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Line 1: {{trope}} [[File:John Martin ~~PaintingSmallCropped~~- ~~8957~~Sodom and Gomorrah.jpg\|~~frame~~thumb\|500px\|[[Bolt of Divine Retribution\|God]] doing some urban renewal.]] A city or civilization that is destroyed after growing so [[We Have Become Complacent\|complacent]], hubris-laden, and/or [[Wretched Hive\|corrupt]] that it is [[It Is Beyond Saving\|beyond redemption]]. Usually the agent of destruction is [[Bolt of Divine Retribution\|divine retribution]] or [[The Scourge of God\|a scourge of God]] but also can be the result of [[Call It Karma\|Karmic justice]], [[Gaia's Vengeance\|nature's revenge]], [[Knight Templar\|Knights Templar]], or even [[Hanlon's Razor\|human]] [[Finagle's Law\|error]]. Often, the Soiled City was once a [[Shining City]] or [[Utopia]] but, [[Humans Are ~~Bastards~~the Real Monsters\|humans being who they are]], it fell victim to arrogance and [[Seven Deadly Sins\|moral degeneration]]. In fact, before destruction, the Soiled City can still look like a [[Shining City]] even though by then [[Crap Saccharine World\|it's really nothing more than a whited sepulcher with a shiny gleaming exterior concealing the rot and vileness within]]. Almost always a [[Wretched Hive]]. Can also be a [[City Noir]]. The opposite or (as mentioned previously) the corrupted version of the [[Shining City]]. This trope often overlaps with [[And Man Grew Proud]] and is used as [[An Aesop]]. The [[Shadowland]] of [[Arcadia]] and the [[Ghibli Hills]]; many a [[Farm Boy]] who went expecting the Shining City was lucky to escape with his life, if at all. Line 13 ⟶ 12: The name refers to [[wikipedia:City on a hill\|the City on a Hill]], an early symbol of American [[Utopia]]. Compare with [[After the End]], [[Cataclysm Backstory]], [[Look on My Works Ye Mighty and Despair]], and [[~~Gotterdammerung~~Götterdämmerung]]. {{examples}}▼ ▲{{examples}} == [[Film]] == * In ''[[Batman Begins]]'', there's [[Knight Templar\|the League of Shadows]] which is a secret ancient organization that takes upon itself to destroy societies and cities that, according to their standards, have become too corrupt and decadent. ("The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance.") Next on their list: Gotham City. Line 22 ⟶ 21: == [[Literature]] == * [[wikipedia:Numenor#History\|Numenor]] in [[J. R. R. ~~Tolkien\|JRR~~ Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Silmarillion]]''. After Sauron is taken captive by the Numenoreans, he converts them to Melkor worship and tricks them into sailing to Valinor and violating the Ban on setting foot there. As a result, the Valar call upon Eru Iluvatar and he destroys Numenor with a giant wave, sinking it beneath the sea. * [[Andre Norton]]'s "Operation Time Search". Atlantis fell under the control of evil rulers and was destroyed—also taking down its Pacific-based opposition, the benign empire of Mu. After the hero is accidentally sent back in time from our own, {{spoiler\|his actions change history so Atlantis and Mu survive to the present day}}. * The city of Brussels, Belgium, appears this way in retrospect to Marlow in ''[[Heart of Darkness]]''. Line 41 ⟶ 40: ** More broadly, the Nephite and Jaredite nations near the end of them. They did pretty deplorable things at the end. == ~~Theater~~[[Theatre]] == * The eponymous city of [[Kurt Weill]]'s and [[Bertolt Brecht]]'s opera, ''[[The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]]''. Line 51 ⟶ 50: == [[Western Animation]] == * Ba Sing Se, capital of the Earth Kingdom, was once the greatest city in the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' world. But over time, thanks to [[Evil Chancellor]] Long Feng and his [[Secret Police]], it has degenerated into an Orwellian dystopia where [[Brainwashing]] abounds, poor people are kept in segregated neighborhoods, and people are forbidden to even mention the war that's been raging outside the city for a hundred years. And just when Long Feng was arrested and things were starting to look up, {{spoiler\|Princess Azula of the Fire Nation infiltrated Ba Sing Se, got the [[Secret Police]] on her side, and finally captured the city and the entire Earth Kingdom.}} ~~<br~~ />Unusually for this trope, though, {{spoiler\|Ba Sing Se was never actually destroyed. At the end of the series, it was retaken by the Earth Kingdom, and the [[Secret Police]] were presumably disbanded. The final scene in the series has [[Heartwarming Moments\|the heroes relaxing in Iroh's tea shop in the city, while Aang and Katara kiss outside]].}} * [[The Empire]] of Thundera in ''[[Thundercats (2011 series)\|~~ThunderCats~~''Thundercats'' (2011)]]'. The [[Catfolk\|Cats]] of Thundera are a [[Proud Warrior Race]] who believe themselves a [[Superior Species]], and practice [[Urban Segregation]], [[Fantastic Racism]] and enslavement of species like [[Lizard Folk\|Lizards]] and [[Dogfaces\|Dogs]]. They employ a [[Fantastic Caste System]], where tailed Cats and Specific minorities live in a [[Fantastic Ghetto]] that exists below the upper level's [[Shining City]], [[Bright Castle]] and gardens of the nobility. The city is [[Easily-Conquered World\|conquered]] overnight by Mumm-Ra and his [[Les Collaborateurs\|collaborators]] the Lizard army and [[loot]]ed of all its valuables while surviving Cats hide in the wilderness or are taken as slaves. == [[Real Life]] == Line 60 ⟶ 59: * Port Royal was an open haven for pirates and smugglers during the 17th century with economy largely based around boozing, whoring, and stealing. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 that caused it to sink into the sea. * [[Imperial Russia]] as a whole. Contrary to popular opinion, it fell not because of Commies but because of too much income inequality and injustice. The Commies were merely the most successfull of the many shards of the empire. ** [[The New Russia]] is approaching the late-Imperial level of decadence and injustice amazingly fast. [[It's Quiet... Too Quiet]]... until 2014, when it started moving again. {{reflist}} [[Category:~~You Would Not Want to Live In Dex~~{{PAGENAME}}]] ~~[[Category:Settings]]~~ [[Category:The City]] [[Category:Older Than Feudalism]] [[Category:~~Soiled City on a Hill~~Settings]] [[Category:You Would Not Want to Live In Dex]]