The Worm In Waiting vs The Worm Has Turned – Know The Worm You Need

Are you searching for the (earth) worm in the long-lived metaphorical expression The worm has turned or the virtual mystical Worm in the Stellaris game? 

Scroll down and find what you need! 

All the (fictional) worms you wanna know are here! 

The Worm Has Turned 

If you are a fan of metaphorical expressions and love to use them to express your thoughts, don’t miss out on this one! 

Origin

The worm has turned, or Even the worm will turn derived from an old proverb (collected in 1546 by John Heywood), “Treade a worme on the tayle, and it must turne agayne.” 

Then Shakespeare used this in modified form in Henry VI, Part III, when Clifford says: 

“Who  ‘scapes the lurking serpent’s mortal sting? Not he who sets foot upon her back. The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on, and doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.” 

It is worth noting that worms here could also refer to a snake or other long small crawly creature. As in medieval England, snakes were called worms. 

For example, in Anthony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare refers to “the pretty worme of Nylus’ ‘ which means ”the pretty snake of the Nile”.

The implication being that even the most humble and weakest creature will turn to fight if you oppress them so badly and unfairly. 

Watch Video: The Worm Has Turned – YouTube

Usage

You say the worm has turned or even the worm will turn if someone who has endured lots of bad treatment from other people in silence, unexpectedly decides that they are not going to accept their situation any longer, and speak or act for themselves. 

Example in sentences: 

  • He is a mild-mannered dude, but even a worm will turn. 
  • It seems the worm has turned – after years of silence indigenous people are beginning to protest about deforestation in Brazil. 
  • Jake has always bullied everyone around, but today in the class Mary stood up to her. The worm has turned!

Ever heard of this sassy expression? Closed Mouths Don’t Get Fed 

How Popular Is The Worm Has Turned? 

As Assata Shakur said: ”Where there is oppression, there will be resistance”. Whether it is personal or systemic oppression, resisting unfairness has proved human nature. 

You can see this metaphorical expression relates to our everyday life and the society we live in, and mankind’s history. 

”The worm – that mysterious creature beloved of political junkies and hated by politicians”, Fleur Anderson – Senior Reporter of Finance Review hilariously commented. 

In politics, you probably come across this phrase quite often in Op-ed articles and political cartoons with a mocking tone. The idiom can be embellished to suit the context, for example: the worm has violently turned, how the debate worm turns, unhappy worms have turned, etc. 

Check out some popular examples and maybe try using them when you talk politics: 

When Trump decided to accept the impeachment appeal:  

When  Hubbard wanted to mock Peter Dunne and the Health & Safety reforms, they made this cartoon:

How Popular Is The Worm Has Turned?
The Worm Has Turned. Source: @bryce_edwards

The Worm In Waiting

Totally unrelated to the idiom ‘the worm has turned/even the worm will turn’, the worm in waiting is a mysterious creature from A Grand Strategy 4x science-fiction game Stellaris. 

What Is It? 

Stellaris is a real-time grand strategy game that revolves around space exploration, managing an empire, diplomacy, and space warfare with other space-faring civilizations. 

 As you complete challenges in the Horizon Signal Event Chain, you will someday reach the temple that is dedicated to the “Waiting Worm” or the “Worm-in-Waiting.” 

The Worm In Waiting
The Worm In Waiting. Source: SpaceBattles

What Is It For? 

There are multiple options to proceed: whether to seal the temple away and end the event chain, then gain 100-600 influence. Or choose to explore the temple and earn a 5% boost to population happiness and 300-2000 society research points. 

In case your Empire is spiritualist, you can turn the temple into a pilgrimage place, boosting the population’s happiness by 10%. 

The Waiting Worm 

In this temple, anytime a science ship enters a black hole system, it will trigger a mysterious worm. 

According to VS Battles Wiki, The Worm has been waiting for all species since before they even appeared, wanting to express “love”, but love to the worm is completely different from how we understand the concept. The Worm desires to romantically “love” an entire species (And which species differs depending on game mechanics), and will essentially subject mortals to psychological torture just to be loved back. However, its love is genuine (Such as when it literally writes beings love poems), despite its extremely unnatural methods of showing it.

Watch Video: Stellaris – Dimensional Horror Mechanics – YouTube

What Will The Worm Give You If You Embrace It? 

Embracing the love of the Worm in Waiting is a tough road that requires (lots of) sacrifice, for example, admirals, scientists, bodily integrity, and the stars. 

However, in return, the love of the Worm will improve you. 

Your understanding of this being will lead you to technologies of great benefit: the Spiral-Hub planet is unique which provides +20% energy/-5% happiness, a definite improvement over the T2 Power Hub (15% energy). 

The Final Thoughts 

You might be surprised with how popular the Worm figure is in different contexts. And that just shows how creative and well-observed humans can be! 

To learn more about interesting idioms, popular slangs and phrases, we recommend checking out College Life corner and Jobandedu– where we debunk the common, misunderstood terms and explain phrases and expressions in the simplest manners! 

Sophia Rose

Sophia Rose works full-time at JobandEdu and has been a sorority member and leader since 2020. She has authored hundreds of articles on determining the career path, sorts of employment, the job-seeking process, and self-improvement as a devoted leader and aid to others. Despite her countless accomplishments, Sophia knows the hardships of securing a position in the employment market as a novice. On top of that, she's eager to share her command and life-long experience through her writings.