History Main / Imprinting

!!Examples:

** Manaphy also imprinted on May in ''PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea''.

* This can happen in ''{{Nethack}}'', if you're carrying a monster egg in your inventory and it hatches, leading to the newborn monster being tame. If you're male, this only has a 50% chance to happen ("The identity of one's father is learned, not innate").
* In ''Videogame/{{Fable}} 2'', a man asks you to help him collect the body parts of Lady Grey (an antagonist from the first game) whom he has fallen in love with and wishes to marry. Before the experiment is done, he explains that the resurrection spell comes with an imprinting measure where she will fall in love with whomever is in her line of sight within a few minutes of resurrecting. Unfortunately for him, ''you'' are the first thing she sees. That means that if you don't leave the room immediately, she will fall for you instead of him. The choice is up to you.

* The ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' cartoon and Youtube Poop phrase of the same name played with this, in which Luigi fulfilled the parent figure for an infant Yoshi.

* In ''GodzillaTheSeries,'' the title character imprints on Nick, believing him to be his father.

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' has a rather heartwarming example, where Samus, in the events of ''Videogame/MetroidII'', has been sent to exterminate all of the eponymous creatures. Upon arrival at the location of the last Metroid, she finds only an egg, which promptly hatches, revealing a baby Metroid, who imprints itself on her as its mother.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''. SCP-111 "Dragon Snails" hatchlings can imprint on humans who are nearby when they're hatched.

Imprinting is the psychological condition where an animal (usually seen with ducks or turkeys) will follow the first moving object it sees, believing it to be its mother. Mistakes happen, naturally, as there have been times where ducklings have followed cars, plastic bags, humans (who used this to experiment on the full aspects of imprinting) or, in some cases, its own brothers or sisters.

However, in this case, the imprinting is done by one character of the story, or one creature, onto another creature/person, be it the protagonist, antagonist, a minor character, etc.

It is also prudent to point out that this is not just imprinting on someone as a mother. Any example of an imprinting can be included here, so long as the same general concept remains present.

!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''RanmaOneHalf'' The Phoenix Mountain tribe can imprison people in eggs--when the egg is "hatched", the victim imprints on the first person they see and will obey their instructions. [[spoiler:But the one plot-important person this happens to is Shampoo, and the first person she sees is...herself in a mirror.]]

** Manaphy also imprinted on May in ''PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* In ''{{ComicStrip/Garfield}}'', [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1982/ga821102.gif a baby chick hatches]] and imprints Garfield as its mother. [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1982/ga821103.gif Garfield's attempts to correct him results in the chick calling him its daddy instead]].

[[/folder]]

* In ''Fanfic/GundamSeedBloodlines'', [[spoiler: the Extended do this. After her original "mother" dies, Cagalli has to get Stellar to imprint on her.]]
* In Franchise/MassEffect's ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8688354/1/Crucible Crucible]], all turian and hybrid children are imprinted on their parents by their sight, smell and sound. Naturally, the first thing a child imprint on is its mother, but it doesn't matter who the father is. The imprint can be so strong that even if the child is separated from its parent from a very young age and remember nothing of them, it can still remember the smell. The process also cause a baby to react very violently if the one holding it isn't its parent or at least a close family's member.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', the monster imprints on Dr Frankenstein and considers him to be his mother, even running to him for a comforting hug in one scene.
* An infant T-Rex imprinted upon the entire main cast of ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' series in one of the movies as its mothers. Given that throughout the series, "Sharptooth" dinosaurs are anything *but* friendly, this is quite amusing.
* Invoked in ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', where Hammond insists on being at every hatching so the baby dinos will imprint on him.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', after Mr. Potato Head saves their lives, the LGM refer to him as "Daddy!" and form a strong, child-like attachment to him. In part 3, they return the favor, and in response he draws them up in his arms, calling them "my boys!"
* Sid in ''WesternAnimation/IceAge 3'', to the extent that he even refers to himself as a "Momma" because of the imprinting of the baby dinos on him.
* Heart imprints as Umasou's father in ''{{You are Umasou}}''.
* The movie ''Fly Away Home'' is about a girl who has a flock of geese imprint on her, so in order to teach them to fly properly, she has to learn to fly an ultralight.
* The Disney film ''The Grey Daschund'' gives us a puppy Great Dane that imprints upon a dachshund bitch and her litter, thinking he's a dachshund too. HilarityEnsues.
* ''TheHandThatRocksTheCradle'' had the [[BabysitterFromHell evil nanny]] attempting this with the youngest child (an infant) in her charge, primarily by way of breast-feeding (unbeknownst to, and unauthorized by, the mother) which leads to the baby rejecting his own mother's milk, and the bonding that comes with that. The whole premise of the movie was the nanny trying to steal the children of a woman she blames for her miscarriage and subsequent hysterectomy.
* The film ''AIArtificialIntelligence'' has the "mecha" (android) David, designed to be like a human child, going through an "imprinting sequence" which makes him recognize his new owner as his mother--irreversibly so, and with all the emotions that entails.
* In ''MiloAndOtis'', when Gloria's chick hatches, it thinks Otis is it's mommy. Otis finally rids himself of the chick when he shows it how rough and tumble a "real dog" has to be. The chick doesn't like it and immediately runs off to find it's real mother.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Probably one of the most popular cases, ''{{Literature/Twilight}}'' gives us Jacob Black, who imprints himself on Bella's and Edward's daughter (though, as for why, it's pretty vague).
** The werewolf characters in general do this to various people after ''New Moon.''
* {{Robert Anton Wilson}} puts forth the theory of sexual imprinting in his Shrodinger's Cat Trilogy- that whatever someone's earliest sexual experiences are like leads them to seek that out most in future- e.g. with another race, same-sex attraction, kink, etc.

* Dr. Seuss' Horton Hatches The Egg. Justified in that sitting on the egg somehow changed its DNA into a birdephant; so in a sense Horton is partially its biological mother.
* Literature/{{Septimus Heap}}'s dragon Spit Fyre.

* The ''Literature/{{Inheritance Cycle}}'' slightly averts this. Rather than the dragon bonding to the first person it sees, it bonds to the first person who touches it. However, the dragon hatches in the presence of this person on purpose, so it's kinda recursive
* The entire plot of "Are You My Mother" by P.D Eastman is a newly-hatched bird trying to find his mother. In one scene, he thinks a power shovel is his mother.
* The bird kids do this to the heroine of ''The Lake House'' by JamesPatterson.
* In ''{{Jhereg}}'', when Loiosh hatches and Vlad comforts him, the newborn jhereg mentally addresses him as "Mama". Vlad tries to correct this, as he'd rather be "Daddy", but Loiosh goes right on calling him "Mama" until he grows up and switches to "Boss".

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': The gnome Buggy Swires uses a special foul-smelling potion to do this to birds and use them as transport, first by stunning it with a headbutt, then making it breathe the fumes until it thinks he's its mother.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In the 2009 series ''{{V-2009}}'', Anna is able to do this with [[spoiler:Ryan's half-V, half-human child,]] by giving the infant a disease that causes her pain unless she receives Anna's [[GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul bliss]]. [[spoiler:She had at that point already killed the baby's real mother.]]
* An Emmy-winning episode of PBS's Nature documented a naturalist's experiences raising a brood of wild turkeys which had imprinted on him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Naturally, many birds imprint on the first thing they see as its mother, which was experimented on by Konrad Lorenz, in his iconic picture showing him walking through some grass with three ducklings following him closely.
* In some cases, many animals (and in many cases, some humans) will "adopt" an abandoned baby animal, even if it is a member of its natural enemy-predator, resulting in the animal growing to think of its savior as its mother. [[http://www.downtownpet.com/blog/uploaded_images/black-bear-kissing-man-795072.jpg Whether it be a bear growing to be a pet to some people]], [[http://www.kfyrtv-videos.com/UploadFile2/DogNursesPigs07_22.jpg or a mother dog nursing piglets.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop RPGs]]
* ''{{Dungeons And Dragons}}'', Dragon magazine #50 article "Hatching is just the beginning". When a dragon egg hatches, the hatchling will imprint on the first creature it sees after birth, considering the creature to be its mother. It will attempt to copy its "mother"'s actions.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' has a rather heartwarming example, where Samus, in the events of ''Videogame/MetroidII'', has been sent to exterminate all of the eponymous creatures. Upon arrival at the location of the last Metroid, she finds only an egg, which promptly hatches, revealing a baby Metroid, who imprints itself on her as its mother.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'' cartoon and Youtube Poop phrase of the same name played with this, in which Luigi fulfilled the parent figure for an infant Yoshi.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tom and Jerry}}'' cartoons, it is very common for a duckling or other bird to imprint on Tom or Jerry, who will then invariably try to get rid of it. One example is "The Egg and Jerry", where a woodpecker egg rolls into Jerry's home and hatches there. Jerry does eventually convince the chick that he is not its mother.

* In the {{Classic Disney Short}} "Don's Fountain of Youth", two alligator eggs hatch near {{Donald Duck}} and think he's their mother. The real mother gator takes them back but will not go near her until she starts quacking.
* In an episode of ''{{Curious George}}'', George sits on a duck's nest and the first baby that hatches thinks he is its mother.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantastic Four Worlds Greatest Heroes}}'', the Mole Man attempts to be the first thing Giganto's babies see, so they will obey his every command. Invisible Woman renders him invisible just as they hatch.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic}}'' did this, with Twilight Sparkle hatching Spike. Their bond seems to be more like brother-sister/assistant-boss, as opposed to mother-son.
** Peewee the Phoenix also imprinted on Spike upon hatching in the episode "Dragon Quest". As of "Just for Sidekicks", Peewee has been returned to the wild.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "Attack of the Tree People", after their ship explodes, Jonny, Hadji and Bandit wash up on an island beach. While Bandit is lying on the beach, a number of baby sea turtles hatch out of the sand and start following him around. Jonny says that the turtles think that Bandit is their mother.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'', Rigby accidentally imprints a family of ducklings, resulting in them learning from his (less than stellar) example most of the episode before they're returned to their real mother.
* In ''GodzillaTheSeries,'' the title character imprints on Nick, believing him to be his father.

* In the ''{{Dragonriders Of Pern}}'' series, newly-hatched dragons, fire lizards, or watchweyrs are subject to imprinting ("Impression") upon the first human with which they establish a psychic link. In this case it is not the first person they see, since they'll plow through any number of people to get to the person they are supposed to Impress with, though Impression always occurs after the two make eye contact.

* The ''{{Inheritance Cycle}}'' slightly averts this. Rather than the dragon bonding to the first person it sees, it bonds to the first person who touches it. However, the dragon hatches in the presence of this person on purpose, so it's kinda recursive

* ''{{Dinotopia}}'' shows workers at the dinosaur hatchery using hand puppets to ensure that hatchlings imprint on the correct species (i.e. that of the mother).
* ''{{Discworld}}'': The gnome Buggy Swires uses a special foul-smelling potion to do this to birds and use them as transport, first by stunning it with a headbutt, then making it breathe the fumes until it thinks he's its mother.

** Peewee the Phoenix also imprinted on Spike upon hatching in the episode "Dragon Quest". As of "Just for Sidekicks", Peewee has been returned to his parents.

* In the ''{{Dragonriders Of Pern}}'' series, newly-hatched dragons, fire lizards, or watchweyrs are subject to imprinting ("impression") upon the first human with which they establish a psychic link.

* In ''Videogame/{{Fable}} 2'', a man asks you to help him collect the body parts of Lady Grey (an antagonist from the first game) whom he has fallen in love with and wishes to marry. Before the experiment is done, he explains that the resurrection spell comes with an imprinting measure where she will fall in love with whoever is in her line of sight within a few minutes of resurrecting. Unfortunately for him, ''you'' are the first thing she sees. That means that if you don't leave the room immediately, she will fall for you instead of him. The choice is up to you.

* ''{{Metroid}}'' has a rather heartwarming example, where Samus, in the events of Metroid II, has been sent to exterminate all Metroids. Upon arrival at the location of the last Metroid, she finds only an egg, which promptly hatches, revealing a baby Metroid, who imprints itself on her as its mother.
* This can happen in ''{{Nethack}}'', if you're carrying a monster egg in your inventory and it hatches, leading to the newborn monster being tame. If you're male, this only has a 50% chance to happen ("The identity of one's father is learned, not innate").

* ''{{Dinotopia}}'' shows workers at the dinosaur hatchery using hand puppets to ensure that hatchlings imprint on the correct species (i.e. that of the mother).

* The {{Super Mario World}} cartoon and Youtube Poop phrase of the same name played with this, in which Luigi fulfilled the parent figure for an infant Yoshi.

* {{Septimus Heap}}'s dragon Spit Fyre.

* In the 2009 series ''{{V-2009}}'', Anna is able to do this with [[spoiler:Ryan's half-V, half-human child,]] by giving the infant a disease that causes her pain unless she receives Anna's [[GettingSmilesPaintedOnYourSoul bliss]]. [[spoiler:She had at that point already killed the baby's real mother.]]

* In the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' 4Kids cartoon, Misty became a mother to Togepi after it hatched from its egg.
** Manaphy also imprinted on May in ''PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea''.

* In ''{{Tom And Jerry}}'' cartoons, it is very common for a duckling or other bird to imprint on Tom or Jerry, who will then invariably try to get rid of it. One example is "The Egg and Jerry", where a woodpecker egg rolls into Jerry's home and hatches there. Jerry does eventually convince the chick that he is not its mother.
* In the {{Pokemon}} 4Kids cartoon, Misty became a mother to Togepi after it hatched from its egg.
** Manaphy also imprinted on May in ''PokemonRangerAndTheTempleOfTheSea.''
* In the episode "That Darn Gator" of the SamAndMax cartoon, Max fishes a baby alligator out of a toilet and it imprints on him.
* In the {{Classic Disney Short}} Don's Fountain of Youth two alligator eggs hatch near {{Donald Duck}} and think he's his mother. The real mother gator takes them back but will not go near her until she starts quacking.
* In The {{Regular Show}}, in the episode "A Bunch Of Baby Ducks", the ducks imprints on Rigby.
* In an episode of {{Curious George}}, George sits on a duck's nest and the first baby that hatches thinks he is its mother.
* In one episode of ''{{Fantastic Four Worlds Greatest Heroes}}'', the Mole Man attempts to be the first thing Giganto's babies see, so they will obey his every command. Invisible Woman renders him invisible just as they hatch.
* ''{{My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic}}'' did this, with Twilight Sparkle hatching Spike. Their bond seems to be more like brother-sister/assistant-boss, as opposed to mother-son.
** Peewee the Phoenix also imprinted on Spike upon hatching in the episode "Dragon Quest." As of "Just For Sidekicks," Peewee has been returned to his parents.
* In the ''JonnyQuest'' episode "Attack of the Tree People," after their ship explodes Jonny, Hadji and Bandit wash up on an island beach. While Bandit is lying on the beach a number of baby sea turtles hatch out of the sand and start following him around. Jonny says that the turtles think that Bandit is their mother.
* In ''RegularShow'', Rigby accidentally imprints a family of ducklings, resulting in them learning from his (less than stellar) example most of the episode before they're returned to their real mother.
* In ''GodzillaTheSeries,'' the title character imprints on Nick believing him to be his father.
[[/folder]]

* In {{Garfield}}, [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1982/ga821102.gif a baby chick hatches]] and imprints Garfield as its mother. [[http://images.ucomics.com/comics/ga/1982/ga821103.gif Garfield's attempts to correct him results in the chick calling him its daddy instead]].

* In ''{{Young Frankenstein}}'', the monster imprints on Dr Frankenstein and considers him to be his mother, even running to him for a comforting hug in one scene.
* An infant T-Rex imprinted upon the entire main cast of the ''{{Land Before Time}}'' series in one of the movies as its mothers. Given that throughout the series, "Sharptooth" dinosaurs are anything *but* friendly, this is quite amusing.
* Invoked in ''{{Jurassic Park}}'', where Hammond insists on being at every hatching so the baby dinos will imprint on him.
* ''{{Toy Story}}'': In part 2, after Mr. Potato Head saves their lives, the LGM refer to him as "Daddy!" and form a strong, child-like attachment to him. In part 3, they return the favor, and in response he draws them up in his arms, calling them "my boys!"
* Sid in ''IceAge 3'', to the extent that he even refers to himself as a "Momma" because of the imprinting of the baby dinos on him.

* Probably one of the most popular cases, ''{{Twilight}}'' gives us Jacob Black, who imprints himself on Bella's and Edward's daughter (though, as for why, it's pretty vague).

* The ''{{Inheritance Cycle}}'' slightly averts this. Rather than the dragon bonding to the first person it sees, it bonds to the first person who touches it. However, the dragon hatches in the presence of this person on purpose, so {{YMMV}}.

* In the episode "That Darn Gator" of the {{Sam & Max}} cartoon, Max fishes a baby alligator out of a toilet and it imprints on him.