History Main / AmbiguouslyHuman

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': During the Battle of Axum arc, we're introduced to Inquisitor Tahr Whyler, a man who is described as having pale skin, [[PointyEars pointed ears]], clawed hands, [[BlackEyesOfEvil black eyes]], and [[ScaryTeeth shark-like teeth]]. Despite these seemingly inhuman traits, Tahr claims to be 100% human and he would have to be given the prominent position he holds within the Imperium of Man, a government which believes HumansAreSuperior and preaches [[AbsoluteXenophobe absolute xenophobia]]. This gets lampshaded by Quinlan Vos when he battles Tahr and notices how the Inquisitor could easily pass for one of the countless RubberForeheadAliens native to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' galaxy.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': During the Battle of Axum arc, we're introduced to Inquisitor Tahr Whyler, a man who is described as having pale skin, [[PointyEars pointed ears]], clawed hands, [[BlackEyesOfEvil black eyes]], and [[ScaryTeeth shark-like teeth]]. Despite these seemingly inhuman traits, Tahr claims to be 100% human and he would have to be given the prominent position he holds within the Imperium of Man, a government which believes HumansAreSuperior and preaches [[AbsoluteXenophobe absolute xenophobia]]. This gets lampshaded by Quinlan Vos when he battles Tahr and notices how the Inquisitor could easily pass for one of the countless RubberForeheadAliens native to the ''Star Wars'' galaxy.

* ''Fanfic/RubyAndNora'': [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Salem]] is even more enigmatic than in canon.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12605636/1/Singled-Out Singled Out]]'' claims that [[spoiler:Lola]] is actually Satan, but it's unclear whether this means Rita somehow gave birth to Satan, or if she started out as human but got corrupted by Satan.

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Moliere, a.k.a. Mole, the team's geologist, is [[NonStandardCharacterDesign shorter, more rotund and overall more cartoonish than the other humans in the cast]], and shows a lot of eccentric behaviours that all seem to imply he's a Mole Man rather than a regular human. According to the sequel, he was [[RaisedByWolves raised by naked mole rats]].

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': Big Jack Horner has pink skin that almost doesn’t look natural, big purple thumbs, and bizarre proportions, with the upper half of his body being much larger than the lower half. He’s a lot bigger than the other humans in the film, which may hint that he’s actually some sort of giant.

* Zigzag from ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler''. He has blue skin and six-fingered hands, and apparently doesn't need to sleep to sustain his life (the whole point of a deleted scene being that he finds humans foolish to "sleep their lives away" while he "is quite awake"). On top of that, he has very long, coiled feet that spring outward as he walks.

* ''Film/TenThousandBC'': The [[BigBad Almighty]] and the [[MentorArchetype Old Mother]] are implied to not be ''homo sapiens'' like the rest of the cast. The former is worshiped as a [[LikeAGodToMe god by his followers]] and is thought to be an {{Human Alien|s}} or an Atlantean, though either way [[spoiler:he can be killed like any man]]. The latter is said to be the last of her kind, and is thought to be a Neanderthal who has such mystical powers as [[spoiler:the power to revive the dead at the expense of her own life]].

* In ''Film/MaryPoppins'', the titular character apparently either is human or was at some point. But she lives on a cloud in the sky, suggesting she might be either an angel, a goddess, or a resurrected human who returns to Earth occasionally. She also possesses reality-warping powers -- and, significantly, she is explicitly mentioned to ''not'' be a witch, meaning that she could not have studied magic as a mortal.

* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'': Anton Chigurh outwardly appears human, yet he shrugs off injuries which should be crippling, acts according to a BlueAndOrangeMorality which seems totally divorced from the thought processes of ordinary people, and other characters in-universe start speculating towards the end that he's some sort of supernatural being. Many viewers interpret him as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of fate and/or death.

** Boba Fett is seemingly made of metal (actually his Mandalorian mask and armor, which he almost never takes off, even to eat or drink) and speaks in a hollow, machine-like voice -- but his speech patterns (when he actually does speak, that is) are obviously those of a human. ("What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me.") Not until ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' do we see Boba's human face -- and he's just a child, and not wearing the armor yet, so little kids still might not catch on. Frighteningly, Fett had even more of a reason to keep completely covered up after his escape from the Great Pit of Carkoon, where the digestive acids in the Sarlacc's stomach burned and corroded his skin so badly that he came out looking slightly reptilian. Despite this, there is at least one account of [[FanDisservice the post-Sarlacc Fett being seen nearly naked]].
*** In-regards to Mandalorians as a whole, they are seen more as a Culture rather than a species: with most Humanoid species being unrecognizable beneath the Mandalorian Armor and Helmets.

Related tropes include HumanAliens, HumanSubspecies, TheyWalkAmongUs, and WhatMeasureIsANonHuman. See also AmbiguousRobots, AmbiguousGender, AmbiguouslyGay, AmbiguouslyBrown, AmbiguouslyBi, AmbiguouslyChristian, AmbiguouslyJewish, and AmbiguousGenderIdentity. See CartoonCreature for characters of indeterminate species that look like real world animal species other than humans.

** Darth Maul, Sidious' apprentice in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', has horns growing out of his head but often covers them with a black hood, so he can easily be mistaken for a bizarrely face-painted human. On the other hand, he has orange eyes (though this could be rationalized as a sign of his Dark Side powers) and [[SilentAntagonist speaks very infrequently]] for someone who's supposedly human. Turns out he's a Dathomirian Zabrak, a humanoid species.

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/2166906 Wild Child AU]]" is an alternate take on the Franchise/MonsterVerse where Godzilla essentially adopts Madison Russell after the battle against the [=MUTOs=] because he assumes that her parents died in the battle. As a result of spending prolonged time with Godzilla, Maddie experiences subtle mutations from exposure to his radiation, allowing her to actually understand the Titans' language, absorb a degree of radiation without harm, and even survive underwater for prolonged periods, as well as manifest scales and bioluminescent freckles. When she finally reunites with her father and brother, these changes are significant enough that she accepts a decision to be classified as a Titan rather than a human, allowing her to alternate between staying with Godzilla or visiting her human family if she chooses.

Related tropes include HumanAliens, HumanSubspecies, TheyWalkAmongUs, and WhatMeasureIsANonHuman. See also AmbiguousRobots, AmbiguousGender, AmbiguouslyGay, AmbiguouslyBrown, AmbiguouslyBi, AmbiguouslyChristian, and AmbiguouslyJewish. See CartoonCreature for characters of indeterminate species that look like real world animal species other than humans.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Folklore]]
* SantaClaus can sometimes be portrayed as this in fiction. No ordinary human would be able to deliver presents to all children in the world in one night, let alone be alive for over centuries doing it.

** Darth Maul, Sidious' apprentice in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', has horns growing out of his head but often covers them with a black hood, so he can easily be mistaken for a bizarrely face-painted human. On the other hand, he has orange eyes (though this could be rationalized as a sign of his Dark Side powers) and [[SilentAntagonist speaks very infrequently]] for someone who's supposedly human. Turns out he's a Dathomirian (a crossbreed of a Human mother and a Zabrak father).

* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': Moliere, a.k.a. Mole, the team's geologist, is [[NonStandardCharacterDesign shorter, more rotund and overall more cartoonish than the other humans in the cast]], and shows a lot of eccentric behaviours that all seem to imply he's a MoleMan rather than a regular human. According to the sequel, he was [[RaisedByWolves raised by naked mole rats]].

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'': Niko is ''probably'' human. WordOfGod says she is from a destroyed colony, but was taken in by the [[SpaceElves Circle of Thought]]. Still, it's never said if she's human or humanoid, given no other humans in-series have any psionic abilities like she does.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
** Simon Petrikov, more commonly known as [[spoiler:the Ice King]], started as human but has been warped physically and mentally from centuries of exposure to an ArtifactOfDoom, and it isn't clear how much, if any, of his humanity remains.
** [[VampireMonarch Marceline]] is a vampire ''now'', but what she was before was not originally certain. We saw early on that her father was a demon, but all the powers she's exhibited are vampiric in nature, and what we see of her as a child show her to be an ordinary little girl, albeit with slightly pointed ears and greyish skin, which aren't unusual in modern-day Ooo. It's eventually clarified that she's [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human, half-demon]], with her demon half allowing her to [[CannibalismSuperpower absorb the essence]] of [[VampireHunter the vampires she hunted as a teenager]]. She only became a vampire when one of her prey managed to bite her as he was dying.
** The episode "Be More" reveals Moe, the original creator of B-MO, who has apparently been alive since before humanity disappeared from the continent. When Finn excitedly asks if he's human, he replies "[[FalseReassurance My skin is]]!" Currently he seems to be a {{Cyborg}}; he has several MO units visibly attached to his body that seemingly take the place of vital organs.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'':
** [[MadScientist Professor]] [[HerrDoktor Dinglehoper Von Schlemmer]] has [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation green skin]], orange hair, and is the [[NonStandardCharacterDesign only character to be drawn with five fingers on each hand]]. It could be inferred that his odd appearance is the result of mutation, but it's never called into question. The only hint at his humanity is in the episode "Too Tall Tails", when Willian Le Duck asks, "Can this man be trusted?", And even then, it's possible "man" is being used loosely.
** Even [[BigBad Dr. Robotnik]] is a bit suspicious, he's shown having [[TechnicolorEyes eyes with black whites and red pupils]]. Most other humans in the series have normal eyes, so this is definitely ''not'' what a normal human looks like. His ancestors also have this feature, implying it to be genetic.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' has various in-series media portraying [[MediumBlending live-action]] humans, but a few of the animated characters shown in person also appear to be human rather than {{Funny Animal}}s. If there's any difference between the two besides appearance, [[RuleOfFunny it's not remotely addressed]].
** The students and staff of Richwood High (besides [[AnthropomorphicFood Sarah]], who transferred out) clearly look human, but all of them and the school itself are considered far weirder than the non-human cast even in-universe. They specifically look like humans in a cartoon from the [=1980s=], [[StylisticSuck with appropriately jerky, error-prone animation]], and act like delusional ''Karate Kid''-reject. Even stranger, the crowd members in the stadium [[FacelessMasses are drawn as flat, ummoving cutouts]] because they actually ''are'' [[PaperPeople flat cutouts]] who never move. Then one figures out they ''can'' move, turning him into a three-dimensional person capable of regular movement, albeit still animated in jerky 2D.
** Clare Cooper is a student of Elmore Junior High and essentially human-looking. However, her design is stylized enough to blend in with the rest of the student body, even sharing artistic elements common to regular characters like FingerlessHands and a [[TheNoseless lack of nose]]. Her father is even more human-looking, as he has a nose and regular hair color. No one treats them as being out-of-the-ordinary.
** SantaClaus looks like a stylized human (except when he had amnesia and looked more like a hairy CartoonCreature), but he's traditionally been portrayed as a human, elf, or fairy. The show does not specify which. He also seems to actually live at the North Pole, while every other character lives inside of [[WorldOfWeirdness Elmore]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'':
** Baloney the Dinosaur, an obvious TakeThat towards [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]], is the main character of a ShowWithinAShow. Although he's shown to have stitches and seams that suggest he's wearing a costume, his face moves like that of a living creature and there is no indication his changing back and forth from being a stuffed animal is a special effect. Since his appearances are mostly just to mock what he's based on, it's not specified if he is indeed a man in a costume that happens to have a very ExpressiveMask or he really is some kind of magical dinosaur.
** Katie Ka-Boom's ability to transform into a monster when angered is meant to be a metaphor for either AllPeriodsArePMS or BrattyTeenageDaughter. However, in-universe, we are never given an explanation to ''what'' she is or why she actually has this ability. [[ComicBook/{{Animaniacs}} The comics]] reveal she has a cousin with the same monstrous power she does, showing it is at least hereditary.
* WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} is ostensibly human, but on a show that generally averts or deconstructs AmusingInjuries he's survived being shot 31 times, being in an explosion which Jakov claims no one could survive, getting mangled in a car crash, drinking broken glass, and being in the air vents for 2 days without water while the furnace was turned up to 90, most of which didn't even seem to cause him any pain. He's also almost impossibly strong, in one episode throwing a serving platter with enough force to draw blood and knock a man out and knock Edie Poovey out with one punch, something that even [[spoiler:Barry]], whose strength is ''explicitly'' superhuman, couldn't manage. He also displays the ability to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal talk to and understand animals]], but whether he actually understands them or just jumps to conclusions is unclear.
* Mayor Torbo ([[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign whose name sounds Scandinavian]]) from ''WesternAnimation/TheBagelAndBeckyShow'' ''looks'' human, but has a green skin complexion, and gets around an ISOStandardHumanSpaceship. The show says that he's alien, but it's unclear if he's a {{Human Alien|s}}, a {{Starfish Alien|s}} taking AFormYouAreComfortableWith or just a human with [[TouchedByVorlons some alien powers]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'':
** Penguin's BodyguardBabes the Kabuki Twins. While they, for the most part, look like costumed human women and have human names ("Gale" and "Peri"; though their names aren't used in-series), there is evidence that suggests that they are not human. They are [[TheSpeechless mostly silent]] (what vocal noises they do make are unintelligible whispers), [[TheFaceless they are never seen without their masks and red catsuits]], they have WolverineClaws protruding from their hands instead of fingers, move strangely and survive things that humans probably can't. They are never outright stated to be human and some fans believe that they are either robots or mutant human-like birds.
** Blask Mask as well. While he does speak and he has human hands, his "mask" cannot be removed, he has no traceable DNA and his real name from the comics (Roman Sionis) is never used.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': The Scarecrow started out on the show as [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/61/ca/dc/61cadc79530883f9fa784697da78cb6b.png a man clearly wearing a mask]] as part of a scarecrow outfit and was seen unmasked numerous times. In ''The New Batman Adventures'', the BTAS characters were redesigned, with [[https://archive.nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/BTAS-Never-Fear-featured.jpg Scarecrow receiving the most dramatic redesign]], looking like a zombified preacher and was never seem out of costume. Even the producers aren't entirely sure whether he is wearing a costume.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' has Shriek's lackey Ollie. He has pale skin, purple hair, pointed ears, and black sclera, but it isn't stated whether or not his unusual appearance is because he's an alien or if he's partaken in [[LegoGenetics "splicing"]].
* The Librarian from the ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'' episode "Quiet Please" (a WholePlotReference to ''Film/AQuietPlace'') is strangely snake-like in appearance, has superhuman speed and hearing, occasionally runs on all-fours, can crawl up walls like a spider, and never takes off her glasses. Which [[ExpressiveMask emote as if they were her eyes]] ([[ClothingAppendage and might very well be]]), which none of the other characters have. And while her green skin wouldn't raise too many eyebrows initially, [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation given most of the character have pastel skin]], she has a [[NonStandardCharacterDesign specific shade of green not present on most characters]].
* ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' has Lawrence Limburger's minions Dr. Karbunkle and Greasepit. Both of them look for the most part like humans, but the three-part episode "Once Upon a Time on Mars" reveals that they have aided their Plutarkian boss ever since he was still on Mars, which implies that they may be HumanAliens. The 2006 revival lampshades this in the episode "Once Upon a Time on Earth", where the Catatonian scientist Dr. Catorkian asks Karbunkle if he is human and Karbunkle replies with "Of course I am...I think."
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'', it can be difficult to distinguish between human and toon since some of the human characters have bizarre or exaggerated appearances and the entire thing is animated, unlike its inspiration ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit''.
* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' takes place [[ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway in a galaxy full of all sorts of alien-looking races]], most of which are identified by name if a significant enough character is a member. Buzz himself, however, is never specifically called "human", his home planet is never identified, and he never removes the purple "cloth" over the back of his head, even in civilian clothes -- for all we know, it could actually [[ClothingAppendage be part of his head]].
* ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' has [[IronicName the ironically named Mr. Sunshine]], a green-skinned humanoid who speaks in a slow, languid voice. The [[CartoonCreature ambiguity of his species]] is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in one episode when [[JerkAss Rancid Rabbit]] starts arresting everyone for not having "licenses". (Dog doesn't have a "dog license", Lola doesn't have a "bird license", etc.) When he captures Sunshine, he says, "You're under arrest for not having a... not having a... not having a license!"
* ''WesternAnimation/JungleJitters'', one of the ''WesternAnimation/CensoredEleven'', features a village of African stereotypes, led by an elderly white woman. However, she lacks a nose and her face has a sort of bird-like look.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'':
** Quite a few characters (especially villains) have bizarre appearances and abilities but are never stated to be anything other than human. Then again, the show apparently takes place in a very strange AlternateUniverse.
** The original GrandFinale shows [[spoiler:Numbuh 74.239 and Numbuh Infinity]] were agents for [[spoiler:the Galactic Kids Next Door]], an extraterrestrial organization, but doesn't specify if they're aliens themselves or one of a few human members. Years later, the ''GKND'' teaser would show the former at least was a {{Plant Alien|s}} in disguise.
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'':
** Major Glory, a CompositeCharacter parody of Captain America and Superman ''appears'' human and the show's wiki claims he is human, but has EyeBeams, SuperSpeed (demonstrated in a {{Flashback}} in "Say Uncle Sam") and his father is Uncle Sam, the spirit of the United States, who seems to be ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. Whether he actually is a HalfHumanHybrid in canon is never confirmed.
** The Infraggable Krunk, a HulkMashUp, appears human aside from his purple skin tone, but he doesn't have a human form to revert back to unlike Bruce Banner. Whether he really is human or a human-like species has not been confirmed by the creators.
** Commander, who only appears in "Dial M For Monkey", a CaptainErsatz of Nick Fury from Marvel Comics, appears human, but only ever appears inside a television and never in-person. In the episode "Huntor" he had said that his television set was about to be dropped into the lava rather than his human body; since the Commander indicated that he would die if that happened, it would seem to be true that he is an image projected by the television instead of a real human being. But, [[NegativeContinuity that may have been a throwaway gag for the sake of one episode]]. Whether he really is human is not known.
* ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', much like ''WesternAnimation/{{Bonkers}}'', is unclear about what the distinction is between [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman cartoon humans and "regular" humans]]. Of the main characters, [[HumanAlien Captain Hero]], Spanky, Wooldoor, and Ling-Ling are clearly not human; where Princess Clara, Foxxy, Xandir, and Toot lie is unclear. All of them look and are treated like humans, but all of them have special powers relating to what genre of cartoon they come from.
* There are suggestions that Mandy from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' might be more than the human child she appears to be. She's far more physically and mentally capable than the average kid, and her smiles have the power to distort reality. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Also she lacks a]] [[TheNoseless visible nose.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'': [[BigBad Dr. Claw]] is never shown on screen, only his gloved hands. Even then, we don't know if they're gloves or mechanical parts. While the live-action films and his toy show a human-looking man, the cartoon is more ambiguous, especially with the deep, guttural voice he speaks in. While other cartoons do show he has family, including a very human-looking nephew, this doesn't necessarily mean he is or was human.
* Ms. Bitters, the "skool"-teacher on ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. She looks like an old woman, yet she can hover, twist her body like a snake, pass through walls and is burned by the sun. She also has a MultipleChoicePast, and none of these stories makes any sense. [[WordOfGod One of the creators]] is on record as saying she's non-human, but her exact nature is never exactly qualified.
* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': Daolong Wong appears to be a very human sorceror. However, it's established he's very old, older than uncle. Furthermore, an episode involving the astral projection shows that inside him are some kind of screaming ghost-like entities.
* There's some debate over whether Heloise on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' is human. She and Jimmy are the only two human-shaped citizens of Miseryville, but given that only Jimmy is hinted to be a FishOutOfWater, some fans wonder. With her occasionally slithering movements, one popular {{Epileptic Tree|s}} is that she's a naga (we never see her feet), though it has been shown she has two appendages under her dress. Officially, WordOfGod is that she's "a bit of a [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifter]]", but even that's still kinda mysterious.
* The Manji from the animated ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'' series were a whole tribe of Ambiguously Human MalevolentMaskedMen. One character outright questions if they are people when she first sees them, Alan replies simply that they are '[[MathematiciansAnswer Manji]]'. The giant masks that are treated as their faces are big enough that there could or could not be a humanoid head behind them. No one knows.
* Voltar from ''WesternAnimation/LeagueOfSuperEvil'' could easily be mistaken for [[TheNapoleon a very short human]] in a costume, given that his teammates are definite humans. However, he never willingly takes off his helmet (even when he's bathing or changing clothes), which possesses large black eyes with glowing yellow pupils that are still there the few times his helmet is taken off by others (although he wears a BrownBagMask with eyeholes when this happens). This has led a few to speculate that, combined with his short statue and pale skin (seen whenever his suit is off), he may in fact be an alien.
* Flip from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse''. The season five episode "Blinded By Science" reveals that while he looks human on the outside, he's not exactly human on the inside. He's got organs in the wrong spots and can't feel pain at times, not to mention he's able to withstand subzero temperatures. In "Any Given Sundae", he's established to have already grown a ''second'' set of wisdom teeth and as a teenager, he was able to spontaneously grow his mustache in anger. Also, according to "Flip This Flip", he ''sweats nacho cheese''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madeline}}'': Marie from "Madeline's Christmas" somehow lets the relatives appear at the school despite a blizzard, and uses a strange, but apparently delicious, sort of porridge to cure Madeline's schoolmates, Dr. Cone, and the mouse of their colds. She appears human, and there don't seem to be any non-human humanoids in the series, but the angel decoration at the top of the Christmas tree resembles Marie, which has led to speculation that Marie is an angel. She could also be a human mage, as one of the books features a magician, but what she really is is left a mystery.
* [[InexplicablyAwesome Miss Frizzle]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' appears to be human, but has strange abilities and is heavily implied to be [[OlderThanTheyLook older than she looks]]. A common joke in the fandom is that she's a [[Series/DoctorWho Time Lord]].
* A lot of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' are [[{{Gonk}} bizarre-looking]], but Captain K'nuckles really looks inhuman: his body is approximately popsicle-shaped and his head is blue-gray except the nose and torso, with the rest of his body parts being either [[ArtificialLimbs wooden replacements]]. Despite this, [[HumanAllAlong he himself has said he's a human being]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/MegaBabies'' are supposed to be humans, but they don’t really look like it. They [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation are the only characters in the show to not have natural skin colors]] and have bizarre appearances that make them look like humanoid monsters or aliens.
* The witches from ''WesternAnimation/MegAndMog'' are probably humans, except that their skin is perfectly white, while everybody else's is pink or brown.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw,'' a RunningGag is that one of title character's teachers, Kyle Drako, is Ambiguously Vampiric -- he's an [[EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette Eerie Pale Skinned Brunet]] with a [[VillainousWidowsPeak widow's peak]], has [[VampireVords a vaguely Eastern European accent]], only [[DaywalkingVampire goes in the sun]] with some sort of covering, etc. Chad is convinced that he's a vampire, though Melissa is skeptical.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfJonnyQuest'' features Maximilian Dragna in "Warlord of the Sky." He has a very grotesque, almost reptilian appearance, with MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, sagging face folds, no visible nose, solid green eyes with large lashes and a full head and [[BeardOfEvil beard]] of snow white hair. Dr. Quest recognizes him, though, so he is a known figure. Possibly he ''is'' human but merely deformed or mutated in some way.
* There are two distinct humanoid races on the Boiling Isles in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[MageSpecies Witches]] ([[HumanOutsideAlienInside which look near identical to humans save for their pointy ears]]) and Biped Demons (which tend to be a lot more monstrous in appearance). [[JerkJock Boscha]] has a third eye, but is otherwise human looking in head and body, implying she could be a genetic offshoot of the former or [[NonHumanHumanoidHybrid some sort of hybrid]].
** There are two other examples regarding actual humans, but both are spoilers for the last quarter of Season 2:
*** [[spoiler:Emperor Belos is in reality Philip Wittebane, a human who fashioned himself as a witch to eventually wipe out all life on the Boiling Isles as he is [[FantasticRacism repulsed by witches]] due to [[NewEnglandPuritan religious propaganda]] convincing him they're AlwaysChaoticEvil. Centuries of abusing magic and consuming Palismen has left him a TranshumanAbomination made of green sludge who can barely maintain a human form, and it's ambiguous whether anything actually human remains.]]
*** [[spoiler:Hunter is a Grimwalker created as a ReplacementGoldfish for what is heavily implied to be Belos' brother, making it unclear if he's a powerless witch or a human made to look like a witch.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/PacManAndTheGhostlyAdventures'', most of the cast consists of either spheroid Pac-Man-like characters (called "Pac-Worlders") or ghosts. Ghoulasha the witch, however, looks like a regular human witch.
* While ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'' features a lot of oddball creatures, every human character is recognizably human. Except Rippen, who has greenish skin and red eyes. Phyllis also once claimed to be [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld over a thousand years old]]. As it turns out, [[spoiler:Rippen is from a different dimension and Phyllis is some sort of a CosmicEntity]].
* ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'' has Mr. Potato and a few of what appear to be other talking fruit and vegetables. But are they really AnthropomorphicFood or are they animals in costumes? They could also be humans in costumes, but the only two known humans on the show are the Queen and Santa.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesOfDarkWater'' took place on "the alien world of Mer" which was populated by many nonhuman humanoid creatures, as well as a more common type of ambiguous human (or HumanAliens?) with distinct slanted eyes. What species the Pirate Lord Bloth belonged to was similarly ambiguous, considering his immense size, blue skin, and unusual facial features. Most of Bloth's pirate crew was similarly humanoid but probably not human, though ambiguous cases like Konk and Mantis did exist.
* ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** The Gangreen Gang all have [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation lime-green skin]], and three of the five have other physical anomalies (most alarmingly, sweeping away Billy's bangs shows he is a {{Cyclops}}). It's never specified it they're humanoid monsters, mutants, or weird-looking teenage boys.
** Sedusa looks human except for the PrehensileHair and [[TheNoseless a nearly invisible nose]], though it's never said whether or not she is.
** The titular characters. They were [[ArtificialHumans created in a lab]], have superpowers, and have no [[TheNoseless noses]], fingers, or toes. Their big eyes are odd but apparently normal humans can have them too. According to ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016'' SoftReboot, the girls are at least eight but [[OlderThanTheyLook still look five]], implying they age slowly.
* ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'': Since their only appearance thus far is the drawing in the dirt Mira made, we're given no clue if "The Scorpion" is a person wearing a horned helmet or some kind of humanoid monster with large horns. Considering the world Spear and Fang live in, both are plausible.
* The Color Kids in ''WesternAnimation/RainbowBrite'' look like human children at first glance but are actually tiny when compared to a normal ten year old like Bryan. They also have unusual hair colors and [[ThemeNaming similarly]] [[PunnyName unusual]] names like "Red Butler" and "Shy Violet". There are [[MinorLivingAlone no adults supervising them]] and there are some implications they're OlderThanTheyLook. Rainbow Brite herself was originally a human orphan named "Wisp" who saved the kingdom and became "Rainbow Brite", but it's unknown if the other children are of similar origin or if they're native to the land.
* The title characters of ''WesternAnimation/RainbowRangers'' have surreal hair colors, [[CurtainsMatchTheWindow which match their eyes]], and magic powers. Not to mention they're not from Earth.
* ''WesternAnimation/RainbowButterflyUnicornKitty'' has Ryan O'Brian, a character who is a {{Leprechaun}} and identified as such InUniverse, but he is human-sized with green skin and not the traditional small-sized helium-voiced type, although he has abilities that a leprechaun normally has in addition to human abilities (except for the JackassGenie behavior of a leprechaun). But he doesn't have the weakness to wrought iron, and it's questionable whether he's really human, or a HalfHumanHybrid but this is never stated in the show itself, and for all intents and purposes, he's treated as a leprechaun.
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' has Muscle Man and Starla. They look more humanoid than anyone else in the [[{{Pun}} regular cast]] (possibly except for Eileen, who has been identified as a [[InformedSpecies mole]]), but they have got [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation green]] skin.
** Pops has a human-like appearance, but a lollipop-like shape. [[spoiler: He's eventually revealed to be an alien.]]
* WesternAnimation/RubyGloom is the most human-like character in a cast consisting otherwise of monsters and creepy creatures. However, her abnormally pale white skin has led some to doubt if she really is a TokenHuman. A popular fan theory points to her love of sewing and what look like stitches under her eyes as proof that she might in fact be some kind of [[LivingToys sentient ragdoll]], but the series never confirms this.
** Misery from the same series is equally puzzling. She is the second most human-like character in the series, but has unusual, grey, corpse-like skin and is implied to be OlderThanTheyLook or even ReallySevenHundredYearsOld on several occasions. Popular {{fanon}} states that she's a banshee, but nothing in the series ever confirms this.
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'':
** There are several people who [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation have rather unnatural skin colors like blue or grey]], but whether they are aliens who resemble humans or humans with different skin color due to the thousands of years of interacting with aliens in unclear. The first three citizens Jack meets, [[AllThereInTheManual Homeslice, Cole Lampkin and Brobot]], seem human enough that Jack isn't set off by their appearances. This was before he encountered the less human-looking denizens of the future and realized he was sent through time.
** The blind archers that Jack encountered early in his journey look remarkable off when they are freed from their curse. They have necks as long as their torsos and lack ears on their extremely round heads. Even in Season 5, which is set 50 years later, they live with a race not that different from them and haven't aged.
** The Cult of Aku appear human, at least the seven daughters, but they are never seen unmasked. The High Priestess likely ''was'' human before [[spoiler:she drank a sample of Aku's essence]] and gave birth to her daughters.
* V.V. Argost in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'', who is [[spoiler:actually a Yeti]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Krusty the Clown leaves a lot of fans guessing. This ambiguity was evident in the very beginning, in Series/{{the Tracey Ullman sho|w}}rts, when Bart insists that Krusty is a "real" clown and not "just a guy in clown makeup." In the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E12KrustyGetsBusted Krusty Gets Busted]]", we see him out of makeup and with normal-sized feet. And in [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E6LikeFatherLikeClown the episode]] that [[InformedJudaism informs us of his Jewish heritage]], Krusty has a perfectly human father and is clearly human (if somewhat weird-looking) as a little boy. So case closed, right? [[NegativeContinuity Think again.]] Subsequent episodes had Krusty pointing to his face and (seriously?) saying: "This ain't makeup!" and referring to his "grotesque appearance," though this is strongly suggested to be the result of one of his multiple heart attacks. And in the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E15BartTheFink Bart the Fink]]", Bart and Lisa find him hiding out as a "normal" man with yellow skin named "Rory B. Bellows"...who in due course leaps into the water and leaves yellow paint behind, revealing his (real?) whitened clown face underneath! On the other hand, Krusty's (biological) daughter Sophie is undeniably human (albeit with clown-like hair), as is Sophie's (single) mother. It's really hard to square all this. [[WildMassGuessing Perhaps Krusty was adopted, and his "father" made him up to look like a human boy. And maybe Sophie is some other man's daughter after all]].
** Krusty's rival Gabbo (from the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E22KrustyGetsKancelled Krusty Gets Kancelled]]" episode) is another creature who is hard to categorize. He can move about independently of the ventriloquist he's supposedly a dummy to, and appears to have a personality completely distinct from the ventriloquist as well -- even to the point that the ventriloquist ''can't control what he does''. Yes, he has pale, waxy skin and hinge-lines on his jaws -- but those could just be makeup. And he ''is'' very small -- but he could just be a midget. On the other hand, his lips flap up and down in a very inhuman manner and a newspaper announces that he's having a "real-boy operation." Just what ''is'' he?
** Charles Montgomery Burns. It's pretty suspicious that he can take a bullet in the chest from a gun fired by [[spoiler: Maggie Simpson]] [[MadeOfIron and survive]], especially considering his age. He also brags about his "strong, sharp teeth" and threatens to "club [people] and eat their bones"...and when, in the episode that had him dating Marge's mother, she told him "You are the Devil himself!", Burns became very angry and defensive ("What?! Who told you -- ") before realizing she was speaking metaphorically.
** In the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E19TheSweetestApu The Sweetest Apu]]", Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon considers divorcing her adulterous husband and goes to see a very bizarre lawyer with bug eyes and elf-like facial features. Sure, he looks perfectly human if you're far away or looking at him from the back. But he acts so crazy and evil that he makes Manjula ill at ease, and she remarks that he reminds her of legends of demented monkey-men from her native India. As she is leaving his office, the lawyer bellows in a booming voice: "WHEN WILL YOU HUMANS LEARN?!" -- but it's a pretty easy voice to fake, so it could be the lawyer is just a very ugly, very psychopathic human.
** The old, green-skinned Chinese man who sells Homer the cursed Krusty doll in one of the Halloween specials. It's possible he's wearing green makeup, but...''why''?
** Homer himself. One Season 1 episode had Homer get plastered in mud, which resulted in him being mistaken for Bigfoot. He is taken in for scientific examination, and after cleaning of the mud and a series of extensive studies, the conclusion was that he ''may or may not'' be human.
** On the subject of Krusty, there's also "Handsome Pete," a little person with a head that looks like a distorted version of Krusty's clown face, who was used as a one-off gag.
** One episode strongly suggests that Hans Moleman belongs to a subterranean race of mole people. Hans himself has [[TheyKilledKennyAgain a habit of surviving the various mishaps that apparently kill him]], like being rammed off the road by Homer or having an ether-intoxicated Mister Burns drill into his skull.
* ''WesternAnimation/SkysurferStrikeForce'': It's never stated whether [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Cerina]] is a Bio-Borg like her father and the rest of the villains, or just the TokenHuman. She lacks any non-human features and any combat she does requires skill in hand-to-hand with no power or abilities whatsoever.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''
** Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy [[ApparentlyHumanMerfolk look human]], [[SuperNotDrowningSkills breathe underwater]], [[SpeaksFluentAnimal speak to animals]], and are implicitly ''really'' small compared to other humans because they're similar in size to the small sea creatures that live in Bikini Bottom (though Mermaid Man ''does'' have a ShrinkRay, the [[YourSizeMayVary inconsistent scale of the Bikini Bottomites compared to humans doesn't help]]). They don't look like Neptune and the other merpeople either.
** Man Ray, a member of their RoguesGallery, raises even more questions. Much about his anatomy appears human, but the costume he's wearing doesn't allow any glimpse of what's underneath. He's bigger than Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, but not as large as any of the confirmed humans. Perhaps the biggest point of contention is his head. It looks like a mask, but is ''very'' expressive. At the end of his debut episode, he was able to remove it entirely without any ill effects, showing he had NoFaceUnderTheMask, and leaving it unclear as to whether it's his real head.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** The title character is explicitly a HalfHumanHybrid between human and Gem, but how human or non-human that makes him is uncertain. He mostly seems like a regular flesh and blood human with [[HeartDrive his mother's gem]] in his stomach, but he can shapeshift and {{fus|ionDance}}e. "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E13SoManyBirthdays So Many Birthdays]]" shows that his physical age is somewhat dependent on his state of mind and not just his actual chronological age, with WordOfGod confirming that his effectively makes him immortal. Early on, he seems no more physically able than an average human child, but as the show progresses he displays SuperStrength and SuperToughness with increasing frequency -- and it's not clear when that started. And he can use gem {{Magitek}}, which is explicitly impossible for non-Gems, but again it isn't certain whether that's him or "just" his mother's gem. The Season 5 finale shows that [[spoiler:pulling out his gem will separate his gem and human halves. His human half acts the same, but [[CantLiveWithoutYou weakens and will probably die soon]] if not reunited. His gem half, which still looks and sounds like Steven, is physically fine, but seems emotionless, amoral, and completely focused on combining back together]].
** [[CreepyChild Onion]] acts and looks extremely strange (he seems to have no ears for starters), which causes Steven [[LampshadeHanging to question if he's human]], as seen in the page quote. Onion's humanity appears to be confirmed when he shows Steven a graphic video of Vidalia giving birth to him in "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E16OnionFriend Onion Friend]]", but Steven is ''still'' unsure, and places Onion into a category of his own in "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E23Reunited Reunited]]". ("[[LadiesAndGerms Dearly beloved gems, humans, lions big and small, living gourds, Onion...]]").Onion also doesn't visibly age, keeping his appearance after the TimeSkip when other young characters hadn't, [[ShrugOfGod which the show's creator refused to explain]], which only added to the recurring meme in the fandom is that Onion [[TheDogWasTheMastermind is some kind of superpowerful alien or supernatural being]].
** [[spoiler: Lars Barriga was born a normal human, but died on Homeworld early in Season 5 and was revived by Steven in a process that gave him [[ADogNamedDog Lion]]'s pink coloring and powers. By extension, it can be assumed that Lion was once a normal lion who died but was revived by Rose Quartz. WordOfGod says that Lars has all the same powers as Lion (even if he hasn't found out how to use them), and while the two are not outright immortal, [[ProportionalAging they will age very slowly compared to other members of their respective species]]. Whether or not Lars can still be considered human at all is debatable.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'':
** The Warden most definitely looks human, but has magical powers and, according to the two-parter Season 1 finale "Time Police", is OlderThanTheyLook.
** Although Lord Stingray appears to be a normal human man beneath the costume (the fact he never removes his ExpressiveMask aside), [[TeasingCreator Christy Karacas teased]] fans with the remark: "Who says he's even human?"
* Members of the Galactic Guardian Group in ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' look human and are based in Earth, but have technology much more advanced and aesthetically different than anyone's else from earth. [[spoiler:Their technology and one of their high-ranking member's fighting style are revealed to be [[HumanAliens Gallalunan]]. At the very least their actual leader, the mysterious figure Solomon talks to, is from Gallaluna (and may be Lance's DisappearedDad who went into a spacewarp).]]
* The Federation in ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' has fairly human looking members such as General Blanque and Lonae, but the fact Earth is a low technology backwater and not even aware of the Federation is actually a plot point. [[WildMassGuessing Maybe the aliens who experimented on Agent Bishop decided to clone up a race of humans from his DNA.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'':
** Jinx for all intentions looks human, however she has pink hair, pink eyes, and ''grey'' skin and how she has her [[WindsOfDestinyChange bad luck powers]] is unexplained.
** It's uncertain whether Killer Moth is wearing a costume or [[NotAMask has actually]] somehow mutated into a human/moth hybrid. He has a completely human-looking daughter, so he was probably human at ''some'' point (assuming she's his biological child, of course). In the comics and in one of the animated ''Batman'' series, [[TakeAThirdOption he is both]]: formerly an IneffectualSympatheticVillain who merely ''dressed'' as a moth, he was mutated (by DealWithTheDevil in [[ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed the comics]], by the Penguin's chemical weapons in the series) into [[MothMenace a gigantic humanoid moth with a taste for human flesh]].
** Kitten's ex boyfriend Fang is a teenager with a spider for a head. Not a spider's head, an entire giant spider for a head on an otherwise human body. How exactly this happened and whether he is a human or some kind of alien is left unanswered.
* ''WesternAnimation/UncleGrandpa'' looks human and is the most humanoid of the main characters, yet frequently demonstrates powers that make no sense for a human to have and which other humans on the show don't have, claims in one episode to be older than Mr. Gus, who has been around since before humans evolved, and "Space Emperor" shows that there is at least one alien who looks identical to him aside from the colour of his moustache. "Christmas Special" confirms that he's the same species as Santa Claus, [[NonAnswer which doesn't really help.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':
** Red Death has blood-red skin, glowing yellow eyes, and a SkullForAHead. Obviously, he's not fully human now, but whether he ever ''was'' a human and if there's any humanity left in him is decidedly ambiguous. His age is also rather odd, in that he's said to be quite old (having been an active villain for well over twenty years by the time of the series), but he has a young wife and a daughter in grade school. Whatever's the deal with him, it's genetic, since his daughter looks just like him.
** Doctor Henry Killinger certainly looks like a tubby middle-aged guy wearing a black outfit and a facemask, but he has undefined--yet clearly immense--supernatural and magical powers. It's never been defined what he is; Doctor Orpheus's attempts to figure him out only earned him a PsychicNosebleed for his troubles. "All This and Gargantua-2" suggests him to be some variety of higher power, and that he has brothers who take the names of Greek wind deities, but that's about it.
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/VillainousCartoonNetwork Villainous]]'', Flug seems mostly human (although the paper bag over his head does leave a little bit of wiggle room), 5.0.5. is a genetically engineered bear, and Black Hat appears to be some sort of HumanoidAbomination. The ambiguous one is Dementia, the fourth character: she appears human, but can crawl on walls like a gecko and a blueprint of her is shown briefly at one point.
* Princess Demurra and Brad Starlight from ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' are clearly Disney Prince/ss parodies. But their lack of noses and Dremurra's exceedingly exaggerative traits make it hard to tell if it's the show's style or alien anatomy; considering that every race is a [[StarfishAliens unique looking alien]] and Hater, a skeleton, has a hole for a nose.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheWizardOfOz1933'', the titular wizard has PointyEars and magical powers. It's never explained that he is from America like Dorothy, thus making it ambiguous whether he's a normal human or a member of an Oz-specific HumanSubspecies.
* All the fairies from ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub''. Is hard to tell if they're only humans with magical powers or, as their butterfly wings suggest, an entirely different species(still with enough genetic affinity to sire half-bloods like Roxy). the doubts only increases even more when we meet [[http://static.wikia.nocookie.net/winx/images/f/f3/ArcadiaFairyform.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20190123044354/ Arcadia]], the very first fairy of the magical dimension, which looking is even less human.
* ''WesternAnimation/XavierRenegadeAngel'': Xavier's parents look and act like humans, but their son is a CartoonCreature.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'': This iteration of Mercy Graves is a {{cyborg}}, and it's not clear just how much of her is human. She [[SuperToughness takes far more damage than the average human]], never says a single word, and follows [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] with little to no emotion. On the other hand, she does bleed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AlexKidd'' usually looks like a young boy with a mean case of EightiesHair, however sometimes he has monkey-like features. This isn't so surprising since he's partially based on [[MonkeyKingLite the Monkey King]].
* Mumbo Jumbo the shaman and Gruntilda the witch in the ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' series. Both of them have human forms, albeit with very strange skin color (bright pink and green, respectively), and Mumbo's face has been magically transformed into a skull-like mask, so there's no telling what he may have originally looked like. [[AllThereInTheManual The manual says]] they used to be magic partners, so they could be members of the same species; a MageSpecies, perhaps? This trend is continued in the first sequel with Humba-Wumba, who appears to be a normal [[BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins Native]] woman, but she has a magic pool and appears to be much taller than Banjo.
** Some people speculated that Mumbo may have been a Jinjo, but when asked about this on his CharacterBlog, Mumbo simply said, "Mumbo never been so insulted in whole life".
* Songbird from ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' is a giant mechanical bird, but sketches of its designs from ''Burial at Sea -- Episode 2'' indicate it may actually be a human in a suit.
* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'': Azrael's appearance is that of a really, really muscular dude. However, his punches leave visible shockwaves, he can tear chunks of earth out of the ground and PunchedAcrossTheRoom is his ''main gameplay gimmick''. He needed a specially-designed prison where he was frozen for over a decade in cryogenic stasis, and on release shook it off like he'd had a long nap. In Act 1 of ''Centralfiction'' he can sense the presence of Phantom, only achieved by other characters by the useful of powerful magic devices or Observance, and in Act 2 he punches his way out of a PocketDimension. And then feels so good about it he immediately challenges the Imperator to a fight. And all of this is performed through ''four'' layers of PowerLimiter, which he only uses to stop victims dying too quickly. Many characters find it hard to believe that Azrael is even human at all.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
** [=Zer0=] from ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' is actually speculated in game to not be human. Prevailing theories seem to be on alien (he's only got [[FourFingeredHands four fingers]] on each hand), a robot (what with being utterly emotionless), or just a garden variety psycho. A DLC head seemingly reveals that there's a robotic eye under that visor... except that the name of the head is "[[TheUnreveal N0t C4n0n]]".
** ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' doesn't resolve the issue, but it *does* feature [[spoiler:a [=Zer0=] imposter which is revealed to be a human in a suit. This may or may not indicate that the same is true for the real deal]].
* The P.E.K.K.A from ''VideoGame/ClashOfClans'' wears heavy armor that covers every inch of its body, which also [[AmbiguousGender leaves its gender unknown]], if it has one. In fact, one of the hints at the game's loading screen wonders if the P.E.K.K.A is a knight, a samurai, or a robot. Its TV commercials gives it a robotic voice, though.
* Some of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of the Dead in ''VideoGame/DarksidersII'' are Ambiguously ''Post''-Human. One, Draven, is said to have once been a human warrior, but he doesn't look any different from the [[TheUndead other residents]].
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'':
** The ''gods'' are really just pygmies who attained power through the Lord souls pulled from the first flame. However the literal definition of humans in this universe is "Person with a piece of the Dark Soul inside them" add to that inconsistent references to Gwyn and his ilk being called giants, despite giants being an explicitly inhuman race, and it becomes unclear what precisely anyone is.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', we're introduced to the Shards of [[EldritchAbomination Manus]]. Aspects and pieces of Primeval Man's soul who gain sapience and take the form of beautiful women who go off to seek other powerful souls to suck on. We only see the [[OneWingedAngel true shapes]] of [[spoiler:Nashandra]] and Elana, both of which look very inhuman but again we run into the problem of definition. Manus was a human who was twisted and mutated by his own Dark Soul, so does that make him and his children any more or less human than the protagonist? Abyss spawn are generally counted as monsters but exactly it is that makes the Abyss different from the Dark within humans is hard to define as well.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'': Baby Bonnie Hood, or B.B. Hood for short, was created to be the TokenHuman of the cast as well as depicting her as [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters more dangerous, evil]] and AxCrazy than any monster. That said, she shows rather inhuman levels of strength and durability, while also possessing no sort of monster lineage like Donovan Bane. Her eyes are also said to glow white, especially when she's at her most sinister. A very common belief is that her soul being so evil somehow allows her to fight Darkstalkers, which raises questions since even a succubus has shown more humanity than her.
* ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic:'' It's unclear if MissionControl is a human or a dwarf; with [[StoutStrength his physique and face]], it could go either way, and even his lack of a beard says little seeing the miners themselves (who are ''very clearly'' dwarves) can and do go without beards depending on the class and cosmetics. The company employs both species at leisure, and neither he nor the miners ever say anything clarifying about his species (the dwarves only call him "that guy in Mission Control").
* In ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', the Doom Slayer can do things like absorb normally-fatal demonic energy without suffering any ill effects. A data log in ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' confirms him to be genetically human, [[spoiler:but goes on to note that he's been enhanced to become something beyond human, and Khan Makyr states that he is no longer mortal]].
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': Elisa's official art indicates that she's a simple human girl, in the game she uses the same elf sprite as Rose.
* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': Just about everyone. There are explicit HalfHumanHybrid and RubberForeheadAlien races in the Lands Between like the giantkin, Draconians, Onyx/Alabaster Lords, and Numen, as well as various types of mutants and godly-influenced beings thanks to the various Outer Gods and magical experiments. Some characters appear entirely human or are clearly nonhuman, but with others it's hard to tell whether some aspects like great size, odd proportions, or off-putting skin textures are evidence of them being weird humans, mutants, divinities, or bearing nonhuman ancestry.
** To give just one example, the Commoners are all seven feet tall and have gangly limbs and chalk-white skin, looking quite different from the player and other [=NPCs=] with similar proportions (like Foot Soldiers, Nobles, and other Tarnished). Are they a nonhuman underclass like the Misbegotten? Humans with scant nonhuman ancestry? Normal exceptionally-tall humans who have had their bodies warped by the Cosmic Keystone being broken? Who knows.
** A lot of the generic boss-level enemies like Black Knives, Cleanrot Knights, Night's Cavalry, Crucible Knights, and Tree Sentinels are 8-9 feet tall and never take off their armor. This is not merely a gameplay abstraction, as other bosses who are simply supposed to be exceptionally powerful humans (like Vyke, Adan, or [[spoiler:Sir Gideon Ofnir]]) are your size. Since each of aforementioned boss types are elite troops associated with a particular divinity, it's possible their sizes are results of SuperEmpowering (we see that this can increase someone's size, most notably by Godfrey being 13 feet tall due to being an Elden Lord), but that's never stated and other explanations exist. The ambiguity extends to named bosses in a similar size range like Loretta, Ordovis, and Alecto.
* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series: Anna looks human and the player even sees her parents, but on death a wooden idol falls out of her instead of a ghost. This is never commented on in-game, it's not clear if the idol [[SoulJar holds her soul]] or ''is'' her soul. This wooden idol also appears when she guards. Complicating matters is in the premium version of ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy5'': [[spoiler:her Evil Player counterpart, Annabelle, is a demon that has a spider appear in a similar vein as Anna's idol when she casts something. Annabelle's death sequence has her body turning in to black spirits until the spider remains, which poofs away shortly after. This implies the spider is the "real" Annabelle, but that doesn't answer much since the other playable characters have their own counterparts that clearly are not normal humans/not a normal cat either]].
* The Four Tribes from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles''. All four are considered human and distinct from animals, monsters, and other sentient races like Moogles or Carbuncles, though the Lilty and Yuke tribes are [[OurHumansAreDifferent clearly not human in our sense of the word]] given that they are PlantPeople and bird people who later evolve into purely spirits possessing suits of armor down the timeline respectively, while the Clavat and Selkie races are more ambiguous.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'':
** Sephiroth (who is not a reliable source) states that humans are descended from Cetra who abandoned their nomadic urge to 'settle the Planet, then move on', instead choosing to settle down. It is unclear whether he means that humans abandoned a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to focus on establishing settlements, as happened in the history of the human race in reality, or whether he means that the Cetra were nomadic ''spacefarers'' and the humans those who decided to stay on one planet. The fact that an excavated spaceship is visible in an archaeology site reinforces this idea; but Aeris tells us that the Cetra 'were created by the Planet'.
** The CanonWelding with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' tells us that space travellers from Spira reached the Planet at some point. At least, this means President Shinra and Rufus Shinra are HumanAliens; at most, it means every character in the game (besides Ifalna, a full-blooded Cetra) is an alien. Which raises questions about how it is that they can 'return to the Planet' when they die...
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'':
** During the conclusion of the 3.0 Heavensward plot, a number of your opponents begin to legitimately question whether or not you are actually another mere heroic "Spoken", as you've gone from "doing heroic things" to "performing feats that, by the laws of the metaphysics of this world, should be properly, literally impossible".
** Shadowbringers finally reveals [[spoiler: the "Echo" is in fact the same ability that gives the Ascians their power, and the Warrior of Light in a past life was one of the greatest of all the Ascians: Azem, the fourteenth seat of the Convocation of Fourteen, the ruling body of the ancient precursors of Amaurot, and colleague of the likes of Emet-Selch. Further, your abilities are getting so close to that of an unbroken Ascian, when the protagonist reclaims the eighth of fourteen pieces of their previous unbroken soul from Ardbert's sacrifice, Emet-Selch even temporarily sees the protagonist as Azem in full.]]
* Byleth in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''. [[spoiler:The exact nature is never made clear, but in the Silver Snow route, Rhea reveals to them that their mother was an ArtificialHuman that she hoped would serve as the vessel for her mother’s soul, Sothis. Jeralt, their father, was given a transfusion of Nebatean blood when he saved Rhea’s life. Adding to the mystery, is that Byleth has a crest stone implanted onto their heart that saved them from being stillborn. All this leaves it up in the air of just how human Byleth really is.]]
* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'':
** The Celestial Twins Aether and Lumine look completely human, but seem to have something that separates them from the regular human, such as being {{Dimensional Traveler}}s. This is explored in Albedo's story quest, in which he experiments on [[PlayerCharacter the Traveler]] to find out how different they are from normal humans, since they can wield elements without a Vision and they can withstand corruptive influences. In the end, after the experiments, Albedo concludes that the Traveler isn't much different from regular humans; they and Paimon lampshade it, but he then points out that this result shouldn't be taken for granted, as it means Teyvat's world laws aren't hostile to them. However... [[spoiler:after the Traveler leaves him, he muses to himself that he made a point to tell them how "ordinary" the results are, but then he notes about the strange sediment left in the potion vial from which the Traveler drank, which normally shouldn't appear. He indirectly implies that he himself has a similar result from said potion, while also noting that they are both "composed of a substance that has yet to be fully defined".]]
** Speaking of Albedo, [[spoiler:he claims that he is born of "chalk", in contrast to the other humans of Teyvat who are born of "soil", and professes a kinship to the Traveler who is from another world. He also claims to have no memories of any blood relatives. One of his talents is also "[[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Homuncular]] Nature". His character story mentions that while his old master wasn't his mother, he felt that his life stemmed from her. The epilogue of the "Chalk Prince and the Dragon" event has him claiming that the life force he extracted from the Festering Desire sword, which was born from a dragon cursed by an alchemist, resonates with him due to his fundamental nature]].
** Klee's species is left completely ambiguous. While she has a short stature, pointed ears, and ages at a much slower rate than other inhabitants of Celestia, she is not clearly stated to ''not'' be human. Her lifespan was likely inherited from her mother, Alice, who is also AmbiguouslyHuman and is heavily implied to have come from another world, but the reveal that Pucinella and Nahida (natives of Teyvat) also have a short stature and elf ears naturally makes which parent Klee inherited her ambiguously human traits from even more of a mystery.
* The titular Greendog in the Genesis platformer ''Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude'' is rendered in an extremely cartoony style, while every other human that appears looks more realistic.
* Squeezed inbetween his [[UncannyValley looks]], [[BlueAndOrangeMorality behavior]], [[AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle speech patterns]] and [[RealityWarper powers]], it's quite obvious that the G-Man from the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series is ''not'' a normal human. No-one really knows what exactly he is but WordOfGod has it that he was designed to invoke the image of [[HumanoidAbomination something that has assumed]] AFormYouAreComfortableWith but [[HughMann doesn't care if you]] ''[[HughMann remain]]'' [[HughMann comfortable with its form.]]
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', many new players mistake the Master Chief, an seven-foot-tall SuperSoldier who is constantly clad in PoweredArmor and never shows his face, to be a robot instead of an augmented human. This was lampshaded in ''Anime/HaloLegends''[='s=] "Odd One Out", where everyone calls Spartan-1337 "Big Robot Man".
* It's unknown what species the humanoid characters from ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'' are, Jak himself included. They have incredibly long ears and odd hair colors but are never specified as anything other than probably human.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' the Happy Mask Salesman ''looks'' like a [[HumanSubspecies Hylian]], but is also the UncannyValley incarnate. Similarly, there are the [[spoiler:children on the moon]].
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' has Rosso the miner, who looks like a Goron even though, going by ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'', his ancestors were apparently human. Though if [[BirdPeople Medli]] can be a direct descendant of [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Laruto]] in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', it's at least safe to assume he's genuine human as it's pretty clear evolution basically does whatever it feels like in the land of Hyrule.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' itself, the apparently human maidens were said to be descended from the Sages who sealed Ganon in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', and some of them were definitely not human.
* In ''VideoGame/LittleNightmares'', the protagonist Six is absolutely tiny compared to her surroundings and adversaries, but she is the most human-looking person we see. Though we never see her face properly, she appears sickeningly malnourished and pale. The hunger pains she suffers from are abnormally painful, and she becomes so desperate that she will eat just about anything -- tearing into and devouring a live rat, and even [[spoiler: consuming other sentient beings with little trouble.]]
** In ''VideoGame/LittleNightmaresII'', the protagonist Mono appears to be human but has various unexplained abilities, including being able to absorb the glitching remains, tuning in transmissions just by touching a television screen, travel through televisions and [[spoiler: RealityWarper abilities, banishing the Thin Man through sheer willpower and moving the TV-station closer to his location and straightening the bending buildings around him.]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Littlewood}},'' there's Willow. She has several traits stereotypically associated with elves: She's associated with nature, she has a forest-themed name, and she uses a bow. However, she lacks the pointy ears of an elf, which the other confirmed elf in the game (Iris) has. But she's never stated to be an elf.
* The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' is a cross between Ambiguously Human and AmbiguousRobots. Is he a human with augmentations, or, as Doktor speculates, is he an android? Eventually it's made clear that both are the wrong questions to ask.
* Zigzagged with Samus Aran of the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series. the game clearly states that Samus, who was born human, has been infused with Chozo (and later Metroid) DNA, but the exact ratio of human to alien DNA is never clarified. Considering that Samus has DNA from birdlike and jellyfishlike aliens in her, it's astounding that she still looks human.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'':
** Villagers look human, but have big noses and make weird noises, and are distinct from the more human-like player.
** Illagers look like villagers, but with grey skin. Unlike villagers, they're naturally hostile and will attack anyone.
** Witches look more human than villagers, are [[AlwaysChaoticEvil always evil]], and [[LightningCanDoAnything happen when a villager gets struck by lightning]], so it's unknown if they're human.
* ''Website/{{Neopets}}'': [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness At first, the creators, known as The Neopets Team (TNT), were actual characters, certain species looked like humans, and Edna the witch was a human]]. Then, they [[{{Retcon}} rewrote]] it so that humans didn't exist in Neopia, but there's still the guy who runs the Tombola on Mystery Island. He looks like a human, but his face is always covered. He also cannot be a Faerie as he has neither wings nor a tail and [[OneGenderRace there are no male faeries]].
* From the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series: Arfoire, Linda, and to a lesser extent CFW Magic, all of whom share the otherwise unique trait of having pale grayish-purple skin and pointy ears.
** In the first game, it was eventually revealed that [[spoiler: Arfoire was once the True Goddess and eventually performed a FaceHeelTurn. However, flashbacks to when she was still a Goddess show her looking exactly the same with no explanation]]. In the second game, which takes place in an alternate continuity, Arfoire (who in this continuity is a borderline EldritchAbomination) is mentioned to [[WasOnceAMan have once been a normal human]]. However, once we see [[spoiler: an artificial copy of]] her "human" form two games later, she looks the same as she always does. And finally, in the third game, which takes place in yet ''another'' alternate continuity, she is never implied to be anything other than a weird looking human, and yet she is still able to transform into her OneWingedAngel forms from the previous game. All we know for certain is that ''this'' version of Arfoire ''isn't'' a goddess.
** Linda's unique appearance is never commented upon, and she is for all intents and purposes just a weird looking human.
** CFW Magic is one of the aforementioned Eldritch Abomination's four CoDragons. However, the other three are {{Humongous Mecha}}s while Magic is the TokenHuman (?). When they die, all four apparently just vanish into thin air and return to their creator, with it being implied that they are some kind of vessel meant to contain a portion of her power, but this doesn't explain why Magic looks the way she does, if she [[WasOnceAMan was once human]] or if she's an artificial creation...
* In ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'', the "Anomaly" race option for player characters resembles a humanoid being in a space suit. They cannot take off their helmets, however, and their visors are completely opaque from the outside, leaving whether they are actually human a mystery. [[spoiler:The father of the Atlas, and thus, the creator of the LotusEaterMachine that the entire game takes place in, is suggested to be an Anomaly, giving credence to the possibility that Anomalies are, indeed, humans.]]
* ''VideoGame/NoStraightRoads'':
** While the majority of the cast is made up of humans (with some robots, a cyborg, and a [[VirtualCelebrity virtual mermaid]] thrown in for good measure), DJ Subatomic Supernova stands out as an exception. He's able to shapeshift his form by changing his size and making his arms [[CreepyLongArms long and spaghetti-like,]] his voice has an echo to it, and the small galaxy that makes up his head explodes into an UnrealisticBlackHole when the glass helmet that contains it breaks open during his boss fight. The only part about him that ''might'' suggest that he's human are his legs, which are short, hairy, and mostly hidden behind his DJ booth.
** Yinu's mother is another example. She spends most of Yinu's boss fight in the form of a towering wraith with hair that looks like dead tree branches stuck to the back of her head. She speaks in a VoiceOfTheLegion, makes wooden creaking sounds when she moves, and only gets bigger and more monstrous looking when she gets angrier during the fight. [[spoiler:Even when the fight is over and she's reverted to a much smaller, calmer form, she still doesn't look completely human, especially compared to her daughter.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'':
** The common [=NPCs=] (nicknamed "Elsen") are [[OneGenderRace all male,]] [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals look alike,]] act ''strangely'' paranoid, can [[UnreliableNarrator possibly]] transform in to beings called "Burnts" that commonly have some sort of smoke or liquid shooting from their heads, and [[spoiler:they're addicted to sugar, which in this world is made from burning their corpses]]. This on top of the already-weird world they and the whole game takes place in, where "air" is smoke and all the "ground" is made out of colorful metal. WordOfGod is that they are still human, [[spoiler:while the Batter and the Queen are not]], which raises more questions than it answers.
** A specific character confirmed to be human by Mortis Ghost is Enoch, the boss of Zone 3, who is even weirder than the regular workers. He first just looks like a really fat Elsen with black dots on his cheeks, until he starts SizeShifting and talks with his head cut off. His powers might be from whatever made him a guardian in the first place, given how a flashback shows him getting stuck in a hole and needing the help of several birds to pull him out.
** Hugo himself seems to be a normal human baby, yet he possesses the powers of a PhysicalGod without any explanation as to how or why.
* In ''VideoGame/PinballQuest,'' the King, the player, and the other citizens of the pinball realm resemble round metal balls. However, [[DamselInDistress Princess Ball]] looks like a human female. Whether she actually is a human or not is never specified.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' has the Ultra Recon Squad, a group of "people" who come from a world beyond an Ultra Wormhole. The most notable feature about them is the fact that their skin is so pale that it's almost blue. This is due to having their natural light stolen by Necrozma in the distant past and need to rely on artificial light. It isn't confirmed if they're humans or HumanAliens.
* Chloe from ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' insists she's an AlienAmongUs stranded on Earth but it's never confirmed if she is or not.
* The ''VideoGame/PunchOut'' series gives us King Hippo. All of the other boxers in the game are recognizably human, but King Hippo goes so [[NonStandardCharacterDesign completely against the established art style]] that it's impossible that he's simply an enormously obese Polynesian man. He has a semi-spheroid shape to his head, tiny sunken pig-like eyes, a flattened snout in the place of a nose, an enormously underslung jaw with a mouth that can open unnaturally wide, and two protruding flattened teeth that resemble tusks. The Wii version goes one step farther by giving him a series of animalistic roars and growls instead of spoken dialogue. Notably, while King Hippo reportedly hails from "Hippo Island", no other natives of that island have ever been seen in-game.
* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'': Risukuma was at one point stated to look like a squirrel-bear hybrid due to a freak accident, which was already strange enough given Suzuran, Ringo's world, is otherwise fairly ordinary and non-magical compared to Arle's world and Primp Town. However, this has since been retconned to Risukuma wearing a fursuit at all times with a removable head. However, no one apart from Ally ''knows'' what's under the head, and the truth is apparently "shocking".
* The ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' series has a few human-looking characters (notably Captain Qwark and Ace Hardlight), the most notable physical difference being they have three fingers on each hand.
* Hugh Bliss from ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' is described as an "albino thing that's struggling to look human". [[spoiler:He's eventually revealed to not be human in the slightest: he's a large colony of sentient bacteria that is, in fact, struggling to look human.]]
* ''VideoGame/ShatteredPixelDungeon'': There are two wands (Transfusion and Prismatic Light) that operate differently when used on, to quote the latter's description, "demonic and undead" enemies. Apparently that description matches the mad prisoners and guards of the second stage, and the not-explicitly-undead Dwarves of the fourth.
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'':
** Stephen is a disabled genius who somehow manages to show up in three of the five main games despite them taking place with large gaps in between and possibly in multiple universes, in addition to all of them featuring many disasters such as nukes and floods. In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', there's also a weird distortion in his voice.
** The Velvet Room residents in ''VideoGame/Persona3'', ''VideoGame/Persona4'', and ''VideoGame/Persona5'' are of unclear origin and are only referred to as residents of the Velvet Room. The siblings Elizabeth, Margaret, Theodore, Justine, and Caroline all appear to have the golden eyes of Shadows, yet wield personas at a far greater level than your own group. [[spoiler: The latter two are revealed to both be [[LiteralSplitPersonality halves]] of the same being. After overcoming their IdentityAmnesia, they merge back into their original personality, Lavenza. And according to ''VideoGame/Persona5DancingInStarlight'', she can both divide into them and merge at will while retaining all her memories.]]
* ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'': Due to the world being dominated by humans and other such sentient creatures, it's unclear if the knights, with few exceptions, are even humans themselves. Mole Knight has a very inhuman shape, Tinker Knight is short but doesn't have the same stature as a child, Polar Knight is large and muscular even compared to non-humans, and the titular Shovel Knight himself is guilty of this since no part of his body isn't covered in armor and you can run into an NPC that looks otherwise identical to Shovel Knight but they're not wearing a helmet, showing they have a fish head.
* ''VideoGame/{{Skylanders}}'': Out of all the characters in the series, Master Eon, Kaos, and Kaossandra are the most human-looking. The most humanoid playable characters other than Kaos are Déjà Vu, who looks like she could be a human but has her face completely obscured by her mask, and Aurora, who is Eon's niece.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'': For a long time Dr.Robotnik/Eggman was seen this way. This was especially true in early western classic continuties where he was given lots of inhuman features like red eyes with black sclera and (sometimes) a mechanical arm and he had the discintion of being the only human like creature on Mobius, a planet full of FunnyAnimals , making it unclear whether he was a human, a human-like alien or a cyborg. Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik has always been a little... ''off''. Even when the humans are all just as cartoony as he is, or when he is made more realistic-looking to fit the setting, he has caused many a raised eyebrow. However Sonic team has stated that Dr. Eggman is indeed fully human and even has human relatives.
* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'':
** Voldo is seemingly incapable of speech, able to fight trained warriors using only smell and hearing and contort himself in ways that just don't seem possible, and has VaderBreath and an UndeathlyPallor. Apparently he is just a blind and insane man, but given Vercci was a CollectorOfTheStrange in life, who knows if ''[[ArtifactOfDoom something]]'' that lies down in the Money Pit transformed Voldo in the years he spent down there.
** Yoshimitsu could be a man, but he claims in his story in ''VI'' that his "hatred has turned him into a demon". Whether he simply [[HeWhoFightsMonsters meant figuratively]], or it's just a BadassBoast he uses to strike fear into his enemies' hearts, or he really believes that he has become something inhuman is left unclear. But he has several strange powers with no obvious source including FunctionalMagic, [[YourSoulIsMine Soul Stealing]], {{Flight}}, {{Teleportation}}, [[ConfusionFu bizarre movement]] and EnergyAbsorption. And he never reveals his face.
* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': Handel and Greta, the KidHero secret agents in the original trilogy, ''look'' human, but display [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]] in one cutscene, and both display bizarre and powerful magical abilities. (Greta invokes BulletTime in one of the third game's cutscenes.) The fact that [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals the setting]] doesn't really ''have'' humans makes them even more suspect.
* The ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' contains a number of species that look identical to humans but aren't. Biologists in the GFFA term these "near-humans"; one good example is the Echani who appear in the ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' games.
* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'':
** It's hard to tell just who or ''what'' Q from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'' really is, or even if Q is a single person. On one hand, he's clearly humanoid, has a very noticeable VaderBreath, and the back of his head can be seen in character artwork underneath his mask, where he has blond hair. On the other hand, his movements are very strange and unnatural, electrocuting him reveals some very weird, indistinct things underneath that mask and trenchcoat, and if he's defeated via CherryTapping then he's knocked out while still standing, like a robot shutting down.
** Dhalsim is a balding, emaciated Indian man covered in facial tattoos and a necklace of tiny skulls and sporting blank white ProphetEyes. He has the ability to stretch his limbs until they're as long as he is tall, breathe fire, levitate and teleport, all of which are {{Hand Wave}}d with "Yoga". His portraits usually have him in bizarre, sometimes anatomically-impossible poses, and many of his alternate color schemes turn his skin tone into unnatural colors. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' acknowledges how weird he looks, with Dhalsim getting offended when Rufus asks if he's an alien.
** If "yoga" isn't a strange enough excuse for weird powers, Blanka was RaisedByWolves in the jungle. Somehow this turned his skin green and gave him the ability to generate electricity (which he apparently learned from ''electric eels''.)
** Introduced in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', we have the wild and crazed Necalli. It isn't entirely known where he came from, but the closest we get is ''Aztec''. Apparently he used to be a statue who comes to life and consumes the souls of strong warriors. Even other characters are confused as to what exactly he's supposed to be. Just like Q, electrocuting him doesn't reveal a human skeleton but a black silhouette.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** The Shy Guys are a sort of "tribe" of little guys so shy that they never expose anything of their bodies to anyone. They wear long cloaks, shoes, belts, masks and gloves, and when they lose their masks the first thing they do is run away while covering their faces. It's unlikely, given the Mushroom Kingdom's populace, that they actually ''are'' human, but their basic shape indicates that they are. In one of the ''Mario Power Tennis'' endings a Shy Guy's mask falls off, and while he's turned away from the screen poor Luigi can see it perfectly. He immediately falls over, looking like he saw a ghost, trembling in fear as the Shy Guy walks past him, seeming to imply that the Shy Guys are [[NightmareFace anything but]] human. The closest ''we'' get to seeing a Shy Guy's face is in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'', where there are Shy Guy-like ghosts whose masks have to be removed before they can be sucked up. Behind their masks are a pair of glowing yellow eyes a la [[Franchise/StarWars Jawas]].
** Wario and Waluigi, with their PointyEars, pink noses, and elf shoes, look more like goblins than regular people.
** Dr. Snoozemore in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''. Is he human? A relative of the local Pi'illo people? Some unknown human-like species? It's extremely hard to know, and it's never even hinted at in the game itself.
** The residents of New Donk City, from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'', look like regular, realistically proportioned humans. However they are never referred to as human by the in game brochure, they're just "New Donkers". That, coupled with their NonStandardCharacterDesign makes them a bit suspect when compared to humans like Mario, Peach and Pauline.
** According to an internal document from the 1990s, Mario himself isn't a homo sapiens, but a "homo nintendonus"; however, it was likely intended as a joke, and the document itself contains a lot of outdated information. Per WordOfGod, circa 2017, Mario is human.
** Back when the Brooklyn backstory for the Mario Bros. was still recognized enough to be mentioned in Mario 64's Player's Guide, Peach and presumably Daisy had the oddity of being from all signs human yet rule over short mushroom men. Stranger yet, if Toadette (one of the decidedly not-human Toads) grabs a Super Crown, she'll turn into a being that looks near-identical to Peach. What little has been told of Rosalina's backstory combined with her shown abilities makes what she is open to question too.
** While we're on the subject of short mushroom men, there's no indication in the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' that the "Mushroom Retainers" who serve Princess Toadstool/Peach are anything but humans in mushroom-shaped hats; [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness Toads didn't become a race unto themselves until later in the development of the canon]]. With the 8-bit graphics, it's impossible to say, but if Peach's court was originally composed of humans, it would at least make her less of an oddity (although it would raise just as many questions about the Mushroom Kingdom itself).
* Pyro from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', who is always hidden behind a gas mask and fireproof suit, and only speaks in muffled mumblings.
-->'''Heavy:''' I fear no man, but that, ''thing''.... It scares me.
* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'':
** The Lunatic Cultist appears to have a humanoid shape and size, but he has a VoiceOfTheLegion effect and can pull off things that even an endgame-tier player character is incapable of doing. He is also completely covered head-to-toe and his face is masked, so the player does not get a glimpse at what he looks like. It is not known if he is a human that is simply well-versed with eldritch magic, a once-human that turned in to something else, or if a different entity that happens to be the same size as the human characters.
** {{Monster Clown}}s may spawn in Hardmode Blood Moons, and it is not clear if they are humans in clown makeup or their own sort of species. They do not appear to be undead or have any kind of "inhuman" traits that cannot be explained by clown makeup, and humans enemies do exist in the game in the form of the Pirate Invasions. They are also simply called "Clowns," a profession instead of a species, and not something like "Clown Zombies." But they only appear in Blood Moons, and Blood Moon-exclusive enemies otherwise have a blood and/or zombie theme, with Clowns appearing to have neither. The Blood Moons also cause ''monsters'' to become more aggressive and there is very little explanation as to why a human would bomb people in clown makeup. The Bestiary says that where they come from is unknown.
* Kanna and Anderson from ''VideoGame/ThreeTheHardWay'' appear just as human-like as the rest of the party, but the former is a hundred year old alchemist belonging to a mythical ancient order, while the latter seem to have a close tie with the ageless Kaibutsu, and is very much implied to be ReallySevenHundredYearsOld as well. Other cast members describe them as "weird" and "intense", and Vance frequently remarks that he wouldn't be surprised if those two are actually not human.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' usually distinguishes {{youkai}} from humans in some way, physically and/or [[BlueAndOrangeMorality mentally]], but it's also made clear that the line between human and youkai is a lot more blurry than most realise, especially in Gensokyo where humans and youkai have existed in unusually close proximity for centuries.
** [[MageSpecies Magicians]] have a natural affinity with complicated magics but humans can use them with sufficient training, aside from [[TheNeedless not needing to eat]] they're quite similar to humans, and some Magicians ''were'' human (Alice, Byakuren) before they performed some alluded-to ritual.
** Marisa is noted to be more like a youkai than a human, and much of her behavior (isolating herself from humans, collecting magical artifacts, intense studying) are implied to be part of the ritual for human Magicians to transform into youkai Magicians. She insists she's human and is immensely proud of being able to hold her own in a land where EveryoneIsASuper despite this, but it verges into SuspiciouslySpecificDenial territory; for example in ''[[Manga/TouhouSuzunaanForbiddenScrollery Forbidden Scrollery]]'' (which is all about how the enforced separation and antagonism between humans and youkai is precisely because it takes the slightest nudge to go from one to the other) her title is "''Extremely'' Ordinary Magician". Reimu seems to consider her human, but it's also established that Reimu is far more friendly with youkai than someone of her position should be.
** Sakuya is classified as human, yet her [[TimeMaster time and spatial manipulation abilities]] are far beyond the capabilities of any other human (as well as being very similar to the abilities of a Lunarian character), and characters have noted her to be far more mature and worldly than her [[VagueAge apparent age]] would indicate.
** Not even ZUN knows whether Mononobe no Futo is human, with her profile listing her species as "Human? (a taoist who self-identifies as a shikaisen)". More broadly, this applies to Miko and Seiga, fellow shikaisen who essentially faked their death in such a way that the CelestialBureaucracy fell for it, gaining immortality in the process.
** Related to the above are hermits. Most are humans who get super-powers out of a strict training regimen. But there do seem to be some physiological changes, given that they act as RareCandy to youkai. And they might not all have started out as human. The first hermit character introduced, Kasen Ibaraki, is very strongly implied to be an {{oni}} who's only pretending to be a hermit [[spoiler:and this is eventually confirmed to be the case]].
** ZUN's also unsure whether Satono and Mai are human, as they get a similar "Human (?)" species entry to Futo. They were human when they were children, but are becoming less and less so thanks to Okina's magic energy. What exactly's happening to them is anyone's guess, but they still retain their human personalities. In ''The Grimoire of Usami'', Yukari explains them as being stuck in the space between human and youkai.
** Lunarians. They're humans that moved to the moon to avoid kegare, so they no longer die of natural causes, but the profiles always list their species as "lunarian". All of the known ones are based on Shinto gods, which just makes things more confusing.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', Sans the skeleton is a case of ambiguously ''monster'': like his name supposes, he is a [[DemBones living skeleton]], making him standout from the others, but while the underground counts many wacky monsters, he still is [[InexplicablyAwesome far different from them]]: he teleports constantly, seems to be able to stop time [[spoiler: and breaks all the game's rules during his battle. Sans' death is as ambiguous as he is: when hit, an unexplained red liquid spills out (it may be blood, ketchup, or something else) and while every other character disappears in front of the player, he [[DyingOffscreen dies offscreen]]]].
** His brother Papyrus is another example: while he doesn't share his brother's powers, he is [[ObfuscatingStupidity more aware of them than he lets pretend]]. Also, while all main monsters [[spoiler:(even Flowey)]] have an explained origin, [[MysteriousPast both of them]] [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere come from nowhere]] and settled themselves in Snowdin, making them standout from the rest of the cast even more.
** [[spoiler: The Fallen Child/Chara fits too:]] Physically, they're identical to the player character, but seems to inhabit some sort of void in the game itself and has the ability to harness a human SOUL by bargaining for it.[[note]]Monsters can absorb human souls, but humans cannot absorb human souls.[[/note]] As one goes further and further into a Genocide Run, [[spoiler:they seemingly take more and more agency away from Frisk (the player character) and the player themselves, leaving it up in the air exactly ''what'' they are if they have that sort of power over the game]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Vampyr}}'': Usher Talltree physically resembles an normal Indian man in a turban, but possess an uncanny sense of knowledge about Jonathan and other Londoners and can actually NoSell any Mesmerize attempts. These sort of abilities are unheard of in this established setting and Jonathan suspects that Usher might belong to some unique and exotic vampire subspecies. With that said, Usher can still be drained like any other civilian in the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': It takes a long time before we have any real idea of what the Tenno are. The warframes they use look like PoweredArmor, Vor claims they are EnergyBeings, Infested call them "our flesh", and there are hints in Codex entries of a strange [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Void accident]]. Turns out [[spoiler:it's all of them. The original warframes were humans intentionally mutated by the Technocyte Plague into powerful forms, but went violently insane in the process. Separately, a ship was lost in the Void, and the children who survived gained strange powers, including existing in a state between matter and energy. Using a process known as Transference, the children controlled the warframes, becoming the Tenno]].
* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'' has several characters like this. With the exception of [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Nopons]], most of the characters are supposed to be human, even though several of them don’t really look like it. For example, [[TheBigGuy Lanz]] looks like a [[MechanicalLifeForms Machina]], and [[DeadpanSnarker Eunie]] looks like a [[WingedHumanoid High Entia]] from [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1 the first game,]] and [[NiceGirl Mio]] looks like a [[CatPeople Gormotti]], and [[PintSizedPowerhouse Sena]] looks like a [[LivingWeapon Blade]] from [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 the second game.]] And that’s just the main characters. The only characters part of the main cast who actually look like humans are [[TheHero Noah]] and [[TheSmartGuy Taion.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Kenneth Parcell from ''Series/ThirtyRock'' looks human but as the series goes on it becomes less clear. There are numerous references to him being immortal or a supernatural being.
--> '''Kenneth:''' Who said I've been alive forever?!\\
'''Kenneth:''' I hope I photograph okay. Because every time I look into the mirror, there's just a white haze.\\
'''Kenneth:''' When I first started working here, an 8-year-old Shirley Temple taught me how to roll a cigarette.
** His mom comes to visit in one episode and [[BabysFirstWords fondly recalls his first words]], ''literally moments after his birth when the doctor put him in her arms'', "Mama, I am not a person. My body's just a flesh vessel for an immortal being whose name, if you heard it, would make you lose your mind." Kenneth smiles awkwardly and [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents treats it like any other embarrassing parental story from childhood]].
* ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' all look human (with the exception of [[FrankensteinsMonster Lurch]] and [[CartoonCreature Itt]]; and Itt is only a cousin and therefore possibly not a blood relation, while Lurch is merely the hired help) and have no explicit supernatural powers, yet are usually treated as monsters by the narrative. [[Film/TheAddamsFamily The Movie]] reveals that they can [[MadeOfIron survive crippling injuries without problems]] and apparently enjoy some sort of BiologicalImmortality -- but whether that's because they're actually immortal or just [[AchievementsInIgnorance too insane to realize they're human]] is never made clear.
* ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'':
** When Skye proves to be surprisingly compatible with an alien serum, Coulson theorizes that she might not be human. Turns out she's [[spoiler:an Inhuman, which means that she is, for all intents and purposes, a baseline human unless exposed to Terrigen Mists... which happens halfway through the second season]].
--->'''Skye:''' ''[jokingly]'' Like, what, you think I'm an alien?\\
'''Coulson:''' Well...\\
'''Skye:''' Hold on, are you saying that I'm an alien!?\\
'''Coulson:''' It's a theory.\\
'''Skye:''' No, a theory is what scientists use to prove things in nature, this is you telling me that I might be an alien! That's not something you just say like it's no big deal!\\
'''Coulson:''' I was trying not to rattle you.\\
'''Skye:''' Guess what? ''Epic'' fail!
** The Koenig brothers, a group of InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals (all played by Creator/PattonOswalt) who all act very much the same (with the exception of [[{{Hipster}} Thurston]]), with Billy (the second one introduced) being functionally a BackupTwin to his late brother Eric. Throughout the first few seasons, there's a minor RunningGag regarding the brothers' true nature, with implications that they may be clones or (more commonly hinted) robots (Eric was definitely human, but was killed by [[TheMole Ward]] before the running gag started). Eventually, the episode "Hot Potato Soup" reveals that the Koenig brothers are [[spoiler:just identical quadruplets, although there's one final tease that they were connected to the LMD project... as technicians, not robots]].
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': Gwen, the sole employee of the Files and Records department at Wolfram and Hart, looks like a normal clerk, but there's a lot of strange things about her. She acts like a living search engine, i.e. she appears to be effectively omniscient at least as far as Wolfram and Hart is concerned, she has memorised every line in every file of the cavernous records room but won't tell you any of it unless you explicitly ask her to, and begins almost every sentence with "I'm Files and Records, it's my job". At one point, she is implied to sit at her desk for fourteen hours without going home or changing clothes. Also, when she is recalling something her eyes flicker. Exactly what she is -- demon, robot, magical construct or very specialised witch/psychic -- is never stated.
* The witches and warlocks from ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' are immortal, can teleport, and can do all manner of supernatural things by twitching their noses. However, it's unknown if they're a separate species from humans or not. Samantha (a witch) and Darren (a normal person) interbred and had a daughter named Tabitha, but when Samantha was pregnant, Darren said that he hoped the baby would be "human". As it turns out, she ''is'' a witch, suggesting that being a witch or warlock is genetic. Endora once berates Darren for being mostly water, suggesting that they're biologically very different from humans, but Tabitha has the same needs as a normal baby (naps, diaper changes, and feedings) suggesting that they're biologically similar.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven'':
** Is Cally a [[HumanAliens Human Alien telepath]] or from a race of humans who have artificially modified themselves to possess psionic gifts through cloning and genetic engineering? The series is confused on this issue.
** Dayna is also referred to as an "alien" at one point, but that may have been a legal as opposed to a biological definition: the implication being that she couldn't receive medical treatment on Earth because she wasn't an Earth citizen.
** In-universe, the common claim that all intelligent life originated on Earth is disputed, and there are several "alien" civilisations of human-looking people that may or may not be descended from colonists from Earth.
*** The writers couldn't agree on this out of-universe.
* In ''Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury'', the Draconians are... probably aliens? Some fans assume that they're just a much more successful group of the humans who left Earth after the nuclear holocaust; after all, the whole second season was devoted to finding other such groups. If they are aliens, then they are extremely human-like ones.
* In ''Series/TheCrossing'', the Apex are stated to be the next step in human evolution, with physical and mental abilities far above normal humans, but it is unrevealed whether they are the product of a mutation or whether they were somehow enhanced through artificial means.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The Doctor [[SexShifter themself]] (and, by extension, all other Time Lords) was depicted this way throughout the '60s, with the range of ambiguity DependingOnTheWriter. The Doctor & Susan possessed some extra-human abilities like a PsychicBlockDefense, telekenesis, [[ImpossibleGenius absurdly good memory]], and amplified vitality, and different stories would alternate between calling the Doctor human, alien, and a human biologically modified by extensive time travel (with the show most strongly leaning into some variant of the "futuristic human" characterization). Even regeneration was depicted as an artificial process performed by [[TimeMachine the TARDIS]] and other Time Lords. Eventually, the Third Doctor's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace debut story]] would {{retcon}} Time Lords as having BizarreAlienBiology, while his [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders last story]] would redefine regeneration as a biological phenomenon, definitively establishing Time Lords as aliens (and forcing Expanded Universe writers to explain why the First Doctor had one heart instead of two).
** The series often gives no indication whatsoever about whether humanoid cultures in "space" stories are HumanAliens (of which there are many, especially in pre-2005 stories) or far-future descendants of human colonies.
** The Peladonians in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E2TheCurseOfPeladon "The Curse of Peladon"]] are said to be a technologically backwards culture who are only just becoming involved in interstellar politics. However, they look completely human and might be a lost human colony. They are explicitly stated to be able to interbreed with humans without any high-tech biological intervention, which would support this in most universes... but then again, in ''Doctor Who'', humans are capable of interbreeding with cats.
** It is canon from their first appearance that the Daleks are heavily mutated versions of an originally humanoid race, although their actual backstory is very inconsistent (nuclear radiation causing mutations in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks "The Daleks"]], intentional genetic modification in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks "Genesis of the Daleks"]]). However, how human this precursor race is goes back and forth. In "Genesis of the Daleks" a Kaled scientist notes that although Harry (a human) looks like them his internal workings are completely different, yet in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]], the Doctor explains that humans were used as the source for the new Daleks because of their genetic similarity; and in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E12TheStolenEarth "The Stolen Earth"]], the Tenth Doctor tells Donna that the Kaleds were just like humans but with slightly bluish blood and a few fewer ribs. (Both of these can be explained with in-character behaviour -- the Kaleds have an insanely racist culture where any deviation from the norm makes someone a subhuman, and the Doctor could have been exaggerating or lying to make a point.) At least one Dalek story went so far as to suggest the Daleks weren't even slightly human/Kaled or organic, just being robots rather than a LittleGreenManInACan.
** There's at least one case of [[SpecialEffectsFailure the show's ropey visuals]] creating an Ambiguously {{Human Alien|s}} species: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E5TheKeysOfMarinus "The Keys of Marinus"]] is ambiguous on whether the Voord are monsters or just a particular culture of sea dwelling Marinus natives DressedAllInRubber. The ExpandedUniverse follows suit. The [[Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations Target novelisation]] changes the dialogue ambiguities to make them definitely monsters, while some books make them definitely human. ''[[ComicBook/DoctorWhoFourDoctors Four Doctors]]'' depicts them as symbiotic combinations of a humanoid species with living organic coatings that give them a HiveMind. The Creator/GrantMorrison ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic "The World Shapers" retcons them into the ancestors of the Cybermen, which the TV series would retcon [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls again]] as just one case of convergent evolution.
** The Drahvin in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E1Galaxy4 "Galaxy 4"]] look like RubberForeheadAliens and have a unique culture and method of reproduction, but Maaga refers to her people as 'humans' and 'human beings' several times. This could be a purely literal description or a word-play: she's a 'human' being meaning she has feeling and understanding or the Drahvin could be heavily genetically altered human colonists.
** Condo in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainOfMorbius "The Brain of Morbius"]] is TheIgor, talks in a YouNoTakeCandle style and looks deformed. Solon tells us he's rescued from a Dravidian slave ship, but we know from [[Recap/DoctorWho2007TDWASTheInfiniteQuest "The Infinite Quest"]] that Dravidians are an insectoid species. Other than that, nothing about his species is mentioned.
** Solomon from [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E2DinosaursOnASpaceship "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"]] ''looks'' human, but the episode takes place in the 24th century, and one of his robots makes a comment implying that they've been on the titular spaceship for 2,000 years.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten "The Rings of Akhaten"]]: There are many people in the BizarreBazaar who look human, most notably Merry Galel and the choristers, but there's no indication if they actually are.
* Sebaceans in ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. When John first sees Aeryn on Moya in the pilot episode, he thinks she's human while she assumes he's Sebacean. [[spoiler: At the end of the series, it is revealed that Sebaceans are the descendants of humans or early hominids who were taken from Earth and [[HumanSubspecies genetically modified]] long ago.]]
** Some aliens with either no makeup or a very minimal makeup are a case of "Ambiguous Sebaceans..." Notably the Clansmen, Acquarans, Kanvians and Litigarans, as well as others.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'':
** The Reverse-Flash, BigBad of Season 1, certainly ''looks'' human from a distance, but he's also constantly vibrating in an unstable manner, lets out inhuman screeches on several occasions, has glowing red eyes, and claims that his goals are beyond the understanding of normal humans. And just a general vibe of [[UncannyValley unnaturalness]]. [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11119/111190794/4359017-4143491798-the-f.jpg Take a look]]. He's even able to make his glow without his suit.
** Zoom, BigBad of Season 2, is enough that in-universe people doubt there's even a human underneath his costume. The only part of his body that his semi-organic looking suit doesn't cover is a pair of shark-like black eyes. He's fast enough to grab lightning and throw it. His voice is deep and almost Satanic. Wells [[spoiler:of Earth 2]] says he ''was'' human. Even when we confirm what he looks like under his mask, the fact he can turn his eyes black rather than make them glow and actually deepens his voice rather than make it vibrate makes him unsettling.
** Due to not being from Earth-1, Earth-19 or [[Series/Supergirl2015 Earth-38]], the show is ambiguous as to what the Music Meister is. Is he a metahuman? Maybe an alien? Is he magical? Or is he something else? The fact that he could escape a cell in the Pipeline, something no other metahuman is capable of, without anyone knowing and his powers are far more fantastical than what Barry or Kara usually deal with suggests he might not have been something they are used to. When asked if he's from another Earth, he gives a vague response that the heroes wouldn't understand where he came from.
* A RunningGag in ''Series/GirlMeetsWorld'' is that Farkle might be a clone or a robot; he's never seen his own birth certificate. He's eventually revealed by his mother and his birth certificate that he's "Farkle Minkus, real boy!"
* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Rashid says some odd things that could hint to being older than the young man seems, including "electronic mailbox" (the term "e-mail" was coined by [=CompuServe=] in 1981) and "Dubai is a child" (Dubai was founded in 1833). Daniel's notes even catch and comment on Rashid's strange choice of words. In the 1973 scene of the sixth episode, Rashid appears the same as he does in 2022, so he's definitely not a regular human. The Season 1 finale affirms that he's a 514-year-old vampire named Armand.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'': Some doubts about Tsukasa arise just from the fact he can hit baseballs hard enough to break through metal and shrug off stab wounds. His past as the Great Leader of Dai-Shocker suggest it might be because he was [[PlayingWithSyringes modified]] for the part. On the other hand, there is no explanation to his control over the alternate realities that he claims to be an inate part of himself. Overall, it's remains unanswered whether he is an [[{{Transhuman}} altered human]], HumanoidAbomination or something completely else.
*** And that extends into ''Kamen Rider Zi-O'', where he was shown to be able to manipulate dimension walls even with both halves of his Rider Powers in possession of someone else, meaning that the ability to jump between dimensions is something that has always and will always be a part of him.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'': [[TheChessmaster Alain]] ''looks'' human, but he's able to summon [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ganma]] under his own power and Javel (a Ganma) states he's the son of [[LightIsNotGood 'the Great Ruler']]. He is ultimately confirmed to be a Ganma in Episode 12 when he turns into a Ganma Eyecon to return back to their world. [[spoiler: As it turned out, the Ganma Eyecon is his artificial body. His real body is physically the same as a human one, zigzagging this trope.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': [[PsychopathicManchild Parado]] appeared to be a human working with the [[TheVirus Bugsters]] until he was seen using some of the Bugster powers. Still, he was not confirmed to be one himself until [[WhamEpisode later]] into the story.
** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'': LargeHam tendencies and funny clothes aside, Woz leaves a pretty normal impression. Especially when stuffing his mouth with an apple pie. The more questionable part is that he appears out of nowhere, seems to able to spontaneously time travel and is strong enough to stop a punch from [[MonsterOftheWeek Another Rider]] barehanded. It's suggested he is a Quartzer, warden of time, but what that means is [[CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer left ambigious]].
* In the original Icelandic stories and plays, Sportacus from ''Series/LazyTown'' is explicitly called an elf. The releases in other countries make his race a bit more ambiguous, leaving his ears covered at all times.
* In ''Series/TheMagicians2016'', Travelers are described as "hybrids", and Penny tells Julia at one point that he's not exactly a normal human. The specifics aren't clear, however.
* Similarly to Series/{{the Addams family}}, there's Marilyn from ''Series/TheMunsters'', who looks like a normal human but is biologically related to the rest of her clearly non-human family. She shares some of the other members' inhumanness like her very low body temperature.
* Series/MrBean. Some elements of the show imply that he's an alien, for example being dropped in via spotlight in the intro and beamed back up in the outro, and his effect on electronic devices like television sets. [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} To say nothing of his utterly bizarre behaviour]] and thought processes which seem to border on BlueAndOrangeMorality.
* ''Series/MrYoung'':
** Mrs. Byrne looks, behaves, and is treated like a human, but is billions of years old.
** Jordan Slabinski is another example. He looks and is treated like a human, but it's stated in one episode that he looks the same now as he did when he was born. Another episode shows that he also looked the exact same when he was still in middle school, at least 7 years ago. This is made even weirder by the fact that he's noticeably larger than all of the other characters, most of whom are teenage or adult humans. He also appears to have slightly [[NighInvulnerability superhuman durability]] as in one episode [[AnvilOnHead an anvil]] [[NoSell breaks when dropped on his head, and he doesn't even notice.]] Adam, upon first seeing him, says, seemingly seriously, that he "can really see the Bigfoot".
** Dang also looks and is treated like a human, but can teleport, defy gravity, be in two places at the same time, go inside a computer screen, and hear whenever someone says his name, no matter how far away they are. Also, his brother, Ding, was able to produce offspring with a duck.
* In ''Series/NightCourt'', most jokes made at Bull's expense channel this trope.
* Common in ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' as there are humans who live in space and aliens who resemble humans.
** Scorpina in ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' certainly looks like a beautiful young Asian woman, but when Rita uses her magic to make her grow, she becomes a grotesque scorpion monster. We never get clarification if the monster is her true form or just a transformation she takes on.
** The Magna Defender of ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' is at least humanoid, but he is never seen out of his armor, thus we're not sure if he's human or just human-like. [[spoiler:Even in death, [[JacobMarleyApparel his ghost still wears it]].]]
** The Black Knight from ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'' episode "Beware the Knight". He's the only villain not associated with Ransik, therefore not a mutant. However, he's been alive since the middle ages and never takes off his armor. Considering that episode dealt with magic instead of science, perhaps he used magic to live hundreds of years or is in fact something more supernatural (which isn't out of place in Power Rangers).
** ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'': Due to the show never going into her past outside of wanting to remain a child, we never learn what Morgana is. Is she a human with magical abilities, a HumanAlien with abilities like the people of KO-35 or an alien that just looks human?
** ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive'': We never learn what Miratrix is. She appears to be a normal looking woman, something she takes advantage of in several episodes, but her species never gets mentioned.
* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
** The show has monsters, Grouches, humans, normal animals, {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s, and then there's the non-fluffy characters played by puppets. Their skin is different colours and they are typically shorter than humans, but they're not monsters. Sometimes, they're referred to as "Muppets", so they could be the same species as the puppet characters from ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', whatever species ''they'' are.
** Two animated characters Nedd and Susie Kabloozie look human, but their skin is yellow and orange respectively (Susie's dad also has orange skin). Nedd also apparently walks around naked, yet [[BarbieDollAnatomy doesn't have visible genitalia]] (thankfully, since this is a kids' show) and in the littering short, he seems to have pockets ''built into his skin''.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': One scene has two children on the Promenade, running in a circle around Odo. They're seen from a distance, so it's unclear if they're humans or Bajorans.
* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has Cleveland "Book" Booker, Michael Burnham's boyfriend from the 31st century. He looks perfectly human and his name, while unusual, is a human one. However, he has a strange connection to plants and animals, which is described as "empathic", yet he can't [[TheEmpath outright sense emotions like a Betazoid]]. He could be genetically engineered, a very human-looking alien or [[HalfHumanHybrid part human, part alien]]. [[spoiler:It's eventually confirmed that he is an alien -- specifically, a Kwejian -- and that his birth name was Tareckx; he took the name of his late human mentor.]]
* Lazarus from the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E27TheAlternativeFactor The Alternative Factor]]" and his alternate universe counterpart: were they human, or [[HumanAliens Human Alien]]? The episode itself seemed confused on this point.
* Thadiun Okona, the man who defined InformedAbility, from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E4TheOutrageousOkona The Outrageous Okona]]": Human or from a race of HumanAliens? Again, not otherwise specified. It's the same with the people from the two planets that he has dealings with.
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' has Daniels, Captain Archer's personal steward who reveals himself to be with the 31st-century TimePolice.
--> '''Archer:''' Are you human?\\
'''Daniels:''' More or less.[[note]]Another episode implies this might mean that he has ancestors from other species but has enough human ancestry to appear human, as that exact situation was the case for a corpse they found of another 31st century time-traveller[[/note]]
* ''Series/TruthSeekers'': [=JoJo74=] and Dave, Gus' boss, look and act human, but TheReveal in the season finale indicates that this may or may not be their true forms, although if they are human is unknown; the finale would seem to imply they're otherworldly beings that look human.
* ''Series/WillAndGrace'' features Karen Walker who looks outwardly human but is capable of consuming drugs and alcohol in quantities that would kill anyone else. There are also several instances of dialogue which imply she is well over 100 years old.
* ''Series/WonderWoman1975'':
** Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and the Amazons of Paradise Island look like beautiful human women, but are [[SuperStrength much stronger]], more agile, and [[{{Immortality}} immortal]]. The reasons for this are only tangentially explained.
** Andros Sr., Andros Jr., and the other aliens. In "Judgement from Outser Space" and "Mind Stealers from Outer Space", human looking aliens visit Earth for various reasons. Andros Jr. played by Dack Rambo, has [[LoveInterests a particular goal in mind.]]
* ''Series/WorzelGummidge'' has the Crow Man, who made the scarecrows. He looks human, but sometimes he implies that he's got PsychicPowers and there's the fact that all the scarecrows he makes come alive (and he's also brought two scarecrows, Aunt Sally, Saucy Nancy, and possibly more "humanoid objects" to life, and Dafthead, a scarecrow that ''Worzel'' made, also came to life) and Worzel claims that he (and therefore the Crow Man) are hundreds of years old (although he does claim that it's because he's "as old as I wants to be") and occasionally, it's implied that the Crow Man SpeaksFluentAnimal, too. Even if he does have those powers, he could still be a human with powers. Then, there's his healing tonic from "A Fair Old Pullover", which works for everything and he keeps changing its origin...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Jane, the [[spoiler:protagonist]] of ''Literature/AllYouZombies'', looks indistinguishable from a human, and believes that she is one herself, but, thanks to time travel and hermaphroditism, turns out to be [[spoiler:[[StableTimeLoop both of her biological parents]]]], thereby making her related to ''no'' human on Earth, [[SingleSpecimenSpecies or even to any other living thing]], and is also [[spoiler:every character in the story]], [[MindScrew without exception]].
* Judge Holden, the AxCrazy, WickedCultured antagonist of Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian'', is deliberately written so that the reader comes away from the story unsure of whether he's human or some kind of ethereal demon in human form. For the most part, the novel is a mundane, if extremely lurid and violent, depiction of life on the US Western frontier in the 1850s... until we're introduced to Holden, who's a completely hairless giant of a man with deathly pale skin (despite spending most of the novel in the deserts of Mexico), almost supernatural strength, an uncanny ability to master any trade effortlessly, and a tendency to randomly appear in people's lives without warning. [[spoiler:The final chapter also reveals that Holden does not age and claims to be immortal.]]
* Kazuki Akai of ''Literature/CerberusHigh'' is regarded this way for possessing abilities unlike any human or [[LittleBitBeastly canid breed]] until it is discovered that he is a [[spoiler: homunculus created by Hades]]. This bothered him at first, being the IJustWantToBeNormal-type but over the course of the story which ended in him [[spoiler: having a transformation which left him NotQuiteBackToNormal]], Kazuki finally accepts his status as being not-quite-human but not-quite-canid-breed either.
* [[EvilSorcerer Arunis Wytterscorm]], most prominent BigBad ([[BigBadEnsemble of several]]) in ''Literature/TheChathrandVoyages'', frequently makes disparaging remarks about humans and humanity in a context that makes it plain he doesn't consider himself one. The little that's revealed about his backstory leaves it unclear if he feels he's evolved beyond humanity, or if he was simply never human in the first place. Further complicating the issue is that while his body is human, he's a three-thousand-year-old [[BodySurf body snatcher]], so the form he takes during the books is ''not'' what he originally looked like. [[spoiler: Later, one of his primary contestants for the BigBad title is his equally horrible, equally ambiguous [[SiblingRivalry sister]], Macadra.]]
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'':
** The Haruchai are a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior people]] who all share a telepathic link, possess absolutely inflexible morals and [[TheStoic rarely show any emotion]]. They come across as so inhuman at times that it makes one wonder.
** The Insequent: innately magical beings or just humans who have extensively studied magic? The world may never know.
* ''Literature/TheCosmere'':
** Hoid, essentially a walking talking MeaningfulBackgroundEvent, appeared as a minor character in every ''Cosmere'' novel, despite being set on [[TheVerse different worlds]] and centuries apart, but it isn't until ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' that we get an idea of how ambiguous he is. He's [[TimeAbyss unfathomably ancient]], once spent a year being digested by a giant monster to no apparent ill-effect, and willingly admits he doesn't know if a [[SoulCuttingBlade Shardblade]], one of the deadliest weapons in the Cosmere, would have any effect on him whatsoever. We know he's definitely ''not'' a [[PowersThatBe Shard Holder]], but he is old enough to have known the original sixteen Shard Holders when [[DeityOfHumanOrigin they were still human]]. He possess a sixth sense that tells him "where he's needed" but not why he's needed there. Pattern, a Spren [[note]] Spren are essentially human thoughts and ideas brought to life in the Cognitive Realm [[/note]], says Hoid is "like us", [[ShapedLikeItself but different]], and can't really articulate it beyond that.
---> '''Hoid:''' I began life as a thought, a concept, words on a page. That was another thing I stole. Myself.
** WordOfGod is that Hoid was human originally a long time ago but now 'it's complicated' and 'he is not exactly that'.
** In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' the people of Roshar have some very strange genetics, with multi-colored hair and [[TechnicolorEyes strange eye colours]] abounding, to say nothing of various odd features of various ethnic groups (foot long eyebrows, bluish skin, and a shadow that falls towards light rather then away from it). They're all treated as humans in-story (except maybe the ones with the backwards shadows who got mostly exterminated at some point). WordOfGod from Sanderson is that the FantasyPantheon of his cosmology came from a world with humans, and so when they created their own worlds they used them as a template, but put their own spin on it. Also the backwards shadow people (Siah Aimans) are confirmed to NOT be human by WordOfGod though they can interbreed with humans and several ethnic groups are part-Siah in origin. (The ones with blueish skin but normal shadows). Also the Herdazians (who have stoneline fingernails) and the Horneaters (who have abnormally tough dentation that can crush horns and shells are {{Uneven Hybrid}}s with Parshendi/listeners/singers again according to WordOfGod (though there are some hints for the observant in the books).
** Also notable are the humans from ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'', who are capable of surviving in a post-apocalyptic ash-choked wasteland that would certainly kill earth humans, though they don't ''look'' any different. [[spoiler:It's stated in the third book that the Lord Ruler screwed around with their genetics so they could survive.]]
* Creator/CSLewis:
** ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': The Lady of the Green Kirtle from ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' looks human, but she has formidable powers (like mind control and [[ScaledUp turning into a snake]]) that other humans in the setting lack. She's also referred to as a "Northern Witch", and the ''other'' Northern Witch we meet ([[Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe Jadis the White Witch]]) is the last surviving inhabitant of an alternate universe and is rumored to be half [[OurGeniesAreDifferent Jinn]] and half [[OurGiantsAreBigger Giant]]. Combine this with the Lady's lack of any backstory whatsoever, and you get an enormous mystery as to her true nature.
** ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'': The Un-man in ''Perelandra'' may be an ancient creature from the depths of space, but when it crashes into Venus, it has the appearance of a human body. The problem is, its body is always a little un-lifelike, as if it's a corpse being operated by a puppeteer. [[spoiler:Eventually it's revealed that the Un-man is the very human Weston possessed by a being of pure mind.]]
* The ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' series has its version of TheMenInBlack, who work for a covert organization called the Undertaking. The series is deliberately ambiguous about whether they're human; they're all dissonantly serene when they're on the job, but some have shown more human touches in private -- and then there will be something else that makes you wonder again. Several of them have strange deformities, and all of them, it's hinted, are hiding something horrifying behind their SinisterShades. Nobody knows exactly where the Undertaking gets new agents from, with rumors ranging from "they hire normal humans, then turn them into something else" to "they grow them in vats fertilized with the remains of their predecessors".
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': The City Watch of Ankh-Morpork is sometimes described as being comprised of "humans, dwarves, trolls, goblins, gargoyles, a vampire, a werewolf [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Nobby Nobbs]]." He carries a certificate identifying him as human (and that just says he's ''probably'' human), but that only [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial makes some people more suspicious]]. There are some hints in later books that he might have some goblin blood in him, and despite being repulsive to human women he's quite attractive to the goblin ladies, but it's never confirmed either way.
** The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork technically isn't anything ''other'' than human, so he's described as "human, but only by default". He's very thin and pale, is rumored to live on only bread and water (although he actually seems to eat normally, if sparingly), and [[TheSleepless hardly ever sleeps]] but never looks sleep-deprived. He's [[ActuallyNotAVampire rumored to be a vampire]], and (then-)Captain Vimes of the City Watch expresses surprise when it turns out he bleeds when injured like any other human. Plus, he NeverGetsDrunk and it seems his overall aura is occasionally too spooky to be a human's. But, nonetheless, he's human.
* The woman on the beach in ''[[Literature/DoNotTakeTheShells DO NOT TAKE THE SHELLS]]'' looks like a ragged, skinny human being, but speaks and behaves so ''off'' it suggests she might be anything but. Then there's her remarks about living "below the water".
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** White Court vampires' demons don't physically manifest, even though there are subtle physical changes when they draw on their demon.
** Changelings, half-humans-half-Fae, are human unless they Choose to be Fae.
** Mac the barkeep, who seemed to be a regular human in on the {{Masquerade}} until that time he got shot and healed within seconds. In the same book, an [[EldritchAbomination Outsider]] singles him out for particular contempt, calling him a “watcher” who has no business getting involved after some choice he made a long time ago.
** Ms. Gard, whose species was not made clear for some time but was shown to be more physically capable than your average human. [[spoiler:Turns out she's a Valkyrie]].
** Wizards like Harry are a bit more than human. Provided they decide to use their talents, they get a ''much'' longer lifespan and a minor HealingFactor.
** Kincaid looks like and claims to be a "vanilla mortal", but Harry's skeptical. [[spoiler:He's not. Really, really not.]]
* In ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'' there are various fantastic races (there are ''no'' Earth animals or plants whatsoever) but all of the protagonists are human-ish (they have pointy ears) and aren't given a race name. In around the tenth book, one of them is named as a 'fourthling' and described as what you get if you add up all of the other races and take an average.
* ''Literature/EgilsSaga'': There are many hints that Kveld-Ulf's family line is part giant. All of them are exceptionally big and strong, and Skallagrim and Egil are moreover monstrously ugly, having abnormally thick and bulging skulls. All of them show occasional berserking behavior -- as is typical for trolls -- and Kveld-Ulf is rumored to be a shapeshifter. When Skallagrim goes to King Harald, the doorguard who announces the arrivals is not sure "if they can be called men" because "they are more like giants in size and looks", and when Egil seeks out Arinbjorn at York, the messenger describes him to Arinbjorn as "big as a troll". Kveld-Ulf's genealogy also suggestively mentions that he had a maternal uncle called Hallbjorn Halftroll.
* In ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' the Yahoos' origin implies that the whole species are the descendants of a European couple who shipwrecked on Houyhnhnm-Land decades before Gulliver showed up, and just kept breeding and breeding, with [[BrotherSisterIncest each of their children breeding with each other]] and each generation becoming increasingly feral until they were nothing but a whole race of inbred savages. Which just confirmed Gulliver's belief that HumansAreBastards.
* Nagato, Ryoko and Kimidori from ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' look human, except for their strange hair colors. Yet they are interfaces created by an alien intelligence that exists as formless data and cannot interact directly with humanity. Meanwhile, there are also [[WorldOfTechnicolorHair seemingly normal humans with odd hair colors]] in the series as well, so that's not a dead giveaway for identifying "interfaces" in disguise.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', the witches look fully human and can breed with human men (in fact, this is the [[OneGenderRace only way they can breed]]) to produce healthy and fertile children of both sexes -- their female children are also witches, but their male children are human, suggesting some kind of HumanSubspecies. Aside from that, though, they're a OneGenderRace with lifespans potentially [[LongLived in excess of a millennium]], a lot of seemingly inherent supernatural abilities like flight, [[PerceptionFilter sort-of-invisibility]] and prophecy, immunity to cold, and the ability to perceive things that "ordinary" humans can't, like the feeling of starlight on their skin, and daemons who can travel far from their bodies [[spoiler: although it's later revealed that they're not born with this ability and ordinary humans can acquire it too]].
* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' uses this trope very frequently, albeit (maybe) not intentionally. The author, Creator/DouglasAdams, occasionally describes his alien creatures' appearance in detail, but most of the time he neglects to describe them altogether other than to say that they're not from Earth. In fact, only two species (the Bartledanians and Lamuellans in ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'') were ever described as looking exactly like humans, but since no one ever said ''how'' the other aliens ''aren't'' like humans, most of them were portrayed by ordinary actors in [[TheFilmOfTheBook the film adaptation]]. Ford and Zaphod ''do'' look human, though. Ford is able to pass for one for fifteen years without difficulty, and while Zaphod normally has two heads and three arms, when the extras are absent he can attend a human party with nobody raising an eyebrow. Amusingly enough, this apparently ''doesn't'' go both ways, since aliens sometimes remark on Ford and Zaphod having a pet monkey with them instead of assuming Arthur is a member of their race.
* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': Angela comes off as this. She ''seems'' like a young and [[InexplicablyAwesome very quirky]] human woman, but constantly claims that she's "[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld older than she looks]]" and relates [[NoodleIncident bits of back story]] implying a very complex and interesting life. She also seems to know certain spells that few or any other people can cast. Some fans have speculated that she is really an [[OurElvesAreDifferent elf]], though real-elf [[OldMaster Oromis]] claims that she's human.
* [[GooGooGodlike Anthony Fremont]] from ''Literature/{{Its A Good Life}}''. There are hints that he does not look human, though there are no details about what he does look like. He is described as having a "wet, purple gaze", that he has an "odd shadow", is referred to as a "goblin" at one point, and he was weird-looking enough that when he was born, the doctor screamed, dropped him and tried to kill him. And there's also the fact he can [[RealityWarper warp reality]] [[TheOmnipotent without limits]].
* ''LightNovel/JigokuNoGoukaDeYakaReTsuzuketaShounen'': It's unclear how human Flare still is after his trip to Hell. His body is a transformed version of the fires of Hell, and he can emit fire and wrap himself in it without burning himself. His strength and speed are inhuman even when compared to his previous athletic prowess, to the point that he treats a harsh hike through the forest as a casual jog when a knight like Aishera is winded and sweating.
* ''Literature/LandOfOz'':
** It's unclear if Ozma is human, [[HalfHumanHybrid half human and half fairy]], or a fairy. [[AdaptationSpeciesChange She was introduced as a human but later books give her an inconsistent amount of fae blood]].
** Furthermore, it isn't clarified whether the Munchkins are simply short humans, or some kind of HumanSubspecies.
** The Wicked Witch of the West is so old that the [[ArtisticLicenseBiology blood in her veins has evaporated]]. [[KillItWithWater She also melts when water splashes on her]].
* ''Little Sister and the Month Brothers'' (originally ''Marushka and the Month Brothers''), a Slavic folk tale has the titular Month Brothers, who appear human, but have ElementalPowers reflecting their role as different months, and [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep they are named directly for the month their role is]], e.g. Brother January. The brothers appear to be AmbiguouslyRelated and VagueAge, with some looking closer to GrandpaGod. It's not made clear in the story itself that they're gods or whether they're humans with DifferentlyPoweredIndividual powers, gods or spirits taking AFormYouAreComfortableWith, and the text refers to them as "the men". At best, it's open to [[EpilepticTrees much speculation]] what their origins really are. The story ''is'' in the PublicDomain and is known for its {{Squick}} ending of OldManMarryingAChild.
* ''Literature/MobyDick'': Fedallah is ostensibly human, but has apparent unexplained psychic powers. Stubb claims he's a LouisCypher.
* ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'':
** Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar are confirmed as nonhuman by Door, but we never find out what they are.
** This goes for essentially everyone in London Below: they mostly look like (extremely idiosyncratic) humans, but have a variety of never-explained super-powers, seem to have been down there for generations, and occasionally traffic with overtly non-human beings.
* The titular assholes from ''Literature/NightOfTheAssholes'' all look human, even if they all look and behave like every {{Jerkass}} stereotype you could imagine, but they are virtually unkillable with the exception of their ass.
* ''Literature/{{Once}}'': In the Bracken estate's woods, Thom Kindred happens upon what appears to be, reclining before an oak, a short young woman - unabashedly naked, and attended by [[OurFairiesAreDifferent tiny glowing winged figures]].
* ''Literature/PeterPan'' makes this trope OlderThanTelevision. Peter doesn't age -- but in Neverland ''nobody'' ages. He can fly -- but, again, thanks to pixie dust ''anyone'' can fly. He has [[PointyEars pointed ears]] -- but was he born with them, or are they just a side-effect of living in Neverland? He certainly doesn't glow like Tinker Bell, and he ''is'' human-sized.
* ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'': Some of the characters appear human, are clearly not demons, yet have strange powers -- for instance, the Bings family has sight-related superpowers, one boy is only 0.58 of a whole boy, and Rhyme and Reason [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane possibly]] caused all manner of anomalies to happen after their banishment.
* [[MadArtist Richard Upton Pickman]] in Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/PickmansModel''. His features seem to change in ways that aren't quite human, and he somehow [[spoiler:managed to persuade [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]] to model for him without becoming their dinner]]. It is left ambiguous whether he is [[ChangelingTale a changeling]], a [[HalfHumanHybrid hybrid]] (via his witch ancestress being a changeling), or simply an eccentric with an interest in [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow Things Man Was Not Meant To Know]].
* The Whites in the ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' series, and by extension the White Prophets, are rather ambiguously human. Easily mistaken for albinos when young, their skin, eyes and hair darken throughout the course of their lives to golden and eventually to chestnut brown [[spoiler:whenever one of their prophecies has been fulfilled and the world nudged from its set course]]. Subtle hints like their [[OlderThanTheyLook longevity]] and something slightly off about the Fool's wrists clue Fitz in as well. [[spoiler:The Fool then says that no, the Whites were not human, and neither is he.]]
* ''Literature/{{Redshirts}}'' gives us Q'eeng, whose appearance is never described and whose species never mentioned, but who is very obviously [[spoiler: and implied to be InUniverse]] an {{Expy}}/CaptainErsatz/[[SerialNumbersFiledOff transparent rip-off]] of [[HalfHumanHybrid Spock]].
* ''Literature/ScarlettUndercover'': Mook claims to be Scarlett's guardian angel. Due to the book's Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane setting, it's not clear whether he is actually an angel or just a normal human. He often seems to know things without being told, but there's never any definite proof.
* In ''Literature/TheSecretOfPlatform13,'' many magical creatures look human enough that they can pass in society outside the Island (while the Island itself has some {{Muggle}}s, including the royal family). The rescue team sent to find the lost prince -- a wizard, a fey, a young hag and an invisible giant -- were chosen not just for their skills but because they can move around London relatively unnoticed.
* James A. Moore, writer of ''Literature/TheBlastedLandsSeries'', wrote the horror trilogy of ''Serenity Falls''. The only thing that can save the accursed town is Jonathon Crowley. Known as the "Hunter", he's TheDreaded by the supernatural world. He's always got agelessness and a HealingFactor, but if he's facing the supernatural and he's invoked by someone for protection then he'll power up to PhysicalGod levels and go slaughtering whatever unearthly thing he faces.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** House Targaryen (and possibly all other dragonlord Valyrian bloodlines). Targaryen women may be likely to give birth to half dragon looking babies with wings and scales and the same goes for women that have conceived with a Targaryen male. They claim to be the only people able to control dragons, and a few of their members posses precognitive powers.
** The Red Priests, but particularly Melisandre, since she's described the most and has even become a POV character. She has [[CurtainsMatchTheWindow scarlet hair and eyes of the same impossible shade]], and she commands powers that most don't understand (but are clearly dangerous). She does not need food or drink, and hopes that she will no longer need sleep eventually. A potent poison that has been shown to kill two different people [[NoSell does nothing to her]]. ''Everyone'' note that there's something [[UncannyValley off]] about her, even as they cannot deny that she is [[HotWitch very beautiful]].
* Creator/StephenKing:
** Randall Flagg, antagonist of several seemingly unrelated stories. His back story implies that he at least ''was'' human once, but his later incarnations are a bit less obvious about that fact.
** Walter O'Dim aka Marten aka The Man In Black canonically WasOnceAMan. Whether he's now a very powerful but still-human sorcerer or has been turned into some kind of demon after centuries ([[TimeAbyss possibly millennia]]) of dabbling in evil magics, who can say. For that matter, the Crimson King: EvilGod or [[WasOnceAMan man]] with an AGodAmI complex?
* ''Literature/StuartLittle'':
** The titular character inexplicably resembles a FunnyAnimal rodent despite being born to humans. Averted in the (very loose) [[Film/StuartLittle film adaptation]] as Stuart ''[[AdaptationSpeciesChange is]]'' [[AdaptationSpeciesChange a mouse]] [[InterspeciesAdoption adopted by humans]].
** There's also Stuart's sort-of-girlfriend Harriet, who is the biological daughter of humans, and unlike Stuart she looks human, but she's doll-sized.
* In the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series, fictional people and objects (from the Book World, where all literary characters live) are said to look different from "real" people and objects, but Thursday can't quite put her finger on the reason. When a villainous fictional character, [[spoiler:Yorrick Kaine,]] escapes into reality, he's tricked into revealing his true nature because [[MediumAwareness he can't discern who's talking without literature's "he said / she said" dialogue tags at the end of each spoken sentence.]]
* ''Literature/TolkiensLegendarium'':
** In ''Literature/TheHobbit'', Beorn is one of the few characters to be identified as human but have undeniably supernatural powers, which are [[SuperpowerfulGenetics evidently heritable]]--namely, he can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting assume the form of a huge bear]]. He also appears to be abnormally large in both forms, as it's mentioned that in his man form, the three-foot-tall Bilbo doesn't even come up to his knees. That said, he is noted to have a somewhat human-ish lifespan, as he's dead of old age by the time of ''Lord of the Rings''. Gandalf himself muses on the fact that though he knows Beorn has very old heritage going back to the first of his kind, he isn't sure if he's a descendent of the first men or the first bears; that is, whether Beorn is a man who can become a bear or a bear who can become a man (though he leans towards the former).
** Tom Bombadil looks human but is too short for a man, too tall for a hobbit, and obviously neither. Even [[WordOfGod Tolkien]] [[ShrugOfGod doesn't know what he is]]. His wife Goldberry is even more ambiguous, since we get neither a clear description of her nor even a ShrugOfGod.
** Orcs are artificially created, but not from nothing, since evil is incapable of CreatingLife. This has led to some speculation on what they are, with guesses being corrupted elves (like in the movie), corrupted men, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs a cross between]] [[HalfHumanHybrid a man and an elf]].
** The Uruk-Hai raise even more questions, as it's clear that Saruman himself was responsible for their creation, but even Treebeard spends some time musing on how he did so, wondering if they're orcs that have been enhanced, corrupted men, or some kind of crossbreed between men and orc. If they're the last one, that also raises the question of whether orcs can indeed breed -- after all, [[OneGenderRace we never see any female orcs]], but the massive numbers of them out there mean that new ones have to come from ''somewhere''. Tolkien himself didn't seem entirely sure. The films make this even worse, since Elrond claims they're a blend of standard orcs and "goblin-men" (which is ambiguous as to whether it's a hybrid or an unrelated creature), but the audience gets to see them apparently born from cocoons in the ground (a reference to an obscure one of Tolkien's guesses as to where orcs came from).
* In ''Literature/TufVoyaging'', Haviland Tuf is eight feet tall, heavily built even for his height, completely hairless and has snow white skin yet no one ever questions his humanity nor is any explanation ever given for why he looks this way. There do exist, however, genetically altered populations of humans in the setting, so maybe they assume he's one.
* ''Literature/WonderWomanWarbringer'': Jason is stronger and faster than a normal human. It's hinted that this might be because of the family's legacy, but Jason has been dealing in biology and genetical manipulation, so it's not clear whether that's the reason for his strength.
* ''Literature/{{Worm}}'': Capes were human, but accidentally entered into symbiotic relationships with alien "passengers" in a time of high stress, changing them each at a fundamental level. However, most (sane) capes still consider themselves to be human, albeit a parahuman subset.
** Case 53's are an interesting example. They experienced extreme and permanent physical changes, such as becoming semi-organic metal, or their body being almost entirely composed of oily black tentacles. The majority of them also still see themselves as human, but the media and other capes are often less inclined to do so.
** Discussed further in the sequel ''Literature/{{Ward}}'' where Victoria Dallon no longer views herself as fully human due to her extended time being a deformed ''garden of flesh'', as well as having a lot of residual animal DNA left in her system due to the process of restoring her original body shape.
* ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' gives us Humphrey, the magician of information. He ''is'' human, but centuries of dealing with high concentrations of magic seem to have given him a rather gnomelike appearance. Trent uses him as evidence as to why Xanth needs occasional fresh blood in the form of non-magical immigrants. Without periodic infusions of ordinary humans, the human race will either mutate into something else, or crossbreed itself out of existence.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''{{Literature/Anpanman}}'', despite their appearance compared to the other characters (especially in a world full of animals and object-headed characters), characters like Uncle Jam, Batako, and Dr. Hiyari are actually NOT humans, and are instead fairy-esque creatures. However, humans do exist in the Anpanman universe, only none of them are in Anpanland themselves.
* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'':
** Guts consistently identifies as human, but there's been ''something'' off about him practically from birth (literally; he was born from the corpse of a hanged woman). He's [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower superhumanly strong]] and [[MadeOfIron resilient to the point of absurdity]], his ears have points, and he seems to carry a lot of strange supernatural characteristics, including a SuperpoweredEvilSide. At least a chunk of this is credited to him being "between worlds", as a result of having been one of the only people to ever survive an Eclipse event, slaying many demons in the meantime, and wearing the cursed Berserker Armor, but enough of this stuff was true even in his youth that it definitely makes one wonder.
** The Great Goat, an antagonist of the Tower of Conviction arc, is the leader of a strange demonic cult, but little is known about him. He only becomes an Apostle Spawn later on, but before that happens, he's clearly off. He's unusually tall and lanky and has six-fingered hands, and he spends all his time wearing what is ''apparently'' a very realistic mask based on a goat head, but elaborate enough that one could easily be convinced it's his real head (not to mention, we never see him take the mask off). A man under the effects of a hallucinogen sees [[ExoticEquipment his penis as a snake's head and neck]], and it's never quite clear if what he's seeing the result of the drug or what it actually looks like. He could be a deformed human, a human altered through some unusual methods, or a member of some other race entirely.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Quincies may or may not be human. There are four soul-races, Humans, Hollows, Shinigami and Quincies. Humans and Hollows are opposites, and Shinigami and Quincies are opposites. Hollows are opposite to Quincies and possibly Humans and Shinigami, but the relationship between Humans and Quincies is unstated. When Ryuuken mentions the concept of "human power" he puts Ginjou (substitute shinigami), Sado (fullbringer) and Orihime (shaman) under that umbrella. While he includes his mixed-blood Quincy son, Uryuu, he excludes himself (a pure-blood Quincy) and admits he's stretching the definition of "human power" to include Uryuu at all. He doesn't explain that comment, not even to explain what the definition is.
* ''Manga/CafeKichijojiDe'' is a SliceOfLife manga set in the normal world. However, chef Hifumi Minagawa frequently dabbles in black magic, [[RealityWarper achieves things that shouldn't be humanly possible]] and is described as "A questionable human being" in his character profile.
* Freddie from ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'' is huge, rides an even huger horse, never speaks, and [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed looks and acts exactly like Freddie Mercury]]. It's unknown if he's the same Freddie, undead or otherwise, but whenever animals are discussed, he tends to be included among them. Weirder still is his American counterpart, Mr. Mercury, who also looks like the deceased singer but can speak and has a distinct personality.
* ''Literature/DateALive'': Early in the series, a few characters have considered the notion that [[TheHero Shido Itsuka]] might not be entirely human, given that he can seal and use Spirit powers. [[spoiler:Further muddying the issue was the revelation that Spirits themselves used to be normal humans. Volume 17 reveals Shido ''used'' to be a regular human, until he was killed by [[BigBad Isaac Westcott]] and the [[PhysicalGod First Spirit]] recreated him as her surrogate child.]]
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** In the [[Manga/DragonBall beginning of the series]], the sapient population of Earth consists mostly of regular humans, {{Talking Animal}}s, and monsters, but there are some that don't fit clearly into any of them.
** Although Goku is [[ItWasHisSled well-known]] nowadays for actually being an [[HumanAliens alien]], it was unclear for a long time (and often questioned in-series) whether his tail, immense strength, and turning into a giant ape were from some non-human origin or just some [[InexplicablyAwesome inexplicable]] unique qualities of his. We find this out when ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' came along.
** Tenshinhan is a regular human except he has a ThirdEye. Chiaotzu looks like a painted doll version of a ChineseVampire that has PsychicPowers and [[OlderThanTheyLook looks like a child even after getting a decade older]]. Mr. Popo has jet-black skin, PointyEars, and eyes like a Slime from ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' and has apparently served as assistant to the World's Guardian for hundreds and hundreds of years. WordOfGod has it that AncientAstronauts landed on Earth long ago and interbred with early humans, and most humans have a little alien genetics, just not enough to be physically apparent. Those with more alien genetics than average sometimes manifest alien physical traits.
** Pilaf, the very first BigBad of the series and eternally recurring character, is a blue-skinned midget with pointy ears and no nose. It's never stated what he actually is, nobody ever comments upon his appearance and no other beings like him are ever seen.
** Most of Doctor Gero's creations are pure robots (16 and 19), pure organics (Cell), or {{cyborg}}s (himself). Then there's 17 and 18, who are clearly enhanced humans, but how human they are is tricky to figure at first glance. It is confirmed that their bodies include some kind of "[[PerpetualMotionMonster infinite engine]]" and once contained deactivation mechanisms, but they also have enough standard biology that 18 was able to give birth to an apparently normal girl. They're also designed to have a slightly UncannyValley appearance and do not appear to age while their strength, unlike Cell's, is not steeped in KiManipulation, but unlike most purely robotic characters, they also have the ability to train, increase their power, and learn new techniques, which wouldn't make sense if their abilities were purely mechanical. The fact that the official translation translated "ArtificialHuman" as "Android" only increases the confusion; depending on who you ask, they're anywhere between RidiculouslyHumanRobots to [[BioAugmentation biologically-enhanced humans]] with a handful of robot parts.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Goku Black is an antagonist who looks [[EvilTwin nearly identical]] to Goku and has a moveset that is similar, but the derogatory, observational way he talks about Saiyans and other mortal races, along with his odd fascination with Saiyan abilities, indicates that he probably isn't one himself. Goku and Whis speculate that he's a copy of Goku made by [[BigBad Zamasu]] using the Super Dragon Balls, after originally thinking that Zamasu [[TimeyWimeyBall will become him in the future]]. [[spoiler:Eventually, it turns out that they were almost correct: Goku Black is revealed to be an alternate version of Zamasu who used the Dragon Balls to swap bodies with his timeline's Goku, making him a Kai in a Saiyan body.]]
* ''Manga/FlyMeToTheMoon'' first introduces [[{{Deuteragonist}} Tsukasa Tsukuyomi]] to the story by having protected her future husband from a fully speeding truck using her own body, and even when covered in her own blood, is able to get back up and walk away just fine. Her second meeting with Nasa, which presumably takes place ''just minutes'' after the truck hit on the two of them, shows her completely clean and uninjured, as if Tsukasa never got hit by the truck in the first place. The story itself gives out a lot of signs that Tsukasa's true identity is that of Princess Kaguya from the 10th century Japanese folk tale, ''The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter''. [[spoiler:She isn't. She's the daughter of Iwakasa, the Emperor's subordinate who was ordered to dispose of the elixir of immortality Kaguya left behind. He gave the elixir to his daughter to save her life.]]
* ''Manga/GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'' has "Professor" Miyabi Oomichi, whose emotionless nature, high intelligence, incredible hand coordination, SelectiveMagnetism, ability to communicate with birds, ability to breathe underwater, odd behaviour during thunderstorms, and stiff joints during humid weather are traits that wouldn't be out of place in a RobotGirl.
* If you do a screengrab of Peppo in ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'' and then clone her skin tone in MS Paint or a similar program, it suddenly becomes noticeable that her skin is ''mauve''. Then you add in that manga!Peppo lacks nipples, in a canon that doesn't usually [[BarbieDollAnatomy eliminate those]] (though that might also be intended as evidence of body-modification, as it's strongly implied that Peppo is transgender).
* The members of the ''Manga/HeavensDesignTeam'' look and act human, but given that their role is to design and build living creatures for {{God}} Himself, it does make their actual "race" suspect. They're clearly not angels either, as they are treated as a separate group who serve as a liaison between the titular team and their client.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
** Mannish Boy from ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', outside of being a [[FightingSpirit Stand]] User, seems to be an otherwise normal baby. However, given the fact that he has [[FangsAreEvil fangs]], [[YellowEyesOfSneakiness golden eyes]], and [[BrainyBaby unnaturally high intelligence]] for a baby (even for one that's a Stand User), it's quite possible that he's not human at all.
** The story arc "I Am An Alien!" from ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'' revolves around the character Mikitaka Hazekura (or Nu Mikitakazo Nshi as he calls himself) who makes the titular claim. On the one hand, he has pointed ears, breaks out in a rash when he hears sirens, can apparently stand perpendicular to walls, and his ability Earth Wind and Fire can [[VoluntaryShapeshifting transform him into any simple object he wants]]; on the other hand, he has no concrete proof of his species (he claims he traveled alone to Earth to assess its suitability for his kind, and his ship is too far away to call down), people with similar abilities through Stands are a dime a dozen in this setting, and we meet his mother, whom he claims he has brainwashed into thinking she is his mother; on the gripping hand, ''he can't see Stands'' (which is an ability universal to Stand Users), and Earth Wind and Fire never manifests [[FightingSpirit as a separate entity outside of Mikitaka's body]], though there are other Stands, such as Oingo's Khnum, that are apparently fused to the user's body. Not to mention every rule about how Stands work has been broken at least once in the franchise by some particularly abnormal Stand. When Yoshihiro Kira tries to shoot him with a [[MacGuffin Stand Arrow]] (which had apparently chosen him to be a new Stand User), the arrow ''bounced off him'', leaving only a small scratch and Yoshihiro completely baffled (and the reason why it happened is never explained). So either Mikitaka really is an alien as he claims, or he's an alien-obsessed {{Chuunibyou}} who lucked out into getting a Stand that's perfect for pretending to be one. Araki offered a ShrugOfGod on the issue, saying that he felt introducing genuine aliens was ''just'' on the border of too outlandish for the world of the series.
** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'':
*** Polpo is a massive towering blob of a man (at least 10 feet tall, when even the biggest {{Gonk}}s in the series tend to have more realistic heights) with BlackEyesOfEvil, able to disguise himself as a bed or a wall, and at one point even appears to eat his own fingers, though they're suddenly fine a moment later (none of which has anything to do with [[LivingShadow the ability of his Stand, Black Sabbath]], either). The anime doesn't help matters by giving him a [[VoiceOfTheLegion double-octave voice.]]
*** The Part's BigBad, [[spoiler:[[SatanicArchetype Diavolo]], [[MeaningfulName rather fitting for a character whose name is the Italian word for "Devil"]], is a complete oddity of a character. He is able to physically alter his own body when switching between himself and his SplitPersonality, who is also apparently a ''completely different soul'' who just so happens to inhabit the same body as him, his father died ''two years'' before he was born, and according to the anime, his mother apparently showed no signs of pregnancy until the night of his birth. The anime also adds a shot of the infant Diavolo's eyes changing color. Despite all this, he was still somehow able to father a child who, by all appearances, is a completely normal human girl]].
*** To make matters worse, it's not made clear if [[spoiler: his Stand, King Crimson, is just a mouthpiece Diavolo used while he was hiding his identity or if King Crimson is actually the '''true''' Diavolo, being a sapient Stand and using a host in order to interact with the world. Whenever Diavolo speaks to Doppio, it's usually King Crimson talking rather than Diavolo's shadowy silhouette. During the time of [[FreakyFridayFlip the body swap courtesy of Chariot Requiem]], King Crimson, rather than the now-revealed Diavolo, is the visual POV of the character, whenever it's their internal monologue or when forced to expose himself to Giorno and the gang. The English Dub muddies the waters even further by having Diavolo outright refer to himself ''as'' King Crimson.]]
* In ''Literature/KyoKaraMaoh'', there is ''no way'' to tell between demons and humans by looking at them. ({{Lampshaded}} in the anime when [[spoiler:Yuri's mother is disappointed her husband and children don't have wings]].) The only difference between them is their aging process, so in order to see if someone is human or not you just have to lock them up for a decade or two. Or ask them.
* Isis Egret of ''Manga/MagicalRecordLyricalNanohaForce'', who appeared to be a normal human at first until the point where she [[spoiler:took a super-powered axe blow that explicitly broke her neck]] and still continued fighting, a feat limited to the hardier {{Artificial Human}}s of the setting. The only thing revealed about her is that she's the daughter of a famous family, which... doesn't say much about what she is considering how many people in this setting have adopted {{Cyborg}}s, RidiculouslyHumanRobots, {{Pure Magic Being}}s, and other seemingly human beings as family members.
* In ''Anime/MetalFightBeyblade'', Ryuga is possessed by the Forbidden Bey, L-Drago before being defeated and freed. The following seasons, ''Metal Masters'' and ''Metal Fury'' show him displaying a number of unnatural traits that no other blader does; being able to teleport anywhere via lightning and red GlowingEyesOfDoom that completely takes over his eyes just to name a few. In his first Bey battle after appearing again and purging himself and L-Drago of the dark power, Rygua himself claims that he "became one with the vast power of the cosmos that that fragment of a star originally hailed or the first time."
* The Medicine Peddler from ''Anime/{{Mononoke}}'' has {{facial markings}}, [[UnusualEars pointed ears]], [[CuteLittleFangs sharp canines]], [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld eternal youth]], and flashy exorcism powers -- and an alter-ego specifically designed for the purpose. Though his actual species is never revealed, it's rather obvious (to the viewers anyway) that he isn't a normal human. Not that it stops him claiming to be.
* PlayedForLaughs briefly in ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'' when [[LazyBum Mayu]] collapses on the floor as a reaction to his phone dying from low battery. All his nearby classmates, overhearing he's out of battery, decide to help out by... attempting to "plug" him with their phone chargers. Here, Kobayashi realizes that his classmates don't see Mayu in a flattering light.
* Nearly everybody in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is supposed to be human, including the half-frog girl, the bird-headed guy, the pink-skinned horned gal, the masked man with six arms and the living pile of sludge. [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Quirks]] can cause odd appearances, and it's mentioned that when they first appeared society was forced to reevaluate the definition of "human." The one exception is the school's principal, Nezu, who's [[AmbiguousSpecies some kind of animal]] with [[IntellectualAnimal a Quirk that gives him]] SuperIntelligence.
* As [[WhatCouldHaveBeen they were originally planned to all be inhuman monsters]], whether or not some of the members of Akatsuki in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' are human isn't initially clear. Kisame is a [[FishPeople shark man]], Kakuzu is a living rag-doll that steals people's hearts and can split demon-like creatures off from himself, and Zetsu is a [[PlantPerson Venus flytrap man]] with a LiteralSplitPersonality. Later chapters and [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary information]] show that Kakuzu [[spoiler:is a human who modified his body with forbidden ninjutsu]], Kisame [[spoiler:is just a weird looking human]], and Zetsu'[[spoiler:s white half is an artificial creation of Madara's made from the first Hokage's cells while the origin of his black half is the creation of [[BigBad Princess Kaguya]], who is of unknown origin and is a PhysicalGod.]]
* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'':
** Chao takes every opportunity to let the group know she's a "Martian" but doesn't clarify whether that means alien or just human living on Mars (she's also from the future), which got more complicated after it was revealed [[spoiler:the Magical World is on Mars]]. She also claims to be [[KidFromTheFuture Negi's descendant]], which if true [[spoiler:would also not necessarily make her human, since later in the manga Negi is no longer entirely human himself and one of his potential love interests is a vampire]].
** The demonfolk girl Poyo is introduced as the older sister of [[spoiler:Zazie]], which must account for something to do with the latter's anatomy.
** All the residents of the magic world are apparently human but for, say, pointy ears, or dragon horns.
** Chachamaru went comically unnoticed by most of the rest of the class ([[LampshadeHanging apart from]] [[MetaGirl Chisame]]), and has become more so with the addition of Synthetic Skin. This has reached the point that, where once it was obvious due to mechanical limbs, it's only the antennae that really distinguish her as an android anymore.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** It's no secret that the series has a lot of {{Gonk}}s and generally strange-looking people, but Gecko Moria seems too weird for even these. He is the tallest non-giant seen in the series, he has pure white skin, very sharp teeth, pointed ears and horns and generally looks like some [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot monster clown devil]], not really traits you connect with your average guy. WordOfGod has at least stated horns (which Hannyabal also has) are something some people naturally have in the story's world.
** The Straw Hats are definitely human (except [[UpliftedAnimal Chopper]], [[FishPeople Jimbei]] and, depending on how you look at it, [[DemBones Brook]]) but after the time skip, some commoners tend to doubt it in-universe, [[ShroudedInMyth crediting them with powers they aren't capable of.]] This tends to be true of all pirates with high notoriety.
** Kaido, of the Four Emperors, tends to get this due to his impossible resistance and strength even by Emperor standards, plus his odd size and horns. It's already implied in his title of "World's Strongest Creature" (which was already in action while Whitebeard was the WorldsStrongestMan), and more directly referenced when fellow Emperor Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin refers to him as "[[ItIsDehumanizing that thing]]". It's currently unknown if he's really got nonhuman blood in his veins (be it giant or otherwise), if he's got a particularly strong/weird Zoan fruit, or if that's just the ''One Piece'' universe's BizarreHumanBiology at work again; other confirmed humans have had horns like that, and both Whitebeard and Big Mom showed some completely ridiculous strength and toughness as well, and neither of them is ever called anything else than human (though Big Mom is acknowledged as a bit of a [[{{Mutants}} freak of nature]]). [[spoiler:A conversation between him and Big Mom reveals that he ate a Mythical-Class [[LegendaryCarp Fish Fruit,]] though whether or not he's still human is still up for debate.]] Conversations in flashbacks with his son Yamato also has him describe them as oni and they both do have some oni traits (particularly the horns), but he might have been speaking metaphorically.
* ''Manga/PetitIdolmaster'':
** The Puchidols look and act like little SuperDeformed girls - specifically, super-deformed versions of [[VideoGame/TheIdolmaster 765 Pro's idols]], who happen to co-exist with the actual idols. In addition, they have odd powers, only talk in PokemonSpeak, and are treated as magical creatures by the story.
** The Producer has a giant yellow P for a head, which all of the idols and Puchidols treat as utterly normal. It's the fact that he'll pull on a human mask to meet outsiders they find weird.
* Most, if not all, of the children in ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion''. Shinji, Asuka, and Mari [[spoiler: no longer age as a result of contact with the Evas]], Kaworu is an angel in human form, and Rei [[spoiler: is implied to still carry Lilith's soul]].
* ''Manga/{{Remina}}'': The lead cultist is revealed at the end to be [[spoiler:Goda, the president of Remina's fan club]], which would make it clear that he's human if it wasn't for the scene where he [[LecherousLicking licks Remina's face]] with an inhumanly long tongue identical to [[GeniusLoci Remina's]].
* ''Manga/SoulEater'':
** The only indication that Death the Kid is ''not'' a member of one of the 'verse's common races (Human/Weapon, witch) is his black-and-white striped hair. Unlocking his Power Limiter reveals only a few differences, and these are temporary (his [[PullingThemselvesTogether healing]] ability on the first occasion, and Exotic Eye Designs when the limiter is removed completely). It turns out that he's [[spoiler:a HumanoidAbomination]] who's essentially [[spoiler:the AnthropomorphicPersonification of OCD]].
** [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Crona]] is implied a few times to be an ArtificialHuman of some kind. [[AmbiguousGender Their]] mother, [[BigBad Medusa]] is noted to be a MadScientist ''and'' a WickedWitch rolled into one and she only ever alludes to having "created" and "made" Crona as opposed to giving birth to them.
* In ''Anime/SpiritedAway'', the bathhouse is full of employees who ''look'' human, but the shocked reactions to the definitely-human Chihiro being in their world indicate that humans being around is a ''very'' rare thing. All of the employees are supernatural beings transformed for the job, but what they all are is unspecified. We learn that Haku is [[spoiler:a river spirit]], but that's it. The owner of the bath house, Yubaba, is just as uncertain. She appears human save for a large head (which could be chalked up to odd anime design style) but can perform magic, transform into a birdlike creature, and has a baby that also appears human but is as large as she is and can talk like an adult. Her twin sister, Zeneba, looks identical, also has magic powers, and lives in what's implied to be the world of the dead.
* Chizuru Aizawa of ''Manga/SquidGirl'' is an in-universe example. Her brother and sister don't appear to be anything out of the ordinary, but Chizuru is notably faster and stronger than the human norm (and also faster and stronger than the titular Squid Girl), enough so people are suspicious about her (she's not happy about this, because she thinks of herself as a normal girl). There are also suspicions about [[spoiler:Ayumi]], given her ability to understand animals.
* ''Manga/WorldTrigger'': Neighbors. They're referred to as beings from another dimension, while being perfectly human in appearance. Kuga is the son of a human, but is considered a neighbor himself, suggesting the distinction is entirely a matter of nationality. At the same time, there's been no explicit reference to the idea, and a common origin seems implausible at the current point in the story. Kuga fulfills the trope on a personal level, with minor super strength, non-human mannerisms and ignorance of Earth culture that all hint at his origin before he's revealed as a Neighbor.
* In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', after [[AmazonianBeauty Tanya]] of the Seven Stars loses to Judai, she relinquishes her Shadow Charm necklace, and transforms into a white tiger, similar to the pet one she has. It is not known whether the tiger or her human form is her true form. One could've assumed she needed the necklace to maintain human form, but she reappears human again in the third season.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/TheInvitation2022'': Mr. Field, Mrs. Swift and the Harkers turn out to have served Deville at least for a century. None are identified as vampires like him, and don't know the traits. However, at the very least they're somehow immortal too, as they appear unchanged in old photos taken in the 1920s.

** There seems to be no real consensus as to whether the {{mutants}} are human or not. They refer to themselves as "[[HumanSubspecies Homo superior]]" which would make them not human (or at least not the same species of human), but it's unclear whether that's an accepted taxonomy or not. They can interbreed with humans, which should make us the same species, and they're often as different from each other as they are from a normal person, so if they're not human, it makes more sense to say each is a SingleSpecimenSpecies than that they all make up a single separate species (some do [[SuperpowerfulGenetics pass on their powers to their children]], making, for example, Banshee and Siryn a species of two, though if they have the exact same powers, the children technically aren't actually mutants). In light of how otherwise ordinary humans such as the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' can gain superhuman powers either by accident or even deliberate artificial augmentation, the public assertion that mutants are not human because they are born with powers [[FantasticRacism reflects a social judgement]]. However, even the X-Men themselves started strongly taking up the claim that they are a separate species, which ultimately just validates the claims of their enemies. However, aliens definitely consider mutants to be humans.
** Later years reveal even more groups that the former mutants fall into: There's "Homo Supreme", a sort of super-mutant; the only known example is [[ComicBook/GreatLakesAvengers Mr. Immortal]], who is theorized to have "evolved past death". Every Canadian mutant with a tie to Characters/{{Wolverine|JamesLoganHowlett}} is actually a Lupine. They tend to be characterized by having a set of powers corresponding to an animal and a healing factor. Jamie Madrox/[[ComicBook/XFactor Multiple Man]] is a changeling and is characterized by being born with his powers active, unlike most mutants who only [[PubertySuperpower "turn on" at puberty]].
** Also, what a mutant is isn't quite clear. While the "X-factor gene" is how it works for most, the earlier explanations tying it to environmental factors such as [[NuclearMutant radiation causing the affected persons' children to be mutants]] (Sunfire comes to mind) have never quite been made non-canon, and there are children who inherited their non-mutant super-powered parents' gifts (or other powers) and are considered mutants... and ones that did who are not. Sunfire is a mutant because his parents were in Hiroshima and so he was born with ThePowerOfTheSun, [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] is a mutant because of the X-factor gene, Franklin Richards is explicitly a mutant because his parents are cosmic-rays-affected Reed and Sue, while Spider-Girl, inheriting Spider-Man's powers, is explicitly not. There are also mutant Skrulls who, even if born with powers other than Skrull shapeshifting, obviously wouldn't have gotten it from the same gene humans do. It seems mutants are a HumanSubspecies (as well as subspecies of whatever other races have them).

* Judge Holden, the AxCrazy, WickedCultured antagonist of Creator/CormacMcCarthy's ''Literature/BloodMeridian'', is deliberately written so that the reader comes away from the story unsure of whether he's human or some kind of ethereal demon in human form. For the most part, the novel is a mundane, if extremely lurid and violent, depiction of life on the US Western frontier in the 1850s... until we're introduced to Holden, who's a completely hairless giant of a man with deathly pale skin (despite spending most of the novel in the deserts of Mexico), almost supernatural strength, an uncanny ability to master any trade effortlessly, and a tendency to randomly appear in people's lives without warning. [[spoiler:The final chapter also reveals that Holden does not age.]]

* Handel and Greta, the KidHero secret agents in the original ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' trilogy ''look'' human, but display [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]] in one cutscene, and both display bizarre and powerful magical abilities. (Greta invokes BulletTime in one of the third game's cutscenes) The fact that [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals the setting]] doesn't really ''have'' humans makes them even more suspect.

* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has Cleveland "Book" Booker, Michael Burnham's boyfriend from the 31st century. He looks perfectly human and his name, while unusual, is a human one. However, he has a strange connection to plants and animals, which is described as "empathic", yet he can't [[TheEmpath outright sense emotions like a Betazoid]]. He could be genetically engineered, or a very human-looking alien. [[spoiler:It's eventually confirmed that he is an alien -- specifically, a Kwejian -- and that his birth name was Tareckx; he took the name of his late human mentor.]]