History Main / MysticalPregnancy

** [[LawOfInverseFertility Infertile women getting pregnant]] is a running theme in the Old Testament: Sarah was actually post-menopausal and, according to Jewish tradition, ''born without a womb,'' but got pregnant by a miracle. Other examples include Rebecca, Rachel and Hannah[=/=]Chana; the New Testament adds Elizabeth and, according to Catholic tradition, Mary's own mother. (All these cases involved actual fathers, though.) On a related note, Catholics also believe Mary herself was the Immaculate Conception, meaning God protected her from original sin from the moment of her conception.

** [[LawOfInverseFertility Infertile women getting pregnant]] is a running theme in the Old Testament: Sarah was actually post-menopausal and, according to Jewish tradition, ''born without a womb,'' but got pregnant by a miracle. Other examples include Rebecca, Rachel and Hannah[=/=]Chana; the New Testament adds Elizabeth and, according to Catholic tradition, Mary's own mother. (All these cases involved actual fathers, though.)

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Shmi Skywalker says that Anakin has no father and she doesn't remember having ever slept with a man in the right period to have become pregnant by him, which Qui-Gon assumes to mean that he was conceived by the will of the Force. In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Palpatine's discussion about Darth Plagueis includes a pointed comment that suggests Plagueis' experiments may have been responsible for Shmi's pregnancy. It's revealed in ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'' that Plagueis was attempting to use a Sith ritual to RageAgainstTheHeavens and assume control of [[SentientCosmicForce the Force]] itself, but it rebelled against him and [[CreateYourOwnHero created Anakin instead to destroy the Sith]] (which he did technically [[RedemptionEqualsDeath do in the end]], [[ForeverWar for a time]]).

'''Shmi Skywalker:''' There was no father that I know of. I carried him, I gave birth to him. I can't explain what happened.

-->'''Asuka:''' “How far along am I? Can you tell?"\\

* ''Fanfic/BabyBoom'': This actually happens to almost EVERY woman, even TEENAGERS, in Paris when a woman is akumatized after finding out her daughter doesn't want to have kids. She turns into the Fairy Grandmother, who brainwashes people to have sex and increases their fertility. Unlike other akuma effects, there is no ResetButton, even with the Miracle Cure, and now Marinette is pregnant, and so are most of her girl friends, her mother and teacher, and countless other women in Paris.

* Played with in the ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' story, "ComicBook/GuardianDevil", where a girl comes to Matt Murdock, believing her daughter to be a case of immaculate conception and the kid is the Messiah, with alternate hints that she might be the Antichrist. [[spoiler:In reality, the baby is neither; Mysterio kidnapped the mother, [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate drugged her, and artificially inseminated her]] as part of his plan against Daredevil.]]

[[quoteright:333:[[Literature/TheFourGospels https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_pregnant_mary.png]]]]

* '''Supernatural conception:''' The pregnancy is unnatural from the very beginning, such as UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}'s conception in [[Literature/TheFourGospels the Gospels of Matthew and Luke]]. {{Half Human Hybrid}}s and [[MisterSeahorse babies conceived through Mpreg]] are examples of this. This is normally a good time to exclaim "ButICantBePregnant," where there is understandable reason to be [[SurprisePregnancy surprised]] about the pregnancy. This can occur if a woman makes a deal using [[BabyAsPayment her firstborn]] when she believes she is infertile.

This trope is a good way to give rise to empowered children; depending on the pregnancy and the supernatural means involved a mother could also birth a FetusTerrible. However, there's also a large possibility that the phlebotinum involved could [[DeathByChildbirth kill]] the mother, as well. A Mystical Pregnancy could result in a TrulySingleParent if conception can be done solo.

Note, however, that test tube babies and other methods not involving natural conception are ''not'' examples of this, although some tropes could overlap — such as DesignerBabies, which usually involve [[DoingInTheWizard more "science" and less "magic"]].

This trope has been around [[OlderThanDirt a long time]], with weird pregnancies being present in some of the oldest mythologies. However, feminist criticisms of this trope center around both the female character's loss of agency as well as the trope's use of women's reproductive capabilities as a means to terrify, humiliate, and degrade women, or reducing them to [[BabyFactory a passive set of reproductive organs]]. If [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal deities are involved]], it may raise some interesting [[QuestionableConsent questions]] about whether or not a mortal could ''truly'' consent to a DivineDate [[UnequalPairing with]] ThePowersThatBe. (Even if no actual sex took place between the deity and the human that got pregnant.) An event as traumatic as a Mystical Pregnancy could tremendously affect a person, but the character's emotional aftermath has rarely ever been touched upon.

In more benign examples, people may pray to (or be blessed by) a FertilityGod to achieve this.

* Played with in the ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' story, "ComicBook/GuardianDevil", where a girl comes to Matt Murdock, believing her daughter to be a case of immaculate conception and the kid is the Messiah, with alternate hints that she might be the Antichrist. [[spoiler:In reality, the baby is neither; Mysterio kidnapped the mother, [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate drugged her, and artificially inseminated her as part of his plan against Daredevil,]]