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[[File:HiveMind_4915.png|link=X Men (Comic Book)|right|"I know, kids! Let me show you [[TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|this one little site.]]"]]
 
 
{{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''}}
 
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 OthersOther'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 Mind]] (e.g., the Borg) and the [[Evil Matriarch]] becomes its [[Hive Queen]].
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* 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 (Creator)]] and [[Stephen Baxter]]: direct interfaces between the human mind and computer networks leads to the development of a hive mind. This is not presented as a bad thing, and the hive mind has no interest in doing anything to force anyone to join who doesn't want to, or anything like that.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' Novel "Legion", the Alpha Legion invoke this trope: They use identity, conformity of appearance, and anonymity as a weapon. To the casual (or even acute) observer, every soldier appears identical (the fact that they all call themselves Alpharius doesn't help). Due to their particular doctrine of being incredibly well informed (beyond even the normal Astartes' capacity for knowledge), and each soldier being just as capable of leading each other as their immediate superiors, they could very well be considered a hive mind. Even more appropriately, the twin Primarchs of the Legion (Alpharius and Omegon) are so identical, they even think, breath, blink, talk, etc in EXACTLY the same way as each other.
 
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** 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 individual--tiny--brains.
* 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 OthersOther'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.
 
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== 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 [[Hive Mind]] isn't so much a collective as it is {{spoiler|a network of implanted people with Grace as an "admin" node, effectively overwriting every connected member's personal desires with whatever Grace wants. (However, it's not made clear if she is the ''sole'' node, or whether the Executive Council of the Galaxy Fleet has administrative command as well. The latter is more likely, as she is seen communing with other members of her conspiracy over details.) Her grand scheme was to use the fold quartz and Vajra to spread this network over the entire galaxy, in order to incorporate all of humanity, and surpass the [[Precursors|Protoculture]].}}
* 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]].
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== 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 [[Hive Mind]], singular consciousnesses inhabiting armies of motile soldiers and immotile clusters. Then they proceed to [[Kill 'Em All|kill each-other and everything else]].
** Their xenophobia and expansionist imperative extends to the entire Universe. An immotile ''cannot'' envision a Universe containing anything other than [[ItsIt'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 [[Michael Ende (Creator)|Michael Ende]]'s ''[[The Neverending Story (Literature)|The Neverending Story]]'' is a giant swarm of arachnids that share a collective/hive mind and together appear like a giant spider. This secret is revealed {{spoiler|only to its poisoned victims who Ygramul is convinced will certainly die. Atreyu doesn't, due to a fortunate or destined encounter.}}
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* 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|Puppeteer Parasites]] who are members of a hive mind destroying potential rival species. They distrust the "paranoid individualism" of humanity and lament the fact that humans haven't evolved a more efficient means of survival and evolution like their own.
* [[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.
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== Web Original ==
* Los Hermanos of the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' combines this with [[MesMe'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.
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[[Category:Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes]]
[[Category:Hive Mind]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
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