Line #119 Main/IngestingKnowledge


1	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/martha_speaks.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:On the way to Martha's stomach, the alphabet soup lost its way. It traveled to her brain and now [[TalkingAnimal she's got a lot to say]]!]]
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4	%% Caption selected per Caption Repair thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900&page=119
5	%% Please do not replace or remove without further discussion in the thread.
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7	Why bother reading if you can just eat knowledge? This trope is about characters who, due to some BizarreAlienBiology, AppliedPhlebotinum, or simple artistic license, can have knowledge directly pumped into their brains by eating or somehow absorbing knowledge recipients such as books, computers or Magic Balls of Holding Knowledge.
8
9	This however only applies to non-organic knowledge sources. If a character [[EatBrainForMemories learns by ingesting]] {{Brain\|Food}}s, that is simply CannibalismSuperpower, which not only is frowned upon by connaissance connoisseurs, it's also considerably more messy.
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11	See also PowersAsPrograms, for abilities instead of knowledge, and InstantExpert.
12
13	A subtrope of AbstractEater and, through that, of FantasticDietRequirement. Ingesting Knowledge is a common ability of the LiteralBookworm.
14	----
15	!!Examples:
16
17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
20	* In ''Manga/Brave10'', Rokuro has a MagicalEye that can absorb letters from a page and store the information inside it. With it he can also access people's memories and strip information from them. Naturally, it's so valuable a tool [[spoiler:TheMole tries to steal it and he has to [[EyeScream stab it out]] to protect all that knowledge.]]
21	* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'': Scar somehow is able to absorb some of the investigations made by the Elric brothers related to the Laboratory Five.
22	* In one chapter of ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', Nobita eats a special kind of bread that lets him remember anything printed on it. [[spoiler: It backfired due to the day before test is the day where Shizuka and also Nobita's family are inviting for feast, resulting in Nobita over-eating and in the next morning, have to eat the breads all over again after a bad toilet trip]].
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
26	* ''Animation/MotuPatlu'': In "Robot of Furfuri Nagar", Motu tries to learn his robot's instructions by turning the manual into a soup and ingesting it, taking the referee's advice to "drink up" the information in the manual [[LiteralMinded too literally]].
27	[[/folder]]
28
29	[[folder:Comic Books]]
30	* One ''Creator/{{Janosch}}'' story is about a family of mice wherein the son became smart by eating books.
31	* In the [[FrancoBelgianComics French comic]] ''Fuzz et Fizzbi'', the BigBad of the first book in "Anorgul le Mangerunes" (the "Rune Eater"), an EldritchAbomination who increases its power by eating knowledge: by looking at any script, his eyes absorb all the letters, leaving blank paper behind.
32	* Parodied in ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' comic book story where the people of Springfield decide to make it constantly daytime in a misguided attempt to revamp the economy. Lisa uses the extra hours to learn everything at the library. Eventually when a lack of sleep kicks in, she decides that it will be more efficient to simply eat the books instead.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Fan Works]]
36	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ThroughTheEyesOfAnotherPony'', Princess Luna has a spell that allows her to absorb all knowledge in any written document (destroying the document in the process). She later bites off more than she could chew by using this to absorb [[spoiler:''the internet'']].
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
40	* In ''Film/TheMeteorMan'', the meteor can give someone the ability to temporarily absorb the contents of anything written by touch. At one point the main character uses it to quickly read and grade tests.
41	* In ''Film/MyStepmotherIsAnAlien'', the stepmother is shown opening books, laying her arm across the pages, and reacting to the contents.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Literature]]
45	* In the Italian children's book ''Atomino'', the protagonist, a [[AnimateInanimateObject living atom]] that has been [[ItMakesSenseInContext recently enlarged to human size]] and is therefore completely ignorant of human culture, is told that he needs to get in the library and "devour books" if he wants to learn. He [[LiteralMinded takes the advice literally]] and it actually works. Unfortunately, he ate too much in a single sitting and he get indigestion -- when he takes an antacid, his new knowledge goes away as well.
46	* ''Literature/BookGirl'': It's not used for information particularly (she mostly eats fiction), but the title character experiences books by eating them.
47	* In Creator/LloydAlexander's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' story "The Foundling", Dallben is cooking something when it splashes on his hand. Popping the hand to his mouth means it confers knowledge on him.
48	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
49	** Gaspode the wonder dog claims to have picked up much of his knowledge through chewing books.
50	** The BooksThatBite in Unseen University library have been known to eat ''each other''. Many of the weird creatures in L-Space are implied to be infovorous as well.
51	* In ''Literature/TheDragonKnight'', this is how Magickians use the Encyclopedia Necromantick BookOfShadows.
52	* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/DreadCompanion'', eating the fruit of the land confers knowledge of it -- also a ForcedTransformation into creatures of it.
53	* ''Literature/{{Firmin}}'' by Sam Savage is a book about a rat {{uplifted\|Animal}} this way.
54	* In ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', one project underway at the Academy of Lagado is a special ink "of a cephalic tincture." A fasting student, by eating a wafer inscribed in this ink with a mathematical proposition, will thereby learn the proposition as the tincture is digested. Unfortunately, most students find the ink nauseating to the point of vomiting it up before it can work.
55	* ''The Incredible Book Eating Boy'' by Oliver Jeffers revolves around a boy named Henry who gains knowledge through literally eating books. However, his plans on becoming the smartest boy in the world are derailed when he discovers the hard way there's a limit on how much knowledge he can ingest.
56	* Eric Sanvoisin's ''The Ink Drinker'' is about a boy discovering that vampires are real but, [[OurVampiresAreDifferent rather than drink blood]], they drink words out of books through a straw. In this way they experience the stories while nourishing themselves.
57	* In Creator/ChinaMieville's ''Kraken'', one villain needed to absorb the information in a book (printed in kraken ink) right now. And the villain was also made of ink. [[spoiler:He forced the ink out of the book and mixed himself with the ink. Alas, it turns out kraken ink can remember its prior identity.]]
58	* In the novel ''Literature/ProfessorMmaasLecture'', the protagonists -- termites -- "read" human writing by eating the paper and remembering where they can taste the ink, then reciting the writing from memory. They also eat other thermites' associative substance (brains) to aquire their memories.
59	* Samsonite is a chemical invented by Samson Fandorin, an ancestor of Literature/ErastFandorin in Boris Akunun's book "Quest". Drinking it lets the user hear a message from Fandorin. It can also contain general knowledge (in the novel, Russian language and culture).
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
63	* An ''Series/AmazingStories'' episode has a strange event cause an old janitor at a school suddenly gain the ability to absorb knowledge by being in a classroom, especially if something is written on the board. At the end, he runs into the middle of a football field at night. A flying saucer arrives and beams all that knowledge from him and leaves.
64	* Manny, Music/BillBailey's character in ''Series/BlackBooks'', absorbs The Little Book Of Calm, which transforms him into a messianic figure.
65	* One episode of ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'' has Phoebe use a smart spell that allows her to absorb the knowledge of a book by waving her hands over it. When this happens, the pages flip by themselves and there's the sound of whispering, as if the worlds were being spoken ''sotto voce''.
66	* The entire premise of ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' is that Chuck accidentally absorbs all knowledge of the CIA and NSA in a single night, and has flashes of said knowledge whenever he sees something related to them.
67	* ''Series/{{Locke and Key\|2020}}'': Physical objects can be stored in people's heads with the Head Key; if this is done with books, the person will know everything that is written in the book without having to read it. Tyler takes advantage of this to do well at school and impress a girl.
68	* Series ''Series/StargateSG1'', ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' and ''Series/StargateUniverse'' show several alien interfaces allowing human to access massive knowledge from a {{Precursors}} civilization.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
72	* Literature/TheBible:
73	** Happens in a vision in the Literature/BookOfJeremiah.
74	** In another vision, the Literature/BookOfRevelation, the narrator (who is by tradition the Apostle John) is told to do this, and he does. It's "sweet in his mouth, and bitter in his belly".
75	* Myth/NorseMythology: Sigurd was innocently roasting the dragon's heart for his companion when some blood splattered on his hand. Then, he heard birds talking about how his companion intended to murder him.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
79	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Crimestrikers}}'' the characters sometimes use edu-strips, which are modeled on the breath strips sold in drug stores and allow users to absorb information (or have secrets implanted in their minds) by swallowing them.
80	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons:'' The ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' setting introduced the darklore, a BlobMonster born when a powerful fiend fell into the memory-draining waters of the River Styx. Darklores can thus drain Intelligence from victims they strike with their pseudopods, absorbing forbidden secrets and vile knowledge to hoard -- the location of a ''gate'' to the Lower Planes, the [[IKnowYourTrueName true name]] of an archfiend, details about an evil artifact, etc. Darklores can also reverse this process when striking Good or Neutral foes, potentially stunning them with a horrific revelation (and giving paladins a 1% chance of falling from grace). This means archfiends both fear and covet darklores, and have been known to capture the creatures to use as interrogators, or ''charm'' them to make darklores willingly share some of the secrets they've accumulated.
81	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': A witch's {{Familiar}} acts as a sort of living SpellBook, one of the ways they can learn new spells is by eating scrolls that contain spells.
82	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
83	** The Kroot are able to do this as a species, though their Shapers are the ones who decide what their kin should eat depending on the useful traits in their victims. Their spacefaring and mechanical abilities are believed to have resulted from ingesting ork DNA (who instinctively know how to build guns, and meks can build bigger things).
84	** A little-seen power of SpaceMarines is to gain the memories of things they eat.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:Video Games]]
88	* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' parodies and subverts this in ''Teach Me, Ms. Litchi! Reloaded''. [[BadassBookworm Tsubaki]] suggests this trope as a shortcut to reconstituting [[TheDitz Taokaka's]] intellect from scratch, and offers up a dictionary for it. [[OnlySaneMan Makoto]] is not amused at the obvious results.
89	-->'''Taokaka:''' [[VerbalTic Meow]], this tastes ''horrible''! Tao is very disappointed!\
90	'''Makoto:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Yeah. I kinda suspected as much]].
91	* The main goal of [[spoiler:[[BigBad The Night's Nexus]]]] in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefaultII''. [[spoiler:[[WasOnceAMan Originally a human woman named Innana]], she came across Mag Mell: the realm of the fairies and became obsessed with uncovering their forbidden knowledge at all costs, creating an artifical [[FantasyCharacterClasses Asterisk]] to do so. In time however, the knowledge consumed her and turned her into an EldritchAbomination bent on consuming all knowledge in the world and consigning it to oblivion.]]
92	* Your character in ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'' used stat-enhancing books pretty much exactly like this until an update altered the ability.
93	* One unique monster in ''VideoGame/DungeonCrawl'' is a giant slug who absorbed a wizard's spells... by eating the wizard.
94	* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', it takes a normal person years of training in order to be able to use the Thu'um. [[PlayerCharacter The]] [[TheChosenOne Dragonborn]], on the other hand, can become an InstantExpert by killing a dragon and [[YourSoulIsMine devouring its soul]], transferring the dragon's knowledge of the Thu'um into him/herself. It's possible to share this knowledge willingly as well, it's just that [[AlwaysChaoticEvil the dragons aren't willing]].
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
98	* ''[[VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations 2]]'': Back when he was an assistant to Gregory Edgeworth, Raymond Shields would write down information in his notepad, then immediately tear out and eat the page, claiming it helped him remember what he wrote down better.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Web Comics]]
102	* "[[http://chainsawsuit.com/2012/01/17/ask-your-doctor/ Ask your doctor]]" on ''Webcomic/{{chainsawsuit}}'' about Doctorex, a pill that imparts all medical knowledge to the consumer.
103	* The Wayward Vagabond in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' learns human etiquette by eating a book on the subject. Although it's possible that he read it and ''then'' ate each page when he was finished with it.
104	* One side comic of ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' showed that the demon judge was hatched and ate a library's worth of law books just before the trial, [[spoiler:and the judges are then killed after the trial to maintain objectivity.]]
105	* Carbosilicate amorphs in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' evolved from data storage systems. They share memories by writing a copy into chosen piece of body, then exchanging and absorbing these.
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Web Original]]
109	* It's just a way to keep prices up and intelligence stats coveted, but books in ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' mysteriously disappear when you read them to your pet.
110	* ''WebVideo/RatsSMP'': {{Discussed\|Trope}} on Day 1; it's claimed that Oliver the Lawyer Rat is smart and knowledgeable because whenever they eat a paper document, they absorb the information and knowledge printed on it. In reality, though, it's suggested that they [[{{Bookworm}} read a lot]] while living in a lawyer's office before moving to the Mansion in canon.
111	* ''WebVideo/AdventureIsNigh'': Exiled prophet Latavia Ticklepuss dealt with the pain of banishment by creating the creature Oob, a thing somewhere between a CuteSlimeMook and DemBones, with the power to eat memories. He sends Oob out to collect happy memories from people and transfer them to himself, now fused with the Prime Oob (a decidedly less cute enormous mass of slime with multiple skeletons floating in it, which is stuck to his back). It's stated that Oob [[EatBrainForMemories eats people's brains to get their memories.]]
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Western Animation]]
115	* One Polish children's show from the 1980s had this in a song about bookworms.
116	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', Jimmy creates Books chewing gum with this effect. [[MySkullRunnethOver It's dangerous to eat more than one at the same time]], [[ChekhovsGun which Jimmy finds useful later]].
117	* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' where an episode states that Richard ate Gumball and Darwin's homework to be smart.
118	* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'', Yakko manages to learn about everything that's happened in the past 22 years by swallowing a computer tablet like a ''pill'' tablet.
119	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'': Attempted by Mung Daal on Chowder. He tries to cram a stack of books in his head instead of getting him to study! Then he gives him a dish that makes Chowder super smart, so smart that he is able to [[NoFourthWall break the 4th wall]].
120	* [[EvilSorcerer The Archmage]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' gains the power of the TomeOfEldritchLore by eating it. Though he has to use another MacGuffin to make it possible, so [[spoiler: when he loses it, the energies of the book end up [[PhlebotinumOverload burning him alive from the inside]]]].
121	* ''WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks'': The title character is a dog {{uplifted\|Animal}} this way by regularly eating alphabet soup. One episode leaves her stuck speaking Spanish because she ate a special Mexican flavor version. It becomes a plot of another episode where this stops working altogether because the company changed the recipe. And in yet another episode, the recurring villain who is always trying to dognap Martha covertly switches out her soup with the Polish version and then tries to claim that Martha is his dog from the old country.
122	* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Echo Mice, small skull-headed rodents that live in the Bonesborough Library, eat books and can replay their information like a theater projector.
123	* Raven from ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''. In one episode, a mage teaches her an ability to absorb (not literally) many books at the same time, as it's faster than reading them.
124	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'': One episode has [[FatBestFriend Toby]] drink a potion called Elix-Lore, that causes words to fly off of books and into his mouth gaining its knowledge. He somewhat [[DrunkWithPower loses control]] and eats an entire library, he almost finds the information he was looking for but the previous info [[MySkullRunnethOver was too much]] and he uncontrollably vomits it out.
125	[[/folder]]

Context Main / IngestingKnowledge