History Main / TheWormThatWalks

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': The Demiurge Gog-Agog looks like a humanoid woman, albeit an UncannyValley-ish one. Then she takes a shot to the head, [[http://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/ksbd-4-76/ revealing]] the mass of worms that ''really'' make up her body.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Lancer}}:'' The HORUS ''Balor'' is essentially designed to be a walking, mech-shaped heap of [[GreyGoo greywash]] (barely) controlled by the pilot. Even in less active states, ''Balors'' are followed by a cloud of their own nanites that constantly consume the surroundings to heal and grow the mech itself, and even the hardiest of armors can be consumed in moments when the pilot triggers a feeding frenzy, while having immense trouble fighting back thanks to its highly fluid composition and constant regeneration.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSwamp The Swamp]]", the heroes meet a huge swamp monster that consists entirely of vines and a wooden mask. Unusually for this trope, however, [[spoiler:there's a guy inside, controlling the vines by bending the water in them, and he's a good guy; he's just using the disguise to scare away people who he feels are a threat to the swamp. Later on, when the Day of the Black Sun comes to pass, he comes back to aid the resistance, wearing a similar costume made from seaweed and the same mask]].

%%* Borgir Bor from ''Manga/Bastard1988''.%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample

* Gambon's {{mooks}} in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' have a specialty called the Centipede Fighting whereby they hop on each other's shoulder to form, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin centipedes]].
* Done in the most {{Squick}}tacular way possible in ''Manga/FortOfApocalypse''. When the four juvenile delinquents escape from the frenzied prison into the zombie-filled streets of the city, they discover to their horror that [[ThatsNoMoon the mountain in the middle of the street is actually a towering mound made of the rotting corpses of the undead]], with a stark-naked figure sitting on the very top like a macabre throne. Then the mound starts moving.
* In chapter 24 of ''Manga/FrankenFran'', [[FlyingDutchman the Wandering Jew]] shows up. Despite being immortal, his original body except for his skeletal structure has long since rotted away. His curse of immortality solved the problem by ''[[BodyHorror constantly summoning insects to replace his body]]''. He's essentially an undying skeleton with bugs for muscles and organs. [[spoiler:Amazingly enough, this chapter actually has a happy ending for the poor guy.]]
* Dokubachi in ''Manga/GetBackers'' is the Bee that Walks (and flies and philosophizes and [[OverlyLongGag uses ki attacks...]]) whose body is a bizarre, super-specialized honeycomb that gives him all manner of bee-related abilities. Unusually for this trope, though, his final form looks [[BishounenLine completely human]].
* The [[OurZombiesAreDifferent "Carriers"]] from ''Manga/{{Infection}}'' are basically colonies of [[MessyMaggots maggots]] nesting within corpses of their victims, multiplying in such numbers that they burst out whenever the corpse opens its mouth. The problem only gets worse when they [[spoiler:start growing in ''[[BigCreepyCrawlies size]]'' as well]].
* [[BigBad Naraku]] from ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' is composed of a giant, writhing mass of {{youkai}}, most of which are a mixture of snakelike, bug-like, and slimy in nature.

* In ''Manga/TalesOfWeddingRings'', the party 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.

* Zazie the Beast from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''. In a metaphysical sense, yes, Zazie is "the worm who walks", but both of its bodies are perfectly normal humans. Zazie's ''mind'' is made of insects -- it's the current interactive hub for a HiveMind of the native {{Sand Worm}}s.

* The ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' foe Entity is a nanobot swarm that consumes an industrial spy and maintains his basic humanoid shape.

* The Swell's combined form in the ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' Season Eight issue "Swell" (made up of all the individual Vampy Cat Play Friends).
* In ''[[ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis Countdown: Arena]]'', there's an AlternateUniverse version of ComicBook/BlueBeetle called the Scarab, who is a vaguely humanoid mass of blue scarabs. It eats its opponents, sometimes from the inside. Oddly for such a NightmareFuel creature, it's supposed to come from the FunnyAnimal world of [[ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew Earth-26]].

* This was the first enemy of Vicki Montesi and the rest of the ''ComicBook/DarkholdPagesFromTheBookOfSins''.
* The first storyline of the Marvel comic spinoff series ''ComicBook/ForceWorks'' had the alien Scatter as the enemy. The Scatter resemble armored humanoids, [[spoiler:but as US Agent discovers, they're actually a swarm of sapient insects controlling the armor. It gets worse when he describes how he found this out, he was watching the Scatter climb out of the armor and eat the nearby civilians alive!]]
* Shinomura from the ''Film/Godzilla2014'' tie-in comic ''Godzilla: Awakening'' consists of a mass of much smaller, single-celled organisms.
* In ''ComicBook/TheGoon'', chugheads are small UndeadChild-type monsters who can combine together into huge amorphous horrors. This is key to the resurrection of [[spoiler: Labrazio]], one of the villains, who appears more-or-less human but whose dead soul has actually been transferred into a pile of chugheads.
* In one of his earlier adventures, John Constantine, ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' fights the hunger demon, Mnemoth, who manifests as a swarm of flies forming the shape of a giant fly. A similar creature, shaped like a man, appeared in TheMovie, but was not identified by name.
* Murder in ''ComicBook/HoaxHunters'' is something like this. He was an astronaut whose consciousness was split among a murder of crows when he died; the crows now share a hive mind and inhabit a space suit.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon'' comic, one of the supervillains is Horde, a body possessed by worms. It's later revealed that this is the wizard Fon~Ti (who granted Mighty Man his powers) who was taken over by one of Mighty Man's enemies, the Wicked Worm.
* ComicBook/SheHulk also fought a similar villain, [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/cockrchs.htm Cockroaches!]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSwamp The Swamp]]": The heroes meet a huge swamp monster that consists entirely of vines and a wooden mask. Unusually for this trope, however, [[spoiler:there's a guy inside, controlling the vines by bending the water in them. And that guy is a good guy; he's just using the disguise to scare away people who he feels are a threat to the swamp. Later on, when the Day of the Black Sun comes to pass, he comes back to aid the resistance, wearing a similar costume made from seaweed and the same mask.]]

*** The [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokémon]] Zygarde, originally assumed to be a single Pokémon, is revealed to in fact be a composite creature that consists of a single, sapient 'brain' cell (the Zygarde Core) and a varying number of non-sapient (but independent) Cells. Neither Core nor Cell is considered a 'true' Pokémon on their own; only once a Core has gathered 10% or more of its cells does it take a form that can be stored and used as a true Pokémon, its shape dependent on the exact amount of Cores and Cells present.
*** With one Core and 10% of its Cells, Zygarde assumes a canine form resembling a doberman.
*** With 1-4 Cores and 50% Cells, it assumes its most well.known form- a large snakelike creature (The Worm That... Worms?)
*** With five Cores and 100% of its cells, Zygarde forms a massive, humanoid form that resembles a [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/91/718Zygarde-Complete.png bipedal mecha-esque kaiju]], becoming this trope proper.

** The Dobishi from ''Series/UltramanGaia'', a swarm of alien insects that herald the arrival of [[BigBad Zogu]], come in numbers so vast that they can create ''multiple'' Worms That Walnown as Kaiser Dobishi to overwhelm Gaia and Agul.

** With one Core and 10% of its Cells, Zygarde assumes a canine form resembling a doberman.
** With 1-4 Cores and 50% Cells, it assumes its most well.known form- a large snakelike creature (The Worm That... Worms?)
** With five Cores and 100% of its cells, Zygarde forms a massive, humanoid form that resembles a [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/91/718Zygarde-Complete.png bipedal mecha-esque kaiju]], becoming this trope proper.

*** 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 [[https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/9/91/718Zygarde-Complete.png bipedal mecha-esque kaiju]].

** In ''Literature/SkinGame'' we see Tessa can assume this form, and she uses it to great effect in one of [[NightmareFuel the most horrific scenes]] [[MindRape in the series.]]
** ''Literature/SideJobs'': In the short story ''Restoration of Hope'', a troll is sliced open to reveal hundreds of smaller trolls inside a troll-suit.

* ''Literature/TheHeritageOfShannara'': In ''The Talismans of Shannara'', Walker Boh is attacked by TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse (well, actually monsters who have taken the form of TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse). While Famine, War and Death are humanoids, Pestilence is just a swarm of infection-spreading insects moving about in a vaguely humanoid shape.

* In Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'', Mr. Bobo is a trainer of mice. In the Other Mother's world, The Other Bobo is a being made of rats. In TheFilmOfTheBook, the Other Bobinsky (as he has been renamed) ends up turning into this as GlamourFailure sets in:

* One of the heroes of the grail in Eric Nylund's ''Literature/AGameOfUniverse'' is a colony of insects which walks around in humanoid form, relatively.

* ''Inside Straight'', the latest novel in the ''Literature/WildCards'' series, features a rare heroic version of this trope, one Jonathan Hive. He appears utterly human until he disperses into a cloud of bright green wasplike motes; he can also detach as few as one at a time, and even tends to have a few wandering about misplaced.

* The assassin at the end of Iain M Banks ''Literature/LookToWindward'' is a swarm of nanotech bugs.
* Creator/HPLovecraft:
** One common interpretation of the ending of ''Literature/TheFestival'', though it could just as easily refer to a single huge maggot.
--->''Wisely did Ibn Schacabac say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes. For it is of old rumour that the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws; till out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.''
** In ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror'', the invisible monster, while made visible for enough time to [[EldritchAbomination make a hapless witness go mad with fear]], is made up entirely from either worms, or, as the character puts it, "squirmin' ropes" or "sep'rit wrigglin' ropes pushed clost together", [[{{Squick}} all of slime or jelly]].
* An assassination attempt in ''[[Literature/TheMirrorOfHerDreams Mordant's Need]]'' by Stephen Donaldson features human skins full-to-bursting with cockroach-like insects that puppet the skins and then break out of their husks in order to devour their new victims.

* Ygramul the Many of ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'' by Creator/MichaelEnde, is a gestalt collective of toxic flying blue beetle-like insects that clump together in whatever arrangement suits their purpose best, from a giant spider-thing to a massive disembodied hand. Her deadly poison grants the dying victim the ability to teleport.

* ''Literature/TheOutsider2018'': the titular Outsider is strongly implied to be this. Mysterious red 'worms' come out of its head after Holly bludgeons him.
* The flying nanobot swarms in the Creator/MichaelCrichton novel ''Literature/{{Prey}}'' act like a computerized version of these -- they even eat carrion, as per standard maggot behavior. As their intelligence develops through the course of the book, they learn to mimic human shapes, colors, and eventually ''speech''. Turns into full body horror, when the main character discovers that the swarm has enveloped and taken over his wife. However, using an electro-magnet, the swarm dispels from the body, revealing his real wife (now a shriveled skeleton) who is still alive. She is able to relay her last words before the device breaks and the nanobots overtake her body again.

* The ''Literature/RavnicaCycle'' of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novels feature the Lupul, a shapeshifter. Its true form is a writhing mass of worms that devours people in order to steal their forms.
* Florian Honeywell is a rare, openly heroic example, in Literature/OfBloodAndHoney. He is a walking, talking beehive with honey for blood and honeycombed flesh. Fortunately for him, he at least appears normal on the surface. He's decided to use his ability to control the bees who live in him to fight crime, and is on his way to be a KidHero.
* In ''The Talismans of Literature/{{Shannara}}'', Walker Boh is attacked by TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse (well, actually monsters who have taken the form of TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse). While Famine, War and Death are humanoids, Pestilence is just a swarm of infection-spreading insects moving about in a vaguely humanoid shape.

* “Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' has Dysian Aimian, most heavily feature in ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'' and ''Literature/{{Dawnshard}}''. They are creatures composed of hundreds, if not thousands of tiny crustaceans which the HiveMind breeds to fulfill a specific purpose, like storing memories or seeing. They can function individually, even at great distances, and the BizarreAlienBiology of the planet means that "cremlings" (a generic term for small crusacteans) are all over the place, meaning they can spy on virtually anyone at any time. They can even make up a basic human shape, although most of them are quite bad at it, with only a few actually being able to pass as humans up close, and even those tend to struggle to act like humans. They are more or less immortal as individual hordelings are replaced, and killing a them means ensuring that almost all the hordelings are killed at once. Although people (understandably) find them very creepy they aren't villains or evil.
* A benign example from ''Swimmy'' by Leo Lionni featured fish being eaten by a larger fish. They formed their school into the shape of an [[AlwaysABiggerFish even bigger fish]] and chased it off.

* In ''The Tractate Middoth'' by [[Creator/MontagueRhodesJames M R James]], the ghost is implied to be a human spirit possessing a horde of spiders and shaping a human form out of them and their webs.

* ''Literature/WildCards'': John Hive is turned into a sapient swarm of wasps by the MassSuperEmpoweringEvent.
* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': The protagonist invokes this trope using her power to control insects. She surrounds herself with bugs both to make her harder to see and to intimidate people, and makes the insects around her buzz and chirp whenever she talks to complete the illusion of a giant humanoid insect swarm. She also picks up a trick of using decoys, piling masses of insects in a roughly humanoid form that looks exactly like she's pulling the previous trick.

** The [[LivingShadow Vashta Nerada]], who are normally a mass of tiny ''things'' that live in the shadows and devour meat. If they get inside a person's sealed spacesuit, though, the person will be devoured to the bone, and the Vashta Nerada will animate the spacesuit.
** Davros' servant Colony Sarff is a collection of snakes coiled around each other to form the shape of a man. While there is one snake much larger than the others that forms the core, they are apparently a "democracy", and will occasionally have the individual snakes take a vote on their next move.

* ''VideoGame/Anthem2019'' 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''.
* Kelvin from ''VideoGame/{{Battleborn}}'' may appear to be a gigantic skeletal [[{{Snowlems}} ice golem]] but in reality he's an entire microorganism civilization with [[HiveMind a single consciousness]].
* Ananzi, from ''VideoGame/TheBlackHeart'', is not quite one, but with the ease she produces spiderlings out of nowhere, she comes close.
* Arakune from ''Franchise/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.
* One of the 5 bounties in ''VideoGame/BugFables'' is the False Monarch, a cluster of mothflies disguised as one bug, and it uses said mothflies to attack Team Snakemouth.
* The monstrous protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Carrion}}'' is implied to be this. Severed tentacles slither away when it gets shot, if part of its body is severed by the environment those same severed tentacles slither back to it, and it gets the ability to discorporate into a horde of threadworms in deep water.
* Throughout ''VideoGame/CastleRed'', there are numerous scenes in which the hero is attacked and knocked out by strange hooded figures. If you avoid the [[MultipleEndings first four endings]] and make it to the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, these hooded figures will become standard enemies who reveal themselves as this trope when damaged.

** The boss of Stage 2 in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDraculaX'' is a group of bats that come together to form one giant bat. It turns back to them when hit.
** The boss of the NostalgiaLevel in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]'' is Bat Company, a pack of red bats that assumes various forms as one. {{Dracula}} himself is often shown moving around as a pack of bats.
** Also the reoccurring Boss Legion is a giant Sphere of Zombies covering a giant monster. In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]'', it periodically sheds zombies that attack independantly.

** Gravelord Nito from ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' is this made out of ''human skeletons''.

** The graveyard outside the Cathedral of the Deep in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' is populated not only by ''[[ZergRush lots]]'' of undead, but also creatures made out of huge carnivorous maggots they can inflict you with. They come both in free-roaming forms and [[BodyHorror bursting out of undead enemies' bellies]] [[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]-style.
* The Dividers from the ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' series are actually a small colony of Necromorphs that bind together into a single, human-like entity. They fall apart once enough damage has been dealt to their combined form, requiring even more ammo to put the pieces down.
* Scarecrow (arm), Scarecrow (leg) and Mega Scarecrow from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'' are all basically burlap sacks filled with beetles with blades attached.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Dominions}}'', there is the spell ''Call the Worm that Walks". It is a powerful nature mage who escaped mortality by turning into this.
* In the ''Videogame/FallenLondon'' universe, Sorrow Spiders are already dangerous on their own, what with being the size of cats and having a penchant for [[EyeScream tearing people's eyes out]]. But when enough of them get together, they can form Spider-Councils, which are great, shambling masses of spider-flesh that are significantly smarter and utterly vicious. Small ones can give entire town districts a hell of a lot of trouble. Bigger ones, as seen in ''Videogame/SunlessSea'', can get big enough to pose as dreadnought ships, sail them and become terrors of the sea on par with [[ThatsNoMoon Mount Nomad]]. [[spoiler:But it doesn't end there. In ''Videogame/SunlessSkies'', you can eventually meet the culmination, a Spider-Senate, which amounts to an EldritchAbomination made out of ''billions and billions of spiders''. The thing was imprisoned by [[SentientStars the Judgements themselves]] because it was a direct threat to them, but they simply couldn't kill it]].
** Devils are a smaller scale version of this. Though each one acts like an individual human (or human-esque individual) they are actually quite literally bee hives in skin suits. Yes, ''hives''.
* In the PC Engine CD version of ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX7WoSRHt3U Death Adder merges together from hundreds of snakes.]]

* Atticus Thorn, the BigBad of ''VideoGame/TheHauntedMansion'' video game.
* The Guy Made of Bees from the ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', which is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly what it sounds like]]. When you beat him, he drops a Guy Made of Bee Pollen. You can also pickpocket a handful of [[http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Handful_of_bees them]].
* Jalhalla in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is a giant Poe made up of twenty smaller Poes and a mask that seems to either control or coordinate them.
* The first boss of the final levels in ''VideoGame/MegaManX6'' is called the Nightmare Mother, a pair of giant square-shaped masses composed of a large number of Nightmare Viruses.

** The Pain from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', while not composed of bees, is able to control bees by having them sting him until the bees think that he is one of them. To make matters worse, he grows [[BeeBeeGun Bullet Bees]] within him. These ones fly to your body and gnaw at your flesh slowly -- and yes, he grows them '''within''' his body, launching them from his mouth. Keeping true to the trope, he can make a [[CoolButInefficient life-sized, fully voiced clone of himself]], made of -- you guessed it -- bees, or they can become a full-sized, working, wood-and-metal Tommy gun (for which the science behind the trick isn't explained until two games later).
** [[spoiler:Organ-replacing parasites]] act as ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'''s AppliedPhlebotinum, leading to several characters being this to a greater or lesser degree, including [[spoiler:Skull Face, [[ArtificialZombie the Skulls]], Quiet, and Code Talker. It's even implied that the supernatural powers of the Cobra Unit, including the Pain, are the result of parasite therapy]].
** The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', [[spoiler:Senator Steven Armstrong]], is an {{Ambiguous Robot|s}} who somehow managed to hide his augmented nature from everyone despite being prominent in the public eye complete with [[spoiler:presidential campaign]], augmented by nanomachines in ways your team find unprecedented... except Doktor. He immediately starts theorizing it as a form of "Claytronics", with [[spoiler:Armstrong]] being neither human nor a cyborg, but a thick morass of advanced nanomachines directed to shape, change appearance and harden at will: a huge, superpowerful heap of GreyGoo ''pretending'' to be a human being, or at least feeling the part.
* The very first boss of ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' is a swarm of purple bugs that form a body around a larger bug that makes up the eye.
* In a more spiritual way, Ermac from ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' is this. He is the gathering of souls lost during Outworld's various wars, brought together to serve Shao Khan. As a result, Ermac never uses singular self-referential pronouns such as "I" or "me", instead opting for "us" or "we", in a sense allowing his body to speak on behalf of all the souls that he carries.

* In the Forbidden Sanctum DLC of ''Videogame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire'' you're introduced to [[spoiler:forgotten Archmage]] Fyonlecg. After the Watcher bests him in combat (the first time), they remove his mask [[spoiler:only to find he has replaced himself with a body double constructed from a writhing mass of worms.]]
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' has one of these as a chief minion. Fighting the Wriggling Man isn't advised: colony creatures, he and all the high-level monsters he'll summon are immune to targeted attacks.
* One of the Mythic Paths in ''VideoGame/PathfinderWrathOfTheRighteous'' allows you to ''become'' this. It's even called the Swarm-That-Walks.

** Drifloon and Drifblim in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' are collections of wayward souls fused together into a form resembling a helium balloon and a hot air balloon, respectively. In the same games, there is Spiritomb, composed of [[Mystical108 108 malevolent human souls]] bound to a (non-sentient) rock.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'':

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', Falinks is an [[InvertedTrope inverted]] version, conceptually speaking. This Pokémon consists of six small WaddlingHead creatures that like to arrange themselves in a tight single-file formation and move in perfect synchronization. This results in them looking like a giant caterpillar.
* ''VideoGame/ProjectRemedium'' have the Fattster enemies, fecal-shaped GiantMook bacteria monsters. They're already there in the level you face them, but you can actually see regular-sized bacteria spores - dozens of them - merging into becoming an individual Fattster.
* ''VideoGame/RaymanLegends'' has Hades' Hand, which is made of lots of [[ZergRush Dark Creatures]].

** The first ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion1'' 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.
** The Rubber Band in ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'' is made from smaller rubber bands. He can [[CastFromHitPoints use these to attack Paper Mario]], but after you strip his smaller rubber band armour off him completely, the Rubber Band is revealed to really be one giant sentient rubber band controlling a bunch of smaller rubber bands to form a humanoid form.

* All the enemies from the Subspace in the Subspace Emissary mode for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'' are constructed of [[https://www.ssbwiki.com/Shadow_Bug "shadow bugs"]] [[spoiler: extracted from Mr. Game & Watch.]]
* According to the ''Hybrid Organ Research Report'' of ''VideoGame/SystemShock2,'' Hybrids are partially comprised of a mass of worm-like symbiotes, that have taken over motor functions and decision-making functions. [[AndIMustScream This leaves the human brain largely intact and aware.]]
* The "Unknown" boss in ''VideoGame/{{Vanquish}}'' consists of a red core and pieces of robotic junk that assemble into various shapes.

* In ''VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen'' and ''VideoGame/YsOrigin'', Vagullion is a demon composed of a swarm of bats.

* [[spoiler:Zouken Matou]] from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' will turn into The Worm That Walks whenever his current body is destroyed or worn out, after which [[BodyHorror he'll use the worms to attack someone and rebuild himself a new body from their flesh]].

* "N" of ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'' turns himself into a swarm of cockroaches so often in his physiological torment of Blaine that Blaine recognizes a mass of the things in his room as the vampire even without seeing them while they are still in his shape.
* While it isn't entirely clear, one of the BigBad's lackeys in ''Webcomic/DeadOfSummer'' may be one of these. He summons a swarm of insects seemingly out of nowhere (the art suggests they either come from around him or ''inside'' him) to attack [[spoiler:[[Music/TheProtomen Commander]]]]. He's swarmed and bitten so much his movements are slowed, and he screams that they're eating him alive.
* Vance from ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'' claims to be a mass of spiders in human shape, but it's unknown whether he's telling the truth of just messing with Sidney.
* In ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'', the GodEmperor Gog-Agog looks like a humanoid woman, albeit an UncannyValley-ish one. Then she takes a shot to the head, [[http://killsixbilliondemons.com/comic/ksbd-4-76/ revealing]] the mass of worms that ''really'' make up her body.
* This is one theory behind what exactly [[spoiler:Ace]] of ''Webcomic/RubyQuest'' is.
* Utchi-Skafatka in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' is a collective lifeform composed of countless flying insectoids. The protagonists first begin to realize that it is sapient when it [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2014-01-19 copies Sergeant Schlock.]]
* Gavotte, the head of the ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' department, is a sPient swarm of bees. She (?) is surprisingly congenial and enjoys having a cup of tea with her employees, but they're often somewhat unnerved by the disembodied voice and the offers of free honey.

* Laufian Slinten Pods in ''Webcomic/{{Spacetrawler}}'' are bunches of snakes who operate as a single entity by wearing an ill-fitting disguise of another alien species. It's implied the disguises are all of a specific member of said species, as seen when "Nogg, a Thelbiunn" meets "Nogathulbium".
* In a ''Webcomic/{{Weregeek}}'' [[http://www.weregeek.com/2009/06/15/ strip,]] during a ''D&D'' game, a helpful hermit reveals himself to be a "worm that walks". The player refers to the aformentioned ''Buffy'' episodes.

* The ''Webcomic/BloodyUrban'' animated special ''Human'' has a swarm of newts masquerading as a human by wearing funny nose glasses and a trench coat.

* One article in ''Website/TheOnion'' is written by a pile of cockroaches pretending to be a human exterminator. The cockroachman attempts to convince people through the article it is writing to let cockroaches everywhere live and run free, but is unable to think of a compelling reason ''why''. It also laments that it knows that AfterTheEnd, cockroaches will rule the post-apocalyptic wasteland, but doesn't know ''when'' that will happen.

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4553 SCP-4553 ("Bob Shepherd, Anthropomorphic Mass of Worms and United States Representative of the 3rd Congressional District of Nebraska")]] is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an anthropomorphic mass of worms and a candidate for U.S. Representative of Nebraska's 3rd congressional district]]. He's also likely to win, despite running as an independent in a Republican-dominated district - and despite [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight everyone knowing he's a mass of worms]].
* 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]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the heroes meet a huge swamp monster that consists entirely of vines and a wooden mask. Unusually for this trope, however, [[spoiler:there's a guy inside, controlling the vines by bending the water in them. And that guy is a good guy; he's just using the disguise to scare away people who he feels are a threat to the swamp. Later on, when the Day of the Black Sun comes to pass, he comes back to aid the resistance, wearing a similar costume made from seaweed and the same mask.]]
* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/Ben102016'', the villain uses a machine to attract and form a colossus entirely out of maggots to attack Las Vegas.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "[[Recap/BigCityGreensS1E8 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.

** The episode, "Operation: C.A.T.S." had a villainous CrazyCatLady who surrounded herself with her thousands of cats and basically made a cat-shaped HumongousMecha out of them.
** In the episode, "Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-T.H.R.E.E.", an army of chicks form a giant suit of knight's armor to help Numbuh One defeat the Delightful Children from Down the Lane's Giant Birthday Present Robot.
** The Delightful Reaper's face is made out of skulls that resemble the faces of those that it has assimilated.

** In "[[Recap/GravityFallsS1E1TouristTrapped 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 "[[Recap/GravityFallsS1E12Summerween Summerween]]" is actually composed of "loser candy", [[AnthropomorphicFood all the Halloween candy that no one wants and throws away]].
** The denizens of Mabeland in "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E19WeirdmageddonPart2EscapeFromReality Weirdmageddon Part 2]]" are this, as Mabeland Wendy dissolves into maggots when Dipper rejects her advances (a ploy to get him to stay in Mabeland forever).

* The true form of ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'' villain King Hiss is that of 5 or 6 large snakes in a human shell. All of his toys have a "pop open his torso and see the snakes" gimmick.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MaxSteel'', the villain Bio Constrictor was made of dozens of snakes after he accidentally got mutated by his own modified genomes, he can use this power to either shapeshift limbs into snakes, create snake mooks to fight for him and even shed his whole skin and hide snakes in them to make getaways.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuchaLucha'' was about Rikochet, Buena Girl, and the Flea confronting a giant spider-themed wrestler named Black Widower, who has been beating several insect-themed wrestlers all over town, and is threatening to do the same to the Flea. At the end of the episode, the Black Widower is defeated, and as a result, his costume comes off to reveal the aforementioned insect wrestlers.
* A variation (similar to the ''Gravity Falls'' gnome example above) occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Unfair Science Fair Redux". The small Martians join into a big version of themselves when Candace decides she doesn't want to be queen of Mars anymore and flees.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'', we have Nulzilla. We also have [[spoiler: Enzo and Dot's father]], who can regain a bipedal form and his ability to speak by making a sprite-sized body of nulls, with the null that used to be him as the head. Both creatures were made possible through the powers of Hexadecimal.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' sees the titular Samurai [[spoiler: and Ashi]] face off against a creature known only as Lazarus 92, a mass of slimy blue leeches that attack like a single organism.
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': The Cicada Creature from "When the Cicada Calls".
* In ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'', the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygTy4QhTm3g Swarm]] was an absolutely terrifying entity that consisted of a hive of bees that combined to create a sapient being.
* Pandronians, introduced in the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeriesS2E2Bem "Bem"]] (a reference to an old sci-fi acronym meaning "bug-eyed monster"), are colony organisms who are humanoid in shape, but consist of three separate parts (head, torso, and legs) which can move and levitate independently of each other. Another Pandronian appears in the ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS2E08IExcretus "I, Excretus"]].

** One episode featured a giant carnivorous BlobMonster composed of billions of microscopic organisms that had been affected by the gas that created the "Bang Babies". Static and Gear remark that, while the creatures normally should just "blob around doing nothing", the affected ones "move like Soul Train dancers".
** A minor foe Mmoboro was either a giant hornet who could dissolve into a swarm of tiny copies of himself or a swarm of hornets fond of forming into a giant copy of themselves. Mmoboro is actually an enemy of the African hero, Anansi, employed by his arch-enemy Osebo.
* In the animated ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' series, the hero first encounters a colony of angry ants when they steal stuff when using composite human form.
* There's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'' where Timon pays this guy to help Pumbaa. After everything he tried didn't work, he came back to the guy to get his money back, but the guy turned out to be a swarm of locusts.

** One common interpretation of the ending of ''Literature/TheFestival'', though it could just as easily refer to a maggot-infested corpse, or a single huge worm.

-->-- ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E10WhatsMyLinePart2 What's My Line, Part 2]]"

* The ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'' foe Entity was a nanobot swarm that consumed an industrial spy and maintained his basic humanoid shape.
* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': [[spoiler:The Hooded One turns out to be a woman who was [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe cut in half]] then had her body put put back and held together by the Lord of the Locust's insects.]]
* In ''[[Comicbook/CountdownToFinalCrisis Countdown: Arena]]'', there's an AlternateUniverse version of Comicbook/BlueBeetle called the Scarab, who is a vaguely humanoid mass of blue scarabs. It eats its opponents, sometimes from the inside. Oddly for such a NightmareFuel creature, it's supposed to come from the FunnyAnimal world of [[Comicbook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew Earth-26]].

* Shinomura from the ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'' tie-in comic ''Godzilla: Awakening'', consists of a mass of much smaller, single-celled organisms.

*** In a 2020 storyline in ''ComicBook/AntMan'', Swarm gained three rivals, created by a mutated insect named Macrothrax, who forced Swarm to rebuild the device that originally turned him into a sapient bee-swarm to grant the power to assume humanoid form to three {{Hive Mind}}ed insect swarms it had created. Thus was born Vespa ("The Specter of Hornets"), Thread ("The Silkworm Ghoul") and Tusk ("The Rhino Beetle Hulk"). In what Ant-Man notes is incredible irony, these three entities look down on Swarm and regard him as impure, due to his consciousness being a [[BrainUploading transplanted human mind]], rather than one crafted "organically" from the swarm itself.

* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' gives us Hive, the BigBad of Season 3. [[WasOnceAMan An ancient human that was abducted by the Kree and engineered to lead their armies]], he [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters rebelled against his creators]] and lead the Inhumans against them. However, he was so evil and terrifying that the Inhumans banded together with regular humans to banish him to a faraway planet, with HYDRA being formed as a [[{{Cult}} Death Cult]] to bring him back. It's not entirely clear exactly ''what'' he is even at the end of the season, but as it goes on Simmons speculates that he's actually a swarm of many tiny parasites purposed to perform a variety of different tasks, such as reanimating dead bodies to serve as hosts, devouring proteins from living humans, and enslaving other Inhumans by drawing them into his HiveMind. We see a brief glimpse of him as a worm-like creature when he exits Will Daniels' body to inhabit [[spoiler: Grant Ward]], but later information suggests that this form is also composed of many small parasites that collectively house his consciousness.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Norman Pfister from the Season Two episodes "What's My Line, Part One" and "What's My Line, Part Two." He's a group of maggots that can appear like a man (but not for very long, as he starts to go all UncannyValley). Xander and Cordelia manage to kill him by covering the floor in front of a door with glue. He turned into maggots to get through the door, got stuck in the glue, and was promptly stomped to death.
** The Swell's combined form in the Season Eight issue "Swell" (made up of all the individual Vampy Cat Play Friends).

* ''Series/{{Reaper}}'' had an episode with a woman made of bugs.
* A few ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' MonstersOfTheWeek, usually of the bloodsucking parasite variety for some reason.
** Arindo from ''Series/UltramanTaro'' starts off as a swarm of giant termites, who can chew through metal and concrete, until they're driven off by pesticide fired by the ZAT. The termites responds by merging themselves into a building-sized kaiju that goes on a rampage through the city.
** The Okorin Balls from ''Series/UltramanEighty'' are a species of bloodsucking ball-like aliens that invade Earth and attack humans. They are lead by a single giant member of their kind who commands the rest to merge with it, becoming a giant bipedal mass to battle Ultraman 80 and UGM.
** Magnia from ''Series/UltramanTiga'' are alien parasites spawned from a sentient meteor to find it food. When the space rock is endangered by GUTS' assault, the Magnia merge into a kaiju form, only to get their butts whooped by Tiga.
** Maricula from ''Series/UltramanDyna'' are mutated lake algae that merge themselves into a singular form after consuming enough blood.
** The Dobishi from ''Series/UltramanGaia'', a swarm of alien insects that herald the arrival of [[BigBad Zogu]], come in numbers so vast that they can create ''multiple'' Worms That Walnown as Kaiser Dobishi to overwhelm Gaia and Agul.
** Chaos Bug from ''Series/UltramanCosmos'' is a swarm of fireflies corrupted by [[BigBad Chaos Header]] into ravenous monsters that eventually join themselves with a pile of scrapped electronics into a kaiju form and battle Cosmos.
** Peginera from ''Series/UltrasevenX'' is a parasitic space organism made from thousands of tiny individuals answering to a HiveMind. It took over the pharmaceutical company Nano Cybertech and sold each of its individual cells as a drug that enhanced human brain processing, in exchange for becoming Peginera's slaves.
* One scene in the ''Series/WaltDisneyPresents'' episode "Mars and Beyond" shows a pursuing alien transforming from a swarm of insects back into his true form while chasing a secretary.

* Downplayed example: Azhi Dahaka, a three-headed dragon associated with the Zoroastrian apocalypse, has scorpions instead of blood.

[[folder:Web Original]]

* In a non-vermin example, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] once fought a monster that was made up of all 52 issues of ''ComicBook/CountdownToFinalCrisis''.
* It's technically "the swarm of frog fetuses that crawls", but ''Website/{{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.

* Website/{{Questden}}'s Last Of the Messengers: the power of Reality Warping Speech allows people to transform themselves into millions of tiny bugs, among MANY other things. And yes, they do breed with themselves to create more "cells". The main character becomes a collection of octopi.

** [[http://scp-wiki.net/scp-906 SCP-906 ("Scouring Hive").]] SCP-906 are worms that can act as a colonial superorganism and gather together to form a humanoid body.
** [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1249 SCP-1249 ("Pestilence")]]. SCP-1249 is a mass of land-based invertebrates that can form a humanoid body around a human skeleton. The invertebrates replace and function as human organs, muscles and skin.
** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4553 SCP-4553 ("Bob Shepherd, Anthropomorphic Mass of Worms and United States Representative of the 3rd Congressional District of Nebraska")]]. SCP-4553 is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an anthropomorphic mass of worms and a candidate for U.S. Representative of Nebraska's 3rd congressional district]]. He's also likely to win, despite running as an independent in a Republican-dominated district - and despite [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight everyone knowing he's a mass of worms]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingMaurice'', [[spoiler: the Boss Man in charge of the ratcatchers is actually a swarm of rats in a coat and hat, controlled by the Rat King. This being Literature/{{Discworld}}, this is sometimes terrifying, sometimes hilarious (they aren't very coordinated) and sometimes both at once.]]

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' has Dysian Aimian, most heavily feature in ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'' and ''Literature/{{Dawnshard}}''. They are creatures composed of hundreds, if not thousands of tiny crustaceans which the HiveMind breeds to fulfill a specific purpose, like storing memories or seeing. They can function individually, even at great distances, and the BizarreAlienBiology of the planet means that "cremlings" (a generic term for small crusacteans) are all over the place, meaning they can spy on virtually anyone at any time. They can even make up a basic human shape, although most of them are quite bad at it, with only a few actually being able to pass as humans up close, and even those tend to struggle to act like humans.

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' the [[spoiler:Sleepless]] are examples of this, being composed of a number of small cremlings called Hordelings, tiny bugs that can operate separately from the main entity, and even can be specifically bred to have things like extra eyes for the main consciousness to see things far away from itself. They are almost more or less immortal as individual hordlings are replaced, and killing an them means ensuring that almost the Hordelings are killed at once. Although people (understandably) find them very creepy they aren't villains or evil.

* The "throng-bear", an unintelligent variant from ''Literature/IronCouncil''.
* Vaashka and their regressed cousins Tathas in ''Literature/JewelsOfTheDragon''.
* ''Kingdoms of Light'' by Creator/AlanDeanFoster features Khaxan Munderucu, an incredibly powerful giant evil spellcaster. He's really twenty-two goblin mages in a giant TotemPoleTrench, all combining their magic.

** A more comical example from ''A Hat Full of Sky'', reappearing in the subsequent book ''Literature/{{Wintersmith}}'', is [[TotemPoleTrench the Nac Mac Feegles disguising themselves as a human (singular) by stacking themselves up inside several stolen items of clothing]].

** ''Literature/ColdDays'' 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..

* The ''Literature/FelixCastor'' series features loup-garous, human ghosts that manage to force their way into animal bodies and reshape them into human flesh. The first novel has Felix facing down a crime boss's pet were; when he manages to exorcise the ghost steering the body, [[spoiler:it collapses into a swarm of rats]]. Even Felix is freaked out.

* [[PantomimeAnimal Animal costumes]] that require multiple people, the most famous examples being two-person horse costumes and Chinese lion dancers.

* The RatKing is a particularly nasty phenomenon that occurs when black rats get joined together at their tails by filth (which has also been documented to happen in squirrels). Thankfully, given rats' propensity toward grooming themselves, rat kings are rare to the point where some have speculated that existing taxidermies of rat kings are hoaxes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep'': In one episode, the Nekton family encounter a species of [[spoiler:octupus]] that cluster together and [[spoiler:use their camouflage ability to mimic larger creatures]].

[[caption-width-right:250:Worms? Worms? I hate worms. They drive me crazy.]]

* ''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.

* The Pain from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''. While not composed of bees, he is able to control bees by having them sting him until the bees think that he is one of them. To make matters worse, he grows, within him, [[BeeBeeGun Bullet Bees]]. These ones fly to your body and gnaw at your flesh slowly. And yes, he grows them '''within''' his body, launching them from his mouth. Keeping true to the trope, he can make a [[CoolButInefficient life-sized, fully voiced clone of himself]], made of -- you guessed it -- bees. Or they can become a full-sized, working, wood-and-metal Tommy gun (for which the science behind the trick isn't explained until two games later).
** [[spoiler: Organ-replacing Parasites]] in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' act as the game's {{Phlebotinum}}, leading to several characters being this to a greater or lesser degree, including [[spoiler: Skull Face, [[ArtificialZombie The Skulls]], Quiet, and Code Talker. It's even implied that the supernatural powers of the Cobra Unit, including The Pain, are the result of parasite therapy.]]
** ''Videogame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance:'' The FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Senator Steven Armstrong]], is an {{Ambiguous Robot}} that somehow managed to hide his augmented nature from everyone despite being prominent in the public eye complete with [[spoiler:presidential campaign]], augmented by nanomachines in ways your team find unprecedented... except Doktor. He immediately starts theorizing it as a form of "Claytronics", with [[spoiler:Armstrong]] being neither human nor a cyborg, but a thick morass of advanced nanomachines directed to shape, change appearance and harden at will: A huge, superpowerful heap of GreyGoo ''pretending'' to be a human being, or at least feeling the part.

* ''LetsPlay/NewLifeSMP'': The Swarm origin, held by Gem in her first life, is described as being made up of a group of bees.

* Done in the most {{Squick}}tacular way possible in ''Manga/ApocalypseNoToride''. When the four juvenile delinquents escape from the frenzied prison into the zombie-filled streets of the city, they discover to their horror that [[ThatsNoMoon the mountain in the middle of the street is actually a towering mound made of the rotting corpses of the undead]], with a stark-naked figure sitting on the very top like a macabre throne. Then the mound starts moving.

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'' has the Mucoid Empire. Living in Cyberspace and alien species of worm that can form hiveminds and superorganisms.

** The one-shot villain [[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/thousandkingcarl.htm The Thousand]] was made of an army of spiders that jumped from body to body.