10 Harmless-Looking Video Game Enemies That Completely Wrecked You

Nature spirits are a high fantasy staple, and whether we’re talking the Ents of The Lord of the Rings or Dryads from Dungeon & Dragons, these benevolent, peaceful, often beautiful, beings always make for enchanting encounters.

Then we met Skyrim’s Spriggan. The Elder Scrolls’ take on the trope has the aesthetics down pat, appearing as an elegant feminine form of flowing vines and glowing green bark.

If only they didn’t have the temperament of your average Doom Slayer, because with naturally high armour, the ability to poison you, to summon swarms of insects and local wildlife to attack you, to turn invisible and, if that’s not bad enough to heal themselves, Spriggans can, and will, eviscerate your health bar in seconds.

Worse, they inhabit the trunks of trees, meaning you’d be exploring an idyllic cave one minute, only to find yourself surrounded the next. Cue reload screen.

Experienced players know that fire is the Spriggan’s Achilles Heel, but even so their formidable combat abilities place among the top tier of Skyrim’s most dangerous enemies, and as guardians of nature, one of its most enduringly exotic.