Slime (monster)

In fiction, slimes, also called oozes, are amorphous creatures composed of gelatinous ooze. In literature and film, slimes typically take the role of horrific monsters, while in video games and anime they are often depicted as cute low-level enemies.

An illustration of a slime creature typical of modern depictions

History

Slimes as monsters in literature originated with the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. In his novella At the Mountains of Madness, Lovecraft described shoggoths, shapeless beings made of black slime. Lovecraft's writings would go on to influence later Gothic fiction and other aspects of popular culture.^: 12–17

In the game Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, slimes appear as low-level monsters, which inspired their appearance in Dragon Quest. The Dragon Quest slime, designed by Akira Toriyama, became a highly popular and recognizable character, and went on to influence slimes in other fantasy video games. Slimes in video games are typically 'cute' characters, sometimes appearing not only as common enemies but also as allies or pets. Cute slime characters feature in games such as Slime Rancher, Stardew Valley, Terraria, Minecraft, and The Legend of Zelda franchise.

Slimes also appear in tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons, although their depiction in that game is more horrific, being partially inspired by horror films such as The Blob.^: 193 Slime creatures in Dungeons & Dragons, such as the gelatinous cube, envelop prey before dissolving them in acidic ooze.

In October 2018, the anime That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime released. In the anime, the protagonist is reincarnated in a fantasy isekai world as a small blue slime inspired by the slime from Dragon Quest. This series created a trend of anime featuring cute slimes. In Delicious in Dungeon, slime monsters are a core ingredient in several meals eaten throughout the series.

Analysis

An artistic depiction of a shoggoth, an influential slime monster created by H. P. Lovecraft

According to Steven Shaviro, slime creatures in fiction often take the form of either a unicellular organism or a superorganism, "both of which cannot grasp its complex nature." Additionally, slimes lack the differentiation of organs and tissues that are characteristic of multicellular life. In this difference, slimes are "a collective without individuals, without any specialized parts, and without any sort of articulated (or hierarchical) structure." Marijeta Bradić writes that the motif of slimes in fiction "serves as a tool for questioning the idea of human exceptionalism."

Slime has had symbolic meaning in fiction. In science fiction, slime is often "a metaphor for the intangible or unthinkable", according to designer Steven Heller. Historically, some male writers, including Lovecraft, associated slime with femininity, characterizing women as disgustingly different from men. An example of this symbolism is in Lovecraft's short story "Dagon", which features a monster made of ooze and shares a name with Dagon, a Mesopotamian deity sometimes depicted as a hybrid of a fish and a woman.^: 23–25 American journalist Daniel Engber considered slimes in cinema of the 1980s, such as Slimer and the ectoplasm in Ghostbusters, to be emblematic of cultural fears during the Cold War of nuclear radiation and radioactive slimes created by nuclear weapons.

Writing for Polygon, Ana Diaz described video game slimes as "loyal punching bags", owing to their role as common low-level enemies.

See also

• Slime (toy)

References

1. Wedlich, Susan (2022). Slime: A Natural History. Translated by Türkoğlu, Ayça (First Melville House ed.). Melville House Publishing. ISBN 978-1-68589-020-9.
2. Heller, Steven (2023-08-21). "The Daily Heller: The Existence of Ooze and Slime". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
3. Jason Cipriano (July 9, 2010). "'Dragon Quest' Creator Sheds Light On The Inspiration For The Slime". MTV. MTV Networks and TM MTV Networks. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
4. "Dragon Quest Interview". IGN. 2007-05-25. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
5. McKeever, Madison (2022-06-22). "7 Most Iconic Slimes In Gaming". Game Rant. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
6. Diaz, Ana (2022-03-22). "Which slime is the ultimate slime, according to a polymer chemist". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
7. "How To Play Oozes Like Body-Devouring Terrors". D&D Beyond. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
8. Forest, Richard W. (2014). "Dungeons & Dragons, Monsters in". In Weinstock, Jeffrey (ed.). The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 192–195.
9. Boyar, Michelle (2023-04-12). "How The Gelatinous Cube Works In D&D: Honor Among Thieves (& Why It Burns)". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
10. Freedman, Maxwell (2020-05-03). "Slimes Are Taking Over Manga & Anime... But Where Did They Come From?". CBR. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
11. Egan, Toussaint (2024-02-02). "Delicious in Dungeon's delectable dishes, ranked". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
12. Bradić, Marijeta (2019). "Towards a Poetics of Weird Biology: Strange Lives of Nonhuman Organisms in Literature". Pulse: The Journal of Science and Culture. 6 (1): 1–22. ISSN 2416-111X.
13. Engber, Daniel (2016-07-18). "Out of Slime". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2024-10-10.