Inheriwiki
Register
Advertisement
This article is about creature. You may be looking for Burrow Grubs (chapter), the Inheritance chapter.
This article is mentioned in Inheritance.
This article contains spoilers from Inheritance.

Burrow grubs (named íllgrathr by Eragon in the Ancient Language, meaning "bad hunger") were a strain of maggot-like creatures found only on Vroengard. Eragon encountered the burrow grub in the ruins of Doru Araeba. He later returned to give them a name in the ancient language. Glaedr himself stated that they were not to be and that they should not have been created.

Origin[]

The burrow grubs were a result of the catastrophic magical battles that took place in Vroengard, which created a "poison" (radiation) that corrupted and warped the wildlife and caused them to adopt unnatural characteristics.

Physical appearance and feeding habits[]

The grubs were about three inches long and were ivory in color. They were plump and pleated like a caterpillar, with a tiny mouth filled with cutting mandibles. They had many small hooks on their belly, which helped them to grip on to surfaces.

The grubs moved via a hopping mode of locomotion and were capable of jumping short distances into the air. When they dived into a target they divided into dozens of small, bright green centipedes that proceeded to burrow and chew through skin and flesh, continuing to feed on the host inside its body.

The Burrow Grubs also have a distinctive call of: Skri Skri! Skri Skra! or Skri Skro!

Use for Torture[]

Galbatorix used them as a means of extreme torture. Galbatorix seems to have had a way of controlling these creatures, as he commanded the one he used to torture Nasuada. It is possible that, through the name of the Ancient Language, Galbatorix may have given these creatures a true name prior to the one Eragon gave them, though Murtagh said "whatever that creature was, it dosn't fit into the natural pattern of the world" after his spell failed to stop Nasuada's pain. After fainting from the pain, Nasuada awoke to find dark vein-like marks along her arms and legs, which turned out to be tunnels filled with blood that the creature had burrowed underneath her skin, eating away at her flesh and tissue.

Advertisement