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{{trope}}
[[File:HiveMind_4915HiveMind 4915.png|link=X-Men (Comic Book)|frame|"I know, kids! Let me show you [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|this one little site.]]"]]
 
 
{{quote|''"What is a drop of rain, compared to the storm? What is a thought, compared to the mind? Our unity is full of wonder, which your tiny individualism cannot even conceive."''|'''The Many''', ''[[System Shock]] 2''}}
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Two or more characters (frequently [[Twin Telepathy|twins]]) are in such perfect harmony that they seem almost to be one person with two bodies. They [[Finishing Each Other's Sentences|finish each other's sentences]], never seem to need to talk to communicate, and may even know what is happening to each other from far away.
 
In [[Sci Fi]] or Fantasy series, the [[Psychic Link|connection]] may actually ''be'' a [[Mental Fusion|true shared mind]], either with each member contributing to the whole, or the separate bodies being puppets which some central mind controls remotely. It makes sense that usually the first variant is sensitive to losses and avoids overt violence, but in the second, it's only the question of whether lost bodies will be replenished and it's inclined to expand itself. Expect "individuals" in such hives to be considered [[What Measure Is a Non Unique|very killable]] by everyone else as well. It is not unusual for it to start out as the former and then slip into the latter as a series progresses and the writing staff changes. [[The Virus]] is often a [['''Hive Mind]]''' (e.g., the Borg) and the [[Evil Matriarch]] becomes its [[Hive Queen]].
 
Hive minds are not known to exist in reality -- hivereality—hive insects, upon which the idea is based, communicate intentions and commands through scent and body language. The closest approach to them would be the controversial [[wikipedia:Superorganism|superorganism]] concept.
 
Related to, but separate from [[Synchronization]], where each individual ''experiences'' what the other does without necessarily being in rapport with each other. Compare [[Split Personality Merge]], where [[Split Personality|many minds in one body]] become one. The opposite of [[Split Personality]]. A [['''Hive Mind]]''' might be the titular keystone of a [[Keystone Army]]. See also [[Psychic Link]] for other connections between minds. A related plot is [[The Evils of Free Will]]. Contrast [[Pieces of God]]. Opposite of [[Mind Hive]]. For when all the minds are sharing one body, or the person speaks in plural, see [[I Am Legion]].
 
See [[Mental Fusion]] for the willing version.
 
On this wiki, you will often see this term used as a nickname for the TVAll The Tropes community, especially our [[All Your Powers Combined|collective power]] to invoke the [[Wiki Magic]].
 
{{examples}}
{{examples|==Examples of people acting as though they share a mind:}}==
 
=== [[Anime]] ===
* [[Bakuman。]]: Mashiro and Azuki are "on the same wave" as he puts it.
** And Mashiro and Takagi are basically "one soul in two bodies" as they put it.
* All ''four'' of the parents of Miki and Yuu in ''[[Marmalade Boy]]'' are so synchronized as to seem at times to be a [[Hive Mind]]. This is so pronounced through most of the series that the few times when they don't seem to be in harmony (as when they staged a fight to bring Miki around regarding their odd living arrangement) come to seem even creepier than when they are.
* The cheerleaders in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima|Negima!?]]''; even though there's three of them, they might as well be one character.
* Ryou and Fuu from ''[[Sketchbook]]'' appear to be ''extremely'' in sync, especially when playing pranks on other students.
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** Even more so the ''Individual Eleven'' in the second season, {{spoiler|which are actually all controlled by the same virus that infected their brain implants}}.
* The {{spoiler|Pict aliens}} in the [[Axis Powers Hetalia]] movie. They all say the exact same things at the exact same time, and are {{spoiler|trying to get all humans to join them.}}
* ''[[ToA AruCertain Majutsu noMagical Index]]'': In yet another unexpected use of a power, {{spoiler|the Mikoto "Imouto" clones}} use their {{spoiler|electrical powers}} to maintain a collective memory. (Season two of ''[[A Certain Scientific Railgun]]'' explains how this works in one episode.) They're an interesting example because while they are very much ''not'' a [[Hive Mind]], they are brainwashed into thinking they are, to the point that they originally put zero weight on individual lives. After Touma convinces them otherwise, they're like a very large family in constant radio contact.
 
 
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* In the classic [[Donald Duck]] and Uncle Scrooge stories of [[Carl Barks]], Huey, Dewey and Louie are virtually indistinguishable in appearance and personality, and almost invariably finish each other's sentences. Their ability to pool their intellects (and tap into the [[Great Big Book of Everything|Junior Woodchuck Guidebook]]) makes them smarter than any of the other characters, including wily, savvy Scrooge himself; they're almost always the ones to solve the mystery/resolve the problem.
* The ''[[Astro City]]'' story "Everyday Life" features the Gorilla Swarm, an army of insect-headed primates with a hive mind. The story even has them being controlled by a villain (The Silver Brain), making this a double instantiation of the trope.
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=== [[Film]] ===
* ''Ben 10: Alien Swarm'' - The live action movie based off the cartoon series ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]''. The main antagonist is a swarm of alien nanotechnology chips dominated by a hive mind intelligence aiming to take over the planet. To make the villain easier to defeat, they also introduced a queen controlling the hive.
* ''[[Battle Beyond the Stars]]'' has the Nestors as a hive-mind race.
* "The Octopus" in ''[[The City of Lost Children]]'' is apparently a pair of conjoined twins who act as a single creature. In addition to working in perfect unison and finishing each other's sentences, the twins scratch each other's itches and taste what the other is eating.
* Both the Squeeze Toy Aliens from the ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' series films and the Moonfish from ''[[Finding Nemo]]''.
 
 
=== [[Literature]] ===
* In ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', twins Fred and George Weasley often finish each other's sentences and jokes. (Though not nearly as often as [[Fanon]] would have it.)
* ''[[Starship Troopers (novel)|Starship Troopers]]'' is quite possibly the [[Trope Maker]] (or at least the [[Trope Codifier]]) for science fiction, featuring a race of intelligent Arachnids divided into different castes and all directed by a central "brain" caste.
* The ghosts or psychic echo which may or may not exist in the Overlook Hotel in ''[[The Shining]]'' are said to have a single, collective group intelligence which functions as the hotel's true "manager".
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* The "phoners" in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Cell]]'' form flocks with apparent shared awareness within the flock and between flocks in the same geographical area.
* ''[[The Light Of Other Days]]'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke]] and [[Stephen Baxter]]: direct interfaces between the human mind and computer networks leads to the development of a hive mind. This is not presented as a bad thing, and the hive mind has no interest in doing anything to force anyone to join who doesn't want to, or anything like that.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' Novel "Legion", the Alpha Legion invoke this trope: They use identity, conformity of appearance, and anonymity as a weapon. To the casual (or even acute) observer, every soldier appears identical (the fact that they all call themselves Alpharius doesn't help). Due to their particular doctrine of being incredibly well informed (beyond even the normal Astartes' capacity for knowledge), and each soldier being just as capable of leading each other as their immediate superiors, they could very well be considered a hive mind. Even more appropriately, the twin Primarchs of the Legion (Alpharius and Omegon) are so identical, they even think, breath, blink, talk, etc in EXACTLY the same way as each other.
 
 
=== [[Live Action TV]] ===
* The [[The Colbert Report|Colbert]] [[Studio Audience|Nation]] are [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/149059/january-31-2008/andrew-napolitano of one mind]. Overlaps with 'Internet' above when they act as [[Internet Counterattack|Colbert's zombie army]] online.
* The group mind soldiers in ''[[Dollhouse]]''. Normally, all have to reach a consensus, but a particularly strong will can overpower the group. Cue Echo.
 
 
=== [[Tabletop RPG|Tabletop RPGs]]s ===
* In ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' the [[Ancient Conspiracy|Seers of the Throne]] have access to a group of servants referred to as "Hive-Souled"; essentially, a single mind/soul born in multiple bodies (generally twins or triplets, although modern science has allowed them to greatly increase the potential numbers). Each individual body of a Hive-Soul is essentially just a single component of their collective mind, having no individual personality, and being able to share experience and memory instantly (if one becomes aware of something, the rest are also immediately aware of it) and it can be difficult for any of them to act in a non-synchronised manner unless they are skilled at multi-tasking (although magic can help with this). For the purpose of magic, they also count as a single target; any spell cast on one of them affects all of them equally. This also extends to any kind of physical alteration (including, unfortunately for them, injuries).
** In the [[Old World of Darkness]], we had Drones, people possessed by a Weaver spirit. (Compare the monstrous Fomori, possessed by a Wyrm spirit.) Although they possessed functional individuality by themselves, whenever two or more Drones were sufficiently close by, they could share each others' minds and senses. One illustration shows a Drone observing from a high point while one on the ground "sees" an enemy sneaking up behind him.
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=== Web Original ===
* Most Wikis, including this one. "Collectively, we know everything. Individually, we're a bunch of idiots".
** But [http://despair.com/meetings.html be careful] because, [[Just for Fun|"None of us is as dumb as all of us."]]
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=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* The Delightful Children From Down The Lane in ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' speak and act in perfect synchronicity; this is less because of telepathy than because they personify conformity.
** It's never really explained whether they all think the same, whether they all have a mental connection or whether they are just the same person.
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=== [[Real Life]] ===
* We might already be part of a [[wikipedia:Collective unconscious|hive]] [[wikipedia:Noosphere|mind]]
** As Irving Janis said: ''"The more amiability and esprit de corps there is among the members of a policy-making ingroup, the greater the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and dehumanizing actions directed against outgroups."''
* [[Termites]], who are in a hive but possess individual--tiny--brainsindividual—tiny—brains.
* Sometimes spending extended amounts of time with certain people, such as during a project or secluded vacation, ends with you being close enough to the person that you can [[Finishing Each Other's Sentences|finish each other's sentences]] and the like.
* Some pairs of twins, and intensely bonded lovers, give this appearance. An extreme example of such twins might be Jennifer and June Gibbons; an extreme example of such lovers might be certain BDSM Dominant/submissive pairings.
 
 
=== Examples of actual shared consciousness: ===
=== Anime and Manga ===
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* The Invid of ''[[Robotech]]''. At least, until the Regis decides humanity's individuality is evolutionarily superior, and starts artificially creating her own children as [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]].
** The only change with the [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]] is that they can shut down the link, and aren't totally ruled by it. By and large, they're still part of it.
* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' has the Vajra, who are one mind distributed over thousands of individually stupid drones, administered by a [[Hive Queen]] hub. Also, the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Grace O'Connor}}'s conspiracy hive-mind is quite different. The [[Hive Mind]] isn't so much a collective as it is {{spoiler|a network of implanted people with Grace as an "admin" node, effectively overwriting every connected member's personal desires with whatever Grace wants. (However, it's not made clear if she is the ''sole'' node, or whether the Executive Council of the Galaxy Fleet has administrative command as well. The latter is more likely, as she is seen communing with other members of her conspiracy over details.) Her grand scheme was to use the fold quartz and Vajra to spread this network over the entire galaxy, in order to incorporate all of humanity, and surpass the [[Precursors|Protoculture]].}}
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', this is ''probably'' the intended final result of [[Instrumentality]] {{spoiler|since breaking down individual minds and merging them into one being at the very least happens at one point}}. [[Gainax Ending|Since the ending does not make it clear]], it might be more accurate to label it above as a literal Hive Mind...or as [[Mind Screw|something different altogether]].
** Some interpretations assume that {{spoiler|it was never intended for life on Earth to exist as individual creatures. It was sort of a cosmic accident, which both the Angels, Nerv, and Seele all want to fix now. It's just the way on how that's supposed to happen on which they disagree.}}
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* The [[Starfish Alien|Festum]] from ''[[Fafner in the Azure|Fafner in The Azure Dead Aggressor]]'' are a [[Deconstruction]] of this; because they are all controlled by a single mind, they have no concept of life, death, emotion, or even ''information''. The [[Bishonen Line|Master-type Festum]] are their version of a [[Hive Queen]], as they can greatly influence the whole ({{spoiler|Idun}}) or {{spoiler|become entirely separate entities}} ({{spoiler|Mjolnir/Akane Makabe, Kouyou}}). They also demonstrate the ability to learn, especially in the case of {{spoiler|Idun}}; it learning hatred and wrath was what provoked their ferocious attacks.
* Heavily implied to be true of {{spoiler|Kyubey}} in [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]. [http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=3564265&postcount=1882 Later confirmed] by [[Word of God]].
* Saika's "children" in ''[[Durarara!!]]''. A particularly strong-willed individual can become [[Hive Queen]], but usually this just means becoming the voice of the [[Hive Mind]]. {{spoiler|Anri Sonohara}} is the only one capable of actually controlling it.
* This appears to be the case for the Anti-Spiral in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. Though we only ever see the one, he doesn't appear as though he has a fixed physical form, and always refers to himself in the plural, or refers to himself ''as'' the Anti-Spiral race. It's thought that the Anti-Spiral shown is a psychic manifestation of the combined wills and minds of the entire species.
 
 
=== [[Comic Books]] ===
* In the [[Ultimate Marvel]] Universe, one of the variant Skrull races are the Chitauri, who see individuality as a disease, and themselves as the "[[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|immune system of the universe]]". In order to operate among humans, they create an "officer" caste who have a limited degree of individual personality, presumably absorbed (along with physical form) from those they devour.
* The [[The Stepford Wives|Stepford]] [[The Midwich Cuckoos|Cuckoos]] of ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''.
* ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire|Buck Godot, Zap Gun For Hire]]'' has [https://web.archive.org/web/20150415124804/http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buckcomic.php?date=20070804 PSmIth]. (Unusual, in that PSmIth is a population of genetically-engineered humans, and friendly to normal humans.)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080920165657/http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ps238/comics/index.php?date=2008-09-17 The Commonality] from ''[[PS238]]''. Although presented as a benign entity, this is probably not much of a consolation for the one individual human left on the planet when everyone else is adjoined in it.
** Especially since he was the one who accidentally created it.
* The [[Green Lantern|Orange Lantern Corps]] are beings made of an orange energy that resembles fire. They recruit new members by literally consuming them. Their [[Hive Queen|Hive... uh, King]] is a comically hoggish alien named Agent Orange.
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=== Film ===
* The alien invaders of the film ''[[Independence Day]]'', so says the theory.
* ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' uses this trope to a huge extent, even stating that the aliens in the film are a hivemind.
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** "All of you were just like the others. So, I thought I would give you a taste of my world."
* The alien in ''[[Slither]]'' is a parasitic [[Hive Queen]] that [[The Virus|infects]] host bodies to make drones that it inhabits with its own consciousness.
* "Eight" in ''[[The Specials]]'' is a superhero thatwho inhabits eight separate human bodies, gaining the ability to to take a tropical vacation while simultaneously dispensing wisdom to teammates at the base.
* The Arachnids (or Bugs) from the ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]''. The series expanded on them having a caste system, with each subspecies filling a specific role. The Brain Bugs and Behemacoatyl (from the third film, ''Marauder''; the largest Bug seen so far - its body engulfed almost an entire planet) have extreme psychic abilities that can be used to control all bugs in the colony. In the second movie, ''Hero of the Federation'', the General (who's been infected by a mind-control bug) uses this as a justification for exterminating humanity:
{{quote|'''[[General Ripper|General]] Jack Gordon Shephard:''' "[[Humans Through Alien Eyes|Poor creatures]]. Why must we destroy you? I'll tell you why. Order is the tide of creation. But yours is a species that worships...the one over the many. You ''glorify'' your intelligence... because it allows you to believe '''anything'''. That you have a destiny. That you have a right. That you have a cause. That you are [[Humans Are Special|special]]. That you are [[Humanity Is Superior|great]]. But in truth, you are ''born'' '''[[Humanity Is Insane|insane]]'''. And such ''misery''... cannot be allowed... to spread!"}}
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=== Literature ===
* The [[Starfish Aliens|Primes]] from [[Peter F. Hamilton]]'s [[Commonwealth Saga]] are a textbook example of a superorganism. They evolved as mindless, animal-like "motiles" that had the ability to merge with each other into a more intelligent, sentient "immotile", which would then spawn and direct other motiles by sharing neural impulses with specialized tentacles. Since each immotile can transfer [[Body Surf|its]] [[Brain Uploading|mind]] from one body to another, they are all essentially immortal (and most immotile collectives are actually clusters of hundreds of linked bodies), and also [[Absolute Xenophobe|insanely hostile]] to any life form that is not under their control, including other immotiles. Once they discover radio, they each become a true [[Hive Mind]], singular consciousnesses inhabiting armies of motile soldiers and immotile clusters. Then they proceed to [[Kill'Em All|kill each-other and everything else]].
** Their xenophobia and expansionist imperative extends to the entire Universe. An immotile ''cannot'' envision a Universe containing anything other than [[It's All About Me|itself]].
** The sequel to the Commonwealth Saga, the ''[[Void Trilogy]]'', introduces Multiples - humans who spread their minds through multiple cloned bodies, with thoughts and emotions distributed through gaia motes and cybernetics.
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* The Taurans in ''[[The Forever War]]''. It is only after the creation of Man, a group intellect derived from humans, that the human race learns what a mistake the war was.
* The ''[[Animorphs]]'' [[Prequel]] novel ''The Andalite Chronicles'' reveals that the Taxxons have a hive mind, though Yeerk control seems to cancel this.
** Well they have a ''hive'', but it's not quite clear how much of a ''[[Hive Mind]]'' they have. They would have to have some degree of individuality in order to defect to the Yeerks in the first place. The Howlers may be a better example.
** The Taxxons are individuals. The Living Hive that spawned them is another organism. Some are loyal to it, others not. Unusually enough, it's a good hive.
** ''Animorphs'' does have the Howlers which are definitely a hive mind, as the memories of each individual is shared with the rest of the species.
** At one point, the Animorphs morph into termites. When they morph into a species of animal for the first time, the Animorphs have to contend with the animal's instincts. In this case, they ended up locked into the termite hivemind, and very nearly got stuck in it. For good. The only way they escaped was when Cassie managed to force herself to believe the queen was an ant for long enough to kill her, breaking the connections, at which point everyone got a hold of themselves and demorphed (through a ''wooden floor'' - yes, it hurt like hell). The Animorphs never took hive-insect forms again.
* The Buggers of ''[[Ender's Game]]'' are the ur-example of the 'controlled by a central mind' variety. One of the causes of the war stemmed from their believing we had those too.
** They also have multiple [[Hive Queen|Hive Queens]]s, and it's not entirely clear if the queens share their consciousness. They are stated to be separate beings.
* The [[Bee People|human hive]] living beneath Rome in Stephen Baxter's ''[[Xeelee Sequence|Coalescent]]''. An example of a scientist [[Shown Their Work|working out]] how an actual human hive might develop over the course of centuries, by means of strict isolation, divergent genetic makeup, social conformity, and pheremonal cues. Turns way creepy with a [[Time Skip|multi-millennia jump]] into the future, when future humans rediscover the evolved, highly hive-ified human subspecies.
* A character in [[Spider Robinson]]'s ''[[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon|Lady Slings The Booze]]'' is one person with two bodies. Apparently she started out as identical twins, but her parents treated them as one person and eventually she stuck that way. {{spoiler|Sadly, Arethusa loses one of her bodies at the end of the book.}}
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* Legion of the [[Wild Cards]] novels is a single individual who can grow and inhabit multiple custom-made bodies.
* The [[Bug War]] novels ''[[Starfire|In Death Ground]]'' and ''The Shiva Option'' have aliens which are telepathically linked. The latter novel's titular Option involves literally rendering lifeless all planets on which the Bugs have established bases, in order to both exterminate the beachhead and disorient the survivors.
* Like Spider Robinson, [[Terry Pratchett]] uses this concept in ''[[Discworld/A Hat Full of Sky|A Hat Full of Sky]]'' where Miss Level is one person, in two bodies. {{spoiler|Also like Robinson, one of the Miss Levels gets killed. However, the surviving one learns how to ''act'' like she still has two bodies, becoming de facto telekinetic.}}
** Also in ''[[Discworld]]'', Granny Weatherwax is able to "[[Mind Control|borrow]]" animals, and at one point she does this to an entire beehive.
** Spider the Rat King, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Discworld/The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents|The Amazing Maurice and Hishis Educated Rodents]]'', was eight blind rats tied together by their tails. The only way to survive was for them to think as one, and the resulting hive mind was strong enough to control an entire town's rat population.
** He also inverts the idea with Miss Pointer/Mrs. Pickles in Thud. [[Mind Hive|Two people living in one body]].
** Not to mention [[Magical Computer|Hex]], which is a ''literal'' hive mind.
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** In ''The Santaroga Barrier'' the hive-mind is {{spoiler|composed of linked unconscious parts of participants' brains}}, and does not show great intellectual capability. Though not actively hostile, it's ''very'' dangerous as it's prone to paranoid overreaction in self-protection. Even despite the fact that its own components don't like this at all.
* Christopher Hinz's ''Paratwa'' series uses this as a main theme. The aliens' evolution stressed cooperation (instead of competition as on Earth) as the key to survival. Alien/human hybrids were telepathically connected, and ''usually'' went fatally insance if their twin died.
* The Vord from Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'' are referred to as one of these, but in practice what they actually have is a series of [[Hive Queen|Hive Queens]]s, which controll the hordes around them directly. Without the queens, the Vord revert to individuals and pose a threat mainly to one another.
* In [[Vernor Vinge]]'s ''[[Zones of Thought|A Fire Upon the Deep]]'', the Tines are individually nonsentient, but form into collectively intelligent packs (of about four to six members) by means of constant subconscious communication through high-frequency sound.
* Interesting subversion in [[Stephen King]] 's ''[[The Tommyknockers]]'', where the transformed humans/aliens grow increasingly mentally linked--butlinked—but they not only retain their individuality, they increasingly despise one another as they become aware of each other's secret thoughts.
* In Asimov's ''[[Foundation|Foundation and Earth]]'', there is an entity called Gaia that includes every man, woman, animal, and even every plant and inanimate object on the eponymous planet.
* The ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' has the Killiks in the [[Dark Nest Trilogy]]. One aspect of the Killiks which other species found disturbing was how any person engaging in extended contact with them found themselves losing their individuality and becoming a "Joiner" - essentially becoming part of the Colony and fighting their old people, feeling, at the most, regret if they couldn't convert their friends. However, there were several colonies, each with Killiks that had different appearances and specializations, and Joiners who were converted by one colony, if sent to assist another, actually found the Joiner bond weakening, something which they found horrifying.
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* D'ivers of the ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' are [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshifters]] who transform into a multitude of creatures, but maintain a single mind. This can be anything from a dozen to literally thousands of individual bodies, and so long as one survives so does the D'ivers.
* Sedmon of the Six Lives in ''The Wizard of Karres'' and ''The Sorceress of Karres'', [[Eric Flint]], Dave Freer, and [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s [[Tie-in Novel|Tie In Novels]] to ''[[The Witches of Karres]]''.
* The short-story "Missile Gap" by [[Charles Stross]] has humanity being wiped out by [[World War Three]] started by [[Puppeteer Parasite|Puppeteer Parasites]]s who are members of a hive mind destroying potential rival species. They distrust the "paranoid individualism" of humanity and lament the fact that humans haven't evolved a more efficient means of survival and evolution like their own.
* [[Timothy Zahn]]'s ''[[Quadrail Series|Quadrail]]'' series has a hive mind constituted of millions of tiny polyps, which normally live in underwater corals. By themselves they're practically insignificant, but in large numbers they become a telepathic, and rather malevolent, all-conquering mind - which even speaks of itself in the singular. The creepiest part is, they can infect normal people and create colonies - "walkers" - that will then obey them; they can offer subtle suggestions to drive the infected to do something on its own accord, or they can take over the body entirely - and suicide it when no longer needed.
* The Tyr of ''[[The Madness Season]]''. Their hive mind is what allows them to dominate space travel and maintain a vast interstellar empire.
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=== Live Action TV ===
* The Borg in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''.
** Another ''[[Star Trek]]'' example from the Original Series: the androids in the episode "I, Mudd" were all psychically connected, communing with a central computer during moments of uncertainty or confusion. Many of the androids had identical forms and even spoke in unison.
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* A very weak version of this exists in ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' with the [[Energy Being|Taelons]], whose minds are joined in the Commonality. However, they are full individuals and don't share each other's thoughts. The Commonality mainly serves to keep the Taelons from reverting into the savage Atavus state. A human jacked into the Commonality experiences the greatest high possible, and a few seconds can feel like hours.
 
=== New Media ===
* The protagonist of ''[[Conquering the Horizon]]'' has a hive mind. Her individual bodies have semi-independent lines of thought. She also often treats her bodies as individual people as both a way of playing/entertainment as well as coping with isolation. When circumstances permit she even [[Attending Your Own Funeral|gives her dead bodies funerals]].
 
=== Tabletop Games ===
* In the ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'', the Malkavian clan was eventually revealed to be a giant conduit for the mind of their founder, Malkav. He had his childer diablerize him en masse, and now exists in the Madness Network in their heads. It's a relatively neutral arrangement for the most part, because a hive mind of crazy people is ''still'' a large number of crazy people, but when he manages to focus them...
** In ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'', the Melissidae bloodline slowly destroy the will of their ghouls, essentially making them into a [[Hive Mind]] with the Melissidae in question as the [[Puppet Master]]. This is obviously a massive [[Masquerade]] breach, as a legion of slack-jawed ghouls walking down the street gets people asking uncomfortable questions. The covenants banded together to eradicate the Melissidae, but they missed three of them. The Melissidae, wisely, have chosen to hide themselves a bit better this time around; they pass themselves off as the ''extremely'' reclusive type of cult, for example.
** For another ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' example, it's mentioned that particularly radical members of the Carthian Movement (vampiric modernists and political experimenters) will attempt to form a hive mind amongst the members of a coterie, using telepathic powers, identical patterns of speech and uniforms to present the image of an unified front. There's even a Devotion (combo power), Hive Nexus Gestalt, that allows the true formation of a hive mind amongst coterie members.
* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic the Gathering]]'''s Lorwyn setting, the kithkin are a race of halflings with a hive-mind referred to as the ''thoughtweft''. Each kithkin has an individual mind and personality, but groups of kithkin have access to each other's thoughts and feelings that goes beyond mere [[The Empath|empathy]]. In [[Mirror Universe|Shadowmoor]], this makes the kithkin incredibly xenophobic and hateful toward any creature that isn't "one of us."
** A somewhat more frightening example would be the [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?output=spoiler&method=visual&name=+%5Bsliver%5D slivers]: each sliver is connected together via a psychic gestalt that ''was'' controlled by the ''[[Authority Equals Asskicking|enormous]]'' [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5233 queen], when she was gone, [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=45166 a new leader] was created. Now that they're ''both'' gone, the hivemind ''itself'' is [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136146 gaining self-awareness]. On top of that, the individual varieties of sliver [[Adaptive Ability|instill instant mutations]] in their brethren when nearby ([[No Ontological Inertia|which of course fade when they're gone]]), meaning that [https://web.archive.org/web/20090426014640/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=4746 if one sliver can fly], they all can. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081002130843/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=42017 If one sliver has armor-plated skin, they all do]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081002120150/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=42029 If one sliver can move at speeds approaching the relativistic] or [https://web.archive.org/web/20090426015644/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=5134 shrug off magic like water off a duck's back], they all will...
** The [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chorus%20of%20the%20Conclave Selesnya] [http://www.wizards.com/magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mc7 Conclave]
** [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=190556 Hive Mind] does this to players. When someone plays a card, everyone plays that card.<ref>This is particularly handy when you play a card that would be near-lethal to you, but suicidal for everyone else.</ref>
* The Tyranids of ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' embody this trope to a T. They are a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]] that do not have independent minds at all, instead being one giant cosmic superorganism. Their mere presence causes such a weird dissonance in the Warp (the alternate dimension where psychic powers tap into) that technologies that use psychic powers (including interstellar travel and communication) are rendered useless, and people attempting to psychically communicate with this strange hive mind are [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|instantly driven insane]]. When removed from this hive mind (by taking them away from a suitably psychic repeater), the smaller Tyranid organisms become no better than exceptionally deadly animals.
** The only person in the galaxy who has survived some form of espionage / eavesdropping / communication is a [[Super Soldier]] who is the most powerful semi-human psyker in the galaxy. [[Running Gag|And Eldrad]].
** As a result, a Tyranid player is sometimes jokingly referred to as a "hive consciousness".
** ''I can feel them - scratching at the back of my head. They're coming for us, '''mind, body and soul!'''''
* In ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', there are a few species with a Hive Mind. One of these is the Abeil. Cranium rats are one of the most ''annoying''. Illithids has a borderline example -- aexample—a network (they are [[Psychic Powers|all telepathic]]) centered on the city's Elder Brain--fusedBrain—fused mass of dead mindflayers' still living brains continuing to assimilate brains of every dying mindflayer of the city. Illithids obey these master minds and depend on its advice, but are individuals enough to trade, compete, have disagreeing factions and so on.
* One [[The Virus|viral]] example of this trope exists in the [[Ravenloft]] setting, in the form of Toben the Many, a [[Hannibal Lecture|Hannibal Lectureing]]ing [[Hive Mind]] composed of grinning, plague-carrying zombies.
* One sample artifact from ''[[Unknown Armies]]'' is nothing more than a few words on an old wax audio recording, called the Alter Tongue. Hearing a conversation in the Tongue runs a Mind check, and failing that test imprints the Tongue into the listener's mind. There's no [[Psychic Link]], unless the GM wants there to be, but new words in the Tongue appear out of nowhere and those afflicted with the Tongue isolate themselves from or even attack others that can't speak it, and have better-than-typical success conversing with other speakers of the Tongue, even finishing sentences for anyone who's talking in the strange, chittering language. Oh, and knowing the language starts breaking down the local fabric of the universe, too.
* ''[[In Nomine]]'' has the Kyriotates, angels with the ability to possess multiple bodies at the same time, more powerful ones can possess up to 3 humans (or a larger number of animals)at once, those that work for Jordi (Archangel of Animals) can even possess multiple ''swarms'' of insects at the same time. It should be noted that this does not involve doing anything weird to the host consciousness, the host's mind essentially goes to sleep for the duration of the possession.
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=== Toys ===
* The Bohrok from ''[[Bionicle]]''.
 
 
=== Video Games ===
* The Coremind from ''[[Achron]]'' fits this trope. {{spoiler|Another hive mind emerges in the third campaign as well}}
* The Zerg in ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]''. They are led by a mind called the Overmind, "the eternal will of the Swarm". The Overmind is an odd one since, in essence, it is simply the [[Hive Mind]] itself, but it can create intelligent Cerebrates as leaders of individual broods. The Cerebrates have a certain amount of individuality, but they are still incapable of betrayal. If either the Overmind or the Cerebrates are killed, the Overmind can simply resurrect them in a new body (since they are, essentially, simply minds), unless they are killed by a dark templar. In ''that'' case, the individual Cerebrate is [[Killed Off for Real]]. However, the Overmind can create a brand new Cerebrate, and if the Overmind is killed by a dark templar the surviving Cerebrates can fuse together and create a new one.
* The Many from ''[[System Shock]] II'' - and let's not go into when they try to recruit '''[[Player Character|you]]''' into their fold.
* The [[Zombie Apocalypse|Infected]] in ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' have a hivemind, connected back to their leader, a woman/{{spoiler|[[Plaguemaster]]}} named Elizabeth Greene. Eventually, the protagonist is able to hack into this through consuming a Leader Hunter and see people carrying the infection who are not yet aware of their illness. He does this to get the trail of the Leader Hunter which took {{spoiler|his sister}} from him, and to find it and Elizabeth Greene.
* The Mindhome in ''[[Dark Sun]]: Shattered Lands'' (not surprising, as Athas is a psionic-rich world, someone has to try). It's of communal (as opposed to fused) variety and is not aggressive. [[PC|PCs]]s can pick (from ''both'' sides) side-quest to resolve the issue causing disagreement enough to split Mindhome in two (and demise of some participants).
* ''[[The World Ends With You]]'': {{spoiler|Everyone wearing a Red Skull Pin. [[Instrumentality|To right the countless wrongs our day...]]}}
* The Flood from ''[[Halo]]''. The flood do without a hivemind and behave like nonsentients until they assimilate enough people and then they create a Gravemind. They follow this trope then as the Gravemind organizes them better.
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** One of the ways to end the game is to achieve [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|Transcendence]], at which point the minds of all humans on Planet are absorbed into the consciousness. The faction that does this first gets to keep most of their individuality, while the rest simply become part of the whole. The final interlude reveals that humans (as extensions of Planet) make it back to the ruined Earth and manage to restore it, also turning it into a planet-wide consciousness.
* The Kha'ak from ''[[X (video game)|X2: The Threat]]'' and ''[[X (video game)|X3: Reunion/Terran Conflict]]'' are a form of this, centered around the massive Hive Queen ship.
* The [[Hive Mind]] controlling the Necromorphs in ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]'' is called... the [[Captain Obvious|Hive Mind]]. Whould've guessed?
* The 666 creatures making up [[Tsukihime|Nero Chaos]] are all part of his mind. As he appears to talk to pieces of himself from time to time (such as getting irritated at one of his dog bodies when Shiki kills it) it seems more of a hive mind than a single mind controlling lots of bodies. Would that be worthy of a distinction anyway?
* The Vortigaunts from the ''[[Half-Life]]'' series [[Jigsaw Puzzle Plot|may]] be an example. The aliens are connected to each other through something they call the Vortessence, which apparently spans time and space, life and death. When two or more communicate, they are able to talk simultaneously (a process they call "flux-shifting"), and it is hinted that if one Vortigaunt allows itself to be captured, the rest of the race is able to gather information through it. With one exception, Vortigaunts don't seem to have names, and just refer to themselves as "this one." Then again, they start all names with "the" (where it makes sense "The free-man" and where it doesn't "The Eli Vance"), so it is possible because they're all linked none of them ever had a need for names, they were after all psychically enslaved by the Nihilanth for an undefined period...
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* The Zoni from ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]''. As revealed and explicitly stated in ''A Crack in Time'', they become like ADHD-afflicted children when separated from a group. It appears that two or more are required for the creatures to exhibit any semblance of sanity; however (as far as the storyline is concerned), they are never shown in any less than a group of three.
* From ''[[Dragon Age]]'', The Darkspawn, tainted creatures that dwell in the underground caverns of the Deep Roads. Whenever an Archdemon (old gods manifested in the forms of powerful dragons) awaken, the darkspawn function in a sort of hive-mind. Otherwise they war amongst each other as much as against the other races.
** They wage war against the Dwarves between Blights. [[Hopeless War|One that the Dwarves are slowly losing when the game starts]]. Blights are actually a brief ''respite'' for the Dwarves since most of the Darkspawn go off to attack the surface instead. While Darkspawn do fight against each other, being [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] {{spoiler|most of them anyway}}, their taint drives them to focus on attacking anything that isn't a darkspawn {{spoiler|or a completely tainted being like a ghoul}} which helps spread the taint even further.
* The Silithids from ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' probably are such. Their [[Hive Queen]] (King rather) appears to be [[Eldritch Abomination|C'thun]].
* The Wisps in the ''[[Ultima]]'' games all share a single mind, which calls itself Xorinia and claims to be an interdimensional information broker. It/they are quite puzzled by the fact that humans are individuals, and don't quite understand why they have to repeat everything from scratch every time they speak to the human race.
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* The NPC [[Our Elves Are Different|Elf race]] in ''[[Mabinogi (video game)|Mabinogi]]'', although individuals, share a collective memory via a central "memory bank"; and aquire all of their knowledge and skills from this collective memory. Player characters, being spirits from outside Erinn, do not share in this collective memory; a fact which is pointedly imparted to the player during the introduction.
** A repeatable quest for Elf characters is to recover "lost elves" who have been severed from the collective, and reunite them with the racial consciousness.
* The cranium rats from tabletop [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] appear in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''. A group of rats in one place will form a hive mind, and the more rats there are, the more intelligent the mind will be. The mysterious Many-As-One turns out to be {{spoiler|the hive mind of an ''enormous'' number of rats}}.
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' reveals that the Geth, a race of super-intelligent AI, are actually a hive mind, all sharing the same consciousness; instead of all geth thinking alike, "individual" Geth runtimes act as different perspectives to the same information that all programs share. When the 'heretic' geth chose to work with the [[Big Bad]] pre-series, the other geth peacefully allowed them to leave.
** They also explain how this works rather more than other examples of this trope; the physical bodies are "platforms" and the actual geth are program runtimes (the character Legion comprises at least a thousand individual geth). The more platforms there are in the same place, the more processors can be devoted to their various tasks; this is why geth are smarter in numbers. [[Fridge Logic|Presumably, each platform is equipped with the right hardware to accommodate many runtimes at once without slowing down, overheating, or straining the hardware]].
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* The Orz in ''[[Star Control]]'' are hinted (and confirmed by [[Word of God]]) to be the extensions of an [[Eldritch Abomination]] which calls itself "Orz". As such, the "*fingers*" (as Orz's extensions refer to themselves) all have the same mind, which is currently staying in whatever dimension Orz calls home (it refers to ''our'' dimension as "*the middle*").
* The Zuul from ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' have two variants of this trope: Male Zuul can create coteries with nearby females: He becomes a [[Hive Queen]] that directs the females as easy as he would command his own limbs, and all parts of the coterie share a single consciousness. The males themselves have a higher-level hive mind that allow them to share their thoughts and information freely with each other over a long distance while remaining their own individuals. The novelization implies that this sharing of information does funny things with the Zuul psyche as they find the notion of having information other don't have, and things like a name, to be highly unusual.
** In something of a departure from common uses of this trope the game's [[Bee People]], called "the Hivers", have no [[Hive Mind]] (they're not even psychic) and use pheromones instead, much like real-life insects.
 
 
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* Mars, in the webcomic ''[[A Miracle of Science]]''. One of the few examples of large-scale [[Hive Mind]] that ''aren't evil''. It exists as a superstructure over implanted [[FTL Radio]] network and mostly inobtrusive, "possessing" its members only when it wants to say or do something directly. It also [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos042.html has a good sense of humor].
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' Petey after migrating from old hardware - and more broadly, the Fleetmind.
* The Peteys (and more broadly, the Fleetmind) in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]''
** And the infamous Partnership Collective: A [[Hive Mind]] of [[Amoral Attorney|Amoral Attorneys]]s.
** The Ot-Skadak (Flechette bugs evolved on Eina-afa) - they are carnivores, so the primary use of swarm communication is [[Synchronized Swarming|to coordinate high-speed attacks]]. [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-06-28 These] are up to 3 meters long (see the previous or next page for how huge the dragon-like critter was) - see a close-up image [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-06-30 here]. There smallest are finger-sized, though they still can kill a human wearing light body armour in a few seconds, even without the advantage of high approach speed. Like other linked minds in ''Schlock Mercenary'', they can overcome range limitations via FTL communication implants. Their natural organization seems to be local swarms acting on a single purpose independently, while keeping in touch with nearby ones to much lesser degree (which makes sense resources-wise), so when Ot-Skadak get into the wider galaxy, they travel as distinct "clusters" with their own names, specializing as a diplomat, engineer, warrior...
* In the comic ''[[MSF High]]'', the Legion are a Hive Mind which maintains individuality amongst Legions. Their society is very in-depth, and they are surprisingly friendly. Now.
* ''[[Bob and George]]'' has X, in his first chronological physical appearance (note: the rest were pre-existent spirit forms or time-travellers. Or Alternates. Or future alternate spirit forms. Or a pair of kumquats, hiding in the shape of X. Something along those lines.) go omnicidal (in a way) when no one would be his friend, and then proceeds to link up every robot to his mind. And then picks up a cyborg. And then through that cyborg the entire human race.
* Gavotte from ''[[Skin Horse]]''. An actual hive.
* ''[[Sequential Art (webcomic)|Sequential Art]]'' has "Think Tank" - four squirrel girls with implanted link chips. At a short range they can [http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=493 get in synk talking on Faxmodemish] with each other, think together and act as a single entity at will. [[Mega Corp|Quinten]] used them as a [[Wetware CPU]] network to check a [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|buggy AI]], but before that they were in R&D. Consequently, one of them alone is a hyperactive and hyperperceptive [[Genius Ditz]] who can build a beam weapon she knows [http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=199 from a souvenir blaster and spare parts] is she isn't distracted by something shiny or moving, but four together go into all-out [[Mad Science]] and [http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=542 turn] a lawnmower [[FTL]]-capable when trying to upgrade it.
 
=== Web Original ===
 
== Web Original ==
* Los Hermanos of the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' combines this with [[Me's a Crowd]], as not only can he create thousands of copies of himself, he shares his consciousness between them. (He is somehow capable of dealing with all the conflicting sensory input, and is capable of handling multiple tasks at once, multiple conversations at once, and so on). At any given moment, he's likely got a dozen duplicates active around the world working in as many different occupations. Anything one duplicate learns, all the duplicates know how to do. And at least two of his constantly active duplicates are married. But only one is an active superhero.
** Aryan Nation is a controversial white supremacist ''superhero'' (yes, you read that right) who shares Los Hermanos's powers. His powers are so similar to Los Hermanos that the Global Guardian once hypothesized that maybe Aryan Nation was one of his dupes who managed to gain a separate consciousness. (He found out later this wasn't true.)
** The Seven Brothers is a super-strong Chinese hero who can split into seven bodies, all of whom share a consciousness.
** Mob Rule, a South African supervillain from the same setting, has a similar power. His copies, however, are independent individuals.
** Saba Devatao, an Indonesia supervillain, creates eight duplicates and like Los Hermanos is a [[Hive Mind]]. She's an expert martial artist who can flawlessly coordinate her bodies in attack routines that baffle most of her opponents.
** The mutant supervillain known as [[Complete Monster|The Swarm]] can transform into a seemingly numberless horde of cockroaches, each of whom she can somehow control.
*** Hive is a heroic example of the same power, only he transforms into wasps and isn't a cannibal serial killer.
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* ''[[Orion's Arm]]'' has in increasing levels of individuality: hiveminds, groupminds and tribeminds.
* ''[[SMBC Theater]]'' explores [http://www.smbc-theater.com/?id=205 hive mind dating].
* [[Akinator]] is sort of a real-life example of this--hethis—he's a program who knows, in intricate detail, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of characters both real and fictional, assembled from the contributions of millions of players worldwide.
 
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* The [[Little Green Men|LGMs]] in ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' are a rather rare benevolent example; all of them in the universe are connected, and their ability to cooperate makes them excellent at pretty much all the technical work [[Space Police|Star Command]] needs done (think about it; [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist|they share all knowledge]] and can work in perfect synch). In the pilot movie, it's revealed that this is made possible by the 'Unimind' on their home planet, and they go into disarray when Zurg steals it (mostly [[Played for Laughs]], it factors into the origin of one major character).
** They do, however, have the occasional one who isn't part of the LGM collective.
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* ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'' - In the episode "Ghost Town", Ben Ten is forced to team up with his arch nemesis, Vilgax, to battle one of his rogue alien forms, Ghost Freak. Vilgax released Ghost Freak from prison on the condition he defeat Ben, but Ghost Freak betrays him and possesses his planet, Vilgaxia. The planet's citizens are turned into Ghost Freak's minions (who look like his original less hideous, unmasked form in the first Ben Ten series) dominated by a hive mind.
 
=== Real Life ===
 
== Real Life ==
* Some say that [[The Internet]] might be evolving into this.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Hive Mind{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Bizarre Alien Biology]]
[[Category:One With the Index]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes]]
[[Category:Hive Mind]]
[[Category:Mind Manipulation Tropes]]