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 know the wormy guys' lore. What if they drop some kind of crafting component that explains everything, their names and deeply tragic backstory? The turtles of the base game relinquish their necks on being slain, a foul trophy for the cruelest of Elden Ring players. What if a cryptic lore-carrying Wormy Guy Spleen is but an R1 attack away?

Perhaps some mysteries must remain unsolved, if that's what it requires. I am a sworn friend to all worms, even ones that glow red and attack me as I pass by. I'll wait for someone like Elden Loremaster VaatiVidya to get their hands dirty and produce a 50-minute YouTube video titled something like “The Primeval Tragedy of Shadow of the Erdtree's Goofy Glowing Wormy Guys.”