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* BizarreAlienSexes: The [[TheBlob Soft Ones]] in ''Literature/TheGodsThemselves'' have three sexes: Rational/left, Emotional/mid and Parental/right, which reproduce by fusing their bodies together and "melting".
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* BigEater: Bronowski.
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* BigEater: Bronowski. Bronowski's constant snacking.
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* CreativeSterility: Dua believes the Hard Ones suffer from this, and that the Soft Ones [[spoiler: are a kind of RobotBuddy child substitute they have created to make up for this.]].
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* BerserkButton: Never, ever suggest to Hallam that he is not really the inventor of the Pump.
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* {{Xenofiction}}
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* {{Xenofiction}}
{{Xenofiction}}: Asimov had been criticized in the past for not having aliens or sex in his novels. This one has aliens, sex and alien sex. And ''very'' alien aliens, at that.
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* {{Xenofiction}}
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* MarsAndVenusGenderRelations: A three-way version for the relationships between Rationals, Emotionals and Parentals, both in general and within the triads. Ironically so for the protagonist triad, since they are less trimorphic than "normal".
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* MarsAndVenusGenderRelations: MarsAndVenusGenderContrast: A three-way version for the relationships between Rationals, Emotionals and Parentals, both in general and within the triads. Ironically so for the protagonist triad, since they are less trimorphic than "normal".
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* MarsAndVenusGenderRelations: A three-way version for the relationships between Rationals, Emotionals and Parentals, both in general and within the triads. Ironically so for the protagonist triad, since they are less trimorphic than "normal".
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* MisterSeahorse: When the Soft Ones breed, the one that actually carries the child is the Parental, and Parentals are consistently referred to by Asimov as "he".
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* WeWillNotHaveAppendixesInTheFuture: The eugenics-conscious moon separatists ''want'' to use genetic engineering to get rid of various organs they consider unnecessary, like molars (the artificial food of the Moon requires little chewing).
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* PowerTrio: Odeen (brains and empathy), Dua (empathy and brains) and Tritt (instinct and initiative).
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* HannibalLecture: Senator Burt to Lamont.
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*AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction: Social sci-fi.
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NeedsMoreLove.
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NeedsMoreLove. Specifically, needs someone with plot summary skills.
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* CovertPervert: Dua, with her "Left-Em" tendencies and her tendency to [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything merge]] with [[ADateWithRosiePalms rocks]].
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* IgnoredExpert: No less than three Jor-Els attempting to warn everyone of a danger. One is an alien trying to warn her planet and the two others are human trying to warn Earth. The name of the novel (as well as those of the three parts) comes from the quote, "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
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* IgnoredExpert: No less than three Jor-Els attempting to warn everyone Earth of a danger. One is an alien trying to warn her planet and the two others are human trying to warn Earth.human. The name of the novel (as well as those of the three parts) comes from the quote, "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.""
* IKEAErotica: The descriptions of "melting" and other Soft Ones practices tend to read like this. To someone from the para-universe, though, these accounts would probably be [[FridgeBrilliance pretty racy]].
* IKEAErotica: The descriptions of "melting" and other Soft Ones practices tend to read like this. To someone from the para-universe, though, these accounts would probably be [[FridgeBrilliance pretty racy]].
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* WhyYouShouldDestroyThePlanetEarth: In spite of how many subtropes this trope already has, this one is actually one not listed. It's because [[spoiler: if you don't, your own world will die.]]
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** This work also has aliens mastering English through [[spoiler: empathy]]
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** This work also has aliens mastering English through [[spoiler: empathy]]
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* DysfunctionJunction: Academia in the Earth parts.
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* DysfunctionJunction: Academia in the Earth parts.Earth's politics and academia.
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* LukeIAmYourFather: Blink and you'll miss it, but [[spoiler: Odeen reveals to Dua that Losten was formed by her parents]].
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* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Dua versus the other Emotionals. Lamont kind of comes to see himself this way, too.
* ArrangedMarriage: The Hard Ones actively select triad partners for the Soft Ones.
* ArrangedMarriage: The Hard Ones actively select triad partners for the Soft Ones.
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* BigEater: Bronowski.
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* CulturalCringe: Aggressively averted by the “Loonies”. Soft Ones, especially Rationals, seem to have a straightforward case of this towards Hard Ones.
* DysfunctionJunction: Academia in the Earth parts.
* DysfunctionJunction: Academia in the Earth parts.
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* TheResenter: Oh boy. Hallam to Denison at the start and anyone who dares question him later. Denison and Lamont to Hallam. Neville to all "Earthies" and to Selene for being mentally faster than him. And that's just in our universe.
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* SuperBreedingProgram: One in each universe, as it turns out, though the one in ours is ''officially'' over and done with.
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* TriangRelations: Played with for the Soft Ones, since their family structure is this by necessity, and triads like to present themselves as Type 8 (everyone equally involved with everyone else). As Odeen reflects, this is seldom the case in practice, and his own two partners, Tritt and Dua, get along worse with each other than with him.
** More straightforward human case: Selena, Neville and Ben.
** More straightforward human case: Selena, Neville and Ben.
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* CompoundTitle: TitleDrop in 3 parts: "Against Stupidity", "The Gods Themselves", "Contend In Vain".
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* CompoundTitle: TitleDrop in 3 parts: "Against Stupidity", "The Stupidity...", "...The Gods Themselves", "Contend Themselves...", and "...Contend In Vain".Vain?".
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* TakeAThirdOption: In the third part, "Contend in Vain...?", [[spoiler:the protagonist discovers another method of generating energy that can be used to cancel the physics-changing side effects of the Electron Pump, conveniently avoiding the choice between dooming Earth to power shortages and dooming the sun to go supernova.]]
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* TakeAThirdOption: In the third part, "Contend "...Contend in Vain...?", Vain?", [[spoiler:the protagonist discovers another method of generating energy that can be used to cancel the physics-changing side effects of the Electron Pump, conveniently avoiding the choice between dooming Earth to power shortages and dooming the sun to go supernova.]]
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-->''[[GratuitousGerman Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens]].[[note]]("Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain.")[[/note]]''//
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-->''[[GratuitousGerman Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens]].[[note]]("Against stupidity, [[note]]("[[ArcWords Against stupidity]], [[IgnoredExpert the Gods themselves contend in vain.")[[/note]]''//vain]].")[[/note]]''\\
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* TakeAThirdOption: In the third part, "Contend in Vain...?", [[spoiler:the protagonist discovers another method of generating energy that can be used to cancel the physics-changing side effects of the Electron Pump, conveniently avoiding the choice between dooming Earth to power shortages and dooming the sun to go supernova.]]
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-->''[[GratuitousGerman Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens]].[[note]]("Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain.")[[/note]]''//
--'''Friedrich Schiller'''
--'''Friedrich Schiller'''
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* AndThenJohnWasAZombie[=/=]TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Throughout the second part, Dua has learned about how the Electron Pump the Hard Ones have been creating with the aid of beings from another universe (humans) will doom that universe to destruction -- and eventually begins attempting to sabotage the effort by sending the messages the first part's characters use to discover the flaw. At the end of the part, when "her" triad-mates save her from death and reveal that their destiny is to combine into a Hard One, "her" last individual thought is to realize that "she"/they were the Hard One who was the EvilGenius driving the project forward.]]
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* SpaceIsMagic
* StarfishAliens
* StarfishAliens
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* SpaceIsMagic
MinovskyPhysics: Takes the premise of beings from another universe sending an impossible isotope of plutonium into ours, and extrapolates the consequences to drive much of the plot. [[spoiler:For instance, the other universe's physics leak into our universe along with the Plutonium-186...]]
*StarfishAliensMostWritersAreHuman: Asimov purposefully avoided aliens in most of his books, precisely because he was frustrated with this trope. "Aliens" created by other authors never felt realistically alien to him, and his own efforts impressed him no better. As a result, most of his aliens are unabashedly humans-from-other-planets, caused by the plot requiring a species from another planet to work ("Nightfall" can't take place on Earth, or really involve someone with knowledge of the larger universe, for example). His most notable effort at creating truly alien aliens would be for this work, but while they are quite alien biologically, they still sound a lot like humans in character.
* NotOfThisEarth: Plutonium-186. Chemists and physicists are befuddled by an isotope of plutonium whose nuclei shouldn't hold together for more than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, according to the natural laws of our universe. Then, one scientist realizes that the reason plutonium-186 can be stable is because it brought a bit of the physics of its home universe with it.
* OutWithABang: The Soft Ones reproduce by "melting", an extended period of time in which they physically merge with their other two partners. Afterwards, one of them gives birth. The children's sexes always occur in a specified order, and all the members of the triad die after the birth of the third child. Subverted because we eventually discover (along with the viewpoint Soft Ones themselves) [[spoiler: that they don't actually die, they permanently merge and become a "Hard One", which up until now the Soft Ones and the reader have been led to believe is a different race. This also occurs temporarily during the other meldings, though the Soft Ones retain no memories of this.]]
* ReactionlessDrive: managed to come up with a [[ShownTheirWork fully thought through]] mechanism for this that ''doesn't'' involve abandoning conservation of momentum. There might not be anything to push against where you are in this universe, but what about the one next door?
* SexAsRiteOfPassage: In the alternate universe, there are three kinds of gaseous people and a kind of solid people. [[spoiler: the solid people are the merging - which is their analog of sex - of three gaseous people]].
* SpaceIsMagic: written largely in response to this trope. Asimov once heard Robert Silverberg make up an isotope off the top of his head, Plutonium-186. When Asimov pointed out that said isotope does not and cannot exist, Silverberg responded "So what?" Asimov, who was never one to back down from a challenge (even a self-imposed one) decided to work out under what conditions Plutonium-186 could be possible. He concluded that it would have to be in an parallel universe where the laws of Physics behaved differently than they do here (such as the strong force being a lot stronger than it is in our universe). He went on to figure out how such a Universe would operate, and eventually developed his ideas into what he considered his most ambitious novel.
* StarfishAliens: Neither of the alien species is physically described in much detail, but the soft ones are apparently amorphous or gas-like, have three genders, and appear to be photosynthetic.
* TranslationConvention: the entire second section, told about and by StarfishAliens. The Earth/Moon language used in the other two sections may also be an example.
* [[TwoBeingsOneBody Three Beings One Body]]: the aliens merge three into one as a part of their reproductive cycle.
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: potentially brewing between Earth and the lunar colony.
*
* NotOfThisEarth: Plutonium-186. Chemists and physicists are befuddled by an isotope of plutonium whose nuclei shouldn't hold together for more than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, according to the natural laws of our universe. Then, one scientist realizes that the reason plutonium-186 can be stable is because it brought a bit of the physics of its home universe with it.
* OutWithABang: The Soft Ones reproduce by "melting", an extended period of time in which they physically merge with their other two partners. Afterwards, one of them gives birth. The children's sexes always occur in a specified order, and all the members of the triad die after the birth of the third child. Subverted because we eventually discover (along with the viewpoint Soft Ones themselves) [[spoiler: that they don't actually die, they permanently merge and become a "Hard One", which up until now the Soft Ones and the reader have been led to believe is a different race. This also occurs temporarily during the other meldings, though the Soft Ones retain no memories of this.]]
* ReactionlessDrive: managed to come up with a [[ShownTheirWork fully thought through]] mechanism for this that ''doesn't'' involve abandoning conservation of momentum. There might not be anything to push against where you are in this universe, but what about the one next door?
* SexAsRiteOfPassage: In the alternate universe, there are three kinds of gaseous people and a kind of solid people. [[spoiler: the solid people are the merging - which is their analog of sex - of three gaseous people]].
* SpaceIsMagic: written largely in response to this trope. Asimov once heard Robert Silverberg make up an isotope off the top of his head, Plutonium-186. When Asimov pointed out that said isotope does not and cannot exist, Silverberg responded "So what?" Asimov, who was never one to back down from a challenge (even a self-imposed one) decided to work out under what conditions Plutonium-186 could be possible. He concluded that it would have to be in an parallel universe where the laws of Physics behaved differently than they do here (such as the strong force being a lot stronger than it is in our universe). He went on to figure out how such a Universe would operate, and eventually developed his ideas into what he considered his most ambitious novel.
* StarfishAliens: Neither of the alien species is physically described in much detail, but the soft ones are apparently amorphous or gas-like, have three genders, and appear to be photosynthetic.
* TranslationConvention: the entire second section, told about and by StarfishAliens. The Earth/Moon language used in the other two sections may also be an example.
* [[TwoBeingsOneBody Three Beings One Body]]: the aliens merge three into one as a part of their reproductive cycle.
* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: potentially brewing between Earth and the lunar colony.
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* LiteraryAllusionTitle: takes its title from Goethe's "Die Jungfrau von Orleans"
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* IgnoredExpert: No less than three Jor-Els attempting to warn everyone of a danger. One is an alien trying to warn her planet and the two others are human trying to warn Earth. The name of the novel (as well as those of the three parts) comes from the quote, "Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain."
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* BizarreAlienBiology
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* BizarreAlienBiologyBizarreAlienBiology: The Soft Ones have [[BizarreAlienSexes three sexes]]: Rational/left, Emotional/mid and Parental/right, which [[BizarreAlienReproduction reproduce]] by fusing their bodies together at the intermolecular level ("melting"). [[spoiler: This creates a mature solid form with the fused mind of the three soft ones, which forget this little fact after the act.]]
** Just to clarify this a bit, when a triad of Soft Ones "melt" (that is, mate), they [[spoiler: temporarily form a Hard One, but don't remember that after they separate (the Hard One does, however, remember its previous periods of consciousness when it is formed again).]] Nonetheless, this fusion is related to reproduction, being the means by which new Soft Ones are conceived (one at a time) to grow to term inside the Parental of the triad. It's not said outright, but there is the implication that there is an order to the pregnancies so that each triad will produce at least one full triad of offspring before they grow out of the breeding stage and finally [[spoiler: merge permanently as a Hard One]]. The Hard Ones are genderless and act in a parental/mentor advisory role to the Soft Ones (though the Parental Soft Ones act as parents to the babies when the latter are very young).
** Just to clarify this a bit, when a triad of Soft Ones "melt" (that is, mate), they [[spoiler: temporarily form a Hard One, but don't remember that after they separate (the Hard One does, however, remember its previous periods of consciousness when it is formed again).]] Nonetheless, this fusion is related to reproduction, being the means by which new Soft Ones are conceived (one at a time) to grow to term inside the Parental of the triad. It's not said outright, but there is the implication that there is an order to the pregnancies so that each triad will produce at least one full triad of offspring before they grow out of the breeding stage and finally [[spoiler: merge permanently as a Hard One]]. The Hard Ones are genderless and act in a parental/mentor advisory role to the Soft Ones (though the Parental Soft Ones act as parents to the babies when the latter are very young).
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* BeigeProse
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* BeigeProseBeigeProse: A later Asimov work, Gold, has a bunch of frustrated film writers disparately try to cobble together a screen adaptation of ''Literature/TheGodsThemselves'', cursing Asimov's dialogue laden, non-descriptive, and beige prose the entire way.
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* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: Spectacularly averted and/or subverted: when a radio-chemist discovers a radioactive element that cannot possibly exist under the known laws of physics - it turns out to be from another universe where the laws of physics are sufficiently different that it can exist there!
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* AliensSpeakingEnglish: The first third of the book revolves around the receipt of an alien message by a science historian, Lamont; he recruits Bronowski, a professor of archaeo-linguistics, to decipher the symbols. In the second part, we see the aliens' side of the exchange.
** This work also has aliens mastering English through [[spoiler: empathy]]
** This work also has aliens mastering English through [[spoiler: empathy]]
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* GoneHorriblyWrong
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* GoneHorriblyWrongGoneHorriblyWrong: the aliens helped humanity build the source of clean unlimited power. Unfortunately, it will [[spoiler: blow up the sun]].
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* CompoundTitle
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* CompoundTitleCompoundTitle: TitleDrop in 3 parts: "Against Stupidity", "The Gods Themselves", "Contend In Vain".
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1972 novel by Creator/IsaacAsimov. Features a seemingly perfect solution to Earthling energy needs, a parallel universe with really unusual aliens, and a Lunar colony with separatist tendencies.
NeedsMoreLove.
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!!The novel provides examples of:
* BizarreAlienBiology
* BeigeProse
* CompoundTitle
* GoneHorriblyWrong
* SpaceIsMagic
* StarfishAliens
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NeedsMoreLove.
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!!The novel provides examples of:
* BizarreAlienBiology
* BeigeProse
* CompoundTitle
* GoneHorriblyWrong
* SpaceIsMagic
* StarfishAliens
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