History Main / HiveDrone

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/{{Metroid}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/space_pirates_hive.png]]]]

In RealLife, insect drones are males whose only programming is to [[DeathBySex mate with a queen then die]]. In fiction, however, "drone" is often used to mean a biological equivalent of a remote-controlled robot, such as anything in a HiveMind not in a position of power, and often under the direct or semi-direct control of the HiveQueen or the HiveMind's consciousness itself. Sometimes they will resemble hive worker insects and will be sterile, do nothing but work, and care for the [[MookMaker Queen's young]]. Other times they are the army of the Hive. They are nearly always {{mooks}}.

* A number of hive-minded [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCPs]] seem to operate through Hive Drones.

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* ''Videogame/HalfLife'' has several notable examples:
** The Ant Lions from ''VideoGames/HalfLife2''. The player exploits this later in the game by collecting Pheropods from a fallen Ant Lion Guard.

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* The Borg of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe. A drone's individuality is merely suppressed, rather than being destroyed or absent. This is most explicitly demonstrated in the ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' episode, "Unimatrix Zero". Drones such as Hugh and Seven of Nine, who are separated from the Collective, are capable of [[RogueDrone regaining individuality]] with varying degrees of success.

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* ''{{Franchise/Alien}}'': The titular aliens.
* Subverted in ''Film/StarshipTroopers'': The United Citizen Federation, believing that the entire race were mindless insects, send thousands of troops to invade their home world. [[spoiler: The invasion cost the Mobile infantry 100,000 lives in the first ''hour'' because a super-intelligent Brain Bug had coordinated a defensive strategy.]]

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* The Formics from ''Literature/EndersGame'', to the point that they will stop moving and die when their queen is killed.
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', the bulk of the Vord race consists of animalistic drones that become much more dangerous and coordinated when under a Queen's psychic control.

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* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the bulk of the Tyranid forces consists of drones under the HiveMind's control and with animal-level intelligence at best. Averted by the more specialized forms, which receive a greater degree of independence in order to control sections of the swarm or operate behind enemy lines.

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* In ''Fanfic/TheLifeAndTimesOfAWinningPony'', this is the nature of most of the Changeling race, with the vast majority of the swarm being puppets under [[HiveQueen Chrysalis']] control.

* With some action games, the mooks you kill/fight end up looking the same and acting the same. They work in groups and have (sometimes) one distinct leader. Assassin's Creed does this with the Templar Captains, and the Advanced Wars series has a similar way if you capture the enemy HQ.

* In ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'', most members of the Zerg, with the exception of Kerrigan, the [[HiveQueen Overmind]], and the cerebrates, fit this description. There is even an actual unit type called a drone whose only purposes are to harvest resources and morph into structures that let you make other types of Zerg.

* In ''Fanfic/TheLifeAndTimesOfAWinningPony'', this is the nature of most of the Changeling race, with the vast majority of the swarm being puppets under [[HiveQueen Chrysalis�]] control.

* In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', the [[AncientConspiracy Seers of the Throne]] have access to a group of servants referred to as "Hive-Souled" who are essentially a single mind/soul born in multiple bodies (generally twins or triplets, although modern science has allowed them to greatly increase the potential numbers). Each individual body of a Hive-Soul is essentially just a single component of their collective mind, having no individual personality, and shares experiences and memories instantly with other bodies. It�s difficult for any of them to act in a non-synchronized manner unless they are skilled at multi-tasking. For the purpose of magic, they also count as a single target; any spell cast on one of them affects all of them equally. This extends to any kind of physical alteration (including, unfortunately for them, injuries).
* The Blood Brothers bloodline in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', created by vampire sorcerers to serve as shock troops, consists of groups of vampires that can share their senses and abilities and communicate telepathically. The process by which they�re created also destroys their creativity, individuality and personality.

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* In ''Fanfic/TheLifeAndTimesOfAWinningPony'', this is the nature of most of the Changeling race, with the vast majority of the swarm being puppets under [[HiveQueen Chrysalis’]] control.

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* In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', the [[AncientConspiracy Seers of the Throne]] have access to a group of servants referred to as "Hive-Souled" who are essentially a single mind/soul born in multiple bodies (generally twins or triplets, although modern science has allowed them to greatly increase the potential numbers). Each individual body of a Hive-Soul is essentially just a single component of their collective mind, having no individual personality, and shares experiences and memories instantly with other bodies. It’s difficult for any of them to act in a non-synchronized manner unless they are skilled at multi-tasking. For the purpose of magic, they also count as a single target; any spell cast on one of them affects all of them equally. This extends to any kind of physical alteration (including, unfortunately for them, injuries).
* The Blood Brothers bloodline in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', created by vampire sorcerers to serve as shock troops, consists of groups of vampires that can share their senses and abilities and communicate telepathically. The process by which they’re created also destroys their creativity, individuality and personality.

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* In ''{{Starcraft}}'', most members of the Zerg, with the exception of Kerrigan, the [[HiveQueen Overmind]], and the cerebrates, fit this description. There is even an actual unit type called a drone whose only purposes are to harvest resources and morph into structures that let you make other types of Zerg.
* ''Franchise/HalfLife'' has several notable examples: