History Main / SandWorm

!!Examples

* ''Anime/DragonBallGT'': These appear in a desert planet.
* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': They appear in the "Acid Tokyo" arc.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}!'' had a [[ThatOneBoss really nasty]] swamp worm as the boss of [[BubblegloopSwamp Splot]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series has some robotic ones in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]'' located in Sandopolis zone. Giant stone sandworms appear in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure''. Alien worms appeared in ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog''. More organic and fiery ones can be found in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' although the latter two seem to prefer any surface, not just sand.

* Nydus Worms in ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'' are an improvement on the first game's Nydus Canals: Load a bunch of units into a Nydus Network building, and have it grow a giant underground worm in another area. The creature bursts out of the ground and begins disgorging tons of units all at once.
* One mission in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIHeartOfTheSwarm'' features an "ash worm" that pops out of the ground to spit acid at your units before burrowing again and popping up somewhere else. It apparently killed a [[HiveQueen Brood Mother]] that way. When slain the Zerg use its DNA to enable Swarm Hosts to move while burrowed.

* The planet Blenjeel from ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy]]'' is loaded with them. There's a reason why you only have to do 4 of 5 missions in each act. Perhaps as a shout-out, you can trick them into eating explosives to distract them from chasing you.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':

* Unlike [[WesternAnimation/TheIntruder first]] [[WesternAnimation/TheIntruderII two]] ''Intruders'', which features a blob monster, [[WesternAnimation/TheIntruderIII the third one]]'s title characters were these. Additionally, [[spoiler: they were trying help get TOM and SARA off the planet because it was dying and help them in exchange for the two taking the youngest and last one of their number with them.]]

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMummy: [[RecycledTheSeries The Animated Series]]'', Imhotep sends a sand worm after the heroes.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' had the Alaskan Bull Worm, which went around eating half the town, prompting Sandy and [=SpongeBob=] to go hunt for it. At one point, Sandy even claims to have found "wormsign", which is [[VisualPun a small wooden sign with "WORM" written on it]]. "It's [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking BIG, SCARY, and PINK]]!"

* Several appear in ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy''.

* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'''s Nuka World DLC adds bloodworms, meter long barbed worms that burst out of the ground and leap for your face.

So you're travelling the desert. A dangerous place, isn't it? You've got dehydration to worry about, of course, then there are heatstroke, [[ScaryScorpions scorpions]], [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent snakes]], [[MoodyMount pack animals of dubious trustworthiness]], and native peoples who may be ruthlessly territorial or just poorly disposed toward your particular ethnicity. But if you think that these are all you have got to worry about, check your setting. If you are somewhere other than Earth, be it a sci-fi or fantasy world, then tread softly, without rhythm, and check the ground often. Because you may just wind up with a case of Sand Worms.

Scaled-up versions of real-life worms, these beasties tunnel through sand and dirt, being halted only by rocky terrain or artificial ground, though often enough they can force their way through that as well. They generally have no eyes or ears, rather detecting vibrations through their bodies. Beyond these basic traits, even the most incidental similarity to real creatures ceases. Sandworms are big, typically ranging between man-sized and resembling something like a moving mountain. They seem to be carnivorous, since they tend to go out of their way to attack and eat anything trudging upon the surface, either leaping without warning to swallow the prey whole or approaching with a [[{{Wormsign}} telltale furrow of disturbed earth]], depending on whether the writers want to give the target a chance to run away. Aside from the worm-like shape, these monsters are also recognizable by their mouths: they are always either [[LampreyMouth completely round]] or [[FlowerMouth trifurcated]], lined with rows of teeth, and with long tentacular tongues, the better to grab you by the feet and reel you in.

Even in the best of cases, these are obvious instances of [[ArtisticLicenseBiology artistic license]]; it simply isn't possible for a creature so dense and large to pass that easily through heavy earth, [[SandIsWater even if it is fine sand]]. Failure to observe the SquareCubeLaw also applies, especially in larger cases, and especially since worms don't have any internal support structure such as a skeleton. (Exceptions may be made for low-gravity worlds and/or worms with a BizarreAlienBiology.) Not to mention how does that thing sustain itself? They are usually depicted as being carnivorous, and huge. Nothing is even close to its size, and it doesn't feed ''that'' often. Even so, it would be sustaining itself on creatures less than a hundredth its size. And it lives in the deserts, which have much less biomass than other biomes.

* ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'': According Miyazaki himself, the Ohmus are partly inspired by ''Dune'''s Sandworms, though they don't really burrow and look more like pillbugs. The name is actually a dual pun on both "King Bug" (''Oh-Mushi'') and the way Sandworm is pronounced in Japanese (''Sando Uohmu'').

* ''Anime/{{Vexille}}'' uses this, in the form of Jags, giant revolving tubes of scrap metal that make their way across the desert outside Tokyo. They eat more metal to survive, which means that it's really not a good idea to drive cars out there. Also the reason why there's a "giant concrete gate" outside the main city. They also die when they fall into the water, a fact which is used to great effect in the movie.

* ''Manga/SandsOfDestruction'' has sand ''whales''. They look like large, green worms with flippers and vaguely-whale-like heads. The [[Anime/SandsOfDestruction anime]] mentions that they're attracted to sound, as it's difficult to actually see in the sand.

* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', the Medusa Worm is a card that, when flip summoned, can destroy an opponents monster. You can then flip it back down so it can eat your opponents monsters again next turn.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' series ''ComicBook/DCRetroactiveSuperman'', the "Cruiser" is a genetically-engineered, blind, worm-like burrowing creature whose huge mouth, shark-like rows of teeth, tiny clawed upper limbs and corrosive skin secretions allow it to burrow through bedrock at great speed.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The scavenger worms on Hope's End, whose mouths are ringed with arachnid looking legs to better pull bodies in.

* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'' has relatively normal-sized burrowing worms in the Windswept Wastes, and a gigantic one that resembles a cross between a ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' worm and a [[Film/{{Tremors}} Graboid]] during {{That One| Boss}} EscapeSequence at the end of the Windtorn Ruins.

* The sand worm design in Creator/DenisVilleneuve's ''Film/{{Dune|2021}}'' eschews the pedipalps for a LampreyMouth, but its massive scale is perhaps the best rendered out of all examples on this page, thanks to flawless CGI. The film also adds an additional explanation as to how the sand worms can swim through sand, namely that the sandworms use the real life process of fluidization (where sand can be made to act like a liquid by blowing air through it), which also means the sandworms are [[QuicksandSucks living quicksand generators]].

* In ''Literature/TheCityWhoFought'', Simeon is attacked by a literal "worm" program, two metres thick with rows of rotating concentric teeth -- apparently based on a real creature.

* The first stage of ''Andro Dunos'' has scorpion-like creatures that burrow under the sand and then emerge to fire off shots. They're not that large or aggressive, though.

* ''Armageddon 2'', a map-pack for Skulltag, has a pair of these as bosses in the "Sand Worm Trench" level. They don't swallow people, just breathe fire at them (and are lanky, looking somewhat like snakes).

** These monstrosities are living, breathing, adventurer-eating ''entrances'' to [[BonusBoss special boss fights]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI''. There are also much smaller person-sized worms that cast magic-- although considering they are immobile in combat, it's needed to prevent them from being too damn easy to kill with ranged attacks.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'' had these infesting the planet Motavia, with an enterprising farmer deciding to open a sandworm ranch. Unfortunately, it gets too big for its britches, and thus becomes one of the first ([[ThatOneBoss and hardest]]) BonusBoss fights in the game at that point. You often fought baby Sandworms in RandomEncounters, and at least one variant, if you left a single one alive, would run off and summon [[MamaBear Mama]] (another full-sized one like the boss mentioned above). When you get the [[TankGoodness Land Rover]], one of the enemies you ran into was a PaletteSwap of the Sandworm, while swaps of both the small and large kind could be found in the planet's oceans.

* The BonusBoss of ''[[Website/GaiaOnline zOMG!]]'' shares its name with this trope's alternate title/humorous variation: Landshark. It is, quite literally, a shark that swims through (and appears to be made of) sand. Other than than its anatomy, it acts almost exactly like a sandworm, burrowing underground and eating unsuspecting Gaians.(It can kill a [[PowerLevels CL 10.0]] Player with multiple armor buffs and a health boost in 3 hits, and unbuffed players in [[OneHitKill less than that]]. It took 3 6-Person Crews of CL 10 players to take it down. Plus the area it spawns in is usually filled with CL ''5'' players).

* The ''Series/{{Dune}}'' miniseries.
* An episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' called "The Invisible Enemy" had an astronaut team investigating why a previous landing party had vanished and their ship destroyed. They barely escape after being attacked by ''[[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant]] [[SandIsWater sand]] [[ThreateningShark sharks]]''.
* ''Series/SeaquestDSV'' featured a giant, fire-breathing worm that lived in underwater caves.

* The sand worm design in Creator/DenisVilleneuve's ''Film/{{Dune|2021}}'' eschews the pedipalps for a LampreyMouth, but its massive scale is perhaps the best rendered out of all examples on this page, thanks to flawless CGI.

* ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor'': The Asgardian desert has giant sand worms.

* These appeared in a desert planet in ''Manga/DragonBall GT''.
* They appear in the Acid Tokyo arc of ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle''.

* Sand worms appeared in one episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', when Excel fell through a trapdoor and came out in a desert.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. The hollow Bawabawa acts like one of these in desert-like Hueco Mundo, including giving the protagonists a ride to Las Noches.
* According to WordOfGod, the Ohmus from ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' are partly inspired by ''Dune'''s Sandworms, though they don't really burrow and look more like pillbugs. The name is actually a dual pun on both "King Bug" (''Oh-Mushi'') and the way Sandworm is pronounced in Japanese (''Sando Uohmu'').
* ''Anime/TheBigO''. In episode 17 "Leviathan", the title megadeus is a giant mechanical version.

* On some occasions, sandworms appear in ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon''.

* In the original ''[[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics Knuckles the Echidna]]'' mini-series, Knuckles encountered a sand worm in the Floating Island's desert, Sandopolis Zone.
* ''[[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]]'': The Asgardian desert has giant sand worms.
* The Sandlings of ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'' are burrowing desert {{kaiju}} with looks of something between this and GiantEnemyCrab.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

* ''VideoGame/SeriousSam 3: BFE'' has sand worms, which are known as Sand Whales for their sheer bulk. Contrary to the usual example, these (unkillable game-wise) bad boys eat mineral matter without a damn to give about mostly everything; they are nothing more than ''extremely'' territorial, though, which makes them a perfectly diegetic example of BorderPatrol on the more open-ended levels.

* The seaside-dwelling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugworm lugworms]] are commonly referred to as "sandworms" in various languages. The sea annelid [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nereis_virens Allita virens]] is also [[NamesTheSame known under the same name]], [[CallASmeerpARabbit but that's about as far as the connection goes...]]