#nergus

Hi! I’m pretty new to the Wimp Witch fandom, but I’ve already fallen deep into this world and its characters. I’ve gotten so invested that my brain simply refused to sit still, so… naturally, I started theorizing.

I’m definitely not claiming to be the first person to think about this, and if I’m wildly off-base feel free to correct me! But I’ve been piecing things together about Bacillus, his siblings, and Nergus, and I have some thoughts.

Because let’s be honest… Bacillus is very clearly not human.

So what exactly is he?

This is my theory about what Bacillus might truly be, how he connects to his siblings, and what that means for the bigger picture of the world.

I love this series way too much not to overanalyze it. So, here we go!

What is Bacillus?

Well, let’s start off with what Bacillus isn’t. He is not:

• A zombie plant

• A slime demon

• A standard eldritch horror

• A fungal hivemind

• A dryad

• A plant elemental

• A parasite

• A god

He overlaps with pieces of all of these… but none of them actually suit him.

He is something biological and mythic at the same time. And that’s rare.

The Core Mechanic of His Species

Let’s define the rules that matter:

1. His body is living sludge. A mix of decay, rot, and living biomass.

2. He stores seeds internally that require a host’s essence to become “alive.”

3. His plants are not naturally sentient. They become sentient through borrowed essence.

4. He is functionally immortal unless out-poisoned.

5. He cannot be harmed physically because his body is regenerative biomass.

6. He spreads through intimacy, but not destructively.

That combination does not match any established folklore creature.

Closest parallels:

• Mycorrhizal fungal networks

• Cordyceps

• Slime molds

• Gaia spirits

• Bio-horror symbiotes

But none of those:

• Treat intimacy as sacred

• Store dormant seeds requiring human essence

• Regenerate endlessly

What He Actually Is (Going Into Theory Territory)

Bacillus is a Biogenic Symbiotic Apex Organism.

But… that’s pretty boring. We need something more species-level. Because he has siblings, that means that this is not a mutation. It’s a lineage. And lineage means taxonomy.

So, let’s name it properly. Here’s what I’ve settled on.

The Essentari

Pronounced: Eh-SEN-tar-ee

Root: Essence

Meaning: Those who cultivate life through borrowed essence.

Species Traits:

• Bodies composed of regenerative biome-mass

• Internal seed-vaults

• Seeds require essence to awaken sentience

• Cannot be destroyed by conventional harm

• Only susceptible to superior toxins

Alrighty, now that we’ve covered the species Bacillus might belong to, let’s get into the hierarchy!

The Essentari Hierarchy

The group is not an equal democracy, as confirmed in the comic.

They are a growth cult orbiting a central fungal god-mass.

We have:

• Bacillus – The Garden of Sanctuary

• Gloriosa – The Garden of Vanity and Ensnarement

• Rottingard – The Garden of Predation

• Nergus – The Blighted Core

Let’s go over each of them.

Nergus, Lord of the Blighted Garden

Nergus is not just their leader. He is their substrate.

A being who:

• Cannot survive sunlight

• Expands through damp areas

• Fuses minds into singular hivemind

• Cannot be burned or destroyed

• Exists as both wall-bound mass and mobile avatar

This makes him something much more specific.

He is not just an Essentari.

He is an Ascendant Mycelial Sovereign. A fungal infrastructure with consciousness.

Gloriosa, The Garden of Vanity and Ensnarement

Sunflower head.

Pale white sludge dress.

Orange spiked sanctuary.

Dog-sized bees.

Framed portraits of her “pets.”

She doesn’t seem to conquer through toxin or poison (at least from what is shown).

She conquers through captivity.

Her slaves are not dead. They are curated.

Her personality fits her ecosystem:

• Theatrical

• Overstimulating

• Possessive

• Slightly scatterbrained but intentional

She doesn’t respect autonomy, and reframes it as devotion.

She is what happens when an Essentari loves admiration more than balance.

Rottingard, The Garden of Predation

Red mushrooms.

Leech-mawed vines.

Skull-like face.

Toxic cave air.

Physical dominance.

He is the most honest of them.

He does not pretend to offer sanctuary.

He takes, overwhelms, forces.

His toxicity is not metaphorical, it is atmospheric.

He is what the Essentari become when they stop romanticizing growth.

Bacillus, The Outlier

Now we arrive at the fracture.

All three siblings originally agreed:

Grow your gardens.

Make the world dark and damp.

Let Nergus thrive.

Convert people into accolytes.

Bacillus lured “Friends.” But not to enslave or dominate. To protect.

And here is the crucial difference:

Nergus fuses minds permanently.

Bacillus shares essence temporarily.

That is the moral schism.

One consumes identity.

The other borrows it.

That’s the line between cult and communion.

Though this, I think, doesn’t fully explain why Bacillus distanced himself. And I think that this quote from the first comic explains it.

The Poison Quote

Let’s dissect it.

“The frustrations, the loneliness, when you bear the burden of poisons. Unable to express affections, to be oh so careful of how you hold those you love. Some would find it easier to shut themselves in a fortress of their own creation.”

Bacillus is projecting.

He’s not just talking about Euline, or about himself.

He is describing Nergus.

Nergus:

• Cannot survive sunlight

• Must remain underground

• Cannot touch without converting

• Must absorb others fully to feel connection

He built a blighted fortress.

Because intimacy for him equals assimilation.

And perhaps Bacillus once thought the same way.

Perhaps he once believed:

“If the world cannot safely touch me, then I will remake the world to suit me.”

But then he met someone immune.

Someone who could exist in his environment without getting ill or dying from the poison and toxicity.

And suddenly? The fortress no longer felt necessary.

Why Bacillus Left

Here are the likely fracture points:

1. He realized accolyte conversion erased individuality.

2. He saw Rottingard’s cruelty escalate.

3. He recognized Gloriosa’s enslavement as hollow affection.

4. He understood that Nergus did not want to build a sanctuary. He wanted a dominion.

Bacillus believes in sanctuary.

Nergus believes in saturation.

That difference is fundamental.

Bacillus’s garden currently is controlled. Contained. Curated.

Nergus’s garden spreads until nothing else exists.

That’s pretty much all for now! This was so much fun! I also have theories about how Bacillus, his siblings, and Nergus were born, even about how they met. I also have a confirmed note from the creator, C Cameron herself.

So this opens up so many possibilities! And I think I have it perfectly put together. But, I’ll have to save those theories for next time! (Probably the next day, lol)

Okay, so here me out-

This is just my unhinged Wimp Witch theory here, but basically I think that Euline was kidnapped at an extreme young age or raised at an extremely young age by the Nergus Cult to become conduit vessel for Lord Nergus. But someone saved her or she narrowly escaped, but they had already genetically modified her DNA to be highly resistant to poison.

And she also has very strong magical abilities that she can’t tap into on her own.

And either a spell someone placed on her or her magical subconscious is blocking out those memories because it was that traumatizing for her.

Yeesh. Been a while since I made an update to this. But here is part two and other things that I wanted to go over! This is mostly going to focus on Bacillus and his siblings and their relationship to Nergus.

How The Siblings Met Nergus

Fungi connect ecosystems underground.

Nergus’s fungal network eventually brushed up against the areas where the others had formed.

They sensed each other through soil and roots first.

Then they physically sought one another out.

When they realized they were similar, ancient ecosystem beings, they saw an opportunity.

Each had a strength:

• Nergus needed protection from sunlight.

• Gloriosa could control surface territory.

• Rottigard controlled toxic caves.

• Bacillus could move between both worlds and attract humans.

They formed an alliance.

The plan was simple:

Each sibling would grow their own garden.

Those gardens would create dark, damp, protected zones.

Those zones would allow Nergus’s fungal network to expand safely.

And eventually, they would convert humans into accolytes to strengthen him further.

It was a strategic partnership, born from shared expansion goals.

The Core Difference

Over time, the philosophies split:

• Nergus believes in unity through total merging.

• Gloriosa believes in ownership through admiration.

• Rottigard believes in dominance through strength.

• Bacillus began to believe in protection without erasure.

That’s why he eventually distanced himself.

He changed philosophy.

Bacillus, Gloriosa, and Rottigard: How They’re Siblings

A very long time ago, there was one massive ancient ecosystem underground.

It was a mix of:

• Fungi

• Plant roots

• Rot

• Minerals

• Biological energy

Over time, that ecosystem became self-aware.

But instead of forming one being, it split into multiple consciousnesses.

Three of those became:

• Bacillus

• Gloriosa

• Rottigard

They came from the same original living mass before it divided.

That’s why they’re siblings.

Not because they had parents or were born at the same time.

But because they branched off from the same ancient source.

Like three branches from one tree.

Why They’re Different From Each Other

Even though they share the same origin, they formed in different parts of that ecosystem:

• Gloriosa formed closer to the surface where flowers and sunlight thrived.

• Rottigard formed in decay-heavy, toxic caves.

• Bacillus formed in a balanced area between surface and underground.

Same source. Different environments. Different personalities.

That’s why they’re related but not identical.

Why Nergus Is Not Their Sibling

Nergus did not split from that same original ecosystem.

He formed separately, much deeper underground, from a massive fungal network that became self-aware on its own.

He’s older in influence and more centralized.

So:

• Bacillus, Gloriosa, and Rottigard = siblings (same origin mass).

• Nergus = separate ancient being.

He isn’t their brother.

He’s their lord because:

• He offered them power.

• He had the ability to fuse minds.

• He needed their surface gardens to protect him from sunlight.

• They benefited from working with him.

They chose to serve him.

But they are not born from him.

Why They’re Different From Each Other

Even though they share the same origin, they formed in different parts of that ecosystem:

• Gloriosa formed closer to the surface where flowers and sunlight thrived.

• Rottigard formed in decay-heavy, toxic caves.

• Bacillus formed in a balanced area between surface and underground.

Same source. Different environments. Different personalities.

That’s why they’re related but not identical.

Why Nergus Is Not Their Sibling

Nergus did not split from that same original ecosystem.

He formed separately, much deeper underground, from a massive fungal network that became self-aware on its own.

He’s older in influence and more centralized.

So:

• Bacillus, Gloriosa, and Rottigard = siblings (same origin mass).

• Nergus = separate ancient being.

He isn’t their brother.

He’s their lord because:

• He offered them power.

• He had the ability to fuse minds.

• He needed their surface gardens to protect him from sunlight.

• They benefited from working with him.

They chose to serve him.

But they are not born from him.

I can imagine there was a time where Bacillus had bonded deeply and maybe intimately with a host, an ex-partner if you will, and the horrible realization he came to when he eventually had to bring the to Nergus to become an accolyte.

They not only lost their autonomy, they lost their uniqueness, they lost their identity, their sense of self. And on top of being a creature made of toxic sludge and already having difficulty forming safe relationships as it is, it could have taken a deep toll on him. (The is all just theory and AU stuff, nothing to be taken too literally! Just stuff I thought would make his backstory or interesting.)