History Literature / ChildhoodsEnd

* DarkIsNotEvil: The [[spoiler:demon-like]] aliens were actually the ''good'' guys. [[spoiler: The reason we thought they were evil and used them in our mythologies as such, was mostly because of a sort of species-wide premonition - we now realized that their very own appearance would be a sign of our 'end as a physically corporeal species']].

* GeneticMemory: {{Discussed}}, then {{inverted}}. [[spoiler:Our mental image of TheDevil and his minions comes from the psychic backlash of the Earth's end and the Overlords' role in it resonating backwards through time.]]

* CrapsaccharineWorld: Thanks to the Overlords' technology, poverty is a thing of the past, crime is way down, and people don't have to work at jobs that they don't want to do. Yet as things get better and better, things get less and less Utopian. Instead, characters like Jan Rodricks and Ben Salomon have to deal with 'the supreme enemy of all Utopias—boredom'. Although only noticed by a few, it leads to stagnation in art and culture.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler: The whole concept of a subset of people [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending to a higher plane of existence]] at TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIT is extremely similar to the Christian idea of the Rapture. The series makes this even more blatant (showing the kids spontaneously rising into the air)]]

* EvolutionaryLevels

* GoodIsBoring: How a lot of humans feel about the utopia created by Overlords, in part because it leads to a [[CreativeSterility decline in the arts,]] largely because with so little crime, disease, and other bad things, the world just isn't as exciting to make art about.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler: The whole concept of a subset of people [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending to a higher plane of existence]] at TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIT is extremely similar to the Christian idea of the Rapture.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler" The whole concept of a subset of people [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending to a higher plane of existence]] at TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIT is extremely similar to the Christian idea of the Rapture.]]

* PatrioticFervor: {{Downplayed}} with the Jewish leader of the HiddenElfVillage above. While he doesn't really bear any grudges against the Overlords, he does regret having his homeland of Israel lose its national independence so soon after his people attained it, let alone having his religion discredited.

* UnitedNationsIsASuperpower: The UN, under the "guidance" of the Overlords becomes this in the immediate years after their arrival. Eventually, it becomes a OneWorldOrder.

* TheSingularity: [[spoiler: What the Overlords are helping humanity achieve, which the end result being that humanity AscendsToAHigherPlaneOfExistence an becomes a HiveMind]]
* SpaceWhaleAesop: Stop killing animals and ruining earth's environment because [[spoiler:you're evolving into a new galactic form that will ''eventually'' ruin the Earth anyway!]]

* HumansAreCthulhu: [[spoiler:It's revealed by the Overlords that part of reason why they're helping mankind join the Overmind is that either humans would destroy their own successors...or unleash ''something'' that would threaten the cosmos.]]

[[caption-width-right:215:First edition cover]] '''Childhood's End''' is a novel by Creator/ArthurCClarke, originally published in 1953 (but based off of a 1950 short story of his). The plot concerns the BenevolentAlienInvasion of an alien race called the Overlords. After stopping the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and establishing a world government, they start to maintain peace on Earth, but refuse to show any images of themselves for fifty years. Humanity enters a golden age, before spoilery events happen. Yeah, you can't read much more than that without the ''entire'' plot being given away.

For tropes from the Creator/SciFiChannel miniseries, [[Series/ChildhoodsEnd click here]].

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:Earth and ''everything'' on its surface become pure energy for the new generation's journey to join the Overmind]]

* TheGodsMustBeLazy: [[spoiler:They'll just send another alien race to do their bidding]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as it's stated that [[spoiler: the Overmind]] has tried to directly interact with other species' development in the past only to fail spectacularly.

For tropes from the Creator/SciFiChannel miniseries, [[Series/ChildhoodsEnd Click here]]

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:The current generation of humans will be the last one - and with them, human civilization will cease to exist. As all their children born from that moment on were no longer human and will then mind-meld and ascend into a higher form of consciousness that transcends material bodies. Ultimately, that is the fate of ''all'' sentient races, except those that are "stuck" like the Overlords themselves.]]

* CreativeSterility: A side-effect of the Overlords' control is the decline of the arts. Some communities take to deliberately isolating themselves from the conveniences of futuristic technology to recapture their creative spark; the Overlords allow them to since, in the grand scheme of things, these movements are essentially harmless and not obstructing their plans.

* EndOfAnAge: Following a variation on the theme, setting is pure ScienceFiction instead of the usual fantasy. The age in question is [[spoiler:the Age of Mankind as a separate existence from the Overmind.]]
* ExactWords: The Overlords' announcement to an assembly of journalists that "the stars are not for Man" proves to be rather literal [[spoiler: given that the stars are instead for Man's evolutionary descendants as they joining the Overmind.]]

* GeneticMemory: Discussed then inverted. [[spoiler:Our mental image of TheDevil and his minions comes from the psychic backlash of the Earth's end and the Overlords' role in it resonating backwards through time.]]

* OminousFloatingSpaceship most likely the TropeMaker, certainly a contender for the UrExample.

* PatrioticFervor: Downplayed with the Jewish leader of the HiddenElfVillage above. While he doesn't really bear any grudges against the Overlords, he does regret having his homeland of Israel lose its national independence so soon after his people attained it, let alone his faith discredited.

'''Childhood's End''' is a novel by Creator/ArthurCClarke, originally published in 1953 (but based off of a 1950 short story of his). The plot concerns the BenevolentAlienInvasion of an alien race called the Overlords. After stopping the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and establishing a world government, they start to maintain peace on Earth, but refuse to show any images of themselves for fifty years. Humanity enters a golden age, before spoilery events happen. Yeah, you can't read much more than that without the ''entire'' plot being given away.

For tropes from the SyFy miniseries, [[Series/ChildhoodsEnd Click here]]

A miniseries is being produced for the Creator/SyFy network, to be aired in December 2015.

* LastOfHisKind: {{Lampshaded}}. "He had always been a good piano player, and now he was the best in the world."

* OminousFloatingSpaceship most likely the TropeMaker, certainly a contender for the UrExample, were it not for Clarke's own comments that the Trope is older.

* AncientAstronauts: The myths aren't from memory, but precognitive visions of the demonic-looking aliens.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:The current generation of humans will be the last one- and with them, human civilization will cease to exist. As all their children born from that moment on were no longer human and will then mind-meld and ascend into a higher form of consciousness that transcends material bodies. Ultimately, that is the fate of ''all'' sentient races, except those that are "stuck"]]

* BittersweetEnding, bordering on DownerEnding
* BizarreBabyBoom: Aliens show up shortly before a bizarre ''new'' generation of humans appears, but they didn't actually cause it.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality

* CreepyChild: The telekinetic children.
* DarkIsNotEvil: The [[spoiler:demon-like]] aliens were actually the ''good'' guys... [[spoiler: The reason we thought they were evil and used them in our mythologies as such, was mostly because of a sort of species-wide premonition - we now realized that their very own appearance would be a sign of our 'end as a physically corporeal species']].

* EndOfAnAge: Following a variation on the theme, setting is pure ScienceFiction instead of the usual fantasy.

* GeneticMemory: Discussed then inverted.

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Every religion (besides Buddhism) is then discredited.

* TheGodsMustBeLazy: [[spoiler:They'll just send another alien race to do their bidding]].
** Actually [[JustifiedTrope justified]], as it's stated that [[spoiler: the Overmind]] has tried to directly interact with other species' development...only to fail spectacularly.

* VichyEarth: Crossed with OneWorldOrder, but ultimately subverted.

* TheSingularity

* AssimilationPlot
** [[spoiler:Ever wondered where ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' got the whole Instrumentality sequence from?]] Now you know!

* HumanoidAliens