History Main / EarthIsTheCenterOftheUniverse

* Played semi-straight and justified in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. Earth/Terra is the psychic beacon known as the Astronomicon, necessary for faster-than-light travel by providing a "landmark" in [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]]. If the Astronomicon didn't exist, then all ships wishing to travel through the Warp would be eaten by daemons (or worse), rather than there being just a slight chance of such horrors occurring.
** However it is only important to humans, as other factions don't require such equipment, utilizing other methods.

*** Terra is also the capital world of the vastest empire in the ''Warhammer 40K'' universe - the Imperium of Mankind, the single biggest political and military force in the galaxy. Terra is also notably the site of the final and most crucial stage of the HorusHeresy, and ever since has been the most heavily fortified world in the entire Imperium - to put that into perspective, it makes the second most heavily defended world look like ''a sandcastle''.
*** It's also hinted, especially via Tyrannid fluff, that while Earth may be the most important world in the galaxy, the universe as a whole is a lot bigger - the light-years long hive fleets capable of consuming entire systems may only be the first probing fingers of an organism the size of galaxies which has already consumed far large and more powerful empires. The Earth seems important to humans, but to others it's just a small part of their next snack.

* Subverted in DianeDuane's ''[[YoungWizards High Wizardry]]'': When Dairine Callahan magically transports herself to the galactic equivalent of [[BigApplesauce Grand Central Station]], she asks a passing "alien" what planet she's on. "Earth," it replies. "Oh. Well, what do other people call it?" "Oh, a whole lot of silly things. There's a directory over there."

** This bit of logic is especially weak, since humans are shown as having ''far'' more colony worlds than any other Federation race (possibly more than all of them combined). Even if Earth were obliterated there would still be vast numbers of humans spread out across Federation space and beyond and Starfleet with it's starships and starbases would still exist. Indeed, it is stated repeatedly over the series that interstellar colonization is part of a grand survival strategy for the human race. Thus the trope is played very straight in that ''Earth'' itself is somehow special, not just humanity.

*** We are never told exactly how big a "sector" is, but it is at least tens of light years based on several episodes[[note]]It contains Wolf 359 and 40 Eridani A, which are just under 20 light years apart[[/note]]. 001 could well contain many other species homeworlds as well.

->''Why Earth of all places? It would have been nice if it decided to hibernate on Neptune or something.''
-->-- '''Kyon''', ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''

-->-- '''Kyon''', ''[[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''

->Whenever something (or someone) leaves, escapes, or is otherwise ejected from Cybertron, there's a disproportionate chance it will eventually wind up on Earth.
--> The [[Wiki/TFWikiDotNet Transformers Wiki]] [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Earth page on Earth.]]

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1'' seems to completely avert this at first - Earth is a backwater world almost nobody even notices. When it gets destroyed, even Ford Prefect, who lived on it for ''fifteen years'' can't bring himself to give a damn. Then it turns out to have been the galaxy's most powerful super-computer. Trope gets played more or less straight from there on.

** However it is only important to humans, as other factions don't require such equipment, utilising other methods.

** Terra is also the capital world of the vastest empire in the ''Warhammer 40K'' universe - the Imperium of Mankind, the single biggest political and military force in the galaxy. Terra is also notably the site of the final and most crucial stage of the HorusHeresy, and ever since has been the most heavily fortified world in the entire Imperium - to put that into perspective, it makes the second most heavily defended world look like ''a sandcastle''.
*** Also worth noting is that Terra is the capital of the largest empire ''in the current time'' (ie. the 41st millennium). That wasn't always the case though, and some background stories go back before the empire was formed, or even before humans had left the stone age. It's also hinted, especially via Tyrannid fluff, that while Earth may be the most important world in the galaxy, the universe as a whole is a lot bigger - the light-years long hive fleets capable of consuming entire systems may only be the first probing fingers of an organism the size of galaxies which has already consumed far large and more powerful empires. The Earth seems important to humans, but to others it's just a small part of their next snack.
** Because of this, the galactic map looks extremely lopsided, with the segmentums surrounding the Segmentum Solar rather small - relatively speaking - due to Sol's position in one spiral arm, and the ones to the galactic east utterly enormous.

*** Also worth noting is that Terra is the capital of the largest empire ''in the current time'' (ie. the 41st millennium). That wasn't always the case though, and some background stories go back before the empire was formed, or even before humans had left the stone age. It's also hinted, especially via Tyrannid fluff, that while Earth may be the most important world in the galaxy, the universe as a whole is a lot bigger - the light-years long hive fleets capable of consuming entire systems may only be the first probing fingers of an organism the size of galaxies which has already consumed far large and more powerful empires.

* Averted in Creator/AlastairReynolds' ''Revelation Space'' universe: the little we hear about Earth suggests that a major Ice Age has turned it into a backwater.

* There isn't any Earth in ''StarWars'', but there is a Human homeworld, Coruscant, pretty much the Earth-analog. It is officially the center of the Universe, with its galactic coordinates 0.0.0. Probably inspired by the RealLife NASA coordinate system using Earth as the center point.

* {{Ultraman}} and all his successors keep coming to Earth.
** To be fair, the Ultramen are basically Japanese {{Green Lantern}}s. It can be assumed there are thousands of other Ultramen patroling the rest of the universe.

*** The trope is lampshaded in "Deadman Switch":
----> '''[[PunchClockVillain Aris Boch]]:''' Contrary to popular human belief, the Earth is ''not'' the center of the universe.

** In ''Series/StargateUniverse'' the point of origin for dialing into ''Destiny'' is not the local stargate's but Earth's.
*** It is actually kind of justified in that Earth is the homeworld of the Ancients, who built Atlantis and Destiny. Humanity is descended from the Ancients, so that is the reason why we are on the same planet.

* In the default setting for the {{Animesque}} ''TeenagersFromOuterSpace'', Earth is the center of the universe because all other cultures are fascinated with its cultural diversity.

*** We are never told exactly how big a "sector" is, but it is at least tens of light years based on several episodes[[hottip:*:It contains Wolf 359 and 40 Eridani A, which are just under 20 light years apart]]. 001 could well contain many other species homeworlds as well.

* Averted in AlastairReynolds' ''Revelation Space'' universe: the little we hear about Earth suggests that a major Ice Age has turned it into a backwater.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Why on Earth would the capital of the Federation be... er, Earth? ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'', depending on your point of view, either [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] this or [[HandWave waves it away]] by saying that other species were out there first, but humans were the diplomats of the galaxy and formed the heart of the Federation -- that without humans, it would have taken much longer or might never have happened at all. It is also noteworthy that, while the Federation is based on Earth, several presidents have been non-human.

** The Dominion, and to a greater extent the Borg, tend to describe conquering Earth to be the same thing as conquering the Federation. While, as stated above, Federation headquarters is on Earth, they seem to consider all the other territory in the Federation, and any opposition they might put forth, to be negligible.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' practically defines the trope. Every time there's a rift, a cosmic vortex, a long-dead race returning to conquer, an evil galactic bureaucracy whose schemes require a planet-sized sacrifice, ''anything'', it happens to Earth. The 2005 revival is a particular offender: At last count, seven different alien menaces have suffered some kind of catastrophe and, needing a planet on which to convalesce or just crash-land, chose Earth for no adequately explained reason -- or they just "fell through time and space" and landed there by coincidence. (Including the Daleks. ''Three times''.) [[spoiler:At least in series 5 this is likely due to the fact that falling through time and space actually meant falling through the cracks in time and space caused by the explosion of the TARDIS on Earth in the penultimate episode.]] During the first series, no episode was set outside the Solar System. In the BigFinishDoctorWho audio ''Doctor Who And The Pirates'', the Doctor rattles off (to the tune of "I am the very model of a modern Major General") a list of planets he's saved, and Earth is every third entry.

* ''Manga/DragonBall Z'':

* ''LiloAndStitch'' demonstrates this perfectly. An intergalactic criminal is put on trial and given his sentence. When he escapes from the transport, the galactic conference watches in awe as the torn up ship descends on a certain [[strike: planet]] protected nature reserve in a certain solar system.

* In ''MarvelZombies'' the zombie Galacti (don't ask) manage to destroy every planet in the universe until finally going back to Earth. Justified in that it was said that the inhabitants had forty years to plan a defense if the zombies ever came back. Another thing to remember is that by this time some of the zombies were losing their hunger as [[spoiler:Spiderman and Luke Cage are the first to help the humans]].

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''TheDarkTower,'' the eponymous tower is the proverbial axle around which the ''entire multiverse'' turns. In [[AfterTheEnd Roland's version]] of Earth it manifests as a tower, but in ours, it appears as a rose in a vacant lot. [[BigApplesauce Guess where]] the lot is located.