Line #74 Main/NestedMouths


1	[[quoteright:300:[[Franchise/{{Alien}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nested_mouths.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Disturbing phallic imagery not required.]]
3
4	->''"These aliens have a lot of stuff in their mouths; not only the tongue and their famous teeth, but another little head on a stalk, with smaller teeth. Still to be determined is whether the littler head has a still tinier head inside of it, and so on."''
5	-->-- '''Creator/RogerEbert''' on ''{{Franchise/Alien}}''
6
7	Most often a form of BizarreAlienBiology, and usually played for horror or at least a thrill: instead of a tongue, a creature has another mouth, a face, or even a whole tiny head inside its mouth. Expect it to be nestled snugly among MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily, and it may have a few choice fangs of its own.
8
9	The interior mouth may be a parasite, an offspring, or an actual part of the larger organism, such as a reproductive organ (the better to give you a FaceFullOfAlienWingWong). Most of the time, it will just screech at the terrified protagonists and do nothing effective.
10
11	The TropeCodifier are the Xenomorphs from the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise. As such, expect a secondary mouth to be a common feature of the XenomorphXerox too.
12
13	Note that some fish [[TruthInTelevision actually]] have something like this, called a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharyngeal_jaw pharyngeal jaw.]] While most of these are simply immobile bony blocks in their throats to "chew" food, in the case of the [[https://youtu.be/gAO37K7DPQA?t=21 moray eel,]] it has the unique ability to actually slide its forceps-like pharyngeal jaw up its throat and out of its mouth to grab food and pull it down its esophagus. (Amusingly, this ability was only discovered in 2007, [[LifeImitatesArt three decades after]] Giger designed the xenomorph.)
14
15	This is one way of having TooManyMouths. See also MultipurposeTongue and LampreyMouth. Subtrope of MatryoshkaObject.
16	----
17	!!Examples:
18
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* All Hollows in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', below Menos-class, have a smaller mouth (that of the original human soul) within their much more visible, larger one (that of the mask). With some, especially those with beaks or abnormal mouths, this is more noticeable.
23	* In a special manga {{Crossover}} pairing the characters from ''Franchise/OnePiece'' and ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'', one of the creatures encountered on Gourmet Island was a giant tiger with a vicious-looking fox jutting out of its mouth, which in turn had an angry scarred pig jutting out of its mouth. The creature is most notable for having an unmeasurable capture level.
24	%%* In ''Anime/HeroicAge'', Cervius's frenzied form has this.
25	* Zeruel from ''[[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion Evangelion: 2.0]]'' has a rather horrific case of this. His outer 'skull' splits apart to reveal an extendable mouth with a tripartite jaw, out of which comes a purple, vaguely tongue-looking protrusion, out of which comes an enormously long 'inner mouth' with gigantic cutting teeth. All of this lovely display is accompanied by loud and unpleasant vomiting/retching sounds.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Card Games]]
29	* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' seems to be fond of this trope.
30	** Uria, Lord of Searing Flames from ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'' has a pair of nested jaws; its counterpart among the original God Cards, Saint Dragon - The God of Osiris (Slifer the Sky Dragon), has a pair of ''stacked'' jaws.
31	** "Danger! Chupacabra!" is depicted with a long Xenomorph-like proboscis portruding from its jaw and ending in a LampreyMouth.
32	** Many of the monsters in the "Worm" class have nested layers of teeth in their mouths, but the one that probably takes the cake is "Worm Opera", who has a giant gaping mouth with a much smaller mouth in its throat.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* ''Comicbook/BlackHole'': One of the major characters has another mouth in his throat. It has a tongue and can talk a little.
37	* ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'': The hideous-looking [[spoiler:but ultimately heroic]] Wrarth in the Fourth Doctor's comic-strip adventures have something like a cross between this and a prehensile tongue. Amusingly, one of them eats ''a slice of cake'' with it.
38	* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': Parallax has nested jaws.
39	* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyGenerations'': A shriek-yowl's beak contains a tentacle-like tongue with its own set of tooth jaws.
40	* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'': One issue has an ''Alien'' spoof with a xenomorph Marge who sports a tongue that looks like Mr. Smithers, who himself sports a smaller tongue looking like the chipper Ned Flanders (which he promptly bites off in annoyance).
41	* ''ComicBook/XMen'': Bliss the Morlock has an extra mouth on her tongue.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
45	* In the restaurant scene in ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', one of the monsters has a second monster for a tongue, which eats the food.
46	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', Oogie Boogie is actually made up of insects, but for some reason has a snake for a tongue.
47	* ''WesternAnimation/Planet51'' has a 1950s-era alien society where one female citizen keeps a four-legged alien dog based off the Xenomorph from ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', complete with acid pee and second tongue.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
51	* This is one of the features of the monsters in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series, as pictured above. Originally the "tongue" was meant to be the head of the Chestburster, with the "adult" Alien being a biomechanical shell it built around itself. However, this was dropped during the design phase when the Chestburster was redesigned to look like a fetal version of the adult because Geiger's earlier design [[{{Narm}} looked like an undead roast chicken]].
52	* The Godzilla monster Destoroyah from ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'' was based off the above aliens monster and has a second tube-like mouth inside the first mouth, at least for its human-sized crab-like form.
53	* In a possible parody, the {{sandworm}}s in ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' have these, which look like a miniaturised version of the same creature with a different colour pattern.
54	* In ''Film/Evolution2001'', when a party of women encounter what most resembles a green pig, they are unnerved but also endeared -- [[CuteCreatureCreepyMouth until it opens its mouth]] and something like a tiny vulture's head reaches out to bite one of their fingers.
55	* Played for laughs in ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'', where one of the signs of the ChosenOne is that he has a face on his tongue (which speaks, though not coherently).
56	* The [[{{Sandworm}} Graboids]] from the ''Film/{{Tremors}}'' films and series have ''multiple'' extensible mini-mouths on their tongues. In the first film, a single severed tongue is initially mistaken for an entire creature.
57	* ''Film/PacificRim'': Raiju, one of the {{Kaiju}}, has what seems to be a crocodile-like head. However, that isn't his real head: it's just a three-part outer shield that splits open to reveal his small, fleshy true head inside.
58	* ''Film/KingKong2005'': The ''Carnictis'' worms from the Insect Pit have extensible, toothy maws on fleshy tubes that protrude from their ends.
59	* The Lizard Men from ''Film/FlashGordon1980'' have their faces inside their lizard mouths.
60	* ''Film/Smile2022'': [[spoiler: The Entity's true form is a skinless quasihumanoid with several sets of jaws within its huge, gaping mouth.]]
61	* ''Film/SpiderMan1'': The Green Goblin's mask is an open-mouthed RageHelm, and Norman Osborn's mouth can be seen through the mask's open jaw in several shots.
62	* The Sarlaac monster in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' is this from the 1997 special edition onwards. The only visible part of the creature was a wide-open maw with many rows of needle sharp teeth and a few tentacles to grab its prey. The special addition added a beaked tongue inside the maw along with some extra tentacles.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Literature]]
66	* The Rosharan chasmfiend in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' has a LampreyMouth inside an insectile mandible.
67	* In the ''Literature/ChanurNovels,'' kif are stated to have phyrangeal jaws largely for the same reason moray eels do: they can't swallow without them. The outer jaws hold their live prey (they also have such weak stomachs that anything less fresh than "alive" is disgusting) down while their inner jaws chew their currently-bitten section into a fine paste that will fit down their straw-width esophagi.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
71	* ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger'' has a unique take on Cerberus, that famous three-headed dog from Greek mythology, as a MonsterOfTheWeek -- instead of side-by-side, it has a massive dog head with its open mouth revealing another dog's mouth, which is open to reveal a third.
72	* In a parody of ''Alien'' at the end of the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E16FireMaidensOfOuterSpace Fire Maidens of Outer Space]]", Timmy (Crow's evil doppelganger) is revealed to have one within his beak. It is very disturbing and very funny.
73	* The ShapeshifterDefaultForm of the eponymous menace in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIIIPolymorph Polymorph]]" is [[XenomorphXerox very similar to the Xenomorph]]. Its inner mouth is used to [[EmotionEater suck out people's emotions]].
74	* ''Series/TheXFiles'': The episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS07E09SignsAndWonders Signs and Wonders]]" features a demon with a snake for a tongue.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Music]]
78	* The [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Vio-lence_-_Eternal_Nightmare_Front.JPG album cover]] of ''Eternal Nightmare'' by Music/{{Violence}}.
79	* The video for "Peacebone" by Music/AnimalCollective features a PerkyGoth on a [[DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu date]] with an EldritchAbomination. The Goth herself looks normal throughout most of the video, except during a brief moment in the middle when an alien head pokes out of her mouth and starts singing.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
83	* In ''Comicstrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin once built a giant "snow snake" out of snow and pretended he was being swallowed by it, claiming that "horrible inner jaws" were dragging him into its gullet, since its visible mouth clearly wasn't moving. Susie wasn't fooled.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
87	* Guerrero Maya Jr. of Wrestling/{{CMLL}} (and others) has a toothed mask to give himself this appearance when he speaks.[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
90	* Fizzgig in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' has extra rows of teeth at the back of its VolumetricMouth.
91	[[/folder]]
92
93	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
94	* [[https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Omnipath Omnipaths,]] a variant type of [[EldritchAbomination Algollthu/Aboleth]] in ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', have ''three'' sets of nested jaws.
95	* In the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' trading card game, the monster "Danger! Chupacabra!" is depicted with a Xenomorph-like inner jaw portruding from its mouth, and ending in a LampreyMouth.
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Video Games]]
99	* Some Piranha Plants in ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' games have a small inner mouth that shoots fireballs.
100	* In ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'', the Queen of Hearts monster has the Mad Hatter's face inside her mouth, with Alice's face inside ''his''. See this at 4:11 in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9tDTj6ltL8 this video.]]
101	* Kog'Maw, the baby EldritchAbomination from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', has a strange proboscis-like mouth inside of his already gaping maw. He uses it to turn his mouth into a biochemical artillery cannon.
102	* The materialized Dragon Stream in ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2'' is a literal chain of heads linked by mouth after mouth.
103	* The Leviathans in ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' have an inner circular mouth. This is seen in the second game when the player must jump inside of the monster's first mouth and chuck grenades into the inner mouth.
104	* Lionotus from ''VideoGame/{{Vindictus}}''.
105	* Barnacles get this in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''.
106	* In ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' the Dragon God boss has a second row of teeth on a set of jaws separate from its normal jaws.
107	* In ''VideoGame/Doom3'' and its expansion packs, the Maledict has [[spoiler:the head of Dr. Betruger on its tongue -- and Dr. Betruger appears to be the one in control]].
108	* ''VideoGame/MySingingMonsters'' has the Yooreek, a monster that opens its mouth and sticks its tongue out to reveal a second, smaller mouth that duets with the large mouth's low voice with its own higher voice.
109	* ''VideoGame/SARSearchAndRescue'', a game which rips off the ''Alien'' franchise, contains a XenomorphXerox enemy with a double mouth like it's inspiration. The main difference is that this game's Xeno-equivalent have it's mouth on a ten-meter OverlyLongTongue that can bite you from halfway across the screen.
110	* Venom, main antagonist of ''VideoGame/SpiderManWebOfShadows,'' opens his mouth at one point early on to reveal the mouth of his still-conscious human host, who gives a quick speech before retreating back into Venom's body.
111	* The first-generation animatronics in ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys1'' and [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2 its sequel]]; a good example would be [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140815073111/5-nights-at-freddys/images/7/74/Tumblr_nabpdoGhCn1rzaw7vo1_500.jpg Chica.]]
112	* Abyss [[spoiler:(the corrupted form of Zasalamel)]] from the ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'' has two rows of teeth, one inside the other.
113	* ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'' has an enemy known as The Face which is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a giant floating face]] that attacks by biting. Like many other enemies, it has [[UndergroundMonkey special variants]]. The Alien variant, named I.M. Phace attacks by opening its mouth to extend a smaller head on his tongue to bite the enemies.
114	* The Bursting Anglerfish from ''VideoGame/{{Dredge}}'' has one of these as its chief aberrant feature.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Web Original]]
118	* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Freeza's third form whips out a mouthed tongue for a half-second, poking fun at its ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''-like appearance.
119	-->'''Freeza:''' So, Namekian, what do you think of my third form?\
120	'''Piccolo:''' I think Creator/RidleyScott's gonna sue somebody.\
121	'''Freeza:''' What are you talking about? ''(mouth pops out, then retracts)'' Let me touch your skin!
122	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1132 SCP-1132]] is a Mexican woman who has a venomous snake for a tongue.
123	* ''Webcomic/FifteenMinds'': The serpent-like... thing in Chapter 1 of ''Legend of Legendary Mighty Knight'' has what appears to be an entire face on its tongue, which itself has its own tongue. Given the serpent's lack of eyes, it's possible that the tongue-creature inside its mouth is the actual animal.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Western Animation]]
127	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' cartoon, the alien Thrakkorzog has a little face on his tongue that talks about eating brains.
128	* ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' has a scene from an obvious ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' parody. The alien in question has three mouths nested in one another, the last one is just big enough to pinch the Ripley look-alike's nose.
129	* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' also had an ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' spoof, where the second mouth kissed Ripley.
130	* Similar to Oogie Boogie, the evil tree in ''WesternAnimation/FlowersandTrees'' has a snake for a tongue.
131	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', Dot counters a Xenomorph with her boxed pet, which appears to be a giant Creator/JerryLewis caricature with a smaller head inside.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/BountyHamster''. Another ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' spoof, where a baby alien resembling a small xenomorph shoots out a dozen nested mouths in an attempt to bite Cassie. However, in "Save the Whale", Marion is surrounded by a whole bunch of baby xenomorphs who all do this trope... The next time we see Marion, [[NotSoDire he's giggling over being licked by multiple tongues.]]
133	* ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'': Unlike most [=EVOs=], Circe can pass off as completely human, until she feels threatened enough to use her SuperScream. When that happens, her jaws split open, and a second mouth protrudes out from around her first mouth. She can still talk normally like this, not that one can see her original mouth moving from inside her second one.
134	* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', this happens to [[spoiler:CYLAS / Breakdown, when Knock Out infuses him with Synthetic Energon mixed with Dark Energon, and his mouth turned into a [[Film/{{Blade}} vampire]] [[Franchise/{{Alien}} xenomorph]] and is out to suck out energon.]]
135	* Hunson Aberdeer (Marceline's dad) from ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has a whole second ''head'' nested inside of his neck. It opens sideways and when he's using his full power his "regular" head splits open to leave the inner one on full display. Disturbing phallic (and [[VaginaDentata related]]) imagery very much present in this case.
136	* The Boogey Man from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' displays this when angry.
137	[[/folder]]
138
139	[[folder:Real Life]]
140	* The above-mentioned moray eel, and a number of other species of aquatic creatures.
141	-->''[[Music/DeanMartin If it lurks in a reef, and has two sets of teeth,]] [[{{Pun}} that's a moray...]]''
142	-->''If its mouth opens wide, and there's one more inside, that's a moray...''
143	* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua tongue-eating louse]] is a parasite that infests fish. It consumes the tongue and replaces it, grabbing a bite of whatever the fish eats. For better or worse, (?) the fish can use the louse like a regular tongue.
144	* Dragonfly nymphs have an extensible second pair of mandibles used to grab prey, otherwise kept tucked under their actual feeding mandibles.
145	* Bloodworms have retractable biting mouths with four venomous teeth, normally kept drawn up inside their toothless outer mouth. This lets them shoot out their predatory biting mouths at prey, yet keep their teeth safely withdrawn as they're burrowing mouth-first in seabed mud.
146	* Human children are born with both their child and adult teeth already developing inside the jawbones, so x-rays taken before they lose their first set show a [[BodyHorror mouth surrounding another mouth]].
147	* Conodonts, an ancient group of jawless marine chordates, had two arrays of interlocking tooth-spikes on their lips, several more rows of them on and around their tongues, and two more sets embedded in the walls of their pharynx.
148	* Guinea pigs, being ruminants, have an extra set of teeth in the back of their mouths to help grind their food. Which is why they often chew after they've long finished eating.
149	* Rotifers, tiny algae-eating water animals, have a double set of mouth structures: a toothless outer orifice flanked with rippling rings of cilia, and a spike-lined grinding mastax just inside their digestive tract. The cilia sweep algal cells into the mouth, to be stripped of their cell walls and pulverized by the mastax.
150	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NestedMouths