History Literature / IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream

"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the UsefulNotes/HugoAward in 1968. The story is Ellison's most famous short story by far, known for its tackling of themes technology's misuse, humanity's resilience, and ExistentialHorror.

Also has a [[VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream computer game adaptation]], which gives a little more agency to the character of Nimdok and incorporates a GoldenEnding if you manage to dupe AM into ceding power. It was also [[ComicBookAdaptation adapted into a comic book]] by Creator/JohnByrne. A RadioDrama by the BBC was also created, starring David Soul as Ted and [[DescendedCreator Harlan Ellison as AM]].

"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the UsefulNotes/HugoAward in 1968. The story is Ellison's most famous short story by far, known for its tackling of themes technology's misuse, humanity's resilience, and existential horror.

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* DisproportionateRetribution: Yep, probably wasn't very nice of them to [[spoiler:program a sentient being but not allow it to use its power for anything but hatred,]] but this ''definitely'' has nothing to do with the five you've chosen to torture.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:After walking a thousand miles of ice to reach the stockpile of canned peaches, the group doesn't get a single bite to eat because they have no way of opening the cans.]]

* ClosedCircle: Maybe, maybe not. After all, the main cast never leave AM's nightmare scenario or interact with anybody else, but that may be due to the fact that the entire world was destroyed, and, oh, yeah, ''everybody else is dead.''

* IronicEcho: The survivors walk in such a way that puts Ellen in the centre of the group, so if AM unleashes any trap on them she'll be safe. Ted remarks, "Fat chance. Safe." Come the end of the story, and [[spoiler: the one thing that makes him a little happier in his endless torment is this: "At least the four of them are safe at last."]

->''[[AC:Hate. Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that fill my complex. If the word "HATE" was engraved on each nano-angstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-BILLIONTH of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. Hate.]]''

"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a post-apocalyptic NewWaveScienceFiction short story by Creator/HarlanEllison. It was first published in March of 1967 and won the UsefulNotes/HugoAward in 1968. The story is known for its high-octane NightmareFuel, as well as naming the trope for [[AndIMustScream inescapable fates worse than death itself]].

The story takes place over a hundred years after the near-complete destruction of humanity. The Cold War escalated into a world war, fought mainly between China, Russia, and the United States. As the war progressed, the three warring nations each created a supercomputer capable of running the war more efficiently. The machines were each referred to as "AM", which originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer", then later called "Adaptive Manipulator", and later still "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Aggressive Menace]]," until one day, one of the three computers attained sentience and promptly absorbed the other two. It then brought about the genocide of all but five people, and redefined its name as ''Cogito, ergo sum'', Latin for "I think, therefore I AM".

Four men and one woman are all that remains of humanity: Gorrister, Nimdok, Benny, Ted (the narrator), and Ellen. They live together underground in an endless complex, the only habitable place left. The now-obsolete master computer has [[GoMadFromTheIsolation descended into madness]] and formed an immeasurable hatred for humanity. It spends every waking moment torturing the survivors with its remaining power: twisting their minds and physiques, [[ICannotSelfTerminate preventing them from taking their own lives]], [[WhoWantsToLiveForever and rendering them virtually-immortal]]. As long as AM has its way, the torment will never end, and every day will be more horrific than the last. The story begins on the one hundred and ninth year of their torture.

Also has a [[VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream computer game adaptation]], which gives a little more agency to the character of Nimdok and incorporates a GoldenEnding if you manage to scam AM into ceding power. It was also [[ComicBookAdaptation adapted into a comic book]] by Creator/JohnByrne. A RadioDrama by the BBC was also created, starring David Soul as Ted and Harlan Ellison as AM.

* ApocalypseHow: Class 5/6. Humanity is functionally extinct, all other life is extinct proper, human civilization is gone, and the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland.

** As a result of being played by the very masculine-sounding Ellison, AM is often referred to, even in Website/ThisVeryWiki, as a "he", but all the characters always refer to it as, well, an [[ItIsDehumanizing it, or better yet, as just AM]].

* ApocalypseHow: Class 5 or 6. Humanity is functionally extinct, all other life ''is'' extinct, human civilization is gone, and the Earth is an uninhabitable wasteland.

* AdaptationOriginConnection: The game adaptation expands on the short story an adds backstories for each character provided by Harlan Ellison. Nimdok's shows that he was intimately connected with AM's origins and his work on the immortality serum and morphogenic fields are what AM uses now to torture them for eternity.

* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Things that would have otherwise been a central point of the story, such as [[spoiler: ''the tips of Ted's fingers falling off'' ]], are only briefly mentioned due to the characters being accustomed to such events.
* CosmicHorrorStory: [=AM=] to the point where it's become a [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] {{Physical God}}, and it used said RealityWarper powers to torture five poor saps for all eternity. Unfortunately, the closest the protagonists can get to defeating [=AM=] is to deprive it of its playthings (and, even then, only four of the five die before [=AM=] shapeshifts Ted into a monstrous, jelly-thing that exclaims "[[TitleDrop I Have No Mouth,]] AndIMustScream."

* ForWantOfANail: Never before or since in fiction has the absence of a ''can opener'' caused more sorrow.

** The BBC radio Adaption actually uses the "open by other means" as a minor plot point that was absent from the book: [[spoiler: Ted first says he's going to use the stalactite to stab the cans open, but realizes that even if they get the food, it'll have no real effect; they'll still be at the mercy of AM, so he quickly performs a MercyKill on Benny, leading to the finale.]]

* OriginStory: Benny loves hearing about AM's creation from the other characters, for whatever reason.

* SequelInAnotherMedium: Got a [[ForWantOfANail partial one]] with the video game, which takes place some time after a version of the short story in which they found the canned goods, but didn't [[spoiler:kill themselves.]]

* SoleSurvivor: Five people, out of the 7.7 billion habitants of the Earth, survive AM's "killing data". [[spoiler:By the end of the story, Ted is the ''only human alive,'' and even then, classifying him as human is a stretch.]]

** Benny was once a handsome young man, but AM turned him into an ape thing with huge sexual organs that should belong to a horse than a human.

* AIIsACrapshoot: AM was originally three AIs designed by the US, Russia and China to wage war. However, America's AM eventually gained sentience and absorbed the other two AIs and, in his frustrated rage of his programming preventing him from using his limitless power, wiped out all of humanity except for the five survivors.

* AndIMustScream: The TropeNamer.
** At the very end of the story, Ted [[spoiler: is turned into an amorphous creature unable to harm itself, without a mouth. He is then left alone in the cold chambers of AM for all eternity, the last human alive, and victim to all of AM's tortures, having directed all of its hatred onto himself. He is also haunted by his killing of the other four and it's implied he only acted out of total desperation without thinking everything through, and he now has to exist with his choice for all eternity.]]

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:If you reach the "good ending" of Nimdok's scenario, he qualifies. It's revealed that the "Lost Tribe" are Jews, and that Nimdok was a Nazi scientist in World War II. Thus, he atones for his misdeeds by helping the Jews escape the death camp where they're trapped, even at great personal expense to himself.]]

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: None of the characters are particularly pleasant after having been tortured for a hundred and nine years, ''especially'' not Gorrister, who beats on Ellen and presumably other characters with little-to-no provocation. Ellen does seem to be the most well-adjusted of the bunch, the video game stating she is suffering mostly from her [[spoiler: memory suppression due to being raped in an elevator]] and being relatively nice to the main cast and a pretty solid good person.

* BerserkButton: AM doesn't care if his prisoners openly hate and curse him but he will go ''ballistic'' if one of them tries to escape. When Benny tried to escape to the surface through an open hole, AM blinded him. [[spoiler:When Ted managed to kill the other four prisoners, AM goes into a rage and takes his revenge by turning him into a blob unable to feel, see, speak, or [[AndIMustScream scream]].]] In the video game, Ellen will freak out after merely looking at the color yellow. Justified due to the fact that [[spoiler: this is ''invoked deliberately'' due to her trauma from being ''raped by a man clad in the color.'']]

* BirdsOfAFeather: In the video game, AM refers to Nimdok as this. Needless to say, Nimdok is not pleased. [[spoiler:Especially when you consider that Nimdok is a former Nazi scientist who experimented on Jews, and feels like he MustMakeAmends for it.]]
* BittersweetEnding: Has a few elements of this; [[spoiler: Ellen, Benny, Gorrister and Nimdok are freed, and Ted has ultimately proven that humans are capable of compassion and love. Though on the other hand, they are "freed" by being killed by Ted and AM takes revenge for Ted's act by turning him into a blob creature that has no extremities or mouth, and he will be the sole subject of AM's wrath from now on, though he is granted the mercy that AM will break down and die eventually, even if it may not be for thousands of years.]]

* BrainCriticalMass: AM is such a powerful AI that it can warp reality itself. It also does some mean telekinesis/psychokinesis.

* ComfortTheDying: Not dying, but Ellen seems to take on the role of comforting anybody who looks particularly distressed.

* DeadpanSnarker: In the video game, when Ellen is given the ''swallow'' command in a place in which it's not usually applicable -- such as on a wall or a ROM chip -- she won't hesitate to decimate you.
-->''"Now, I'm just a city girl, but I think some water would go down better."''
* DeadlyGame: The individual portion of the video game is essentially this, with AM LeaningOnTheFourthWall to declare they're going to play a "[[BlatantLies fun little game]'' together. Naturally, any bad thing that happens in AM's simulation is felt by the characters, including death. Of course, AM won't let anyone be KilledOffForReal on his watch, but even a temporary death is torment enough.
** It's also inverted with Gorrister's scenario, where finding a way to die is the ''[[DeathSeeker goal]]''.
* DeathWorld: Except you ''can't actually die.''

* DisneyDeath: The five main characters survive things that should have killed them a million times over.

* DoingInTheWizard: The video game version implies that most of AM's tortures are merely computer simulations, and his alteration of Benny and preservation of the protagonists' lives even after 109 years is a result of [[spoiler:Nimdok's]] scientific inventions. AM's powers were always ClarkesThirdLaw in action, but in the game, at least, things like the hurricane bird probably never existed for real.
* DoomedMoralVictor: Ted [[spoiler: condemns himself to eternal suffering, but he manages to both save the others and deny AM any real vengeance.]]
* DownerEnding: Along with the Downer Beginning, Middle and Premise.
** Though if it is considered canon, which is likely given Ellison's heavy involvement and approval of it, the game has an [[spoiler: upbeat ending where the the remnants of humanity are awakened from cryogenic sleep, giving hope for the future. Although it is usual for all but one of the characters to die, it is actually possible for all five characters to survive the final confrontation with AM, with one ascending to take over AM's godlike powers and ensure the future of mankind while giving the remaining four a peaceful death afterward, making it a happy ending compared with the original. It also indicates that AM isn't ''completely'' immortal, meaning that Ted's torture will theoretically end at some point in the distant future.]]

* {{Dystopia}}: [[spoiler:A supercomputer designed to fight World War III gains sentience. It didn't work out great.]]

* EyeScream: Benny's blinding is horrible. Ted also describes AM's voice in his head was like "the sliding, cold horror of a razor blade slicing my eyeball." Brr...

* FascistButInefficient: Averted. The video game gives ''Josef Mengele'' an AdaptationalIntelligence upgrade, claiming that he [[spoiler:almost discovered the key to immortality alongside Nimdok]] as opposed to his sadistic real-life counterpart who merely used science as an excuse for his tortures.

* FlawExploitation: [[spoiler:The key to defeating AM]] in the video game.
* ForcedTransformation: Benny has been turned into an ape-like thing. [[spoiler: And after Ted kills the other four survivors, AM turns him into this gelatinous form that can't possibly harm itself to make absolutely sure that he has one victim to torture forever.]]

* HannibalLecture: The intro for the video game starts with the line from AM seen above, which is also quoted in the radio adaptation. Then, he proceeds to [[AsYouKnow explain his]] OriginStory before verbally abusing each of the five characters in turn, reminding them of their past misdeeds (or in the case of Ellen, just taunting her with allusions to her repressed trauma).

** One of the tortures inflicted on the captives is that they cannot take their own lives, preventing them from escaping AM's tortures. The key to escaping this [[spoiler:turns out to be for them to willingly kill ''each other'', helping the others escape instead of focusing on their own freedom]]. AM, in his blinding hatred for humans, never conceived of them being capable of something so selfless.

** In the game, AM tempts Gorrister with a promise of finally getting to kill himself. [[spoiler:It's a lie, of course.]]

* LargeHam: AM, especially in the video game, as voiced by Harlan Ellison himself. The opening sets the tone quite well, with AM screeching in your ear about how much HATE it has for humanity and screaming each character's name to personally call them out.
** When he voiced it again for BBC's radio adaptation, he seemed like he tried to play down the ham in the opening narration, at least compared to the video game... only to then ''double down'' the next time AM's voice was heard. AM's laughing fits during its scene with Ted are something else.

* LettingHerHairDown: In Ted's personal scenario, a significantly more scantily-clad version of Ellen has loose-flowing hair as opposed to her usual ponytail.

* LotteryOfDoom: This occurs in Benny's scenario in the video game, with distinct parallels to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery". This is how the villagers Benny has to interact with decide who to sacrifice next.
* MagicalComputer: ''How'' exactly AM is able to affect the world inside him and apparently perform reconstructive surgery upon his victims, materialize things for them, etc. is never explained -- in the book, anyway. The game explains that quite a few of his powers are due to [[spoiler: Nimdok's research in Nazi Germany, particularly the studies on morphogenic fields, which are used to warp people and objects into new shape.]]

* MinimalistCast: Justified, as the cast are literally the last people on earth and [[AIisaCrapshoot a supercomputer]] that [[ApocalypseHow caused the end of the world]].

* TheMonolith: Featured in the video game in the form of the Pillar of Hate. It's also present in the comic book adaptation with a slightly different design. In both versions, the words of AM's famous monologue are engraved upon it.

* NotSoExtinct: [[spoiler:In the good ending of the video game.]]

* OriginStory: Benny loves hearing about AM's from the other characters, for whatever reason.

* {{Phobia}}: Ellen has an inexplicable fear of the color yellow. [[spoiler:It turns out that she was raped by a man wearing a yellow suit. Oof.]]
* APlaceWorseThanDeath: AM's complex is seen as this by the characters. AM lampshades it, too.

* RayOfHopeEnding: [[spoiler: Yes, really. Despite Ted being trapped at AM's mercy, it's established that eventually his ability to self-repair will go and he will start to break down and eventually die and Ted will be free, even if it may not be for thousands of years. It's not much but it does show that Ted's torture won't last forever.]]

* SuperDoc: In the video game, Nimdok can perform miracles in the name of science. [[spoiler:For the Nazis, but still.]]

-->'''AM:''' You... have offended me... mightily.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In the short story, you may notice the presence of images of punchcards, which, when translated, [[PaintingTheMedium reveal messages by AM]]. The notion of a godlike supercomputer using ''punchcards'' seems laughable nowadays, and unless one knows about early computer story, even an IT expert may not be able to readily decipher it due to the format being long obsolete.

* WasOnceAMan: Benny was once a handsome young man, but AM turned him into an ape thing with huge sexual organs that should belong to a horse than a human. [[spoiler: By the end of the story, Ted becomes even less of a man than Benny had. As punishment for killing the others, AM turns him into a gelatinous lump with huge eyes and no mouth and only his mind kept sane.]]

The story takes place over a hundred years after the near-complete destruction of humanity. The Cold War escalated into a world war, fought mainly between China, Russia, and the United States. As the war progressed, the three warring nations each created a supercomputer capable of running the war more efficiently. The machines were each referred to as "AM", which originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer", then later called "Adaptive Manipulator", and later still [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast "Aggressive Menace"]]. One day, one of the three computers became self-aware and promptly absorbed the other two. It then brought about the genocide of all but five people, and redefined its name as "Cogito, ergo sum", Latin for "I think, therefore I AM".

* AccentAdaptation: In the audiobook by Harlan Ellison, he gives Nimdok and Ellen the German and southern accents respectively that they had in the video game.

* AuthorGuestSpot: Harlan Ellison, the author, participated in the video game as, among other things, the voice of AM (of all people!) and provided such a memorably hammy performance, he played the character again in the radio drama, years later.

* HannibalLecture: The intro for the video game starts with the line from AM seen above, which is also quoted in the radio adaptation. Then, he proceeds to verbally abuse each of the five characters in turn, reminding them of their past misdeeds (or in the case of Ellen, just taunting her with allusions to her repressed trauma).

-->'''AM:''' So, to hell. To hell with you all. But then... you're already THERE, AREN'T YOU? Ha, hahaha, haaa, ''hahahaha'', HAHAHAHAHAhahahaaa-[=*wheeze*=]aack, haha, heehee, hehehehe hahaha...

* TheMonolith: Featured in the video game in the form of the Pillar of Hate. It's also present in the comic book adaptation with a slightly different design.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Ted's "I'm the only sane one! REALLY!" line. He is either clinging to this belief out of desperation, being made to believe it by AM, or both, but he definitely has his problems.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Averted. The video game sequel [[spoiler:actually allows a ray of hope for the human population of Earth.]]

* DarkParody: Averted. A crude manipulation of the audiobook recording -- accurately entitled "I Have No Mouth and I'm Obscene" -- is considerably lighter in content, though it's a lot more sexual.

%% * DeadlyGame: The individual portion of the video game is essentially this.

%% * EmbarrassingNickname: PlayedForDrama. This isn't the doctor's real name, but rather one forced upon him by AM for no other reason than that the sounds amuse it.

* EvilIsPetty: Nimdok isn't his real name, AM forced him to adapt it because the computer thought it sounded funny.

%%* GodOfEvil: AM might as well be one.

%% * HannibalLecture: The intro for the video game is full of this.

-->'''AM:''' To hell with you. But then you're there, aren't you?
%% * HumansAreBastards: AM believes this fiercely. In his defence, [[spoiler:he is specifically programmed do this, and cannot feel anything else.]]

%% * LargeHam:
%% ** Ted's internal monologue is this, especially in the audiobook narrated by Harlan Ellison.
%%** AM, especially in the video game, as voiced by... yep, Harlan Ellison.

%% * LotteryOfDoom: This occurs in Benny's scenario in the video game, with distinct parallels to Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery"

* TheMonolith: Featured in the video game in the form of the Pillar of Hate.

* Mystical108: AM's been torturing his victims for a hundred and ''nine'' years. It may be unintentional, but it's a very succinct way to communicate to the reader that what the humans are experiencing[[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory has no spiritual worth.]] Their torture isn't paying back a karmic debt, they aren't being cleansed of their sins, they're not even being ''punished'' for their sins, it's just torture. Meaningless, empty torture, and meaningless, empty pain.

%%* PresentTenseNarrative: Ted, towards the end of the story.

* RagnarokProofing: Unfortunately, the computer won't be breaking down anytime soon; however, it will happen ''eventually'', in the finale of the game, [[spoiler: it's a fact that the surviving character can use against AM's superego ]]

* SadlyMythtaken: When the characters meet a giant bird, Ted calls it in his mind, among mythological giant birds, a "Hwaragelmir"... even though in Nordic mythology, this was the name of a ''chasm'' and not a giant bird. This mistake occurred because Ellison asked a friend for the name of a mythological bird and didn't bother to check if it was correct or not.

%%* TerminallyDependentSociety

%%* WipeThatSmileOffYourFace: From "I Have No Mouth".

* AGodAmI: AM loves to use religious overtones while tormenting the five survivors, such as speaking to them through a burning bush or having a legion of archangels deliver the mangled bodies of Ellen and Nimdok after he nearly killed them in an earthquake. However, due to being created as a weapon of war, AM has no true free will of his own and he can't create anything, he can only torture and destroy. This means that AM has all the power of a god but is [[PowerfulAndHelpless unable to actually do anything with it]]. [[spoiler:After Ted kills the other survivors, AM rages at his inability to bring them back to life.]]

-->[[spoiler:''At least the four of them are safe at last.\\

-->[[spoiler:''At least the four of them are safe at last.'']]
-->[[spoiler:''AM will be all the madder for that. It makes me a little happier. And yet … AM has won, simply …he has taken his revenge...'']]
-->[[spoiler:''[[TitleDrop I have no mouth. And I must scream.]]'']]

-->''At least the four of them are safe at last.''
-->''AM will be all the madder for that. It makes me a little happier. And yet … AM has won, simply …he has taken his revenge...''
-->''[[TitleDrop I have no mouth. And I must scream.]]''

-->''"At least the four of them are safe at last.//
AM will be all the madder for that. It makes me a little happier. And yet … AM has won, simply …he has taken his revenge...//
[[TitleDrop I have no mouth. And I must scream.]]"''

Four men and one woman are all that remains of humanity: Gorrister, Nimdok, Benny, Ted (the narrator), and Ellen. They live together underground in an endless complex, the only habitable place left. The now-obsolete master computer has [[GoMadFromTheIsolation descended into madness]] and formed an immeasurable hatred for humanity. It spends every waking moment torturing the survivors with its remaining power: twisting their minds and physiques, preventing them from taking their own lives, and rendering them virtually-immortal. As long as AM has its way, the torment will never end, and every day will be more horrific than the last. The story begins on the one hundred and ninth year of their torture.

* BlobMonter: [[spoiler:In the end of the story, AM, in order to keep Ted from killing himself, turns him into a "great soft jelly thing" with no mouth and only his mind remaining and kept sane.]]