History Main / TheTamingOfTheGrue

Except, as a particular monster gets more popular, it has a tendency to get less... monstrous. [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] - which at least in Western mythology were once giant, winged, fire-breathing lizards that burned villages and were slain by knights - first got more intelligent, then more likely to be a "not really a monster" subversion, until, in the modern era, stuff like ''{{Dragonheart}}'' and the [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Metallic Dragons]] in ''[[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' are nothing to bat an eye at. Similarly, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] - who were invented for ''TheLordOfTheRings'' to be ''bred evil'' (and mostly stupid) often appear as "{{noble savage}}s" after just eighty years.

* In-universe example for ''{{Sam and Max}}''. Turns out that back near the beginning of our planet's existence, molemen were powerful, destructive creatures who could successfully fend off {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. [[BadassDecay They didn't evolve well.]]

* [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampires]] can be more or less human, and more or less hostile to non-undead, depending on the writer. In recent times, with growing popularity of VampiresAreSexGods, they've gotten a bit softer.

See also YouSexyBeast, LoveCraftLite.

See also YouSexyBeast.

** Some traditions have werewolves as a type of witch who sold their soul for their ability to transform, so even as human beings they were evil. Modern werewolves tend to either be innocents who contracted the curse by being the victim of another werewolf, or having been born that way (an usually possessing some degree of control). Either way, they can't help it.

* {{Godzilla}} began as a horrible monster and nuclear bomb metaphor. Later on he became a protector from the other monster, [[GodzillaThreshold albeit one you don't want to have to use]]. [[hottip:*:FridgeBrilliance So it's still a nuclear bomb metaphor.]]

* {{Godzilla}} began as a horrible monster and nuclear bomb metaphor. Later on he became a protector from the other monster, [[GodzillaThreshold albeit one you don't want to have to use]]. ([[FridgeBrilliance So it's still a nuclear bomb metaphor.]])

** There's always been the occasional dragon that could talk, in legends—at least back to the Migration Period in Europe—but they mainly used the ability to boast, make demands, or trick heroes.

* The trope namer, grues, first appeared in Infocom's classic Zork games as the unseen (and, because they never leave pitch-dark areas, unseeable) monsters who would eat adventurers careless enough to wander in dark places without a light source. Later works such as Wishbringer and Zork: The Undiscovered Underground would play grues for laughs; Wishbringer featured a grue lair with a refrigerator whose light goes out when you open it and a mother grue with an apron, while Undiscovered Underground had a grue convention where grues would discuss topics such as 'Surviving the lean years'. The grues were still dangerous, but played less seriously than in earlier works.

* There are [[CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]] plushie dolls.

* {{Godzilla}} began as a horrible monster and nuclear bomb metaphor. Later on he became a protector from the other monster, [[GodzillaThreshold albeit one you don't want to have to use]].
** [[FridgeBrilliance So it's still a nuclear bomb metaphor?]]

* The oldest tales of [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] (in the Western world) describe them as very large, very vicious reptiles, who may or may not have a penchant for eating maidens. The idea of sentient, sapient dragons that are not necessarily hostile to humanity is new, and might be consequence of cross-cultural pollination from Eastern conceptions of dragons.

->''Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with?''
-->-- [[AsTheGoodBookSays Job 41:5]] (NLT), regarding [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan Leviathan]]

Except, as a particular monster gets more popular, it has a tendency to get less... monstrous. [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] - which at least in Western mythology were once giant, winged, fire-breathing lizards that burned villages and were slain by knights - first got more intelligent, then more likely to be a "not really a monster" subversion, until, in the modern era, stuff like ''{{Dragonheart}}'' and the [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Metallic Dragons]] in ''[[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' are nothing to bat an eye at. Similarly, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] - who were invented for ''TheLordOfTheRings'' to be ''bred evil'' (and mostly stupid) often appear as "{{noble savage}}s" after just eighty years of drift.

!!Examples:

* Trope namer is the grue from {{Zork}}. In the game, it's a never-seen monster that lives in the dark that will kill you instantly if [[WhatanIdiot you walk around in dark places without a light source.]] Around some parts of the internet, it's a rather cuddly looking brown creature that you can buy a stuffed version of.

* Vampires are an excellent example of this trope; far from being soulless monsters, modern bloodsuckers run the gamut from ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' sparkle-vampires to (w)angsty WorldOfDarkness-pastiche vampires. Even [[SesameStreet Count von Count]] is an example, for that matter.
** The {{Discworld}} series play with this - and not just with vampires, but zombies, werewolves, trolls, golems…
* In HPLovecraft's original CthulhuMythos, Cthulhu is an EldritchAbomination whose awakening will be the doom of the world, and to look upon it is to GoMadFromTheRevelation. Today, you can buy [[LovecraftLite Cthulhu plush toys]] - mostly for the postmodern irony. The general concept of Lovecraftian stories is more popular than ever.
** There ''is'' a [[AuthorAppeal faction]] that thinks anyone who GoesMadFromTheRevelation of AlienGeometries or [[EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods Squamous Tentacular Things From Beyond The Horizon]] wouldn't survive basic calculus or marine biology; if HPLovecraft and MCEscher had a showdown, [[AwesomenessByAnalysis Escher would win every time]].
* DracoInLeatherPants accounts for much of this as well (see CuteMonsterGirl and GorgeousGorgon: Folkloric mermaids were monsters that dragged sailors to their doom and ate them. Then came ''The Little Mermaid.'' [[HornyDevils Succubi]], too, but with the changing of sexual mores since that branch of folklore came about, maybe that's to be expected.)
* In-universe example for ''{{Sam and Max}}''. Turns out that back near the beginning of our planet's existance, molemen were powerful, destructive creatures who could successfully fend off {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. [[BadassDecay They didn't evolve well.]]

* Vampires are an excellent example of this trope; far from being soulless monsters, modern bloodsuckers run the gamut from ''{{Twilight}}'' sparkle-vampires to (w)angsty WorldOfDarkness-pastiche vampires. Even [[SesameStreet Count von Count]] is an example, for that matter.

* Trope namer is the grue from {{Zork}}. In the game, it's a never-seen monster that lives in the dark that will kill you instantly if [[WhatanIdiot you walk around in the dark without a light source.]] Around some parts of the internet, it's a rather cuddly looking brown creature that you can buy a stuffed version of.

* Then of course there's the general Bowdlerization that came with culture's shift to rationalism. Paganism's [[TheFairFolk Fair Folk]] became Keebler elves and [[GenieInABottle bottle genies]] under monotheism, while monotheism's [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith incomprehensible nature]] has been watered down to FluffyCloudHeaven under atheism.
** Actually, it has ''much'' less to do with any shift to rationalism and '''everything''' to do with a general trend to LighterAndSofter with the passage of time. TheFairFolk were things you didn't particularly want to meet [[NewerThanTheyThink before the Victorian era]], while various flavors of FluffyCloudHeaven [[OlderThanTheyThink can be found even among the Ancients]].[[hottip:*:The only reason you probably won't find an Ancient Egyptian version of that trope is because ''they'' thought the Afterlife was like this life, but with {{Physical God}}s.]]

In short, this trope is VillainDecay on the species level - what happens when OurMonstersAreDifferent (be it [[AdaptationDecay decay]] or [[AdaptationDistillation distillation]]) turns the [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch exception]] into the [[PlanetOfHats rule]].

Except, as a particular monster gets more popular, it has a tendency to get less... monstrous. [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] - which at least in Western mythology were once giant, winged, fire-breathing lizards that burned villages and were slain by knights - first got more intelligent, then more likely to be a "not really a monster" subversion, until, in the modern era, stuff like ''{{Dragonheart}}'' and the [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience Metallic Dragons]] in ''[[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]]'' are nothing to bat an eye at. Similarly, [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] - who were invented for ''TheLordOfTheRings'' to be ''bred evil'' (and mostly stupid) often appear as "noble savages" after just eighty years of drift.

* In HPLovecraft's original CthulhuMythos, Cthulhu is an EldritchAbomination whose awakening will be the doom of the world, and to look upon it is to GoMadFromTheRevelation. Today, you can buy [[LovecraftLite Cthulhu plush toys]].
** Although those are mostly for the postmodern irony. The general conception of Lovecraftian stories is more popular than ever.

** The {{Discworld}} series play with this - and not just with vampires, but zombies, werewolves, trolls, golems ...

* In-universe example for {{Sam and Max}}. Turns out that back near the beginning of our planet's existance, molemen were powerful, destructive creatures who could successfully fend off {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. [[BadassDecay They didn't evolve well.]]