History BrainInAJar / Literature

* Conspiracy theorist Creator/FrancisEDec believed that the Computer God's MindControlDevices are activated by brains stored in "brain bank cities" on the dark side of the moon. [[AmbiguousSyntax it is unknown whether he also believed that they take the role that everyone else believes our actual brains have]]

* Conspiracy theorist Creator/FrancisEDec believed that our real brains are in "brain bank cities" on the dark side of the moon and our heads contain only a transmitting device connecting us with them. This is all to enable Gangster Computer God to control us, of course.

* In ''Literature/WilliamAndMary'' by Creator/RoaldDahl, cold and dominating husband William is dying of cancer but has his brain and one of his eyes kept alive. It's presumed that his wife, Mary (who insists to the scientist running the project that she's entitled to take him home, since he's her husband) will torment him [[KarmicTwistEnding by doing all the things he forbade her to do in front of him]], [[AndIMustScream now that he's helpless]]. A TV version of this short story explicitly shows her doing just this.

** ''Literature/TalesFromJabbasPalace'' reveals that the spiderlike droids seen in Jabba's palace in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' are mechanisms used for getting around by the B'omarr monks, who have chosen life as brains-in-jars. They regard this it as the ultimate in sensory deprivation, enabling themselves to focus all their mental energy to meditation. (You can see the jars on the undersides in the film if you know to look for them.)
** Bib Fortuna, when a fellow Twi'lek and associate of his was slated to be fed to the Rancor, had the man's brain removed and stuck in one of the spider droids first. Bib believed that, without a body, Nat was going insane. The epilogue reveals that [[spoiler:Bib Fortuna]] eventually joined him. The ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'' comics reveal that he's still able to plot and get messages out; eventually yet another Twi'lek came to carry [[spoiler: Bib]] off, heaping a lot of verbal abuse and using electric torture on the brain walker in the process. Later the other Twi'lek tries to ditch the walker, but he stows away and, after the other Twi'lek is stabbed, manages to drag him back to the palace and the monks. Cut to the Twi'lek rising out of a bacta tank, and the attendant droid remarking on the loyalty of the brain droid, how it had insisted on having a restraining bolt fitted to it, and that the scars on the Twi'lek's head seemed to indicate a brain transfer. Part of a Twi'lek's brain is in his or her headtails, so a Twi'lek brain in a jar looks rather odd.

** Once Jabba dies, the monks go batshit with brain spider-ing, doing it to anyone who stays in the palace. Most don't want to, but one criminal, as revealed in the epilogue for ''Tales from Jabba's Palace'', goes willingly because he was tired of living in the heat and he couldn't leave Tatooine.

* The back cover of ''[[Literature/TheShipWho The Ship Who Sang]]'' has the tagline "Helva had been born human... but only her brain had been saved." She ''is'' referred to as a "brain" or a "brainship" and regards her ship as her body, which she can't leave, but this is a case of CoversAlwaysLie - her body is in there, shrunken and useless except as additional life support.

* In ''Oblivion'', the third book of the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series, the Chairman of the Fantasia Corporation turns out to have put his body in cryogenic suspension but kept his brain alive and active, so that he can still run his company via a holographic avatar.

* In ''Literature/WilliamAndMary'' by Creator/RoaldDahl, cold and dominating husband William is dying of cancer but has his brain and one of his eyes kept alive. It's presumed that his wife, Mary will torment him [[KarmicTwistEnding by doing all the things he forbade her to do in front of him]], [[AndIMustScream now that he's helpless]]. A TV version of this short story explicitly shows her doing just this.

* Simon Wright of the ''Literature/CaptainFuture'' universe almost is an archetypical brain in a jar. A distinguished but elderly scientist, he had his brain transplanted into an artificial case before his body gave out. At the beginning of the series, the case is immobile and has to be carried around by the RobotBuddy; later it gets an upgrade and is able to hover around under his direction.

* The Marquess of Watersford in ''Literature/TheCuriousCaseOfSpringHeeledJack'' ended up a brain in a jar, which was placed in the skull of an orangutan so that he can walk around. He gathers several morally ambiguous people [[spoiler: this timeline's versions of Darwin, Galton, Florence Nightengale, Isambard Kingdom Brunel... it's a weird book]] with the intent of capturing Jack's time-suit so that he can go back in time and prevent the accident that trapped him in this state.

** In this universe, there exist psi-blockers, devices that espers using their powers in a given area. It is eventually revealed that Empress Lionstone had them created by extracting the brains from espers and sealing them in containers. The ''[[AndIMustScream psychic screams of agony]]'' were what prevented espers using their abilities.
** The later series replaced the original psi-blockers with genetically cloned esper brains that could generate the same effects without the horror.

* Creator/DanielDennett's short story, "Literature/WhereAmI" (read it [[http://www.newbanner.com/SecHumSCM/WhereAmI.html here]]) is about a man being separated from his brain and explores relevant philosophical ideas.

* Creator/LarryNiven's short story ''Literature/BecalmedInHell'' has a ''sans corpus'' fellow running a probe to the surface of Venus and contains a ShoutOut to the above book by naming the bodiless chap Donovan.
* In Creator/KeithLaumer's [[Literature/{{Bolo}} Boloverse]] novel ''Bolo Rising'' (by William H. Keith, Jr.), the brain of the former commander of BOLO Mark XXXIII Mod HCT ("Hector") has been preserved by the alien !*!*! and connected to one of their battle fortresses. [[spoiler:During the final battle, he manages to provide Hector and his new commander with critical data, as well as helping to subvert the !*!*! attack.]]
* ''[[Literature/{{Boojumverse}} Boojum]]'' by Creator/ElizabethBear and Creator/SarahMonette. SpacePirates raid a freighter that turns out to be carrying a cargo of {{Brain in a Jar}}s in a black market trade with the above-mentioned Mi-Go. The PirateGirl captain decides to sell them to the Mi-Go herself, only for swarms of them to turn up with lots of additional empty jars...

* ''Literature/CyberJolyDrim'' has saint Francises - perfectly normal citizens who lead perfectly productive lives on the Internet, while just happening to be brains in jars.

** In this universe there exist psi-blockers, devices that espers using their powers in a given area. It is eventually revealed that Empress Lionstone had them created by extracting the brains from espers and sealing them in containers. The ''[[AndIMustScream psychic screams of agony]]'' were what prevented espers using their abilities.
** The later series replaced the original psi-blockers with genetically-cloned esper brains that could generate the same effects without the horror.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': An Igor in ''Literature/MakingMoney'' cites the invention of a "living brain extractor" as proof of a famous scientist's great achievements. Also as proof that the inventor was ''not'' mad, but what else can be expected of an Igor?
* The novel ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donovan%27s_Brain Donovan's Brain]]'' by Creator/CurtSiodmak, in which megalomaniac millionaire W.H. Donovan crashes his private plane in the desert near the home of Dr. Patrick Cory. Dr. Cory cannot save Donovan's life, but he manages to preserve the other man's brain, placing it in a glass tank full of an electrically charged, oxygenated saline solution. The brain not only survives, but Donovan's evil will begins psychically attempting to take control of the doctor's body, until Dr. Cory's assistant finally frees him by smashing the tank with an axe.
* The first novel based on the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' videogames had the LegionsOfHell actually HandWaved as genetically engineered scare-tactic bioweapons created by aliens who consist of huge brains in GiantSpider-like mobile carriers.
* In the ''Literature/DrakeMaijstral'' series by Creator/WalterJonWilliams, this is a fairly common solution for people on the verge of death. They generally have full access to the futuristic equivalent of the Internet but are usually still considered legally dead. Drake's father is one, and unfortunately, having his brain transferred to a jar didn't make him less curmudgeonly or less senile. Likewise, the current Emperor of the Khosali is a brain in a jar, because he didn't bear any heirs, but he does have frozen sperm on file. Unfortunately, the sperm was lost during the confusion of the human revolt, but the Khosali haven't given up hope of finding it.
* Creator/ECTubb's ''Literature/DumarestOfTerra'' series have the evil Cyclan led by an interconnected set of ancient brains in jars. [[spoiler: They need a secret process entrusted to Dumarest to stop the brains from going mad.]]
* In ''Literature/LastAndFirstMen'' by Creator/OlafStapledon, future humans engineer giant superintelligent brains kept in huge towers to help run the planet. Naturally these brains take over and destroy the humans. Later they engineer their own version of the human race and are naturally destroyed by their creations.
* ''Literature/EmperorMolluskVersusTheSinisterBrain'' by Creator/ALeeMartinez: The Brain turns out to be part of an AncientConspiracy of such brains called the Council of Egos who want to take over the universe. They consist of all the great minds of human history (except Hitler, who got flushed for being too argumentative). UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein also turned down the offer, claiming the process had turned them into delusional megalomaniacs. The Council think this idea is so ridiculous they spend a good deal of time laughing maniacally over it.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard once jokingly referred to this as a possible solution to Bean's condition in the ''Literature/EndersShadow'' series. He also expressed serious revulsion at the idea, so it is unlikely he will follow through with it.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Escape}}": The Brain, US Robotics' [[ArtificialIntelligence supercomputer]], gets its name from the fact that it uses a positronic brain as memory and processor. This brain is stored in a globe containing a non-reactive helium atmosphere, and a number of peripherals are hooked up to the globe.
-->The Brain was a two-foot globe merely - one which contained within it a thoroughly conditioned helium atmosphere, a volume of space completely vibration-absent and radiation-free - and within that was that unheard-of complexity of positronic brain-paths that was The Brain. The rest of the room was crowded with the attachments that were the intermediaries between The Brain and the outside world - its voice, its arms, its sense organs.
* ''Literature/FriendsComeInBoxes'' by Creator/MichaelGConey: At age 40, people routinely have their brains scooped out and put in a young clone body. If there is a shortage of bodies, your brain will be put into a Friend Box, which will then be given to someone to look after. Friends can hear and speak... and that's all.
* In Creator/LFrankBaum's final (posthumously published) Oz novel, ''Literature/GlindaOfOz'', the Flatheads keep their brains in cans, where they are vulnerable to theft (or confiscation by their leader, the [=SuDic=], i.e., Supreme Dictator).

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Left Brain, who replaces Eddie the ''Heart of Gold'' computer in ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'', is actually [[spoiler:Zaphod's second head]], put in a jar and connected to the ship.
* In Creator/DanSimmon's ''Literature/HyperionCantos'', this is used by the Ousters on war prisoners on Bressia as [[AndIMustScream a way to torture and interrogate them]]. [[spoiler:Except that in ''The Fall of Hyperion'', it is revealed that the Ousters had no hand in the atrocities commited on Bressia and it was all [[AIIsACrapshoot a setup by the Technocore AIs]] to paint the highly ethical and usually peaceful Ousters as ruthless monsters.]]
* The ''Literature/LegendsOfDune'' prequels to the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series have brainjar villains riding around in [[HumongousMecha giant war machines]] ([[RuleOfCool just because they can]]), who cause the [[RobotWar Butlerian Jihad]] through poor programming of their [[AIIsACrapshoot computerized inside "man"]] and wind up as minions/slaves themselves. Besides the Titans and the Cymeks ([[HumongousMecha giant war machines: the Titans are the first generation leaders, the Cymeks their MechaMooks]] ), are the Cogitors, humans who gave up their bodies to spend millennia contemplating the mysteries of the universe. As a group, they have declared themselves neutral in the war where humanity is being exterminated like rats. [[spoiler: In the end, those mysteries slap them in the face, karma is a bitch.]]

* The temporary fate of Peter Thompson from ''Literature/MyTeacherIsAnAlien'', as recounted during his viewpoint novel "My Teacher Glows In The Dark." Played with in that the aliens did it with his permission so they could study how the human brain works and averted the whole AndIMustScream trope by inserting a recieving device in Peter's head so his brain could remotely control it (How else were they going to study it?). Peter does admit to both Susan and Duncan later as he recounts the tale that, while intellectually the whole idea was very fascinating, he couldn't get over the inherent squick of seeing his brain outside his body enough to make his own observations.
* ''{{Literature/Nightwings}}'' by Creator/RobertSilverberg: Brain jars effectively serve as information storage systems.

** The Colonial Union uses this as a punishment for treason, placing the brain in a life support case [[AndIMustScream indefinitely.]] It is one of the things that some of the alien races find rather barbaric about the humans.
** In ''Literature/TheHumanDivision'', it is revealed that someone is doing this to starship pilots, hooking their brains up directly to ships rigged for sneak attacks, [[spoiler: in an effort to discredit the Colonial Union further]].
** ''The End of All Things: The Life of the Mind'' shows what happens when someone does this to a pilot [[spoiler: [[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard who is also an expert computer programmer]].]]

* Creator/KeithLaumer's ''Literature/APlagueOfDemons'', in which human brains are installed in alien war machines.
* ''Literature/ProfessorDowellsHead'' by Creator/AlexamderBeliaev: A scientist reanimated his dying genius colleague's head to request, trick, or beat (as needed) ideas out of him. Professor Dowell knows that his position is horrific, but is not as bitter as he himself would expect. He believes it's because he lost most of his endocrine system, so he can't get truly enraged.
* ''Literature/QualiaThePurple'': One can be seen in chapter 11. [[spoiler: It's Yukari's brain.]] The real-life example of Einstein's brain is also mentioned.

* The Conjoiners in Creator/AlastairReynolds's ''[[Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries Revelation Space]]'' series tend to opt for a brain-in-jar form of treatment when they're very old. However, their "jars" are mobile, crab like devices. The Demarchists also use this for their outer system police; a pilot joins up, his brain and spinal cord is removed and inserted into a small spacecraft, with a remote controlled drone for them to use when inspecting ships. When they're done with their term, their brain is inserted back into their body. In ''Literature/ThePrefect'', a Demarchist space station where citizens live in 24/7 virtual reality opts to put brains with the endocrine system in jars, because they found that without the endocrine system's hormones, [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody people became very dull]].

* In ''Oblivion'', third book of the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series, the Chairman of the Fantasia Corporation turns out to have put his body in cryogenic suspension but kept his brain alive and active, so that he can still run his company via a holographic avatar.
* Professor Corchoran from the ''[[Literature/TheStarDiaries Memoirs of a Space Traveller]]'' creates [=AI=]'s that have no connection to the real world - [[LotusEaterMachine all their sensory data comes from the tapes set by him]]. They don't know about it, except for one who suspects. Another, slightly more MadScientist creates an [=AI=] copy of Corchoran's mind, as well, but this copy is [[AndIMustScream aware of his situation]].

** ''Literature/TalesFromJabbasPalace'' reveals that the spiderlike droids seen in Jabba's palace in ''Return of the Jedi'' are mechanisms used for getting around by the B'omarr monks, who have chosen life as brains-in-jars. They regard this it as the ultimate in sensory deprivation, enabling themselves to focus all their mental energy to meditation. (You can see the jars on the undersides in the film if you know to look for them.)

** ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: The Brain Spiders'' deals with this too. Jabba found a way to profit off brain spiders by transferring brains around, putting wanted criminal brains in monk or prisoner bodies, putting the displaced brains in jars or spiders, and turning the criminal bodies in for reward. Thanks to an intended monk escaping, one criminal [[spoiler: ends up in thirteen-year-old [[GenderBender Tash Arranda's body]]. He does not like being a girl, and she doesn't like being in a spider.]] Fortunately, that gets reversed.
** Once Jabba dies, the monks go batshit with brain spider-ing, doing it to anyone who stays in the palace. Most don't want to, but one criminal, as revealed in the epilogue for "Tales From Jabba's Palace", goes willingly because he was tired of living in the heat and he couldn't leave Tatooine.
* The ''Literature/TakeshiKovacs'' series by Creator/RichardKMorgan features another twist on the cyberbrain sub-variant of this trope, in the form of "cortical stacks" implanted in every person's brain that basically serve as a mirror backup of the brain in question. Stacks can be transferred to other bodies ("sleeves") at will, transmitted across networks, mounted within VR constructs or simply stored to disk.

* ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'' by Creator/CSLewis: A whole head this time, with an overgrown brain, plus air tubes to pass "breath" through the vocal cords and mouth allowing it to speak. And artificial drool. Though it's later revealed that the Head isn't really alive in its own right [[spoiler: rather, it was the tool malevolent EnergyBeings used to communicate with their pawns]].

* Creator/DanielDennett's short story, "Literature/WhereAmI" (read it [[http://www.newbanner.com/SecHumSCM/WhereAmI.html here]]), about a man being separated from his brain, which explores relevant philosophical ideas.
* "Literature/TheWhispererInDarkness" (1930) by Creator/HPLovecraft is the TropeCodifier, in which the alien Mi-Go plant living human brains in cylinders to transport them to other planets, which the human body apparently cannot withstand. Unlike later versions of the trope, the cylinders are not transparent.
* ''Literature/WilliamAndMary'' by Creator/RoaldDahl: Cold and dominating husband William is dying of cancer but has his brain and one of his eyes kept alive. It's presumed that his wife, Mary will torment him by doing all the things he forbade her in front of him, now that he's helpless. A TV version of this short story explicitly shows her doing just this.
* ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', by Creator/MadeleineLEngle, in which an oversized brain referred to as IT has gained complete telepathic control of an entire planet. IT runs the planet on a heartbeat which controls everyone's life. Despite being in a novel, so great is the influence of IT that the characters ''know'' [[LampshadeHanging how to capitalize the name]].