Shadow of the Erdtree 's trailers and promo images were full of distinctive characters: holy knights and flaming impalers, an ungodly hippopotamus and a masked man snoozing in a purple swamp. But a surprise favorite wound up being a silly little noodle man with a surprised face and wee arms . "Who is this handsome stranger," we all wondered.
"What deeply tragic backstory is he hiding?" Perhaps most important of all: "Will we be forced to bring the wormy man to some manner of tragic end by completing his questline?" After hours and hours of Shadow of the Erdtree play in a full-court press from PC Gamer's Souls-likers, Shadow of the Erdtree's wormy man remains as mysterious as ever. Spoilers, such as they are, for the wormy man to follow. There really doesn't seem to be any story or lore behind the wormy guys —because there are many of them—at least as far as we've found.
They're basically a new form of wildlife in The Land of Shadow, like the beloved turtles or Spirit Jellyfish of the base game, with their coloration having a lot in common with those latter critters. Some of them are placid and friendly, while there are also ones that glow red and attack you as you pass—in predictably goofy fashion too, their red little faces swell up and they vomit glowing strands of something on you for a ton of damage. But they are so goddamn cute, so charming and endearing, that I will never raise my hand against one in anger.
Dear god, maybe that's why we on the PCG team don't.
