Who is WORM that appears in a Crypterior?
In one single Crypterior, you’ll see half the body of a weird creature people have started to call the WORM. Should you wonder who this monster is, here is something for you to meditate on.
In Slavic mythology, vodyanoy is a male water spirit. Vodník in Czech fairy tales is the same creature as the Wassermann or nix of German fairy tales.
Vodyanoy is said to appear as a naked old man with a frog-like face, greenish beard, and long hair, with his body covered in algae and muck, usually covered in black fish scales. He has webbed paws instead of hands, a fish’s tail, and eyes that burn like red-hot coals. He usually rides along his river on a half-sunk log, making loud splashes. Local drownings are said to be the work of the vodyanoy.
When angered, the vodyanoy breaks dams, washes down water mills, and drowns people and animals. (Consequently, fishermen, millers, and also bee-keepers make sacrifices to appease him.) He would drag down people to his underwater dwelling to serve him as slaves.
In Czech, Slovene and Slovak folklore the features of the vodník are markedly different from the East-Slavic conception; he has a completely human constitution and habits, except for few differences — vodníci (plural of vodník) have gills, webbed membranes between their fingers and their skin is algae-green in colour (as well as their hair, which is typically of pale green tone). They can withstand lingering for hours outside their ponds. When they do so, one can certainly discern them by their wet coat-tails from which water is dripping under all circumstances. The vodník’s face is usually unshaven and it is not uncommon for a vodník to have a large, wet, tangled beard.
Czech, Slovenian and Slovak tales have both evil and good vodníci (relative to human beings) who do (or don’t, respectively) try to drown people when they happen to swim in their territory. Vodníci would store the souls of the drowned in porcelain teapots. They consider their teapots as the most valuable heritage and display their “work”, and consider the number of these pots as representative of their wealth and/or status among other vodníci. When the lid of such a pot is removed, the soul within (in a form of a bubble) will escape and be liberated. Except for fish (or perhaps fish spirits), they do not have servants. Otherwise, vodníci spend their time by running their territory or — in their spare time — playing cards, smoking pipes or just sitting at the water surface (on rocks, willows nearby) and loitering. Fishermen ask the vodník for help by placing a pinch of tobacco in the water and saying, “Here’s your tobacco, Lord Vodník, now give me a fish.”
Son of the White Mare (Hungarian: Fehérlófia) is a 1981 Hungarian animated fantasy adventure directed by Marcell Jankovics. The story is based on ancient Hunnic, Avaric and Hungarian legends. The chief protagonist, Fehérlófia (Son of the White Mare), has superhuman powers. The main villain of the story is an ancient mischievous creature called Hétszűnyű Kapanyányi Monyók (Seven Hearted Skull Sized Dick) who is sometimes associated with the abovementioned Vodník. The word Monyók means penis — his is the size of a skull — this refers to this monstruous strength. His beard plays a key role in the Hungarian tale as well.
So, our WORM is an embodiment of all of those mythical characters. His head has surfaced already — but where is the rest of him? Who is going to find out?
