History Main / AcquiredPoisonImmunity

'''The Man in Black:''' [[TakeAThirdOption They were both poisoned.]] [[CrazyPrepared I spent the last few years]] building up [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity an immunity to iocane powder]].

* Gilgamesh Wulfenbach of ''GirlGenius'' has immunity to many many things. This is because when your father wants you to succeed him in ruling a continent that generally doesn't like being ruled by a ruthless despot, people tend to try and assassinate you. So, you have to be prepared. [[spoiler: This came in useful in the current arc where Tarvek suffered a particularly nasty disease - hooking his systems up to Gil was the only way to keep him alive.]]

The hero has finally appeared at his confrontation with the BigBad, who's seated at his big table, just about to take his evening meal. "There's no reason to be uncivil," the villain says. Would the hero like some wine? The hero takes a drink, and immediately starts choking. The villain laughs - that fool, the hero, should have known that the villain would poison the wine with the dreaded juice of the [[KillEmAll killemall]] fruit!

But what's this? The hero's standing back up! "I knew you'd poison the wine with the dreaded juice of the killemall fruit. That's why I've spent years eating small pieces of killemall fruit, to develop an immunity to the poison!" The hero then kicks the villain's tail.

In short, this trope references the development of immunity to a particular drug or poison by taking small doses for a long time. This can be TruthInTelevision, or not, depending on the poison in question. For some poisons, the body produces antibodies to clear them from the system; so, with repeated exposure to small amounts, you can build up a level of circulating antibody that grants immunity to a typical dose. However, there are plenty of other poisons that ''don't'' get cleared from the system and simply build up in your tissues until you reach a lethal dose.

* FalloutNewVegas allows you to build up an immunity to broken limbs. [[ItRunsOnNonsenseoleum somehow.]]

** The poem mentions him doing this with arsenic which is not possible, it simply builds up to a lethal concentration.

** This is probably resistance on a genetic level, which is this trope played straight by evolution, because really, any natural poison immunity is acquired if you look back far enough.

** The [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' have also built up a resistance to garlic, sunlight, holy water, [[BeatItByCompulsion vampiric OCD,]] and holy symbols by this method. [[spoiler:It backfires. Sort of. The When they lose the immunity, they realize they're surrounded by holy symbols from obscure religions they wouldn't recognize as holy if they hadn't been shown so many different ones becoming immune in the first place.]]

** The [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum'' have also built up a resistance to garlic and holy symbols by this method. [[spoiler:It backfires. Sort of. When they lose the immunity, they realize they're surrounded by holy symbols from obscure religions they wouldn't recognize as holy if they hadn't put in the effort to become immune to them in the first place.]]
*** [[spoiler: to make it more clear, they had looked at holy symbols for so long that when they lose their immunity they recognize everything, from cracks in the wall to puddles as holy]]

* In SomethingPositive, Kharisma tries to kill Avagadro with cyanide, which he has built up an immunity to after being poisoned by so many people over so many years. He says that he has grown accustomed to the taste, and now puts it on his cereal.

* Lifolei of {{Juathuur}}... a scary, scary woman.
* Besides disturbing quantities of alcohol, [[KeychainOfCreation Ten Winds]] has reportedly been exposed to toxins, drugs and pharmaceuticals of all kinds and quantities from across [[{{Exalted}} Creation]] over his multi-century lifespan. Stack that on top of his already supernatural Exalted metabolism and you have someone who is ''very'' hard to poison.

'''[[YouShouldKnowThisAlready The Man in Black]]:''' [[TakeAThirdOption They were both poisoned.]] [[CrazyPrepared I spent the last few years]] building up [[AcquiredPoisonImmunity an immunity to iocane powder]].

[[folder: Film]]

->'''Buttercup:''' And to think...all this time it was your cup that was poisoned.\\

* This trope ends up backfiring when a man from Russia attempts to swallow small quantities of toxic mushrooms, arsenic, and cyanide daily to strengthen his body and protect himself from death. He later went into convulsions, slipped into a coma, and died without regaining consciousness. http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2007-18.html