History Main / Heavyworlder

** Some of the Unggoy's strength might be due to their homeworld being a place where EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. The planet has naturally occuring flame gysers, for one. This is also responsible for their [[ExplosiveBreeder rapid rate of reproduction]], to the point where contraceptive chemicals are put in their gas and food while offworld to prevent them overcrowding.

** Some of the Unggoy's strength might be due to their homeworld being a place where EverythingsTryingToKillYou. The planet has naturally occuring flame gysers, for one. This is also responsible for their [[ExplosiveBreeder rapid rate of reproduction]], to the point where contraceptive chemicals are put in their gas and food while offworld to prevent them overcrowding.

** Other Tau castes aren't much better. Your run-of-the-mill FireWarrior barely gets to the chest of [[RedShirt his Guard counterpart]], and is so physically weak that average human can tear him apart without much effort. In short, the normal human is for a normal tau what a [[SuperSoldier Space Marine]] is for him -- and that's why Tau [[MemeticMutation suck in a close combat]]. So, they tend to compensate for it with a lot MoreDakka.

* In ''StarTrek'', Vulcan is said to have gravity 4 times heavier than that of Earth's. This explains why Spock, in spite of being a nerd, can kick most people's butts in hand-to-hand combat.

[[InvertedTrope '''"Lightworlders"''']] -- skinny, delicate humans from low-gravity habitats, or orbital colonies without artificial gravity -- aren't nearly as common as straight treatments, as it's harder to portray your BigDamnHeroes as {{Badass}} if they're built like toothpicks. Low-gravity characters are often female, fragility being more forgivable in women to [[MostWritersAreMale most writers]]. However in RealLife, although being in a lower gravity would make muscles waste away it would also make people small, (not tall like they usually are portrayed as) because bones need Earth-like gravity to grow properly.

A common trope in ScienceFiction, the Heavyworlder is a variety of human being who has been altered to survive in a high-gravity environment, either through [[GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke Genetic Engineering]], or less commonly, through [[HollywoodEvolution unusually rapid adaptation]]. One factor common to nearly all Heavyworlders is [[SuperStrength prodigious physical strength]] (even though logically, physical stamina would be more important when carrying around twice your weight every day). Another common element (one could even call it a [[YouFailBiologyForever fallacy]]) is that many Heavyworlders are described as being far larger and more massive that normal humans, despite this adding even more weight for them to carry around -- in fact, basic mechanical considerations and SquareCubeLaw shows that it's much more advantageous for heavyworlder to have a compact, stout, but ''short'' body, not unlike common portrayal of Dwarves in fantasy. Usually they have personalities to match (imagine an entire race as TheBigGuy). A few exceptions are noted below. In fights, a Heavyworlder is usually a OneManArmy.

Inversions -- skinny, delicate humans from low-gravity habitats, or orbital colonies without artificial gravity -- aren't nearly as common as straight treatments, as it's harder to portray your BigDamnHeroes as {{Badass}} if they're built like toothpicks. Low-gravity characters are often female, fragility being more forgivable in women to [[MostWritersAreMale most writers]]. However in RealLife, although being in a lower gravity would make muscles waste away it would also make people small, (not tall like they usually are portrayed as) because bones need Earth-like gravity to grow properly.

* Frequent foes of the LegionOfSuperHeroes are the humanoid Khunds (no, I'm ''not'' going to ask how you pronounce that.)

* The supervillain The Persuader from TheLegionOfSuperheroes is a normal human, but has incredible strength from being born and raised on a high-gravity world.

* In [[IsaacAsimov The Gods Themselves]] Moonborn people have weaker bones, leading to [[CantHaveSexEver slight sexual incompatibility]] with Earth people. And due to the metabolism being about the same, they need constant exercises to keep their bodies under the proper strain.

* In the ''{{Hyperion}}'' series, Kassad is from Mars, which has a lower gravity than Earth. He's he's very tall and slender, but he keeps in shape.

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Inversions -- skinny, delicate humans from low-gravity habitats, or orbital colonies without artificial gravity -- aren't nearly as common as straight treatments, as it's harder to portray your BigDamnHeroes as {{Badass}} if they're built like toothpicks. Low-gravity characters are often female, fragility being more forgivable in women to [[MostWritersAreMale most writers]].

* Heavyworlders in {{Hyperion}} are short, wide and still need extra muscle to live like normal people. * Brawne Lamia, the female private investigator, comes from the planet Lusus, which has 1.3 times the gravity of Earth.

* Before he started flying and shooting laser beams out of his eyes, the late GoldenAge and full SilverAge explanation for Comicbook/{{Superman}}'s powers was that his home planet, Krypton, had exceptionally high gravity (the first explanation given in ''Action Comics'' #1 was EvolutionaryLevels-- Superman had originally been concieved as being from the future). Even after the yellow sun explanation came into play, Krypton was still described as having a much greater mass than Earth. This might be the inspiration for TomStrong's origin.

* An episode of the BuckRogers TV series had an unassuming man of average build named Toman who was secretly from a high-gravity planet, giving him great strength, which he used as a hit man who never needed weapons.

* In the GreenSkyTrilogy, the titular world does have much lower gravity, so much that a toddler's fall from the high treetops will injure, but not kill. The Kindar are on the willowy and frail side, while their ground-walking Erdlings [[spoiler: descended from Kindar Exiles]] have developed a sturdier frame from generations of living underground.