How can a knight control a suit of armor when he can barely see out of the helmet visor? For centuries, there have been questionable images, illustrations, and depictions of full-steel armor suits from which knights battled in – the helm almost completely eclipsing their eyesight.
(Some of Henry’s armor mid-late game in Kingdom Come Deliverance comes to mind as I type this.)
What if instead of people, Parasitic Knights – parasites like worms or even vril, manned these suits and fought on behalf of a shared noble cause?
The Medici Mystery: Unearthing the 16th-Century “Worm Knight” Sculpture
I saw in an older TikTok video from a creator I fairly enjoy watching that is currently incarcerated on allegedly false charges. In the video, he discusses a statue that depicts a suit of armor with a worm inside, in lieu of where a human body should reside.
The Worm Knight Military Trope: I managed to track down the source of the “worm knight” sculpture to the “Museo delle Cappelle Medicee”, or the Museum of Medici Chapels found in Florence, Italy.
Silvio Cosini and the Surrealist Legacy of Michelangelo’s Students
The military trophy may have been created by a sculptor named Silvio Cosini, who was a student of the famed Michelangelo. The two statues should ideally be on display in the New Sacristy. Putting the Medici military trophies of arms back on the shelf with a mental bookmark for now, I’d like to discuss the various media that have also employed and kept alive this “military trope”.
The Parasitic Soldier: A Military Trope in Modern Media
The Parasitic Worm Knight in Various Media: In Delicious in Dungeon episode 3, Laios’ and crew encounter and defeat the living armour creatures “Ugoku yoroi” [ 動く鎧 ] in battle. Laios even gets the souvenir of a new sword with a special wing insignia that can “sense danger” prematurely and warn him of any incoming attacks toward the hunting group.
Plaga-Possessed Steel: The Armadura of Resident Evil 4
In Resident Evil 4, “Armadera” are plaga-possessed suits of armor that inhabit Salazar Castle in the Spanish region of Valdelobos. Remember, the military trophy in the Medici Museum from the 1500s resides in Italy – a relatively short distance away from Spain.
Resident Evil lore details that “Las Plagas” (the plague) are parasitic arthropods that are believed to reproduce asexually as the eggs are expelled from the central host and consumed by other animals or beings – which was the case in Delicious in Dungeon.
Las Plagas can reportedly latch onto their host’s nervous system in order to control their movements. Humans possessed by this symbiote exhibit increased aggression and are known as “Ganados”. The plagas form social groups with other affected individuals, and can be lived with and managed unless the host’s brain is damaged.
There are apparently two strains of this species in existence, with one resulting from artificial creation. The artificial plagas were apparently employed by “Los Illuminados”, a paramilitary cult which used the worm in a bioweapon project.
Symbiotic Warfare: From Blade of the Immortal to the Titans of Paradis
Not totally related to suits of armor, but the parasitic worms (“Kaisenchu”) could also be linked to the worms in Blade of the Immortal that grant immortality to its host by healing wounds on their body – perpetually keeping both parties alive through this symbiotic relationship.
Most of us are familiar with these foreign lifeforms in one way or another, as even mainstream anime series like Attack on Titan include real-life symbiotes like hallucigenia sparsa – the source of the titan shifting abilities in their world.
There is a commonality shared between all of these fictional stories: the use of a parasite or symbiote for some degree of military strategy and prowess.
As Mugen is tasked with eliminating criminals to be freed of the curse, the titan shifters are bound by the 145th Fritz king’s “Vow to Renounce War”. Before this, shifters were forced to fight for the glory of Eldia (and terrorize specifically Marley) by the original king over the course of 2,000 years until Eren Yeager’s intervention.
Souls, Shells, and Symbiotes: Redefining the Living Armor
There is also the matter of Sir Robert Strong, Qyburn’s creation after the result of experimenting on The Mountain’s decayed body – but that is an allegory for another time. Despite the circumstances (magic over parasites), we could loosely classify his zombified body amongst other characters on this list.
Alchemy vs. Anatomy: The Case of Alphonse Elric and Earthworm Jim
Moving forward, another (visual) wild card I would like to throw into this theoretical argument until we get to the last character I would like to examine is Alphonse Elric, or Al from the Full Metal Alchemist anime series.
Now of course, Ed accidentally sacrifices Al’s body in an alchemical ritual gone wrong, and this results in Al’s soul being sealed in a steel suit of knight’s armor. While there is no parasite present here, the suit of armor is being moved and controlled by supernatural means (by way of alchemy and magic) and it has a similar appearance to the other armour listed above.
Finally, we come to the 1994 video game Earthworm Jim, which details the saga of a normal earthworm receiving the ability to operate like a human when a special “super suit” of armor falls from the sky.
Jim must defeat the game’s enemies who want the knights’ suit back, and save Princess What’s-Her-Name in typical storybook fashion. There was also an animated series that ran from 1995-1996.
From Elden Ring to Stargate: The Galactic History of Parasitic Conquerors
This one may be a bit of a stretch, but the Tarnished are a race you play as in the video game, Elden Ring. Although not all “Tarnished” wear helmed armour, I just wanted to highlight the similarities in the protagonists’ attire in a world filled with magic, monsters, and parasites.
As the game was supervised and partially written by George RR Martin, we can conclude that some of this lore may be based on the antiquarian annals of Celtic and American (by way of Atlantean) histories if we use his A Song of Ice and Fire novel series as a potential knowledge marker.
Also, the style of the Tarnished’s armour reminds me of the other worm and parasite knight’s armour with helmed visors on the list. (Akin to the “Helmed Horror” character in Dungeons & Dragons.)
The Stargate series also featured a parasitic lifeform called Goa’uld that were an aquatic species of symbiotes from Planet P3x-880 in the Milky Way Galaxy. According to Stargate lore, these beings were a race of conquerors that used their hosts as soldiers, slaves, miners, and even occasionally as false gods.
Whether we’d like to admit it or not, maybe there is some sort of historical pretext for (past) societies reliance on these naturally and artificially occurring fauna – but, tell me your thoughts.
Have you watched a TV show or seen a movie that had a plotline similar to the worm knights and living armor theory I presented above?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, we’d love to hear from you! Also be sure to follow us for more Animation Theories & Analysis!
☆ In Asian Spaces ☆ Ephesians 6:12 ☆
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