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An Accidental Pornomancer is a character who seems unable to avoid sex, particularly in situations where most people (themselves included) would find it awkward, squickish, immoral or impractical.
This trope is usually what you get if you try to blend a Nice Guy with The Pornomancer. Sex is something that just happens to the Accidental Pornomancer, even if they weren't trying or didn't want it, and their own desires are completely inconsequential. Most often, the characters see nothing wrong about what's happening, but sometimes it's Hand Waved to make it seem wrong, but awesome and free from any responsibility, consequences, guilt or fault for what happened, even if it happens repeatedly and they do nothing to prevent or stop it, and even if they begrudgingly enjoy it. If they swear not to do it again, it's assured to become a Frequently Broken Unbreakable Vow.
In theory, it's the perfect escapist fantasy: the hero isn't "perverted" because sex isn't something they were particularly after and/or this scenario isn't something most people would even want. They aren't womanizing or slutting, because they just couldn't say no for any number of reasons or the sex was portrayed awkwardly. There's plenty of Power Fantasy, but your hero can still be an Audience Surrogate. Further, with awkward sex, you have an excuse for why Everybody Has Lots of Sex but the characters still feel insecure about it.
Because of gender stereotypes, the Accidental Pornomancer is either Always Male or the sexual aggressors are Always Female. If you swap genders, the same situation invites Unfortunate Implications and Double Standards, perhaps unless the story was intended for women. While the guy will be admired or seen as "lucky", the rare female version of this trope is usually an innocent being victimized or a ditzy, "easy" Slut.
Also, while the setup for this trope is the same as an Unwanted Harem, where it differs is that in the Harem Genre, the hero is usually chaste until the end. This hero sees action at some point during the story, and usually doesn't have to put in any work.
As such, this trope is prevalent in a lot of Pornography, Hentai, Ecchi, and H-Games.
For more information on the subject, check out the Analysis page.
Subtrope to Chick Magnet (and in some cases, Clueless Chick Magnet specifically) and Really Gets Around. Sometimes overlaps with sister trope, So Beautiful, It's a Curse. In-universe, this is often confused for Playing Hard To Get, but the difference is that the Accidental Pornomancer actually doesn't seek any attention.
Contrast Celibate/ Chaste Hero, which this subverts.
Examples:
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Advertisements
- A recurring trope in advertising. Some unremarkable (perhaps even otherwise unattractive) Joe tries out the product being promoted, and the next thing he knows, he can't beat the women off with a stick.
- The 60s commercials for Hai Karate spring to mind.
- Also this was treated humorously in a Sir Walter Raliegh pipe tobacco commercial of the same era. When the hero switched to that tobacco, he proclaimed "The chicks are back; ... the chicks are BACK!" When the camera pulled back, he was being followed by a cheeping herd of fluffy yellow baby chicks.
- Subverted in a late 2012 "3 Musketeers" commercial. He's slightly offended at their come ons, but it turns out they're only after his candy bar.
- Lynx/Axe anti-perpirant shower gel ads are made of this. In one a girl borrows her boyfriend's gel and, after a day of attracting women, she returns home to demand an explanation.
Anime and Manga
- Aki Sora. Full stop. Sora is extremely shy, effeminate, delicate, and socially awkward. And yet, he gets to have sex with some gorgeous woman almost every issue. Granted, he does have one regular lover, but every other woman he's with either rapes him, tricks him into sex, coerces him, or motivates him into pity sex.
- Deconstructed in Okane Ga Nai. Ayase is So Beautiful, It's a Curse, which leads to him becoming a Sex Slave. He struggles with his feelings about it throughout the series.
- Itou Makoto of School Days. He suddenly gets the attention of all the female main characters, and while he does want the attention and gives in, he never really does anything to actually get their attention. Eventually deconstructed and subverted when his refusal to support Sekai's supposed pregnancy ends in the girls rejecting him just as easily and ultimately his death. But reconstructed in many of the endings, in which ignoring some Love Interests entirely will end in bloodshed, thus forcing the player to play along to a fashion.
- Crying Freeman: Discussed as the reason why no woman will ever be able to kill Yoh: he's just such a perfect man, they cannot bring themselves to get rid of such beauty. The alternative? Sex.
Comics
- Dick Grayson, Depending on the Writer. Sometimes, Dick Grayson is shown to be a smooth Chivalrous Pervert who knows full well what he's doing. Other times, Dick just has a hard time saying no and keeping it in his pants. You could also make the argument that in the latter times, he's Obfuscating Stupidity. But, in any case, he's damn good at it.
- Case in point, during a particular storyarc, Dick was lusted after by the Anti Heroine (or, perhaps more accurately, flat out villainess) The Tarantula. During a particularly bad case of Heroic BSOD, Tarantula strips a traumatized and lost Grayson and immediately has sex with him, despite the fact that he's protesting the whole time. Not only is this glossed over in the story for quite some time, even the writer herself claimed that this was just "nonconsensual" sex and that he wasn't exactly raped.
- Lampshaded in an issue of his comic by Tim Drake after Dick complains about his love life. Tim is quick to point out that, through his career, Dick has slept with gems such an alien princess, a goddess, a demon, and a mafia princess—not to mention the various types one would find in the superhero community. And keep in mind, this was before the Hot Librarian, the aforementioned Anti Heroine, the supermodel, or the circus girl.
- Incredible Hulk. Ho-LEE crap. The Hulk "just wants to be left alone", but to date, the guy has had three wives, three offspring, several casual flings (including being raped by an Extradimensional Queen/Eldritch Abomination on two separate occasions), and many more women who value him for his strength.
- The X-Men character Longshot is all about this, thanks to his bizarre mix of naivete and willingness to try anything twice. Everyone from Rogue to Dazzler has thrown themselves at him at least once, to his puzzled acceptance.
- You could chalk it up to his powers, which amount to him being super-lucky. In everything.
- Hercules fits under this trope as well, when he isn't being an actual Pornomancer. Take, for example, Herc #8, in which Hercules is enslaved by The Queen Of Spider-Island and receives the powers of Spider-man as well as the ability to transform into a Spider-centaurid. As a Brainwashed and Crazy Herc battles the X-Men, the mythological Arachne (who is half-spider) comes to Herc's rescue . . . and then realizes that his new form is exactly what she needs . . .
- Spider-man. Sorta. During a particularly weird storyarc, he is pursed by The Queen, a sexy insectoid supervillainess. At one point, she captures and kisses Spidey, which somehow impregnates him. (To the story's credit, this is treated as horrific for our hero.) He later dies and is resurrected almost immediately after by giving birth to himself. Yeah. We warned you this story was weird.
- Conan the Barbarian: Nearly every woman the barbarian meets wants to jump his bones, and some are less savory about it than others. Many a wicked empress or sorceress has tried to enslave Conan through coercion or Mind Control, and it hasn't worked out well for any of them.
Fan Fiction
Film
- Indiana Jones, at least in regards to his students, some of whom are minors. It's shown that Indy tends to try and ignore their advances, but at the same time, it's implied that he's given in more than once.
- Pootie Tang. Even when he was a child.
Literature
- Anita Blake is a female example, and has all those Unfortunate Implications the description mentions. Though she gets to insist it's not her fault since it's because of her accidentally acquired succubus powers that make her have to or she'll die.
- Thomas Raith in The Dresden Files is a White Court vampire, which means he feeds on life force generated by emotions, and the most common emotion is lust. Being White Court, he is born with a "demon" bonded to his soul that tries to feed constantly and needs that energy, and if it doesn't get it the demon drives him into an insane, psychic-raping frenzy. When he isn't getting fed on human life energy, Thomas is unintentionally exuding a psychic "come hither" compulsion in people around him, which makes it hard for him to try to hold down a job when both men and women are either coming on to him or actually jumping his bones in the break room, and the demon isn't letting Thomas say no. It gets bad enough that he even starts pulling in joggers when he goes out for a run.
- Sir Lancelot in the legend of King Arthur was raped by two separate women: Lady Elaine and her servant, Brisen.
Live Action TV
- Brittany in Glee. It is implied that she had slept with nearly every guy in the school, yet you never see her trying, and she doesn't seem to realize how unusual this is.
- Randy in My Name Is Earl borders on this trope; much to everyone's surprise, he turns out to be very good in bed during his green card marriage, but he doesn't seem to know this about himself. As a result, though, he doesn't Really Get Around much during the series.
- This seems to be the default programming of Warren's sexbots on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Deconstructed to horrific effect with the premise of Dollhouse, where the "dolls" are selected for physical attractriveness and repeatedly brainwashed and mindwiped, meaning that they become the dream lover of a variety of clients while never quite knowing or remembering afterwards. For the clients, this means a lover who will indulge their worst fantasies and never remember afterwards, as in their mindwiped "doll" state, they're all childlike amnesiacs. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work.
- Dr. Chase on House...sorta. It's been shown on occasion that he can't turn off women even when he's trying.
- Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Though Will himself is definitely The Casanova, there has been an occasional story about a woman who just wouldn't take no for an answer, or whom sleeping with was just an all-around bad idea. His girlfriend's mother, for example.
- Daniel in Stargate SG-1. Two episodes after his wife is kidnapped by the Goa'uld, he gets lucky with an alien high-priest's daughter when they accidentally revert to a neanderthal state. After that, he gets jumped by Hathor, Shyla, and Linea, mind-raped by Sarah/Osiris, and is propositioned repeatedly by Vala (who he eventually obliges during the series finale... which is then erased by intentional time screwyness). And of course, he often doesn't get much of a say in the matter...
- The Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who. Technically, several previous incarnations have had shades of this, but due to the Moral Guardians it was usually too subtle to really qualify. Mata Hari, Elizabeth the First, Queen Nefertiti, Marilyn Monroe, and Madame du Pompadour are some of his most recognizable entanglements.
Mythology & Religion
- In the Kabbalah:
- King David was seduced by a succubus in order to give birth to Asmodeus, who eventually becomes the King Of Hell.
- In The Quran:
- Jinns are forbidden from marrying or mating in many interpretations of the Quran. That hasn't stopped many of them from seducing humans anyway.
- In The Bible:
- In Greek Mythology:
- Hercules, even moreso than his comic book interpretation above. During his Twelve Labors, he slept with King Thespius's daughters (all fifty of them). Some accounts state this was one of his labors, other accounts say that this was the only way to secure the King's assistance (because the King wanted grandchildren) and some accounts say that the reward for his deeds was...doing the deed. (Thespius certainly got what he wanted; all fifty of his daughters conceived a child as a result.)
- Odysseus, during his quest to return home from the Trojan War. He gets shipwrecked twice and is forced to become the love slave of both Circe and Calypso respectively. This is treated relatively seriously; though Odysseus could only admit that both of his lovers were more attractive than his wife Penelope, the only thing he really wanted was to return to his One True Love.
- Norse Mythology:
- Freya. Ironically, Freya is a Love Goddess and was well known for Really Getting Around, but there is one myth in which she was rescued from a harsh snow storm by a quartet of dwarves. The dwarves saved her life and in return, each one wanted sex with her. She politely refused and was soon to be on her way—until she saw a necklace of theirs that she wanted badly. Let's put it this way: everybody got what they wanted that night.
Videogames
- Fable: You, if you have trouble keeping it in your pants. So long as you're amicable and nice (and sometimes, even if you're not), you're guaranteed to have at least one NPC eager to roll in the hay with you even if you weren't really trying.
- In Fable II eligible citizens will eventually fall for a famous hero simply by virtue of said hero's reputation. A particularly heroic player character will easily capture the hearts of pretty much everyone attracted to his or her gender. It eventually becomes normal to be propositioned when your just passing through a town or village. Even an outright evil PC will still get random advances from people who are into evil bastards.
- Alistair of Dragon Age: Origins. Alistair starts as a virgin and is rather clueless in regards to women, but during the course of one playthrough, you can help him bed the pirate queen Isabela, Queen Anora, his hated rival Morrigan, and yourself, provided that you "harden" him (EMOTIONALLY) first.
- The Princess from the A Dance with Rogues Neverwinter Nights module can be this or The Pornomancer. Depending on how you play her.
Webcomics
- Gary of Ménage à 3 has become this, after starting out as an Unlucky Everydude. Turns out he's got a hidden talent for cunnilingus, which makes every woman (and some men) willing to do any dirty trick to get him. Amber (above) even blindfolded him to make him think he was kissing someone else while he went down on her. Thus far, he has been utterly incapable of saying the word "No" and sticking with it.
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