History Main / BenevolentPrecursors

* Most of the upgrades in ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' Samus Aran finds during her adventures have been left there by the Chozo, who foresaw that she would be needing them in the future. With Samus's [[ParentalSubstitute relationship with the Chozo]] taken into account, this could almost count as an inversion of AbusiveParents.

* In L.E. Modesitt's ''Forever Hero'' series, the last survivors of civilization sealed away their nuclear and biological weapons as the Earth was dying, with a warning to not try to open the vault.

* Many (perhaps '''most''') of our ancestors would count as this since without them, we would not be here.

** Meanwhile the Asgard, while unable to wipe out the Goa'uld due to their ForeverWar with the Replicators, place a couple dozen planets in the Milky Way under military protection, and soon ally with the Tau'ri and gradually introduce their technology to them. Also, ''unlike'' the Ancients, they always cleaned up their own mess, or made ''sure'' not to cause a mess in the first place. The Ancients are responsible for creating ''two'' races (well, one of them are machines) that pose a galactic threat, and left their technology lying around just about everywhere waiting to be used (or abused) by anyone who could. The Asgard were very cautious in giving out their technology, but not because of arrogance about not sharing with primitive people, like the Tollans were, but out of genuine caution for the safety of both parties involved. Despite this they [[spoiler:provided Earth with their extremely powerful shielding technology and eventually shared ''all'' their knowledge with them... Before committing mass-suicide to make sure their left-over technology would ''not'' fall into the wrong hands.]]

* Before becoming the Metal Gods, the Titans in ''[[BrutalLegend Brutal Legend's]]'' backstory left behind instructions so that all others that come after them would be able to learn their ways and use the power of Metal themselves.

* The Tau Volantis aliens from ''VideoGame/DeadSpace3'' built a machine that froze their whole planet in a species-wide HeroicSacrafice to stop a Necromorph outbreak. They also designed the instruction manual to be really easy to figure out, so Phase 2 of their plan (killing the [[spoiler: Brother Moon]]) could be enacted by any spacefarer that happened by.

* The concept of a Bracewell probe combines this with {{Von Neumann Machine}}s. A self-replicating space probe that will [[UpliftedAnimals Uplift]] any pre-space age society it encounters.

* The "Firstborn" featured in Sir Creator/ArthurCClarke's ''[[TheSpaceOdysseySeries Space Odyssey]]'' and ''Time Odyssey'' books are pretty much [[UrExample Ur examples]] for both this trope ''and'' AbusivePrecursors respectively. In ''Space Odyssey'' they are super-advanced aliens that made it their purpose to promote the development of intelligent life throughout the Galaxy. After they [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence moved on]], they left their Monoliths to continue their work in their stead.

* All of Earth's pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} superheroes to the current DCUniverse, especially the Monitor. They fought and defeated the Anti-Monitor and sealed a single universe inside the essence of the Monitor. Then the universe was restarted twice with big bangs. None of the ComicBook/PostCrisis stories would have happened without the pre-Crisis heroes. ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis then turns this into a strange case of the BenevolentPrecursors (specifically, two of them in particular, though one of the others gets tricked/convinced into believing that what they're doing is a Good Thing) ''becoming'' the SealedEvilInACan.

* The [[GreenLantern Guardians of the Universe]] can be this when they care to be. It's probably most fair to say that they're ''trying'' to ... they don't call themselves the "Guardians of the Universe" ironically. They're just not as good at it as they think they are. They created the Green Lantern Corps after all, which boasts perhaps the largest collection of valiant heroes in all of DC comics. Most of the time, however, they swing wildly back and forth between this, NeglectfulPrecursors and AbusivePrecursors. The fact that they're supremely arrogant in believing that they know what's best for everyone, and slightly less than perfect in predicting the consequences of their actions (and in recognizing and admitting they made a mistake soon enough for it to require less than literally superheroic effort to fix it) tends to be what keeps them from ultimately actually being this.

* The Mondoshawans ("Monduchivans" in the language originally spoken by Leeloo) from ''Film/TheFifthElement''. They set up a [[AncientTradition secret order]] on Earth to safeguard the elements needed to fight the Ultimate Evil. They came back to remove the elements to a safer place when UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne threatened them, and they were in the process of returning them when they were shot down by Mangalore warriors flying illegal starfighters supplied by Mr. Zorg. But even then, they had been clever enough to anticipate it, and hid [[spoiler:four out of five of]] the Elements somewhere else instead.

** Each successive Mothra passes on her memories to [[SingleGenderSpecies daughter]] so each generation of the line basically has an instruction manual on how their powers and magic work, and how to confront evil.

** Meanwhile the Asgard, while unable to wipe out the Goa'uld due to their ForeverWar with the Replicators, place a couple dozen planets in the Milky Way under military protection, and soon ally with the Tau'ri and gradually introduce their technology to them. Also, ''unlike'' the Ancients, they always cleaned up their own mess, or made ''sure'' not to cause a mess in the first place. The Ancients are responsible for creating ''two'' races (well, one of them are machines) that pose a galactic threat, and left their technology lying around just about everywhere waiting to be used (or abused) by anyone who could. The Asgard were very cautious in giving out their technology, but not because of arrogance about not sharing with primitive people, like the Tollans were, but out of genuine caution for the safety of both parties involved. Despite this they provided Earth with their extremely powerful shielding technology and eventually shared ''all'' their knowledge with them... Before committing mass-suicide to make sure their left-over technology would ''not'' fall into the wrong hands.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'' the Protheans [[spoiler: attempt to leave behind warnings about the [[EldritchAbomination Reapers]] to future organic races. [[AbusivePrecursors The Reapers]] destroy most of them, but a few survive. Those survivors also subverted the Reapers' primary way to activate the Citadel relay, forcing Sovereign to use a plan the current races have a chance to stop. It is also implied their actions spared several fledgling species from being wiped out with them (humanity being among them), when they destroyed records of certain locations.]]
** Humanity survived the previous cycle because the Reapers only wipe out civilisations that have achieved a certain technical level. Only species that have advanced to the point of using the Mass Relays (and, by extension, harnessed the mass effect for their own technology) and joining the galactic community are wiped out during Reaper harvests. It didn't matter that the Protheans had bases on Mars - humanity didn't even qualify as a civilisation in 48,000 BC, never mind an advanced one. The Reapers exist to prevent the galaxy's life being completely eradicated by the achievement of technological singularity via AI, with primitive cultures being the 'new growth' after the advanced civilisations have been 'burnt'.
** You later meet one, and it turns out they weren't exactly nice people, being TheEmpire of their time. However, they fit the mold by Precursor definitions.
*** It's debatable which description fits the Protheans best. In some ways, they are benevolent (their warnings to future cycles about the Reapers), but in general they were conquerors similar to the Romans, who subjugated any other race they encountered and brought them into their Empire. There are even hints that the Protheans ate certain 'primitive' races such as the Salarians, but this may have been Javik making a dark joke.

** The Moochick from G1 is revealed to be as old as [[AbusivePrecursors Lord Tirek]] and was the BigGood for the ponies.

** The Age of Wonders [[spoiler:created the G3 world as a utopia and had ever intent of doing so]]. After the Apocalypse, many tried their best to preserve what was left of their species technology, medicine, and such for the civilizations to come after. Several of them are still known as Saints to this day.

* All of Earth's pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} superheroes to the current DCUniverse, especially the Monitor. They fought and defeated the Anti-Monitor and sealed a single universe inside the essence of the Monitor. Then the universe was restarted twice with big bangs. None of the PostCrisis stories would have happened without the pre-Crisis heroes. ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis then turns this into a strange case of the BenevolentPrecursors (specifically, two of them in particular, though one of the others gets tricked/convinced into believing that what they're doing is a Good Thing) ''becoming'' the SealedEvilInACan.

* The Jjaro of ''PathwaysIntoDarkness'' and ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}''. After the Jjaro's disappearance, [[spoiler: they either returned from hiding to help, or left an automated system to help the player defeat an {{Eldritch Abomination}} and save the universe.]]

* Urk's alternate universe in ''PaperinikNewAdventures'' has the local counterpart of the [[spoiler: Evrons]] teach medicine and science to the inhabitants of the Americas, leading to a confederation of hi-tech Indian tribes living in accord with nature while still capable of kicking the ass of the Viking invaders (whose technology is similar to the one of our 21st century Earth).

* All of Earth's PreCrisis superheroes to the current DCUniverse, especially the Monitor. They fought and defeated the Anti-Monitor and sealed a single universe inside the essence of the Monitor. Then the universe was restarted twice with big bangs. None of the PostCrisis stories would have happened without the PreCrisis heroes. InfiniteCrisis then turns this into a strange case of the BenevolentPrecursors (specifically, two of them in particular, though one of the others gets tricked/convinced into believing that what they're doing is a Good Thing) ''becoming'' the SealedEvilInACan.

** Meanwhile the Asgard, while unable to wipe out the Goa'uld due to their ForeverWar with the Replicators, place a couple dozen planets in the Milky Way under military protection, and soon ally with the Tau'ri and gradually introduce their technology to them. Also, ''unlike'' the Ancients, they always cleaned up their own mess, or made ''sure'' not cause a mess in the first place. The Ancients are responsible for creating ''two'' races (well, one of them are machines) that pose a galactic threat, left their technology lying around just about everywhere waiting to be used (or abused) by anyone who could. The Asgard were very cautious in giving out their technology, but not because of arrogance about not sharing with primitive people, like the Tollans were, but out of genuine caution for the safety of both parties involved. Despite this they provided Earth with their extremely powerful shielding technology and eventually shared ''all'' their knowledge with them... Before committing mass-suicide to make sure their left-over technology would ''not'' fall into the wrong hands.

** [[spoiler: If you choose the Refusal option, then your cycle can become one. Sadly, it requires the only woman who could make the decision to doom her own cycle.]]

* The [[XeeleeSequence Xeelee]], despite being the ostensible [[DesignatedVillain bad guys]] are actually quite nice, leaving humanity and other lower races alone while busy fighting a universe-spanning war against their rivals the Photino Birds. When humanity has conquered every other race in the galaxy, they finally get it in their heads to [[BullyingADragon attack the Xeelee]] themselves, who do fight back, but only half-heartedly, and eventually decide to let mankind have the Milky Way. This isn't good enough for them, however, and they decide to spread out and attack the Xeelee in other galaxies, including launching a few assaults on their Ring megastructure. Eventually, a million years later, the Xeelee finally decide to deal with humanity, not by wiping them out, but by constructing a nice little environment for them and sealing them inside it, allowing them to continue their lives, at least until the universe starts to become uninhabitable due to the actions of the Photino Birds. At which point, the Xeelee provide the remaining humans with one of their own ships to escape the universe through the Ring, and even create a new planet with an environment tailored specifically for them to thrive in the new universe.