Leshy

* Base Form
* Eldritch Form

****Leshy**** is one of the four Bishops of the Old Faith, the ruler of Darkwood. He is the youngest bishop and a major boss in *Cult of the Lamb*. Most players will encounter and defeat him first but the Bishops can be fought in any order with the only unlock requirement for each biome being the number of followers the lamb's Cult has.

## Description

Leshy resembles a bagworm larva with a round head covered in thick green leaves. Several thin black branches protrude from either side of his head like horns. His eye had been gouged out by The One Who Waits, thus they are covered by a set of thick, bloodstained bandages wrapped around his head. Black ichor can be seen oozing out from beneath the bandages. Like the other bishops, Leshy wears a long black robe with golden trimmings that covers the rest of his body. His crown bears two sharp points and a green, diamond-shaped eye.

At the start of the boss battle, Leshy harnesses the power of his followers to achieve his true Eldritch form: an enormous tree-like worm with a giant, lamprey-like mouth drooling with ichor and lined with several rows of sharp teeth. The branches on his head grow thicker and more gnarled, and four black-and-red eyes bulge from either side of his maw.

**Spoiler Alert!**This section contains spoilers of the game.

Upon being brought back from the dead, Leshy appears heavily disoriented with his head tilting more frequently in his base form. His top half of the head appears more wilted and white than his usual forest green fur. He also has a missing right lobe, which is more noticeable by his Eldritch form. The bandages appears more sloped with the top half showing the teeth, and the bottom half dripping with what seems to be blood.

Upon being transformed into a follower, his head doesn't appear any different from his initial base form head, asside from the missing crown. Due to the large bandage covering his head, his emotion can't be conveyed like other followers, and can only be determined by the emotion in his voice.

## Interactions

* Leshy appears in the opening sequence of the game where Lamb is executed, along with the other three Bishops.
* Leshy is the final boss of the Darkwood.

**Spoiler Alert!**This section contains spoilers of the game.

If you defeat him for the second time after defeating The One Who Waits, he becomes a follower with unique sound voice and dialogue, and quests that are unique to him.
* He will ask to retrieve his own eye (Leshy's Eye) (Fragile Relic) in Darkwood.

## Dialogue

### Opening Sequence

> **Heket**Before us stands the last of its kind. All others we have hunted down and put to the blade.**Kallamar**With this final sacrifice, the prophecy will be impossible to fulfill.****Leshy****The heretic who lies bound below will be condemned to eternal captivity.**Shamura**And the Old Faith shall be preserved.

### Darkwood - First Encounter (If Heket is killed first)

"After everything we did. After everything we sacrificed. He will not be satiated. I may be the youngest of the Bishops, Little Lamb, but I am strong. And you are in my woods. I WILL DESTROY YOU!"

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### Darkwood - First Encounter

"How can this be? You were put to the blade, Lamb, as all your kind were. And yet here you stand before me, unrepentant. The Crown... his power... could it be? But I am stronger still. Turn tail and run, Little Lamb."

### Darkwood - Amdusias Fight

> **Leshy:** "You have come far enough little Lamb. My Followers are willing to do anything for me. Can you say the same of yours?"
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> **Amdusias:** "I give myself to the cause, oh Mighty Leader!"
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> **Leshy:** "By the blood of the Great Ones, destroy the **Red Crown**!"
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### Darkwood - Second Encounter

> "So you foolishly persist, little Lamb. I hear your *lies* and I smell your fear. The **Red Crown** rises again... but what an *UNWORTHY* bearer it has."
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### Darkwood - After defeating Valefar

> **Heket:** "So it is true. The *Red Crown* sits upon the brow of another."
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> **Kallamar:** "But how? We did everything we could to—"
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> **Heket:** "It matters not. We need not bother *Shamura* with this. Deal with it, brother."
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> **Leshy:** "As you command, my sister."
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### Darkwood - Fourth Encounter

> "Your persistence is beginning to *ANNOY* me, little Lamb. You may think yourself clever. You may think yourself righteous in your service to *HIM.* But you should not be so trusting of the *Chained One*. Oh, well. It's too late for talk. One such as you deserves no absolution. This will not end well for you."
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### Darkwood - Final Encounter

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> "Finally... let us end this. I'll be awaiting you in my temple... come! Witness true power."
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### Darkwood - Boss Fight

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> "I grow tired of you, *little Lamb...* Time to put an end to this **FRIVOLOUS MASQUERADE**!"
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### Darkwood (Post-game) - Statue Encounter

> "Little Lamb, I feel you there... Darkwood has not forgotten me yet..."
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> "I can still... Find you... *In my woods..*."
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> [Leshy summons 3 waves of enemies]
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### Darkwood (Post-game) - Boss Fight

> "*Time to put an end to this... frivolous masquerade... time to put an end...*"
> "*End... this...*"
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### Others

**Spoiler Alert!**This section contains spoilers of the game.

Spoilers ahead
Recruiting Follower
"I... I cannot see! Where is my crown!?"
"Lamb! Damned Lamb! I know you are there, I smell you."

"What... has become of us?"
Relic Quest
"Lamb... this is not a favor. I do not need your charity!"
"But when dear brother Narinder struck us in his fury, my eyes were torn from the socket."
"One was salvaged, and hidden in the tangled Darkwood. I despair at the thought of it being uncovered by some simple-minded beast."

"You have navigated my realm once before. Do so again, and recover my eye. Perhaps we can make an arrangement."
Upon Completing Relic Quest
"You have it! I \*feel\* the presence of a relic in my flesh. Be it's caretaker, for now. Something may yet be done."
Give Camelia
"I know that smell. The red flowers... blooming eternally, even when I was merely a burrower."
"Through the dirt I would wade until one day... I found a Crown... or perhaps it found me?"

"...go away, Lamb!"

## Combat

### Behavior

Leshy is the first true boss that players fight and thus is usually easier and more forgiving than his siblings. He will not try to particularly rush the Lamb or get away from the Lamb, in fact the direction in which he burrows is always random, after which he usually follows with an attack. Despite being easy to defeat, Leshy has a surprisingly complex boss fight, with his A.I, and most of his moveset changing significantly throughout the phases.

In combat, Leshy is capable of damaging the Lamb through 5 different means, by **Burrowing**, **Green Orbs**, **Spikes**, **Jumping**, and **Head Smash**, only capable of using the latter 2 during his later phases. He will also be aided by Chaser and Jumper Worms, but is only be able to summon them when entering a new phase, meaning that wiping out all the enemies during a phase will ensure that no others spawn. The fight itself takes place over 3 phases: The Initial Phase, The Enraged Phase and The Desperate Phase.

#### Initial Phase

Leshy's first guaranteed action during this first phase is to roar, summoning Jumper Worms. He is open to attacks during this. Afterwards he enters a very strict attack *sequence* that he will never deviate from, going in this order: **Burrow** in random direction, shoot **Green Orbs**, **Burrow** in random direction, shoot **Green Orbs**, **Burrow** in random direction, **Star Pattern Spikes**, repeat.

The attacks that Leshy can execute in this phase are described below:

**Green Orbs:** Leshy closes most of his mouth, winds up, and spits a wave of green orbs in direction of the Lamb. Thanks to the windup and generally very low threat of this attack, Leshy will be wide open to whatever attacks the player wants to throw at him.

**Star Pattern Spikes:** Leshy closes most of his mouth, winds up, and screams while sending 5 trails of spikes in a star shape around him. This attack has a long windup, and there are massive gaps between the spike trails, rendering Leshy wide open to attacks.

**Burrow:** Leshy's standard attack and his only way of moving in this phase, he burrows into the ground and move in a random direction, leaving a damaging trail of spikes behind him. It is generally recommended not to get too close to the spikes when Leshy is underground, as not only with the Lamb take damage if they touch them but Leshy will also be invincible.

#### Enraged Phase

Upon being reduced to ~60% of his health, Leshy burrows into the ground, moves in a random direction, and roars, summoning Jumper and Chaser Worms. Similarly to the Initial Phase, he is be vulnerable while roaring. Unlike the previous phase, Leshy's A.I. completely changes, as he is not be bound to a strict attack sequence, choosing to execute attacks at random from a pool of three. Leshy cannot use the same attack twice in a row.

The attacks that Leshy can use during this phase, as well as the changes to existing ones, are detailed below:

**Jump:** Leshy leaps out from his hole in the ground and a large indicator appears under the player, following them at slightly below running speed. After a few seconds, the indicator stops following the player and Leshy dives back into the soil. This attack can be easily avoided by simply walking until the indicator stops moving, as there is a slight delay between it stopping and Leshy diving into the ground.

**Spike Ring:** Leshy tunnels in a random direction, winds up, and sends a ring of spike trails outwards that grow apart the further from Leshy they are. It is advised to dodge through the spikes to avoid being damaged by them, however players should be careful as the spike trails are deceptively long.

**Green Orbs:** Same as in the Initial Phase, but Leshy always **Burrows** before doing it.

#### Desperate Phase

When reduced to 30% of his health, Leshy burrows into the ground and moves to the middle of the room. He then roars, summoning Jumper and Chaser Worms. Like with the other phases, Leshy is vulnerable while he roars. Leshy's A.I. functions the same as in the Enraged Phase, and the only thing that changes is his moveset.

**Burrow:** Same as other phases, with the difference being that it counts as its own attack, not always coming before another move.

**Spikes Ring:** Same as in the Enraged Phase, but without an obligatory **Burrow** beforehand.

**Green Orbs:** Same as in the Enraged Phase, but without an obligatory **Burrow** beforehand.

**Head Smash:** Leshy smashes his head in front of him three times and roars. It is not recommended to attack him while he's executing this one as he moves his head very fast, and very often does it after sending out a spike ring.

## Trivia

* Leshy is the youngest of the four, but is still incredibly old.
* Leshy's followers refer to him as "The Worm".
* The bandages over Leshy's eyes are a reference the phrase "See No Evil". This is also the name of his defeat achievement.
	+ While in his Eldritch form during his boss fight, a pair of red slit-shaped eyes are faintly visible in the back of his throat.
	+ It is unknown why Leshy has eyes in his Eldritch form, as the other three Bishops retain their wounds in their Eldritch forms.
* Leshy is the only Bishop not clearly representing one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He is referred to in-game as Chaos, and the achievement for defeating him without taking any damage is called "Order."
	+ It is possible that Leshy represents Conquest, an alternate interpretation to Pestilence for the White Horseman. This is reflected in how he directly commands his minion Amdusias, something that the other Bishops don't do.
* Leshy's name is a reference to the Eastern European forest god of the same name.
* Leshy bears some similarities to Leshy from Inscryption.
	+ Both characters share the same name. They have similar appearances, and both seem to be made of bush-like flora.
	+ Inscryption was also published by Devolver Digital, the same publisher of *Cult of the Lamb*.
	+ It is unclear if the game is connected to the Daniel Mullins-verse which already connects the games developed by Daniel Mullins Games. Daniel Mullins himself is not credited in Cult of the Lamb
	+ In August 2022 the Devolver Digital Twitter account posted a humorous tweet that suggested that because both games have a similar Leshy character that must mean that both games take place in the same universe, even though that statement would be an example of correlation does not imply causation.
* Leshy's exact species is unknown, but he is theorized to be a Bagworm caterpillar or a European green earthworm known as *Allolpbophora Chlorotica*.

## Gallery

Leshy Transforming into his Eldritch Form.Eldritch Leshy (Static)Leshy entering.Leshy exiting.Leshy talking.Leshy (Static)Eldritch Leshy jumping up.Eldritch Leshy diving in.Eldritch Leshy going into the ground.Eldritch Leshy coming out of the ground.Eldritch Leshy getting hit.Eldritch Leshy summoning/spitting.Eldritch Leshy banging his head on the ground 3 times.An unused Leshy transformation.Leshy Purged.Eldritch Leshy Purged.leshy follower form
## References

1. ↑ Swordsman's dialogues
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/devolverdigital/status/1554604468737642501