Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,908
edits
Our Ancestors Are Superheroes: Difference between revisions
m
standardized section heads
(→[[Web Original]]: clean up) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (standardized section heads) |
||
| (4 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|"''I fell 8,000 feet and landed on some jagged rocks. Of course, people were a lot tougher in those days. I was jitterbuggin' that very night!''"
|'''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Grandpa Simpson]]'''}}
This trope refers to those plots where it is shown that an ancestor, some ancestors of a certain folk or a whole ancient culture possessed superhuman abilities. These abilities may be exaggerated beyond the point of religious belief and break the wall into the superhero genre.
Line 12 ⟶ 13:
Compare with: [[Precursors]].
{{examples|Examples}}▼
== [[Anime]]
* The superhumanly powerful Headdmasters from Mamoru Nagano's ''Five Star Stories'' are the last remnants of the ancient precursor civilization known as the Farus Di Kanon, or the Super Empire.
== [[
* In [[DC Comics]]' title ''The Great Ten'', Thundermind is a character that resembles a kind of Bodhisattva, an enlightened Buddhist with superhuman powers (siddhis) like invisibility, bilocation, super strength, super speed, telekinesis and telepathy. He is the powerhouse of the team. However, although it absolutely contrasts the understanding of an enlightened Buddhist, these powers can be knocked on or off. In reality, Thundermind is a high school teacher who is in love with his colleague Ms. Wu; however, love is something an enlightened Buddhist wouldn't feel, because it's a passion. He also uses a Dixie toilet to change into Thundermind ''à la'' Clark Kent by a magical incantation.
Line 24 ⟶ 25:
* ''[[Wanted]]'': Wesley is unknowingly descended from a secret society of assassins dating back centuries with innate superhuman powers. An example of type 2 above.
== [[Live
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' not only has [[Ancient Astronauts]], but they also sport non-technological superpowers, like telepathy.
** Teyla is revealed to be descended from humans who were experimented on by the Wraith, which gave them (and her, and others like her) the ability to sense the presence of Wraith.
Line 34 ⟶ 35:
== [[Literature]] ==
* In one of the later [[My Teacher Is an Alien]] books, the protagonists learn that ''all'' humans were once telepaths. People eventually suppressed this ability because of the growing population - contact with so many other minds would have driven them insane otherwise. This is used to explain, in part, why [[Humans Are
* In Vasiliy Golovachov's ''The Envoy'', the protagonist accidentally becomes a new Envoy after witnessing the assassination of the last one. He occasionally gets glimpses of his ancestors via [[Genetic Memory]], who were ancient Russian knights with nigh-superhuman abilities.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* While [[Assassin's Creed|Desmond Miles]] knows he grew up in an assassin compound, he is shocked to discover the truth about his ancestors. Both Altair and Ezio, for example, have the Eagle Vision ability, which allows them to distinguish friend from foe and even see things that are hidden. Due to the "bleeding effect" of the Animus, he gains that ability as well. The assassins were also master engineers, as they had technology centuries ahead of the rest of humanity. Not to mention the whole First Civilization plotline, which is pure [[Ancient Astronauts]].
* ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'' makes a recurring plot point out of the ancestral Adepts known as Jenei, whereas earlier games in the series pretty much hand-waved Adept-hood as the result of [[Green Rocks|Psynergy Stones]]. How this affects the Adepts who emerged from non-Adept communities in said previous games isn't shown.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy 7]]'' there was the Cetra or later called the Ancients. They were gifted with powerful magic and a high affinity toward the planet and the lifesteam allowing them insights such as if someone has died and rejoined the lifesteam. Sephiroth states that human are decendants of the Cetra, who forsook the migratory ways (and lost the magic powers) of the Cetra and cowered in fear (thus surviving) when Jenova was busy wiping out the Cetra.
| |||