Soiled City on a Hill: Difference between revisions

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[[File:~~John_Martin_PaintingSmallCropped_8957~~.jpg|frame|[[Bolt of Divine Retribution|God]] doing some urban renewal.]]

[[File:John Martin PaintingSmallCropped 8957.jpg|frame|[[Bolt of Divine Retribution|God]] doing some urban renewal.]]

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== [[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}}.

* [[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]]''.

* The Emerald City in ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]''.

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== [[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|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|looted~~]] of all its valuables while surviving Cats hide in the wilderness or are taken as slaves.

* [[The Empire]] of Thundera in ''[[Thundercats 2011|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]] ==

* On the Arabian Peninsula, there was [[wikipedia:Iram of the Pillars|Iram of the Pillars]]~~--the~~ "Atlantis of the Sands". In Islamic legend, Iram of the Pillars (also known as Ubar) was a city of untold riches that was buried under the desert sands as punishment for defying God. Long thought to be a myth, satellite photos and recent archeological excavations have indicated such a city probably existed until around 300 AD.

* On the Arabian Peninsula, there was [[wikipedia:Iram of the Pillars|Iram of the Pillars]]—the "Atlantis of the Sands". In Islamic legend, Iram of the Pillars (also known as Ubar) was a city of untold riches that was buried under the desert sands as punishment for defying God. Long thought to be a myth, satellite photos and recent archeological excavations have indicated such a city probably existed until around 300 AD.

* [[wikipedia:Rungholt|Rungholt]] was a thriving German merchant city on the North Sea coast until it was destroyed by a storm tide in 1362. Legend attributed its destruction to the rampant greed of its citizens and acts of sacrilege against God.

* The low-lying Dutch city of [[wikipedia:Saeftinghe|Saeftinghe]] was a prosperous trading center from the 14th to the 16th century until much of its surrounding land was lost to a disasterous flood in 1570. The city itself was abandoned in 1584 when, during the Dutch War for Independence, Dutch soldiers were forced to destroy the dike that protected Saeftinghe resulting in its sinking into the marshy bogs of the Schelde River. In [[wikipedia:Saeftinghe legend|Dutch folklore]], Saeftinghe was an ornately rich but avaricious city that ultimately paid for its [[greed]] by [[Death by Materialism|sinking into the salty marshlands]] after being cursed by [[Our Mermaids Are Different|a merman for refusing to set his captured mermaid wife free.]]