History Main / GaiasVengeance

* In ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', the AI named GAIA was slowly given more responsibility for running Earth. After a very serious disaster, GAIA decided that humans were the root cause for most of Earth's problems and declared that all but a select few sapients had to leave. Those who didn't were slaughtered, though GAIA was kind enough to build a fleet of starships capable of transporting humanity off-world first.

-->'''Mama''': ''If the bears become selfish and greedy, and unkind to the needy; and insufficiently thankful for nature's great bounty, that monster of monsters, Bigpaw, would come, and gobble up Bear Country county by county.''

* ''Literature/DerSchwarm'': It seems that the [[ThreateningShark creatures of]] [[GiantSquid the sea]] have suddenly decided to exterminate mankind. It turns out that [[spoiler:an hitherto unknown [[StarfishAliens sentient species]] living in the ocean's depths is behind all this]].
* ''Literature/DragonBones'': After one owner of castle Hurog killed a dragon, a landslide caused salty rocks to land on a field and deteriorate soil quality to the point that nothing can grow there. The land is magical and ''likes'' the dragons.

* ''Film/TwelveMonkeys'': Features Gaia's Avengers releasing a plague that will kill all humans, including themselves, and return the earth to the care of animals.

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': [[spoiler:the humans invoke the wrath of the deity of the Na'vi, Eywa, a neural network that covers the entire moon, during their final assault. The helicopters get destroyed by a huge flock of ikran while the marines get run down by hammerhead titanotheres and viperwolves.]] [[spoiler:Gaia apparantly died when Earth's atmosphere became only slightly less deadly than Pandora's (those oxygen masks are regular outerwear ''on Earth''). In an early draft, Eywa and her creatures are unambiguously fighting the humans from the beginning, and in the end, Jake bluffs the humans into leaving forever by claiming Eywa had created a killer plague.]]
* ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'': Although Dr. Pamela Isley works with this as a mindset, after becoming Poison Ivy she considers herself a living embodiment of the phenomenon and goes to extreme lengths to perpetuate it. Also tinted with misandry, as she plays on men’s affections using pheromone control and largely sees them either as disposable tools or as obstacles to overcome in pursuit of her goal.
* ''Film/TheBees'': Ends with the titular bees [[spoiler:becoming sapient and delivering an ultimatum at the UN]].

* ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'': Is a GreenAesop about the disastrous results of man-made global warming.
* ''Film/Gaia2021'': Definitely present in this South African ecological psychological horror thriller, but precisely how is left ambiguous. Is there a "God" in the forest slowly building up to eradicate a humanity that's eradicating nature? Or is this just a particularly bizarre, but otherwise natural, fungal infection? Does humanity deserve [[spoiler:to be transformed into [[MushroomMan mushroom zombies]]?]]
* ''Film/{{Gamera}}'': Has characters on occasion worrying that the titular turtle ''will'' fill this role if humanity takes too many liberties with the environment. In [[Film/Gamera3AwakeningOfIrys the third movie]], sinister MisterExposition Kurata Shinji describes the enemy monster Irys this way... but he's [[NietzscheWannabe pretty much nuts to begin with]].

* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'': Godzilla is generally portrayed as a ferocious defender of Earth's balance, whether against humans, aliens or other giant monsters. He's usually a Gaia's Avenger, but the first movie portrays him in the metaphorical sense -- rather than actively fighting for nature, he's a monstrous byproduct of radioactive pollution that humanity has created and now has to deal with.
** Mothra evolved from a divinity caring only for her island's people to full Gaia Avenger. ''Godzilla vs. Mothra'' also shows she was first created because Battra was too enthusiastic in the job.

* ''Film/LongWeekend'': A couple of JerkAss characters go camping and act like jerks to nature. Nature then proceeds to give them what they've got coming.

* ''Film/{{Noah}}'': A tricky example that doesn’t wholly fit the trope but whose visuals carry much the same spirit. What’s being avenged is not direct harm against the earth itself, but rather the increasing wickedness of humanity, one manifestation of which is the development of industrial mines that strip the earth of resources. Nonetheless, the sight of giant waterspouts erupting from the ground and drowning everything in sight is pretty textbook for nature-based revenge.
** As much as can be interpreted from Noah’s perspective, killing animals for food and even gathering unnecessary plants is also taboo, more offenses against the work of the Creator (i.e. God).

* ''Film/TheRookies'': Involves a madman and terrorist leader who serves as Gaia's Avenger, intending to unleash a Green Virus which forcefully transforms human beings into plants. He succeeded in releasing the virus in New York and wiping out most of its population and turning them to plant life, and intends to do this to major cities all over the world.

** ''Series/UltramanZ'': When the SAAG were preparing the [[WaveMotionGun D4 Ray]] and Ultroid Zero as their ultimate anti-kaiju weapons, hordes of monsters were awoken and attacked the test sites. It was suggested by Yoko Nakashima that the planet itself wanted to stop the use of D4 due to its extreme danger. [[spoiler:Considering that D4 and Ultroid Zero were part of Celebro's Civilization Self-Destruction Game, Yoko was right on the money in her assessment.]]

* ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'': [[DiscussedTrope Suggested]] when Damon is mocking of Stefan's [[VegetarianVampire eating habits]] and asks if he's not worried about wild animals banning together to take him down.

* "Wasteland" by the German Gothic metal band Atargatis describes how, after having ruined Earth reducing it to a dry wasteland, humans become wretched, naked, creatures of knotty limbs looking in vain for fertile land. The Gaia's Vengeance parts is how Mother Nature itself wants them to give up and leave Nature heal itself.

* ''Film/TheBeast'': The squid is only attacking Bermuda because we wiped out its food supply. Whoops. Then again in [[TheEndOrIsIt the epilogue,]] pointing out that more and more giant squids are now surviving to adulthood due to their predators being overfished. Oops again.

* ''LightNovel/UnlimitedFafnir'': The counterdragons are created by the world to oppose true dragons -- a term which refers to anything that threatens the world. Two of the true dragons are the now-extinct Atlantean civilization and modern humanity. Notably, the counterdragons don't have to destroy their targets -- modern humanity was handled by creating a vampire with the ability to control humans and prevent them from destroying the world. However, the previous counterdragons, having defeated their corresponding true dragons, have become threats to humanity. [[spoiler:The main character is in fact one of the counterdragons.]]

Compare TheScourgeOfGod, GreenAesop, GaiasLament, NatureSpirit, EcoTerrorist, UpsettingTheBalance, and GlobalWarming. Often a SpaceWhaleAesop. May be a time WhenTreesAttack. May be the motivation behind a {{Transflormation}}. ClockRoaches are this for Father Time.

** Consciously averted with Green in the Kaladesh block, both because anti-technology sentiments can only get so boring after a while. Instead, the main facet of Green is technology inspired by nature, and the co-existence between civilization and the wilds. Nonetheless, flavor still mentions some elven factions dissatisfied with the spread of technology.

*** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' reveals that the destruction Godzilla and the other Kaiju cause is allowing nature to heal from the damage humans have caused. During the end credits, we see that the Kaiju have caused lost rainforests to regrow, saved at least 14 endangered species from extinction, and even cooled the climate, [[WellIntentionedExtremist certainly a valiant thing to do, but it meant the destruction of many major human cities and millions of human deaths.]] [[spoiler:But {{averted}} ''hard'' by King Ghidorah, who is actually an extraterrestrial alien who wants to perform HostileTerraforming on the planet to make it ''his'' ideal world, and as an Alpha Titan he has the ability to force the other Titans aside fellow Alphas like Mothra and Godzilla to cause indiscriminate harm to both man and nature alike.]]

* Literature/TheBible:
** God is implied to be Gaia's Avenger in the ''Literature/BookOfRevelation'', as Revelation 11:18 says in some translations that He will destroy those who destroy the earth.
** Also somewhat ''averted'' in [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 9:5]], where God says He will have animals who intentionally kill people to account for their actions, as well as humans. Whether or not this refers to the animals dying or going to God to somehow give an answer is unknown.

** [[BonusBoss The Criosphinx]] jumps you "to preserve the peace of the planet", trapping you in [[RiddlingSphinx a game of riddles]] for trespassing in its lair. If you beat it with smarts, it lets you depart with your lives but gives you no other reward, while if you decide to just bash its face in, it gets pissed... but drops a pair of CoolShades that is one of the best attack-boosting accessories in the game.

** ''Series/UltramanZ'': When the SAAG were preparing the [[WaveMotionGun D4 Ray]] and Ultroid Zero as their ultimate anti-kaiju weapons, hordes of monsters were awoken and attacked the test sites. It was suggested by Yoko Nakashima that the planet itself wanted to stop the use of D4 due to its extreme danger. [[spoiler:Considering that D4 and Ultroid Zero were part of Celebro's [[KillEmAll Civilization Self-Destruction Game]], Yoko was right on the money in her assessment.]]

** Also somewhat ''averted'' in Genesis 9:5, where God says he will have animals who intentionally kill people to account for their actions, as well as humans. Whether or not this refers to the animals dying or going to God to somehow give an answer is unknown.

** Without a doubt, the most potent example of this trope in the game is the Nature Elemental from the ''AD&D'' days. Composed of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and also Life (believed by some to be the fifth element), this titanic elemental being is so powerful, it can only be summoned by a ''group'' of high-level druids working together. In combat it strikes with the strength of a titan, and its mere presence obliterates manmade structures, [[WorldHealingWave causing lush and healthy plant life to sprout over in its wake]]. A nature elemental is almost impossible to kill, since its HealingFactor allows it to regenerate back to full health at the start of every round -- this only stops if the elemental is somehow separated from all elemental material, such as by being forced into a vacuum or [[TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} Wildspace]]. What's more, the text in its entry suggests that the creature is actually an avatar of the living world itself, meaning that, for all practical pursposes, it ''is'' Gaia.

** Without a doubt, the most potent example of this trope in the game is the Nature Elemental, mentioned in a 3rd Edition sourcebook. Composed of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and also Life (believed by some to be the fifth element), this titanic elemental being is so powerful, it can only be summoned by a ''group'' of high-level druids working together. Not only is this creature powerful enough to likely defeat an army by itself, its mere presence obliterates manmade structures, causing lush and healthy plant life to sprout over in its wake; in addition, [[NoSell it can't be harmed, regenerating all damage done to it almost instantly]] unless it is somehow separated from all elemental material. (That includes air, meaning you'd have to somehow force or trick it into a vacuum before it could be killed, or maybe toe it into Wildspace.) What's more, the text in its entry suggests that the creature is actually an avatar of the living world itself, meaning that, for all practical pursposes, it ''is'' Gaia.

-->-- '''[[Characters/BatmanPoisonIvy Poison Ivy]]''', ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': One episode features a group of [[AnimalWrongsGroup environmental terrorists]] who believe that being Gaia's Vengeance is their purpose in life. They're obsessed with the Ganymede Sea Rat, an animal that's considered a delicacy and isn't portrayed as endangered in any sense of the word. The "Space Warriors", as they call themselves, break off from the more moderate environmental groups, gun down everyone where the rat is served (and celebrate the loss of human life at their hands), and are willing to release a retrovirus that will turn anything remotely human into a hooting ape over the rat's harvesting not being prohibited instead of limited. The episode ends with them trapped in hyperspace and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Hoisted by Their Own Petard]].
-->[[SmallNameBigEgo "Please do not associate us with common terrorists."]]
* ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'': The long story, ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheAnimalPlanet'' uses this as a major plot point; set in a distant green planet where animals have evolved into becoming human-like, when the planet was invaded by a hostile alien race wanting the planet for themselves [[spoiler: who later turns out to be humans from an adjacent world, whom have destroyed their own thanks to industrialization, over-development and pollution]] Doraemon then comes to the rescue by using a gadget that give lives to trees and plants, making the forest vegetation come to life and attack the invaders. Including dropping heavy fruits capable of knocking out their targets, powerful pollen powder that seeps through the invaders' helmets making them sneeze uncontrollably, and trees extending their roots and vines to restrain their targets. It works until [[spoiler: the invaders brought out a [[TankGoodness tank]] equipped with what seems to be [[FIreBreathingWeapon a dozen flamethrowers]].]]

* ''Anime/NeoHumanCasshern'': Has the Neo-Sapiens/Neoroids as androids designed to protect Earth's environment -- who [[AIIsACrapshoot inevitably decide that the best way to accomplish this is to]] KillAllHumans. The live-action adaption, ''Film/{{Casshern}}'', reduces this to subtext [[spoiler:of the ShootTheShaggyDog ending]].

* ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'': The Elders of Olympus seem to view themselves as this, having seen man's propensity for war in the aftermath of World War III, which left humanity and the world with it in utter ruination. Deciding humanity must surrender its place on Earth to the Bioroids, the cloned race created with the absence of mankind's inherently flawed nature, the Elders conspired to render the human race infertile. Part of their plan involved convincing the city's primary AI, Gaia, that humanity had forsaken its worthiness; in a subversion of this trope, when Gaia concludes otherwise, the Elders choose to act alone.

* "Literature/TheRimeOfTheAncientMariner" revolves around this, filtered through the lens of a superstitious sailor who shot an albatross and unwittingly {{invoked| trope}} this trope.

* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': Technically, Gaia isn't after vengeance; she just wants humanity to clean up its mess. Her young champions, the Planeteers, are in charge of doing what they can nonviolently/non-lethally, lest she become mortal. Also, it's considered a shock when one of them (Gi, over the shooting of a friend of hers, in an episode on gang violence) attempts murder.

* ''Gaia's Vengeance metaphorical'' -- "Was I hallucinating, or was Jerry really eaten by a [[ILoveNuclearPower humongous shark]]?" This is the case when environmental neglect results in local or global tragedy. An example of the former would be a loose swarm of killer bees or an AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever fed on a local toxic waste dump; an example of the latter would be global warming. As opposed to above, it does not actually need Nature to act anymore than you'd need a snow devil or whatnot to start an avalanche.

* ''Wensite/TheWanderersLibrary'': The settlers in [[http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/shikuan-misiwe shikuan-misiwe]] are killed to stop them from destroying the island they lived on.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1100 SCP-1100]] a.k.a. "Gaia's Blood" mutates living things in order to kill humans. It was thought to have been created by an AnimalWrongsGroup, but [[spoiler:it seems to be literally Gaia's blood and she's extremely pissed]].
* ''Wiki/TheWanderersLibrary'': The settlers in [[http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/shikuan-misiwe shikuan-misiwe]] are killed to stop them from destroying the island they lived on.

%%** There's also ''[[Film/GodzillaVsHedorah Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster]]''.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Freya -- a titan who seems to be Azeroth's closest equivalent to Gaia -- does not consider mercy to be an option towards the Lich King, the Scourge, or any cultists affiliated with either. Her avatar -- a scary-looking elemental in the shape of a female elf who towers about five-hundred-feet tall -- demands "sevenfold" retribution, and only trusts the player ''after'' he or she helps deliver part of it. (And she desires even ''more'' proof of trust later in the same questline. Clearly, she's not find of mortals in general.)

[[folder:Real Life]]
* On November 20, 1820, the American whaling ship ''Essex'' was sunk on the high seas after being attacked by a sperm whale it had been hunting, which rammed the ship, not once, but twice! While the ship sank slow enough for the crew to load up a fair amount of provisions and supplies before evacuating the ''Essex'' on the ship's whaleboats, their food eventually ran out, and they were forced to resort to cannibalism of dead crewmen in order to survive. Only 8 of the 20-man crew would survive the hellish voyage, which would serve as inspiration for author Herman Melville's famous novel ''Literature/MobyDick''.
* Plants and trees will release different chemicals when under assault that attract other predators to drive the things off; in the case of plants tended by ants, for example, the chemicals are a signal for a massive ZergRush.
* Massive deforestation results in an erosion of top soil that causes floods and reduced land productivity; most farming societies learned very early on that it's a good idea to rotate crops to include plants that put nutrients back into the ground. [[RealityIsUnrealistic But Mother Nature quickly recovers the lost ground immediately after farmers are gone]]. Most [[GreenAesop Green Aesops]] have a tendency to gloss over it -- people have depleted the soils, cut down the forests and built industrial installations, and that was that. In practice, a short trip to an abandoned factory or farm shows how trees, shrubs, grasses, smaller animals who feed and thrive on them, and later large predators have repopulated the land in just 10-20 years.
* Entire classes of chemicals have been banned ([=CFCs=] and insecticides, for example) due to their impact on the environment.
** One of the effects being the evolution of insecticide-resistant insects. The same applies to herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics... Ironically, overusing products which have extremely valuable uses in moderation leads to their devaluation in the long term. And sets us up to get smacked when a system predicated on their function no longer has them.
* The Whistling Thorn serves as a base of operation for its own private army of vicious ants that attack herbivores foolish enough to try and get past the thorns.
* During the Vietnam War, a great deal of soldiers on both sides died not from combat, but from insect-carried diseases. Which was pretty standard for ''any'' war, up until WWII and the advent of antibiotics. And even then shortages were still common, especially in poorer countries.
* Russia's greatest defense is not its vast armies, but harsh cold Russian winter that has claimed thousands of lives of over the centuries to anyone who dares to invade Mother Russia.
** Ditto for Finland during the Winter War, though the ineptitude of the Russian army command and the frighteningly lethal strategies of the Finns probably did more damage than the actual weather. [[DeathFromAbove Death by skis]], anyone?
** They usually coupled this with their [[KillItWithFire Scorched]] [[CrazyPrepared Earth tactic]], leaving any invading army without any means of pillaging for resupply.
** Japan's 'Divine Wind' similarly repelled invasions; attacks across the strait were crippled or destroyed by wind and waves.
** Australia is seen as this, with EverythingTryingToKillYou. Everything. The UsefulNotes/AustralianWildlife, the rocks, the trees, the fish, the plants, the ''ground...'' UsefulNotes/AussiesWithArtillery provides details on how invading Australia would be kind of like challenging ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} with a feather, and Website/BadassOfTheWeek suggesting you have to be [[MemeticBadass Commander Shepard]] to survive.
** The Balkans are known for their mountainous terrain which, coupled with the state of the local roads, made military movements and administration difficult. It also offered perfect hiding places for bandits and guerrillas.
* Delusional SerialKiller Herbert Mullin was convinced he needed to make blood sacrifices to nature, or else it would destroy California with earthquakes. He even killed some of his victims because they were "polluting".
* Equally delusional mass murderer John Linley Frazier claimed to have killed an entire family [[HearingVoices because voices were telling him]] to "seek vengeance on those who rape the environment".
* In one particular forest, wolves were killed off by hunters and farmers who believed they would attack livestock. The wolves disappeared from the forest entirely, and as a result, the population of deer exploded and they caused massive damage to places where people lived. Oops. This was eventually fixed by the reintroduction of wolves into the forest.
** Likewise, much of North America has a ''much'' higher population of coyotes today than ever existed when wolves were still common. If you think that's an improvement, know that coyotes are far more likely to come into towns and city parks, will happily hunt domestic cats in addition to their usual rabbit/rodent prey, and are much stealthier and therefore hard to keep out.
* The sinking of the ''Titanic'' can often be framed as an example of something like this; probably the most sophisticated and technologically advanced passenger vessel of her age, she was heralded as a triumph of technology and empire and a popular (if [[BeamMeUpScotty misinterpreted]]) boast about her was that "[[TemptingFate God himself cannot]] [[NothingCanStopUsNow sink this ship!]]". One collision with a stray iceberg later, she's resting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and around 1500 people are drowning or freezing to death. It's hard ''not'' to see the humbling lesson about hubris in the face of nature there, really...
* A fellow by the name of James Wolcott gained attention with this view.
-->“I root for hurricanes. When, courtesy of the Weather Channel, I see one forming in the ocean off the coast of Africa, I find myself longing for it to become big and strong -- Mother Nature’s fist of fury, Gaia’s stern rebuke.”
* Similarly, Finnish deep ecologist Pentti Linkola has praised man-made and natural disasters which kill large numbers of people, the Holocaust included. Unabomber Ted Kaczynski had this as his motivation, as outlined with his long, rambling manifesto ''Industrial Society and its Consequences.'' There is even an anarchist philosophy called anarcho-primitivism that believes humanity should return to living as hunter-gatherers when civilization collapses (which some believe is inevitable).
* In Maoist China, one of the critters targeted by the "four pests" campaign was the sparrow, which was believed to eat too many grain seeds. Some of the birds were killed with guns and slingshots. Crowds of people would make noise to prevent the sparrows from landing, causing them to die of exhaustion. It worked and the birds became nearly extinct in China. However, to the mostly illiterate Chinese farmers, ''any'' small songbird was a "sparrow", and the campaign caused a decline not only in seed-eating birds but in insect-eating ones as well. With their predators drastically reduced, populations of crop-destroying insects rose dramatically and played a huge part in the great Chinese famines of the 1950s.
* A generally-cited argument for going green is all the natural disasters that people cite Climate Change as a cause of, such as massive fires in dry areas, increased sea levels, the melting of the polar ice caps, and so on. [[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/02/beware-gaia-theory-climate-crisis-earth This op-ed]], for example, hypothesizes that COVID-19 was our punishment for polluting the Earth, and if that didn't get the message across, Gaia may try harder next time.
[[/folder]]

* Apparently even Gaia herself can [[PlayedForLaughs play a trope]] [[http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/animals/rowers-attacked-by-flying-fish/vi-AAaUthV for laughs]].