Genius Loci: Difference between revisions
→Western Animation
m (update links) |
|||
| (35 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
[[File:Egoimage.jpg|link=Marvel Universe|frame|Ego, the Living Planet]]
{{quote|''"Something about this place feels... alive."''
|'''Katara''', ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''}}
Some people are places. A Genius Loci is a location with a mind. A sentient planet, country, island, city, or street. Theoretically, there's no limit to size, as an entire galaxy or even alternate dimension can be considered a place. Obviously, this is more common in science fiction and fantasy, though [[Magical Realism|a certain amount of animism in otherwise realistic series]] isn't unknown, and it may be [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|only suggested]].▼
▲{{quote|''"Something about this place feels... alive."''|'''Katara''', ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''}}
▲Some people are places. A Genius Loci is a location with a mind. A sentient planet, country, island, city, or street. Obviously, this is more common in science fiction and fantasy, though [[Magical Realism|a certain amount of animism in otherwise realistic series]] isn't unknown, and it may be [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane|only suggested]].
Usually, the Genius Loci has [[Shapeshifting|some control over its own form]], and uses that control to communicate with the other characters. [[Mobile Maze|Alternately, it can]] [[Closed Circle|trap them]] in [[Alien Geometries]] and torment them with [[Living Memory|Living Memories]] for [[The Lost Woods|shoots]] and giggles. It can be a [[Hive Mind]] formed from the various organic life-forms that inhabit a place, a nonphysical being [[Demonic Possession|possessing the area itself]], a mythological spirit of a locale, or a computer system laced through the brick and stone. It can be helpful, neutral, or antagonistic.
The name comes from the [[Altum Videtur|Latin]]<ref>
Contrast with the non-tangible but often similar [[Sentient Cosmic Force]]. Compare [[Sapient Ship]], [[That's No Moon]], [[Anthropomorphic Personification]], [[The Lost Woods]], [[Fisher King]], [[Fisher Kingdom]], and [[Smart House]]. May overlap with [[Environmental Symbolism]] or [[Eldritch Location]].
The [[Other Wiki]] has a [[wikipedia:List of fictional living planets|list of living planets]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', Pandaemonium is both the name of the demon's home {{spoiler|which, in the manga, is apparently some sort of spaceship}} and the name of their [[Hive Queen]], who has at least some control over their world and may even be the entire brain of it herself. {{spoiler|Also in the manga, it's implied she serves not only as the ruler and mother of all demons, but some sort of [[Spaceship Girl|organic, on-board computer]] as well.}} As you can probably tell, it's unfortunately not the clearest-written part of the series' back story.
Line 24:
* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' gives us {{spoiler|the Scub Coral planet itself, a kind of [[Starfish Alien]] that communicates via [[Instrumentality]], but seeks another way through the Coralian title character.}}
* Nagi from ''[[Kannagi]]'' describes herself as one of these, since she spawned from a carving Jin made from the sacred tree that used to be outside his shrine.
* Heavily implied in ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', because of the story that Akio tells to Tomoya before Nagisa gives birth:{{spoiler|When Nagisa was near death, he prayed that she would be saved. It seemed that since then, Nagisa's health would be linked to the town's. Ushio also inherits this link in the world where Nagisa, Ushio, and Tomoya all die}}.
* The Shikima realm, at least in the newest ''[[La Blue Girl]]'' series, is very much this trope (it's described as "self-regulating"), and the parts of it are actually described corresponding to a body. The appendix is apparently a prison, the brain may just control the entire universe, and it has an anus. I will say it again, of course: it's a world * with an anus.* On the other hand, this self-regulating world that maybe controls the universe has also decided that it likes the local clan of demons with [[Naughty Tentacles]], so.
* In ''[[Angel Sanctuary]]'', after Lucifer rebelled against God {{spoiler|because ''God said so''}} and retreated to Shioul, he and his follower fallen angels found out that it was a barren wasteland, so Lucifer had to merge with the plane itself in order to support any possible life, thus making Hell a Genius Loci. {{spoiler|Except for the fact that Luci's soul was sealed into Alexiel's sword somewhere between that and Alexiel's own rebellion, so Hell isn't much sentient anymore.}}
Line 34:
* The nation-tans of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' might qualify.
* Laputa from ''[[Laputa: Castle in the Sky|Castle in The Sky]]''. The castle itself {{spoiler|responds to Laputian royalty who own the crystal and the garden / tree's roots keep the kids safe while Muska dies. Subtle example, but several character comment on it.}}
== Comic Books ==
Line 56 ⟶ 55:
** The DCU also had a ''sentient galaxy'' in some story that I can't seem to recall exactly. But it aligned a bunch of stars to give [[Superman]] a huge powerup. Also there were some smaller living (but not sentient) galaxies, artificially made by some uberpowerful race as bioweapons. Supes, again, kept one as a pet.
* From the [[Marvel Universe]], the first foe the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' fought in the [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books|Bronze Age]] [[Revival]] was Krakoa, the Living Island, whose indigious life had been [[Hive Mind|mutated into a single organism]] by a [[I Love Nuclear Power|nuclear test]]. Marvel also had the aptly-named Ego the Living Planet, who tangled with such persons as [[The Mighty Thor]] and [[Galactus]]. Another living planet known as Kathulos once appeared in a [[Doctor Strange]] story. [[Earthshattering Kaboom|He blew it up.]]
** There is also Ego's "sibling" Alter Ego (and its enemy) and Super Ego, a "bio-verse" created by [[Cosmic Entity| the Stranger]] that seemed to be an entire dimension onto itself.
** [[Deadpool]] once destroyed a
** Cloud, one-time member of [[The Defenders]], was a sentient nebula, an immense cloud of gas, with the ability to assume human form.
** Another living location is Spragg the Living
** In the ''Realm of Kings'' crossover, a fault in space opened the way to an alternate reality. In said reality it was revealed that {{spoiler|not only is the other universe sentient, it's an [[Eldritch Abomination]] that wants to consume ours.}}
* The ''[[2000 AD|Two Thousand AD]]'' series ''Ace Trucking Co.'' included a story about fast-breeding 'Bampots' attempting to colonise a living planet called Gordon.
Line 65:
* Htrae, the Bizarro-copy of Earth that was home to the Bizarros, was sentient simply because regular Earth ''wasn't''. (Though this was only so in ''[[Ambush Bug]]'', which isn't really in continuity.)
** ''All Star Superman'' certainly seems to indicate Htrae has some semblance of intelligent and/or sentience.
* In ''[[The Authority]]'' Jack Hawksmoor can talk to and command all cities, implying that they are ''all'' Genii Locorum, albeit fairly sedate ones who don't interfere in their own affairs very often. Apparently they all have wildly different personalities, and even genders, though these are somehow strangely
** And more recently, a bizarre borderline example: Gaia Rothstein, a century baby. Her astral form looks like the ten-year-old girl she really is, but her physical form is an island... which looks like a walking, talking, two-mile high version of the [[Swamp Thing]].
* In ''[[Zot]]'', a [[Time Travel|trip to the future]] results in the hero meeting a small girl in purple clothes who makes some enigmatic comments before vanishing. She is later said to be the living embodiment of the planet Sirius IV.
Line 77:
* Barbelith, in ''[[The Invisibles]]''. Barbelith is a planetary-type body that helps "initiate" agents of the Invisibles into the higher mysteries. Its true nature, though, is pretty damn mixed; Dane isn't sure, yet Barbelith answers, "You made me" (it? [[Aliens From Earth|they]]?) Whoa, more and more questions...[[Figure It Out Yourself|better]] luck asking [[Grant Morrison]], maybe?
* The ultimate goal of Krona in ''Trinity'' was to learn from the worldsoul, the sentient soul of the planet Earth itself.
* The ''[[Futurama]]'' and [[The Simpsons (animation)|''The Simpsons'']] crossover comic book has Nerdanus XII, guardian of the Geek-E galaxy. He looks like a giant nerd, whit mountainous acne and an asteroid belt for glasses.
== Fan Works ==
* [http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Spirit_of_the_Row "The Spirit of the Row"] was a ''[[City of Heroes]]'' player character explicitly described as the Genius Loci for the Kings Row neighborhood in the game. Several stories were written about him, including ''[http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Spirit_of_the_Row/Faces_of_the_City Faces of the City]'' (in which he met with the Genii Loci of other Paragon City neighborhoods), ''[http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Spirit_of_the_Row/By_the_Pricking_of_My_Thumbs By the Pricking of My Thumbs]'' and ''[http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Fatal_Harmonic/Letting_Go_Again Letting Go Again]''.
== Film ==
Line 89 ⟶ 92:
* Pandora in ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]''. At least partly.
* Tony Stark's mansion in ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' should count. It's controlled by JARVIS, a sophisticated AI that takes diction, helps manage Stark's projects, suggests new color schemes, and is an unflappable [[Deadpan Snarker]].
* The movie ''[[Osmosis Jones]]'' treats each human being as a
* As [[Samuel L. Jackson]] says in the film version of ''[[1408]]'', the room isn't haunted by any
* The titular ship in ''[[Event Horizon]]'' is strongly implied to be this. At one point a character refers to the ship as "she" with the heavy implication it was more than just the standard anthropomorphism of vessels. This was not [[Star Wars|Han Solo's "girl."]]
* Like the ''[[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]'' example above, the underground base from ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' qualify, since it's completely run by a highly intelligent AI named The Red Queen.
* The Hotel from ''[[The Shining]]'' which slowly drives Jack mad and torments Danny. Well it's at least one of the theories.
== Literature ==
Line 107 ⟶ 109:
*** Don't forget Saybrook's Planet from "Green Patches". Every single organism on the entire planet, from the lowest bacterium to the most advanced terrestrial animal is merely a part of a single, amalgamated mind. (Referred to in the story as "Organized life").
* In [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'':
** [[Word of God]] on the character of Tom Bombadil (aka Iarwain Ben-adar, Forn, Orald, the Eldest) is intentionally vague; but strongly implies that he is a kind of
** The main characters speak as if they sincerely believe that Mount Redhorn (aka Caradhras) is a ''genius loci''. However, the book never says whether so truly is the case.
*** [[The Film of the Book]] simplifies it: rather than the mountain being hostile, Saruman is the one causing the storms and avalanches that hinder the party. However, as [[Genius Bonus]], the spell that Saruman speaks in ''Quenya'' consists of him goading Caradhras to wake up and raise his wrath, while Gandalf's counterspell tries to put him back to sleep.
Line 121 ⟶ 123:
* In [[Harry Harrison]]'s ''Deathworld'' the hero finds himself on a planet whose flora and fauna are in constant full-on attack against the human miners/settlers. Everything is deadly, poisonous, powerful, stabby, etc. It turns out that the planet itself has a mind (is a mind?) and has been psionically directing the attacks.
* Frank Herbert's ''[[wikipedia:Whipping Star|Whipping Star]]'': The Calebans are living stars which interact with human beings through constructs called Beachballs.
* [[Stephen King]] liked to use this one. The Overlook hotel from ''[[The Shining]]'', the house on Dutch Hill from ''[[The Dark Tower]], Book 3: [[The Dark Tower/The Waste Lands|The Dark Tower]]'', and the eponymous hotel room from the short story ''[[1408|Fourteen Oh Eight]]'' are all
** The eponymous mansion from ''Rose Red''.
** The Dark Tower is the ultimate example.
** The eponymous villain of ''[[IT]]'' is often equated with Derry, the town It inhabits.
* In William King's ''[[Warhammer
* The eponymous planet from [[Stanislaw Lem]]'s ''[[Solaris]]''.
* In the [[Faction Paradox]] books, there's mention of the City of the Saved, a huge galaxy-sized colony in which every human being ever to exist lives again. And yes. [[Captain Obvious|It's sentient.]] Not so bad, and even quite nice... until you find its {{spoiler|"son" infested parts of its structure, transforming really nice places into industrial nightmares with specialized factories for the processing of human beings. }}
* The shellpeople of [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[The Ship Who...]]'' series are starships and cities that exhibit all the signs of a
** Another Anne McCaffrey series, the ''[[Petaybee]]'' series, features the titular sentient planet that communicates via echoes and lightshows in caves, and changing the climate/topography of the land when it's so inclined to benefit its inhabitants or drive off bad guys.
* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[The Dark Side of the Sun]]'', the First Sirian Bank is a sentient planet (naturally occurring) who happens to be the godfather of one of the main characters. There's also a sentient ocean and a living sun. They're looking for an intelligent gas cloud to round out the elements. Maybe they could get that one from ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''?
* The ''[[Discworld]]'' series:
**
*** Explicitly stated later-the Elf Queen gloats that marrying Verence, the king, will make her the queen, and then Lancre will have no choice but to accept her.
** The ''carnivorous'' shopping mall in ''[[
** Unseen University itself, which has a personality likened to that of [[Big Friendly Dog|a large, overenthusiastic shaggy dog]]. If it could get away with it, it'd roll over on its roof to have its foundations scratched.
** During the [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]] in ''[[A Hat Full
* In a more serious tone than Mount Sorrow above, the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] has the rogue planet [[New Jedi Order|Zonama Sekot]]. Zonama refers to the world itself, while Sekot refers to its [[Hive Mind|self-aware, Force-sensitive biosphere]]. It grows living matter around mechanical components to produce intelligent [[Living Ship
** The Galaxy of Fear series also includes [[Punny Name|D'vouran]] a planet {{spoiler|which is in fact a [[I'm a Humanitarian|carnivorous]] bioweapon.}}
* [[John Varley]]'s ''[[Gaea Trilogy|Titan]]'' bears the tagline: "The alien that is, itself, a world."
Line 143 ⟶ 146:
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos|Orphans of Chaos]]'', Bran the Blessed appears as a gigantic decapitated head. He describes what he has done to shelter the British islands, and demands an [[The Promise|oath]] not to harm them, under any condition, before he allows Amelia to perform magic on his islands.
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene|The Golden Age]]'', Rhadamanthus, a mansion's AI, appears regularly and advises Phaethon. Other mansions have their own AIs.
* The ''[[Sector General]]'' series includes a planet with living
* The [[Lost Woods]] around Ikos in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''Fox'' series.
* John DeChancie's ''Castle Perilous'' is a vastly powerful interdimensional demon torn from primal chaos, who happens to get [[And I Must Scream|trapped in the form]] of a city-sized castle. The whole "chaos" deal means it frequently changes its internal layout and contains portals to thousands of universes.
Line 149 ⟶ 152:
* In [[Madeleine L'Engle]]'s ''[[A Wind in the Door]]'', the protagonists visit one of Charles Wallace's mitochondria. This makes Charles himself, or possibly Yadah (the mitochondrion) the Genius Locus. By the way, mitochondria are so tiny that all animals have dozens of them in ''every single one'' of their living cells.
* The [[Deathstalker (novel)|Deathstalker]] series by Simon R. Green has the Red Brain: a giant, sentient forest, that may or may not be an entire planet. There is also another, ''literal'' living planet, and then at least one other world that was effectively a Genius Locus after a [[Grey Goo|Big Gray Goo]] scenario. The AIs of Shub may also count, being three sentient computers the size of a planet.
* There is a
* The Labyrinth in [[The Death Gate Cycle]].
* In one earlier book of the ''Bionicle'' series, two Toa end up trapped within a living room.
Line 161 ⟶ 164:
* In ''[[Animorphs]]'', the Taxxons are spawned from the Living Hive, which makes up most of a large mountain and several cave systems on the Taxxon home world.
* In Richard McKenna's ''Hunter Come Home'', the humans inflict such biological havoc, that the biomass becomes self aware in its own defense.
* Anne Rivers Siddons' [[The House Next Door]] is about the making of a
* The [[Tortall Universe]] has the Chamber of the Ordeal, a very small but very powerful one. Squires ready to become knights go in and are forced to live through their worst fears. ''Protector of the Small'' shows that it really does have a mind and will of its own.
* The house in the short story [http://www.short-story.me/horror-stories/224-a-hot-time-in-the-old-town.html "A Hot Time in the Old Town"] by Desmond Warzel becomes a
* In Ben Bova's ''Saturn'' it's revealed that {{spoiler|the rings of Saturn are a lifeform, although whether they're sentient or not is never explored}}
* In ''Angelmass'', it is revealed that the 'Angel' particles the titular miniature black hole emits are counterbalanced by the Angelmass itself becoming a demon, capable of propelling itself and destroying ships with bursts of [[Hand Wave|Hawking radiation]].
Line 181 ⟶ 184:
* The ''Shivers'' installment ''A Ghastly Shade of Green'' had a malevolent (when angered) swamp.
* In the ''[[Rivers of London]]'' series, there are many ''Genii Locorum'' across London (including for the rivers, as the title implies). Mama Thames prefers the West African term "Orisa".
* Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age books feature one of the [http://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/library-lions lions in front of the New York City Public Library] as a
* The French novel ''Planète Verte, Peur Bleue'' (approx. "Green Planet, Black Terror") has planet Isol 50, alias "That".
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', Freckles half-seriously describes Angel as this.
{{quote|''"There's nothing you could be but the Swamp Angel." ''}}
* As expected from a book taking sgnificant inspiration from ''The Haunting of Hill House'' (mentioned above), Alison Rumfitt's horror novel ''Tell Me I'm Worthless'' uses this trope. Albion is a sentient gothic house that specialises in [[Politically Incorrect Villain|mentally influencing people toward various forms of bigotry]].
▲== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Eureka]]'': Carter's smart house, S.A.R.A.H., is ''so'' smart it has opinions. And a Twitter account!
* The warehouse in ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' is sentient. To what degree is uncertain, but it is alive.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'':
** "[[Doctor Who/Recap/
** The TARDIS herself, which is technically a [[Sapient Ship]] containing its own [[Pocket Dimension]].
** {{spoiler|The House}} in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32/E04 The
* During his appearance on ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'', the 11th Doctor mentions leaving his companions Amy and Rory from ''[[Doctor Who]]'' on a honeymoon planet, "which isn't what you'd think - it's not a planet ''for'' a honeymoon, it's a planet ''on'' a honeymoon. It married an asteroid."
* ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'''s Castle Dran, a sentient castle/dragon tank-like ancient haunted house. That's just the ''exterior''.
Line 206 ⟶ 209:
* Destiny from ''[[Stargate Universe]]'', [[Mind Screw|maybe.]]
* ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'' had one episode where the local forest had a genius loci in the form of a child.
== Music ==
Line 214 ⟶ 216:
* "Man-House lives inside himself with thoughtful human brains" in [[They Might Be Giants (band)|Bee Of The Bird Of The Moth.]]
== Newspaper Comics ==▼
* Sally's school building in ''[[Peanuts]]''. Some strips show that this is not a unique occurance.▼
== Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends ==
* Many Native American religions/cultures are based on Animism, the belief that every object has a spirit.
* Ditto for the Japanese Shinto. The spirits of the mountains are especially significant.
Line 222 ⟶ 226:
* The mountains in Inca (Quechua) religion are like this.
* The [[Trope Namer]], of course, is ancient Roman religion.
* Many tools and artifacts. Ships and weapons famously. Also computers.
* Nations are often given allegorical representations and personalities.
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* Sally's school building in ''[[Peanuts]]''.
== [[Radio Drama]] / Audio Drama ==
* The [[Big Finish]] ''[[Doctor Who]]'' audio play ''The Chimes of Midnight''. "{{spoiler|Edward Grove is alive.}}"
== Tabletop Games ==
* At least a couple of sentient cities and complexes have cropped up in ''[[Warhammer
** The Machine God of the Adeptus Mechanicus' [[Single Biome Planet|Forge World]] of Mars is one of these. There is considerably in-universe speculation that it may, in fact, be the [[Cosmic Horror|C'Tan]] known as The Void Dragon.
*** As of ''Mechanicum'' {{spoiler|it's official that the Dragon is locked in a special prison on Mars.}}
Line 245:
** There's also lots of smaller gods, of things like individual mountains, cities, forests and such. Some PCs can reasonably expect to [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|beat them in a fight]].
** And the first real enemy in the quick start scenario is {{spoiler|a spirit of laziness and apathy that possesses an abandoned baseball stadium. And is actually capable of causing a [[Total Party Kill]].}}
** Also, in the original ''Mage'', there was a Merit-Flaw combination (Manifest Avatar/Phylactery) that could turn your soul into one of these. Meaning that you had to be standing in that place (and somehow make it obvious that it was important) to be able to cast, but it would act as a
* ''[[Dungeons
** Fossergrims and Oreads are to waterfalls and mountains (respectively) what Dryads are to trees. Dryads can't really be called an example of this trope, unless you consider a tree a place.
*** Unless it's a very, ''very'' big tree, like Stoutrunk, a ''huge'' treant in Bytopia (mentioned in the ''[[Planescape]]'' splat book ''Planes of Conflict''), who is so huge an inn (run by his human "business partner") has been built inside him. Stoutrunk has only one rule for patrons: no fire allowed.
** Also in the In the ''[[Planescape]]'' setting, one theory about the Lady of Pain's origins is that she is a living extension of [[City of Adventure| Sigil]] itself. If anything, Sigil has been around for hundreds of millennia, and nobody knows of a time when she ''hasn't'' had complete and absolute control over it.
** The monster called a Spirit of the Land is the spirit of a particular geographical area, such a valley, desert or river. They can transform in an elemental form to defend the terrain feature they're associated with.
** There's an actual creature called a Genius Loci. They form from places that are undisturbed for a long time. They're normally not intelligent, but can enslave a creature, which then gives them intelligence and the ability to speak. They're often, but not always malign. Oddly, it is classified as [[Blob Monster|an Ooze]], given its mutable form, though many fans would assume it's an Elemental.
** As of the 3rd Edition Dragonomicon, Dragons (usually good-aligned ones) can opt to become a genius loci as an alternative to death from old age, lichdom or any of the other ways a dragon can live past its already substantial years. The dragon's spirit enters the chosen terrain (which often takes on a draconic feature like a hill shaped like a resting dragon). These spots are popular places for dragons to lay eggs and raise young because of the protective influences of the area's spirit. Dragons can even commune with the location to seek advice from the dragon that inhabits it.
** A creature called a Zeitgeist is the spirit of an age. At the end of an old one, it picks a person whose character and ideals set the "tone" of the next age. Article for context: [http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drfe/20080225a\]{{Dead link}}
** Sometimes, entire planes of existence are alive. The demiplane known as Neth is an entire world of living tissue. It's curious and sends out Children of Neth to learn about the multiverse. The Chaotic Evil Abyss, home to Demons, is thought to be sentient to some degree. Each layer has a dim awareness which bonds with the Demon Lords that rule those layers.
** In the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting, a Phantasmagoria is a particularly powerful sinkhole of evil that has spontaneously become self-aware.
Line 259 ⟶ 261:
** Atropos, the undead afterbirth of a long forgotten god, takes the form of a sentient, [[Omnicidal Maniac]] [[That's No Moon|planetoid]].
** Nimicri is a floating trade city in the Chamada layer of Gehenna where all the citizens and the place itself secretly form a single organism with ambiguous intentions.
** The 92nd layer of the Abyss is a foul and disgusting place resembling [[Womb Level|the inside of an organic creature called Ulgurshek]]. Some people call it "the living layer" due to its apparent sentience. Only Lolth, the goddess of the drow, and some of her most powerful servants know the truth about it: It is very intelligent, and it's actually an ancient being, [[Time Abyss| older than the Abyss itself]], called a draedan. The Abyss literally grew around this creature at the beginning of time, trapping it here. It usually devours anything that enters it, but it has a bargain of sorts with Lolth, seeing as it borders the Demonweb: she searches for information about other members of its species, and in return, it shares the ancient and terrible secrets that its race was privy to.
** And in 4th edition, the Warlock spell "Vestige of Land's Soul"' allows the Warlock to wake up the spirit of the land around them and order it to kill one of their enemies.
** The land of Rashemen in Forgotten Realms is implied to be a living being.
** Module [[wikipedia:Master of the Desert Nomads|X4: ''Master of the Desert Nomads'']], for original [[Dungeons
** If a living planet or living star seems farfetched, ''[[Spelljammer]]'' had constellates, which are ''living constellations''. These colossal entities are (or were) [[Eldritch Abomination]]s imprisoned by the gods for unspecified crimes. Capable of crushing planets and uncomfortably common in all known Crystal Spheres, these beings ''are'' given gameplay statistics and it ''is'' possible to try to fight them. This may be a symptom of the massive scale that made Spelljammer so... problematic as a setting.
* In ''[[Shadowrun]]'' the fact that the earth has a presence on the astral plane is seen by some as evidence that the planet itself is alive.▼
** [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place| Bonecloud]], mentioned in ''Guide to the Astral Plane'', combines this Trope with [[The Worm That Walks]]. Supposedly, there used to be a Prime Material world named Terras whose population was decimated in a genocidal conflict called the War of Lies. An ancient lich named Koras animated ''every'' victim of this atrocity as zombies and skeletons. He was eventually opposed by three unnamed heroes who used powerful magic to banish him this entire army to the Astral, resulting in a mass of ''millions'' of undead about a quarter mile across. (Think Legion from the ''[[Castlevania]]'' games but much bigger.) Naturally, this is a very dangerous place, not just because of the mindless undead but because of many intelligent undead who reside there, like specters, vampires, and - maybe - Koras himself, and because of the strong aura of negative energy created by so many undead being in one place. Though, many adventurers risk exploring it anyway due to the many [[Portal Network|rare color pools]] it has.
** Shamans can also summon a ''Hearth Spirit'', literally the [[Genius Loci]] of wherever they happen to be: in a nightclub you might get a spiritual bouncer or barman (depending on the kind of nightclub you are in), for instance.▼
* ''[[Shadowrun]]''
▲**
▲** Shamans can also summon a ''Hearth Spirit'', literally the
** ''Shadowrun'' also has a phenomenon called "background count," in which the mana of a place can be warped by events that take place there. This doesn't exactly make the area alive, but it has an impact on anyone who visits.
* ''[[Rifts]]'' has quite a few. Millennium Trees are huge thousand-foot tall trees that form living cities, nurtured and protected by the Trees' own latent psychic field. And there's at least two living planets, one (Wormwood) is inhabited and in the middle of a demon invasion, and the other (Eylor) kept hidden by transdimensional slavers who have a monopoly on giant magical eyes [[Eye Scream|harvested from its surface]].
Line 275 ⟶ 281:
** In the same game, the Tzimisce can use their [[Body Horror|Vicissitude]] Domain to mold their ghouls together into living, breathing rooms for their homes.
*** This concept appears in the computer game adaptation, [[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]], when the player character enters the lair of a Tzimisce, complete with walls that {{spoiler|bleed when struck}}. It is easily the most atmospherically disturbing mission in the game.
* In ''[[Kult]]'', the cathedrals of Archon and Angel of Death are the true self of their owner.
* The ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' role-playing game takes place in Alpha Complex, a massive domed/underground city ruled by [[Big Brother Is Watching|Friend Computer]].
*
== Toys ==
*
== Video Games ==
Line 289 ⟶ 294:
** Also, if it will negativity impact Planet, be careful with your actions, since otherwise you will likely get Planet to spawn the Mind Word army from hell on you. Basically, building map improvements that create a ton of resources or mass use of Planet Busters will do it.
* In the ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' [[Expansion Pack]] ''Mask of the Betrayer'', one of the bosses is a Genius Loci who even uses the name.
** The Genius Loci, in fact, is a ''[[Dungeons
* ''[[Silent Hill]]'''s eponymous town, though debatable as it may simply be haunted.
** This may require some elaboration: The whole town of Silent Hill is alive with a mystical force that takes your nightmares and fears and brings them to life, whether in monster form or in the form of a location (like a building or something). If Silent Hill wants you, you will end up in the town, either by being called to it or having an unfortunate accident in or near the town and ending up stuck in that Hell-hole. Later in the series, the power of the town grows to consume its neighbor, Shepherd's Glen.
* In ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', one early quest involves helping a living street give birth. Another involves ''helping'' a haunted house. Oh, and a door that only opens when you aren't looking at it. And the Lady of Pain may be the Genius Loci of Sigil.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', two of the dungeons that Young Link must go through are the Great Deku Tree (a giant sapient tree that is the protector of the Kokiri Forest and its perpetually-childlike denizens) and [[Womb Level|Jabu-Jabu's Belly]] (the interior of a giant fish/whale that is the deity of the aquatic Zora race). In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages|Oracle of Ages]]'', Link must once again traverse the interior of Jabu-Jabu, except this time it's the god of a different group of Zoras, in the land of Labrynna.
** In both ''Oracle of Ages'' and ''Oracle of Seasons'', Link can enter the Maku Trees, which are also giant sapient guardian trees. However, there's only one room inside, and it only houses a character whose function is to transfer data between the two games, so the
** Arguably, the Moon from ''Majora's Mask''. Whilst it has a actual (rather intense-looking) face, it never moves it or shows any other signs of sentience. Like the rest of the game, it's all rather mysterious.
* In ''[[Klonoa]]: Moonlight Museum'', the eponymous museum is sentient. {{spoiler|It's also the [[Big Bad]] of the game, and plots to steal people's dreams to host as art exhibits.}}
* According to the flying future-dolphins, the ocean becomes this in the good future of Earth in ''[[Ecco the Dolphin]]: Tides of Time.''
* The [http://gillen.cream.org/thecradle.pdf Shalebridge Cradle] in ''[[Thief]] Deadly Shadows'' housed an asylum and an orphanage. {{spoiler|At the same time.}} Fueled by the sheer amount of brutal, institutional cruelty inflicted by the staff before a fire killed most of its inhabitants, It remembers things, likes to keep the things it remembers so it can play with them, and soon after you enter it...it remembers ''you''.
* ''[[
* In ''The 11th Hour'', the sequel to ''[[The 7th Guest]]'', the mansion has apparently become the physical incarnation of Stauf himself, eg. one scene in the backstory involves two girls being ''raped by the house'', and one of them producing an [[Enfant Terrible]] as a result.
* ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to a game called ''Narbacular Drop'', which is set inside a sentient dungeon named Wally.
** Since GLaDOS controls much of the testing facility (possibly all, [[Alternate Character Interpretation|depending on your thoughts on her motives]]), she also functions as one.
** In the Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC for ''[[Portal 2]]'', one iteration of Cave Johnson is in fact the entire planet.
* The city of Leá Monde in ''[[Vagrant Story]]''. Every cobblestone, every wall in the city is inscribed with ancient Kildean runes, turning it into the Gran
* Carnate Island and Baltimore in ''[[The Suffering]],'' according to many theorists throughout the two games- human or otherwise.
** It's implied that ''any'' place that has enough evil in its past can become this sort of malevolent Genius Loci, and begin spawning Malefactors representing the sins that brought it to this state. It's further implied [[Paranoia Fuel|that]] '''[[Paranoia Fuel|everywhere]]''' [[Paranoia Fuel|actually has enough evil for this -- you just have to look to discover it.]]
Line 310 ⟶ 315:
* One of ''[[Demigod]]'''s Heroes is a walking castle.
* In ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3'', Phazon is implied at numerous points to be a sentient lifeform; in the first two games, it was assumed to be just a material. Phaaze, the planet that is the source of all the Phazon, is not only living, it spreads Phazon to other planets by ''giving birth''. (Some [[Epileptic Trees]] differ, but the point is that Phazon is living and Phaaze is made of Phazon, ergo Phaaze is living.)
* ''[[Albion]]'' has Argim, a former Iskai. During one of his experiments to find the secret of true immortality, Argim lost his body, and his consciousness entered the living plants that [[
* Gaia in ''[[Tsukihime]]''. All the other planets are essentially alive as well, though nothing happens there. In [[Fate/stay night]] this is expanded on to include Akasha, which exists alongside Gaia in some form or another. People have tied their existences to such things and made themselves nearly indestructible.
* ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' features an interesting variation with New Mombasa, a city run by an artificial intelligence called the Superintendent, or "Virgil." Its influence is limited during the game itself, during which it sends you a map of the city through a videophone, unlocks supply caches marked with its "face," and sends audio files that tell the story of a girl trying to rescue her father, who works with the Superintendent; in the audio files, the Superintendent's full ability, ranging from controlling garbage trucks to stoplights, is shown.
Line 328 ⟶ 333:
* In ''[[Metro 2033 (video game)|Metro 2033]]'', Artyom (the [[Player Character]]) and his then-companion Bourbon are forced to detour into a small room, at which point the mutants pursuing them stop following. It turns out the room is full of the corpses of other explorers, and as Bourbon attempts to pry open a grille door, he starts hallucinating that something is singing to him. As his hallucination gets worse and worse, you start seeing the room as a tall and narrow passageway, with one end increasingly shrouded in an ominous red and black atmosphere. Fortunately, you and your companion manage to escape before sharing the same fate as many of the others in that room.
* In [[Fallout 3]], which takes place in the ruins of Washington D.C 200 years after a nuclear war, the landscape is very desolate and befitting of the title of '''Capital Wasteland.''' The one exception is in a forest area called Oasis which earns its name with healthy plants and trees all over the place and pristine lake water. The source of this forest comes from an old character from Fallout 1 and 2 named Harold who last time we saw him had a mutant tree growing out of his head, apparently ''Bob'' as Harold named it mutated to the point that it enveloped Harold's entire body. Harold is now [[Body Horror|a living tree]] [[And I Must Scream|who has been rooted to the ground for 30 years]] and in the intervening period ''Bob'' (Harold treats the tree that has consumed his body as his friend and as a sentient being, either that or he treats the tree as a friend so he doesn't go insane from boredom) has been producing spores that have planted seeds all over the area which has sprouted the forest you now see. Even more amazing is that Harold claims that his mind is linked up to the entire forest, if he tries real hard he swears that his eyes can see through every leaf of every tree. The player has the option to apply medicine that could accelerate Harold's growth and in time his forest could envelop the entire United States making the entire continent a part of his living body.
* ''[[Guild Wars 2]]'' has the Pale Tree, a tree grown out of a magical seed of mysterious origin and tended by Ventari, a peace-loving centaur philosopher who left a tablet summarizing his peaceful moral and ethics at its roots before his death. The tree grew massive over 250 years, developed a mind of her own and gave birth to [[Plant People|the Sylvari race]]. She holds their main city, The Grove, into her trunk, branches and roots, can speak through an avatar in the shape of a pale Sylvari lady and teaches all Sylvari the wisdom Ventari left behind - although some of them end up rejecting it.
* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', [[Pinocchio (Disney film)| Monstro]] is so huge, he's considered one of the Worlds.
== Web Comics ==
Line 337 ⟶ 343:
* In ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'', a minor recurring character is a sentient tree. Fenton turns the tree (who assumes a maternal relationship to him) into a house, and Harelink later uses some spare space to set up their modem pool.
* ''[[Gene Catlow]]'' has ethereal entities tied to many locations. The most familiar is the Friendship Island Entity, who opposes a group of others known collectively as The Host.
* A [https://web.archive.org/web/20090105045522/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=4&issue=6 guest comic] for ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' applied this to ''Myspace'', of all things.
* Castle Heterodyne in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' was originally a single, artificially-intelligent
** A kitchen built specifically for a cook that went up the pole and started poisoning everything he cooked (but amused the Heterodynes) that may or may not recognize Agatha;
** In the crypt is the Throne of Faustus Heterodyne, by which the seneschal of Mechanicsburg can communicate directly with Castle Heterodyne (the central brain itself is in the library), that considers Agatha a ''possible'' heir; and
Line 345 ⟶ 351:
*** ''Of course'' it's kill-happy. It was given its mind by old Faustus Heterdyne, who was apparently one of the ''[[Mad Scientist|madder]]'' Heterodynes, which is like saying that a particular inmate is one of the crazier people in the asylum.
* In ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]'' its been suggested that the Temple of Fiends may be one of these (says Drizz'l, "Frankly, we'll be lucky if the architecture is '''only''' sentient. It could also be filled with rage. Or crazy").
** Also, played with in Black Mage. Nexus points are locations along the faultlines of reality which contain great raw energy and destructive force, but Black Mage is in the rather unique position of being the manifestation of a nexus point, so he's actually more like a
* In ''[[Earthsong]]'' all of the planets have spirits, and can sometimes manifest in humanoid, ghostly forms. Many of the planets are said to be "asleep" and rarely venture in their spirit form, but the eponymous planet is an active part of the story.
* The [[Scary Librarian]] at the [[Wizarding School]] (but for [[Horny Devils|Cubi]]) in [[Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures|DMFA]] is bound body, mind and soul to the Library.
Line 358 ⟶ 364:
* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', Skaia is pretty much the closest thing to God, due to being a benevolent omniscient force that {{spoiler|perpetuates the creation of new universes and shapes the players of any given session to become heroes}}. It however doesn't seem to be sentient in the traditional sense and isn't anywhere near omnipotent.
* ''[[Vexxarr]]'' has [http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=082806 the mother rock].
== Web Original ==
Line 373 ⟶ 378:
** In asdfmovie5, a couple on a romantic getaway comment that it's "just you, me, and the Moon". The Moon comments that they should kiss.
* The Empty City is a sentient city that is also a [[Mobile Maze]] and a [[Living Labyrinth]] - representing the fear of being lost, if you get trapped inside it, you be will wander its streets until you die - in [[The Fear Mythos]].
* Being somewhat of a location that other people can enter, the Book from [[The Book of Stories
* Several [[SCP Foundation|SCPs]] are buildings or particular locations that seem to have some degree of sentience.
== Western Animation ==
* The moon in [[Ruby Gloom]]
* In [[The Amazing World of Gumball]]: The Sun, Earth's moon, and the planets all count. In the episode The World, pretty much [[Everything Talks]], so there might be more examples in that episode.
* [[Megas XLR]]: Coop once fought a gargantuan organic planet that ate radio waves.
* The Foggy Swamp in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', location of [[The World Tree]]. The Avatar themself is the human form of the World Spirit, which explains their connection with all four lands; [[All There in the Manual|this is not actually said in the show, but it is implied]].
*
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':
** The first "Treehouse of Horror" episode
** A later Treehouse of Horror had them install an AI with [[Pierce Brosnan]]'s voice into their regular house, who [[Mars Needs Women|desires Marge's bod]].
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Godfellas", Bender encounters what appears to be a sentient ''galaxy'', which initially speaks in binary and may or may not be God.
** Bender himself is a sentient location earlier in the episode when he is colonized by aliens.
Line 388 ⟶ 396:
* His Elevated Eminence in the ''[[My Little Pony]]'' episode, "Crunch the Rockdog".
* The Cave of Wonders in ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.
* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", the eponymous department store that invades the town is a combination of [[The Heartless]] and
** The episode "Lice Capades" tells the story of a group of, yes, ''lice'' living on the scalp of one of the boys. The story becomes a parody of natural disaster movies ("The planet is trying to tell us something!") when the kid starts using delousing shampoo.
* As listed under [[Comic Books]], the ''[[Transformers]]'' animated canon has several examples, most notably Metroplex, Trypticon, Unicron, and Primus, although in the cases of the first two, they are sometimes considered just smaller sections of larger cities.
** In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', {{spoiler|the Autobots' ship is actually the ancient Autobot warrior Omega Supreme.}}
** Torkulon, the planet where Cyclonus tried to get Galvatron's insanity cured in the original series, was enough of a
** On a much smaller scale, could [[Cool Ship|Tidal]] [[Transformers Armada|Wave]] qualify? After all, he does dwarf every single Transformer, due to him being a giant frigging battleship.
*** He does in the game, where {{spoiler|you don't know you're fighting inside him until [[The Reveal]]}}.
Line 404 ⟶ 412:
* In the ''[[Green Lantern]]'' animated movie ''[[Green Lantern: Emerald Knights|Green Lantern Emerald Knights]]'', one of the five stories that Hal Jordan tells to his new recruit is the tale of Bofunga the Unrelenting and the day he finally.... er.... '''relented'''. He was on a quest to become the mightiest warrior in the galaxy, and the only being left in the cosmos that he had yet to vanquish was a mysterious being known as "Mogo". This being was allegedly not only exponentially more powerful than Bofunga, but was also a Green Lantern to boot. Bofunga traveled to Mogo's last known coordinates and attempted to challenge him, but even after months of searching his quarry was nowhere to be found. Refusing to give up, Bofunga began setting explosive charges all around the planet in an attempt to force Mogo out of his hiding place and goad him into a duel, {{spoiler|but after detonating all of the charges and doing NO DAMAGE WHATSOEVER, he realized--too late--that "Mogo" was THE PLANET ITSELF... '''[[Oh Crap|and he had just made it VERY angry.]]''' The ensuing "battle" ended with predictable swiftness, as Mogo crushed his antagonist with a well-placed gravity well.}}
** In the original comics, Bofunga fled after spending years searching for Mogo {{spoiler|when he looked at the map he had made while exploring the planet and realized that the foliage on Mogo formed a ''Green Lantern symbol''.}}
* In the original ''[[ThunderCats (1985 series)|ThunderCats]]'', the Hills of Elfshima are a rocky mountain range near Mumm-Rah's pyramid which, from a distance, resembles a reclining giant. Because that's what it is; the word "Elfshima" being an anagram for "I Am Flesh". Specifically it is an evil giant who was turned to stone by the legendary Mask of Gorgon, which Mumm-Rah intends to use to restore it to life.
* Snake Mountain is this in the 2000 version of ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''. Long before Skeletor and his minions moved in, it was the palace of King Hsss, leader of the Snake Men, and was, in fact, the dormant body of [[Bigger Bad| Serpos]], the deity he worshipped. Serpos was [[Only Mostly Dead]] and returns to life to become the main antagonist of the [[Series Finale]].
== Real Life ==
Line 417 ⟶ 426:
* Combining certain elements of the Gaia theory, Jung's belief in the collective unconscious, and [[The Singularity]] leads to this trope as the logical extreme. The internet itself could be viewed as a tangible form of Jung's collective unconscious, or even a full-on [[Hive Mind]]. And since most people in the developed world are expected to have access to the internet, certainly at home, if not on them at all times in the form of a smart phone, [[The Singularity|the point]] may well come very soon when nearly ''all'' human beings have constant access to this shared mind, making the human race the "brain" for a global superorganism consisting of all life on the planet.
* The [[Anthropomorphic Personification|national spirits]] of countries (Britannia and John Bull for Britain, Marianne for France, Columbia and Uncle Sam for the United States, etc) can be regarded as this.
* Systems theory, without directly positing this, makes little distinction between sufficiently complex metasystems in terms of sentience, whether those be biological, architectural, sociopolitical, or ecological; there's support to be found for
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]
[[Category:Native American Mythology]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Settings]]
[[Category:Trope Names
[[Category:Otherworld Tropes]]
[[Category:This Index Has a Mind of Its Own]]
Line 430 ⟶ 440:
[[Category:Alien Tropes]]
[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
▲[[Category:Genius Loci]]
| |||