The White Worm



The White Worm is an antagonist in The Lair of the White Worm. It is a legendary giant white serpentine dragon. It resides at an ancient Roman cult center, known as Diana’s Grove.

Nathaniel’s description
Sir Nathaniel: “In the dawn of the language, the word ‘worm’ had a somewhat different meaning from that in use to-day. It was an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon ‘wyrm’, meaning a dragon or snake; or from the Gothic ‘waurms’, a serpent; or the Icelandic ‘ormur’, or the German ‘wurm’. We gather that it conveyed originally an idea of size and power, not as now in the diminutive of both these meanings. Here legendary history helps us. We have the well-known legend of the ‘Worm Well’ of Lambton Castle, and that of the ‘Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh’ near Bamborough. In both these legends the ‘worm’ was a monster of vast size and power—a veritable dragon or serpent, such as legend attributes to vast fens or quags where there was illimitable room for expansion.” (1911, Chapter 6)

Film adaption
Scenes from The Lair of the White Worm (1988).