Here There Were Dragons: Difference between revisions

 

Compare with [[Gotterdammerung]], where it's the gods that have left or died. See also [[The Time of Myths]]. If the story is ''about'' the magic going away it's, well, [[The Magic Goes Away]]. See also [[End of an Age]].

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== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Inuyasha]]''. Seems like you couldn't go anywhere in Sengoku-period Japan without tripping over a demon. Five hundred years later, though, there's nary a one to be found, or any evidence that they had ever existed. A bit odd in that the characters have run into one the show's [[Plot Coupon]]s in the present (although it was being guarded by a [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed demon]]). However, they once saw the soul piper in the modern day, so there are exceptions.

* In ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' the Caster Gun used by Gene is rumored to either have been forgotten technology or magical in nature. It's eventually revealed that the 'old magic' of the universe was fading and the last masters of said magic encapsulated what remained of it into caster shells so that they could still use it. Note that old magic did fade away but Tao Magic, presumably based on an inner persons capabilities, is still around and effective.

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', Egypt was ruled using magical artifacts and monsters and such. There was even a magician in the Pharoah's court. The Pharoah then locked the magic away. This lasted about 5,000 years.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

 

== Film ==

* [[Dragonslayer]] is all about the transition from a magical world to a Here There Were Dragons world. Galen, a sorcerer's apprentice, isn't happy about magic fading from the world. Some of the villagers, though, are quite happy they won't have to be worrying about random dragon attacks anymore. In the end {{spoiler|all the magic disappears... or has it?}}

 

== Literature ==

* Robert E. Howard's original ''[[Conan]]'' stories are said to have taken place in Earth's prehistory.

** The effect actually happens within ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''; at the time of the War of the Ring the magic was almost completely faded from the world. For a random example, at one point there were so many Balrogs they had their own army instead of only one, and the current dark lord is only a pale imitation of the old one, who was order of magnitude stronger still.

* ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]]'' opens with Britain's rich history of magic having faded away by the Regency Era. Then it slowly trickles back...

* In the [[Death Gate Cycle]], Earth was full of magical beings up until about The Renaissance, then they faded out, only coming back [[After the End]] for the series.

* In ''[[The Unicorn Chronicles]]'' series, unicorns and dragons once lived on earth but human persecution forced them to migrate to [[Another Dimension]].

* Invoked almost literally in ''Faith of the Fallen'' in the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series. In the setting, dragons are biological creatures that depend on magic to fly and survive. Because of events far too complicated to explain here, magic is slowly dying out in the world and Richard, while traveling, comes across the remains of a dragon and wonders if this means they're all dead. {{spoiler|A few books later, we find out they're still around.}}

* Played with in ''[[The First Law]] Trilogy''. There WAS an Age of Wonder, where demons walked amongst men, monsters roamed,and great magic was wrought by the Magi... but that was a long time ago, and as far as the 'civilized' people of [[The Federation|The Union]] knows, may well just be myth and legend. And indeed, they're not entirely wrong - according to Bayaz, First of the Magi, the magic is literally leaking out of the world - and even those that remains of the Magi of old, are slowly growing weaker and weaker. Still, more remains of the old world than most people realize... which could come back to bite a lot of people in the ass. [[I Am a Humanitarian|And the rest of their anatomy, for that matter.]] Ultimately, most of the problems that appear has to be solved through mundane means - politics, money, violence, or a combination of those. Attempts to call upon ancient magics or find forgotten artifacts of power tend to either backfire badly, or just fail outright.

* Our world in ''[[The Talisman]]'' is a place where there used to be a lot more magic. Wolf can only detect the dying remnants when he makes some medicine for Jack out of weeds.

 

* A rare example that sets the modern era in the "age of magic" is ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. According to the spin-off comic, ''Fray'', at some point in the future the magic gets sealed away.

** {{spoiler|At present, it appears that this point in the future is the end of Buffy Season 8.}}

* The opening narration to the first episode of ''[[Carnivale]]'' says that man "forever traded wonder for reason" on the day of the A-bomb test at Trinity.

* The opening narration of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' "In a land of myth, in a time of magic..." seems to indicate this.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

*** As the current rights owners for Shadowrun and Earthdawn are different (Catalyst Labs and Red Brick Limited, respectively), it's likely that the games are no longer interconnected as they used to be.

* ''[[Rifts]]'' Earth was once a magical place, until the sealing of [[Atlantis]] also took most of the magic away, too. It came back in a big way: [[The End of the World as We Know It|the reemergance of magic]] and the opening of several (hundred/thousand) interdimensional portals was caused by the mystical aftershocks of millions of lives being simultaneously wiped out by [[World War Three|atomic bombs being used on population centers]]... at noon on the winter solstice during a total eclipse of the sun and at least one planetary alignment, effectively a mass human sacrifice at the worst possible time, when mystic energy was more or less under a 100x multiplier. Unfortunately, planets use things like Earthquakes, volcanoes, and hurricanes as magic pressure release valves...

* The ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]'' world, while still plentifully enmagicked, has lost a lot of it since the olden days because of the elves partially sealing the Chaos Rift, greatly decreasing magical potency and also preventing demons from rampaging across the world.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'' seems to have an interesting explanation as to why there are no Greek gods anymore: {{spoiler|[[Sociopathic Hero|Kratos]]}}.

* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' there was the Kingdom of Zeal, a [[Floating Continent]] whose existence was based around the use of magic. There are almost no clues of its existence in any other eras (though [[Lost Technology]] and a few refugees make appearances here and there), and this being a [[Time Travel]] story, you eventually find out [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|why]].

* The premise of the ''[[Golden Sun]]'' franchise is that the power of Alchemy was sealed away in the distant past. Among the select few who know about the seal, conflict arises between those who want to remove the seal and those who want to maintain it.

* While magic still exists in the ''[[Overlord]]'', actual dragons are extinct. And in ''[[Overlord]] 2'' {{spoiler|the dwarves join them}}. While other magical beings such as the Elves, Unicorns, Gnomes, Fairies, Mermaids, the Overlord himself and the Minions still exist they suffer anti-magic persecution in the same game.

* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'' centers around the last place of magic left in the world - Lea Monde. The trick is that we've ''seen'' what the world looked like with magic; it was called ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' (which was itself a Here There Were Dragons to ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics A2]]'', which had much more advanced magic and magitechnology). What happened in the intervening centuries between each of them is unknown. (Funny enough given the trope name, there are ''lots'' of dragons in ''[[Vagrant Story]]''.)

* Obviously, in ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'', there still ''are'' dragons, but this applies to the Forgotten Worlds in Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon. The dragons left the Forgotten Worlds long ago, and as a result the worlds' magic is dying out.

 

* In ''[[The Gods of Arr-Kelaan]]'', it is revealed that the Earth no longer has magic or gods outside the Christian faith because {{spoiler|for some reason all the magic power is running out of our galaxy, so they cannot even get to earth without a VERY large outside source of energy, which the gods who started Christianity have. By the end of the stroyline they lose it though, so magic is completly gone.}}

* In ''[[The Phoenix Requiem]]'', magic disappeared along with the Spirits. Now that the Spirits have shown signs of returning, people want the magic back. {{spoiler|Well, [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]...}}

* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' dragons didn't die out, they just left Earth and went to live in outer space.

 

== Web Original ==

* In the backstory of ''[[Suburban Knights]]'', magic once existed side by side with science. The gradual decline of magic started when the wizard Malecite challenged the alchemist Aeon in a duel and lost. Aeon's inventions laid the foundation of the world of science and technology as we know it today, while Malecite was forced to watch all magic fade away.

 

== Western Animation ==

** Water dragons seem to be common enough, though they're more like sea monsters than the extinct dragons.

** Happily averted in the future of ''[[The Legend of Korra]]''. A herd of Sky Bison were found on a remote island, meaning there's a viable population for the continuation of the species, and a handful of Aang's descendants are airbenders who've managed to keep Air Nomad culture alive and well. No word yet on {{spoiler|how dragons are doing}}.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

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[[Category:Dark Age Europe]]

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[[Category:Dragon Tropes]]