History Main / HungryMenace

They commit acts of evil. They kill and torture. Why? Not [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], not [[PsychoForHire for profit]], not because they hold a grudge against their victims. Nope, it's because their very existence and survival depend on it. Maybe they actually need to eat some specific food like {{vampire}}s, maybe they feed on your pain, maybe they [[FleshEatingZombie feed on your brain]], maybe some supernatural curse demands {{human sacrifice}}s from them in exchange for sparing their life.

[[quoteright:299:[[Literature/{{Goosebumps}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b8a5ffe2_f7d8_4782_9401_fec7c94c5df5img400.jpg]]]]

They commit acts of evil. They kill and torture. Why? Not [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], not [[PsychoForHire for profit]], not because they hold a grudge against their victims. Instead, their very existence and survival depend on it. Maybe they actually need to eat some specific food like vampires, maybe they feed on your pain, maybe some supernatural curse demands {{human sacrifice}}s from them in exchange for sparing their life.

This, similar to introducing AlwaysChaoticEvil people, is an easy way to create conflict that can only be resolved with violence, [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar as you can't negotiate with someone or something who needs to kill you to survive.]] A Hungry Menace may be portrayed in different ways -- from the horrible abomination that must be slain for the good of everyone to a NonMaliciousMonster or even a natural part of the universe that is not evil at all.

* ''VideoGame/{{Destiny}}'': the Hive have spent the past several billion years crusading across the galaxy exterminating every advanced civilization they encounter, partly for ideological reasons (they’re [[TheSocialDarwinist social darwinists]] cranked up to OmnicidalManiac levels), but also because they’re all infected with spiritual parasites that [[AbstractEater feed on violence]]. They get RealityWarper powers out of the deal, but if they fail to cause enough bloodshed to satisfy their worms, their worms will start eating ''them'' instead.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}'':
** Insect Spirits. Acting in accordance to their nature, insect spirits know only how to consume and parasite. Unlike most spirits, they crave the souls of living beings and manifest by eating people's souls and taking over their bodies. Unlike with most other types of spirit (animal or elemental), they cannot be bargained away from harming people, and as such insect spirits are a shoot-on-sight enemy and any shaman deprived enough to take an insect mentor is unsuitable as anything but a villain.
** The Horrors ... Possibly. As they are an UltimateEvil they appear only sparsely in ''Earthdawn'' and have yet to fully manifest in ''Shadowrun'', but what is known is they are {{Eldritch Abomination}}s from a different plane of existence. They are {{Emotion Eater}}s that subside on the pain and fear of the people they torment, and can only begin invading once the amount of mana in the environment reaches a certain threshold. However, it is unknown just how intelligent they are and to which degree they ''need'' to torture mortals to death to survive, which means they're possibly this trope or possibly just plain sadistic bastards.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has Deviljho, a monster that is ruthlessly overpowered, and is known for wiping out all local fauna because it is constantly HUNGRY! Other large monsters run from this menace, for fear of being eaten. If it runs into the corpse of a monster you killed, it will eat it to regain stamina. On a lesser level, many quests also come from farmers, traders, or the lake asking you to hunt a monster that's making their livelihoods difficult. Not out of malice, but because it thinks their pack animals or possessions make good eating. None of the monsters are evil, just eking out their own existence.

[[quoteright:300:[[Literature/{{Goosebumps}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b8a5ffe2_f7d8_4782_9401_fec7c94c5df5img400.jpg]]]]

** The Horrors ... Possibly. As they are an UltimateEvil they appear only sparsely in ''Earthdawn'' and have yet to fully manifest in ''Shadowrun'', but what is known is they are {{Eldritch Abomination}}s from a different plane of existence. They are {{Emotion Eater}}s that subside on the pain and fear of the people they torment, and can only begin invading once the BackgroundManaCount reaches a certain threshold. However, it is unknown just how intelligent they are and to which degree they ''need'' to torture mortals to death to survive, which means they're possibly this trope or possibly just plain sadistic bastards.

%%* The Horrors in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}''.

* Rob Roberts from the episode "Hungry" of ''Series/TheXFiles'': a soft-spoken NiceGuy who could only subsist off of human brains, and would keep his literal starvation at bay for as long as he could through appetite suppressants and sheer willpower, until he would eventually snap and kill someone just to survive, and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone and every time he did, he absolutely hated himself for it, and saw himself as a monster.]]

* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
** Rob Roberts, a soft-spoken NiceGuy who could only subsist off of human brains, and would keep his literal starvation at bay for as long as he could through appetite suppressants and sheer willpower, until he would eventually snap and kill someone just to survive, and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone and every time he did, he absolutely hated himself for it, and saw himself as a monster.]]

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Many of the monsters that the Winchesters face off against are a threat because they have to feed on humans somehow, either by being a PickyPeopleEater, just finding humans tasty in general, or engaging in SoulEating. Sometimes it's just [[GenericDoomsdayVillain some mindless monster that has to be stopped]] (werewolves, wendigo), but others (vampires, leviathans) are fully aware of their own status as apex predators. Some monsters even attempt the VegetarianVampire route, which sometimes saves them, [[VanHelsingHateCrimes though not always]]. On the other hand, the nastiest antagonists are typically those that don't need humans to survive per se (demons, gods), leaving them no excuse for their atrocities but ForTheEvulz.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Many of the monsters that the Winchesters face off against are a threat because they have to feed on humans somehow, either by being a PickyPeopleEater, just finding humans tasty in general, or engaging in SoulEating. Sometimes it's just [[GenericDoomsdayVillain some mindless monster that has to be stopped]] (werewolves, wendigo), but others (vampires, leviathans) are fully aware of their own status as apex predators. Some monsters even attempt the VegetarianVampire route, which sometimes saves them, [[VanHelsingHateCrimes though not always]]. On the other hand, the nastiest antagonists are typically those that don't need humans to survive per se (like demons), leaving them no excuse for their atrocities but ForTheEvulz.

** Rob Robertson, a soft-spoken NiceGuy who could only subsist off of human brains, and would keep his literal starvation at bay for as long as he could through appetite suppressants and sheer willpower, until he would eventually snap and kill someone just to survive, and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone and every time he did, he absolutely hated himself for it, and saw himself as a monster.]]

** Rob Robertson, a soft-spoken NiceGuy who could only subsist off of human brains, and kept his literal starvation at bay for as long as he could through appetite suppressants and sheer willpower, until he would eventually snap and kill someone just to survive, and absolutely hated himself for it and saw himself as a monster.

* Pudgy Pig, a MonsterOfTheWeek on ''Series/{{MightyMorphinPowerRangers}}", was sent by Rita Repulsa to cause world hunger by eating all the food on Earth. He's never full, and is even introduced carrying a giant knife and fork. He returns later on in the first season, but is given a new chance at life after the Rangers find [[LoveRedeems he's fallen in love with a normal pig.]]

** Eugene Tooms from two episodes "Squeeze" and "Tooms" needs human livers to survive a long cycle of his hybernation.
** Incanto aka 2Shy was a monster who needed human fat.
** Rob Robertson from a later ''X-Files'' episode needed brains... not that he didn't try to live as a non-mutant.

* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11,'' Skarlet was saved from a life of crushing starvation on the streets when Shao Khan saw her potenial, took her under his wing, and taught her blood magic. She tells other kombatants that she's "always hungry" and she now needs to drink blood to survive, which she gets from killing her opponents.

* The Horrors in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' and ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}''.

** The Darkhood monster in the TabletopGame/{{Mystara}} setting.
** The Nightmare Court in the TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} setting's ''Nightmare Lands''.

** Illithid must consume brains or the equivalent to survive, and reproduce via parasitic transformation of captured humanoids. Individual mind flayers ''can'' survive on animals, but the smarter, stronger-willed the mind of the consumed brain was, the more nourishing it is, so an illithid that has consumed an average human brain can go for a while without feeding again, while someone that goes for a rabbit will soon be hungry again.
* The Gleft in the ''TabletopGame/DyingEarth'' RPG supplement ''Scaum Valley Gazetteer''.

** The Dark Eldar inflict pain, misery, and destruction and literally get younger to achieve a degree of eternal life. Haemonculus need to do this in a twisted, creative fashion on a daily basis or they'd wither away. Wyches perform gladiatorial fights on captured prey that the Dark Eldar attend, their faces and skin noticeably younger and healthier when they leave than when they entered.
** The Tyranid Hive Fleets eat entire planets down to the bedrock. Why? Because they need food to not starve, and more biomass to create troops to defend themselves with.

** Possibly the Tarrasque. While it ''is'' possibly the most feared and lethal beasts in the entire setting, it seems pretty much mindless and is driven by hunger... probably. Fortunately, it spends most of its time sleeping, only waking up every five to six months or so, devouring everything in sight for a week when it does. One source suggested that in their default state, tarrasque are far more discriminating, but unfortunately, most atmospheres has something they react adversely to (or lacks something vital to stop the reaction), hence mindless hunger as opposed to mere animalistic hunger.

!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Played with regarding zombies in ''Film/SurvivalOfTheDead.''

[[folder:Tabletop RPG]]

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}:

[[folder:Theater]]

* The Insecticons in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''. Their primary motivation is feeding and they have little interest in the Decepticon cause beyond whatever Megatron is offering to eat and will quickly turn on him when food runs out or they find a way to get what they want without him.

They commit acts of evil. They kill and torture. Why? Not [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], not [[PsychoForHire for profit]], not because they hold a grudge against their victims. Instead, their very existence and survival depends on it. Maybe they actually need to eat some specific food like vampires, maybe they feed on your pain, maybe some supernatural curse demands {{human sacrifice}}s from them in exchange for sparing their life.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''Literature/{{It}}'' feeds off the fear and pain of the victims it devours and likes to target children because their fear is more "pure" and thus more potent. Without feeding, It will starve during it's period of hibernation.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Tabletop RPG ]]

** Possibly the Tarrasque. While it ''is'' possibly the most feared and lethal beasts in the entire setting, it seems pretty much mindless, and is driven by hunger... probably. Fortunately, it spends most of its time sleeping, only waking up every five to six months or so, devouring everything in sight for a week when it does. One source suggested that in their default state, tarrasque are far more discriminating, but unfortunately most atmospheres has something they react adversely to (or lacks something vital to stop the reaction), hence mindless hunger as opposed to mere animalistic hunger.

[[folder: Theater ]]

[[folder: Video Game ]]

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' has Deviljho, a monster that is ruthlessly overpowered, and is known for wiping out all local fauna because it is constantly HUNGRY! Other large monster run from this menace, for fear of being eaten. If it runs into the corpse of a monster you killed, it will eat it to regain stamina. On a lesser level, many quests also come from farmers, traders, or the lake asking you to hunt a monster that's making their livelihoods difficult. Not out of malice, but because it thinks their pack animals or possessions make good eating. None of the monsters are evil, just eking out their own existence.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* The Insecticons in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers''. They're primary motivation is feeding and they have little interest in the Decepticon cause beyond whatever Megatron is offering to eat and will quickly turn on him when food runs out or they find a way to get what they want without him.
** Scraplets as seen in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' are [[MechanicalLifeforms wildlife]] from Cybertron that swarm and devour anything metal they can sink their teeth into. The sight of one can elicit panic from even the most hardened Cybertronian warriors.

[[folder: Real Life ]]