Nonsapient beings are very limited in terms of how writers can use them; audiences are less likely to show interest, they are fairly limited in terms of characterization, and certain ideas don't work with such beings. One solution that some adaptations use is to turn such characters into sapient beings. This also has the effect of essentially creating a new character, which can lead to audiences either liking or hating the change.
Because both nonsapient and sapient beings can come in a variety of forms, there are a fair number of ways this trope can manifest. Some of the more common ways include:
- In a series with both anthropomorphic and normal animals, a "normal" animal could be turned anthropomorphic in an adaptation.
- Non-intelligent robots might become Artificial Intelligence so as to give them personalities.
- Normal animals are sometimes given an Amplified Animal Aptitude in works that make said animals sapient without turning them into Talking Animals.
Opposite Trope to Adaptational Nonsapience. Sub-Trope of Adaptational Intelligence. Could be considered a form of Adaptation Personality Change (inasmuch as a nonsapient being can be said to have a personality). Compare Anthropomorphic Shift and Suddenly Speaking.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In the original version of Ghost Stories, Shirotabi is just an ordinary rabbit before being brought back to life with dark magic. In the ADV Films English dub, he can speak and was even in a romantic relationship with his owner Mio.
- Gundam:
- Kidō Senshi Gundam-san: Some mobile suits from Mobile Suit Gundam are sentient. The Gundam, Big Zam, and Gyan are depicted as females.
- SD Gundam stories that have Super-Deformed versions of various mobile suits depicted as mechanical lifeforms or ridiculously human robots. The Mobile Suit SD Gundam series in particular has human characters from the early Universal Century interacting with sentient versions of the mobile suits they piloted in their original anime.
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2009): The story has this with Bellum. In the original game, Bellum was an animalistic, life-drinking squid demon that acted on instinct. In the manga, Bellum is fully self-aware and has lines of dialogue, even setting up a Xanatos Gambit on the fly.
- In Yes! Pretty Cure 5, Nightmare's employees can put on black Kowaina masks to transform into a more powerful form, but the process turns them into mindless beasts. When the Nightmare members Arachnea and Hadenya appear in Pretty Cure All-Stars DX 2 (a Crisis Crossover movie), they can still speak coherently even in their black mask forms.
Comic Books
- Absolute Universe:
- Absolute Wonder Woman features Scylla, who is portrayed as having a personality and being capable of speech, rather than being a mindless Eldritch Abomination as she's depicted in The Odyssey.
- Absolute Martian Manhunter reveals that Anti-Life, in this universe, is an actual sapient being, the White Martian, which by extension makes the Martian the Life Equation. Although Camp isn't the first writer to portray the concept like this, previous attempts to do in mainline continuity have all been declared Canon Discontinuity.
Fan Works
- Alicorn: Downplayed with Tank and Philomena. In the show they display Amplified Animal Aptitude, but ultimately nothing more than Rule of Funny. Here they are smart enough to play poker.
- Bestowal: In canon, Blackwhip is a quirk like any other, with the caveat that it grows stronger through anger and can get out of control. In this fic, it's actually one of the extremely rare companion quirks back in an era when they were completely unheard of. Blackwhip has its own emotions and opinions that it shares with the user, and it can decide to do tasks in a different way than what the user intends. It even expresses jealousy towards other quirks because it's attention-seeking.
- Coeur Al'Aran (RWBY):
- White Sheep: Whereas the Creatures of Grimm in RWBY canon are stated to be capable of limited intelligence but ultimately soulless machines of destruction, in this fic, that is actually part of a society-wide misconception — in truth, various Grimm are capable of complex social intelligence, feeling various emotions besides the urge to destroy, and forming emotional connections.
- Coeur's other fic Arc Royale implies that the above also applies to the Grimm in all his fics' universes.
- The Unseen Hunt: In this contextual reassignment AU, the Grimm's levels of sentience vary depending upon the individuals, from little above an insect brain through to being just as intelligent as humans and highly cunning.
- In Your Wildest Dreams: The Jabberwalker to a degree. In RWBY canon, it appeared to be semi-sentient, with a broken and limited speech pattern and limited characterization beyond being a beast designed to aggressively kill but also being capable of fear and self-preservation (unlike the Creatures of Grimm, whom it was implied to be the original template for). In this fic, the Jabberwalker is just as cognizant and capable of holding full conversations as any other Afteran or human is, even if its personality is still quite aggressive, cruel and borderline-simple.
- White Sheep: Whereas the Creatures of Grimm in RWBY canon are stated to be capable of limited intelligence but ultimately soulless machines of destruction, in this fic, that is actually part of a society-wide misconception — in truth, various Grimm are capable of complex social intelligence, feeling various emotions besides the urge to destroy, and forming emotional connections.
- Insomnia (Undertale): In canon, the Gaster Blasters are nothing more than Wave Motion Guns; just an overly fancy attack that only appears in one fight. Here, while they're still weapons, they openly emote, acting with curiosity or confusion in different situations. Papyrus' "Fiocchi" (yes, he named them) in particular acts exactly like an overly grumpy cat that loves ONLY Papyrus and nobody else.
- Story Shuffle (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic): "Rock On" shows what seemed to be inanimate stones are actually psychic and sapient, "The stone's voice was still confused, unsure whether it was one or three or many." And Oversaturated World: Group Precipitation gives it a name in "Fighting Homonormativity" with Stonesong.
Films — Live-Action
- The Marvel Cinematic Universe gave Doctor Strange's The Cloak of Levitation a cheeky personality, whereas in the comics, while it could respond to command, it wasn't a sentient being.
- Spider-Man 2: Doctor Octopus' signature four mechanical arms, which in most iterations are just that; mechanical apparatuses fused to his body. In this incarnation, however, the arms have a complex A.I. which makes them cunning and autonomous entities in their own right. Otto initially has total control over the arms, thanks to a failsafe which keeps the arms' A.I. from infecting his higher brain functions. After a Failsafe Failure in the same accident which fuses the arms to Otto's nervous system permanently, the arms waste no time in violently killing any threat (Primarily to themselves, but also their host, even when Otto's body is out cold), and then they lead Otto crime by telepathically persuading him that they need to complete the experiment he built and programmed the arms for, no matter the cost. The Sacred Timeline Peter is able to repair and improve the chip in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and ends up helping both him, his timeline's Peter and Peter -3 stop the other villains in the finale.
Literature
- Conan steels a sword from a skeleton while hiding out in a tomb in Conan the Barbarian (1982). The skeleton comes to life and fights him for it in the novelization as a nod to "The Thing in the Crypt" story that this scene came from.
- The Farmer and the Viper (Aesop's Fables): The viper is a regular viper, who only follows basic instincts and kills the farmer out of fear, despite the farmer only trying to help. But later versions give the viper the ability to talk, also making it more evil. Either to call out the farmer's carelessness about getting too close to a dangerous animal, or threaten his family.
- Land of Oz:
- In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Toto stays a non-sapient dog throughout the book. In The Wizard of the Emerald City, the first book of Tales of the Magic Land, he begins to talk immediately after arriving in the Magic Land, and the sequels establish that every animal and mechanical being becomes sapient while within the Land's borders.
- Subverted come the later Oz books. Dorothy wonders at the end of the third book, Ozma of Oz, why Toto never talked while other animals like Billina the chicken did. Toto then looks up and answers, partly You Never Asked and partly because Dorothy understood him well enough without having to bother talking. Toto remains a Dog of few words, rarely speaking up unless he has to.
Live-Action TV
- Power Rangers:
- Power Rangers Mystic Force: The first set of Monsters of the Week in Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the Hades Beasts, are nonsapient creatures who communicate through growling or screeching. Their counterparts in Mystic Force are able to talk normally.
- Power Rangers Dino Fury: The Sporix beasts are capable of speech, while their Minosaur counterparts from Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger were mindless beasts who had a One-Word Vocabulary at best.
Theatre
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas! depicts Max, who is depicted as an ordinary dog in the original book and its other adaptations, as a Talking Animal.
Video Games
- Fortnite:
- Billy was a non-sapient puppet primarily used by Jigsaw as a messenger in the Saw series itself, but in Fortnite Billy is a fully sentient playable character capable of directly fighting his opponents.
- Downplayed with Tom Lizard; he's already sapient in his native film, but he's still a regular lizard. Here, he's made into a tall biped to become playable in the world of Fortnite.
- Downplayed with Perry the Platypus, who was already plenty sapient in the original show (willingly invoking the Anthropomorphic Zig-Zag), but is incapable of speech. Thanks to being playable in Fortnite Festival, he's able to sing here.
- Rain World:
- In the base game, slugcats are depicted as somewhat intelligent animals able to use rubble as weapons, much like many real life animals using tools. The DLC Downpour, which started as a fan project, depicts them as significantly more intelligent, able to draw art, craft weapons, cook proper meals and even tell stories between themselves.
- The dating sim segment of the ??? secret campaign of said DLC knocks it up several notches. Not only is every slugcat now talking (though it could just be that we now understand them), but some enemies that were only depicted as dumb animals can also talk normally.
- Sonic the Hedgehog: The famous sword of Arthurian Legend, in the myths, is just a sword. In Sonic and the Black Knight, Caliburn is a sentient weapon.
Web Animation
- RWBY Chibi: While the Creatures of Grimm in RWBY are capable of reaching a certain level of self-awareness if they live long enough (the Nuckelavee for example kept Creepy Souvenirs from the villages it wiped out), they are for the most part little more than mindless beasts. Their Chibi counterparts on the other hand are smart enough for two bog standard Beowolves to hold a chat in plain English during a coffee break.
Webcomics
- MoringMark - TOH Comics: In The Owl House canon, Grometheus the Fearbringer is depicted exclusively as a shape-shifting monster that exploits other people's fears to try hurting them, but is never suggested to have a mind or personality of its own. Here, it's actually a centuries-old witch girl called Enna, who became cursed into becoming a monster after using an Archivist curse scroll on herself to protect her village, similar to the scroll which led to the Owl Beast being imprisoned inside Eda, and part of the storyline involving the next generation's characters is the curse being divided to restore Grom's humanity- uh, witch-anity.
Web Videos
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged: In the series' adaptation of Return of Cooler, the Cyclopian Guards are capable of communicating and having conversions with the other characters via beeps. In the original movie, they were just drones following their programming.
- Half-Life 2 but the AI is Self-Aware: Gordon's modified HEV suit, the Food Suit, seemingly has a mind of its own and is a Servile Snarker, unlike the original Half-Life 2.
- Real-Time Fandub:
- In the original Shadow the Hedgehog, Diablon is simply a Humongous Mecha piloted by the G.U.N. Commander and displays no signs of intelligence. In the Real Time Fandub version, Diablon, called Johnathan, isn't piloted and possesses an Artificial Intelligence, being capable of speaking on his own and having conversations.
- Black Bull mixes this with Adaptational Heroism, as rather than being a mindless beast under the control of Black Doom, here he was a charity worker whose good deeds earned him a place in heaven.
- The Unlucky Tug: In TUGS canon, Kraka-toa didn't have a face or dialogue. In the Gag Dub of "Munitions", he can talk, much to Zorran's surprise.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: Rebecca's teddy bear is possessed by a demon and speaks independently of Rebecca. In the original series, Rebecca's teddy bear is just a toy, with Rebecca herself speaking through it.
Western Animation
- The Amazing Maurice: Mr. Clicky in the books is only a non-sentient wind-up toy mouse the rats use to set off traps, but in the animated adaptation, he is depicted with a personality of his own and even refuses to set off one trap and runs away instead. It's implied the same magic dump that granted the rats intelligence also made Mr. Clicky sentient.
- Krypto the Superdog: In the comics as well as most Batman media in general, Bud and Lou (the Joker and Harley Quinn's pet hyenas) as well as Isis (one of Catwoman's cats) are no more intelligent than ordinary animals. In this show, they are given an Amplified Animal Aptitude, being capable of thinking, planning, and using tools. This also crosses over with Adaptational Villainy, as rather than merely being ordinary animals who just so happen to be owned by criminals, here they are criminals in their own right.
- Strawberry Shortcake: In the 1980s series, Custard is just a regular cat, but in the 2003 era, Custard can talk (and she's quite snarky, too). She was reverted back to a regular cat in Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, along with being Demoted to Extra. In Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, Custard is given a heavy dose of Amplified Animal Aptitude, along with the other returning pets (Pupcake, Cheesecake, Parfait, and Frappe).
- Superbook (2011): Downplayed with Gizmo; in the original Superbook anime, Gizmo was originally a toy robot who only became an actual robot while inside of Superbook, and became an actual robot in the modern day in season two. In the 2011 cartoon, he's an actual robot from the beginning.