The Wall Around the World: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{trope}}
[[File:GrandiaMap_9067.jpg|link=Grandia (video game)|frame|When neighbors from another ''continent'' get too noisy.]]
[[File:GrandiaMap 9067.jpg|link=Grandia (video game)|frame|When neighbors from another ''continent'' get too noisy.]]




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== Comic Books ==
== Comic Books ==
* The [[Incredible Hulk]] occasionally visited the Keystone Quadrant in his old comic-book series... basically a solar-system (possibly more than one) which was somehow 'walled off' from the rest of the universe, it could only be entered and exited through various types of teleportation. It was basically a [[Sugar Bowl]] without the sugar - populated by funny talking animals and hilariously incompetent Keystone Kops... and caught up in a long war between a [[Mad Scientist]] tortoise and his cybernetically-enhanced Black Bunny Brigade (not to mention a small army of robotic [[Monster Clown|Monster Clowns]]), and the heroic Animal Resistance, led by a fast-talking Raccoon space-captain.
* The [[Incredible Hulk]] occasionally visited the Keystone Quadrant in his old comic-book series... basically a solar-system (possibly more than one) which was somehow 'walled off' from the rest of the universe, it could only be entered and exited through various types of teleportation. It was basically a [[Sugar Bowl]] without the sugar - populated by funny talking animals and hilariously incompetent Keystone Kops... and caught up in a long war between a [[Mad Scientist]] tortoise and his cybernetically-enhanced Black Bunny Brigade (not to mention a small army of robotic [[Monster Clown]]s), and the heroic Animal Resistance, led by a fast-talking Raccoon space-captain.
* The Source Wall is a wall around the entire [[DCU]], which...well, who fucking knows. It makes no sense. Either 2D Space is in full effect or it lines the entire interior of the universe, in which case the universe it both finite and shaped in a way where that makes sense. Also, there are powerful cosmic beings embedded in the wall, and The Source (which may or may not be God) is on the other side.
* The Source Wall is a wall around the entire [[DCU]], which...well, who fucking knows. It makes no sense. Either 2D Space is in full effect or it lines the entire interior of the universe, in which case the universe it both finite and shaped in a way where that makes sense. Also, there are powerful cosmic beings embedded in the wall, and The Source (which may or may not be God) is on the other side.


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* In ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'' / ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'', there is a (almost impenetrable) great barrier around a region called "The Midlands", which is the central geography of the story.
* In ''[[The Sword of Truth]]'' / ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'', there is a (almost impenetrable) great barrier around a region called "The Midlands", which is the central geography of the story.
** That barrier is also re-used in ''Naked Empire'' of the same series, to close off a group of people from the rest of the world.
** That barrier is also re-used in ''Naked Empire'' of the same series, to close off a group of people from the rest of the world.
* There's one of these in [[Garth Nix]]'s ''[[Old Kingdom]]'' books, separating the nonmagical land of Ancelstierre from the Old Kingdom, where there's necromancy and other magic. It's actually an artefact containing one of the five [[Cosmic Keystone|Cosmic Keystones]] that keeps [[Functional Magic|the Charter]] together and is designed to keep anything nasty inside the Old Kingdom where people know how to deal with it. It's only moderately successful, hence the massive trench and bunker network on the Ancelstierran side.
* There's one of these in [[Garth Nix]]'s ''[[Old Kingdom]]'' books, separating the nonmagical land of Ancelstierre from the Old Kingdom, where there's necromancy and other magic. It's actually an artefact containing one of the five [[Cosmic Keystone]]s that keeps [[Functional Magic|the Charter]] together and is designed to keep anything nasty inside the Old Kingdom where people know how to deal with it. It's only moderately successful, hence the massive trench and bunker network on the Ancelstierran side.
* [[Ian McDonald]]'s ''Out on Blue Six''--the city is surrounded by a giant Wall, and the protagonists explore to see what's on the other side. {{spoiler|Turns out--nothing but toxic waste.}}
* [[Ian McDonald]]'s ''Out on Blue Six''—the city is surrounded by a giant Wall, and the protagonists explore to see what's on the other side. {{spoiler|Turns out--nothing but toxic waste.}}
* In Damon Knight's ''Hell's Pavement,'' people in Connecticut (200 years in the future) know nothing of the people in New York, who know nothing of the people in Ohio, and so on. They believe people in the other places are literally monstrous and inhuman. (There are walls between zones.) This happened because supermarket chains used brilliant new brainwashing techniques to make people totally loyal to their brands, and the adherents of different brands formed different zones.
* In Damon Knight's ''Hell's Pavement,'' people in Connecticut (200 years in the future) know nothing of the people in New York, who know nothing of the people in Ohio, and so on. They believe people in the other places are literally monstrous and inhuman. (There are walls between zones.) This happened because supermarket chains used brilliant new brainwashing techniques to make people totally loyal to their brands, and the adherents of different brands formed different zones.
* The planet Krikkit in ''[[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' was surrounded by a thick fog such that they never saw outside their world. {{spoiler|This was done by the remnants of the supercomputer Hactar, making the Krikkiters into an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] race once they saw the universe. He did this so they would use the universe-destroying bomb he had invented, thus fulfilling a duty he welched on long ago and geting rid of his long-standing guilt.}}
* The planet Krikkit in ''[[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'' was surrounded by a thick fog such that they never saw outside their world. {{spoiler|This was done by the remnants of the supercomputer Hactar, making the Krikkiters into an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] race once they saw the universe. He did this so they would use the universe-destroying bomb he had invented, thus fulfilling a duty he welched on long ago and geting rid of his long-standing guilt.}}
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** The Misty Border in the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting cuts it off from the rest of the multiverse. You can check in, but you never check out. Darklords can do this at will (with few thematically-appropriate exceptions) to isolate their own domains.
** The Misty Border in the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting cuts it off from the rest of the multiverse. You can check in, but you never check out. Darklords can do this at will (with few thematically-appropriate exceptions) to isolate their own domains.
*** The town of Barovia has its own permanent version of its domain's closed border; only the Vistani know how to make a secret antidote that allows safe passage.
*** The town of Barovia has its own permanent version of its domain's closed border; only the Vistani know how to make a secret antidote that allows safe passage.
** ''[[Spelljammer]]'' has a borderline case: crystal shells. Oh, it can have many thousands of portals... spread over the whole surface of a ''star system'', that is. It's not easy to find one without knowing where it is, and they don't always stand still forever. Thus the proper magic is the best way to locate a portal or even open temporary one -- for those who have it.
** ''[[Spelljammer]]'' has a borderline case: crystal shells. Oh, it can have many thousands of portals... spread over the whole surface of a ''star system'', that is. It's not easy to find one without knowing where it is, and they don't always stand still forever. Thus the proper magic is the best way to locate a portal or even open temporary one—for those who have it.
* The Weirding Wall in ''[[Nobilis]]'' which encloses the whole universe.
* The Weirding Wall in ''[[Nobilis]]'' which encloses the whole universe.
* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' is set in Alpha Complex, a domed city. The existence of "Outdoors Sector" is acknowledged, but information about it is limited, especially at low security clearances.
* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' is set in Alpha Complex, a domed city. The existence of "Outdoors Sector" is acknowledged, but information about it is limited, especially at low security clearances.
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* In ''[[Wild Arms 4]]'', your first indication that Ciel is not a typical RPG hamlet is when fighter craft shatter the barrier surrounding it that was disguised as sky. The outside world is quite a bit different.
* In ''[[Wild Arms 4]]'', your first indication that Ciel is not a typical RPG hamlet is when fighter craft shatter the barrier surrounding it that was disguised as sky. The outside world is quite a bit different.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has the War Walls, [[Justified Trope|justified]] as barrier against alien invasion, but really there as a level separation.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has the War Walls, [[Justified Trope|justified]] as barrier against alien invasion, but really there as a level separation.
* Palm Brinks in ''[[Dark Cloud]] 2'' was [[City in a Bottle|sealed off from the rest of the world]] via a titanic wall, far too tall to scale. This was done by the Mayor, to protect the citizens from the incredible devastation taking place in the outside world --but now that the land is healing (and with the heroes having escaped via an underground sewer/aqueduct,) many of Palm Brink's inhabitants dream of exploring and building new cities.
* Palm Brinks in ''[[Dark Cloud]] 2'' was [[City in a Bottle|sealed off from the rest of the world]] via a titanic wall, far too tall to scale. This was done by the Mayor, to protect the citizens from the incredible devastation taking place in the outside world—but now that the land is healing (and with the heroes having escaped via an underground sewer/aqueduct,) many of Palm Brink's inhabitants dream of exploring and building new cities.
* ''[[Star Control]] 2'' has slave shields -- barriers around homeworlds of defeated races who don't want to fight on Ur-Quan side.
* ''[[Star Control]] 2'' has slave shields—barriers around homeworlds of defeated races who don't want to fight on Ur-Quan side.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda|The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker]]'': The Great Sea has no physical barrier to keep you from leaving the map. However, your boat tells you that it's dangerous to leave and turns you around.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda|The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker]]'': The Great Sea has no physical barrier to keep you from leaving the map. However, your boat tells you that it's dangerous to leave and turns you around.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]]'' has an impenetrable cloud cover that separates the residents of Skyloft from the surface. As far as the people of Skyloft are concerned, the "surface" is a mythical place, rumored to be filled with monsters.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]]'' has an impenetrable cloud cover that separates the residents of Skyloft from the surface. As far as the people of Skyloft are concerned, the "surface" is a mythical place, rumored to be filled with monsters.
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