History FisherKing / Literature

** Though he is relatively incompetent as Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge wasn't a Death Eater and was merely a democratically elected official, and as such, the wizarding world was, for the most part, a joyous place. Diagon Alley was lively and fun. Other wizarding communities were mostly peaceful. When Voldemort started to have a grip over the wizarding world in the sixth book (and downright took complete control in the seventh), Diagon Alley became barren and other wizarding (and non-wizarding) communities became dark, dreary, and chilly. Admittedly, the earlier is justified in that the Death Eaters roamed Diagon Alley, and the latter is justified because Voldemort had Dementors roaming through the villages, and they have that sort of effect on their current environment.

* Lancre doesn't care if its king is good or evil, but it will rebel against a king who doesn't ''like'' the country itself. It is compared to a dog that doesn't care what its master does with it, but wants a master who cares for it. This reflects how Lancre's residents share the pragmatic view everyday life really isn't affected by kings most of the time.

** And in ''Literature/ASuddenWildMagic'', the magical imbalance between Earth and the Pentarchy causes the gods of the Pentarchy to become ill and weak, and the lands to suffer climate change. In order for the imbalance to be removed, the political figures whose actions caused it must either die or redress the imbalance by leaving the Pentarchy for Earth.

** In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series, monarchs with a strong Earth Sense (a kind of passive empathy that tends to run in noble families) can ritually bind themselves to their land. Doing so not only links their health to the earth's health, it gives them the ability to sense what is happening on their soil. This tends to result in good rulers, since any mismanagement of the land will hurt ''them''.
** In ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'', the ambient magic known as the Tradition will give prosperity to kingdoms with good rulers but misery to kingdoms with bad ones.

** The villain of ''Literature/LastCall'' is a gangster who established himself as Fisher King for the American West - based in Las Vegas, naturally - and uses BlackMagic to steal bodies to become immortal; the heroes refer to him as '[[Myth/ClassicalMythology Saturn]]'. Notably, the novel contains many references to ''The Waste Land'', and it's established that the last Fisher King before the villain was Bugsy Siegel. In the sequel, ''Literature/EarthquakeWeather'', the protagonist of ''Last Call'' has become the new Fisher King.

* Happens all the time in [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien's]] Middle-earth writings. Justified when the kings in question are semi-divine, and their will and nature has direct influence on physical matter; so the land of the Valar (angels) is paradisiacal, the land ruled by Morgoth (Satan) or Sauron (Satan Jr.) is always hellish. Tolkien referred to these effects as "Secondary World Powers" in his commentaries.
** Also, the forest kingdom of Doriath is protected by Queen Melian's divine magic, an almost literal fence or maze that keeps unwanted visitors out. When the King dies and she abandons the land, Doriath is very soon overrun by its enemies. Galadriel, though an Elf, learned a lot under Melian and hence later she does something very similar for Lórien.

* ''Literature/TheBookOfLostThings'' by Creator/JohnConnolly follows a boy named David as he enters a CrapsackWorld of warped fairy-tales managed by a failing fisher king. Because the aging king's hold on the land is weakening, monsters are beginning to appear and a famine has struck the kingdom. Beyond even that, it turns out [[spoiler: that the fairy-tale land is changed by the fears and desires of the children [[BlessedWithSuck cursed to rule it]]. The wolfmen only exist at all because the king was afraid of wolves as a boy.]]

* In Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Chalice}}'', the Master of a demesne is a Fisher King. Apparently, that is not enough: the demesne needs an entire Fisher ''Court'' to run properly. Every demesne is like this, and part of the reason things were so unbalanced is that the emperor (the Master of the Masters) was a corrupt, evil man.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Invoked in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', where the White Witch, who has usurped the throne of Narnia, has cast a spell over the land so that it is "always winter and never Christmas" to match her cold, cruel personality. When Aslan arrives to end her reign, the spell breaks, and the land begins to become warmer.
* In the ''Second [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'', Lord Foul is a sort of Fisher King, or rather the Fisher King's illness. His presence corrupts the magical Earthpower, causing the Sunbane which warps the Land's weather so severely that travel is impossible without powerful magic. His defeat allows Linden to restore the natural order.
* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', the royal family's curse causes every decision they make, be it directing a war or political maneuverings, to be twisted, increasing the likelihood of failure by mischance or enemy action.
* In Creator/TanithLee's ''Literature/DeathsMaster'', Narasen's kingdom is cursed to be as barren as she was. After her death, she returns and reinvokes the curse in jealous revenge, contaminating the land with the poison that killed her.
* ''Literature/DunctonWood'': After Mandrake is usurped from the titular Duncton Wood (A murderous unstable tyrant who already made things pretty worse off in the beginning), his TreacherousAdvisor / ManipulativeBastard Rune took control of the system of moles, and managed to make things even "WORSE" than they'd ever been. He enforces grave and brutal punishments to moles who commit misdemeanor, such as being cannibalized, blinded, maimed, having their snouts crushed, among other terrible things.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]]: In the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novel ''The Crooked World'', the Doctor and his companions inadvertently become this when they arrive on a world populated entirely by cartoon animals, soon realising that their presence is introducing new concepts as the original natives break out of their old routines and even become capable of killing each other. [[spoiler:It is established at the end of the novel that the world was originally created when a young girl crash-landed on the initially blank planet in an escape pod, her childish perceptions of old cartoons shaping the world around her before she finally died]].

** A magically {{justified}} case occurs with the Room of Requirement, which produces books, targets, and any materials its user needs on a whim.
* Invoked in Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' series: After Ancar usurps the throne of Hardorn, he damages the land by draining its magical energy for his own use. After he gets taken down, the locals insist that his [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure replacement]] accept a magical link to the land to prevent him from doing the same, since harming the land would mean harming himself. Since the land is still damaged when this happens, this is rather unpleasant for the new king at first.

* ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'': In ''Literature/BeingAGreenMother'' by Creator/PiersAnthony, Gaea's fury over being deceived by the man she's in love with triggers massive earth-wide storms. Later, when she's grieving, her tears are echoed by worldwide rain.
* In ''Inne Pieśni'' (''Other Songs'') by Polish author Creator/JacekDukaj ([[SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike pity the fact he's not translated into English, guys and girls!]]), world is ruled by both "casual" kings (who do not exhibit this trope) and ''kratistoi'', virtually demigods whose {{Determinator}}-plus level force of will influences both people and land of their domains.

* The fairy kingdom of Lost-hope in ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'' by Susanna Clarke. Under the dominion of the ''Gentleman with the thistle-down hair'', an amorally cruel and capricious and extremely [[ItsAllAboutMe narcissistic]] fairy, it is a sad and dismal place, a derelict manor on a windswept moor surrounded by a dark leafless wood, with the remains of ancient battles rotting outside. [[TheFairFolk The fairy inhabitants]] spend their time in endless balls, they have "idled away their days in pointless pleasures and in celebrations of past cruelties". After [[spoiler:the Gentleman with the thistle-down hair is defeated and the new king approaches, Lost-hope becomes a gentler place, more ancient and primeval but also "possessed of a spirit of freshness, of innocence", and the barren winter trees start to show the first hints of fresh green.]] The Gentleman also does this to [[CityOfCanals Venice]] while Strange is living there, turning into a Goth Punk city as part of a plan to drive Strange insane.

* In both the film and the book ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'', the land of King Haggard (exactly like he sounds) is a barren wasteland. (With, in the book, one particular exception.) When [[spoiler:he dies and is succeeded by his adopted son]], the countryside begins to bloom again.
** Though part of that was because [[spoiler:all the unicorns in the world went stampeding across it after being freed from the Red Bull]]. Given the apparent powers of unicorns, that would tend to springify the place.

* Escalated in ''The Lords of Dûs'' series where it is not the ruling king who influences the land, but the ruling ''god'' who influences ''the world''. Each of the gods rules the world for a given age, and during that age, the world reflects their nature. The novel begins during the Age of the Goddess of Decay when all the kingdoms are in decline. It transitions into the Age of Destruction and wars break out. The ultimate fear of many characters is when the Fifteenth Age begins, ruled by the God of Death.
* In Terry Brooks' novel ''Literature/MagicKingdomForSaleSold'', the [[GeniusLoci palace of Sterling Silver]] and her magical, self-stocking larder are tarnished, decrepit and dying from years of neglect and ruin. The old rulers set up a contract to "sell" the kingdom of Landover to anyone who wanted to be king, filling the throne but leaving the kingdom both morally and spiritually bereft. It was almost worse for the kingdom than having no king at all. Widower Ben Holiday only takes the job because he thinks it's a hoax and he needs some relief from his grief. However, he turns out to be exactly the moral, spiritual guardian for which the kingdom was starving. He and Landover end up healing each other.

* ''Literature/MerryGentry'' - by Laurell K. Hamilton. The Courts of Faerie are only as alive and fertile as their rulers. Both Taranis (Seelie Court) and Andais (Unseelie Court) learn of their infertility and handle it differently. [[LightIsNotGood Taranis]], King of Illusion, pretends everything is fine, and murders, banishes or beats anyone who says otherwise, terrified of losing his throne (and life). Andais, after centuries of a dying sithen and a bloodthirsty tyrannical rule, finally gives in and goes to a human doctor, who confirms her infertility. She grudgingly agrees to give up the throne to whichever of her two descendants can make a baby first.

* Creator/MichaelEnde's ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': Phantasién (or Fantasia/Fantastica) is linked to the Childlike Empress: She is the source of all life, and without her, the world could no longer live, like a human body that had lost its heart. As an extension of this, Phantasién is subjected to The Nothing whenever the Childlike Empress needs a new name.
** Grograman The Many colored Death is a lion who brings the desert with him. At night, he dies by turning to stone and in the desert's place grows Perilin the Night Forest, a luminescent forest with fast growing plants and trees whose seeds resemble sparks falling to the ground. With daybreak, the plants turn to dust as Grograman awakens.

* In John Barnes's ''Literature/OneForTheMorningGlory'', Overhill has been reduced to a [[{{Mordor}} wasteland]] under the reign of the usurper Waldo. [[RightfulKingReturns Queen Calliope, returning]], is told that it has even become better since the usurper left to continue his conquests.
* J.M. Barrie's ''Literature/PeterPan'' works this way. Neverland awakes when Peter returns. When he becomes angry, the land is covered in storms. When he's happy, it's sunny and summer.

* Creator/PatriciaAMcKillip's ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'' lives and breathes this trope. All the land-rulers are Fisher Kings, that's just the nature of the universe.
* In Creator/StephenHunt's ''The Rise of the Iron Moon'', the new queen goes barefoot because she can feel the land, and communicates with it and a long-dead queen, and declares, justly, that she is the land and the land is she.
* ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' - A number of strange omens including a hen attempting to crow are taken as signs that the current imperial line is falling out of favor with the heavens.
* In Terry Brooks' ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' world, both ancient fey and evil supernatural rulers have domains that reflect their personalities. The King of the Silver River appears as an ancient, stooped old man. Good at heart, his land is a haven for travellers seeking respite from the monsters of the surrounding land; even the very air is relaxing and peaceful. Uhl Belk, the Stone King, is turning his entire realm to stone. He has lost sight of the fact that this is actually hurting himself in the process, not just everyone else. The Skull Kingdom is all but infected by the evil of the Warlock Lord to become a barren, lifeless country surrounded by poisonous mists and inhabited by horrible, mutated monsters. The Maelmord is a living jungle that has become something that attempts to kill anything that steps foot in it. It is the domain of the Ildatch and reflects its evil to such an extent that it acts as a first line of protection against anyone seeking the Ildatch to destroy it.
* Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''Literature/SpiralArm'': In ''Up Jim River'', the emperor of Morning Dew hates his position because all his subjects believe this trope, and therefore he's to blame for anything that goes wrong.
* In Creator/DianeDuane's ''Stealing The Elf-King's Roses'', the position of the Laurin, the King of All Elves, turns out to be something like this. The world of Alfheim has a [[GeniusLoci will of its own]], and the title of the Laurin must be held by an Alfen who possesses a strong enough command of "worldmastery" to understand that they are a servant to that will rather than the master of it. A good bit of the plot is set into motion by the current Laurin's fear of what would happen if the people of other worlds succeeded in invading Alfheim and wiping out the Alfen without any understanding of worldmastery, and the resolution of the storyline hings on the fact that, as the Laurin himself states, "As I go, so go my people."

* In Creator/DianeDuane's ''Literature/TheTaleOfTheFive'', Kings and Lords are bound to their lands. In times of famine, a Lord may be sacrificed to the land by his people, his body being plowed into the soil; this normally helps matters. One of the signs of the evil taking over the land is it interfering with that ancient bond.
* In Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'', this is seen as a manifestation of "The Tradition", a universal force that basically compels the world to act out fairy tales. As Godmother Bella explains to Elena in the first book, her kingdom's prosperous nature comes from having a good king and queen. And Andie's [[MeaningfulName Acadia]] in the second book always relatively pleasant thanks to all the songs and poetry about their fair weather. Except when it comes time for a sacrifice - gloomy grey days for the drugged ones or thunderous storms for the fighters. And in the third book, the worst one happens when an Evil Jinn takes up residence in a castle, forcing the entire area to turn into a fierce desert that grows as he gets stronger.
* In Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' series the King eventually gains possession of a jewel that can make the land itself rise against invaders if necessary. Notable in that there is a huge famine as a result of using that power after the King is forced to use it, and as later described by the characters, the power to make the land attack the invaders came from the living potential of the entire kingdom's stores of edible plants — specifically, the stores that would have been used to produce a crop for the next year. Result: a near bankrupt kingdom for several years because they had to buy all the food that they would normally have grown. Not exactly the best start to the new king's reign, but it gets better.
* In an Inversion, Christopher Anvil's short story ''Literature/TheTroublemaker'' features a planet where the King, a volunteer who serves a term, and every noble in the realm currently in office, have devices called neuristers surgically implanted in parts of their bodies. When triggered, the neurister stimulates a nearby nerve with, depending on the circumstances, a sense of uneasiness, pressure, itching, burning, feeling of pain or downright agony. Each subject of the kingdom has implanted within them a transmitter that sets it off, and neuristers correspond to a geographical region. So if a natural disaster hits somewhere, every noble with power in the region feels pain. Oh, and if any noble even thinks of evading duty, every single neurister in their body activates.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' novel ''Literature/RiseOfTheHorde''. When the orcs lived in harmony with their surroundings and respected the elements, the land was lush and verdant, but when they started using [[BlackMagic Fel magic]], life was slowly being drained from the land, who as a result eventually turned most of their home planet into a dry, red wasteland.
* A rather large part of Creator/TSEliot's ''Literature/TheWasteLand''. The motif of dry/wet and its symbolism of life, death, and resurrection recur in the poem, and parts III and V explicitly refer to the Arthurian motif. Indeed, Eliot's notes to the poem specifically cite From Ritual to Romance, a book which discusses the origins of the Fisher King motif in Arthurian legend in much detail.
* As Creator/RobertJordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' goes on, the world becomes a worse place to live, the weather system is screwy as hell, and chaos reigns in most of the countries due to years of near constant warfare, from civil strife to human to inhuman invasion. Bubbles of Evil cover the earth killing people, and ghosts are even appearing as the Pattern itself becomes unstable. This is reflected by Rand's mental health, as he slowly goes mad. By the end of ''Knife of Dreams'', Rand is schizophrenic, [[spoiler:is missing a hand, and his eyes are damaged]]. He also has the traditional unhealing wound in his side. Moridin even refers to Rand as the Fisher King, after a crucial piece in a complicated, nearly forgotten board game. Even in book 1 (when the weather was only mildly odd and Rand not yet mad or injured) we get the phrase, 'The Dragon is one with the land, and the land is one with the Dragon'.
** In the conclusion of ''The Gathering Storm'', [[spoiler:Rand has gone through his DespairEventHorizon and out the other side, and it's implied he has fixed his schizophrenia--at any rate, Lews Therin won't be talking in his head anymore--and, for the first time in virtually the entire book, the clouds break and pure sunlight shines through.]] Immediately following this in the next book, Rand [[spoiler:makes an entire orchard of rotten apples grow instantly, and wherever he goes, the clouds clear up and the sun shines]].

* Lancre in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' rebels depending on how much the king ''likes'' the country itself and cares about ruling in general. How the ruler treats the people of the country is seen as somewhat irrelevant, as Lancre residents share the pragmatic view everyday life really isn't affected by kings most of the time.
** For that matter, Carrot has a remarkable ability to bring people around to his point of view, even if said people are residents of [[WretchedHive Ankh-Morpork]]. Practically everyone in the city knows him; he's also very well-liked, and no one has been known to actually ''dislike'' him. Part of his charisma may come from his naturally humble and bright outlook on life. [[spoiler: Of course, it could also be attributable to the fact that he is the rightful heir to the vacated throne of Ankh-Morpork, and in the Disc's magical environment, such titles carry a lot more meaning behind them.]]

* In ''Inne Pieśni'' (''Other Songs'') by Polish author Creator/JacekDukaj ([[SugarWiki/GushingAboutShowsYouLike pity the fact he's not translated into English, guys and girls!]]), world is ruled by both "casual" kings (who do not exhibit this trope) and ''kratistoi'', virtually demigods whose {{Determinator}}[[UpToEleven -plus]] level force of will influences both people and land of their domains.

* In an Inversion, Christopher Anvil's short story "The Troublemaker" features a planet where the King, a volunteer who serves a term, and every noble in the realm currently in office, have devices called neuristers surgically implanted in parts of their bodies. When triggered, the neurister stimulates a nearby nerve with, depending on the circumstances, a sense of uneasiness, pressure, itching, burning, feeling of pain or downright agony. Each subject of the kingdom has implanted within them a transmitter that sets it off, and neuristers correspond to a geographical region. So if a natural disaster hits somewhere, every noble with power in the region feels pain. Oh, and if any noble even thinks of evading duty, every single neurister in their body activates.

** Her ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'' mentions that many kings have this relationship with their country.

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