Fisher King: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Verence I''': Remember, good sisters, the land and the king are one.
'''Nanny Ogg''': One what?
|'''[[Terry Pratchett]]''', ''[[Discworld|Wyrd Sisters]]''}}
A house [[Environmental Symbolism|says a lot]] about the people living in it: their social and economic status, their religion and culture, their ''cleanliness''. The same can be said about a king and his kingdom. You're unlikely to find [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Moloch the Despoiler]] ruling [[Ghibli Hills|Hippity Hoppity Happy Hare Hill]], and a place like [[Mordor|the Firepits of Wrath]] is most certainly ''not'' going to be ruled by the iron-fisted Tooth Fairy (unless, of course, he's ''that'' Tooth Fairy)... though the Orcs would have had much better dental hygiene.
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May require a king of [[Royal Blood|the right family]]. Of course, in those works, the rightful king tends to be the good king.
The [[Trope Namer]] is the guardian of the Holy Grail in some versions of the [[King Arthur|Arthurian legends]]. He is wounded in the leg or thigh, which is a medieval euphemism [[Groin Attack|for the genitals]], and unable to fulfill the duties of a ruler. (Primary of which is continuance of the royal line.) So he takes up fishing, while his lands rot. To cure the king and his realm and win the Grail, [[The Chosen One]] (usually Perceval or Galahad) must ask him a specific question, which varies between accounts: usually either something about the Grail or asking the king what ails him, or [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow]].
Contrast [[Friend to All Living Things]] and [[Enemy to All Living Things]], where their mere existence causes the changes (on a small scale).
Subtrope of [[Royalty Super Power]]. See also [[No Ontological Inertia]], [[Terminally Dependent Society]] and [[Genius Loci]]. If the place has this effect on its inhabitants, it's a [[Fisher Kingdom]]. If you are looking for the film of the same name, hop on over to ''[[The Fisher King]]''. Oh, and this has nothing to do with ''that'' [[Bleach|Fisher]], or the [[Star Wars|Fisher Princess]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]],'' the land of Cephiro is directly connected to how devoted its ruler, the Pillar, is to it. One of the major conflicts in the series occurs when the heroines ask whether or not this is right,
* Each country in ''[[The Twelve Kingdoms]]'' is governed by an immortal ruler chosen by a holy creature called a ''kirin''. If the ruler rules his or her kingdom effectively and with benevolence, the land prospers. If the ruler grows corrupt, the land is beset by [[The Plague|plagues]] and natural disasters. Also, the kirin sickens and dies, which, in turn, causes the ''ruler'' to sicken and die. If the ruler reforms before the death of the kirin, both can become well again - although such a thing has yet to happen in the recorded history of that world. There have, however, been instances of rulers committing suicide upon recognizing the illness of their kirin, which let them get better and be able to choose a new king - like {{spoiler|Queen Joukaku of Kei, who did that to save her land and her kirin Keiki; and king Shishou of Sai, whose death saved his kirin Sairin and let her choose his adoptive mother Chuukin as Queen.}}.
* The films of [[Hayao Miyazaki]] tend to be full of this, with "good" represented by [[Green Aesop|"natural"]].
** In ''[[Laputa: Castle in the Sky|Castle in
** In ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'', after the {{spoiler|death of the Shishigami and Lady Eboshi turning over a new leaf,}} Irontown's exterior becomes covered with greenness.
** Commentary about ''[[
** In ''[[Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea]]'', Ponyo's half-way status causes enormous floods and draws the [[Weird Moon|moon]] close to earth.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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'''Laura:''' "Lots of people get sad when it rains."
'''Agent K:''' "It rains ''because'' you're sad." }}
* In ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'', the captain of the Flying Dutchman has this effect on the ship. A good captain has a nice ship, while a corrupt one (Davy Jones) makes the ship [[A Worldwide Punomenon|a little fishy]]. Thus, when {{spoiler|Will Turner}} becomes the captain, the ship's appearance improves and the sailors are no longer human-fish hybrids. In fact, you can see the fishy bits falling off of his crew when he takes over. {{spoiler|Will's father}} even takes the starfish off his face on camera.
* [[David Lynch|David Lynch's]] [[Film of the Book]] ''[[Dune]]'' ends with Paul Atreides taking up his rightful place as the Kwisatz Haderach, at which point Arrakis, a planet defined by its absurd dearth of water, is consumed by a torrential downpour of rain. Subtle. In the book, it took years of [[terraform]]ing.<ref>From what we know, rain would also kill the sandworms, to whom water is toxic. The consequences of the deluge to vital spice production are not covered in the movie: the rain is presented as a Good Thing.</ref>
* In [[Jim Henson|Jim Henson's]] ''[[The Dark Crystal]]'', the area around the crystal castle is barren and gloomy while the Skeksis are in power. Once the Ancients return and hand it over to the Gelflings, cue sunshine and green grass everywhere.
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* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm|Up Jim River]]'', the emperor of Morning Dew hates his position because all his subjects believe this trope, and therefore he's to blame for anything that goes wrong.
* ''[[Labyrinths of Echo]]'' has not-quite-real worlds, including ones accidentally born out of dreams, working like this and usually dying with their creator—unless or until they acquire full independent reality. The latter, at least according to one ancient being, is the whole purpose of [[Reality Warper|Arbiters]]' existence, not that they aren't apt to accidentally create such near-realities themselves.
** The last dynasty set up an enormously overcomplicated system of Court rules, ceremonies and public rituals. It can be tough to serve in the Court, [[The Chains of Commanding|but the King gets the worst of it]]. Gurig VIII (the current King) rearranged what little freedom he had in his life and even himself (using breath exercises) to this end, then began to push against the traditional palace rules little by little - both for the sake of his (and his hypothetical heirs') sanity and out of duty, since he came up with a private theory that the general state of affair correlates with the King's happiness. Because the real troubles started only under his ancestors, eventually escalating to a civil war of everyone against everyone and near destruction of the world - even though their rule is considered generally more sensible that of their predecessors, some of whom barely paid attention to their job, yet kept the kingdom prosperous.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Video Game/Cythera|Cythera]]'', an old game by [https://web.archive.org/web/20120415025210/http://www.ambrosiasw.com/ Ambrosia Software], had Alaric the Landking.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]'' featured The Dark World, a magical dimension which had become dark and corrupt when it fell under Ganon's rule. (Said land also had the ability to turn anyone who ventured ''into it'' into an animal or monster supposedly reflecting their "true nature" - a bully becomes a fanged and horned demon, and an indecisive kid becomes a bouncy pink immobile ball - Link becomes a pink anthropomorphic rabbit for some reason). In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', Zelda's castle and city become corrupted once Ganon takes control of them.n
* [[Justified Trope]] in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]''; when the evil Zant takes over Hyrule, the land becomes cloaked in perpetual twilight, because he's actually using dark magic to bring the [[Another Dimension|Twilight Realm]] to this plane. Things look pretty bad there, too, what with the sky darker than ever and the inhabitants all gone or {{spoiler|turned into the Shadow Beasts you repeatedly fight}}. Normally, it's actually pretty nice, under its rightful ruler, {{spoiler|Midna,}} the titular Twilight Princess.
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* In ''[[God of War (series)|God Of War III]]'', killing gods changes the world for the worse: Kill Poseidon, and the seas flood the coasts. Kill Hades, and the souls of the dead escape from Tartarus. Kill Helios, and the sun is shrouded by the clouds. Kill Hermes, and swarms of insects are released. Kill Hera, and all plantlife dies. Kill Zeus, and the constant lightning storms begin.
* In the second ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' set, the mental state of the god of time, Dialga, is reflected by the physical state of Temporal Tower, his hidden abode.
* Uzume Tennouboshi from [[Megadimension Neptunia VII]] is a variant version of this, and while she doesn't have direct control over her power (nor is she aware of it), she can cause the world around her to change in mild to moderate ways based on her whims, with the last word being operative, as being conscious of this fact would prevent it from being effective. {{spoiler|Which isn't quite true, but keeping her ignorant of this does serve as a [[Restraining Bolt]] against the possibility said power could be used for evil, as her [[Enemy Without]] Kurome Ankokuboshi has the same power, just horribly twisted for doing evil}}.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Last Res0rt]]'', [http://www.lastres0rt.com/2010/12/why-talking-is-still-a-free-action/ Whimsy] is apparently caused by a [[Reality Warping]] Fisher King of sorts—and treated [[Oh Crap|accordingly]].
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [
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