History Main / TheSwarm

->''"Oh no, not the bees! Not the beeeeeeeeesssssss! ARGGHHHHHH! They're IN MY EYES! MY EYEEEEEES!"''
-->-- '''Edward Malus''', ''Film/TheWickerMan2006''

-->''"Daleks, aim for the eyestalk; Sontarans, back of the neck. Vashta Nerada? [[DontAskJustRun ...Run. Just run]]."''

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1589084581067570200
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[Literature/BookOfExodus https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_eighth_plague_locusts.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:''[[WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt I send the locusts on a wind, such as the world has never seen.\\
On every leaf, on every stalk, until there's nothing left of green!]]'']]-]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion in the Caption Repair thread:
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

* ''Literature/{{Prey}}:'' Creator/MichaelCrichton's 2004 thriller on [[HiveMind collectively adapting swarms]] of nano-machines programmed with predatory behavior, eventually reveals that they can [[OrganicTechnology self replicate]] using specialized E. Coli colonies, AND they can slip through cracks, vents, [[BodyHorror even your pores]]. [[GoneHorriblyRight What could possibly go wrong?]]

* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. The [[ManEatingPlant shambler trees]] are host to an entire ecology of carnivorous symbiotes who swarm when they sense the vibrations of nearby prey.
* The German novel ''Literature/DerSchwarm'' which translates literally into The Swarm features the Yrr, a collective of one-cell beings that live in the deep sea and can combine into intelligent beings. They try to eradicate humanity for destroying the environment.

* ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'': Wig-wigs. They're small. They're fluffy. They have huge mouths with rows of razor sharp teeth. And there's hundreds of them.
* "Literature/LeiningenVersusTheAnts", a short story by Carl Stephenson, is about a Brazilian plantation owner who takes on a mass of army ants. Adapted for an episode of the ''Escape'' radio program, the movie ''The Naked Jungle'', and even an episode of ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}''.
* The Silver Threads in Literature/DragonridersOfPern.
* "Sandkings", a short story by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin, which was adapted (with numerous changes) into an ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode. Simon Kress, a rich and vain {{Jerkass}} whose hobby is collecting dangerous pets, stops into TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday, and purchases four groups of the titular insectoids. The shopkeeper tells him that they will literally worship him by carving his likeness into their sandcastles, and the four "armies" will make war upon each other, for Simon's amusement. The shopkeeper also warns him to be patient, to give them time to grow and mature, and to treat them well. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard He isn't, and he doesn't]].

* Literature/TheBible:
** Remember the 10 plagues of Egypt? Plague #2 was frogs, plague #3 was gnats/lice/fleas, plague #4 was flies or wild animals (depending on the interpretation), and plague #8 was locusts.
** And in the book of Revelation, one of the Trumpet Judgments is a swarm of demon locusts that infect people without the seal of God on their foreheads with a maddening delirium that lasts for five months.
* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series, the Vord are one of these. Picture 8 foot tall cockroaches with a GeniusBruiser, speedy, MadeOfIron Queen.
* Drog beetles in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''. They're docile and harmless individually, but the more they are the more aggressive they act, and in large enough numbers they start [[EatenAlive going after people]]. In ''The Swarm'' a character peripherally notices that clouds are covering the sun, and in another moment realizes that those aren't ''storm'' clouds...

* [[EldritchAbomination The Swarm of Night]] from ''Literature/TheChathrandVoyages'' isn't one in the most technical sense (it's made up of millions of tiny black, bug-like spirits but all are part of the same entity and guided by the same purpose) but certainly resembles one enough to earn its name. It exists to patrol the border between the living world and the underworld, preventing either from troubling the other, but when loosed into the living world it becomes attracted to acts of death and violence (such as large battles) that are already in progress and "completes" them (by killing everyone left alive). This causes it to grow larger, and if it grows large enough, it can (and will) consume the entire planet. [[spoiler: The BigBad deliberately set it free so that his GodOfEvil patrons would be impressed enough by his destruction of a world to elevate him to godhood himself]].
* ''Literature/TheAdversaryCycle'': In ''Nightworld'', portals to AnotherDimension have opened sending nightmare creatures swarming across the Earth, including "chew-wasps" which have MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, "spearheads" (a flying spike that impales and sucks out the victim's blood), "belly-flies" (floating sacs of acid) and "man-o-wars" (just think tentacles). Humanity barely has a grip on these horrors with steel mesh defenses and flamethrowers when even bigger monsters start coming through...
* ''Literature/TheManWithTheTerribleEyes'' has an army of quasi-sapient beetles that live inside the Man's sofa. They eat people who try and mess with him after he befriends them.
* ''Literature/EdenGreen'' contains both 'exes', X-shaped monsters that swarm up against their prey, and general hordes of black needle monsters.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' there is a small planet called Nifhleim that is completely covered with mysterious microscopic creatures(either biological or robotic). Anything that comes to the surface is devoured in hours.
* A particularly horrifying subsect of the [[ReligionOfEvil Baali]] in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' is known as the Avatars of the Swarm. They believe that their entire purpose in life is to breed ghouled [[FliesEqualsEvil swarms of flies]]... [[BodyHorror inside their bodies]]. And [[NightmareFuel their vicitms]]. And they're not even the worst of the Baali!

* In ''VideoGame/BioShock'' series, the "Insect Swarm" Plasmid allows you to release a swarm of bees [[BeeBeeGun from your hand]].

* Known derisively as 'blobbing' in ''VideoGame/EVEOnline'' this is the primary tactic of the infamous Goonswarm alliance leading to their adoption of the Bee as an emblem. Don't let that fool you, the Goons have some very competent players and strategists but the alliance structure is such that the majority simply default to the 'Jihadswarm' approach.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', Morrigan and other mages with the [[VoluntaryShapeshifting Shapeshifter]] specialization can become one. If they master their shapeshifting, they even can drain life from nearby enemies.

* ''VideoGame/AlienSwarm'' gives us [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the swarm]].

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. [[spoiler: In the Suicide Mission, you must navigate through a corridor of Collector Swarms that will kill you. If you don't pick the right biotic for the job, one of your squadmates will be killed by the swarm. Shepard also runs for dear life back to the Normandy at the very end away from the swarm and other Collectors.]]
* ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'': Failing the Truth Puzzle (the spot the difference rooms in Daniella's area) results in Fiona being locked in the room, with a swarm of beetles/scarabs flying in from the air vent to eat her alive. The last shot we see before the game over screen is of [[NauseaFuel one crawling out of the human mannequin's mouth]].

* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' has swarms of insects as a certain enemy type. [[FridgeLogic You can stab them to death with swords and they drop suits of armor]].
* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' expansion ''Wrath Of The Lamb'' introduces the Swarmer enemy, little more than a withered humanoid head serving as a nest for a cloud of flies.
* While not a swarm of insects per se, the Swarm from ''VideoGame/SpiralKnights'' is this. Basically, it's a bunch of black particles that corrupt and infect anything they touch, including enemies. While traces of it can be found in Spark and Roar's last floor, most of the deadly substance is thankfully sealed away within the Shadow Lairs. Unfortunately, said Shadow Lairs are literally ''replicas'' of the boss levels, including the bosses themselves. Considering that the Swarm needs to infect something first to take its form, this implies something very dark... Thankfully, however, Knights are immune to it. That's not even the worst of it; after beating the Swarm-infested bosses, you are sent into the Unknown Passage: an ''entire'' section of the Clockworks that serves as a sort of breeding ground for the monsters; this is also where the Swarm reaches it's highest concentration. To make matters even worse, it's implied that King Tinkizar is the one that created the Swarm, as there Gremlin corpses lying on the ground...
* In ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', Kryll are swarming bat-like creatures which come out at night and devour any living creature dumb enough to step out of a [[WeakenedByTheLight well-lit area]]. The Locust Horde, despite their name, are ''not'' this, as they are human-sized or bigger (although General RAAM has the power to control Kryll and uses them in battle). Their replacements in ''Gears of War 4'' are literally called "The Swarm", but they also do not apply.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'':
** Keese sometimes come in big groups. They will, however, fly away if Link kills a few of them.
** Small swarms of bees attack anything nearby if their hive is destroyed. They're fairly slow and weak, though, and weapons can be used to discombobulate them.
* In VideoGame/XCOM2, more specifically the ''War of the Chosen'' expansion, the Spectre appears to be this: it dissolves into a swarm when moving, and uses clearly swarm-like powers when it uses some of its abilities. However, it has a ''very'' solid structure when it reforms, and when it dies, it "locks" into the solid form, such that Tygan can only guess that it's made of nanobots.
* There are ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'' characters based on insect swarms, and thanks to how even a single attack can interrupt opponents, they become quite lethal:
** The "Wasp Hive" character, which is a wasp hive who spawns a swarm of wasps that can very easily overwhelm an enemy thanks to dealing counterattack damage if attacked.
** The "Mosquitoes" character is made up of several small, weak mosquitoes that die in one hit but are easily replaced as long as there is enough HP. They deal very weak damage individually, but their SynchronizedSwarming allows them to deal DeathOfAThousandCuts when attacking.
* ''VideoGame/{{Timesplitters}} Future Perfect'': A veritable ''carpet'' of creepy-crawlies is but one of the hazards in the first half of the haunted-house section. A flamethrower works wonders on them...that is, ''if'' you survive the onslaught.

* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' Gladys Shipman designs a swarm of insects which she's modified to inject subjects with various types of venom, intending to use it as a method to apply vaccinations to large groups of people at a time. In order to get funding, she also adapted it to work with non-lethal paralyzing venoms for crowd control.
* ''WebOriginal/{{Serina}}'': This happens twice in Serina's natural history.
** The first happens in the first few million years with the empire ants who live in enormous supercolonies, however they are arguably a {{Deconstruction}} of this trope as they quickly consume all the creatures that can sustain them and they eventually die out after becoming infested by parasitic beetle larvae they caught from raiding other ant nests in desperation.
** The second time are the billon stingers who are like army ants on steroids, they don't live in supercolonies so their numbers are sustainable but they can still skeletonize larger animals in minutes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': Scraplets do this to living metal. They also look [[GrotesqueCute adorable]], right up until they [[GameFace open their mouths to show rows and rows of teeth,]] fly at their chosen victim, and eat them alive from the inside out, piece by piece.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' dealt with Verminous Skumm engineering a breed of locust that fed off of pesticides, causing the locals' efforts of [[AnAesop (environmentally unfriendly)]] eradication to merely exacerbate the infestation.

* Played for comedy in ''WesternAnimation/{{Blackfly}}'', when the narrator, working in north Ontario on building a dam, is plagued incessantly by clouds of infuriating and relentless black flies.

* ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'' has Lutecia's Insekt, the only one of her [[SummonMagic bug summons]] that doesn't fall under BigCreepyCrawlies. They are, however, always summoned in droves during combat.
* ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'' has a swarm of locusts as a MonsterOfTheWeek that tried to eat the animals' farm and its [[AlternateContinuity 2009 TV-special]] takes things to the next logical step by introducing ''[[OhCrap carnivorous locusts]].''

* Similar to the paranoid schizophrenics example in TruthInTelevision below, [[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Rena Ryuguu]] has[[spoiler:n't, as it is all a delusion caused by the [[HatePlague Syndrome]],]] maggots in her veins during the Atonement Arc. This leads her to claw at her wrists and neck - and she won't stop until they're all gone. She also had this problem when she [[spoiler:contracted Hinamizawa Syndrome in Ibaraki]], before the story even started, meaning she's had this happen ''at least once'' in every arc. And while we only see a few at a time during the main part of the arc, Rena's earlier description/flashback of the first time [[NauseaFuel shows them literally]] ''[[NauseaFuel flowing out]]''.
* Shino Aburame from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is an example similar to the Lutecia one above. His (and most, if not all of his clan's for that matter) abilities consist of manipulating a swarm of chakra-eating parasitic insects that he houses within his own body. Needless to say, it's never pretty when they find their next meal.

* The Flea from ''ComicBook/PS238'' has the power to control insects, and he's used this as an offensive weapon on several occasions, though not to this trope's usual level, as he is limited to what's actually in the area and can get there fast.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'', there's one composed of bats that Mandrake summons to [[spoiler:block out the moon]].

* The page quote comes from Nicholas Cage's character in ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'', where Edward is subject to the bee mask by the villagers.
* Creator/IrwinAllen's ''Film/TheSwarm'' has a swarm African killer bees terrorizing Texas.
* In ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' there are ''rivers'' of carnivorous scarabs which the main characters get fairly good at avoiding, but others are not so fortunate.
%%* ''The Naked Jungle'' (ants)
%%* ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'' (tooth fairies)
%%* The 2008 remake of ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008'' ([[GreyGoo nanomachines]])
%%* ''Film/{{Shivers}}'' aka ''They Came from Within'' (parasites)
%%* ''Film/{{Squirm}}'' (earthworms... WITH TEETH!)
%%* Killer cockroaches in ''Film/DamnationAlley''
%%* ''Centipede Horror'', a 1982 Hong Kong film. High Octane NauseaFuel.
* Every ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' film has had a large swarm of disgusting creepy-crawlies to torment Indy, his love interest, and anyone else following him. The [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk first film]] had [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes snakes]], [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom the second]] insects and other bugs, [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade the third]] rats and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull the fourth]] giant ants.
* In ''Film/TheSorcerersApprentice'', Horvath pulls a move similar to that in the aforementioned Mummy Trilogy: he can shapeshift into a swarm of insects that form a rough human-shaped outlined before morphing back into himself.

* ''Film/TheyNest'' featured some sort of African species of cockroach arriving on a Maine island, and burrowing in peoples' abdomens. They swarm their victims at several points.
* ''Film/TheLastWitchHunter'' has the Witch Queen using Plague Flies to spread Black Death. When they're let loose, the swarm is big enough to blot out the skies.

* In ''Film/{{Bats}}'', the genetically engineered killer bats attack the town in their thousands.
* ''Film/TheSilence2019''[='=]s momsters, the vesps, are individually no bigger than a seagull but move and hunt in huge flocks, descending upon their victims in a shrieking tide of fangs and bodies.

With monsters, bigger is not always better. Sometimes tiny can be terrifying if you have [[ZergRush overwhelming numbers working for you]]. [[TruthInTelevision Nature has plenty of examples of this]] and many of them have found their way into the movies. [[BeeAfraid Swarming bees]], ants, locusts, piranha, etc. have all frightened moviegoers. Sci-Fi and Horror have added swarming terrors that go beyond things found in the back yard.

** In the Literature/BookOfExodus, all-consuming locusts were one of the plagues sent by God upon Egypt, to persuade an intractable Pharaoh to let His people go.

[[caption-width-right:350: ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt I send the locusts on a wind, such as the world has never seen. On every leaf, on every stalk, until there's nothing left of green!]]'']]

[[quoteright:350: ''[[WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt I send the locusts on a wind, such as the world has never seen. On every leaf, on every stalk, until there's nothing left of green!]]'']]

[[quoteright:237:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheSwarm_9483.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:237:ConservationOfNinjutsu is ''not'' going to apply here.]]
[-[[caption-width-right:237:[[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1132136/Locusts-swarm-huge-clouds-high-mood-boosting-chemical-say-experts.html Photo]] by [[http://www.reuters.com/ Reuters.]]]]-]

** All-consuming locusts were also one of the plagues sent by God upon Egypt, to persuade an intractable Pharaoh to let His people go.

* "Literature/LeiningenVersusTheAnts", a short story by Carl Stephenson, is about a Brazilian plantation owner who takes on a mass of army ants. Adapted for an episode of the ''Escape'' radio program, the movie ''The Naked Jungle'', and even an episode of ''Series/MacGyver''.

[[folder:Mythology]]
* Literature/TheBible:

** 3.5 Druids have a PrestigeClass called Swarm Lord. They can shapeshift into swarms and control them-normally swarms and vermin are off limits to druids.

** Also Parasites, Scarabs, Tallon Crabs and Lumigeks in the original Prime. There's quite a lot of small weak enemies that appear in large numbers in the game. They're not quite as deadly as Ingstorms tho (doing only minor damage while Ingstorms will kill you really quick without the Light Suit).

* ''Film/TheBirds''. With [[CaptainObvious birds.]]

* There's a ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'' characters based on insect swarms, and thanks to how even a single attack can interrupt opponents, they become quite lethal:
* The "Wasp Hive" character, which is a wasp hive that spawns a swarm of wasps that can very easily overwhelm an enemy thanks to dealing counterattack damage if attacked.
* The "Mosquitoes" character is made up of several small, weak mosquitoes that die in one hit but are easily replaced as long as there is enough HP. They deal very weak damage individually, but their SynchronizedSwarming allows them to deal DeathOfAThousandCuts when attacking.

* The "Wasp Nest" character, which spawns a swarm of wasps that can very easily overwhelm an enemy thanks to dealing counterattack damage if attacked.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': The Sandkings from the first episode are a swarm that digs through sand and builds things in them and... ITS FULL HORROR!!!

* Due to a complex and not completely understood phenomena, local jellyfish populations will occasionally have so called 'blooms' where they're reproduction rate increases exponentially and they start congregating into large swarms. While most of this swarms 'only' consists of a few hundreds to a few thousand individuals, the exception is the ''mauve stinger'', whose swarm's can measure in ''billions(!)'' during blooms and has on several occasions wiped out entire Salmon farms.

* In VideoGame/Xcom2, more specifically War of the Chosen, we have the Spectre, a robot composed of nanobots, that dissolves for everything except standing, shooting and dying.

* TheBible:

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'': During the Ten Plagues sequence, Moses uses God's power to send swarms of locusts after the Egyptians.

** The ''original'' Magic Swarm is [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&name=Plague+Rats Plague Rats]], whose power and toughness were both equal to the number of Plague Rats in play. Long after the ObviousRulePatch that limited copies of a single card to 4 per 60-card deck, they made an updated version called [[http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=relentless%20rats Relentless Rats]].

[-[[caption-width-right:237:[[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1132136/Locusts-swarm-huge-clouds-high-mood-boosting-chemical-say-experts.html Photo]] by [[http://www.reuters.com/ Reuters]].]]-]