Gondii
Mind-controlling parasites that can only inhabit biological brains, ruling them out as an explanation for Tagg.
Story so far
Mordecai describes Fang's attempted takeover of the pet dragon as something like a Gondii worm mixed with a computer virus — installing himself into a living host to steer it.
When Donut proposes that Epitome Tagg might be a Valtay Worm, Mordecai rules it out: worms can't inhabit biomechanical organs, only biological brains. Rosetta confirms that gondii need wetware to inhabit organs, while Reavers do not — which is precisely why the cyborg theory holds and the worm theory doesn't.
Appearance
Parasitic worms that lodge in biological brains and steer their hosts.
Role
Parasite type used as the comparison case, then explicitly eliminated as the explanation for Tagg.
Relationships
Earlier in this series
Also appears in books you've already read — spoiler-safe to their endings:
Sources — 4 recorded facts, by chapter
- Valtay brain worms that seize freshly killed bodies and walk them, used to infiltrate the crawler base.
- Valtay brain worms that crawl into ears, kill hosts, and puppet their bodies while gradually absorbing their memories.
- Enemy spy worms the crawlers wiped out, though nobody knows what secrets they carried away first.
- Mind-controlling parasites that can only inhabit biological brains, ruling them out as an explanation for Tagg.