Genius Loci: Difference between revisions

[[File:Egoimage.jpg|link=Marvel Universe|frame|Ego, the Living Planet]]

 

 

 

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.

 

 

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]].

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Tower of God]]'' the eponymous tower "chooses" those who may enter and climb it. Recent events indicate that the Tower is not satisfied with how things are going inside.

* ''[[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.}}

* In ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'', Primus' vehicle mode is Cybertron itself, and he actually transforms towards the end of the series. This makes for a really awesome [[Merchandise-Driven|toy]], complete with various canonical cities located on his body. According to [[All There in the Manual|the manual]], this applies to every Cybertron in every [[Transformers]] medium across the multiverse; he doesn't wake up much to avoid squishing inhabitants and such.

** Also, one forest and one city have turned out to be [[Turtle Island|giant turtle]] Digimon. (They're not the same turtle, either.)

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[The DCU]] has several examples:

*** Note that Ego preceded Mogo by several years; Mogo in fact may be a nonevil Ego [[Captain Ersatz]].

** Danny The Street (a pun on Danny LaRue), a sentient, transvestite boulevard (think gunshops and hardware stores with pink curtains and pastel-blue awnings) who moves around the world and acted as the [[Doom Patrol]]'s headquarters for a time. He eventually grew up into Danny The World before being torn down by cosmic repo men. Now he's slowly regrowing from Danny the Bungalow.

*** For a time, he was Danny the Brick.

** The 2005 ''[[The Question]]'' miniseries had him talking to "the spirit of Metropolis", who would answer with seemingly-coincidental snatches of conversation from the people in the street.

** The Endless themselves are this. Dream of the Endless lives in the Dreaming, but he also IS the Dreaming.

** Aquarius, a rogue living star responsible for the death of [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] Black Canary's husband.

** Cloud, one-time member of [[The Defenders]], was a sentient nebula, an immense cloud of gas, with the ability to assume human form.

** 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.}}

* ''[[Books of Magic]]'' includes a dirty, cynical, slobbish character who is the spirit of London. Tim Hunter tells him, "[[Take That|I don't think I like you.]]" The spirit replies, " 'Course you don't like me. Nobody ''likes'' me, but plenty are fascinated by me."

* Mount Sorrow, a sentient, talking mountain from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] whose [[Swiss Army Tears|tears had healing properties]]. [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mount_Sorrow This is not a joke].

* 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.

** 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]].

* ''[[ABC Warriors]]'' has Medusa, the consciousness of the planet [[Mars]].

* The original ''[[Transformers]]'' comic had Omega Supreme, who transformed into a rocket base with its own death tank.

* The Galactus-infused zombies from [[Marvel Zombies]] EAT one of them.

* 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?

 

== Film ==

* In some stories featuring a [[Haunted House]], the house itself will display attributes of a Genius Loci. One of the classic examples is in [[The Film of the Book]] of Shirley Jackson's ''The Haunting of Hill House''. The 2006 CGI movie ''[[Monster House]]'' is a more recent example.

* ''[[Hausu]]'', an incredibly bizarre Japanese horror film (by Toho, no less!!!) is about a sentient man-eating house.

* ''[[Rose Red]]'', a miniseries based on a screenplay by Stephen King and aired on ABC, features a house which is both alive and completely insane. It is implied in the miniseries that all locations are alive in some way, but that the eponymous mansion is the architectural equivalent of a [[Serial Killer]].

** So of course, knowing this, a bunch of paranormal investigators decide to [[Too Dumb to Live|poke it with a stick]].

* 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."]]

* The Hotel from ''[[The Shining]]'' which slowly drives Jack mad and torments Danny. Well it's at least one of the theories.

 

== Literature ==

* Hill House, from Shirley Jackson's ''The Haunting of Hill House''. "Hill House itself, not sane, stood alone against its hills, holding darkness within."

* Ray Bradbury's short story [[Here There Be Tygers]] has an entire planet as one of these. The planet is very friendly and wants to do anything to please the astronauts who landed there, from creating fish that cook themselves to perfect weather up to attractive female companions. When several of the astronauts leave, one decides to stay behind. Despite the planet appearing unfriendly with volcanoes appearing on it, the astronauts know the one who remained will be spoiled rotten by the planet. The astronauts decide to list the planet as unfriendly since it would be to those who would exploit it (rather than appreciate its gifts).

* In [[Star Maker]] by Olaf Stapledon, stars turn out to be living organisms of a sort, as do the nebulae which preceded them.

* Gaia, the living planet in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''[[Foundation]]'s Edge''.

** Another example is in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s book ''Nemesis''. {{spoiler|"Nemesis" is the name of the red-dwarf star which is orbited by the gas giant Megas which in turn is orbited by the habitable world Erythro, and ''Erythro'' - or, more accurately, a form of life existing all over its surface - is the Genius Loci.}}

*** 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").

** 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.

* The title city in the [[Ray Bradbury]] short story ''The Lost City of Mars''. After being rediscovered by Earthlings, it tries to trap them inside so that it has someone to entertain.

** Another, similar Bradbury short story is called ''The City'' and involves a sentient Martian city ambushing the human explorers and changing them into cyborgs, so they'll launch a bioweapon attack on Earth and avenge its defeat in an ancient war with humanity's ancestors. And the story's narrated almost entirely by the city itself.

** Yet another example from Bradbury is the short story ''Here There Be Tigers'' where a rocket expedition lands on a planet, which provides for them whatever they desire.

** The house in "There Will Come Soft Rains" could be considered one, in that it's a setting that's also a character. The only character in the story, in fact.

** And it doesn't just sit around and do nothing, hell no. {{spoiler|Demonreach is one of those directly responsible for Harry's resurrection in ''Ghost Story''.}}

* Mark Z. Danielewski's ''[[House of Leaves]]'', [[Mind Screw|possibly.]]

* In Diane Duane's ''[[Young Wizards|High Wizardry]]'', Dairine visits a planet composed principally of silicon, in layers laid down by periodic volcanic activity. Thus, the planet had become a natural computer and, due to its size, was sufficiently complex to be sentient. Unfortunately, having no sensory apparatus, it hadn't had very much to think about up until then.

* 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.

** 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 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. }}

** 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.

** 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.

** 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."

** Appears in the sci-fi trilogy Titan, Wizard, Demon. The rotating space habitat is sentient, all of its inhabitants designed for her entertainment. {{spoiler|it turns out the current Gaia is not actually the several million old habitat but instead an inhabitant who merged with the central core, and is overthrown by the main character at the end of the third book.}}

* 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.

* [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s classic story ''The Fall of the House of Usher'' is [[Older Than Radio|one of the first]] uses of this trope. The hero arrives to find the eponymous house and its surroundings so dark and twisted that they're literally becoming unearthly. The house itself is gradually revealed as bearing a malevolent will born out of the generations of family secrets and crimes that have stained its walls. With the deaths of the last two Ushers, the manor is [[Collapsing Lair|also destroyed]], while the rest of the landscape seems to have returned to normal.

* The Labyrinth in [[The Death Gate Cycle]].

* In one earlier book of the ''Bionicle'' series, two Toa end up trapped within a living room.

* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''Chthon'' and its sequel ''Phthor'', the eponymous Chthon is a living cave system contained within the majority of a continent; which communicates telepathically to those few sentient beings who also possess a similar ability. It is eventually revealed to be {{spoiler|a non-organic life form which evolved independently of organic life; and is inimical to all organic life. It's also in communication with similar inorganic life forms, and is part of the cause of the Chill plague, which is intended to destroy all organic life.}}

* Virtually everything that citizens of ''[[The Culture]]'' live on is controlled by a hyper-intelligent Mind that will respond to any reasonable request. (Nearly always.) A slightly unusual example since there is nothing supernatural about it: the Culture just builds their ships and stations that way.

* In ''[[Glen Cook|Cruel Zinc Melodies]]'', Garrett discovers that {{spoiler|a truly gargantuan fungal life form is living beneath his home city, and is both sentient and powerfully psychic. It's responsible for a series of "hauntings" in the theater Garrett's been hired to protect from sabotage.}}

* If one considers a sapient planet-sized starship to be a location, then the Tar-Aiym weapons platform in later books of the ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' series would count. If not that, then how about Quofum, the {{spoiler|homeworld of the Xunca}}, which was basically hollowed out and filled with enormously sophisticated machinery designed to speed up the evolution of the planet's native life.

* The [[Spellsinger]] series has several examples, including a slow-witted marshland called the Brulumpus and a maelstrom with a raunchy sense of humor.

* In Richard McKenna's ''Hunter Come Home'', the humans inflict such biological havoc, that the biomass becomes self aware in its own defense.

* 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.

* 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]].

** The 1991 novel ''Timewyrm: Revelation'' featured Saul, the spirit of a church in Cheldon Bonniface, England.

** The 1992 novel ''Transit'' featured a 22nd-century interplanetary subway system (the "stunnel") that had become so complex that it had evolved sentience.

** Lungbarrow, the Doctor's family House on Gallifrey, from the 1997 novel of the same name (and really, ''most'' Houses on Gallifrey).

** The ''[[Earthsea Trilogy]]'' has a sentient grove, among many other earthbound spirits called "Old Powers".

* The titular prison complex in ''[[Incarceron]]'' is sentient...or at least an A.I.

"Let's not talk about it being alive," Grover whimpered. "Please?" }}

* "The Lonely Planet" is a short story by Murray Leinster about a planet that develops sentience (or, more precisely, the entire planet is covered by a single sentient life-form). It's also telepathic, meaning that when humans send scientists to study it, it picks their brains for technology...

* 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".

* The French novel ''Planète Verte, Peur Bleue'' (approx. "Green Planet, Black Terror") has planet Isol 50, alias "That".

 

* ''[[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.

** The TARDIS herself, which is technically a [[Sapient Ship]] containing its own [[Pocket Dimension]].

* ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'''s Castle Dran, a sentient castle/dragon tank-like ancient haunted house. That's just the ''exterior''.

* In ''[[Andromeda]]'', stars, black holes, and some planets and moons (and blue diamonds, and purple horseshoes) have embodied Avatars of varying power, {{spoiler|including Trance Gemini}}. This was not part of the original conception of the character or the show, but after the original producer left, [[Jump the Shark|things changed]].

** Well, I won't say it was not part of the original conception. [http://www.cyberspace5.net/agentrichard07/coda-script.htm The original producer wrote the same thing.]

** They're two twists on one basic idea. Just a shame it meant some of the foreshadowing came to nothing in the end.

* In ''[[Smallville]]'', Jor-El is basically a ghost haunting, and controlling, the Fortress of Solitude.

* ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'' had one episode where the local forest had a genius loci in the form of a child.

 

== Music ==

* "Ego the Living Planet" by Monster Magnet is, sadly, [[In Name Only|not about a living planet]].

 

 

* 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.

* The mountains in Inca (Quechua) religion are like this.

* The [[Trope Namer]], of course, is ancient Roman religion.

 

== [[Radio Drama]] / Audio Drama ==

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** 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.}}

** Gaia, the closest thing to a good Primordial, has a world-body of her own, currently off exploring the depths of the Wyld. (Her souls, the Five Elemental Dragons, are part of Creation's geomancy.)

** [[The Fair Folk]] in their native, unshaped state as well.

** 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]].}}

** 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.

** 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.

** 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.

** 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.

** 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.

** 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.

** ''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]].

** In the storyline, the Yavimaya Forest.

** ''[[Werewolf: The Forsaken]]'' inherited Apocalypse's animism; as in its predecessor, there are numerous spirits of place, with the most significant to the Forsaken being Luna, the spirit of the Moon.

* The "Freedom City" setting of ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' has Doctor Metropolis, the living spirit of Freedom City; think The Spectre with Jack Hawksmoor's powers and Doctor Manhattan's, um... sense of humor?

** 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.

 

== Toys ==

 

== Video Games ==

* The ''[[Seiken Densetsu]]''/''Mana'' games have a variation on this; while the Mana Tree is purported to be the Mana Goddess transformed, and in some games actually displays evidence of sentience, {{spoiler|it's actually a ''woman'' of a specific breed who sacrifices mobile life to fulfill the Tree's vital role to the functioning of the world.}}

** The game also has a secret project, "The Self-Aware Colony", which reduces the costs of maintaining and controlling your cities by turning them into Genius Loci. The cinematic for the project shows a city trapping a pair of dissidents before incinerating them, and even automatically cleaning both their ashes and the graffiti slogan they were writing from a wall. ''We Must Dissent...''

** 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.

* ''[[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.

** 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.

* 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.

** 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.

* 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.]]

* 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.)

* ''[[La-Mulana]]'' has {{spoiler|the eponymous [[Temple of Doom]], which is the body of the Mother.}}

* [[System Shock]]'s Citadel Station, being completely controlled by the crazy AI [[A God Am I|SHODAN]], surely qualifies.

* ''[[Chzo Mythos]]''; {{spoiler|1=DeFoe Manor binds to the mind of John DeFoe, but not the house. The house is burned down. It's apparently the PLACE now. Which is a lot trickier to destroy and create the Bridge, requiring something on the order of a nuclear blast to annihilate.}}

** Let's not forget {{spoiler|the titular Eldritch Abomination, Chzo itself, which is so big that Trilby even says it's as much a place as a creature.}}

* The planet in ''[[Loco Roco]]'' is very much alive, complete with facial expressions. It is a rare player-controlled example where through using gravity alterations, lightning and earthquakes, you can affect the life of the inhabitants of the planet. There are also a solar and lunar body with facial expressions who often react to sound waves of the inhabitants of the planet. It's more cheerful than it sounds though.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has Nespirah and L'Ghorek, non-villainous [[Eldritch Abomination|gigantic crustacean-squids]]. [[Womb Level|Their insides]] could easily house ''several'' cities.

** In ''The Lost Age'', the Kibombo tribe worship a statue with a [[Magitek]]-mechanical maze beneath and inside it, and their witch-doctor has stolen a [[MacGuffin|rather important gem]] as a sacrifice to earn its favor. The statue eventually grants its favor to the witch-doctor, allows the party to recover the Black Orb, and challenges them both [[Bonus Dungeon|to earn even greater powers]]. Kraden lampshades that there are things in Weyard even he doesn't really understand.

* In the ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' video game, one level is in a ship, and when you leave, ''it transforms.'' You were inside Tidal Wave the whole time.

* 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.

 

== Web Comics ==

'''Benjamin:''' That's like saying '''''[[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|"Brazil]]''''' [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|has decided you're]] '''''[[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|cute."]]''''' }}

* 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 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

** The other genii locorum are secondary systems that have lost communication with the crypt and library, and are significantly less smart-exhibiting an obnoxious tendency to be in charge of sensitive areas, where they try (and often succeed) to kill workers sent by the library to repair those areas. Although the library/crypt and the chapel are ''relatively'' significantly saner than the rest of the Castle, they're [[Heroic Sociopath|quite kill-happy]]; when Agatha stops the crypt killing a man who believes the Heterodynes to be extinct, it poutingly cries (through Carson, the old seneschal), "Fine! Maybe I just won't kill anyone at all!" Oh, and when she asks the Chapel to have the Torchmen keep her enemies out of Mechanicsburg airspace, it gleefully interprets this as permission to hassle ''Castle Wulfenbach,'' of all things. Good times forever.

*** ''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 ''[[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.

** [http://www.missmab.com/DLoads/DMFA_Wallpaper28_800.jpg She can, however,] [http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Ab_061.php change her looks]

* Lady Un-Deux-Un Rapplestreet from Thief of Hearts. She's the physical manifestation of the residual emotions of the people who have previously lived at 121 Rapple Street, and she enjoys tormenting Erik.

* {{spoiler|The island entity}} in ''[[Gene Catlow]]'' is apparently becoming some form of this.

* In [[Skin Horse]] their newest client is Cypress, a sentient swamp. And her daughter, Venus.

* In [[Demon Eater]], the world of demons is actually the largest demon on existence.

* ''[[Vexxarr]]'' has [http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=082806 the mother rock].

 

== Web Original ==

* ''The Grave Academy'', in the eponymous Forum/RPG is pretty explicitly alive, and apparently needs feeding once a month.

* One of Ursula Vernon's short stories (untitled and unfinished as of yet) features sentient trees who have fungus for brains. Once outsiders arrive and begin scooping out the fungus as a delicacy, the trees themselves go mad.

* ''[[The Dionaea House]]'' is a semi-famous internet story featuring someone who goes and investigates the disappearance of his friend and finds what turns out to be a sentient (and hungry) house. [http://dionaea-house.com Found here.]

* ''[[Tales of MU]]'' has domesticated nymphs who are the spirits of cultivated fields. ''[[The 3 Seas]]'', by the same author, has the spirit of a ship named "[[A Worldwide Punomenon|Loki]]".

* ''[[The Tale of Gaven Morren]]'' has The Tower of Miir, which manipulates the emotions of the population to feed itself, manifesting through [[The Powers That Be|The Shadows]], a collection of [[The Game Come to Life|living stories]]/[[Our Demons Are Different|demons]]/[[The Fair Folk|faeries]]/[[Our Ghosts Are Different|ghosts]] that represent the city's long and sordid history.

** There are also [http://orionsarm.com/eg-article/47eaf9af71def Envomes], sapient or transapient ecosystems.

* The wall in [[Draw With Me]].

** 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]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[Megas XLR]]: Coop once fought a gargantuan organic planet that ate radio waves.

** Bender himself is a sentient location earlier in the episode when he is colonized by aliens.

** Fry might count as well, when he is colonized by sentient worms. They have a statue of him labeled: "The Known Universe".

** Yivo in the second movie is eventually lived upon by people. Shklis body actually inspired our popular conception of heaven.

* His Elevated Eminence in the ''[[My Little Pony]]'' episode, "Crunch the Rockdog".

** 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.

** In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', {{spoiler|the Autobots' ship is actually the ancient Autobot warrior Omega Supreme.}}

** 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]]}}.

** Then there's also [[Transformers Cybertron|Primus]] who happens to be Cybertron itself.

* In one episode of ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'', it is said that Egon's ancestor (a magician) tried to refill a well, and woke up its Genius Loki (the term is used) in the form of a horse sized dragon, which thought he was his dad. The magician put it back to sleep. After a few centuries, Egon wakes it, this time house sized.

* ''[[Generator Rex]]'' gives us [[Big Bad|Van Kleiss]]. Though he appears human (if creepy) at first glance, his nanites are spread all throughout his home turf of Abysus. This means that the grounds and vegetation surrounding his creepy castle are effectively a part of him, and if his human body is destroyed [[Good Thing You Can Heal|he can simply reconstitute it]].

* ''[[The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack]]'': One episode had Flapjack and Captain K'nuckles finding themselves on a sentient (but gullible) moon and convincing it to carry them to Candy Island. The moon's traveling causes so much gravitational havoc that the sea god Poseidon has to intervene.

** 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''.}}

 

== Real Life ==

* The Internet could be a more tangible example of a Genius Loci / Gaia. There are certain movements around the self-organizing properties of the internet (especially concerning content, privacy, and censorship), which makes it seem to possess a mind of its own.

* On a micro scale, any living creature (including a human) can be a location. Your fleas and dust mites probably think ''you're'' a walking planet, or at least a small continent. Humans are one of the few creatures that carry two distinct species of dust mites due to having two distinct locations of hairs. And then of course, one's stomach flora is unique to each individual.

* Though not sentient (at least not that we know) there are some areas with organisms or groups of organisms that have grown to be truly massive.

* 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.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Otherness Tropes]]

[[Category:Native American Mythology]]

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Settings]]

[[Category:Otherworld Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Has a Mind of Its Own]]

[[Category:Alien Tropes]]

[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]