History Main / ExtraParentConception

* In [[VideoGame/TheGameOfLife Conway's Game of Life]], a grid-based model of emergent complexity, a square will light up, becoming "alive", if it is surrounded by exactly three other "live" squares, i.e. "parents".

* ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': The film adaptation has Ford and Zaphod sharing three of their mothers.

* Parodied in ''Franchise/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Zaphod Beeblebrox shares three mothers with Ford Prefect (with the implication that there are also mothers they don't share), making them semi-half-cousins.

* In ''Videogame/StarTrekStarfleetCommand'', the Hydrans are featured again after their original appearance in ''TabletopGame/StarFleetBattles'' (see TabletopGames above). For some reason, the enabler is referred to as the "matriarchal."

* ''WebComic/GrrlPower'': [[https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/comic/grrl-power-1021-the-family-tree-contains-several-mobius-branches/ Dabbler explains]] how she has one doppleganger parent, one unknown alien parent that the doppleganger slept with, creating the original embryo, and one succubus parent, who received the embryo from the doppleganger and then added her own TNA[[labelnote:*]]tri-helix nucleocarbonic acid[[/labelnote]] to the DNA. Or maybe the other way around.

* ''WebComic/WapsiSquare'' has Katherine who is a chimera formed from the fusion of six unborn children. Assuming each had a different father that brings her number of parents to a dozen.

* Spudz from the ''TeamFourStarXenoversePlaythroughs'' is the result of Goku, Piccolo & Mr. Popo having a three-way on the dragon balls.

* Mordred in ''Literature/TheDarkTower'' has four parents: Roland (who made the mistake of getting down 'n dirty with [[HornyDevils a demon]]), the Crimson King (who got Roland's sperm and did... something with it before giving it to a second demon), Susannah (who did the deed with the second demon who got her all knocked up with Roland's baby juice), and Mia (a former spirit who was rendered mortal and had the baby "[[{{Teleportation}} faxed]]" from Susannah's womb to hers). Yeah, it's complicated.

* [[HornyDevils Incubi and Succubi]] are said to conceive children, but historically Christian doctrine denied devils the power of creation. According to one explanation, succubi take the seed from human men, pass it along to incubi through sex, and then they pass it on to human women, thus adding two non-genetic parents. Another version says that an incubus/succubus is one [[SexShifter sex-shifting]] being, meaning that it can get human seed as a succubus and then use it while an incubus.

A child is conceived, but instead of simply mixing one male sperm and one female ovum, a third set of genes becomes involved. Most often used in a FreeLoveFuture or as a result of BizarreAlienBiology, a child turns out to be the [[MixAndMatchMan genetic offspring of multiple people]] -- except, it was ''natural conception''. Perhaps we're dealing with [[BoldlyComing aliens]] or [[DivineParentage supernatural beings]] and it's normal for them to conceive children this way. Or maybe, this was just some freak occurrence which took ''everybody'' by surprise. However it went down, [[CoitusEnsues Mass-Coitus Ensued]] and a baby happened. May be related to {{Polyamory}} or occur during APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy. The situation may [[{{Pun}} conceive]] AnAesop about such activities.

* In Myth/NorseMythology, Heimdall has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Mothers_of_Heimdallr nine mothers]] (who were all sisters), while his father is Odin. We do not get any explanation as to how this works. Said mothers may or may not have been {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Daughters_of_Aegir_and_Ran ocean waves]], meaning that Heimdall would have been born of the sea.

* In Myth/NorseMythology, Heimdall has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Mothers_of_Heimdallr nine mothers]] (who were all sisters), while his father is Odin. We do not get any explanation as to how this works. Said mothers may or may not have been {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Daughters_of_%C3%86gir_and_R%C3%A1n ocean waves]], meaning that Heimdall would have been born of the sea.

* In Myth/NorseMythology, Heimdall has nine mothers (who were all sisters), while his father is Odin. We do not get any explanation as to how this works.

* In the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' and (recently) ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' crossover [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11782922/1/ Hunter With a Divine Third]], Naruto is born with the divine help of Artemis, who blessed his mother's womb. That somehow makes him be a third divine (thus the name of the story).

* Given a very dark twist in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. After the [[TwoGuysAndAGirl rather complicated relations]] between Griffith, Guts and Casca end with the latter two [[TheyDo getting together]] and unknowingly conceiving a child by completely regular means, a long string of unfortunate events results in Griffith, who had been a bit of a ruthless, possessive psychopath to begin with, being reincarnated as a powerful demon lord and [[MoralEventHorizon raping the living daylights out of Casca just to spite Guts.]] Griffith's "contribution" ends up corrupting what might otherwise have been a normal baby into a misshapen fetus monster with considerable demonic powers.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': To some extent, Giorno Giovanna is the son of Jonathan Joestar, Dio Brando and his unnamed mother, as a result of Dio fathering him while possessing Jonathan's body. Though biologically a Joestar, he seems to inherit more traits from Dio, though thankfully ''not'' his evilness. He was actually born with the dark hair typical of the Joestar family, but it turned blonde like Dio's once he gained his stand.

* In [[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942003 this]] ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' SeriesFic, Marinette's son Thomas was conceived as a ChildOfRape by her BastardBoyfriend Ethan, though he has a StrongFamilyResemblance to his mother. ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/26687878 Who do you love]]'' reveals that unbeknownst to Marinette or the others, Tikki had removed any trace of Ethan during Thomas's pregnancy, with the missing genes replaced with those from Marinette's [[{{Polyamory}} lovers Adrien and Kagami]]. She and Plagg consider themselves very lucky that Thomas doesn't show any traits from his other parents.

* Bacteria will exchange genetic material with one another through a variety of methods. While it isn't technically sexual reproduction, later generations will have genes from many different parent strains. Viruses do the same thing but use a host cell as an intermediary.

* One science fiction story (name forgotten) features an alien species with five sexes, all of which are involved in the conception and raising of a child in their own way. The meat of the story involved an individual of the "siring" sex taking a "nurturing" partner to court to get custody of their offspring.
* The short story "Grownups" by Ian R. [=MacLeod=]: as they near puberty, young teens are societally expected to drink "bitter milk"--bought at the supermarket, in brand name and generic versions. Apparently this makes them incapable of reproduction and unassisted sex: sex involves a third participant, known as an "uncle", described as a fat man, in between the male and female [squick factor]. "Uncles" go along on honeymoons with newlywed couples; in the story, people comment on how nice it is that a young couple have the same "uncle" that the groom's parents did [more squick factor]. The "uncles" bear the children, requiring a caesarean section. The younger brother of the groom and his girlfriend surreptitiously pour out the actual "bitter milk" and replace it with regular milk thickened with flour, develop normally, have a sexual relationship, and the girl becomes pregnant. The story ends without a neat resolution: the girl thinks she will have to end up becoming an "uncle" (the story mentioned children speculating that a particular boy will become an "uncle", but leaves open the possibility that girls may also) and the boy has no idea what his future is.

->'''Heimdall''': Like my moms used to say-
->'''Amir''': ''Moms?'' Plural?
->'''Heimdall''': Yeah, I was born of nine mothers.
->'''Amir (very baffled)''': ''How.....?''
->'''Heimdall''': Don’t ask. It’s a pain on Mother’s Day. Nine different phone calls. Nine flower bouquets. When I was a kid, trying to cook nine breakfasts-in-beds…oh, man!
-->-- ''[[Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard]], The Hammer of Thor''

* It is possible for a woman who has released two eggs simultaneously to have them each fertilized by a different man. The two fertilized eggs, instead of producing fraternal twins, may then merge to form a chimera, an individual that is a mixture of two different cell lines. Some tissues and organs would thus contain DNA from one father, while others would contain DNA from the second father. All tissues and organs would contain the mother's DNA, although almost always not the same subset of her DNA. Thus this individual would have three biological parents. Chimeras made in the lab may have multiple "mothers" as well as "fathers".
* There is an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) technique where the nucleus of one egg is inserted into a different donor's egg, then fertilized and implanted. The Mitochondrial [=DNA=] of the donor egg would be from a third person.
* Bacteria will exchange genetic material with one another through a variety of methods. While it isn’t technically sexual reproduction, later generations will have genes from many different parent strains. Viruses do the same thing, but using a host cell as an intermediary.
* Subverted by ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfecundation superfecundation.]]'' Multiple ova from the same cycle are fertilized by different acts of intercourse. "Heteropaternal" superfecundation is where the offspring have different fathers. This is common in domestic cats and dogs. You end up with twins (or triplets or a litter or whatever) who are material half-siblings, but each baby only has two parents. However, it has also happened in humans (though rarely), both artificially and naturally (with the latter requiring that a woman have sex with different men in very close succession).
* Mitochondrial donation is a form of in-vitro fertilization where the baby receives Mitochondrial DNA, or mDNA, from a third party to combat certain disorders. While it may not be much,[[note]]mDNA only encodes 37 genes in humans[[/note]] through this process, a baby is technically born with genetic information from three parents.

* Also exaggerated in ''Film/{{Twins}}''. Julius and Vincent are fraternal twins conceived in a laboratory where sperm samples from six men were combined. Julius, played by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, got all their "desirable traits" (looks, strength, intelligence, etc.), while all the "genetic garbage" went to Vincent, played by Creator/DannyDevito. He's short, balding and has criminal tendencies.

Compare BizarreAlienSexes and HasTwoMommies. Compare and contrast HomosexualReproduction. Opposite of TrulySingleParent.

[[quoteright:275:[[Webcomic/ElGoonishShive https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uryuom_eggs_vertical_panels.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:275: [[ChekhovsGun But hey, I'm sure this will never come up again, right?]]]]

[[quoteright:175:[[Webcomic/ElGoonishShive https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/uryuom_eggs_vertical_panels.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:175: [[ChekhovsGun But hey, I'm sure this will never come up again, right?]]]]

* ''Series/MotherlandFortSalem'': Abigail has three fathers, and not just in the emotional sense. Somehow, each one's best genes were used for conceiving her ([[MysticalPregnancy probably with magic]]).

A child is conceived, but instead of simply mixing one male sperm and one female ovum, a third set of genes becomes involved. Most often used in a FreeLoveFuture or as a result of BizarreAlienBiology, a child turns out to be the [[MixAndMatchMan genetic offspring of multiple people]] -- except, it was ''natural conception''. Perhaps we're dealing with [[BoldlyComing aliens]] or [[DivineParentage supernatural beings]] and it's normal for them to conceive children this way. Or maybe, this was just some freak occurrence which took ''everybody'' by surprise. However it went down, [[CoitusEnsues Mass-Coitus Ensued]] and a baby happened. May be related to {{Polyamory}} or occur during APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy. The situation may [[IncrediblyLamePun conceive]] AnAesop about such activities.

A child is conceived, but instead of simply mixing one male sperm and one female ovum, a third set of genes becomes involved. Most often used in a FreeLoveFuture or as a result of BizarreAlienBiology, a child turns out to be the [[MixAndMatchMan genetic offspring of multiple people]] -- except, it was ''natural conception''. Perhaps we're dealing with [[BoldlyComing aliens]] or [[DivineParentage supernatural beings]] and it's normal for them to conceive children this way. Or maybe, this was just some freak occurrence which took ''everybody'' by surprise. However it went down, [[CoitusEnsues Mass-Coitus Ensued]] and a baby happened. May be related to {{Polyamory}} or occur during APartyAlsoKnownAsAnOrgy. The situation may spawn [[IncrediblyLamePun (or should that be "conceive")]] an {{Aesop}} about such activities.

** Zigzagged in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Drone". Due to a transporter accident, the Doctor's mobile transmitter and some of Seven's nanoprobes are merged. Later DNA from Ensign Mulcahy is extracted by the growing mechanism and a 29th century drone is born.
** Subverted in the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "Cogenitor". The Vissians have male, female and an intermediate "cogenitor" sex, which contributes no genetic material to the child but provides an enzyme which is required for conception. Trip develops a friendship with the third person in a trio of aliens and had a difficult time when he finds out that the cogenitor sex is treated as an inferior.

* The Newcomers in ''Series/AlienNation''. Tenctonese have three sexes -- male, female, and "binnaum" -- all three of which are necessary to have a child. Because binnaums are relatively rare, they traditionally live monastic lives, only having sex when they are asked to help fertilize an egg for a male/female couple. Once mating has happened, the egg spends sometime in the mother's egg pouch and sometime in the father's egg pouch. One episode dealt with changing social roles as the Newcomers adapted to life on Earth. A binnaum has married a female and seeks the help of "his" male friend in reproducing (IIRC the binnaum was the one to help the male and his wife produce their own children years ago). The male is at first uncomfortable with this non-traditional situation (the male being an absent parent while the binnaum will raise the child), but eventually agrees.