Baby caterpillar

Baby caterpillar
Alignment	Bad
Appears in	Rayman 2
Location	The Fairy Glade, the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire, the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava, beneath the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava
Portrayed by	{{{portrayed by}}}
Resistance
Attacks	Contact
Sex	{{{sex}}}
Species	Nightmare of Polokus
Relatives	{{{relatives}}}

• This article is about the enemies in Rayman 2. For other types of caterpillar, see Caterpillar (disambiguation).

We can no longer even keep track of all the sinister results provoked by the arrival of the pirates: disturbances in overall harmony, the proliferation of piranhas, giant spiders and caterpillars, etc...

—Manual, Rayman 2

Baby caterpillars, also known as Capoué are enemies encountered in Rayman 2.

Description

Caterpillars are Nightmares of Polokus. Two distinct types of caterpillar are known to exist: the small ones and the big ones.

Baby caterpillars appear as small, round puffs of darkness, with malevolent-looking white eyes. They are constantly in flight, but never more than a short way above the ground. They can be heard before being seen, as they produce a high-pitched buzzing noise, similar to that of a fly or a giant mosquito.

In Rayman 2

In the time leading up to the events of this game, baby caterpillars were among the Nightmares of Polokus who managed to escape the Cave of Bad Dreams after the destruction of the Heart of the World by the Robo-Pirates.

Rayman confronts them in the Sanctuary of Stone and Fire, in the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava and beneath the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava. They also appear in the secret area of the Fairy Glade that is accessed through the Echoing Caves.

Baby caterpillars always move in swarms. They attack by flying directly towards Rayman. If one of them succeeds in hitting him, he will lose a small amount of health and the baby caterpillar will die upon impact. However, their tendency to appear in precarious places (such as above water or lava) can make them very dangerous for Rayman, as their weak attacks are still enough to make him lose his balance.

• 
  A group of baby caterpillars attack Rayman.
• 
  A baby caterpillar in Rayman Revolution.

In Rayman Revolution

Boss Chenille.

In Rayman Revolution, the PlayStation 2 version of Rayman 2, a new boss named Boss Chenille is introduced. It looks just like a normal caterpillar, but with some significant differences: whereas they are a purplish-black in colour, Boss Chenille is blood-red; Boss Chenille is also somewhat larger, and it eyes are identical to the baby caterpillars' ones.

Boss Chenille is found in a room in the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava. It is summoned by Rayman performing a Rain Dance on what looks like a greyish version of one of the Magic Spheres' bases. When this is done, it emits a beam of light towards another such base. When Rayman shoots it, it too emits a beam of light towards another base. After shooting several more bases, the beam of light has finished its circumnavigation of the chamber; a door opens, and Boss Chenille enters.

When Rayman strikes Boss Chenille with his magic fist, a red baby caterpillar splits away from its body. When the hero shoots it, it splits into five black baby caterpillars. When they are killed, Boss Chenille's health meter decreases. As the battle wears on, the segments of Boss Chenille's body slowly disappear; by the end, it resembles an enormous red version of one of the baby caterpillars. When this final form is defeated, Boss Chenille vanishes for good.

The first clue as to Boss Chenille's identity is its name; Chenille is the French word for Caterpillar, while the name Boss implies that it may possibly be a leader. And during the battle, Boss Chenille spawns baby caterpillars from its body. All of this led to speculation that Boss Chenille may be the progenitor or ‘mother’ of the caterpillar species, in addition to the speculation that it is their leader.

Trivia

• Baby caterpillars bear a strong resemblance to Susuwatari from two Hayao Miyazaki films: My Neighbor Totoro from 1988 and Spirited Away from 2001. It is possible that Rayman 2 developers were inspired by the ones in My Neighbor Totoro to create baby caterpillars. In 2016, Michel Ancel revealed in a video that Miyazaki movies inspired him at lot for Rayman 2, especially My Neighbor Totoro.
• In L'Histoire de Rayman, it is said that Rayman 2 developers called baby caterpillars "Capoué", as a reference to a line in a sketch of Les 2 minutes du peuple by François Pérusse. "Capoué" has been used in Rayman Revolution to create the fake latin name of Boss Chenille : Kapounus Grobilus.