# Romances or attraction between humans and non-humans
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 7, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455 "2005-03-07T23:45:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/1 "2005-03-07T23:45:58Z")
Ray Bradbury wrote a story called “Death and the Maiden” The idea inspired a german comic strip entitled [Der Tod und das Mädchen](http://www.cartoontomb.de/english/death.htm)
available in both[english](http://www.cartoontomb.de/english/death.htm) and [german](http://comics.orf.at/comics/381). (Yes, I know that “Todd” sounds like a boring name, but don’t tell him so. 😃 )
In the kid’s Cartoon show “My life as a Teenage Robot”, a throwaway line show that the main character is dating a human, Brad (Yay! It’s no longer reading between the lines)
Also, there are many fan fiction stories based on ghost related movies and shows have romances between the main human and a ghost. In my opinion, they make an excellent case.
But really, these can not be the only examples. There has been so much history of literature, and fiction, that their must be at least one other, if not more. Anyone have any?
P.S. Oh, yeah, Leda and the Swan. Gods and people. Can’t forget that.
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/2 "2005-03-07T23:47:43Z")
How on earth did I put this in GD? Oh, crud! I will never hear the end of this.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/3 "2005-03-08T00:20:41Z")
To say nothing of the special Highland bond between a man and his sheep… 😛
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/4 "2005-03-08T01:57:09Z")
Well, there’s always John Collier’s His Monkey Wife (Collier also participated in the screenplay for The African Queen).
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/5 "2005-03-08T02:02:22Z")
Women and livestock, man. Centaurs, the Minotaur, fauns and satyrs all came from somewhere, man.
Remember [HER?](http://www.geocities.com/kids_inthehall/chickenlady.jpg) Canada has a lot to answer for.
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### Author:  [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/6 "2005-03-08T02:24:49Z")
> [@Askia](#):
>
> Women and livestock, man. Centaurs, the Minotaur, fauns and satyrs all came from somewhere, man.
>
> Remember [HER?](http://www.geocities.com/kids_inthehall/chickenlady.jpg) Canada has a lot to answer for.
I was going to mention that whole affair that lead to the birth of the minotaur… Maybe Size was all she cared about?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/7 "2005-03-08T02:32:29Z")
Robert Silverberg’s “Majipoor Chronicles” had a story about just such a topic, a young woman living in the jungle who gets into a relationship with one of the other aliens who came to settle on Majipoor. It might have been a Skandar.
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### Author:  [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/8 "2005-03-08T02:38:23Z")
(Just wanted to note that the pairing of Death and the Maiden goes back WAY before Bradbury, who was pulling from an older tradition. Say, something like one of Hans Baldung Grien’s versions from fifteen-hundred and sumpin’-sumpin’.
Just sayin’.)
How about things like Narcissus and a reflection, or Pygmalion and a sculpture? Catherine the Great and. . .
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/9 "2005-03-08T02:40:27Z")
I’ve been with Cathy. It ain’t that great.
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### Author:  [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/10 "2005-03-08T02:41:27Z")
The OP has already mentioned mythology. Greco-Roman mythology is especially (in?)famous for human/nonhuman pairings, sometimes consensual, but most often not. (How many classical paintings are titled “The Rape of…”?)
Xanth is full of cross-species pairings, thanks to a Love Spring (which, apparently, is also a Lust Spring), and in fact one of the characters postulate that Xanth is the magical land it is because they’re so open-minded and tolerant about doing it with other things. :rolleyes:
Humans are, of course, the most prolific breeders in the known universe, as evidenced by all the half-whatevers in D&D. (Both the human and the orc must have been **mightily** drunk.)
A lot of manga have human/other pairings, with either comic and tragic results. And sometimes both. (Ah! My Goddess, A.I. Love You, Dragon Ball Z, Hellsing, Inu-Yasha, Record of Lodoss War, and Trigun are just a few I can name off the top of my head.)
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/11 "2005-03-08T02:45:30Z")
In later Star Trek seris it seemed that many romantic pairings shown involved humans and non-humans, or different non-humans. Trill and Klingon, Bajoran and founder, Klingon and Betazid, Neelix and whoever she was, the short lifer. And the one crewmember of Voyager, who had her baby alone after they were stranded in the Delta Quadrant, her husband wasn’t human. And didn’t the holographic doctor hook up with a human when they got home, or was that one of those “alternate timelines” episodes.?
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/12 "2005-03-08T02:49:03Z")
Lailari and Tech Sergeant Chen - **Galaxy Quest**
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/13 "2005-03-08T02:59:54Z")
Hey guys, get a room…oh, that’s not right!
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/14 "2005-03-08T11:11:54Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> And didn’t the holographic doctor hook up with a human when they got home, or was that one of those “alternate timelines” episodes.?
Alt-timeline. The last episode of the series is when they finally got home.
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/15 "2005-03-08T13:39:04Z")
God, these are all great.
> [@Askia](#):
>
> Remember [HER?](http://www.geocities.com/kids_inthehall/chickenlady.jpg) Canada has a lot to answer for.
Blame Canda!
> [@Dooku](#):
>
> Lailari and Tech Sergeant Chen - **Galaxy Quest**
I loved that! I am going off to find if there is some fanfiction based on the idea of society finding out that she is not human. If not, I will rewatch it and maybe write my own.
> [@dotchan](#):
>
> A lot of manga have human/other pairings, with either comic and tragic results. And sometimes both. (Ah! My Goddess, A.I. Love You, Dragon Ball Z, Hellsing, Inu-Yasha, Record of Lodoss War, and Trigun are just a few I can name off the top of my head.)
Any favorite couples?
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### Author:  [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/16 "2005-03-08T13:41:53Z")
Then there’s whatshisname. The one who lives in Metropolis. 🆒
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/17 "2005-03-08T13:49:21Z")
“Helen O’Loy” by Lester del Rey (one of the first human/robot romances)
**The Silver Metal Lover** by Tanith Lee
**The Robots of Dawn** by Isaac Asimov implies that human/robot sex is going on, but is considered taboo.
“And I Awoke to Find Me Here on the Cold Hill Side” by James Tiptree, Jr.
“Your Haploid Heart” by James Tiptree, Jr., which, among other things, says that if any alien species is interfertile with humans, there will be children, implying that humans will have sex with any alien species they meet.
“The Munij Deserters” by Chuck Rothman
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/18 "2005-03-08T14:06:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> **The Silver Metal Lover** by Tanith Lee
I have a graphic novel version illustrated by Trina Robbins.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/19 "2005-03-08T14:07:00Z")
> [@Askia](#):
>
> I’ve been with Cathy. It ain’t that great.
So you’re saying you were hung like a horse? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2005, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romances-or-attraction-between-humans-and-non-humans/293455/20 "2005-03-08T14:41:43Z")
> [@Trion](#):
>
> Then there’s whatshisname. The one who lives in Metropolis. 🆒
Oh yeah, I remember him. John Jones, The Martian Manhunter. I remeber him. His kid Brother. His kid brother was named T’omm. (Detective Comics no. 286) At least I think that’s who you are talking about. There are so many alien superheros, that I have problems telling them apart. 😛
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