrific, although in this case it does seem to be a single sentient being rather than a hive mind, as the individual pieces are definitly not alive on their own..