A number of the enemies and bosses that players will come across in the Soulsborne games are inspired heavily by snakes in some way, shape, or form. While they may vary in terms of how deadly they are, most of these foes have one thing in common; they're really creepy.
Whether players are exploring Elden Ring's Volcano Manor, Sen's Fortress of Dark Souls 1, or trying to avoid a certain white snake in Sekiro, it can, at times, feel like snakes and snake-inspired enemies truly dominate a lot of the encounters in these games. In any case, this is a list of eight of the creepiest serpentine enemies in the Soulsborne series.
8 Great Serpent (Sekiro)
While the Great Serpents in Sekiro look more or less like regular snakes, there's just something truly creepy about coming in contact with a reptile that's as big as they are.
Furthermore, players need to sneak past and hide from the Great Serpent at certain parts of the game (which just so happens to be one of FromSoftware's longest). This just reinforces the creepiness of the whole experience, as players come across different segments of its massive body and try to survive the encounter without the Great Serpent noticing or killing them.
7 Man-Serpent (Elden Ring)
Pretty much every Soulsborne game has had some iteration of a man-serpent hybrid, and Elden Ring's version is probably the least frightening of them all.
Indeed, the Man-Serpents of Volcano Manor (just one of many locations in the game's expansive open world, which many players consider to be its greatest strength) are, frankly, positively goofy. However, in a way, this actually serves to make them subtly creepy and unsettling. This is especially true when players witness them extend their necks for the first time; the effect is both unexpected and deeply disturbing. The NPC Zorayas is actually a Man-Serpent, and hearing a human voice coming out of what is essentially a snake with arms and legs is incredibly strange.
6 Man Serpent (Dark Souls)
The original Dark Souls' Man Serpents are probably equally annoying as they are creepy. Most players will associate them with Sen's Fortress, which, for many, is easily one of the most frustrating and challenging parts of the game (though some players manage to conquer the entire dungeon at level 1).
Perhaps the most unsettling thing about the Man Serpents in Dark Souls is their hissing; these enemies will hiss in response to seeing the player approaching, which, in the dark, claustrophobic confines of Sen's Fortress, is a pretty scary thing to experience.
5 Serpent Mage (Dark Souls)
Even creepier than the regular Man Serpents in Sen's Fortress is their lightning-chucking counterparts, the Serpent Mages.
Serpent Mages have strange-looking, golden scales, and, like the Man Serpents, love to hiss when disturbed (though there's not much else to them - they're far from being one of the game's most intelligent characters). They also cast lightning spells and have odd, curved swords, which is definitely a sight to behold. Many of them are found suspended on platforms within Sen's Fortress or hidden around corners, making coming across them often a fairly jarring, unpleasant experience, to say the least, especially when being killed by one of them means needing to repeat the entirety of Sen's Fortress from the very beginning.
4 Serpent-Man (DS3)
Dark Souls 3's Serpent Men look like they easily could have been plucked straight out of Bloodborne. Wearing strange rags around their heads and typically seen sporting battleaxes, these enemies are not to be trifled with.
There's also something very unsettling about them. Seeing the combination of their snake heads with fairly humanoid limbs is deeply unnerving, especially in battle. Players can encounter the Serpent Man in Archdragon Peak, as well as a number of other locations in the game.
3 Aldrich, Devourer of Gods (Dark Souls 3)
Not only is Aldrich, Devourer of the Gods, one of the more visually impressive boss fights in Dark Souls 3 (though he's far from being on par with the series' most challenging), but he's easily one of the creepiest, and, frankly, the grossest characters in the entire game.
While, at face value, Aldrich's appearance is very close to that of Gwyndolin from Dark Souls 1, a major difference between the two is that Aldrich's body is attached to a long, snakelike tail. It's difficult to say for sure what this part of his body actually consists of, though it looks as though it may be made up of crushed corpses and bones.
2 Abductor Virgin (Elden Ring)
Appearing in a number of locations around the map, but largely concentrated in Mt. Gelmir and Volcano Manor, Elden Ring's Abductor Virgins are easily some of the game's most sinister enemies.
These giant iron maidens on wheels are also pretty frustrating to fight, thanks to being very tanky and dealing plenty of damage, so learning how to take them down can be a real process. Something that players might not realize about them, though, is that, in addition to the snakes sculpted into the exterior of these enemies, they actually have snake-like arms inside them, too. These arms will come out in the Abductor Virgin's grab attack, which pulls the player inside the body and crushes them.
1 Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy (Elden Ring)
Also known as the God-Devouring Serpent, Rykard is a character that plays heavily on a well-established FromSoftware motif; eating gods (making it just one of many recurring tropes in these games).
However, Rykard and his whole faction at Volcano Manor are easily some of the creepiest, most sinister characters in Elden Ring. Not only is Rykard's face somehow (spoiler alert) used onto his snake body like some budget version of Voldemort, but the sword he uses to fight the players with, the Blasphemous Blade, is made up of the remains of 'countless heroes he has devoured.' His consort, Tanith, devouring his massive corpse raw after players have defeated him is just the icing on this very creepy cake.