History Main / MotherOfAThousandYoung

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The Horta of "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark The Devil in the Dark]]" are an ultimately benign example. Every 50,000 years, the entire race dies off save for thousands of eggs and one single adult Horta, left behind to care for the eggs and then to be the mother of the hatchlings. The Horta is originally thought to be a vicious monster, but Spock is able to establish telepathic communication with it and learns that the mining operation on the planet [[MonsterIsAMommy had damaged some of the Horta eggs]], and the mother Horta was only trying to stop them [[MamaBear by whatever means were necessary]]; in their normal state, when not being threatened, they're perfectly happy to coexist peacefully with other species. Once Spock is able to get the human miners and the Horta on the same page, the two sides are able to form a more symbiotic relationship.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The Horta of "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark The Devil in the Dark]]" are an ultimately benign example. Every 50,000 years, the entire race dies off save for thousands of eggs and one single adult Horta, left behind to care for the eggs and then to be the mother of the hatchlings. The Horta is originally thought to be a vicious monster, but Spock is able to establish telepathic communication with it and learns that the mining operation on the planet [[MonsterIsAMommy had damaged some of the Horta eggs]], and the mother Horta was only trying to stop them [[MamaBear by whatever means were necessary]]; so long as they're not being threatened, they're perfectly happy to coexist peacefully with other species. Once Spock is able to get the human miners and the Horta on the same page, the two sides are able to form a more symbiotic relationship.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The Horta of "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark The Devil in the Dark]]" are an ultimately benign example. Every 50,000 years, the entire race dies off save for thousands of eggs and one single adult Horta, left behind to care for the eggs and then to be the mother of the hatchlings. The Horta is originally thought to be a vicious monster, but Spock is able to establish telepathic communication with it and learns that the mining operation on the planet [[MonsterIsAMommy had damaged some of the Horta eggs]], and the mother Horta was only trying to stop them [[MamaBear by whatever means were necessary]]. Once Spock is able to get the human miners and the Horta on the same page, the two sides are able to form a more symbiotic relationship.

* In a rare non-malevolant example, it's a matter of historical record in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' that the ancestors of the various races of demons inhabiting the Boiling Isles first arose from the decaying muck of [[GiantCorpseWorld the Titan]] (the dialogue involved is unclear whether it was a spontaneous generation situation or if they simply evolved from whatever micro-organisms lived in its body).

** The villain ''ComicBook/XMen'' Master Mold, which originally churned out the Sentinel robots. ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'' even gave it a female voice.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters'': The [[Characters/GodzillaTheGodzillas anime trilogy's incarnation of Godzilla]] is this, having [[HostileTerraforming terraformed]] the Earth so that practically all life including the foliage shares genetic material with him and is an extension of him. He shares the planet with draconic plant-based creatures called Servum which share 97% of his DNA, [[spoiler:and a smaller offshoot Godzilla called ''Godzilla Filius'']].

* ''Literature/Overlord2012'' invokes the trope namer when [[VillainProtagonist Ainz]] offers up a sacrifice of enemy soldiers to bring about five of her children, who then proceed to terrorize the rest of the enemy army in a display of his power.

* Creator/DCComics: The Mother of Champions, a member of the Chinese superteam the Great Ten, who experiences greatly accelerated pregnancies (''three days'') and births short-lived superhumans, ''twenty-five'' at a time.

* Creator/MarvelComics:
** The Elder God Chthon is the creator of a race of demons known as the N'Garai, as well as indirectly the creator of vampires which came to be from a spell in the evil magical tome he wrote. The Elder God Set likewise has the Serpent Men, as well as literal offspring in [[EldritchAbomination abominations]] like Sligguth and Damballah; the LegionsOfHell were created from the dark energies of the god-killing entity Atum, which was corrupted after it consumed most of Chthon and Set's evil brethren and became the demonic creature called the Demogorge, though in that case the creation of those demons was unintentional.
** ''ComicBook/XMen'': The villain Master Mold, which originally churned out the Sentinel robots. ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'' even gave it a female voice.%%The Brood, being expies if the Aliens mentioned below in the live action movies section.%%But how are they examples?
** Spider-Man once learnt from Loki that Norse Gods [[ReallyGetsAround really get around]] and can father hundreds of children. (Surprisingly, he's [[PapaWolf very protective of them.]])

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' Franchise/MonsterVerse fanfiction, [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonKingGhidorah Ghidorah]] becomes a Father of a Thousand Young, the majority of which are made from humans in some way or another. It deliberately created [[AntiAntichrist Monster X]] via its severed head converting Vivienne Graham into an ArtificialHybrid with San's mind transferred to her, humans' experimentation on Ghidorah's DNA has led to the propagation of a [[TheVirus viral]], HiveMind-based UndeadAbomination called the Many which assimilates hundreds of thousands of people before the story's end, [[spoiler:and more experimentation leads to mutant pregnancies disfigured, part-Ghidorah creatures]]. The author even says that Ghidorah is getting a kick out of creating things and playing God.

* ''WesternAnimation/Beowulf2007'': Grendel's Mother is also the mother of the dragon that Beowulf dies fighting. It's implied that the other dragon Hrothgar killed in his BackStory was another one of her children.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* Myth/RomaniMythology: Ana, the queen of the [[TheFairFolk Keshali]], gave birth to all diseases known to man [[ChildByRape against her will]].

* In Myth/NorseMythology:

* According to the ''Literature/EnumaElish'', the primordial goddess Tiamat gave birth to at least 11 entire races of monsters, including "ferocious dragons," "virulent" and "horned serpents," ''mushussu''-dragons, various demons, scorpion-men, and rabid dogs.
* The [[Literature/TheBible biblical]] Leviathan fits here since God, having originally created two of them, killed the mate so that their offspring, which are implied to be all manner of other sea monsters and such, would become not so numerous that the world could not stand before them. This makes it very much a mirror of Tiamat and Ceto.
* Hariti, Goddess of Childbirth in Buddhist mythology, is the mother of 500 raksha children. Before her HeelFaceTurn, she [[ChildEater fed them on human children]] that she kidnapped.

** Shub-Niggurath, our TropeNamer. The primordial AnthropomorphicPersonification of the event or act of creation, in particular the reproduction of biological life.

* Twice in the ''Literature/MerkabahRider'' stories. The first example is Lilith and her whore-demons, who birth swarms of demons literally every time they have intercourse. The second example is the TropeNamer Shub-Niggurath her/his/itself.
* ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'': In ''Paths Not Taken'', John and Suzie time-travel to the beginning of the Nightside, and do battle with a vast horde of Lilith's half-demonic children. [[spoiler:''Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth'' later reveals that, by John's time, only one of Lilith's original brood is still alive, and it's hopelessly insane. She still has thousands of monstrous ''grandchildren'' to fight the Nightside's defenders, though...]]

* In a rare non-malevolant example, it's a matter of historical record in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' that the ancestors of the various races of demons inhabiting the Boiling Isles first arose from the decaying muck of [[GiantCorpseWorld the Titan]] (the dialogue involved is unclear whether it was a spontaneous generation situation or if they simply evolved from whatever microorganisms lived in its body).

** Gaia, Mother Earth herself. Though mainly remembered for giving birth to the Titans, most of her children are actually monster-like: the Gigantes (some of which have hundreds of serpent tails in place of legs); the Cyclopes; the hundred-handed, fifty-headed Hecatonchires; the above-mentioned Ceto and Phorcys; the snake Python; and Typhon, himself something of an example (see below).

** Typhon, Echidna's [[UnholyMatrimony mate]] is an SpearCounterpart, being a Father of a Thousand Young -- all of them [[HappilyMarried by her]].

* ''Manga/AngelSanctuary'': God, who is the Father of all angels. [[spoiler: But not really. Yes, He created the angels, but they're all derived from the flesh of Adam Kadamon, who is a much more straightforward example. Counted as the "mother" of Alexiel and Rosiel, but they only got the lions' share of his/her dismembered body -- most other angels were only born from small cellular clusters taken from the leftovers.]]

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': Mistress 9 and Pharaoh 90, the latter being the father of all Daimons (the monsters encountered in the third season/story arc), and the former being his ''partner''. They get terminated with extreme prejudice (and a bit of sadistic glee) by [[TheGrimReaper Sailor Saturn]], who, herself, [[EpilepticTrees may have]] [[MonsterProgenitor sired]] [[spoiler: Sailors Pluto, Ceres, Juno, Vesta, and Pallas, by way of [[InferredHolocaust planet go boom]]]]. ''She'' gets defeated by [[AlwaysABiggerFish Chaos]], AKA [[spoiler: the [[GodIsEvil Galaxy Cauldron, the font from which all souls spring]], including ''every BigBad that had shown up in the series until then'']], who, in turn, gets taken out by Usagi, from whom spawned [[AmericansHateTingle Chibi-Usa]].
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', [[spoiler: Rize Kamishiro]] is made into one of these after being captured by a MadScientist and the BigBad. Imprisoned and kept in a weakened state, their organs are farmed and implanted into others to create HalfHumanHybrids. The early experiments saw over a 1000 people killed in the effort to create successful hybrids, while the improved process results in the creation of nearly 100 TykeBomb hybrids. The [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] metaphors are ''very'' intentional, with the BigBad previously discussing it as a [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe marriage]] and them having lots of children together.

* ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'': In ''Paths Not Taken'', John and Suzie time-travel to the beginning of the Nightside, and do battle with a vast horde of Lilith's half-demonic children. [[spoiler: ''Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth'' later reveals that, by John's time, only one of Lilith's original brood is still alive, and it's hopelessly insane. She still has thousands of monstrous ''grandchildren'' to fight the Nightside's defenders, though...]]

* Implied in ''VideoGame/BrokenAge'' when Caroll theorises that there might be some sort of big mother mog that spawns a new monster every 14 years. [[spoiler: By the time she says it, this had already been proven false.]]

** Tiamat from Sumerian Mythology appear as the boss of the Dimensional Corridor. She is described as the strongest Guardian whose ability to create life is only second to Mother. The Children of Tiamat act like a mini boss rush inside her area and must be killed before facing her. [[spoiler:''VideoGame/LaMulana2'' indicates she was a failed attempt of the Olympians, the 3rd Children, at created a clone of The Mother.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' features one of these in the form of [[spoiler: [[BigBad Lilith]].]] Popularly known as the Mother of Monsters, she's responsible for the creation of some of the world's most nightmarish races, including vampires, werewolves, the Deathless, and many others - some of which were actually born from coupling with a FallenAngel. It's interesting to note that the game's lore observes the nightmarish blend of [[EvilSorcerer magic]], [[MadScientist science]] and [[HumanoidAbomination eldritch biology]] inherent to the character: she might have created her children through alchemical magic, or through LostTechnology, or through literal birth "via a bloated, termite-queen abdomen" - ''nobody's quite sure how.''

* ''VideoGame/{{Smite}}'' has Tiamat, who can summon creatures to battle for her using her ultimate ability while in Flying Form. She also holds the distinction in the lore of being [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu the first character to punch out]] ''[[NotHyperbole Cthulhu]]'', [[CurbStompBattle and do so with laughable ease]]''. It helps that [[TheOlderImmortal she is even older than him]].

-> ''I can hear them slithering inside the walls!\\

-->-- "Mommy's Little Monsters", by Music/CreatureFeature

* ''WebOriginal/{{Mortasheen}}'' has a few, but its most notable one is [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/genetisaur.htm Genetisaur]], an expy of the Alien Queen with a strong phallic motif, who produces [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/genetimorph.htm offspring]] via ChestBurster.
* A rare Male example is Leviathan, a Fallen Seraphim from ''TabletopGame/NewVindicators'''. While he has made normal human Nephilim like his brothers, he has also partaken in a lot of bestiality, and since the Fallen can change their shapes, he is the father of a lot of monsters: Ogopogo, the Jersey Devil, the Tarrasque, and more. His children are as varied as they are monstrous.
%%* The Website/SCPFoundation has ''at least'' two variations: a [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-597 "wet nurse of a thousand young"]] and a [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-354 bloody pool that spawns random creatures]].

* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' has Echidna, a parahuman who [[spoiler:creates {{Evil Twin}}s of anyone she touches.]]

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' tale "[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5136265/1/The-importance-of-index-cards The Importance of Index Cards]]'' pits one determined Watchman against the ordeal of the encounter with [[http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Tshup_Aklathep Tshup Aklathep, Infernal Star Toad with a Million Young]]. Can A.E. Pessimal survive a trip to the Dungeon Dimensions with an unexploded head? He finesses the ordeal in a not-wholly-improbable way and comes back alive...

* In a rare non-malevolant example, it's a matter of historical record in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' that the ancestors of the various races of demons inhabiting the Boiling Isles first arose from the decaying muck of [[GiantCorpseWorld the Titan]] (the dialogue involved is unclear whether it was a spontaneous generation situation or if they simply evolved from whatever microorganisms lived in it's body).

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' Franchise/MonsterVerse fanfiction, [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures Ghidorah]] is this. It's deliberately created [[AntiAntichrist Monster X]], and its DNA has given rise to a HiveMind [[TheVirus Virus]] called the Many. One of Ghidorah's {{Red Baron}}s is even Snake Father.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The Horta of "The Devil In The Dark" are an ultimately benign example. Every 50,000 years, the entire race dies off save for thousands of eggs and one single adult Horta, left behind to care for the eggs and then to be the mother of the hatchlings. The Horta is originally thought to be a vicious monster, but Spock is able to establish telepathic communication with it and learns that the mining operation on the planet had damaged some of the Horta eggs, and the mother Horta [[MonsterIsAMommy was only trying to stop them]] [[MamaBear by whatever means were necessary]]. Once Spock is able to get the human miners and the Horta on the same page, the two sides are able to form a more symbiotic relationship.