History Main / GeminiDestructionLaw

* In ''Manga/TheLuciferandBiscuitHammer'', one of the golems the beast knights had to fight as part of the evil mage's challenge showed up as a pair, and then some. One was a straightforward strong centaur like golem, the other a swarm of almost cute mook like minions. They beat them, but the next day the swarm showed up again, but slightly different, and stronger. This continued for several days, the Beast Knights knowing that they had to figure out the trick to making them stay down or their slow improvement would let them overwhelm the Knights. They deduced that they needed to kill all the golem's bodies for it to stop respawning, and that at least one body was hiding while the rest showed up to fight each day. Eventually one of the beast knights found it, killing it easily because since it hadn't been destroyed unlike the rest of the bodies, it never [[CameBackStrong]]

* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'' features a Sumerugi Adept named Elise you must fight who splits into two bodies for her BossBattle. If you fail to destroy both bodies at the same time, the surviving one will revive the dead one to full health. This can get tricky despite Gunvolt's ability to tag multiple targets for his flash field since the frenetic nature of the fight means you can double tag one body and deal it more damage than the other, throwing off your timing. [[spoiler: Elise returns for a second fight at the end of the game, along with all the other adepts, revealing she actually possesses THREE bodies (the reason she survived to revive everyone else). Again, you must kill all three bodies at the same time to win this fight, though it is a bit easier given three tends to be the maximum number of tags you can shoot.]]

* Subverted ironically with [[VideoGame/MegaMan3 Gemini Man]] who does split into two bodies but allows you to destroy each body in sequence instead.

* ''Literature/{{Mitosis}}'': The titular Epic has the power of at-will duplication, with no "prime" copy. So as long as even one of him exists, he can have a hundred bodies again within a minute.

* Subverted ironically with [[''VideoGame/MegaMan3'' Gemini Man]] who does split into two bodies but allows you to destroy each body in sequence instead.

* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt'' features a Sugerami Adept named Elise you must fight who splits into two bodies for her BossBattle. If you fail to destroy both bodies at the same time, the surviving one will revive the dead one to full health. This can get tricky despite Gunvolt's ability to tag multiple targets for his flash field since the frenetic nature of the fight means you can double tag one body and deal it more damage than the other, throwing off your timing. [[spoiler: Elise returns for a second fight at the end of the game, along with all the other adepts, revealing she actually possesses THREE bodies (the reason she survived to revive everyone else). Again, you must kill all three bodies at the same time to win this fight, though it is a bit easier given three tends to be the maximum number of tags you can shoot.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', [[HumanoidAbomination Nrvnqsr]] [[TheDragon Chaos]] can only be killed if all [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]] creatures that make up his body are killed at once. If they are killed individually, he can instantly regenerate them. This fact makes him nigh-impossible to kill, even for top-tier fighters like Arcueid. Shiki, however... when he kills something, it ''stays'' dead, [[DeaderThanDead no matter what]]. So he's able to kill pieces of Nrvnqsr without them regenerating, which freaks the monster out.

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[[folder: Fanfic ]]
* ''Fanfic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls'': This is main reason why the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Brother and Sister of the Gemini]] were such a difficult Kishin Egg to locate and kill. They are actually two entities which had to be destroyed in their combined form or else they would keep [[ResurrectiveImmortality coming back]]. Maka and Caius found attacking them separately is a fruitless endeavor because the "killed" half would simply find the other, recombine, and then split again into two beings good as new. To make matters worse, the separate halves are big on working together to survive.

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[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]
* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', Nrvnqsr Chaos can only be killed if all 666 creatures that make up his body are killed at once. If they are killed individually, he can instantly regenerate them. This fact makes him nigh-impossible to kill, even for top-tier fighters like Arcueid. Shiki, however... when he kills something, it ''stays'' dead, [[DeaderThanDead no matter what]]. So he's able to kill pieces of Nrvnqsr without them regenerating, which freaks the monster out.

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[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 1st Edition supplement "Fiend Folio": The Cifal (Colonial Insect-Formed Artificial Life) was a monster made up of a [[TheWormThatWalks huge number of insects bound together into a humanoid form]]. It had 10 hit dice altogether, two of them being the binding energy that kept the insects together. If you did two hit dice of damage to it, the insects broke apart and fled. That is, if you did 20% of its total damage, it was defeated. Course, then you've pissed off a whole hive of moderately intelligent bugs, who, being demonic, are probably going to want revenge...

* Similarly, the Twin Card in ''Anime/CardcaptorSakura'' needed to have both halves of it defeated at the same time, and Syaoran and Sakura found that attacking them separately was ineffective. Luckily [[{{Muggle}} Meiling]] had trained with Syaoran in martial arts and they were able to carry out a coordinated attack to defeat it.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Jamie Madrox of ''ComicBook/XFactor'' can be temporarily incapacitated when a foe kills any of his duplicates in proximity to him. That would be within a few miles, rather than, say, across the planet or in another dimension.

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': In an alternate universe, humans have shape-shifting animals called "Daemons" that are basically the other side of their soul. Because of their metaphysical connection, most human-daemon pairs can't bear being separated for more than a few yards as it causes pain and severe mental and emotional trauma. If either the daemon or human dies, the other dies with it also.
* In the ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'' prequel book ''The Ellimist Chronicles,'' Toomin ([[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens the Ellimist]] back when he was mortal) is captured for years and years by Father, a massive tentacled sea monster which has absorbed the minds of everyone it's every killed. Eventually Toomin learns to fight back and absorb the minds into himself. He states that the last mind he absorbed was Father himself, which turned out to be nothing.

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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 1st Edition supplement "Fiend Folio": The Cifal (Colonial Insect-Formed Artificial Life) was a monster made up of a [[TheWormThatWalks huge number of insects bound together into a humanoid form]]. It had 10 hit dice altogether, two of them being the binding energy that kept the insects together. If you did two hit dice of damage to it, the insects broke apart and fled. That is, if you did 20% of its total damage, it was defeated.
** Course, then you've pissed off a whole hive of moderately intelligent bugs, who, being demonic, are probably going to want revenge...

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* This is referenced in the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' that Florence's species would need 50 individuals for short-term survival and 500 for long-term. Her creators only made 14 Bowman's Wolves total so far, hence one of her main objectives is to ensure they continue.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': One of Ben's alien forms was Ditto, which had the ability to clone itself without limit. Unfortunately their link means that if one clone is hurt, the other clone feels the same pain. In "Divided We Stand", one Ditto was captured by {{Mad Scientist}} Dr. Animo and and powers taken to multiply his mutant army, which all died after one was defeated.
** Later duplicating alien Echo Echo doesn't have this problem. All of the Echo Echos we saw in one fight were wiped out by the enemy (namely [[spoiler: a NotHimself Kevin]]) but Ben survived by keeping one of himself in the trunk of his car.

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[[folder: Real Life ]]

* If any population of a single species is reduced below a certain limit, that population will die out. Humans need at least 1,700 people to repopulate the earth.

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* It's common practice to give a DualBoss revival skills, such that if one of them is left alive they can revive the other, and force the player into trying to take them out at the same time.

In most media, to kill a HiveMind or cluster creature you will need to kill every last part. Other times you'll luck out and only need to kill the core (or HiveQueen). Then there's this. Basically, it turns out that the monster ''needs'' those parts, so if you kill enough of them it'll die.

Contrast FromASingleCell.

* ''Series/RobotWars'' entrant Gemini is the TropeNamer. If 50% of any competitor's drive was destroyed, the competitor was counted out. This rule was removed later.

* ''Series/RobotWars'' entrant Gemini. If 50% of any competitor's drive was destroyed, the competitor was counted out. This rule was removed later.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Fanfic}}]]
* ''Fanfic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls'': This is main reason why the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Brother and Sister of the Gemini]] were such a difficult Kishin Egg to locate and kill. They are actually two entities which had to be destroyed in their combined form or else they would keep [[ResurrectiveImmortality coming back]]. Maka and Caius found attacking them separately is a fruitless endeavor because the “killed” half would simply find the other, recombine, and then split again into two beings good as new. To make matters worse, the separate halves are big on working together to survive.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC: Literature]]
* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': In an alternate universe, humans have shape-shifting animals called "Daemons" that are basically the other side of their soul. Because of their metaphysical connection, most human-daemon pairs can't bear being separated for more than a few yards as it causes pain and severe mental and emotional trauma. If either the daemon or human dies, the other dies with it also.
* In the ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'' prequel book ''The Ellimist Chronicles,'' Toomin ([[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens the Ellimist]] back when he was mortal) is captured for years and years by Father, a massive tentacled sea monster which has absorbed the minds of everyone it's every killed. Eventually Toomin learns to fight back and absorb the minds into himself. He states that the last mind he absorbed was Father himself, which turned out to be nothing.

[[AC:TabletopRPG]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 1st Edition supplement "Fiend Folio": The Cifal (Colonial Insect-Formed Artificial Life) was a monster made up of a [[TheWormThatWalks huge number of insects bound together into a humanoid form]]. It had 10 hit dice altogether, two of them being the binding energy that kept the insects together. If you did two hit dice of damage to it, the insects broke apart and fled. That is, if you did 20% of its total damage, it was defeated.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC: {{Western Animation}}]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'': One of Ben's alien forms was Ditto, which had the ability to clone itself without limit. Unfortunately their link means that if one clone is hurt, the other clone feels the same pain. In "Divided We Stand", one Ditto was captured by {{Mad Scientist}} Dr. Animo and and powers taken to multiply his mutant army, which all died after one was defeated.

[[AC:RealLife]]

* In VideoGame/{{Halo}}, [[ZombieApocalypse the Flood]] always have a HiveMind, but it will attain a form of sapience called [[AGodAmI a Gravemind]] if the Flood attains enough biomass. Thus, the [[TheComputerIsYourFriend Monitors]] on the Halo rings keep the Flood in their labs [[SealedEvilInACan isolated from any life-forms it can use as a host]]. 2401-Penitent Tangent, in the second game, neglected his duties, allowing a Gravemind to form on his ring, while either the humans or the Covenant in the first one [[NiceJobBreakingItHero released the Flood from a lab they thought was a weapons cache]].

[[AC:Fanfic]]

* Jamie Madrox of ''XFactor'' can be temporarily incapacitated when a foe kills any of his duplicates in proximity to him. That would be within a few miles, rather than, say, across the planet or in another dimension.

* {{His Dark Materials}}: In an alternate universe, humans have shape-shifting animals called "Daemons" that are basically the other side of their soul. Because of their metaphysical connection, most human-daemon pairs can't bear being separated for more than a few yards as it causes pain and severe mental and emotional trauma. If either the daemon or human dies, the other dies with it also.

* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' 1st Edition supplement "Fiend Folio": The Cifal (Colonial Insect-Formed Artificial Life) was a monster made up of a [[TheWormThatWalks huge number of insects bound together into a humanoid form]]. It had 10 hit dice altogether, two of them being the binding energy that kept the insects together. If you did two hit dice of damage to it, the insects broke apart and fled. That is, if you did 20% of its total damage, it was defeated.

* In {{Halo}}, [[ZombieApocalypse the Flood]] always have a HiveMind, but it will attain a form of sapience called [[AGodAmI a Gravemind]] if the Flood attains enough biomass. Thus, the [[TheComputerIsYourFriend Monitors]] on the Halo rings keep the Flood in their labs [[SealedEvilInACan isolated from any life-forms it can use as a host]]. 2401-Penitent Tangent, in the second game, neglected his duties, allowing a Gravemind to form on his ring, while either the humans or the Covenant in the first one [[NiceJobBreakingItHero released the Flood from a lab they thought was a weapons cache]].