In fiction, slimes, also called oozes, are amorphous creatures composed of

gelatinous Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

ooze. In literature and film, slimes typically take the role of horrific monsters, while in video games and

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

, they are often depicted as cute low-level enemies.

History

Slimes as monsters in literature originated with the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. In his novella ''

At the Mountains of Madness ''At the Mountains of Madness'' is a science fiction-horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in February/March 1931 and rejected that year by ''Weird Tales'' editor Farnsworth Wright on the grounds of its length. It was ori ...

'', Lovecraft described

shoggoth A shoggoth (occasionally shaggoth) is a fictional monster in the Cthulhu Mythos. The beings were mentioned in passing in H. P. Lovecraft's sonnet cycle ''Fungi from Yuggoth'' (1929–30) and later described in detail in his novella ''At the Moun ...

s, shapeless beings made of black slime. Lovecraft's writings would go on to influence later

Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ...

and other aspects of popular culture. Slimes have appeared as monsters in tabletop games such as ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

'' since the first printing in 1974, being partially inspired by horror films such as ''

The Blob ''The Blob'' is a 1958 American science fiction horror film directed by Irvin Yeaworth, and written by Kay Linaker and Theodore Simonson. It stars Steve McQueen (in his first feature film leading role) and Aneta Corsaut and co-stars Earl Rowe ...

''. Slime creatures in ''Dungeons & Dragons'', such as the

gelatinous cube A gelatinous cube is a fictional monster from the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. It is described as a ten-foot cube of transparent gelatinous ooze, which is able to absorb and digest organic matter. Creative origins Oozes are ...

, envelop prey before dissolving them in acidic ooze. The ''Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting '' Spelljammer: Adventures in Space'' (2022) introduced plasmoids as a playable race, making the "ability to reshape their body to their needs" available to players. Drawing from their depiction in ''Dungeons & Dragons,'' '' Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord'' features slimes as low-level monsters, which in turn inspired their appearance in ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project ( Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo ( Koichi Sugiyama) to its pu ...

''. The ''Dragon Quest'' slime, designed by

Akira Toriyama is a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He first achieved mainstream recognition for his highly successful manga series '' Dr. Slump'', before going on to create '' Dragon Ball'' (his best-known work) and acting as a character des ...

, 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 slimes feature in games such as ''

Slime Rancher ''Slime Rancher'' is a first-person life simulation adventure video game developed and published by American indie studio Monomi Park. The game was released as an early access title in January 2016, with an official release on Windows, mac ...

'', ''

Stardew Valley ''Stardew Valley'' is a simulation role-playing video game developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. Players take the role of a character who takes over their deceased grandfather's dilapidated farm in a place known as Stardew Valley. The game wa ...

'', ''

Terraria ''Terraria'' is an action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows on May 16, 2011, and has since been ported to several other platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting ...

'', ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before bein ...

'', and ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-releas ...

'' franchise. In the 2013 light novel series ''

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime , also known as ''Regarding Reincarnated to Slime'' and short name , is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by , and illustrated by Mitz Vah. The story is about a salaryman who is murdered and reincarnates in a sword and ...

'', the protagonist is reincarnated in a fantasy

isekai is a Japanese genre of speculative fiction—both portal fantasy and science fiction are included. It includes novels, light novels, films, manga, anime and video games that revolve around a person or people who are transported to and have to ...

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 is a Japanese fantasy comedy ''seinen'' manga series written and illustrated by . The series is published in Enterbrain's '' Harta'' magazine. Yen Press has licensed the series in North America. An anime television series adaptation produced b ...

'', slime monsters are a core ingredient in several meals eaten throughout the series. Other examples of Japanese media featuring slimes are ''

By the Grace of the Gods is a Japanese light novel series written by Roy and illustrated by Ririnra about a man who dies alone who is chosen by three gods to reincarnate into a world of fantasy, using his past knowledge combined with new powers bestowed by the gods ...

'', ''

I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level is a Japanese light novel series written by Kisetsu Morita and illustrated by Benio. It was serialized online since 2016 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō and, in the following year, it was acquired b ...

'', '' In Another World with My Smartphone'', ''

Fluffy Paradise is a Japanese light novel series written by Himawari. Originally posted to the Shōsetsuka ni Narō novel posting website in November 2012, the series was later acquired by Futabasha, who began publishing the series with illustrations by Ki ...

'', and ''

Dungeon People is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by . It has been serialized in Futabasha's ' website since June 2020, with its chapters collected in five volumes as of June 2024. An anime television series adaptation produced by OLM aired ...

''. A subcategory of slime creatures are slime girls, which are slimes that take a feminine humanoid appearance rather than an amorphous form. These monsters have appeared in media such as ''Monster Girl Encyclopedia'', ''Monster Girl Quest'', and ''

Monster Musume is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Okayado. The series is published in Japan by Tokuma Shoten in their '' Monthly Comic Ryū'' magazine and by Seven Seas Entertainment in the United States, with the chapters collected an ...

''. While slime girls frequently appear in hentai, they sometimes also feature in children's media, such as '' Puniru Is a Cute Slime.''

Analysis

According to

Steven Shaviro Steven Shaviro (; born April 3, 1954) is an American academic, philosopher and cultural critic whose areas of interest include film theory, time, science fiction, panpsychism, capitalism, affect and subjectivity. He earned a PhD from Yale in 198 ...

, slime creatures in fiction often take the form of either a

unicellular organism A unicellular organism, also known as a single-celled organism, is an organism that consists of a single cell, unlike a multicellular organism that consists of multiple cells. Organisms fall into two general categories: prokaryotic organisms a ...

or a

superorganism A superorganism or supraorganism is a group of synergetically interacting organisms of the same species. A community of synergetically interacting organisms of different species is called a holobiont. Concept The term superorganism is used mo ...

, "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 Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

, 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 Dagon ( he, דָּגוֹן, ''Dāgōn'') or Dagan ( sux, 2= dda-gan, ; phn, 𐤃𐤂𐤍, Dāgān) was a god worshipped in ancient Syria across the middle of the Euphrates, with primary temples located in Tuttul and Terqa, though many at ...

", which features a monster made of ooze and shares a name with

, a

Mesopotamian deity Deities in ancient Mesopotamia were almost exclusively anthropomorphic. They were thought to possess extraordinary powers and were often envisioned as being of tremendous physical size. The deities typically wore ''melam'', an ambiguous substan ...

sometimes depicted as a hybrid of a fish and a woman. American journalist Daniel Engber considered slimes in cinema of the 1980s, such as

Slimer Slimer, originally referred to as "Onionhead" and sometimes "the Mean Green Ghost", is a character from the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. He appears in the films ''Ghostbusters'' (1984), ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), and the remake ''Ghostbusters'' ...

and the ectoplasm in ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, ...

'', to be emblematic of cultural fears during the Cold War of

nuclear radiation Ionizing radiation (or ionising radiation), including nuclear radiation, consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that have sufficient energy to ionize atoms or molecules by detaching electrons from them. Some particles can travel ...

and radioactive material created by

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

. Writing for ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...

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

References

{{stock characters Fantasy tropes Fictional amorphous creatures Fictional characters who can stretch themselves Fictional monsters Fictional superorganisms Stock characters Fantasy creatures

History

Analysis

See also

References