History Main / BenevolentAlienInvasion

* ''Literature/LilithsBrood'' by Octavia Butler (also known as the ''Xenogenesis'' trilogy) plays with the trope. The Oankali discover Earth ''after'' a [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt global nuclear war]]. They pop the survivors in stasis and spend the next centuries repairing the biosphere before reintroducing the humans, with genetic modifications to make them hardier. They do so because they want to absorb human genes by consensually reproducing with them via BizarreAlienSexes. They also believe [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves humanity is hardwired to destroy itself]], so to prevent another species-wide suicide they've sterilized all the survivors in such a way that they can ''only'' reproduce with Oankali, which means ''Homo sapiens'' will one day be absorbed into the Oankali and go extinct. Also, they've reintroduced them at a Stone Age level. Also, they insist [[CantArgueWithElves they know what humans want better than themselves]]. Also, once they leave Earth, the process will render bacteria the only surviving life on its surface because they're basically a slow-motion HordeOfAlienLocusts. Needless to say, people are ambivalent about the Oankali, and it's treated as a victory when they're ultimately convinced to terraform Mars and allow humans to settle and reproduce there, without Oankali influence, over their objections that humanity will inevitably kill themselves all over again.

* ''Literature/LilithsBrood'' by Octavia Butler (also known as the ''Xenogenesis'' trilogy) plays with the trope. The Oankali discover Earth ''after'' a [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt global nuclear war]]. They pop the survivors in stasis and spend the next centuries repairing the biosphere and colonizing the planet before reintroducing the humans. They do so because they want to absorb human genes, which have desirable traits, by consensually reproducing with them via BizarreAlienSexes. They also believe humanity is hardwired to destroy itself, so to prevent another species-wide suicide they've sterilized all the survivors in such a way that they can ''only'' reproduce with Oankali. Also, they've reintroduced them at a Stone Age level. Also, they insist [[CantArgueWithElves they know what humans want better than themselves]]. Also, once they leave Earth, the process will render bacteria the only surviving life on its surface. Needless to say, people are ambivalent about the Oankali, and it's treated as a victory when they're ultimately convinced to terraform Mars and allow humans to settle and reproduce there, without Oankali influence, over their objections that humanity will inevitably kill themselves all over again.

* ''Literature/LilithsBrood'' by Octavia Butler (also known as the ''Xenogenesis'' trilogy) is about a race of tri-gendered aliens who kidnap the scattered survivors of a [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt global nuclear war]] in order to mate with them and repopulate the ruined Earth with the resulting hybrid offspring. {{Squick}}y though this may be, the author's point is that HumansAreTheRealMonsters and the only way to fix it is with a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong.

* This is part of the premise behind Christopher Anvil's series ''Pandora's Legions'' - the Centran Empire is an ever expanding network of worlds that first invades, then raises the standards of living of each. When they encounter Earth they fail badly, and decide to award it full citizenship without invasion in exchange for a team of military specialists to help them with other troublesome worlds. Unfortunately, while the team is very effective, the Earth population's ideas about materialism and wastefulness are ''also'' very effective at spreading, and nearly ruin the entire Empire which has to seal off an entire sector from human contact to act as a reserve force to suppress the various human warlords that try seizing power.

* Creator/NeilGaiman's short story, ''Literature/AStudyInEmerald'', is set in 1881, London, on an alternate timeline in which all the world leaders are [[EldritchAbomination Great Old Ones]], risen from R'lyeh and sundry other resting places some centuries previously. Most everybody appreciates this, because when your royalty gain their sustenance by driving people mad, you don't want to be the next meal, but there are a few "Restorationists" who think humanity should be in charge of its own destiny, a pair of whom the Holmes-and-Watson-esque protagonists spend the story hunting. At the very end, the narrator mentions that he heard one of the men they were chasing on that case was named [[spoiler: James (or maybe John) Watson]], and signs the entry [[spoiler: "S____ M____", implying that he is Sebastian Moran, Moriarty's sidekick]].

* ''Literature/TufVoyaging'' by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin is a series of short stories where a benevolent "advanced" human travels the galaxy, offering his services to worlds with environmental problems, and sometimes imposing solutions of his own. Some of the races he "helps" are not pleased with his solutions, although an objective observer would be inclined to agree with him that he did right.

* The Wiki/SCPFoundation keeps track of the many potential futures of the human race they've explored via TimeTravel, which basically all end with the destruction of humanity and are only distinguished by when and how it happens. One such future, dubbed Determinative Set XW, is a typical subversion of this trope. Alien or otherdimensional beings arrive on Earth and share their advances with humanity, leading hundreds of thousands of humans to volunteer to be joined in a gestalt consciousness. The resultant being is imprisoned, cut off from outside contact, and given bare-minimum rations while the rest of humanity is wiped out.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* Played straight, in a bleakly humorous manner, in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' series ''Machinima/CivilProtection'', where Mike points out that Earth was facing international conflict, overpopulation, a climate crisis and an energy shortage before the Combine showed up, and now those problems are all solved.
-->'''Dave:''' I'll give you that - killing off five billion people did ''wonders'' for most of our social problems.\\
'''Mike:''' It sure did! Now there are no more politics. You either do what the government says, or you die! And what do you know! Now all of our energy is renewable, there's plenty of food for everyone, and crime is at its lowest in recorded history! It's a total U-turn.
[[/folder]]

->''I make instant oatmeal and we turn on the TV. All the channels show the same images: tickheads at the new White House, at the U.N., everywhere. All the messages are the same: the war is over, and they're sorry for the damage we did to ourselves. The tickheads -- they call themselves something full of clicking noises -- are sorry for the violence with which humanity responded to their visit, and sorry that they failed to anticipate the reaction. They promise to work with the Galactic Whole to repair the damage, and they're sorry for the delays.\\
"I'm sorry too," I say, trying to make a joke, but Trey doesn't laugh.''

* ''The Cosmopolites'', Andrey Lazarchuk and Irina Andronati's supremely weird SpaceOpera trilogy, plays and subverts this trope twelve ways to Sunday. What with the amount of {{plot}}s and gambits woven into the story. First, the Earth is clandestinely visited by TheEmpire, about whom the UFO crowd was largely right, and then they genuinely try to invade us. With the help of the other [[spoiler:ostensibly]] benevolent civilization Earth managed to somewhat successfully chase The Empire off, only to suffer the constant retaliation attacks and harassment [[spoiler:as those other aliens turned out to be in it [[WarForFunAndProfit only to exploit the Earth]] and stick it to their previous Imperial masters, not to really help us they're stooping as low as selling the earthlings the amusement park Flight Simulators as the genuine guidance complexes for the {{Space Fighter}}s, so the Earth is forced to rely on the ChildSoldiers]]. Then the couple of new inventions allows the Earth to genuinely kick the Empire's ass, [[spoiler: the {{Jerkass}} "helpers" are given the boot]] and all seemingly settles [[SpaceColdWar into an uneasy peace]] after the treaty with the Imperials... Only for the old Emperor, who disappeared several millennia ago, to surface again to an immediate facepalm at what his domain has become, and to settle immediately with the Earth to reclaim his old ideas and the realm. Only he might not really be the one who he says (or ''[[TomatoInTheMirror thinks]]'') he is, and then Literature/TheCulture {{Expy}}/parody [[GambitPileup might have their own designs]]... Given that [[WordOfGod Lazarchuk himself]] has once owned up to getting confused with several of his own plots, you can imagine the level of the MindScrew that actually happens in the series.

* The ''Literature/TimeFuture'' duology by Maxine [=McArthur=] deals with humanity several centuries after being benevolently invaded by a species known as the Invidi. Earth is now a minor member of The Confederacy of Allied Worlds, which rules fairly peacefully over most of the galaxy. However, a major theme of the books is whether or not humanity is really better off as part of the Confederacy: because only the ruling Four Worlds (which include the Invidi) have access to FasterThanLightTravel, the other races are dependant on them for interstellar contact of any kind, and are essentially second-class in galactic society.

** Earth had previously been ''forced'' to do it: after discovering a planet inhabitated by a race whose most advanced civilizations were at Bronze Age level, Earth scientists went down to establish contact and study them... unwittingly causing a chain reaction of civilization collapse, at which point the humans all but took over the planet to preserve as much as possible and [[AlienNonInterferenceClause the government established a law not to interfere with primitives again]].

* So blowing a huge hole in the planet is probably not the most benevolent thing an alien could do, but the Krill in ''VideoGame/SigmaStarSaga'' did it to kill an EldritchAbomination that was hibernating inside the Earth, and their second invasion was to check on Earth's recovery. The benevolent part is questionable as the Krill paid little attention to the PunyEarthlings, but things would've been [[EarthShatteringKaboom much worse]] if they didn't show up.

* ''AudioPlay/AlienAbductionRolePlay'': According to Acktreal, this is what would happen to Earth if most of humanity says yes to joining their multi-species civilization. Humans would get access to advanced technology and the means to travel to other planets. However, this is only if said society comes to the conclusion that humanity is fully sapient [[BlueAndOrangeMorality by their standards]], if not, than the best we could hope for would be the status as a protected species as we'd be treated more [[HumanPet as pets]] but not allowed to be harmed, the alternative is [[ToServeMan livestock]] for the carnivorous species.

* The body-snatching alien invaders in Stephenie Meyer's ''Literature/TheHost'' see themselves this way (they cut down on crime, improved healthcare, and generally civilized those violent and barbaric humans! Isn't it great?), but the humans don't exactly agree -- however friendly and peaceful the aliens may be, they're still, well, [[BodyHorror body-snatching]] [[PuppeteerParasite invaders]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'': The Tamagotchi invaded Earth by accident (fleeing their drunk planet and having their [=UFOs=] suffer engine problems and crash), but both humans and Tamagotchis ended up benefiting from the incident. The Tamagotchi deliberately returning to Earth later on is a more straight example of this.

->''I make instant oatmeal and we turn on the TV. All the channels show the same images: tickheads at the new White House, at the U.N., everywhere. All the messages are the same: the war is over, and they’re sorry for the [[AttackBackfire damage we did to ourselves]]. The tickheads--they call themselves something full of clicking noises--are sorry for the violence with which humanity responded to their visit, and sorry that they [[WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou failed to anticipate the reaction]]. They promise to work with the Galactic Whole to repair the damage, and they’re sorry for the delays.''\\
''“I’m sorry too,” I say, trying to make a joke, but Trey doesn’t laugh.''

* Posadism, a radical offshoot of Trotskyist communism that emerged in Latin America, believed quite strongly in one of these. It took Marx's theory of communism as the end-stage of civilization and applied it to ufology, proclaiming that, if there were aliens out there who were advanced enough to be visiting Earth, it stood to reason that they would be either a fully-developed communist society or otherwise farther along that road than we were. Therefore, upon FirstContact, humanity should welcome its space-faring proletarian brothers and sisters as they help liberate Earth from the tyranny of UsefulNotes/{{Capitalism}} and 'revisionist' Stalinism.
* The [[WhiteMansBurden "civilizing mission"]] was a popular justification for colonialism in the 19th and early 20th centuries, proclaiming that the European powers were uplifting the people they conquered in Asia and Africa. [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/%22The_White_Man%27s_Burden%22_Judge_1899.png This propaganda cartoon]] from 1899 depicts the UK as carrying the Zulus, the Indians, and the Chinese up a mountain to the light of civilization, and the US right behind it carrying the Native Americans and the Cubans. In practice, the results were often a lot less benevolent, the idea of the civilizing mission often used to cover for ruthless exploitation of the native population.

* The Church of the [=SubGenius=] is a joke religion out of Dallas, Texas that practices the doctrine of getting "slack," and those who accept their figurehead, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, into their minds will be flown off with the aliens from Planet X to their final financial reward after they destroy Earth. The date was of this event, "The Rupture," was July 5, 1998. But when the date came and nothing happened, Rev. Ivan Stang (who hosts the radio show ''The Hour Of Slack'') said the date was misread. The "Rupture" date is July 5, 19,998. Other theories include that Dobbs held the note with the date upside-down, and the Rupture will come in the year 8661, or that the date is actually correct but the calendar is flawed and July 5, 1998 has not arrived yet.

* The backstory of ''Literature/{{Expedition}}'', a science fiction art book Creator/WayneBarlowe wrote about a joint human-alien expedition to a primitive planet called "Darwin IV" (the aliens came and helped humanity clean up their act).

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' most of the Nemesites believe this about their relationship with Earth's [[DinosaursAreDragons dragons]] in [[AncientAstronauts prehistoric times.]] Many dragons see it more as a case of VichyEarth. [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100518.html The circumstances of their first meeting]] %%[[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100522.html have a lot to do with it.]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2009-08-15 the aliens try]].

** Subverted in two different ways: One, [[spoiler:the aliens resemble demons (for appropriate reasons)]]. Two, they come to Earth [[spoiler:knowing that the next generation of human children have begun to evolve into god-like metaphysical beings, which will entail TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Not that they have much hope of stopping this inevitable process. Regardless, they don't reveal their true intentions.]]

--->'''Eddington''': You [[NotSoDifferent assimilate]] people... ''and they don't even know it.''

A subversion of AlienInvasion and AliensAreBastards, one that naturally lends itself to a DoubleSubversion. Often, the "invaders" are a SuperiorSpecies. This is often the hallmark of a HegemonicEmpire. Compare VichyEarth, when the aliens only ''[[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans believe]]'' [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the invasion is benevolent]]. If HumansNeedAliens, these tend to be the kind of aliens they need.

** Somewhat applies to the Imperium itself, though only to human worlds. More often than not, they leave the [[PlanetaryNation world's government's]] intact, set up trade routes with other worlds, often provide ''some'' level of technological advancement (even if it is just lasguns for the conscript legion), and leave the world's culture mostly intact. The only demands usually made are "pay us in tithes of men and materials, and worship the GodEmperor". This actually makes them a lot closer to TheFederation than the Imperium would seem capable of. If you're on a ''non''-human world, however, your options are [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt somewhat limited.]] It should also be noted that this is primarily because of [[PragmaticVillainy difficulties in enforcing a galaxy spanning empire, not out of any form of altruism.]] If they could enforce a cruel dictatorship on every world, they likely would, as can be seen on Holy Terra and its closest neighbors, as well as Fortress Worlds or similar places where the Imperial government does maintain permanent presence. Additionally, the Imperium also has orbital stations protecting Feral or Feudal worlds that have severely regressed due to the Age of Strife, who would be otherwise completely defenseless against various forms of alien invasions (the Imperium in turn leaves them at low tech so that the local wars and struggles against nature produce good [[SpaceMarine Adeptus Astartes]] or Imperial Guard recruits). Finally, the worship of the God Emperor of Mankind is one of the few reliable ways to resist [[TheCorruption Chaos]] influence, so a lost human colony that survived the [[AIIsACrapshoot Men of Iron revolt]] and the 5000 year long Age of Strife that followed it (during which long distance FTL was impossible) that was essentially forced to join the Imperium really is, in 99% of cases, better off than if they were left to be krumped by [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orks]], turned into the slave to the Dark Gods of Chaos (at best becoming a heartless, monstrous and cruel [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Daemon]] [[DemonofHumanOrigin Prince]], at worst mutating into [[AndIMustScream Chaos Spawn]]) or eaten by [[HordeofAlienLocusts Tyranids]].

''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'' could be considered a downplayed and alterdimensional (instead of an extraterrestrial) example. [[VillainProtagonist Ainz]] has stated that his end goal is to [[VisionaryVillain create a peaceful utopia]], and while he will '''not''' hesitate [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans to tread over the bodies of any perceived enemies to make this goal a reality]], [[AffablyEvil he is a]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist benevolent dictator]] at least to those on his side, [[CrapsackWorld which is more than can be said for many people in power in the New World]]. You know things are bad when the otherworldly {{Lich}} with [[LackOfEmpathy no feelings of compassion for humans]] '''still''' comes off as a breath of fresh air compared to the squabbling power-hungry nobles in your own kingdom.