Turtle Island: Difference between revisions

{{trope|wppage=Aspidochelone}}

 

Mythical creatures of mystery: Fish, whales, or turtles (there's a definite preference for [[Turtle Power|turtles]] over any other animal) big enough to be mistaken for islands or even continents have shown up in [[Myth and Legend]] for thousands of years. They are often portrayed as being ''so'' large and ancient that soil and plantlife have grown on its back, sometimes ancient species containing something so rare that the hero (or villain) must marvel at it or try to obtain it. Often the hero gets only a brief opportunity to marvel at its existence, before it decides to set out and dive deep underwater, leaving the protagonist high and dry (or wet and drowning if he doesn't manage to get off in time). [[Fridge Logic|How the fauna and flora on its back can survive and grow when it frequently dives underwater is rarely addressed]].

== [[Literature]] ==

* Taken to extremes in ''[[Discworld]]'': the Great A'tuin the star turtle carries four less-giant elephants on its back, who in turn carry the Discworld itself on their backs, and swims through space. A Turtle Planet, if you like.

* A humongous ''sea snail'' in one of the later ''[[Doctor Dolittle]]'' books.

* Larry Niven made a reference to this in ''The Ringworld Engineers'', where Louis Wu discounted tales of such creatures, knowing the same stories had been told speciously by Earth sailors. Of course, the Great Ocean on Ringworld is ''many thousands of times bigger'' than the puny little puddles on Earth, so it's not wholly unexpected when it's confirmed such "islandfish" really ''do'' exist there.

== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==

* Mythologies from around the world came up with the idea of Earth as the body of a large creature, sometimes called a [[World Turtle]], often swimming in a cosmic ocean that predates the Earth, with the sky as another ocean above the firmament of stars.

* One of the most famous early examples would be the island in the tales of ''[[Sinbad the Sailor]]'', which he discovered was on the back of a whale. Before they realize what it is, the crew find many rare fruits and plants on the surface. Due to the fact that he's possibly [[Doom Magnet|the]] [[The Everyman|unluckiest]] [[Unfazed Everyman|man]] of his time, his entire crew manages to escape ([[Doom Magnet|the only time they ever]], however), and he gets left behind when the whale submerges and is lost at sea for years.

* Supposedly the origin for the island of Bohol in the Philippines (you can find it as a little spec at the heart of the archipelago) is that a woman fell from the sky, so a turtle turned itself into an island that she could live on. [[It Makes Sense in Context]], sort of.

* Pictured above is the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game|Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' card [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Island_Turtle Island Turtle].

* In ''[[Magi Nation]]'', the underwater civilization of Orothe builds some of their cities on the backs of giant sea turtles, as seen [http://bluefurok.com/BSImages/Giant_Parathin.jpg here]. They're mostly mermaids and the turtles themselves usually stay submerged.

 

=== Tabletop RPG ===

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask]]'' has a giant friendly turtle of an island who takes Link to a dungeon in the middle of a maelstrom. He shows up in the ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Melee'' level based on the area, too.

* In ''[[Pokémon]]'', the "Turtwig" evolutionary family (Torterra especially) is based on the world-on-a-turtle mythology.