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[[File:Syldavie.jpg|link=Tintin|frame| A quaint Syldavian village in ''King Ottokar's Sceptre''.]]
{{quote|''"Stupid National anthem... Look at this flag! Two bears, fighting over a pineapple. What message does this send to the world? 'Come to [[Belarus]]! Where wild animals will steal your fruit!'"''
|'''[[Bill Bailey]]'''}}
A [[Ruritania]] is a fictional country located in Central Europe or the Balkans—in an area encompassing most of the territory east of Germany and west of Russia. This country is characterized by its small size, backward customs, and forests full of wolves and bears. It is often the home of the [[Funny Foreigner]].
The name comes from Anthony Hope's 1894 novel ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', and the concept originated around the same time; the idea itself was at least in part "inspired" by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was viewed by many Europeans as an incompetent backwater. At that time and in most early 20th century depictions, Ruritania had a royal house (of which the King [[Royals Who Actually Do Something|actually did something]], the Prince was dashing, the Princess was a dazzling beauty, and the [[Nice Hat|headgear]] was quite frankly ridiculous), which was forever being schemed against by a lot of [[Evil Chancellor|dastardly usurpers]] or [[Terrorists Without a Cause|anarchists]] and was a source of enormous tension among the Great Powers. [[World War I|That last bit was actually true, unfortunately]]. A good example is, of course, the original. Although it is worth noting that where most examples of this trope are set in the Balkans or Eastern Europe, the original was wedged between Germany and Bohemia and had a Germanic-style culture.
Between the wars, the typical Ruritania became slightly less primitive. Wolves, bears, and superstitious peasants still abounded, but automobiles had been introduced and the army now had tanks and planes, with which it prepared bloody revenge on its neighbours. The royals were still around, now being schemed against by even more dastardly [[Those Wacky Nazis|fascists]] and [[Dirty Commies|communists]]. When [[WW 2]] rolled around, Ruritania was likely occupied by the Germans, or was possibly itself an Axis power. In either case, brave partisans equipped with [[Badass Beard|formidable beards]] kept up a heroic struggle against tyranny and took the opportunity to murder people from rival villages. After the war, many Ruritanias became [[Commie Land]] and continued to be a lurking place for [[Dirty Communists]], either Soviet-backed or home-grown.
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{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* Discover's advertising includes a bearded Ruritanian man calling himself "Peggy," who acts to mock their competitors' overseas call centers.
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' actually named its fake countries "D Country", with its [[Nerd Glasses]]-wearing princess simply named Princess D, and "U Country", with its... vampire ambassador. No doubt D Country is the original home of [[Bionic Commando|Master-D.]] In the anime, there's also the Amethyst Kingdom, where apparently, the concept of money doesn't exist. [[Fridge Logic]] much?▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
▲* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' actually named its fake countries D Country, with its [[Nerd Glasses]]-wearing princess simply named Princess D, and U Country, with its... vampire ambassador. No doubt D Country is the original home of [[Bionic Commando|Master-D.]] In the anime, there's also the Amethyst Kingdom, where apparently, the concept of money doesn't exist. [[Fridge Logic]] much?
** What about [[Pet Shop of Horrors|Count D]]?
* The Duchy of Cagliostro from ''[[The Castle of Cagliostro]]''. [[Lupin III]] states that the country is 'Ruritanian' when they first enter it, along with it being the smallest UN nation (population: 3500). A few other miscellaneous Ruritanias were featured on the various ''Lupin'' TV series as well.
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* ''[[Iono the Fanatics]]'' is a two-issue [[Girls Love]] manga whose whole plot is about an [[Ordinary High School Student]] being pursued by the [[Loveable Sex Maniac]] queen of a small and obscure European nation. In fact, it's implied at several points that the queen's obsession with having a massive (several ''thousand'' strong) harem of women is partially responsible for the traditional poverty associated with Ruritania—one part the economic drain of having to support hundreds of women who live lavish lifestyles but basically do nothing but lounge around, have sex and otherwise amuse themselves; one part the implication she's already taken most, if not all, of the women in the country as her concubines.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* [[Marvel Universe]].
** The country of Latveria, home of Doctor Doom.
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** Romano Scarpa's "Mystery of Tapiocus VI" (1956) finds Mickey helping out the amnesiac king of Mazumia, another Ruritanian country.
** In a more modern story, Mickey and Goofy travel the small country of "Schnitzelstein" to catch a thief, but Mickey forgets that he isn't a well-known detective in Schnitzelstein, and cannot simply walk into a police office and demand their cooperation; he gets Goofy and himself wanted as criminals.
** Casty's recent{{when}} "The World To Come" finds Mickey and Eega Beeva engaged in intrigue with the country of Illusitania, which is shown on a map as being located near Medioka ''and'' Mazumia.
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* ''Beautician and the Beast'' has Slovetzia, a communist kingdom Ruritania, ruled by dictator Timothy Dalton. [[The Nanny]] introduces Eagleland values to him, like freedom and democracy, the whole country is stunned, adopt Eagleland osmosis and the dictator falls in love with her. The End.
* Carpania from ''The Great Race'' is a pre-WWI Ruritania with a goofy but harmless Crown Prince in charge. He's naturally being schemed against by [[Evil Chancellor|his subordinates]], causing a [[Succession Crisis]].
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* ''You Nazty Spy'' - A [[Three Stooges]] short has Moronika, which stands in for Germany in the [[Catch Phrase|''Moronika for Morons!'']]
* Concordia in the [[Cold War]] comedy ''Romanoff and Juliet'', a postage-stamp European nation that has been conquered and liberated so many times that its citizens "are nominally the freest people in the world", and every day is an Independence Day of some sort. Fiercely determined to maintain neutral during the Cold War, the prime minister ended up playing matchmaker between [[Star-Crossed Lovers|the Russian ambassador's son and the American ambassador's daughter]]. Concordia is the ass of the UN; at the UN roll-call, all the nations are called in alphabetical order, with a note on the bottom of the page, "P.S. [[My Friends and Zoidberg|And Concordia]]." The country could be a parody of Tito's Yugoslavia.
* ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire]]'' - The Durmstrang students hailing from an unspecified Ruritania showed up for the Triwizard Tournament in a ship bearing the double-headed eagle of [[Older Than They Think|the Byzantine Empire]]. They were all young men in neat crewcuts and presented in a very disciplined and proud manner (like archetypal German students), wearing tsigeika coats and karakul hats (which are Slavic). Meanwhile, their headmaster Igor Karkaroff has a Russian-sounding surname, looks like Grigori Rasputin, and behaves like a stereotypical Russian.
* ''[[Austin Powers]]'' features a nuclear warhead being stolen from the country "Kreplachistan."
* World Grand Prix competitor Rip Clutchgoneski from ''[[Cars|Cars 2]]'' hails from the newly independent "Republic of New Rearendia".
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* ''[[The Princess Diaries]]'': The tiny European kingdom of Genovia (a stand-in for Monaco).
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] is the fictional country from Anthony Hope's novel ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', which was published in 1894 and inspired a whole genre of "Ruritanian Romances", so this is [[Older Than Radio]].
* Graustark from the novels of George Barr McCutcheon.
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* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' - The Durmstrang Institute of Magic possibly exists in a Ruritania with Eastern European and Germanic overtones. It's never stated exactly where it's located. Some students explicitly hail from Bulgaria or Russia, while former student Gellert Grindelwald has a Hungarian first name and German surname. The name "Durmstrang" is a fairly obvious play on the German phrase "''[[wikipedia:Sturm und Drang|Sturm und Drang]]''."
* The book ''Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry'' is ostensibly a travel guide to the titular fictional country.
* Genovia in ''[[The Princess Diaries]]'' book series is a fictitious European Principality, however it is more Mediterranean than
* 1938 novel ''[[Biggles|Biggles Goes To War]]'' features two Ruritanias: small, peace-loving Maltovia and bullying larger neighbour Lovitznia. Although a thinly-disguised allegory for the German takeover of Austria, in the novel it is the Maltovians who appear more German and the Lovitznians who have more of the Slav about them. It is left to the reader to decide whether Capt. Johns was inverting the stereotype or subtly pushing a message about the Red Menace...
* Borogravia from the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''[[
* Mixolydia is a Slavic Ruritania invented by Angela Thirkell for her ''Barsetshire'' novels. In the novel "Cheerfulness Breaks In," set in the opening year of World War Two, Barsetshire has to accomodate a number of refugees from Mixolydia, all of whom are various foreigner tropes. We learn that the local religion is Orthodoxy, and they have a long list of hereditary enemies among real-world nations. The name is a word-play on the mixolydian mode or scale in music.
* Barrayar in [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''[[Vorkosigan Saga
** It's awkward but impressive rush to catch up technologically with peoples around while destroying it's own culture make Barrayar sound rather like ninteenth century [[Imperial Japan]] as well.
* The plot of the [[Agatha Christie]] novel ''The Secret of Chimneys'' is about the murder of the prince of the Balkanic state of "Herzoslovakia", and the identity of the next in line for the throne. Many plot elements are (probably deliberately) reminiscent of ''The Prisoner of Zenda''.
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* ''[[Subversive Activity]]'' is set in 1875 in Maldona, which occupies a small peninsula east of Greece and west of Turkey.
* ''[[Scholarly Magics|A College of Magics]]'' and ''[[Scholarly Magics|When the King Comes Home]]'' feature a cluster of small countries that were each a duchy in the old-time Kingdom of Lidia before it fell apart. Most of them (including Galazon, the heroine's homeland in ''A College of Magics'') are still duchies, but Aravill promoted itself to a kingdom (and is considered jumped-up by its neighbours).
* The American government textbook ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|American Government]]'' by Wilson and
* The 1950s-1970s-vintage ''[[Tom Swift|Tom Swift Jr.]]'' books had a pair of Communist nations, Brungaria and Kranjovia, who between them provided a Soviet spy for pretty much [[Once Per Episode|every book in the series]].
▲== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' sent the main characters into various incarnations of Soviet Ruritania on a regular basis. The producers made up a fake Ruritanian "language" (called Gellerese after the show's executive producer) to use on signs; the idea was that it look somewhat Slavic, but similar enough to English that the viewing audience could immediately guess what it meant - and thus such subtle jokes as "zona restrik", "machinawerke", "gäz" and "entraat verbaten" got into an otherwise serious show.
** Surprisingly, the utility covers for gas pipelines in [[Real Life]] Poland ''really are'' labeled "gäz".
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* ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' once offered a trip to "Boguslovania" as an April Fools' gag showcase.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==▼
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Dilbert]]'' has the imaginary Third World country of Elbonia, which according to [[Word of God]], it represents [[Hollywood Geography|the American view of any country without cable TV]]: they wear fur hats and wallow around in waist-deep mud. They're also an entire nation of idiots, who have animals in their government and fight wars over handedness (as in, left vs. right).
* Lower Slobbovia is a communist Ruritania which plays a large role in many ''[[Li'l Abner]]'' plotlines.
== [[Radio]] ==▼
▲== Radio ==
* The [[The BBC|Radio 4]] [[Sitcom]] ''Man of Soup'' was set in a Ruritania parody with all the associated tropes turned [[Up to Eleven]].
* ''[[Bob and Ray]]'' - the "funnies in the news" announcer Peter Gorey (Bob, using a Lorre accent: "Een other news, only vun man vas keeled attempting suicide today...") hailed from Lower Schizophrenia.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==▼
▲== Tabletop Games ==
* In the popular card game ''Contraband'', the most valuable card that players must smuggle past the "Customs Officer" is labelled as the Ruritanian Crown Jewels.
* ''[[Space: 1889]]'' places an actual Ruritania in the Balkans, in ''Conklin's Atlas of the Worlds''.
== [[Theatre]] ==▼
▲== Theatre ==
* The Irving Berlin musical ''Call Me Madam'' has the duchy of Lichtenburg—a [[Portmanteau]] of Liechtenstein and Luxembourg: "too small to be a city, too big to be a town." Its main export is cheese.
* Marsovia in ''The Merry Widow'' (originally Pontevedro before the operetta was translated into English). By the way, it's a thinly disguised Montenegro.
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* [[Jean Paul Sartre]]'s ''Dirty Hands'' (''Les Mains Sales'') is set in a fictional European country called Illyria during [[World War Two]]. It is supposed to be an ally of [[Nazi Germany]], on the verge of being annexed to the [[History of the USSR|Eastern Bloc]].
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
* ''[[
▲== Video Games ==
▲* ''[[Half Life|Half-Life 2]]'' is set in what appears to have been at one time a former Soviet state. No word has been given on the place's true location, and judging by the accents of all the NPCs you meet there, none of them are from there (seeing that many of them were forcibly relocated.) The only true native seems to be Father Grigori.
** Strangely though, the gas pumps around City 17 are labeled in ''Swedish''.
* In the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series, the nation of "Belka" is the bad guy country and starts the ''Belkan'' War. The name seems somewhat familiar. Half the countries in Ace Combat follow this pattern—Yuktobania, Usea, Estovakia, etc.
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* ''[[Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake]]'' - Zanzibarland.
* Sega's tactical RPG ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' features the not-so-subtle "East European Imperial Alliance" as the villain nation, managing to mix together Tsarist Russia and the Warsaw Pact into one fun, evil package. They also look like [[Putting on the Reich]] [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]].
* ''[[
* ''Apollo Justice: [[Ace Attorney]]'' has the Republic of Borginia, which is vaguely eastern European and has what are probably Gypsies and its language, Borginian, is written in dingbat characters.
:In ''Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth'' there is Cohdopia, an European nation that was split into two smaller countries (Babahl and Allebahst) as well. As well as as the republic of Zheng Fa.
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* ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'''s [[Spiritual Successor]]s, ''[[Arm A]] : Armed Assault'' and ''[[Arm A]] II'' have the Kingdom of Sahrani Island and the former Soviet republic of Chernarus, respectively.
* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' is set in what seems like a strange mash up of rural Spain, Eastern Europe and Mexico.
* The Hamlet in ''[[Darkest Dungeon]]'' is a town with derelict buildings, dead, twisted trees, and [[Always Night]], the result of [[The Corruption]] the Ancestor caused by excavating the eponymous Dungeon. In the sequel, the corruption starts to spread, the whole world starting to look like this.
== [[Web Original]] ==
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* ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s [http://www.cracked.com/article_17474_the-7-most-unintentionally-hilarious-g.i.-joe-characters.html The 7 Most Unintentionally Hilarious G.I. Joe Characters] parodies this trope by mentioning that [[G.I. Joe]] villain Darklon originates from "the kingdom of [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Darklonia]], a nebulous [[Dirty Communists|Eastern Bloc]] nation sharing its borders with [[Punny Name|Borovia]] and [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Madeupbullshitistan]]".
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* Thembria from ''[[Tale Spin]]'' was a mock version of the Soviet Union (which was [[The Great Politics Mess-Up|still around]] at the time), with its hostile arctic climate, babushka-clad peasantry, inept and bombastic centralized government that insisted on putting the prefix "glorious" in front of everything and a moribund economy that resulted in constant shortages of everything, including ammunition. So much so that the Air Force had to sometimes employ bathtubs and lunch meat as offensive weapons.
:It gets worse; they even ban imagination, because imaginative people do not conform.
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* Rolf of ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' seems to come from one of these, though we never learn what "the Old World" is actually called. We do learn of its wacky customs in one episode, however, which include Folk Songs rife with violence between the singers ("That's my horse!" *SLAP*), "bartering poles", upon which the seller and consumer must balance by their abdomens while conducting business with produce and livestock, and idiots falling into holes being sufficient grounds for a celebration.
* ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'' gives us Zarkovia, a small monarchy somewhere in Europe.
* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'' has Ustinkistan where his{{context}} grandparents, on his mother's side, Vlad and Glady's hails.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Short version: [[Truth in Television|Not entirely unjustified]] thanks to Central and Eastern Europe having a long history of conquering and being conquered, resulting in some odd mixing of ethnic groups, religious affiliations and language families, often within a single empire.
* Poldavia (Poldévie) was a fictional country, invented by a French journalist who was a member of a far-right organization in 1929. Its supposed representatives wrote letters to French Senators to ask them to intervene in a Civil War supposed to take place in their country. The prank mainly targeted radical-leftist and anticlerical Senators.
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*** The Russian Empire is assumed to have been mostly Slavic, but also ended up with regions that were Turkic, Mongol, Korean, Baltic (frequently mistaken for Slavic), Romanian, and even Finnish. Most of it would carry over into the USSR, some parts more willingly than others.
*** The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had several varieties of Slavs (Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians, etc.) Balts (modern day Lithuanians and Latvians), Prussian Germans, a good chunk of Europe's Jews and the odd smattering of Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks in those border nations. It's one of many reasons it was seen as a rather progressive empire in its heyday in spite of the unique mess of ethnic identity.
* A real-life counterpart of Ruritania could be some of the East European unrecognized micro-nations such as Transnistria (officially part of Moldova) or Abkazhia (officially part of Georgia): They have their own
** Or also territories that claim nation status status at some point or another (and thus, become the center of the world's attention when civil wars break there). Some have since become independent (eg. Kosovo), others are yet to do so (eg. Chechnya).
* In relation to the above examples, remember that the Germans used to have quite a Diaspora before the World Wars, and "Germany" used to be a geographical term that described that lands belonging to the German countries of Prussia, Austria, and the Holy Roman Empire. Many German minorities existed in large parts of Eastern Europe, such as Transylvania, Prussia itself before it was disbanded, and the Sudetenland. These areas easily resemble Ruritanias with their German/Slavic ethnic groups and the tension between them.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:National Stereotyping Tropes]]
[[Category:Settings]]
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[[Category:Hollywood Atlas]]
[[Category:Fictional Culture and Nation Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Gothic Horror Tropes]]
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