Wild Seed is a science fiction novel written by Octavia Butler in 1980. It is sequentially the first book in a sequence of “Patternist” books written by the same author, though it was the fourth book published in that series. These include Mind of My Mind (1978), Clay’s Ark (1984), Survivor (1977), and Patternmaster (1976). Wild Seed takes place over different centuries and continents, beginning in Africa in 1690 and ending in America just before the beginning of the Civil War. It features two main protagonists, Anyanwu and Doro, who share unnaturally long lives and a propensity for godlike superpowers. The action of the book deals with the ways in which the two interact with others of their own kind. The action foregrounds issues of race, culture, identity, and power.

Plot Summary

In 1690, after searching for miles, Doro discovers Anyanwu. Both soon reveal themselves to each other as people with godlike abilities. Anyanwu is over 300 years old. She can change her form, mimicking the appearance of other people and the form and characteristics of animals. She is also incredibly strong and a noted healer among her people. Doro is far older and reluctantly admits that he has the power to kill people and take control of their bodies. Such a power both seduces and entraps Anyanwu, who follows him east, leaving her people behind.

On their travels, they meet slavers of both African and European ancestry. Anyanwu discovers that Doro has business with and dominion over every powerful slaver they meet. At one point he demonstrates the quickness and devastation of his power, killing a young boy and the arrogant son of a slaver he once knew within seconds. Soon they reach a coastal market where slaves are processed and branded. The slaver here knows Doro and is amenable to him. Anyanwu recognizes one of her own kinsmen and frees him.

During the Atlantic crossing, Anyanwu meets Doro’s white sons, Isaac and Lale. Isaac has incredible telekinetic abilities, at one point rushing the boat past a squall using the power of his mind. Lale has the ability to enter people’s minds and control their thoughts, which he uses on Anyanwu. In retaliation, she become a leopard and kills him. His family hardly grieves the loss. Later, Anyanwu discovers the pleasure of turning into a dolphin and swimming, and Doro discovers that he cannot “sense” her when she is an animal. Thus, he understands what she does not; that she is a potential danger to him.

They reach the city of Wheatly, New York, one of many villages Doro has established to “breed” people of extraordinary ability. His relationship to them is sometimes that of a stern father and other times that of a farmer fattening and breeding animals for slaughter. He often takes the lives of his villagers. To Anyanwu’s dismay, Doro commands her to marry Isaac.

Anyanwu and Isaac live in mutual respect as husband and wife for many years. Through the years, to Anyanwu’s disgust, Doro continues to couple them with other people in the village. Doro returns one day in 1741 to witness the transition into superpower of Anyanwu’s adolescent daughter Nweke, who was born of an enforced coupling with a powerful but disturbed man named Thomas 18 years earlier. The night before her transition, Doro sleeps with her. Nweke dies in her transition, attacking Anyanwu and Isaac with powerful psychic abilities, taking Isaac with her. Isaac urges Anyanwu to make peace with Doro in his dying breath. Instead, Anyanwu becomes a bird and flies away.

One hundred years later, Doro arrives in Louisiana seeking Anyanwu. Anyanwu watches over the parish, sometimes as a great black wolf, other times as a white man, and at other times as herself. Doro intends to kill Anyanwu but is instead fascinated by the town, which mirrors his own breeding programs except that they are humanely run. There, he meets some of Anyanwu’s offspring, including Stephen, who has the power to heal himself at an extraordinary rate, and 11-year-old Helen. Doro reestablishes command over Anyanwu, while acknowledging her partial freedom to run the town. He only asks to send along breeding partners. The first of these is a murderous mind-controller named Joseph, who kills Stephen and attempts to kill Helen before Anyanwu kills him. Doro continues to send people to Anyanwu’s village with less drama ensuing.

After years pass, Doro and Anyanwu come to an impasse. Anyanwu loses a friend to old age, and Doro comforts her. They become lovers for a while, recognizing the near-immortal bond between them. When Doro kills again, however, Anyanwu threatens to take her own life. Terrified of losing her, Doro grants her freedom.