Line #53 Main/BornIntoSlavery


1	->''"I was born into slavery. Deprived of any right, of any faith. I was sold, traded for labor. Forced to watch the suffering, treated like a beast of burden."''
2	-->-- '''Adéwalé''', ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedFreedomCry Trailer''
3
4	Many a character will get MadeASlave in the course of his or her adventures, and then get away again; sometimes this is even the driving force of some [[NobleFugitive Long Lost Heir]] or ProudWarriorRaceGuy. Other times it's just [[HilarityEnsues Wacky Hijinks]], because who isn't going to laugh and enjoy the {{Fanservice}} of a little harmless GoGoEnslavement?
5
6	And then there are the ones who were never ''made'' slaves, because they were born into it. Some of these people may come from a SlaveRace, and some of them may even find HappinessInSlavery, but an overwhelming number of protagonists born into slavery are deeply opposed to this condition. They may wish to avenge particular wrongs, or start a war to free their people, or just join a moral crusade for general emancipation. And that's if the story isn't entirely focused on them struggling to gain freedom just for themselves and/or loved ones.
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8	It is also not guaranteed they will succeed, even in modern works, although it leaves a bad taste in our mouths when they don't. May ultimately invoke IDieFree.
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10	If they're a girl, and grow up to be beautiful, they also belong on BeautifulSlaveGirl.
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12	Generally, a childhood spent enslaved will mess you up pretty much for all time, regardless. This is also considered interesting.
13	----
14	!!Examples:
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16	[[foldercontrol]]
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18	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
19	* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' reveals that the protagonists' father, Hohenheim, was [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld over four hundred years old]]. It also reveals concurrently that around Ed's age he was a nameless slave designated #23, in the vanished Xerxes Empire. He climbs up from there with the help of [[BigBad Father]], who regards him as his father, but until the little blob in the jar started talking to him he had no particular ambitions beyond doing his work and being left alone.
20	* One of [[TheDragon Legato Bluesummers']] ADayInTheLimelight bits in the ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' manga shows us his backstory, which was either this or being MadeASlave in infancy or very early childhood. Then the little blue-haired SexSlave who discovers his [[PeoplePuppets psychic powers]] and instead of using them to escape sets out to make sure of killing [[BullyingADragon everyone in the entirety of the town]]. This causes them to start [[RapeAsBackstory raping him to death]] as a punishment, apparently preventing him from focusing enough to stop them, since he's just starting to grow into his powers.
21	** And then [[BigBad Knives]] has an accidental BigDamnHeroes moment, and decides to spare the kid and let him tag along when he ''offers his life gladly'' in thanks. Reaches tearjerker when the boy is clearly ''crying for joy'' even as he admits that he doesn't have a name, and stumbles after the MagnificentBastard with [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic the shackles still trailing shattered chains]].
22	** Rather than becoming a MoralityPet, as one might expect given the general scenario, the little boy pulls a FromNobodyToNightmare, and grows up to be both a major purveyor of horror and a poster boy for HappinessInSlavery, because of his MadLove for the aforementioned BigBad. Also a BoomerangBigot and NietzscheWannabe completely on board with his boss's plan to KillAllHumans.
23	* ''Manga/{{Gangsta}}''
24	** Such was the fate of many children who were born Twilights, up until a few years ago when slavery became illegal at least.
25	** [[spoiler:Nicolas was born a slave by his Twilight mother with his [[AbusiveParents dickhead mercenary father as his owner]].]]
26	* [[spoiler:Askeladd]] in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' was born a slave, his mother a SexSlave of his father. He was eventually freed by his father after he showed promise.
27	* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': Guts was found half-born in his hanged birth mother, and adopted by mercenaries who saw him as less than dirt. The moment his mother died he was conscripted into his father's mercenary company, sold as a prostitute, and even after killing his father he had to keep fighting for food until he could sell his contract to someone remotely stable. Half the reason the Eclipse happened was because Guts was driven to sociopathy from such a cursed life and made some... poor... choices based on associating his ties to Griffith's Band of the Hawk with his former slavery and the need for freedom at all costs.
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Comic Books]]
31	* ComicBook/XMen member [[Characters/XMenMojoverse Longshot]] was a clone created by scientists working for Mojo, with the express purpose of working as a stuntman in movies; however, the inventor of the technology had planted a seed that would grow into the desire for freedom in his creations, and Longshot's first words were to tell Mojo, "No-one owns me." Eventually, he would indeed lead a rebellion and escape to Earth, beginning Mojo's long enmity with the X-Men and other heroes.
32	* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': The Sangtee Empire practices chattel slavery, and Diana is seen feeding some children on the slave planet she and Natasha were conscripted to. Several of her revolutionaries are also implied to have been born as slaves rather than captured and made such.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Fan Works]]
36	* ''Fanfic/BloodAndHonor'': Vette was born a slave on Ryloth and separated from her family at a young age. After being sold to various owners, she was freed, only to end up in a slave collar again shortly after the story begins. Eventually she manages to find both her mother and sister and buy the latter's freedom.
37	* In ''Fanfic/MyMasterEd'', slaves that fall under this trope in Xerxes only receive numbers to be identified with. Van Hohenheim's rival Andal, by contrast, was [[MadeASlave sold into slavery to pay off family debts]].
38	* Velvet in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12120593/1/The-Assistant The Assistant]]'' has been a slave her whole life. She still detests being enslaved and dearly hates her owner.
39	* Much like in-canon, Pearls in ''FanFic/FadedBlue'' are this. Blue Pearl was offered freedom by Pearl during the rebellion, but rejected it due to not knowing anything else. Even with Blue Diamond gone, she treats her son as her new master.
40	* ''Fanfic/VowOfNudity'': Haara was born into slavery for the Genasi Empire, and it's clear she's far from the only one. Despite this, it seems to be more common for Genasi slaves to be [[MadeASlave captured commoners or defeated soldiers]] thanks to the current world war.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
44	* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
45	** Anakin Skywalker is a child slave when we first meet him in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', though it's ambiguous whether he was ''born'' into it or if he and his mother were enslaved when he was a child: he remembers their sale to Gardulla the Hutt, who then lost them to their current owner Watto betting on the podraces, but doesn't speak of anything prior to that.
46	** The clone troopers introduced in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' are an entire army of millions or even billions[[note]][[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale depending on whether you're reading Legends- or Disney-era numbers]][[/note]] of purpose-bred SlaveMooks, genetically modified from an ethnic Mandalorian[[note]]The franchise has gone back and forth on this (Creator/GeorgeLucas was opposed to the Fetts being Mandalorians, insisting they only wore Mandalorian-style armor and were not themselves culturally Mandalorian) but ''Series/TheMandalorian'' eventually explicitly confirmed that Jango was Mandalorian born and raised.[[/note]] human BountyHunter named Jango Fett. Such slave soldiers are in fact the planet Kamino's primary export product.
47	* In ''Film/UnderworldRiseOfTheLycans'', Lucian was born from a Werewolf that was caged by the Vampires. Viktor swiftly killed his mother and raised him as a slave.
48	* UsefulNotes/HarrietTubman in ''Film/{{Harriet}}'', as per RealLife. Also pretty much all the other enslaved characters, and quite a few of the freedmen.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Literature]]
52	* ''Literature/CrescentCity'': All of the descendants of the sprites who fought on Shahar's side in the Rebellion are slaves from birth.
53	* Akai, as well as his parents and mostly all elves in ''Literature/{{Phenomena}}'' with the exception of [[TheChosenOne Alk and Ilke]]. [[spoiler:And a [[HiddenElfVillage hidden elf tribe]] called Dark Elves.]]
54	* Kullervo from the Finnish epic ''Literature/{{Kalevala}}''.
55	* Manpower's genetic slaves in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novels.
56	* Oreg of ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'' is eventually revealed to be the [[HeroicBastard bastard offspring]] of a previous Hurog lord by one of his slaves, sold on to another noble family and then bought ''back'' by his father when it turned out he needed a mage of Hurog blood to bind as [[FateWorseThanDeath a slave to the castle]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever for eternity]].
57	* Paulo the Elder and the Malê of ''Literature/MaleRising'', as were most politicians in [[spoiler: post-Civil War South Carolina]].
58	* ''Literature/TheMarkOfTheHorseLord'': Phaedrus the gladiator's father didn't get around to freeing his housekeeper and their son before he died. Phaedrus is rather lost after winning his freedom and ends up moonlighting as a tribal king.
59	* The Attwell family, in ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', is enslaved by an [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Incarnation]] of [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Conquest]], due to mistakes made by an ancestor. Each child is allowed to grow until they reach thirteen years of age, and then they are [[TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening forcibly awakened by their parents]] and then bound. Malcolm Fell Attwell, Conquest's main agent, is a DeathSeeker who's looking for someone to kill him so that he won't have to do it to his niece in his deceased brother's stead.
60	* ''Literature/{{Pharaoh}}'', being set in AncientEgypt after its golden age, has fellahin (peasants) who are, for all intents and purposes, slaves. Of the state, so they don't have any protection from the clerks.
61	* In the ''Literature/RedRising'' trilogy, every character not born into the [[GoldColoredSuperiority Gold]] ruling caste is typically seen as property. [[FantasticCasteSystem Some colors]] have more freedom than others, but their roles in society all exist to prop up Gold.
62	* In the ''Literature/HayvenCelestia'' universe the krakun crew GenerationShips with slaves who live, die, and produce the next generation of slave crewmen in deep space, while their millennia-old krakun masters use the attached PortalNetwork to commute back and forth to their planetside dwellings which are maintained by "self-sustaining" slave villages. Meanwhile the sourang can't breed slaves because the gene therapy they subject their slaves to render them sterile.
63	* In ''Literature/SorcererToTheCrown'', Zacharias was born a slave before being bought by Sir Stephen, brought to England, and freed.
64	* Vesta of ''Literature/HaremInTheLabyrinthOfAnotherWorld'' admits this is her backstory when she's purchased by the protagonist, Michio. While she claims her childhood was happy, she's purely a StepfordSmiler. Being treated like an equal, given the best available gear, regardless of expense, and treated to what's universally considered her world's lap of luxury had her confused and dismayed. When she's ordered to sit at the same table with everyone else, and served hot, fresh food, possibly for the first time in her life, she breaks down in TearsOfJoy, to Michio's chagrin and confusion.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
68	* The Jaffa in the ''Franchise/{{Stargate\|Verse}}'' universe, as an engineered SlaveRace, are all this. Teal'c, the Jaffa we see the most of, is more or less the TropeNamer for IDieFree.
69	* Melisandre in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' was this. She reveals that her mother was a slave, presumably making her daughter one as soon as she was born. The books reveal she was sold to the Red Temple as a young girl.
70	* [[Series/Roots1977 In]] both [[Series/Roots2016 adaptations]] of ''Roots,'' [[MadeASlave Kunta Kinte's]] friend Fiddler was born a slave since his ancestors were brought over from Africa over a hundred years before [[AuctionOfEvil Kunta was bought by John Waller.]] Kunta's wife, Belle, their daughter Kizzy, as well her children and descendants were all born into slavery as well, and only gained freedom at the end of the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War.]]
71	* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'':
72	** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S3E7TheCamp The Camp]]", Earth was conquered by the Tsal-Khan (otherwise known as the New Masters) twelve generations earlier, meaning that eleven generations of camp inmates were born into slavery.
73	** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S5E4TheGrell The Grell]]", Jesha was born a slave, as were his parents before him. The same is true of every Grell for the last two generations.
74	** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S5E7TheHumanOperators The Human Operators]]", three generations of starfighter operators were born into slavery. They are forced to conduct repairs and have no knowledge of life outside their ships.
75	** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S7E3ANewLife A New Life]]", the members of Father's religious community do not know it but their descendants will be born into slavery aboard a massive spaceship.
76	* ''{{Series/Pandora}}'': The Adaran clones are manufactured to be slaves, so their status as this begins at "birth", with them being sold shortly thereafter. Atria recounts the ceremonies where this happens to Tom, and just how horrifying it was for them.
77	* ''Series/TheConfessionsOfFrannieLangton'': Frannie was born in Jamaica to an enslaved black mother, and thus legally enslaved herself as a result of this. She's freed later by being taken to England (where slavery's forbidden) but this doesn't do much to change her state as she only gets changed to a totally dependant servant.
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Video Games]]
81	* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series' backstory, this was the case for St. Alessia, the "Slave Queen", as was the case for nearly all of Cyrodiil's native humans under [[AbusivePrecursors Ayleid]] rule. Alessia would escape, [[BargainWithHeaven pray to]] the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Aedra]] for aid, and would then lead a [[SlaveLiberation slave uprising]] known as the Alessian Revolt. After defeating the Ayleids, she would be crowned as the [[FounderOfTheKingdom first Empress of Cyrodiil]].
82	* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' Edward Kenway's original first mate Adewale was a former slave born in Trinadad who was highly valuable due to his ability to speak multiple languages. His connections to slavery are explored more thoroughly in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedFreedomCry''.
83	* ''VideoGame/SunDogFrozenLegacy'': Zed (the protagonist) was born as a glass miner, as was his father, and his father before him. Somehow, his father's brother got out, and that's what gives Zed a way out as well.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Web Original]]
87	* The universe of ''Literature/RunningWithRats'' has thoughtforms - people created out of [[AppliedPhlebotinum a magical dreamstuff called lio]] - who are widely [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman claimed to be soulless automata performing an illusion of real emotions]] and therefore perfectly acceptable to hold as slaves and [[ColdBloodedTorture treat the way slaves are treated.]]
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Real Life]]
91	* In slavery in the Americas:
92	** Pursuant to Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, the US actually banned the importation of slaves in 1808 (fifty-seven years before the ratification of the 13th amendment banning all slavery). Those among the Founding Fathers who were anti-slavery hoped that the activation of this law would rapidly strangle slavery in the US by depriving the plantations of replacement slaves. However, what they did not foresee was the fact that by 1807, there were so many slaves in the US that the slave owners were simply able to breed more slaves from their current "breeding stock". Older male slaves who had worked well would be put out to "stud" (which provided the slave owners with another source of income). And in many plantations, slaves would be forced into marriages and made to breed (many masters cut out the middleman and raped the women themselves). The intra-US slave trade was a massive business, and slave population actually ''rose'' post-1808. And all of those slaves freed at the end of the Civil War were probably born into slavery (any foreign-born slaves would have been in their late 50s at least,[[note]]You can't simply say they'd be 57, as large numbers of slaves were freed by the Army starting in 1863[[/note]] which, given slaves' life expectancy, would be quite rare).
93	** This sort of thing did not happen in South America or the Caribbean in large numbers because working conditions were so harsh that most of the slaves were worked to death before age 30 (or they were freed, whereupon their children are no longer slaves).
94	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / BornIntoSlavery