History Main / AmbiguouslyHuman

* WesternAnimation/WelcomeBackPinocchio: Harlequin is a human-like creature with green skin and red-orange eyes, which is implied to be a zombie but never stated.

* ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' (or at least the installments without anything overtly supernatural) has Michael Myers. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Maybe he's some kind of indestructible boogeyman, or maybe he's just a very tough and persistent]] SerialKiller.

-->'''Noah:''' Have you ever heard of a television show called ''The Simpsons''?\\

** The eponymous Hanna himself is theoretically a young man, but all of his TrueCompanions are supernatural, [[TheNoseKnows vampires complain that he "smells dead"]], and he has an [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow enormous scar]] on his chest that still has staples in it, which do not seem to impede his [[{{Keet}} usual enthusiasm]]. He's also strangely light, even for his short stature, and goes to a [[BackAlleyDoctor shady medical school dropout]] when hurt. One vampire calls him a "hollowed-out shell" of a man, which [[WildMassGuessing some suspect]] is literal. It's also a running joke that he [[OlderThanTheyLook looks about 14]] despite claiming to be 24.

** Darth Sidious (a.k.a. Emperor Palpatine) looks almost reptilian throughout the original trilogy, which seems strange since he's heading a government made up almost entirely of humans. Not until ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' are we shown that he once was perfectly human-looking, and that his flaky skin is the result of being struck with his own Dark Side lightning after it is deflected by Mace Windu's lightsaber.

** Snoke, the leader of the First Order in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', at first appears to be a gigantic humanoid alien. However, we only see a hologram of him, so that might not be his real size[[labelnote:*]][[Creator/AndySerkis His actor]] said in an interview that Snoke was about seven feet tall, but given Snoke's appearance/presentation was greatly subject to change even very close to the film's release, it's unknown if this is accurate to the finished film.[[/labelnote]]. The way his facial features diverge from humans could plausibly be from scarification, much like Sidious. The EU usually portrayed the Empire as being prejudiced against aliens, but it's unknown if this applies to the First Order or is even canon to the new trilogy at all. ''Film/TheLastJedi'' shows Snoke really is close to human size, but his origins remain unspecified [[spoiler:even after his death]]. ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' suggests [[spoiler:he was a clone puppet created by the revived Emperor Palpatine]].

* ''Film/{{Wolves}}'': Three or four trashy women are seen hanging around the werewolf pack members at various points, but never transform or accompany the male werewolves in battle.

* ''WebVideo/EmpiresSMP'': While [[spoiler:Oli]] certainly ''looks'' human, considering [[CharacterOverlap his past adventures]] as various decidedly non-human Origins on the WebVideo/AfterlifeSMP, it's unconfirmed whether HumanityEnsues for him after he [[spoiler:fell from Heaven and sailed to the Empires world]]. It doesn't help that he refers to Endermen as his "fellow Enderians" in his 3rd episode, suggesting he doesn't necessarily ''identify'' as human himself.

** Karl was once claimed to be an "interdimensional being" who chooses to look like a human, but the audience is never given further clues on what species he actually is. His true form is implied to be the strange, colourful blob that was his old skin.
** For the most part, Connor just appears to be a human in a Sonic costume, but Sonic being listed as one of his dubiously canon parents makes it a bit more ambiguous whether he's just a regular human or [[LittleBitBeastly part hedgehog]]. Fans often depict him as the latter.
** In Quackity's fourth "Las Nevadas" stream, Purpled reveals in a monologue that the UFO is related to his heritage. This may refer to the popular fanon that he's an extraterrestrial or is descended from one, or something else entirely, since no context is given in the episode. His content creator prefers to leave it up to audience interpretation, further solidifying the ambiguity.

* SantaClaus. He's based off a real person (St. Nicholas) but is able to watch all the children who celebrate Christmas on Earth, and he's lived an awful long time. And of course, one of his [[Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas earliest and most enduring depictions]] refers to him as "a right jolly old [[ChristmasElves elf]]."

* The ''WebVideo/UnwantedHouseguest'' doesn't appear to have any supernatural capabilities, but his appearance is quite strange, and his origins are unclear.

** In general, animal characters in the world of Shrek are able to stand and walk on two legs while retaining their normal animal form. In contrast, The Wolf bounty hunter stands out due to his bigger and more humanoid form, making him look like a werewolf. [[spoiler:It is ultimately revealed that he is the physical incarnation of [[TheGrimReaper Death itself]]]] throwing all ambiguity out of the window.

* ''WebAnimation/ChiknNuggit'' introduces a [[FunnyAnimals Funny Animals]] version. While it's not as obvious as with Iscream, the couple of episodes that feature Cheezborger's hat being removed or messed with have some... odd implications regarding what kind of being she is.

* ''Theatre/LaNona'': The titular character is this. The eldest in a somewhat impoverished family, "La Nona" (jargon for "granny") is a BigEater of superhuman quantities and is likewise ObsessedWithFood. She's also extremely old yet perfectly healthy despite all of that. Throughout the play, la Nona foils her grandson Tito/Chicho's increasingly desperate attempts to get rid of her and slowly causes every member of her family to die (or move away in Maria's case). Meanwhile, La Nona herself is none for the worse, and could very well be immortal. It is {{implied}} La Nona is actually misery in human form, representing the hard times Argentinian families experienced during the 70s, with misery spreading through everyone, just like la Nona is given shelter by a blissfully unaware family at the end of the play.

* The titular character of the Argentinian play (later released as a film and a book) ''La Nona'' is this. The eldest in a somewhat impoverished family, "La Nona" (jargon for ''granny'') is a BigEater of superhuman quantities and is likewise ObsessedWithFood, and she's extremely old yet perfectly healthy despite eating way too much food. Throughout the play, La Nona averts her grandson Chicho's increasingly desperate attempts to get rid of her, and slowly causes every member in her family to die (or move away in Marta's case). Meanwhile, La Nona herself is none for the worse, and could very well be immortal. It is implied La Nona is actually misery in human form, representing the hard times Argentinian families experienced during the 70s, with misery spreading through everyone, just like La Nona is given shelter by a blissfully unaware family at the end of the play.

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

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs. Warhammer 40K]]'': During the Battle of Axum arc, we're introduced to Inquisitor Tahr Whyler, a man who has pale skin, [[PointyEars pointed ears]], clawed hands, [[BlackEyesOfEvil black eyes]], [[ScaryTeeth shark-like teeth]], and [[EvilSoundsRaspy speaks with an unnatural rasp.]] 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.

* Sette Frummagem from ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'' is a human with a lion's tail, sharp teeth, an [[TheNoseKnows inhumanly acute]] sense of smell that can even detect magic, and no [[NippledAndDimed nipples]] or [[BellyButtonless navel]]. She also [[OlderThanTheyLook hasn't aged physically for the last few years]], at an age when she really should. Some people -- including her -- question whether she's really her father's daughter, and her mother is a completely unknown quantity. [[spoiler:She can also manipulate the structure of the Khert with her hands, which just plain shouldn't be possible.]]

** Killer Croc is supposedly just an unusually large and strong man with a rare skin condition -- however, DependingOnTheArtist, he has a bunch of other [[LizardFolk reptilian/crocodile-like traits]] such as the ability to stay underwater for long periods, a pronounced snout and reptilian eyes. Sometimes he even has a tail.

* ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'''s Maleficent appears humanoid, but is implied to actually be a fairy just like Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. [[Film/{{Maleficent}} Her film]] makes this explicit, and explains why she lacks wings like other fairies.

[[folder:Oral Tradition]]
* The Grinning Man, a figure frequently [[CompositeCharacter combined with]] Indrid Cold and associated with [[TheMothman Mothman]] lore, is an apparently human man with a constant SlasherSmile and a tendency to mysteriously appear in connection with unexplained events. Whether he's an alien, a member of TheMenInBlack, or something else entirely is unclear.
[[/folder]]

* ''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 also a lot bigger than the other humans in the film, which may hint that he’s actually [[OurGiantsAreBigger some sort of giant]].

* In ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', Banquo and Macbeth aren't sure at first whether the [[OurWitchesAreDifferent witches]] are human or supernatural beings. Renaissance beliefs about witchcraft generally involved ordinary humans gaining magical powers by making a bargain with the devil, but Banquo remarks when he sees the witches that they "look not like the inhabitants o' the earth / And yet are on't."

[[InvertedTrope Inversions]] of this trope would involve a character being shown as non-human but with hint that they may actually be more mundane than they seem. AmbiguousRobots is one of the many examples of this.

* The "human" Wonderland natives of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' never have their species referred to directly. And considering the nature of Wonderland itself, it's hard to say.

* In ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'', Banquo and Macbeth aren't sure at first whether the witches are human or supernatural beings. Renaissance beliefs about witchcraft generally involved ordinary humans gaining magical powers by making a bargain with the devil, but Banquo remarks when he sees the witches that they "look not like the inhabitants o' the earth / And yet are on't."

* In one episode of ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'', it's suggested that Boomstick might've had an undead pirate as a father, but whether this was his biological father or one of his many stepfathers is unknown. Even if the former is true, what that would make him is uncertain. [[spoiler:A later episode only muddies the waters further by hinting that he might be the son of Sarge from ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue''.]] Another later episode shows that he can use the [[WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom Ghostly Wail]] on his friend Wiz, despite not being a ghost or halfa(as far as we know), which further complicates it.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' does not seem to distinguish between humans in fairy tales and "regular" humans. Snow White, the Pied Piper, and the Old Lady in the Shoe with her children get moved to Shrek's swamp as Fairy Tale Creatures, while Peter Pan sells Tinkerbell and does not get arrested for being magical.

** [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] has no origin story [[MultipleChoicePast that he didn't make up himself]], his bleached white skin and neon green hair (which he claims are the results of an acid bath) give him a distinctly inhuman appearance, he has cheated death [[JokerImmunity so many times]] it's speculated in- and out-of-universe that he's immortal, and he thinks and acts in ways so unpredictable and bizarre that the greatest superheroes ''and'' supervillains in Franchise/TheDCU are constantly on edge around him, but there's nothing definitive to say that he's anything other than "just" a normal, murderous human.

* ''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 [[MoleMen Mole Man]] rather than a regular human. According to the sequel, he was [[RaisedByWolves raised by naked mole rats]].

* ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'': Darla Dimple's manservant Max looks almost like a cross between FrankensteinsMonster and Franchise/KingKong. While the movie is set in a universe where anthropomorphic animals exist, Max doesn't look like one of those either.

** The Coachman's evil SlasherSmile and [[ForcedTransformation what he does to the boys he collects]] has more than a few people wondering if he's human. Adding to this is the fact that unlike all the other humans in the film, the Coachman actually only has [[FourFingeredHands four fingers on each hand!]]

* ''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 [[{{Atlantis}} Atlantean]], though either way [[spoiler:he can be killed like any man]]. The latter is said to be the [[LastOfHisKind 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]].

** The Joker in ''Film/Batman1989''. While his pre-clown persona, Jack Napier, is unquestionably human, you have to wonder about exactly what happened to Napier after he fell into that acid; after all, NoOneCouldSurviveThat. It's undeniably creepy when the Joker tells his first victim: "I've been dead once already; it's very liberating." During his face-off with the Batwing during the parade, he seems [[NotAfraidToDie almost unafraid of death]]; does he believe he's become immortal? And just how are we supposed to interpret the Joker's signature line "Did you ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?" (He was already saying that as Napier, but on the other hand, it could have been {{Foreshadowing}}.)

** Almost all of the members of the Penguin's Red Triangle Gang, though [[GangOfHats grotesquely costumed]], are obviously human in appearance, and the Penguin himself is shown to be the deformed offspring of human parents (though in his madness, he ''thinks'' he's nonhuman)... but then there are those "skeleton-bikers" who tear around Gotham Plaza when the gang launches its first attack. They're about the same size as the human characters, and obviously a villain with the power to raise the undead would have far grander plans in mind than the Penguin does in this movie, but... ''those skulls''. They look real, and they're much too large to be ordinary masks. You have to look ''very'' closely to make out the actors' bare skin underneath, making it clear that what we're seeing is just a really high-tech Hollywood makeup job -- although whether that's the case in-universe is doubtful, especially since the gang is living in near-poverty in the Gotham City sewers.

* Jareth in ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' is the Goblin King, but it's never stated outright if that means that he's [[AmbiguousSyntax a goblin who is a king or that he's the king who rules over the goblins.]] He definitely looks entirely human, while all his subjects are small, stunted and, well, goblin-like.

** While the Muppets are often [[CartoonCreature abstract critters]], some represent animals, monsters, and humans, with Bert and Ernie from ''Series/SesameStreet'' being the third. However, the characters Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker are an odd case. Bunsen has no visible eyes, and Beaker is [[MeaningfulName beaker-shaped]].

** Then there's [[BigBad Salem]]. She looks like a woman, talks like one and acts human enough. She even identifies herself as "we" when referring to mankind in the first episode's introduction. However, she has unnatural white skin, purple veins over her face and arms, black sclera and glowing red eyes with vertical pupils. Her color scheme matches that of the Monsters of Grimm and she has the ability to talk to them and control them. She's also been around for thousands of years. One of the few characters who are aware of her in-universe admits they aren't sure ''what'' she is. [[spoiler: "The Lost Fable" finally reveals that she ''was'' originally, human. The god of light granted her [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality as a punishment]] by dropping her into his Fountain of Life, so she eventually [[DrivenToSuicide tried to commit suicide]] by diving into his brother, the god of darkness's, Pool of Oblivion, the same thing that the Grimm were spawned from. Not only did it [[GoneHorriblyWrong fail to take away her immortality, it turned into...that]] and granted her a degree of power over the Grimm at the cost of becoming an OmnicidalManiac.]]