Shangri-La: Difference between revisions

The Himalayas and other [[Far East]] mountain ranges are positively packed to the gills with Buddhist villages full of wise monks who will teach weary Western travelers -- especially the old [[Mighty Whitey]] -- to cast off ego, become one with the universe and attain true enlightenment. Also, to punch through people's heads.

 

 

Surrounding Shangri-La is an endless expanse of beautiful but dangerous mountain peaks, none of which feature ski slopes or extreme sports wankers with broken collarbones (but probably featuring [[Bigfoot Sasquatch and Yeti|yetis).]] Sometimes getting to the village or monastery requires a special Sherpa with secret knowledge, or for the mountaineer to be near death. Sometimes it's just a case of turning a corner. Either way, there are ''definitely no tourists''.

 

Not to be confused with the light novel/anime series [[Shangri-La]], or the old 70s all-girl band of the same name.

 

== Comic Books ==

** Marvel also had [[Immortal Iron Fist|Iron Fist]] develop both his [[Charles Atlas Superpower|martial arts skill]] (via [[Training From Hell]]) but also his mystical [[Ki Attacks|iron-fist technique]] (via absorbing a dragon's heart) in K'un L'un. Said city is loosely based on the mythical land mentioned in Lost Horizon (see below) but is Marvelized as an [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|extradimensional city whose gateway leads to Earth, which was founded by the crew of a crashed spaceship]]. With apostrophes.

*** Also note, K'un-Lun is not a happy place full of pacifists.

** Actually it is a bit of a subversion because the monastery is in a realistic portrayal of Tibet, it is just that ''one'' monk has visions (which is not that special, as the story begins with Tintin having one himself). {{spoiler|Hergé apparently believed that yetis really exist and did quite a bit of research, e.g. talking to the French mountaineer Maurice Herzog, who claimed to have seen yeti tracks himself.}}

* In a story from the [[Tomb Raider]] comics, Lara Croft finds Shangri-La. However, she discovers that {{spoiler|nobody can leave, and those who try are turned into yeti-like monsters that guard its walls. Lara brings an old caretaker from her childhood to Shangri-La, in exchange for her own release.}}

** The ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]'' has "Enlightenment Country" in the Hubland mountains, which is packed to the gills with different sects of monks, including the History Monks, the Monks of Cool, the Yen Buddhists, and the Listening Monks. What's more, sometimes young monks will leave their monasteries to seek enlightenment in the big city, because according to Pratchett "Wisdom is the one thing that looks bigger the farther away it is."

** ''[[Truckers (Literature)|Truckers]]'' has the Klothians, a mystical society of Store nomes who live on the top floor of the Store, and get their food from the staffroom rather than the delicatessen (meaning they live on tea and yoghurt).

* In [[Christopher Moore]]'s ''[[Lamb the Gospel According To Biff (Literature)|Lamb the Gospel According To Biff]]'', a teenage Jesus travels to one of these with his best friend Biff. Yes, ''that'' [[Messianic Archetype|Jesus]].

* In ''[[The Shadow]]'' pulp novels, the Shadow learned the power to cloud men's minds in Shamballa.

* In ''[[Animalympics (Animation)|Animalympics]]'', a canine ski-jump champion gets lost while mountain-climbing, and either finds or hallucinates finding "Dogra-La", an all-doggy version of this trope.

* ''Shamballa'' appears in ''[[Jonny Quest the Real Adventures (Animation)|Jonny Quest the Real Adventures]]'' episode "The Bangalore Falcon." It's a mystical land in the Indian mountains which appears every 500 years, and houses the titular blue falcon, among other exotic flora and fauna, as well as the River of Eternal Life.