Plague of Locusts: Difference between revisions

During "swarming" behavior, both nymph and adult populations are known to cause serious damage to crops and fields by stripping them thoroughly. Adult locusts in particular are powerful fliers capable of traveling great distances - not only is the phenomenon unsurprisingly widespread, it's also [[Older Than Dirt]]. The earliest instances are dated back to the ancient Egyptians and prehistory, while relatively later works such as [[The Iliad]] and [[The Qur'an]] also make mention of locust swarms as well. Locust swarms are sometimes likened to large black "clouds" due to their sheer size.

The devastation of crops are a major factor in famines and human migrations as well as outbreaks of disease, to the point that locusts themselves are considered harbingers, (if not carriers,) of actual plagues. In fiction and literature, this connection has led to them being portrayed or symbolized as [[Walking Wasteland]]s, almost always including making the insects inherently poisonous themselves. Funnily enough, locusts themselves have been used as a source of food - "bald locusts" are listed among acceptable food for Israelites as far back as [[The Bible/Source/Leviticus|the Book of Leviticus 11:22]]; in the [[New Testament]], Matthew 3:4 and and Mark 1:6 assert that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey during his stay in the wilderness; and many modern cultures across Africa, West Asia and East Asia consider locust a delicacy.

* As part of the ten plagues revisited upon Egypt with the release of Imhotep inIn 1999's ''[[The Mummy (1999 film)|The Mummy]]'', we get to see a horde of locusts descend upon "modern" Cairo as part of the ten plagues revisited upon Egypt with the release of Imhotep.

* This trope has a special prevalence as one of many well-established [[Biblical Motifs]]; in addition to being an omen of future destruction, locust swarms are often invoked as a metaphor to describe nations of great number.

** Among the most notable, [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] depicts a swarm of locusts as the eighth of the Ten Plagues that struck Egypt [[The Bible/Source/Exodus|in Chapter 10:4]]. This is constantly referred to in the later books, such as [[Book of Psalms|the 105th Psalm]].

* The Tyranids of ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' fame are often likened to a terrifying [[Horde of Alien Locusts|plague of alien locusts]]. They travel the galaxy in Hive Fleets that are so incomprehensibly massive, that at their biggest,they are made of ''lightyears'' worth of ships at their biggest. They descend upon planets and devour everything they can with a crazed, hungry fervor. And- and by "everything", we ''mean'' everything,. because theirTheir rampages will end with the targeted planet being stripped of all life and left a barren rock. You can kill millions, if not ''billions'' of the damned things and still lose, because they always have millions and billions more to throw at you. Furthering the comparison to an apocalyptic swarm of insects is that there's no properly defined leader: all Tyranids are governed by a ravenous hive mind that is so overwhelmingly savage and powerful that it's ''impossible'' for the setting's Chaos Gods to control or corrupt.

* Several ''[[NetHack]]'' variants - such as [[SporkHack]], [[UnNetHack]], [[EvilHack]], and [[SlashTHEM]] - have the locust as an enemy monster which often appears in swarms and is capable of inflicting terminal illness on players, bringing down even the most seasoned of combat veterans unless they can avoid/cure itthe sickness and defeat the swarm quickly.