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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"What is a drop of rain, compared to the storm? What is a thought, compared to the mind? Our unity is full of wonder, which your tiny individualism cannot even conceive."''|'''The Many''', ''[[System Shock]] 2''}}
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Two or more characters (frequently [[Twin Telepathy|twins]]) are in such perfect harmony that they seem almost to be one person with two bodies. They [[Finishing Each Other's Sentences|finish each other's sentences]], never seem to need to talk to communicate, and may even know what is happening to each other from far away.
In [[Sci Fi]] or Fantasy series, the [[Psychic Link|connection]] may actually ''be'' a [[Mental Fusion|true shared mind]], either with each member contributing to the whole, or the separate bodies being puppets which some central mind controls remotely. It makes sense that usually the first variant is sensitive to losses and avoids overt violence, but in the second, it's only the question of whether lost bodies will be replenished and it's inclined to expand itself. Expect "individuals" in such hives to be considered [[What Measure Is a Non Unique|very killable]] by everyone else as well. It is not unusual for it to start out as the former and then slip into the latter as a series progresses and the writing staff changes. [[The Virus]] is often a
Hive minds are not known to exist in
Related to, but separate from [[Synchronization]], where each individual ''experiences'' what the other does without necessarily being in rapport with each other. Compare [[Split Personality Merge]], where [[Split Personality|many minds in one body]] become one. The opposite of [[Split Personality]]. A
See [[Mental Fusion]] for the willing version.
On this wiki, you will often see this term used as a nickname for the
{{examples}}
=== [[Anime]] ===
* [[
** And Mashiro and Takagi are basically "one soul in two bodies" as they put it.
* All ''four'' of the parents of Miki and Yuu in ''[[Marmalade Boy]]'' are so synchronized as to seem at times to be a
* The cheerleaders in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima|Negima!?]]''; even though there's three of them, they might as well be one character.
* Ryou and Fuu from ''[[Sketchbook]]'' appear to be ''extremely'' in sync, especially when playing pranks on other students.
* The ''Stand Alone Complex'' in the appropriately named ''[[Ghost in
** Even more so the ''Individual Eleven'' in the second season, {{spoiler|which are actually all controlled by the same virus that infected their brain implants}}.
* The {{spoiler|Pict aliens}} in the [[Axis Powers Hetalia]] movie. They all say the exact same things at the exact same time, and are {{spoiler|trying to get all humans to join them.}}
* ''[[
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* In the classic [[Donald Duck]] and Uncle Scrooge stories of [[Carl Barks]], Huey, Dewey and Louie are virtually indistinguishable in appearance and personality, and almost invariably finish each other's sentences. Their ability to pool their intellects (and tap into the [[Great Big Book of Everything|Junior Woodchuck Guidebook]]) makes them smarter than any of the other characters, including wily, savvy Scrooge himself; they're almost always the ones to solve the mystery/resolve the problem.
* The ''[[Astro City]]'' story "Everyday Life" features the Gorilla Swarm, an army of insect-headed primates with a hive mind. The story even has them being controlled by a villain (The Silver Brain), making this a double instantiation of the trope.
* The UOS in ''[[Atavar]]''.
* PSmith in the [[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire|Buck Godot]] universe. They did this deliberately to themselves over the course of generations.
** Which, in an interesting way, drives the plot of their introductory story. Buck is repeatedly assaulted by what appears to be a very angry bald man who loudly declares Buck to be his murderer, and seems to come back all the more frenzied each time Buck manages to incapacitate him. It eventually turns out that Buck, having a friendly drink with some guy (read:PSmith) in a bar, buys the guy a drink he can't quite handle, and the poor sap passes out. Up until this point PSmith had never experienced unconsciousness as a hive mind, so when one of those brains winked out, he reckoned one of his units had been killed.
=== [[Film]] ===
* ''Ben 10: Alien Swarm'' - The live action movie based off the cartoon series ''[[Ben 10
* ''[[Battle Beyond the Stars]]'' has the Nestors as a hive-mind race.
* "The Octopus" in ''[[
* Both the Squeeze Toy Aliens from the ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' series films and the Moonfish from ''[[Finding Nemo]]''.
=== [[Literature]] ===
* In ''[[Harry Potter (
* ''[[Starship Troopers (
* The ghosts or psychic echo which may or may not exist in the Overlook Hotel in ''[[The Shining]]'' are said to have a single, collective group intelligence which functions as the hotel's true "manager".
* ''[[A Wrinkle in Time]]'' has IT as the Hive Mind controlling the entire planet of Camazotz.
* The yrr in Frank Schätzing's [[Der Schwarm
* The Bugs, Baahgs, or Arachnids in David Weber and Steve White's "In Death Ground" and "The Shiva Option."
* The "phoners" in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Cell]]'' form flocks with apparent shared awareness within the flock and between flocks in the same geographical area.
* ''[[The Light Of Other Days]]'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer
=== [[Live Action TV]] ===
* The [[The Colbert Report|Colbert]] [[Studio Audience|Nation]] are [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/149059/january-31-2008/andrew-napolitano of one mind]. Overlaps with 'Internet' above when they act as [[Internet Counterattack|Colbert's zombie army]] online.
* The group mind soldiers in ''[[Dollhouse]]''. Normally, all have to reach a consensus, but a particularly strong will can overpower the group. Cue Echo.
=== [[Tabletop RPG
* In ''[[
** In the [[
* In the AD&D Dark Sun setting, members of the insectoid Thri-Kreen race share memories of their ancestors and have some skills "built into" their genetic code so they don't have to learn everything to survive on the harsh world from a very young age.
=== Web Original ===
* Most Wikis, including this one. "Collectively, we know everything. Individually, we're a bunch of idiots".
** But [http://despair.com/meetings.html be careful] because, [[Just for Fun|"None of us is as dumb as all of us."]]
* "Hivemind" is a 4chan meme where people who spend too much time on 4chan internalize certain memes (including hivemind itself) and when given familiar stimulus may respond with very similar answers in rapid succession. To count, the posts have to be made within the same minute. This happens fairly often. This meme has spread across the Internet and is now used by people who have no idea of its origin.
* The [[
** After 10 minutes of exposure, SCP-427 mutates its participants into "Flesh Beasts", shapeless masses of tissue apparently controlled by a hive mind as seen in the transcript between Dr. [DATA EXPUNGED] and a D-class personnel - "Our biology yearns to join with yours. We welcome you to our mass. Shake the tyranny of the individual."
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* The Delightful Children From Down The Lane in ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' speak and act in perfect synchronicity; this is less because of telepathy than because they personify conformity.
** It's never really explained whether they all think the same, whether they all have a mental connection or whether they are just the same person.
*** Later episodes make it pretty clear they are separate people. As for the other possibilities...[[Wild Mass Guessing|your guess is as good as any.]]
*** In the movie about Numbah Zero it is revealed that they were originally an elite group from the KND, but captured by Father and turned into their current state by a special personality altering machine. It went haywire and made the transformation permanent, except for a temporary reversion. And when that wears off they are actually draw to each other by what looks like magnetism.
* The Skraaldians in the ''[[Men in Black (
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' seem to have a hive mind because Ferb's actions are always in perfect synchrony with Phineas's words. He performs the actions at the same time as Phineas says them aloud. A hive mind would also explain how Ferb knew what Phineas was going to say, before being knocked down with a water balloon, at the end of "Tree to Get Ready".
* The Bebe robots from ''[[Kim Possible]]'', and possibly Kim's twin brothers.
=== [[Real Life]] ===
* We might already be part of a [[wikipedia:Collective unconscious|hive]] [[wikipedia:Noosphere|mind]]
** As Irving Janis said: ''"The more amiability and esprit de corps there is among the members of a policy-making ingroup, the greater the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and dehumanizing actions directed against outgroups."''
* [[Termites]], who are in a hive but possess
* Sometimes spending extended amounts of time with certain people, such as during a project or secluded vacation, ends with you being close enough to the person that you can [[Finishing Each Other's Sentences|finish each other's sentences]] and the like.
* Some pairs of twins, and intensely bonded lovers, give this appearance. An extreme example of such twins might be Jennifer and June Gibbons; an extreme example of such lovers might be certain BDSM Dominant/submissive pairings.
=== Anime and Manga ===▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* The Invid of ''[[Robotech]]''. At least, until the Regis decides humanity's individuality is evolutionarily superior, and starts artificially creating her own children as [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]].
** The only change with the [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]] is that they can shut down the link, and aren't totally ruled by it. By and large, they're still part of it.
* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' has the Vajra, who are one mind distributed over thousands of individually stupid drones, administered by a [[Hive Queen]] hub. Also, the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Grace O'Connor}}'s conspiracy hive-mind is quite different. The
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', this is ''probably'' the intended final result of [[Instrumentality]] {{spoiler|since breaking down individual minds and merging them into one being at the very least happens at one point}}. [[Gainax Ending|Since the ending does not make it clear]], it might be more accurate to label it above as a literal Hive Mind...or as [[Mind Screw|something different altogether]].
** Some interpretations assume that {{spoiler|it was never intended for life on Earth to exist as individual creatures. It was sort of a cosmic accident, which both the Angels, Nerv, and Seele all want to fix now. It's just the way on how that's supposed to happen on which they disagree.}}
* The Mariage from [[All There in the Manual|Sound Stage X]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. This is the reason why they are [[Taking You
* The insects from ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of
* The Galactic mooks of ''[[Pokémon Special]]''. Not only do they all look alike, they all move as if one entity.
* The [[Starfish Alien|Festum]] from ''[[Fafner in
* Heavily implied to be true of {{spoiler|Kyubey}} in [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]. [http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=3564265&postcount=1882 Later confirmed] by [[Word of God]].
* Saika's "children" in ''[[Durarara!!]]''. A particularly strong-willed individual can become [[Hive Queen]], but usually this just means becoming the voice of the
* This appears to be the case for the Anti-Spiral in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. Though we only ever see the one, he doesn't appear as though he has a fixed physical form, and always refers to himself in the plural, or refers to himself ''as'' the Anti-Spiral race. It's thought that the Anti-Spiral shown is a psychic manifestation of the combined wills and minds of the entire species.
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* In the [[Ultimate Marvel]] Universe, one of the variant Skrull races are the Chitauri, who see individuality as a disease, and themselves as the "[[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|immune system of the universe]]". In order to operate among humans, they create an "officer" caste who have a limited degree of individual personality, presumably absorbed (along with physical form) from those they devour.
* The [[The Stepford Wives|Stepford]] [[The Midwich Cuckoos
* ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire|Buck Godot, Zap Gun For Hire]]'' has [https://web.archive.org/web/20150415124804/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070804 PSmIth]. (Unusual, in that PSmIth is a population of genetically-engineered humans, and friendly to normal humans.)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080920165657/http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/comics/index.php?date=2008-09-17 The Commonality] from ''[[
** Especially since he was the one who accidentally created it.
* The [[Green Lantern|Orange Lantern Corps]] are beings made of an orange energy that resembles fire. They recruit new members by literally consuming them. Their [[Hive Queen|Hive... uh, King]] is a comically hoggish alien named Agent Orange.
* One of ''[[Spider
* The Phalanx in [[Marvel]] Comics, a race of mechanical beings that generate a nanovirus that infects beings that it contacts, turning them into phalanx. The Phalanx all seem to be connected by a sort of hive mind, or at least a general motivation.
* The Zylons from the ''[[Star Raiders (
=== Film ===
* The alien invaders of the film ''[[Independence Day]]'', so says the theory.
* ''[[Indiana Jones and
* In the 2007 film, ''The Hive'', a colony of ants living on an island in South America develops a collective consciousness, possibly through the help of aliens. This eventually goes to the extreme of them being able to act as one entity, and even {{spoiler|build an enormous supercomputer underground, made up entirely of ''[[Discworld
* ''[[The City of Lost Children]]'' features "The Octopus," conjoined twins who speak in tandem, scratch each others' itches, taste what the other is eating, and generally behave as a single organism with eight limbs and two heads.
* The alien in [[The Faculty]] is a parasitic [[Hive Queen]] that infects host bodies to spread itself out. The infected lose their senses of self and become part of the collective conciousness.
** "All of you were just like the others. So, I thought I would give you a taste of my world."
* The alien in ''[[Slither]]'' is a parasitic [[Hive Queen]] that [[The Virus|infects]] host bodies to make drones that it inhabits with its own consciousness.
* "Eight" in ''[[The Specials]]'' is a superhero
* The Arachnids (or Bugs) from the ''[[Starship Troopers (
{{quote|
* The [[Hive Mind (
* Nestor, one of the aliens in ''[[Battle Beyond the Stars]]'' is an entire hive-mind race. They are very bored with their life and join the heroes because it should provide exciting new experiences.
* The Strangers in ''[[Dark City]]''. They're on the search for human individuality.
=== Literature ===
* The [[Starfish Aliens|Primes]] from [[Peter F. Hamilton]]'s [[Commonwealth Saga]] are a textbook example of a superorganism. They evolved as mindless, animal-like "motiles" that had the ability to merge with each other into a more intelligent, sentient "immotile", which would then spawn and direct other motiles by sharing neural impulses with specialized tentacles. Since each immotile can transfer [[Body Surf|its]] [[Brain Uploading|mind]] from one body to another, they are all essentially immortal (and most immotile collectives are actually clusters of hundreds of linked bodies), and also [[Absolute Xenophobe|insanely hostile]] to any life form that is not under their control, including other immotiles. Once they discover radio, they each become a true
** Their xenophobia and expansionist imperative extends to the entire Universe. An immotile ''cannot'' envision a Universe containing anything other than [[It's All About Me|itself]].
** The sequel to the Commonwealth Saga, the ''[[Void Trilogy]]'', introduces Multiples - humans who spread their minds through multiple cloned bodies, with thoughts and emotions distributed through gaia motes and cybernetics.
* Ygramul the Many from [[
* In [[Repairman Jack|Hosts]], this combines with [[The Virus
* The Taurans in ''[[The Forever War]]''. It is only after the creation of Man, a group intellect derived from humans, that the human race learns what a mistake the war was.
* The ''[[
** Well they have a ''hive'', but it's not quite clear how much of a ''
** The Taxxons are individuals. The Living Hive that spawned them is another organism. Some are loyal to it, others not. Unusually enough, it's a good hive.
** ''Animorphs'' does have the Howlers which are definitely a hive mind, as the memories of each individual is shared with the rest of the species.
** At one point, the Animorphs morph into termites. When they morph into a species of animal for the first time, the Animorphs have to contend with the animal's instincts. In this case, they ended up locked into the termite hivemind, and very nearly got stuck in it. For good. The only way they escaped was when Cassie managed to force herself to believe the queen was an ant for long enough to kill her, breaking the connections, at which point everyone got a hold of themselves and demorphed (through a ''wooden floor'' - yes, it hurt like hell). The Animorphs never took hive-insect forms again.
* The Buggers of ''[[Ender's Game]]'' are the ur-example of the 'controlled by a central mind' variety. One of the causes of the war stemmed from their believing we had those too.
** They also have multiple [[Hive Queen
* The [[Bee People|human hive]] living beneath Rome in Stephen Baxter's ''[[Xeelee Sequence
* A character in [[Spider Robinson]]'s ''[[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
** It should be noted that the two bodies share a telepathic connection, which helped reinforce the "one mind, two bodies" thing. It also plays with muscle memory a bit: Only one body can play piano, while the other is much better at their other job. (hint: they work in a brothel (though it's not sleazy, and it's implied that Jesus might be a member)).
* Spider Robinson seems fascinated with this concept, as many of his later novels form a sort of continuity, with not two different takes on the Hive Mind concept.
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* Legion of the [[Wild Cards]] novels is a single individual who can grow and inhabit multiple custom-made bodies.
* The [[Bug War]] novels ''[[Starfire|In Death Ground]]'' and ''The Shiva Option'' have aliens which are telepathically linked. The latter novel's titular Option involves literally rendering lifeless all planets on which the Bugs have established bases, in order to both exterminate the beachhead and disorient the survivors.
* Like Spider Robinson, [[Terry Pratchett]] uses this concept in ''[[
** Also in ''[[
** Spider the Rat King, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[
** He also inverts the idea with Miss Pointer/Mrs. Pickles in Thud. [[Mind Hive|Two people living in one body]].
** Not to mention [[Magical Computer|Hex]], which is a ''literal'' hive mind.
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** In ''The Santaroga Barrier'' the hive-mind is {{spoiler|composed of linked unconscious parts of participants' brains}}, and does not show great intellectual capability. Though not actively hostile, it's ''very'' dangerous as it's prone to paranoid overreaction in self-protection. Even despite the fact that its own components don't like this at all.
* Christopher Hinz's ''Paratwa'' series uses this as a main theme. The aliens' evolution stressed cooperation (instead of competition as on Earth) as the key to survival. Alien/human hybrids were telepathically connected, and ''usually'' went fatally insance if their twin died.
* The Vord from Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'' are referred to as one of these, but in practice what they actually have is a series of [[Hive Queen
* In [[Vernor Vinge]]'s ''[[
* Interesting subversion in [[Stephen King]] 's ''[[The Tommyknockers]]'', where the transformed humans/aliens grow increasingly mentally
* In Asimov's ''[[Foundation|Foundation and Earth]]'', there is an entity called Gaia that includes every man, woman, animal, and even every plant and inanimate object on the eponymous planet.
* The ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' has the Killiks in the [[Dark Nest Trilogy]]. One aspect of the Killiks which other species found disturbing was how any person engaging in extended contact with them found themselves losing their individuality and becoming a "Joiner" - essentially becoming part of the Colony and fighting their old people, feeling, at the most, regret if they couldn't convert their friends. However, there were several colonies, each with Killiks that had different appearances and specializations, and Joiners who were converted by one colony, if sent to assist another, actually found the Joiner bond weakening, something which they found horrifying.
* [[Theodore Sturgeon]]'s novel ''The Cosmic Rape'' details a galactic hive-mind coming to Earth.
* The Gargantius Effect-equipped armies in ''[[
* [[The
* ''[[
* The cho-ja from Raymond E. Feist's ''[[The Riftwar Cycle|Empire Trilogy]]'' share conciousness amongst the [[Hive Queen|hive queens]] who have reached maturity.
* In the [[Star Trek Novel Verse]], the Tholians are part way there. While all individuals (and indeed possessing just as many dreamers, dissenters, seditionists and individualists as any other Trek culture), they have a version of this on the instinctive level. The Tholian lattice connects the minds of all Tholians, distributing basic race-knowledge to all and allowing individuals to commune with one another. The lattice is regulated carefully, with different castes having different degrees of access. On occasion, it can indeed cause the entirety of the Tholian race to share an experience, as was the case with the telepathic assaults of the Shedai. See [[Star Trek: Vanguard]] and [[Star Trek:
* As a result of their [[Bond Creatures|mental bond]], [[Inheritance Cycle|Eragon and Saphira]] share a consciousness.
* D'ivers of the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' are [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshifters]] who transform into a multitude of creatures, but maintain a single mind. This can be anything from a dozen to literally thousands of individual bodies, and so long as one survives so does the D'ivers.
* Sedmon of the Six Lives in ''The Wizard of Karres'' and ''The Sorceress of Karres'', [[Eric Flint]], Dave Freer, and [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s [[Tie-in Novel|Tie In Novels]] to ''[[The Witches of Karres]]''.
* The short-story "Missile Gap" by [[Charles Stross]] has humanity being wiped out by [[World War Three]] started by [[Puppeteer Parasite
* [[Timothy Zahn]]'s ''[[Quadrail Series|Quadrail]]'' series has a hive mind constituted of millions of tiny polyps, which normally live in underwater corals. By themselves they're practically insignificant, but in large numbers they become a telepathic, and rather malevolent, all-conquering mind - which even speaks of itself in the singular. The creepiest part is, they can infect normal people and create colonies - "walkers" - that will then obey them; they can offer subtle suggestions to drive the infected to do something on its own accord, or they can take over the body entirely - and suicide it when no longer needed.
* The Tyr of ''[[
* Clare Bell's ''[[The Book of the Named|Clan Ground]]'' series has a group of cats that are a hive mind. They are led by a group leader called True Of Voice and the one cat who does get pulled away from the mindlink has a hard time knowing what to do on his own. Eventually, he ends up somewhere between, able to think somewhat on his own, but still with definite qualities of the hive mind cats.
* The Swarm (or Roy) in [[Vladimir Vasilyev]]'s ''Death or Glory''. When the alien [[The Alliance|Alliance]] sends representatives to the human Volga colonists (having previously ignored humanity as a backward race of over-evolved apes), there are several insect-like creatures among them. Unlike the other Alliance races, who send official representatives, the Swarm merely sends random drones. After all, each drone is the same as any other.
* The Insects in ''[[The History of the Galaxy]]'' series are partly this, although it's still possible for them to retain their individuality. Their hive can, though, force a number of its members to undergo a "de-evolution" of sorts, turning them into mindless drones, usually to accomplish some enormous task or for use in the "[[We Have Reserves]]" type of warfare. When there is no longer need for the drones, the hive reverses the process, returning the Insects their individuality. Because they have a virtually unlimited workforce, the Insects, while quite advanced in other areas, have never developed nor done any research in cybernetics. As such, they are well aware that the humans (who are millions of years younger than them) can quickly bring to bear awesome and precise firepower through their [[A Mech
* In [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[The Stars Are Cold Toys]]'', the {{spoiler|Kualkua}} are revealed to be a single consciousness with billions of bodies (which can {{spoiler|split into even more bodies on demand}}). Another race of peaceful hive-minded insects is mentioned to have existed in the past, until their homeworld was [[Earth Shattering Explosion|destroyed]] by the Conclave, who view any "useless" race (the insects couldn't handle spaceflight) as a waste of resources.
=== Live Action TV ===
* The Borg in ''[[Star Trek:
** Another ''[[Star Trek]]'' example from the Original Series: the androids in the episode "I, Mudd" were all psychically connected, communing with a central computer during moments of uncertainty or confusion. Many of the androids had identical forms and even spoke in unison.
*** Another TOS episode had an omniscient computer named Landru which controlled and psychically linked the humans of its planet after they had undergone a process called "absorption."
** The changelings of ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' spend most of their time in a liquid state on their home planet (the entire species essentially resembles a vast ocean). While in this state, they share a collective consciousness, which they refer to as "the Great Link", while still retaining their individuality. It is also possible for ''any'' number of changelings to link in this way.
* The new series of ''[[Doctor Who]]'' features the Ood.
* Legion in ''[[
* In ''[[Dark Angel]]'' transgenics of X7 series (children having disturbing pure black eyes). "The X7s are stronger and faster than the X5 series. They were designed with hive minds and are capable of communicating through sound waves, much like bats, but do so without opening their mouths. Their communications are inaudible to non-X7s. They never speak. "
* An episode of ''[[Sliders]]'' has the heroes travel to three remarkably similar worlds, all of which had invented a miracle cure of sorts that consists of bacteria that quickly repair any damage to the human body. The problem is, the bacteria communicate via pulses of light, which are not limited to just within the body. Thus, all those with the bacteria sense each other, although they still retain a measure of individuality. On one world, this has resulted in an Inquisition of sorts that hunts down any "Believers", as they're called. On another, the Believers are a peaceful commune living in tents and meditating. On the third world, the cure was destroyed years before once the authorities realized the problem, although Quinn re-introduces it from his own blood. The sliders also find a way to shut off the bacteria (without removing the effects of what has already been "fixed" in the body) using an oversized flashlight pulsing a coded shutdown signal. This immediately disconnects the individual from the hive mind and leaves them feeling empty and nostalgic.
* A very weak version of this exists in ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' with the [[Energy Being|Taelons]], whose minds are joined in the Commonality. However, they are full individuals and don't share each other's thoughts. The Commonality mainly serves to keep the Taelons from reverting into the savage Atavus state. A human jacked into the Commonality experiences the greatest high possible, and a few seconds can feel like hours.
=== New Media ===
* The protagonist of ''[[Conquering the Horizon]]'' has a hive mind. Her individual bodies have semi-independent lines of thought. She also often treats her bodies as individual people as both a way of playing/entertainment as well as coping with isolation. When circumstances permit she even [[Attending Your Own Funeral|gives her dead bodies funerals]].
=== Tabletop Games ===
* In the ''[[
** In ''[[
** For another ''[[
* In ''[[Magic:
** A somewhat more frightening example would be the [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?output=spoiler&method=visual&name=+%5Bsliver%5D slivers]: each sliver is connected together via a psychic gestalt that ''was'' controlled by the ''[[Authority Equals Asskicking|enormous]]'' [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5233 queen], when she was gone, [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45166 a new leader] was created. Now that they're ''both'' gone, the hivemind ''itself'' is [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136146 gaining self-awareness]. On top of that, the individual varieties of sliver [[Adaptive Ability|instill instant mutations]] in their brethren when nearby ([[No Ontological Inertia|which of course fade when they're gone]]), meaning that [https://web.archive.org/web/20090426014640/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4746 if one sliver can fly], they all can. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081002130843/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=42017 If one sliver has armor-plated skin, they all do]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081002120150/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=42029 If one sliver can move at speeds approaching the relativistic] or [https://web.archive.org/web/20090426015644/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5134 shrug off magic like water off a duck's back], they all will...
** The [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chorus%20of%20the%20Conclave Selesnya] [http://www.wizards.com/magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mc7 Conclave]
** [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190556 Hive Mind] does this to players. When someone plays a card, everyone plays that card.<ref>This is particularly handy when you play a card that would be near-lethal to you, but suicidal for everyone else.</ref>
* The Tyranids of ''[[Warhammer
** The only person in the galaxy who has survived some form of espionage / eavesdropping / communication is a [[Super Soldier]] who is the most powerful semi-human psyker in the galaxy. [[Running Gag|And Eldrad]].
** As a result, a Tyranid player is sometimes jokingly referred to as a "hive consciousness".
** ''I can feel them - scratching at the back of my head. They're coming for us, '''mind, body and soul!'''''
* In ''[[Dungeons
* One [[The Virus|viral]] example of this trope exists in the [[Ravenloft]] setting, in the form of Toben the Many, a [[Hannibal Lecture
* One sample artifact from ''[[
* ''[[
* The snakelike Naga from ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' have a sort of communal consciousness called the "Akasha", though they do have individual minds and personalities.
* One published adventure from the ''Paragons'' setting for ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' has to do with someone accidentally creating one of these while ''in a coma''.
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=== Toys ===
* The Bohrok from ''[[Bionicle]]''.
=== Video Games ===
* The Coremind from ''[[Achron]]'' fits this trope. {{spoiler|Another hive mind emerges in the third campaign as well}}
* The Zerg in ''[[
* The Many from ''[[System Shock]] II'' - and let's not go into when they try to recruit '''[[Player Character|you]]''' into their fold.
* The [[Zombie Apocalypse|Infected]] in ''[[Prototype (
* The Mindhome in ''[[Dark Sun]]: Shattered Lands'' (not surprising, as Athas is a psionic-rich world, someone has to try). It's of communal (as opposed to fused) variety and is not aggressive. [[PC
* ''[[
* The Flood from ''[[Halo]]''. The flood do without a hivemind and behave like nonsentients until they assimilate enough people and then they create a Gravemind. They follow this trope then as the Gravemind organizes them better.
** The Hunters are a gestalt organism composed of worms called Lekgolo. When a colony gets too big for one suit, it splits into a bonded pair with a shared consciousness, which is why they are encountered mostly in pairs during the game.
** The insectoid Drones also share a hivemind, which makes them a lethal foe.
* The Aparoids in ''[[Star Fox (
* The Bacterians from the ''Gradius'' series. They are usually led by Bacterion, the [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Big Bad]] that uses smaller Hive Minds like Gofer and Venom to command his fleets. If a Bacterian Hive Mind gets killed, the pieces of the Hive Mind will regenerate to become a new Hive Mind.
* Ermac from ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' is a fusion of hundreds of souls which all operate under one mind (referring to himself in the plural form). However, his ending in ''Mortal Kombat Armageddon'' shows a godlike power separating the many souls contained within him. These souls soon become new bodies and eventually Ermac becomes an army linked by collective consciousness.
* In ''[[
* The Voxai in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood]]'' are also run by an overmind. The [[Big Bad]]'s influence turns this Overmind hostile, changing its messages from suggestions to commands.
* The Mantis of ''[[Conquest: Frontier Wars]]'' are described as 'narrowly hive minded' and the Celareons seem to have a central brain.
* ''[[Sid
** Even if they don't start as a true example (you can research tech to correct this), the Hive civilization holds this as an ideal.
** One of the ways to end the game is to achieve [[Ascend to
* The Kha'ak from ''[[X (
* The
* The 666 creatures making up [[Tsukihime|Nero Chaos]] are all part of his mind. As he appears to talk to pieces of himself from time to time (such as getting irritated at one of his dog bodies when Shiki kills it) it seems more of a hive mind than a single mind controlling lots of bodies. Would that be worthy of a distinction anyway?
* The Vortigaunts from the ''[[Half-Life]]'' series [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot|may]] be an example. The aliens are connected to each other through something they call the Vortessence, which apparently spans time and space, life and death. When two or more communicate, they are able to talk simultaneously (a process they call "flux-shifting"), and it is hinted that if one Vortigaunt allows itself to be captured, the rest of the race is able to gather information through it. With one exception, Vortigaunts don't seem to have names, and just refer to themselves as "this one." Then again, they start all names with "the" (where it makes sense "The free-man" and where it doesn't "The Eli Vance"), so it is possible because they're all linked none of them ever had a need for names, they were after all psychically enslaved by the Nihilanth for an undefined period...
* The Omar from ''[[Deus Ex: Invisible War
** The basic idea is sharing understanding. Unlike the Omar which eradicates individuality Helios is supposed to make people understand each others' opinions through a highly advanced form of technological empathy and telepathy. Basically it allows a callous bigot to feel his victims' pain as well as the sense of tolerance and empathy from kinder people in theory removing all prejudice and hatred. It's also supposed to let them share knowledge so no one misunderstands one another. [[Your Mileage May Vary]] will depend on whether or not you see this as better than the Borg-like Omar ending.
* The Zoni from ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]''. As revealed and explicitly stated in ''A Crack in Time'', they become like ADHD-afflicted children when separated from a group. It appears that two or more are required for the creatures to exhibit any semblance of sanity; however (as far as the storyline is concerned), they are never shown in any less than a group of three.
* From ''[[Dragon Age]]'', The Darkspawn, tainted creatures that dwell in the underground caverns of the Deep Roads. Whenever an Archdemon (old gods manifested in the forms of powerful dragons) awaken, the darkspawn function in a sort of hive-mind. Otherwise they war amongst each other as much as against the other races.
** They wage war against the Dwarves between Blights. [[Hopeless War|One that the Dwarves are slowly losing when the game starts]]. Blights are actually a brief ''respite'' for the Dwarves since most of the Darkspawn go off to attack the surface instead. While Darkspawn do fight against each other, being [[
* The Silithids from ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' probably are such. Their [[Hive Queen]] (King rather) appears to be [[Eldritch Abomination|C'thun]].
* The Wisps in the ''[[Ultima]]'' games all share a single mind, which calls itself Xorinia and claims to be an interdimensional information broker. It/they are quite puzzled by the fact that humans are individuals, and don't quite understand why they have to repeat everything from scratch every time they speak to the human race.
* ''[[Emperor: Battle for Dune]]'' - The House of Ordos is led by the Executrix, four beings that share a single mind and communicate only through a creature known as the "Speaker".
* An obscure game called "The Adventurer's club" had a possible subversion. There was a telepathic. hive minded species called the T'hlang, but in that, each individual T'hlang was trying to break out of the hive mind, and the hive couldn't control all the guys, so you constantly had "rogues" breaking away from the hive mind, and sometimes getting re-absorbed.
* The NPC [[Our Elves Are Different|Elf race]] in ''[[Mabinogi (
** A repeatable quest for Elf characters is to recover "lost elves" who have been severed from the collective, and reunite them with the racial consciousness.
* The cranium rats from tabletop [[Dungeons
* ''[[
** They also explain how this works rather more than other examples of this trope; the physical bodies are "platforms" and the actual geth are program runtimes (the character Legion comprises at least a thousand individual geth). The more platforms there are in the same place, the more processors can be devoted to their various tasks; this is why geth are smarter in numbers. [[Fridge Logic|Presumably, each platform is equipped with the right hardware to accommodate many runtimes at once without slowing down, overheating, or straining the hardware]].
** The Reapers are also revealed to be this. That is, a single Reaper is actually composed of thousands of programs. The various Reapers are not implied to be connected in such way.
** In ''[[
** The Rachni in the ''[[
* In ''[[
* The Brotherhood of Shadow from the [[Knights of the Old Republic]] [[Game Mod]] of the same name were a Sith (the species, not the sect) order of warriors who considered themselves a single being, an extension of the Sith King's will. Once the lot of them are imprisoned in an [[Artifact of Doom]], they slowly ''become'' a single mind - one looking for a proper host...
* The Shivans in ''[[Free Space]]'' are hypothesized to be this in the second game because after the lead ship, the Lucifer, is destroyed, the remained units become uncoordinated and easily finished off, like it was the brain of the fleet.
* The Orz in ''[[Star Control]]'' are hinted (and confirmed by [[Word of God]]) to be the extensions of an [[Eldritch Abomination]] which calls itself "Orz". As such, the "*fingers*" (as Orz's extensions refer to themselves) all have the same mind, which is currently staying in whatever dimension Orz calls home (it refers to ''our'' dimension as "*the middle*").
* The Zuul from ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' have two variants of this trope: Male Zuul can create coteries with nearby females: He becomes a [[Hive Queen]] that directs the females as easy as he would command his own limbs, and all parts of the coterie share a single consciousness. The males themselves have a higher-level hive mind that allow them to share their thoughts and information freely with each other over a long distance while remaining their own individuals. The novelization implies that this sharing of information does funny things with the Zuul psyche as they find the notion of having information other don't have, and things like a name, to be highly unusual.
** In something of a departure from common uses of this trope the game's [[Bee People]], called "the Hivers", have no
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* Mars, in the webcomic ''[[A Miracle of Science]]''. One of the few examples of large-scale
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' Petey after migrating from old hardware - and more broadly, the Fleetmind.
** And the infamous Partnership Collective: A
** The Ot-Skadak (Flechette bugs evolved on Eina-afa) - they are carnivores, so the primary use of swarm communication is [[Synchronized Swarming|to coordinate high-speed attacks]]. [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-06-28 These] are up to 3 meters long (see the previous or next page for how huge the dragon-like critter was) - see a close-up image [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-06-30 here]. There smallest are finger-sized, though they still can kill a human wearing light body armour in a few seconds, even without the advantage of high approach speed. Like other linked minds in ''Schlock Mercenary'', they can overcome range limitations via FTL communication implants. Their natural organization seems to be local swarms acting on a single purpose independently, while keeping in touch with nearby ones to much lesser degree (which makes sense resources-wise), so when Ot-Skadak get into the wider galaxy, they travel as distinct "clusters" with their own names, specializing as a diplomat, engineer, warrior...
* In the comic ''[[MSF High]]'', the Legion are a Hive Mind which maintains individuality amongst Legions. Their society is very in-depth, and they are surprisingly friendly. Now.
* ''[[Bob and George]]'' has X, in his first chronological physical appearance (note: the rest were pre-existent spirit forms or time-travellers. Or Alternates. Or future alternate spirit forms. Or a pair of kumquats, hiding in the shape of X. Something along those lines.) go omnicidal (in a way) when no one would be his friend, and then proceeds to link up every robot to his mind. And then picks up a cyborg. And then through that cyborg the entire human race.
* Gavotte from ''[[Skin Horse]]''. An actual hive.
* ''[[Sequential Art (
=== Web Original ===▼
▲== Web Original ==
* Los Hermanos of the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' combines this with [[Me's a Crowd]], as not only can he create thousands of copies of himself, he shares his consciousness between them. (He is somehow capable of dealing with all the conflicting sensory input, and is capable of handling multiple tasks at once, multiple conversations at once, and so on). At any given moment, he's likely got a dozen duplicates active around the world working in as many different occupations. Anything one duplicate learns, all the duplicates know how to do. And at least two of his constantly active duplicates are married. But only one is an active superhero.
** Aryan Nation is a controversial white supremacist ''superhero'' (yes, you read that right) who shares Los Hermanos's powers. His powers are so similar to Los Hermanos that the Global Guardian once hypothesized that maybe Aryan Nation was one of his dupes who managed to gain a separate consciousness. (He found out later this wasn't true.)
** The Seven Brothers is a super-strong Chinese hero who can split into seven bodies, all of whom share a consciousness.
** Mob Rule, a South African supervillain from the same setting, has a similar power. His copies, however, are independent individuals.
** Saba Devatao, an Indonesia supervillain, creates eight duplicates and like Los Hermanos is a
** The mutant supervillain known as [[Complete Monster|The Swarm]] can transform into a seemingly numberless horde of cockroaches, each of whom she can somehow control.
*** Hive is a heroic example of the same power, only he transforms into wasps and isn't a cannibal serial killer.
* If [[Tribe Twelve|The Observer]] is to be believed, he is part of "[[You Will Be Assimilated|The Collective]]." Interestingly, he seems to contradict himself, saying "I love you all" to the people asking him questions on Formspring and later stating that he feels no emotion.
* ''[[
* ''[[SMBC Theater]]'' explores [http://www.smbc-theater.com/?id=205 hive mind dating].
* [[Akinator]] is sort of a real-life example of
=== [[Western Animation]] ===▼
▲== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The [[Little Green Men|LGMs]] in ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' are a rather rare benevolent example; all of them in the universe are connected, and their ability to cooperate makes them excellent at pretty much all the technical work [[Space Police|Star Command]] needs done (think about it; [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist|they share all knowledge]] and can work in perfect synch). In the pilot movie, it's revealed that this is made possible by the 'Unimind' on their home planet, and they go into disarray when Zurg steals it (mostly [[Played for Laughs]], it factors into the origin of one major character).
** They do, however, have the occasional one who isn't part of the LGM collective.
* In ''[[Batman:
* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force
=== Real Life ===
* Some say that [[The Internet]] might be evolving into this.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Bizarre Alien Biology]]
[[Category:One With the Index]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Mind Manipulation]]
[[Category:Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes]]
[[Category:
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