History Main / CreatingLifeIsBad

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Often however you'll see the Luddite throw accusations of "Hubris" and "Playing God" for something as minor as inventing a new species of bacteria to break down inorganic trash heaps, which realistically would be just another GMO. Besides, by these standards, humans have already been "playing God" since the domestication and selective breeding of the wolf into the dog first started over fourteen thousand years ago.

** ''VideoGame/FugaMelodiesOfSteel2'' features a more overt and personal example of this [[spoiler:in Jihl, another hybrid. Back when humans were still around, an organization named Crusade created Jihl and many other hybrids to act as potential pilots or ChildSoldiers for their large-scale weapons. It's made explicit that Jihl alone had to suffer through ''constant'' tumultuous experimentation in order to become as powerful and durable as he is, and he ended up being the only survivor after all of Crusade's other hybrids died in agony either through experimentation or on the battlefield.]]. As Jin puts it:

* ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter'':
** The hybrids were created by [[BigBad Baion]] and Merveille. Two of them are {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s, [[spoiler:and the third is the hero]]. Merveille really feels bad about it, though.
** Also, the Juno [[spoiler:''re''created the entire world population after wiping it clean, thanks to humans destroying the planet with their wars]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'':

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** The [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Homunculi]] created by Father. [[spoiler:He's some form of homunculus himself, who was created by Hohenheim's master so that he could reveal the secret of immortality to their king.]]
** Every alchemist who tries human transmutation, creating life, or resurrecting the dead suffers this in the 2003 anime [[spoiler:as it is these attempts that create homonculi in [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 this version]]. Greed implies that Team Evil has had several of them through the ages, with himself and Envy being the oldest at the moment.]]

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' had a being known as "The Lifemaker" and "The Mage of the Beginning", who was the BigBad before [[spoiler:Negi's father Nagi [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu kicked his butt]]]]. However, he wasn't a villain because of his implied creation of [[spoiler:the entire magic world]], but because he seemed to behave as though he was free to do with his creations as he pleased. [[spoiler:Though he ''was'' still trying to help them.]]
* In ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'', the first part alludes to many failed attempts to [[CreatingLife Create Life]], with Mewtwo being the lone survivor. [[spoiler:The MadScientist Dr. Fuji only agreed to attempt a clone of Mew in order to get funding for the project. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gUvTa8Lx98 Its true purpose was to bring the good doctor's daughter, Amber/Ai, back from the dead]].]] It ends with them [[GoneHorriblyRight succeeding in creating the world's most powerful Pokémon]].
* Type Blue Mu from ''Manga/TowardTheTerra'' manga have the ability to create living organisms from organic matter via [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]]. Tony uses this power to show Artella they can still have children, even if doctors have said otherwise.
* ''Manga/ZombieLoan'' has a [[MadScientist character]] who creates {{golem}}s out of [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie]] parts. They're not very nice.
** One of them is nice, and rather [[TheWoobie woobie-ish]]. [[spoiler:She doesn't last long.]]

* Played with in ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/79743/1/love-in-all-its-forms/antumbra Love, in All Its Forms]].'' Luna, tired of her subjects shunning her and her beautiful night, experiments with magic to create a living being that will love her, much to the horror of her sister Celestia, who thinks to herself that it isn't natural and nothing good can come of it. The creature turns out to be the first changeling, a little foal that Luna names Antumbra. Although Antumbra is a sweet little thing, she must feed on her mother's love to survive, leaving her drained and exhausted. It is not her fault that she must do so, as she was born that way, but Celestia banishes her from the palace in order to keep her from draining Luna completely dry and eventually killing her.

* ''Film/AlienCovenant'':
** The Engineers' Chemical A0-3959X.91 – 15 pathogen creates endoparasitic predatory lifeforms called Neomorphs in suitable hosts, [[spoiler:which David uses to exterminate not only the Engineers but all faunal life on Planet 4]].
** The film reveals that [[spoiler:David]] created the Xenomorphs from earlier experiments that he perfected by hybridizing Neomorph strains developed from Planet 4's wildlife, such as a species of parasitic wasp. As you might expect from someone who created a mutated living weapon that kills anything on sight, he was driven to do this by his nihilistic hatred of all other lifeforms and his desire to become a god.
* The silent film ''Film/TheGolem'' features the creation of the Golem of Prague. The eventual rebellion of the Golem is already forecast by the warning the Rabbi finds in his book: "If you have brought the dead to life through magic, beware of that life."

** By the time of ''Film/JurassicWorld'', the scientists have mostly gotten the hang of containing dinosaurs and the park has been open and successful for ten years. (The raptors are still off-limits.) To counter declining attendance, they create the ''Indominus rex'', a MixAndMatchCritter based primarily on a ''T. rex'' but bigger and scarier. It's also smart enough and has enough genetic advantages from various species to escape its enclosure and go on a rampage. [[spoiler:This is [[GoneHorriblyRight intentional]]; the ''I. rex'' is secretly intended as a prototype LivingWeapon for military applications.]] So, Creating ''New'' Life Is Bad.
*** Or, Creating Life For The Expressed Purpose of [[spoiler:Murdering Things]] Is Bad. Or, for the series as a whole, Trying To Control The Life You Create Is Bad. Or given how half-hearted (well below standard zoos) said attempts turn out to be, Not Trying Very Hard To Control The Life You Create Is Bad.

* In ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', [[spoiler:the Engineers']] method of creating life involves a horrific mutagen that spawns terrifying monsters [[spoiler:including humans]].

* In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', Doctor [=McCoy=] is outraged at the implications of the Genesis Project, though in his case, it was for the same reasons that David was concerned about working with Starfleet on the project: While Genesis was designed to create life, its method of doing so (a ApocalypseHow/Class6 apocalypse followed by rebuilding from scratch) could also make it the most devastatingly powerful weapon ever created. Indeed, it is shown in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' and ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' that the creation of the Genesis Device had caused increased tensions between the Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire, who had similar concerns.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Darth Plagueis, which is to say, the [[BigBad Emperor's]] original teacher, was this trope, [[ManipulativeBastard at least according to the Emperor]]. Go watch Palpatine's monologue on the subject in Episode III for more detail.
** Also, the creation of the clone army is arguably this with the clones eventually making TheEmpire possible. This gets lampshaded by Lama Su during ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch The Bad Batch]]''.
-->'''Lama Su''': We have empowered them, to our own detriment.

* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': The Masters of Padmasa create new lifeforms regularly, and this is portrayed as a terrible evil. It's less the act itself though than how they do it-forcibly impregnating both women and female animals-along with the result-monsters used to wage war. Still, only they ever do it, and they're the main bad guys for most of the series.
* The ur-viles, artificial life-forms created by the Demondim in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'', believe this. They consider their own existence to be an abomination against the natural order, and serve [[BigBad Lord Foul]] out of a combination of DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife and DeathSeeker (since their bargain with Foul is that if they serve him well enough, he'll destroy them). [[spoiler: However, in the Second and Third Chronicles, the ur-viles reevaluate their life choices and decide that there are better ways to deal with their situation, and pull a collective HeelFaceTurn]].
* Subverted in ''Literature/DarkLordOfDerkholm''. The protagonist Derk is a wizard who specializes in creating creatures like [[CueTheFlyingPigs winged pigs]] and horses, intelligent, talking pigeons, and enormous partially-human griffins. To all the other wizards, Derk is considered a freak and somewhat disturbed, and most of them either don't "get" his projects or think they're weird. However, he takes great pride in them, and considers his five intelligent, talking griffins to be every bit his children as much as his biological son and daughter. Derk is shown to be sympathetic ''and'' generally in the right.

* Explored in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' Literature/PastDoctorAdventures novel ''Heritage'', in which a scientist who has become obsessed with becoming the first to produce a perfect human clone has resorted to murder to further his ends, including causing the death of one of the Doctor's old companions. When the Doctor confronts the scientist, he reveals that the scientist actually ''isn't'' the first to discover human cloning -- but the secret has always been forgotten. ''Not'', interestingly enough, because cloning is somehow 'unnatural', but because in trying to create life artificially the people involved forget how precious life is, no matter how it is created, and end up treating it as a disposable commodity -- just as the scientist has done. Upon being confronted with both the futility of his life's work and precisely what a monster he's ultimately let himself become, [[VillainousBreakdown the scientist doesn't react well]].
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' saga, in the second set of novels ("Legends," possibly), Raistlin tries to create life in his tower lab. It's not a very big point in the book, and he's not very successful, but there are pitiful, slithery things in the tower that he created. This is probably done to illustrate his evilness and his ambition -- the major plot of the trilogy is that he's trying to become a god, after all.
* ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'': FrankensteinsMonster, probably the TropeCodifier of this in modern thought, despite the fact that the loaded term "monster" was applied to it retroactively (he is only referred as the "Creature" in the original novel), and that the book never actually portrays the act of ''creating life'' as evil -- instead, it is the act of Frankenstein ''abandoning'' his own creation that drives it to evil actions. Shelley never argued against creating life, only against humanity refusing to take responsibility for what they create. Nonetheless, genetic engineering controversies are very likely to invoke the FrankensteinsMonster archetype in arguments (an example is how genetically-modified foods are referred to as "frankenfoods"). In-universe, he was not beautiful, though he was meant to be so:

* Toyed with in the backstory of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''. On Kiva, two scientists delving into the creation of life accidentally unleashed a WorldWreckingWave that [[ApocalypseHow killed everything on the planet but them]]. The heroic one considers it MyGreatestFailure and a GoneHorriblyWrong - but the villainous one had been aware that this would happen and convinced the heroic one it would be fine [[ForTheEvulz just because he wanted to see it]]. Whether the creation itself is good or evil is never said.
* The trope also appears in the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' novel ''Synthetic Men of Mars'', in which Ras Thavas creates the Hormads; nigh-invulnerable artificial life forms that promptly rebel against him and plan to conquer all of Barsoom.
* Arguably ''Literature/JurassicPark,'' though there is also the interpretation that it wasn't Hammond returning the dinosaurs to life that was the problem, but his belief they could be controlled.
* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''Literature/TheMonsterMen'', this is what Professor Maxon is up to. In the opening, he is disposing of one that died, and goes on a long ocean voyage to repair his nerves. Alas, it works, and he decides to try again, and even marry off his daughter to one.

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. Aulë, the patron archangel of smithing, craftsmanship, etc., gets impatient for Men and Elves to show up and decides to make some people of his own, the Dwarves. Unfortunately, he lacks the power and authority to do so, and the Dwarves are empty shells without free will. At first it looks like Ilúvatar (God, more or less) will condemn him for this, but ultimately he stops Aulë from destroying his creations and breathes true life into them instead. Opinions vary on the moral of this, but it seems to be that you must take responsibility for what you create and not destroy it just because it turns out differently than you expect, and/or that what you create ultimately belongs to God, not to you as its creator. His plans appear to have a great deal of flexibility in any case; this isn't the only time he changes creation to [[ThrowItIn accommodate the creative input]] of the Valar by a long shot.

* In an inessential moment in the otherwise tightly-plotted ''Series/DoctorWho'''s "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius The Brain of Morbius]]", Solon rants that he was declared mad due to his belief that he could create life! ...But he never actually creates life in the story, just a patchwork body that requires Morbius's will to bring to life. Since there's no evidence he can do this, it's entirely possible that his belief he could create life ''is'' actually just delusion. The ExpandedUniverse book "Warmonger" does feature as its monsters a race of artificial spider abominations created by Solon.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' "The Cylons were created by man..."
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' contains many examples of creating artifical life and they mostly end poorly.[[note]]All of them but two. In ''Kamen Rider Ghost: Specter Re:Birth'' V-Cinema movie, there is no problem with the life itself, just with the creator. [[MonsterOfTheWeek Bugster]] in ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' are an example of CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The immortal Flint in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' created an android who went on to achieve proper sentience... and then died as she couldn't deal with her newfound emotions. He doesn't revel in the fact that he created new life, which is impressive all by itself. Bear in mind this is about 75 years before Data was created and you'll appreciate why this is slightly unrealistic.
** In "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E9Metamorphosis Metamorphosis]]", a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien says that she can't create life because "that is for [[{{God}} the maker of all things]]".
* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the evil overlords known as The Founders created the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar.

-->I'd consider myself a realist, alright? But in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist... I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself - we are creatures that should not exist by natural law... We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, that accretion of sensory experience and feelings, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody's nobody... I think the honorable thing for our species to do is to deny our programming. Stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction - one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.
** Incidentally, a quick summation of this philosophy, known as antinatalism, can be found in the Real Life section to explain this unique spin on the trope.

* Averted in ''UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}}''. In short, Shinto believes that everything in existence has a kind of divine spark ("kami"), from the smallest pebble to the tallest mountain, and of course anything organic, like plants, animals and humans. According to this viewpoint, everything is already "alive" in a way, and it's understood as a good thing to "uplift" life into a higher state of consciousness. Often, this is the given explanation on why the Japanese are so fond of A.I. and robots (which would be uplifting the unorganic materials of the robots); they're doing God's work in a good way, so to speak.
* Gnosticism. The god who created life is not the ''real'' god and botched the job royally. (A simplified synopsis.)

* The game ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'', loosely based on ''Frankenstein''. Each of the major lineages of Prometheans was created because somebody started channeling the Divine Fire and decided to create life, either for purposes of companionship, servitude, just rule, an idea of what was happening on "the other side," or [[ForScience just plain because]]. Every Promethean is essentially a walking example of CameBackWrong on many levels. Humans instinctively hate them, they rot the environment, and are prone to cause destruction. They have to earn a [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soul]] and become fully human to end the karmic pain from merely ''existing''. Incidentally, part of the process of becoming human requires creating another Promethean.

* ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' is all over this, since your {{Mons}} come from genetic engineering. The relationship between [[SlaveRace serviles]] and humans is repeatedly paralleled to institutionalized slavery, with eugenics, that explodes into an open race war and magical WMD race from the third game on. This can even work its way into gameplay--you might [[VideoGameCaringPotential find yourself unwilling]] to make a [[OlympusMons drakon]] if the MP requirement means you'll have to dissolve that [[MascotMook Fyora]] you've been keeping around for ten levels. [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Or you might not even give it a thought.]]
* According to the characters of ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'', alchemy is a science (as opposed to black magic) because it can't be used to create life. [[spoiler: [[TheReveal Turns]] [[ArtificialHuman out]] [[IAmWho it]] [[TomatoInTheMirror can]].]]
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': Toward the end of the game, Dr. Suvi Anwar speculates this was the motivation of [[spoiler:the unknown beings who set off the Scourge, trying to kill the Jardaan for creating the Angara]], noting how many people back in the Milky Way were against creating life, whether organic or synthetic.
* In ''VideoGame/ReturnToKrondor'', [[spoiler: the necromancers encountered throughout the game turn out to be doing this. The sewer monsters were humans that were transformed into green beasts with poisoned claws that could make eggs if a male one and female one came together. It is possible to transform one of them back to a human via an alchemical catalyst. Also, in the middle of the game, it is possible to encounter a two-headed red beast that seems to be similar to an Air Elemental but this one can inflict fire damage. Jazhara comments that that thing was an abomination. That creature may have been one of the experiments conducted by Sidi's necromancers.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}: Red the Hunter'' the hybrids were created by [[BigBad Baion]] and Merveille, two of them are {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s [[spoiler: and the third is the hero]]. Merveille really feels bad about it though.
** Also, the Juno [[spoiler:''re''created the entire world population after wiping it clean, thanks to humans destroying the planet with their wars.]]
* In the first ''[[VideoGame/StriderArcade Strider]]'', [[GalacticConqueror Grandmaster Meio]] discovers the secret art to create life, and plans to use it to repopulate Earth with his own creations ([[DepopulationBomb after cleaning it up first]]) as a way to [[AGodAmI satisfy his twisted ego]]. In ''Strider 2'', it's implied he has succeeded, and the game (set 2000 years after the first) is now inhabited entirely by his creations. This world, however, has gone to high hell in the interim, horribly polluted and besieged by wars, crime and diseases. After returning from his two-millenia long slumber, Meio finds the state of the world so disgusting that he decides to [[ApocalypseHow simply destroy it]] and look around for a new planet to try again.
* SHODAN in ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' is seen performing a variety of biological mutation experiments on Citadel Station, intending to have these violently insane mutants, once perfected, replace humanity. The pod they are on is jettisoned partway through the game, but said pod shows up again in ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', its inhabitants having evolved into a HiveMind race known as "The Many", which plans on assimilating humanity into itself. One character mentions that SHODAN should never again be allowed to play God... not just because of the horrific results, but also because "she's far too ''good'' at it."

* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has many artificial beings as characters -- most of whom are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman perfectly nice]] -- but also most of whom were [[CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen made accidentally.]] The only two who were made ''deliberately,'' Galatea and Gosh, are by far the most dangerous and emotionally unstable of the bunch.
* ''Webcomic/{{Inhuman}}'' has this in its backstory. A company that until then created equivalents of the [[Franchise/StarWars droid army]] had the bright idea of creating the equivalent of the ''clone'' army for theocratic clients. Furious, they had the whole company exterminated, from CEO to janitor. The protagonist's parents worked there.

* ''WebVideo/FrenchBaguetteIntelligence'':
** Discussed in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-UC7v-Ou24 Should science be morally ethical?]]'', with Gringo taking this stance regarding the creation of humanzees.

** The episode "Too Young" focused on the kingdom being taken over by Princess Bubblegum's first failed experiment--Lemongrab, a [[TheMentallyDisturbed mentally disturbed]] manchild. The second was Goliad. Although Goliad was made properly, she was corrupted after getting the wrong idea about power, and believed in using her vast psychic abilities to maintain order. However, a third creation, Stormo, didn't seem to have any issues physically, mentally, or morally.
** Funnily enough, Goliad also may serve as something of a clone to Bubblegum as her DNA was derived from a baby tooth from the Princess. Stormo on the other hand was made from a lock of Finn's hair and it appears he managed to inherit Finn's heroic nature as he locked himself in eternal psychic combat with Goliad to keep her from harming anyone.
** Aside from these mistakes, Bubblegum actually has a pretty good track record. Her creations populate the Candy Kingdom, which, [[CloudCuckooLand while not exactly normal]], is pretty nice overall. On the other hand, [[spoiler: leaving her candy life formula where Lemongrab could find it [[{{Squick}} was not a wise move]]]].

** Played with in "Slumber Party Panic". PB attempts to resurrect some candy people and accidentally creates zombies, but after the zombie outbreak is dealt with she discovers the correct resurrection formula anyway and brings the zombies back to life.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "HOMR", some scientists say they can't play God with Homer's intelligence.

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* The trope also appears in his ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' novel ''Synthetic Men of Mars'', in which Ras Thavas creates the Hormads; nigh-invulnerable artificial life forms that promptly rebel against him and plan to conquer all of Barsoom.

* Toyed with in the backstory of ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''. On Kiva, two scientists delving into the creation of life accidentally unleashed a WorldWreckingWave that [[ApocalypseHow killed everything on the planet but them]]. The heroic one considers it MyGreatestFailure and a GoneHorriblyWrong - but the villainous one had been aware that this would happen and convinced the heroic one it would be fine [[ForTheEvulz just because he wanted to see it]]. Whether the creation itself is good or evil is never said.

* The ur-viles, artificial life-forms created by the Demondim in the ''Literature/ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'', believe this. They consider their own existence to be an abomination against the natural order, and serve [[BigBad Lord Foul]] out of a combination of DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife and DeathSeeker (since their bargain with Foul is that if they serve him well enough, he'll destroy them). [[spoiler: However, in the Second and Third Chronicles, the ur-viles reevaluate their life choices and decide that there are better ways to deal with their situation, and pull a collective HeelFaceTurn]].
* ''Literature/TheDiabolic'': Servitors, Diabolics, and other {{Artificial Human}}s are seen as soulless abominations, and if any of them should try to ask questions they will be told this to their face. However, in a blatant act of hypocrisy, it's not a sin to ''make'' or ''use'' servitors. The price of the sin is purely on the creature itself, and they will be told repeatedly that they have no souls even as they are sent to fight or kill or whatever else their makers need.
* ''Literature/BazilBroketail'': The Masters of Padmasa create new lifeforms regularly, and this is portrayed as a terrible evil. It's less the act itself though than how they do it-forcibly impregnating both women and female animals-along with the result-monsters used to wage war. Still, only they ever do it, and they're the main bad guys for most of the series.

* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' contains many examples of creating artifical life and they mostly end poorly.[[note]]All of them but two. In ''Kamen Rider Ghost: Specter Re:Birth'' V-Cinema movie, there is no problem with the life itself, just with the creator. [[MonsterOfTheWeek Bugster]] in ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' are an example of CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen.[[/note]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'': [[MonsterOfTheWeek Roidmudes]] were created by a MadScientist for shits and giggles (and abuse). Unsurprisingly, it came to bite him in the rear and he died by their hand.
** The Greeed in ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' were created 800 years ago by human scientists out of human desire forged into Medals. They were just non-sentient entities until the humans thought it was a bright idea to destroy one of each of their Core Medals, which caused them to go out of control and try to devour everything in their path to fill the void it left.
* The second episode of the first season of ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' is all about immoral attempts to create humans in labs. One such created human is active, and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent needs to consume parts of human brains to stay young]]. The episode ends with AnAesop where the main scientist guy babbles about how we scientists must always remember the boundary between our domain and God's, no matter how easy it is to forget.

* In an inessential moment in the otherwise tightly-plotted ''Series/DoctorWho'''s "The Brain of Morbius", Solon rants that he was declared mad due to his belief that he could create life! ...But he never actually creates life in the story, just a patchwork body that requires Morbius's will to bring to life. Since there's no evidence he can do this, it's entirely possible that his belief he could create life ''is'' actually just delusion. The ExpandedUniverse book "Warmonger" does feature as its monsters a race of artificial spider abominations created by Solon.

* In ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'', creating life is one of the first things you can learn. Creating ''intelligent'' life is a bit tougher, although any two-bit MadScientist could create shambling zombies to handle really menial tasks. Both cases are Transgressions against [[KarmaMeter Obligation]], mostly because ordinary humans would find it kinda weird (and Obligation takes a very hard line against rejecting standard human norms).

* ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' is all over this, since your {{Mons}} come from genetic engineering. The relationship between [[SlaveRace serviles]] and humans is repeatedly paralleled to institutionalized slavery, with eugenics, that explodes into an open race war and magical WMD race from the third game on. This can even work its way into gameplay--you might [[VideoGameCaringPotential find yourself unwilling]] to make a [[OlympusMons drakon]] if the MP requirement means you'll have to dissolve that [[MascotMook Fyora]] you've been keeping around for ten levels. [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Or you might not even give it a thought.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', the PC wakes up in the dungeon of the wizard Jon Irenicus and has to fight his way out. Some of the things he encounters suggest that Irenicus was trying to create life in that dungeon. Most prominently, one can stumble upon a clone of an elven lady, apparently abandoned and gone crazy there. When you find out ''who'' the original is, that abandonment serves to underline just how lacking in empathy Irenicus has become: [[spoiler:she was the love of his life, who turned against him when he tried to grab power]]. Several pods are said to hold other clones... though not all pods hold ''created'' life: one who begs you to let him die states that he was a servant who was put in there until Irenicus could get around to healing him.

* In the first ''[[VideoGame/StriderArcade Strider]]'', [[GalacticConqueror Grandmaster Meio]] discovers the secret art to create life, and plans to use it to repopulate Earth with his own creations ([[DepopulationBomb after cleaning it up first]]) as a way to [[AGodAmI satisfy his twisted ego]]. In ''Strider 2'', it's implied he has succeeded, and the game (set 2000 years after the first) is now inhabited entirely by his creations. This world, however, has gone to high hell in the interim, horribly polluted and besieged by wars, crime and diseases. After returning from his two-millenia long slumber, Meio finds the state of the world so disgusting that he decides to [[ApocalypseHow simply destroy it]] and look around for a new planet to try again.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': Toward the end of the game, Dr. Suvi Anwar speculates this was the motivation of [[spoiler:the unknown beings who set off the Scourge, trying to kill the Jardaan for creating the Angara]], noting how many people back in the Milky Way were against creating life, whether organic or synthetic.

* ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' has many artificial beings as characters -- most of whom are [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman perfectly nice]] -- but also most of whom were [[CreatingLifeIsUnforeseen made accidentally.]] The only two who were made ''deliberately,'' Galatea and Gosh, are by far the most dangerous and emotionally unstable of the bunch.
* Creating new species is a crime in the world of ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures''. This law was passed after the accidental creation of the undead race. Jyrras has managed to create life completely by accident twice, first by accidentally making a living bubblegum creature and then again by accidentally making a sapient AI, and he has to keep them hidden for fear of legal repercussions.

* Rudy Tabootie of ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'' makes it a rule not to use his magic chalk to create any living creatures in the Zone unless in the direst of circumstances since the inhabitants are immortal and then it'll be his responsibility to take care of them.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': In ''ComicBook/HowLuthorMetSuperboy'', this formed part of Lex Luthor's origin. Young Lex Luthor was an aspiring scientist who resided in Smallville, the hometown of Superboy. Luthor saved Superboy from a chance encounter with Kryptonite. In gratitude, Superboy built Luthor a laboratory, where weeks later, he managed to create an artificial form of life. Grateful in turn to Superboy, Luthor created an antidote for Kryptonite poisoning. However, an accidental fire broke out in Luthor's lab. Superboy used his super-breath to extinguish the flames, inadvertently spilling chemicals which caused Luthor to go bald; in the process, he also destroyed Luthor's artificial life form. Believing that Superboy intentionally destroyed his discoveries, Luthor attributed his actions to jealousy and vowed revenge. In ''ComicBook/TheSupergirlSaga'', because Superboy died before Lex Luthor had a chance to meet him, Lex was able to complete the creation of an artificial lifeform, which ended up becoming the Matrix form of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}.

* A major part of the Fourth Movement of ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached''. [[spoiler:Brox]] discovers a spell that will turn inorganic items into living creatures, and wants to use it to repopulate Baravada with monsters for the skahs to kill. To that end, [[spoiler:she]] mind-controls Paul, who seems to be able to boost spells well beyond their parameters, and teaches him the spell so he can boost it and then channel it through the Vasyn, which will boost it exponentially.

* Played with in ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/79743/1/love-in-all-its-forms/antumbra Love, in All Its Forms]].'' Luna, tired of her subjects shunning her and her beautiful night, experiments with magic to create a living being that will love her, much to the horror of her sister Celestia, who thinks to herself that it isn't natural and nothing good can come of it. The creature turns out to be the first changeling, a little foal that Luna names Antumbra. Although Antumbra is a sweet little thing, she must feed on her mother's love to survive, leaving her drained and exhausted. It is not her fault that she must do so, as she was born that way, but Celestia banishes her from the palace in order to keep her from draining Luna completely dry and eventually killing her.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Darth Plagueis, which is to say, the [[BigBad Emperor's]] original teacher, was this trope, [[ManipulativeBastard at least according to the Emperor]]. Go watch Palpatine's monologue on the subject in Episode III for more detail.
** Also, the creation of the clone army is arguably this with the clones eventually making TheEmpire possible. This gets lampshaded by Lama Su during ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch The Bad Batch]]''.
-->'''Lama Su''': We have empowered them, to our own detriment.
* ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', of course, has Dr. Frank N Furter creating a sentient (but [[BrainlessBeauty not that bright]]) playmate named Rocky.

* In ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'', Doctor [=McCoy=] is outraged at the implications of the Genesis Project, though in his case, it was for the same reasons that David was concerned about working with Starfleet on the project: While Genesis was designed to create life, its method of doing so (a ApocalypseHow/Class6 apocalypse followed by rebuilding from scratch) could also make it the most devastatingly powerful weapon ever created. Indeed, it is shown in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' and ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' that the creation of the Genesis Device had caused increased tensions between the Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire, who had similar concerns.
* In ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'', [[spoiler:the Engineers']] method of creating life involves a horrific mutagen that spawns terrifying monsters [[spoiler:including humans]].

* ''Film/AlienCovenant'':
** The Engineers' Chemical A0-3959X.91 – 15 pathogen creates endoparasitic predatory lifeforms called Neomorphs in suitable hosts, [[spoiler:which David uses to exterminate not only the Engineers but all faunal life on Planet 4]].
** The film reveals that [[spoiler:David]] created the Xenomorphs from earlier experiments that he perfected by hybridizing Neomorph strains developed from Planet 4's wildlife, such as a species of parasitic wasp. As you might expect from someone who created a mutated living weapon that kills anything on sight, he was driven to do this by his nihilistic hatred of all other lifeforms and his desire to become a god.

* FrankensteinsMonster, probably the TropeCodifier of this in modern thought, despite the fact that the loaded term "monster" was applied to it retroactively (he is only referred as the "Creature" in the original novel), and that the book never actually portrays the act of ''creating life'' as evil -- instead, it is the act of Frankenstein ''abandoning'' his own creation that drives it to evil actions. Shelley never argued against creating life, only against humanity refusing to take responsibility for what they create. Nonetheless, genetic engineering controversies are very likely to invoke the FrankensteinsMonster archetype in arguments (an example is how genetically-modified foods are referred to as "frankenfoods"). In-universe, he was not beautiful, though he was meant to be so:
-->''How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same color as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shriveled complexion and straight black lips.''

* Arguably ''Literature/JurassicPark,'' though there is also the interpretation that it wasn't Hammond returning the dinosaurs to life that was the problem, but his belief they could be controlled.

* In ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'', this is Mr. Sellars' dark secret, explaining his obsession with Otherland. He created virtual reality lifeforms as a forcibly accelerated "hothouse" experiment, and then panicked when his playthings were stolen by the Other.

** The trope also appears in his ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' novel ''Synthetic Men of Mars'', in which Ras Thavas creates the Hormads; nigh-invulnerable artificial life forms that promptly rebel against him and plan to conquer all of Barsoom.