The Tower: Difference between revisions

← Older edit

The Tower (view source)

Revision as of 01:39, 30 August 2023

3,834 bytes removed , 8 months ago

→‎[[Literature]]: Replaced redirects

VisualWikitext

WonderBot

Bots, Administrators

15,875

edits

Revision as of 21:27, 1 November 2013 (view source) prefix>Import Bot (Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.TheTower 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.TheTower, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license)		Latest revision as of 01:39, 30 August 2023 (view source) WonderBot (talk \| contribs) (→‎[[Literature]]: Replaced redirects)
(19 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 1: {{trope}} [[File:Rage over Babylon.jpg\|thumb\|400px\|"Rage over Babylon"]] ~~{{quote box\|[[File:1203735828_71fbbefa97_8658.jpg\|frame]]}}~~ An old trope that can be either physical or metaphorical in its appearance within a story. In the Tarot, '''The Tower''' is considered a sign of ill omen or adversity, but can also stand for civilization, or lone, defensive strength when regarding a specific character. Usually, The Tower is a structure of solitude or homage to a character whose vision is farseeing and above those "bound to earth". It can also be a prison to where a main character is left to die, or a representation of a villain's [[Pride]], as (s)he rises higher towards heaven while surrounded by their empire. See the myth of the [[Tower of Babel]]. A ''character'' ~~that~~who represents the Tower is another story,. ~~they~~ They can be a tall figure, or even a dwarf with a great amount of presence. They usually have great fortitude both mental and/or physical, sometimes coming off as stubborn or gruff. They're also portrayed many a time as loners unless with others who share a similarity with him, or need him for a time. The phrase "ivory tower" ties together the connotations of isolation and pride into a concept that intellectualism or academic research make you lose touch with "real life". In many fantasy settings, towers are usually the [[Mage Tower\|homes, laboratories and/or schools of magic users]]. This convention is probably based on Saruman's tower, [[The Lord of the Rings ~~(Literature)~~\|Orthanc of Isengard]], though some settings justify it by having mages who are [[Awesome but Practical\|also astronomers]]. [["The Tower]]" is Card XVI in the [[Tarot Motifs\|tarot deck]], although mostly symbolic. In the Rider-Waite deck, it's a tower being shattered by lightning. Generally speaking, it represents a [[Go Mad ~~From~~from the Revelation\|truth unearthing something not pleasant]]. ~~====~~ In fiction, The Tower may appear as: ~~====~~ * [[Big Fancy Castle]] * The [[Evil Tower of Ominousness\|Black Tower]]: [[Evil Tower of Ominousness\|Tall, dark, and evil]]. * The Evil Skyscraper: The [[City Noir\|Black Tower's modern incarnation]]:~~<br~~ />home of the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] or [[Mega Corp]] in a contemporary or futuristic setting. * [[Impossibly Tall Tower]]: or [[Star Scraper]], any structure whose [[Absurd Altitude\|height is beyond imagining]]. * The Ominous Megastructure: like the [[Tower of Babel]], A gigantic, unimaginably huge "looms-over-everything" structure. * The [[Wizards Tower\|Wizard's Tower]]: or [[Mage Tower]] usually contains telescopes, orreries, [[Inexplicable Treasure Chests\|hidden artifacts]], [[Secret Path\|secret passages]], [[Tome of Eldritch Lore\|tomes of eldritch lore]], and [[Magitek\|dangerous devices]] [[Powered Byby a Forsaken Child]] in a terribly-cramped [[Bigger Onon the Inside\|footprint]]. * The [[Haunted Castle]]: Ominous, foreboding and perched on a cliffside, [[Grave Clouds\|accompanied by lightning]] and haunted by [[Transylvania\|ghosts and monsters]] or [[Mad Scientist\|mad scientists]] and [[The Igor\|their assistants]]. * The [[Ominous Floating Castle\|Floating Castle]] (Possibly Ominous): definitely important. Line 28: The [[Living Labyrinth\|Labyrinth]] or [[Dungeon]] is the inverse trope: a more expansive version of the Ominous Castle or Megastructure, with more stuff [[Beneath the Earth\|below than above]]. See also [[Big Labyrinthine Building]], which may or may not be a Babel-like megastructure. Compare with [[Building of Adventure]]. ~~===~~ '''Subtropes and related tropes: ~~===~~''' * [[Big Fancy Castle]] * [[Clock Tower]] * [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]] * [[City Noir\|Evil Skyscrapers]] ([[City Noir]]) * [[Girl in ~~The~~the Tower]] * [[Haunted Castle]] * [[~~Its~~It's All Upstairs From Here]] * [[Lighthouse Point\|The Lighthouse]] might come into this. * [[Mage Tower]] Line 44 ⟶ 43: * [[World Tree]] ~~Also,~~See ~~see~~also [[Tarot Motifs]].▼ {{examples~~\|Examples~~}}▼ ▲Also, see [[Tarot Motifs]]. == [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] == ▲{{examples\|Examples}} * Kami's Watch Tower from ''[[~~Dragonball~~Dragon Ball]]''▼ * In ''[[Battle Angel Alita]]'', an Orbital Lift threatens to fall down due to the lost of its upper end, thus inflicting massive damage on earth. Main character Alita forms herself into a giant lotus petal which reinforces the Lift, thus preventing the apocalyptic downfall. == ~~Anime and Manga~~[[Literature]] == * "Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower came..." is a line from an old ballad quoted in ''[[King Lear]]'', retold in the English fairy tale "[[~~Childe Rowland (Literature)\|~~Childe Rowland]]", and used as the basis of a famous poem by Robert Browning.▼ ▲* Kami's Watch Tower from ''[[Dragonball]]'' ** ~~One of~~[[Stephen King]]'s ~~other books,~~ ''The Eye of the Dragon'', has Peter imprisoned in a cell at the top of a tower for most of the second half of the book.▼ * [[Fooly Cooly\|Medica Mechanica]] * The Ministries in ''[[Nineteen Eighty -Four~~\|1984~~]]''▼ ~~== Comic Books ==~~ * [[Superman\|Lexcorp]] * The tower that connects the levels of the afterlife from ''[[Spawn]]''. * [[Watchmen\|Veidt Enterprises]] ~~== Film ==~~ * The "New Tower of Babel" in the silent movie ''[[Metropolis]]''. * The "wizards live in towers" idea is used, I believe, in the film version of ''[[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court]]''. ** Also played with in the original book. Hank blew up Merlin's tower to teach Merlin a lesson (and also just because he could). Then he had it rebuilt to show he wasn't a total jackass. * In accordance to fairy tale tradition, [[Shrek\|Princess Fiona]] is imprisoned in the "highest room of the tallest tower." * The headquarters of [[I Robot (Film)\|US Robotics]] is the tallest building by far in Chicago. Guess where the Evil AI is situated? {{spoiler\|If you said "the basement", shame on you.}} * The Evil Skyscraper from ''[[Freejack]]'' is not just the [[Star Scraper\|tallest building]] in Manhattan (strike one) and the office of [[Anthony Hopkins]]' character (strike two); it contains the souls of paying customers who are artificially implanted into the titular ''freejack'''s bodies. * The big pyramid from ''[[Blade Runner]]'' ~~== Folklore ==~~ * Classic "[[Rapunzel (Literature)\|Rapunzel]]" is depicted to be trapped in a tower till someone comes to rescue her from imprisonment. * "[[Sleeping Beauty]]" is sometimes told with the spinning wheel that dooms her to eternal sleep being at the top of the tallest tower of the castle she inhabits. ~~== Literature ==~~ ▲* "Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower came..." is a line from an old ballad quoted in ''[[King Lear]]'', retold in the English fairy tale "[[Childe Rowland (Literature)\|Childe Rowland]]", and used as the basis of a famous poem by Robert Browning. * ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)\|The Lord of the Rings]]'' has a striking number of significant towers -- most importantly Sauron's fortress Barad-Dûr (meaning "[[Evil Tower of Ominousness\|Dark Tower]]"), Saruman's [[Mage Tower\|Orthanc]], and the fortresses of Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul, both of which are centered around a tower. ** Volume two even has the title ''The Two Towers.'' * [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Dark Tower]]'', is based entirely around this motif. ▲** One of King's other books, ''The Eye of the Dragon'', has Peter imprisoned in a cell at the top of a tower for most of the second half of the book. ▲* The Ministries in ''[[Nineteen Eighty Four\|1984]]'' * ''[[Frankenstein]]'', ''[[Dracula]]'', and countless others. * ''[[Ulysses]]'': The first episode of the novel is set in the Martello tower at Sandycove. * Throughout ''[[Harry Potter and ~~The~~the Half-Blood Prince (novel)\|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', Professor ~~Trewlany~~Trelawney can be seen going around mumbling about predictions, [[Cassandra Truth\|which no one heeds]]- particularly about how she keeps dealing the card of 'The Lightning Struck-Tower' foretelling great danger and upheaval. Then comes the chapter by the same name, which takes place in the ''actual'' astronomy tower, the highest part of Hogwarts. {{spoiler\|~~Its~~It's there that Snape kills Dumbledore, fulfilling the prophecy both literally and metaphorically.}} == [[Music]] ==▼ ▲== Music == * [[Vocaloid\|Hatsune Miku's]] song, ''Tower of Sunz'', features a tower that [[Mind Screw\|might or might not be]] symbolic. == [[Video Games]] ==▼ * Mu's fortress from ''[[Monster Rancher]]'', ▼ ~~== Religious Literature ==~~ * The entire plot of ''[[Makai ~~Toshi~~Toushi ~~Sa Ga~~SaGa]]'' revolves around one.▼ * ''[[The Bible (Literature)\|The Tower of Babel]]'' is probably one of the more infamous examples of the trope. * In ''[[Hellsinker]]'' from stage 4 and onward the main characters spend the remaining of the stages to climb up the huge Cardinal Shaft.▼ ▲== Video Games == * The Combine Citadel from ''[[Half-Life 2 (Video Game)\|Half-Life 2]]'' certainty qualifies. * The Tattered Spire in ''[[Fable II (Video Game)\|Fable II]]''. * The tower from [[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)\|Super Mario RPG]] was pretty evil... or is that more of a castle? * In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' ''[[Persona 3]]'', the tower is not only represented by a monk character who smokes and drinks at a local night club, but is also present in the form of Dark Hour version of the School. ** The Tower Social Link in ''[[Persona 4 (Video Game)\|Persona 4]]'' is represented by Shu Nakujima, a [[Child Prodigy]] whose proud mother pushes him to overachieve even further, leading to his becoming socially isolated and discontent. * The Tower Of Babil from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' cumulates evilness with impossible height: It starts in the underworld (which itself has enough height for airships to fly in) and even above ground, is still several times higher than mountains! ** The Tower of Zot, however, while it has the evilness, lacks the prestige because its exterior is never seen, anywhere. * The last dungeon of ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)\|Mother 3]]'' which is, intended or not, somewhat relevant to the Tarot Motif. * [[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)\|Shinra Building]] * [[Shadows of the Empire\|Xizors skyhook]] * Ganondorf's tower from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[Ocarina of Time]]'' and ''[[The Wind Waker]]'', game that also has the Tower Of The Gods; Eagle's Tower in [[Links Awakening]] and the Stone Tower in [[Majoras Mask]]. ▲* Mu's fortress from ''[[Monster Rancher]]'', * [[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)\|Final Fantasy VIII]]'s Lunatic Pandora. * The gigantic supercomputer from ''[[Space Quest]] IV'' is the Ominous Megastructure type. It [[After the End\|destroyed the planet's weather]] and [[Zombie Apocalypse\|zombified]] its residents with an army of cyborgs ([[AI Is a Crapshoot\|don't they all?]]) ▲* The entire plot of ''[[Makai Toshi Sa Ga]]'' revolves around one. ▲* In [[Hellsinker]] from stage 4 and onward the main characters spend the remaining of the stages to climb up the huge Cardinal Shaft. * How could we forget ''[[Devil May Cry 3]]'', where the majority of the game takes place in a massive demonic tower that just bursts out the ground? In addition, the challenge levels take place in an ever ascending version of the same tower. ~~== Western Animation ==~~ * [[Gargoyles (Animation)\|Xanatos Enterprises]] {{reflist}} Line 122 ⟶ 73: [[Category:Archetypal Character]] [[Category:Motifs]] [[Category:~~index~~Index]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Tower, The}} ~~[[Category:The Tower]]~~ [[Category:~~Trope~~{{PAGENAME}}]]