History Main / Heavyworlder

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', their status as [[MightyGlacier Mighty Glaciers]] comes to prove incredibly beneficial in the scheme of things; if Shepard rescues the elcor survivors trapped on Dekuuna, they're awarded the remnant army of the elcor to combat [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who are a whole ''species'' of [[ShoulderCannon Shoulder Cannon-wielding infantry]], made even more capable with complex VI systems. While there's a TearJerker to be found in the elcor quest-giver breaking down at [[spoiler:how only a few elcor survived the onslaught of the Reapers]], one can't deny what the elcor ambassador describes as "living tanks" ''aren't'' an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', their status as [[MightyGlacier Mighty Glaciers]] comes to prove incredibly beneficial in the scheme of things; if Shepard rescues the elcor survivors trapped on Dekuuna, they're awarded the remnant army of the elcor to combat [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who are a whole ''species'' of [[ShoulderCannon Shoulder Cannon-wielding infantry]], made even more capable with complex VI systems. While there's a TearJerker to be found in the elcor quest-giver breaking down at [[spoiler:how only a few elcor survived the onslaught of the Reapers]], one can't deny what the elcor ambassador describes as "living tanks" ''aren't'' and OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', their status as [[MightyGlacier Mighty Glaciers]] comes to prove incredibly beneficial in the scheme of things; if Shepard rescues the elcor survivors trapped on Dekuuna, they're awarded the remnant army of the elcor to combat [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who are a whole ''species'' of [[ShoulderCannon ShoulderCannon-wielding infantry]], made even more capable with complex VI systems. While there's a TearJerker to be found in the elcor quest-giver breaking down at [[spoiler:how only a few elcor survived the onslaught of the Reapers]], one can't deny what the elcor ambassador describes as "living tanks" ''aren't'' and OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', their status as MightyGlaciers comes to prove incredibly beneficial in the scheme of things; if Shepard rescues the elcor survivors trapped on Dekuuna, they're awarded the remnant army of the elcor to combat [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who are a whole ''species'' of [[ShoulderCannon ShoulderCannon-wielding infantry]], made even more capable with complex VI systems. While there's a TearJerker to be found in the elcor quest-giver breaking down at [[spoiler:how only a few elcor survived the onslaught of the Reapers]], one can't deny what the elcor ambassador describes as "living tanks" ''aren't'' and OffscreenMomentOfAwesome.

* The Elcor of ''Franchise/MassEffect'' come from a heavy world, and as a result are very cautious and conservative in all aspects of their life, since a fall could literally kill them on their homeworld.
** {{Deconstructed}} in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''. [[spoiler:As a race of slow-moving {{Mighty Glacier}}s who are outmatched by the Reapers, the vast majority of Elcor civilians fail to evacuate their home-world in time. It's implied that while some Elcor escaped, [[DyingRace there aren't enough to recover the species]].]]

* Charlie-27 of Creator/MarvelComics' original ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' is a Jovian, a member of a human subspecies genetically engineered to colonize Jupiter. As such, he's huge, super-strong, muscular and [[MadeOfIron very tough]]. Implicitly he's even stronger and tougher than the typical Jovian, as he was a career military man. He's also not short at all -- the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists him at an even 6', only slightly taller than the average adult human male, though he's often drawn as the tallest of the team even so.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has several prominent examples that ended up going in very different directions:

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' protagonist Samus Aran is a Heavyworlder, though she rarely gets a chance to show this off due to her [[PoweredArmor Power Suit]]. She was fostered by the Chozo on the high-gravity planet Zebes, and had to undergo some BioAugmentation to survive there. Just how much is debatable -- [[WritersCannotDoMath one number thrown around is that Zebes had]] ''[[WritersHaveNoSenseOfScale 950 times Earth's gravity]]'' -- but the fact remains that Samus was able to leap forty feet high in Zebes' gravity, or stick a ThreePointLanding off a cliff that resulted in a small crater (while still a ''child''). If she ever took the suit off and ran around on a planet like Earth, Samus could probably bench-press several tons. Naturally, she avoids the usual squat-broad Heavyworlder body type and usually portrayed as tall but lithe.

** In a straight fight against a Nietzschean with equivalent hand-to-hand combat, he'd lose. This is acknowledged by [[WordOfGod the producers]] in commentary tracks. [[spoiler:Remember, Gaheris Rhade was eventually revealed to have thrown that fight.]].

* Earth, at least compared to the other known exoplanets that could support earth-like life, has an usually deep gravity well. If we ever find any {{Human Alien}}s, we would very likely be Heavy-worlders compared to them.

** The {{Elseworlds}} comic "Superman: Last Son of Earth" is built upon a total inversion of Superman's backstory; here, he's Clark Kent, a human shot into space to escape a disaster who landed on Krypton and was raised as Kal-El. Arriving back on Earth in his adulthood, he's surprised to discover that growing up in Krypton's heightened gravity has given him superhuman strength and bulletproof skin.

* A variant of this can be seen in people who grew up in places located at high latitudes. While the gravity is the same, the air is substantially thinner, meaning that people raised to breathe this air as normal often have heightened stamina when closer to sea level. This is part of the reason why mountainous East Africa (especially UsefulNotes/{{Kenya}}) is famous for its long-distance runners, and why the United States' first Olympic Training Center was established in Colorado Springs (at 6,035 feet above sea level, one of the highest-altitude major cities in the US).

** The most extreme is probably Thandi Palane who comes from a very high gravity world that did it's own share of genetic engineering. One character actually notes that for a non-intelligent animal the changes would probably be extreme enough for them to be considered a separate species. The book also discusses the pros and cons of her genetics. She's incredibly strong but her density is high enough that she can't swim without help and while she has great endurance she needs to eat a LOT of food and will starve much faster than most people if she doesn't get enough.

** The series also gets around the whole issue of Heavyworlders logically being short by having the Saiyans be invaders who originally evolved on ''another'' planet, which presumably had gravity to closer to ours. Indeed, Planet Vegeta's original inhabitants ''were'' noticeably smaller than humans.

* Creator/HarryHarrison's ''Literature/{{Deathworld}}'' features Pyrrus: double Earth gravity and so, so much more. The population are all {{TykeBomb}}s. Pyrrans are short and massive, for added realism.

* In ''Series/TheOrville'', Alara Kitan's race, Xelayans, come from a high gravity world. In Earth-like conditions, they can smash through concrete and make great leaps.

* According to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'''s [[AllThereInTheManual official data]], the Covenant has a few Heavyworlders in its ranks. The Sangheili/Elite homeworld Sanghelios has 1.375G, Doisac (the Jiralhanae/Brute homeworld) has 2.1G, and the Yanme'e/Drones call Palamok, with 2.2G, their home. Fittingly, all three races are quite physically strong -- Elites & Brutes can match [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] in close combat, and Drones are strong enough to lift full-grown armored human marines into the air. Additionally, Te (the Lekgolo/Hunter homeworld) has ''4''G. Appropriately, the Lekgolo are actually small wormlike creatures that live in massive colonies, and the only reason they didn't develop space travel despite their [[HiddenDepth surprisingly advanced technological civilization]] was because they couldn't overcome said high gravity.

* According to ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'''s [[AllThereInTheManual official data]], the Covenant has a few Heavyworlders in its ranks. The Sangheili/Elite homeworld Sanghelios has 1.375G, Doisac (the Jiralhanae/Brute homeworld) has 2.1G, and the Yanme'e/Drones call Palamok, with 2.2G, their home. Fittingly, all three races are quite physically strong -- Elites & Brutes can match [[SuperSoldier Spartans]] in close combat, and Drones are strong enough to lift full-grown armored human marines into the air. Additionally, Te (the Lekgolo/Hunter homeworld) has ''4''G. Appropriately, the Lekgolo are actually small wormlike creatures that live in massive colonies.

** He's also much shorter than the green-skinned [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Tharks]], although he's the same size as the local humans. His SuperStrength isn't shown much, although he easily breaks through the first chains that the Tharks put him in. They put him in heavier chains and attach them to a huge rock. Carter manages to throw the rock.

* In ''Series/TheOrville'', Alara Kitan's race, Xeylayans, come from a high gravity world. In Earth-like conditions, they can smash through concrete and make great leaps.

* The setting of Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/PlanetPirates'' series and ''Dinosaur Planet'' series may actually be the TropeNamer. The genetically-enhanced Heavyworlders, due to their history, resent and distrust "lightweights" to the point of being open to manipulative propoganda and conspiracy theories by the titular criminals. In [[{{Veganopia}} a greater society of near-universal vegetarians]], they also have to eat meat due to their altered metabolism.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' the pacifistic Pemalites and their android servants the Chee hail from a world with gravity four times that of Earth. As you'd expect, they're very powerful by human standards. While the Pemalites are extinct and we don't know how well they followed the trope, the Chee, being robots, are incredibly strong and incredibly fast. Erek is so fast that he can get from his inland house to several miles out into the ocean and several ''thousand'' miles deep in less than an hour. In their more bitter moments, the Animorphs frequently lament the fact that, if the Pemalies would have just reprogrammed the Chee's violence prohibition, they might not be extinct and the Yeerks would done over in a week.
* The setting of Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/PlanetPirates'' series and ''Literature/DinosaurPlanet'' series may actually be the TropeNamer. The genetically-enhanced Heavyworlders, due to their history, resent and distrust "lightweights" to the point of being open to manipulative propoganda and conspiracy theories by the titular criminals. In [[{{Veganopia}} a greater society of near-universal vegetarians]], they also have to eat meat due to their altered metabolism.

* Reconstructed and downplayed in ''The Right Hand of Dextra'': While Dextra's gravity isn't ''that'' much higher, the protagonist speculates that the colonists' descendants will be Heavyworlders, albeit a more realistic take on the idea (short, stocky, and thick-limbed). [[spoiler:At that point, however, he wasn't counting on people [[WasOnceAMan mutating themselves]] into [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaurs]].]]

* ''Literature/AllTomorrows'': The Lopsiders were an...
[[BodyHorror unusual]] take on this trope, having been genetically modified from human stock by the [[AbusivePrecursors Qu]] for life on a high gravity world by being made flat and flounder-like, crawling along on paddle-like limbs and with their sensory organs crowded on one side of their face.

** Frequent foes of the Legion are the humanoid Khunds.
** Supervillain The Persuader from is a normal human, but has incredible strength from being born and raised on a high-gravity world.

* ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'' is a Hoffmannite, from a violent race of large Heavyworlders who call normal humans "jellybones" and are prone to AttackHello. Hoffmanites aren't noticeably shorter than regular humans and appear quite obese...but it turns out the bulk is all muscle. They were also genetically engineered by a team that thought that making a sub-race of centaurs was a good idea.

* The setting of Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/PlanetPirates'' series and ''Dinosaur Planet'' series may actually be the TropeNamer. The genetically-enhanced Heavyworlders, due to their history, resent and distrust "lightweights" to the point of being open to manipulative propoganda and conspiracy theories by the titular criminals. In [[{{Veganopia}} a greater society of near-universal vegetarians]], they also have to eat meat due to their altered metabolism.

* The people of Lusus, a very massive planet and industrial powerhouse with its settlements buried underground (called Hives and many of them [[WretchedHive fitting the description]]), are described as being rather short, rather stout, and very strong in Creator/DanSimmons' ''Literature/HyperionCantos''. This includes Brawne Lamia, a PrivateDetective from Lusus who fell in love with a clone/reconstruction of Creator/JohnKeats who had lost his memory...and long story short, that's how she ends up one of the main characters of the first novel.

* ''Literature/AllTomorrows'': The Lopsiders were an... [[BodyHorror unusual]] take on this trope, having been genetically modified from human stock by the [[AbusivePrecursors Qu]] for life on a high gravity world by being made flat and flounder-like, crawling along on paddle-like limbs and with their sensory organs crowded on one side of their face.

** He's also much shorter than the green-skinned [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Tharks]], although he's the same size as the local humans. His SuperStrength isn't shown much, although he easily breaks through the first chains that the Tharks put him in. Being GenreSavvy, they put him in heavier chains and attach them to a huge rock. Carter manages to throw the rock.