History Main / CannibalTribe

* Used as an EvilIsNotAToy motif in [[Creator/NickCave Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds]]' song "Cannibal's Hymn".

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' gives us a RecycledInSpace version with the Kroot, a race of bird-like aliens loosely based on various "tribal" cultures. While they don't eat each other very much, they do eat everybody else (though smart ones abstain from anything associated with [[TheCorruption Chaos and the Tyranids]]. And the Tau, usually, since they're the ones footing the bill for their gastronomic tours of the Milky Way). Because of their BizarreAlienBiology, they're able to absorb DNA from their meals, playing on the belief prevalent in cultures that practiced cannibalism that you could absorb the strength of people you ate. DependingOnTheWriter this may in fact be how the Kroot evolved into an intelligent life form, having been fairly ordinary birds until they started scavenging the corpses of some Orks that happened to crash on their planet.

* One of the many infamous things about ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'' was that ''halflings'' in the setting were all cannibal tribes.

** In the ''[[TabletopGame/DarkSun'' setting, halflings are depicted as this trope. They remain a playable race, though, for those wishing to create a BarbarianHero type character (though the Barbarian [[FantasyCharacterClasses character class]] isn't always an optimal fit for halflings, depending on the edition you're playing).

** Averted, though, in ''Series/TheLostWorld2001'', where the plateau natives are a pretty okay bunch. When they [[spoiler: do eventually turn against the British explorers, they have a pretty decent reason for it.]]

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clip2net_160814175919.png]]

'''[[UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} Agent Ross]]:''' ''[{{loud gulp}}]''\\
'''M'Baku:''' [[SubvertedTrope I'm kidding, we are vegetarians]]. (''[[LaughingAtYourOwnJokes giggles immoderately]]'')

* In ''Literature/MobyDick'', Queequeg comes from one of these on the fictional South Pacific island of Rokovoko. The extent of his people's cannibalism is kept pretty vague, and Queequeg himself is presented as a NobleSavage, and he's best friend to the novel's protagonist, Ishmael. Creator/HermanMelville had a great admiration for Polynesian culture.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

'''M'Baku:''' [[SubvertedTrope I'm kidding, we are vegetarians]]. (''[[LaughingAtTheirOwnJoke giggles immoderately]]'')

'''M'Baku:''' [[SubvertedTrope I'm kidding, we are vegetarians]].

* ''Film/TheFieldGuideToEvil'': "Beware the Melon Heads" is upon legends of a cannibalistic tribe of children with oversized craniums said to dwell in the American north woods.

* ''Film/TheFieldGuideToEvil'': "The Melon Heads" is upon legends of a cannibalistic tribe of children with oversized craniums said to dwell in the American north woods.

'''Leader:''' [[spoiler:''Things'' go better with Coke.[[note]]For younger readers, that was an advertising jingle for Coca-Cola in the 1960s.[[/note]]

* One {{Feghoot}} concerns a man named Steve searching for his friend Bob, who went to Africa to market a soda called Fresca. As he travels through Africa, Steve encounters all manner of locals, missionaries, explorers, etc., drinking Fresca with any food they gather or catch. They all learned from Bob that "[whatever they're eating] tastes good with Fresca". Eventually, Steve runs across a CannibalTribe who ate Bob after buying a bunch of Fresca from him. As the leader explains, "Bob tastes good with Fresca." Horrified, Steve inquires about what exactly the cannibals ate from Bob's body: "You mean you ate his eyes? His legs? His heart?" And so on. The leader explains that yes, all those body parts taste good with Fresca too. Finally:

* The Ewoks in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' could be considered the JustForFun/SciFiCounterpart of this trope. They're technically an example of ToServeMan, since they're not the same species as their victims, but they play this role in the movie when they capture and try to eat Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. This tendency is swept under the rug as the film goes on (they aren't shown eating the dead Stormtroopers, for example) and in [[Film/StarWarsEwokAdventures all subsequent]] [[[[WesternAnimation/Ewoks media]] to feature the Ewoks.

Subtrope of HollywoodNatives. Supertrope of CapturedByCannibals and the related {{exploitation film}} genre, CannibalFilm. Contrast with CannibalClan, where the cannibals are just a family. Subtrope of HumansAreBastards. And ironically, the {{Cannibal Tribe}}'s attitude towards foreigners makes them a subtrope of PoliticallyIncorrectVillain.

* The Ewoks in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' could be considered the JustForFun/SciFiCounterpart of this trope. They're technically an example of ToServeMan, since they're not the same species as their victims, but they play this role in the movie when they capture and try to eat Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.

[[folder:Folklore]]
* It is said that around the turn of the 17th Century, a cannibal clan called the Sawney Beans operated in Scotland until exterminated by personal action of King James VI (James I of Great Britain). Wiki/TheOtherWiki [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawney_Bean brings together the stories]]. It is possible the cannibal clan story marks the destruction of the last remnant of the Pictish people in Scotland.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Literature/MobyDick'', Queequeg comes from one of these on the fictional South Pacific island of Rokovoko. The extent of his people's cannibalism is kept pretty vague, and Queequeg himself is a good guy. Creator/HermanMelville had a great admiration for Polynesian culture.

* The cannibal kingdom of Darfar shows up in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ConanTheAdventurer'', though given that it was a 90's kids' cartoon, understandably no cannibalism is actually seen. Also, the Darfari were changed to [[AmbiguouslyBrown somewhat pale brown]] borderline-FrazettaMen, to avoid the obvious UnfortunateImplications of black cannibals.

* The ''Danger Island'' live-action segments from ''WesternAnimation/TheBananaSplits'' had ''three'' separate cannibal tribes in an island archipelago

** In yet another, the village women start dancing provocatively in front of the cauldron. The explorer complains about this extra sadism, the cook tells him it's so there's more to eat.

* Three men were lost in the jungle, and found themselves captured by a trible of cannibals. They are brought to the king, who tells them that they will be set free if they can pass a test. Naturally, all three jump at the chance to not be killed, and accept the challenge eagerly. They are told to go into the jungle and gather up 10 each of a fruit of their choice, then to come back and await further instructions. The first man comes back with 10 apples. The king tells him, "[[AssShove You must put all these apples up your butt]], [[TheStoic without showing any emotion]]. If you can do that, you will be allowed to go free and unharmed. But if you show any emotion, even the slightest hint, you will be killed and cooked for the village feast. With that, the man took a deep breath, dropped his trousers, and began the test. He managed to get the first one in OK, but on the second one, he winced in pain and was immediately killed. The second man returned with 10 berries, and had to pass the same test. He got 9 berries in, but on the 10th one, he burst out laughing. He, too, was killed. Later, he met the first man in {{Heaven}}, who asked him, "Why did you laugh, you idiot? You almost made it!" The second man replied, "I couldn't help it! I saw Bob coming back with pineapples!"

-> '''M'Baku''': One more word, and I will feed you to my children.\\
'''[[UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} Agent Ross]]''': ''[LoudGulp]''\\
'''M'Baku''': I'm kidding, we are vegetarians.
-->-- ''Film/BlackPanther2018''

Often provide the Angry Natives for a ChasedByAngryNatives scene. Contrast NobleSavage.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Several stories in the early years of ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' featured cannibal tribes, including a few tribes in the Phantom's own neighborhood who were officially reformed, but prone to backsliding when they thought he wasn't looking. One later story ends with the Phantom placing the villain of the piece in the custody of one of these tribes, encouraging good behaviour by warning him of their history. He carefully neglects to mention that since then, not only have they kicked the cannibalism, but they have all become vegetarians.

* Parodied in a DonMartin comic, where a cannibal tribe is preparing to have an explorer StewedAlive. TheMissionary runs up and stops them, asking if they've already forgot all she has taught them. The cannibals take pause, thinking heavily... then remembers; they'd forgotten to add carrots and onions to the broth. Cue the Missionary sitting down to join the meal.

* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'': [[spoiler:The friendly ponies of Arbu]] are actually cannibals, killing and eating anyone who stays too long without joining the tribe. They do let ponies leave unharmed, but in some ways that's actually worse--they've been selling the meat to merchants and had a decent reputation throughout the Wasteland. Anyone who doesn't want to participate ends up leaving, but then they usually get caught and killed later. When Littlepip finally finds out what's going on (especially the part where they fed an unknowing colt his own father), [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge she kills every single one of them]]. Her companions have mixed reactions to this; Velvet Remedy for once agrees completely and likens it to cutting out a cancer, Calamity agrees that what they were doing was wrong but considers the slaughter unacceptable, Xenith has done terrible things to survive and so can't blame them, and Steelhooves agrees they needed to die but wished Littlepip could have discussed it with them so that they could operate in a colder and more calculated manner. The townspony who showed Littlepip what was going on says that the town deserved far worse than what it got. He kept a ledger of all the ponies who were eaten, and uses it to recover Littlepip's reputation.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* In ''Film/BlackPanther2018'', M’Baku implies that the Jabari are this to scare Agent Ross. He then reveals that [[SubvertedTrope they are in fact vegetarians]] and [[LaughingAtYourOwnJokes has a good laugh]].

-->'''Steve''': Uh...wait a minute. Wait one minute. You don’t mean to tell me you -- you ate his -- you know, his, uh, ''thing''?
-->'''Leader''': Yes.
-->'''Steve''': ...You ate his ''thing'' with Fresca?
-->'''Leader''': No.
-->'''Steve''': Huh? But I thought...
-->'''Leader''': [[spoiler:''Things'' go better with Coke. (Note: for younger readers, that was an advertising jingle for Coca-Cola in the 1960s.)]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]

[[folder:TabletopGames]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' gives us a RecycledInSpace version with the Kroot, a race of bird-like aliens loosely based on various "tribal" cultures. While they don't eat each other very much, they do eat everybody else (though smart ones abstain from anything associated with [[TheCorruption Chaos and the Tyranids]]. And the Tau, usually, since they're the ones footing the bill for their gastronomic tours of the Milky Way). Because of their BizarreAlienBiology, they're able to absorb DNA from their meals, playing on the belief prevalent in cultures that practiced cannibalism that you could absorb the strength of people you ate. DependingOnTheWriter this may in fact be how the Kroot evolved into an intelligent life form, having been fairly ordinary birds until they started scavenging the corpses of some Orks that happened to crash on their planet.

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Rolemaster}}'' ''Shadow World'' setting supplement ''Star Crown Empire and the Sea of Fates''. They like to eat explorers searching for the ElephantGraveyard in the Chimen jungle in G'thal.

[[//folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SurfsUp'' has a tribe of cannibal [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]] in the island where a surf competition is held. They capture Chicken Joe, and only don't eat him because he gives them Squid on a Stick, which TastesLikeChicken.

-->-- ''Film/BlackPanther''

* In ''Film/BlackPanther'', M’Baku implies that the Jabari are this to scare Agent Ross. He then reveals that [[SubvertedTrope they are in fact vegetarians]] and [[LaughingAtYourOwnJokes has a good laugh]].