History Main / HereThereWereDragons

** There are youtube videos of the original youtuber stars puzzling over how much youtube has changed in so little time.

Compare with DeathOfTheOldGods and {{Gotterdammerung}}, where it's the gods that have left or died (respectively). See also TheTimeOfMyths. If told in the opening minutes of the work, likely a MythPrologue. If the story is ''about'' the magic going away it's, well, TheMagicGoesAway. See also EndOfAnAge. Not to be confused with HereThereBeDragons; there never were any real dragons in that trope.

** Tolkien retconned the purpose of the quest in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' to be Gandalf's move to deny Sauron a weapon of mass destruction by making this literally true. Smaug was the last great dragon left in Middle Earth (a number of weaker, lesser serpents survived in the far north), and even then he was no true match for the great dragons of the First Age.

* In ''Literature/TheDarkGods'', the five realms were connected and had a golden age thanks to the power of quintessence. But when the four younger gods killed their older brother, they destroyed his realm and the connections between them. By the time the series starts, centuries later the four remaining realms have begun to decay and most have forgotten a fifth god ever existed.

* All fiction is true in ''ComicBook/LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', meaning there are a bunch of fantastic lands and creatures out there. By the time of ''Century: 2009'', however, they've mostly been destroyed or forgotten about (usually interpreted as Moore's AuthorTract about the quality of modern fiction). Volume 4 continues this theme, but shows all those forgotten places and people still left a mark on the world.

* ''Manga/InuYasha''. Seems like you couldn't go anywhere in Sengoku-period Japan without tripping over a demon. Five hundred years later, though, there's nary a one to be found, or any evidence that they had ever existed. A bit odd in that the characters have run into one of the show's {{Plot Coupon}}s in the present (although it was being guarded by a [[SealedEvilInACan sealed demon]]). However, they once saw the soul piper in the modern day, so there are exceptions. This is actually keeping in with Japanese mythology -- youkai and lesser spirits are said to dislike electricity, and power lines create electromagnetic fields that repulse them.
* ''Anime/FairyMusketeers'' takes place in two worlds, the world of technology and the world of magic. The two worlds were once one, however were split into two by 'God' after a single human proved just how terrifyingly much potential humanity had if they were given access to both technology AND magic.

* One of the main themes in Creator/JRRTolkien's works, although it's most obvious in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. In fact, it is implied in some of Tolkien's letters that Middle Earth is our own world (specifically Europe and northern Africa) in the very distant past, with the implication being that all the fantastic creatures and magic were lost over time.

* Another work which uses the sixteenth-century departure tradition is Kipling's ''Literature/PuckOfPooksHill'', in which Corbet's poem is quoted and then Puck says:

* As described in the Real Life entry below, Music/{{Supertramp}}'s "The Logical Song" highlights this issue through a GrowingUpSucks lens.

[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
* Implied in [[TheTimeOfMyths all mythologies.]] The big ElephantInTheLivingRoom, back when those myths were believed, was that in the past you had heroes and magic and gods running around, but by the time of those telling the story, all such things had vanished with no explanation. This is interestingly {{Double Subver|sion}}ted in medieval European chronicles themselves, where they took TheTimeOfMyths to be when the early parts of Literature/TheBible were set, and then there were about 1500 years of no supernatural things (with [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} one exception]]) occurring during UsefulNotes/AncientGreece and AncientRome, but ''then''... [[TheMagicComesBack there were tales of sorcerers, dragons, and]] [[KnightInShiningArmor Knights In Shining Armor]]... which inexplicably disappeared at some unspecified point in the narratives.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Replacing magic with technology, you have the Dark/Golden Age of Technology, when Mankind had access to unbelievably awesome technology. Nowadays finding the tiniest scrap of it makes a man rich beyond his wildest dreams. Why is it called the Dark Age? Because men's use of technology meant they didn't worship the GodEmperor (the truth is a bit more complicated, the Emperor didn't ''want'' anyone worshiping him in those days, and wanted science to replace religion).

** ''Chrono Trigger'' also inverts the trope: you go back far enough, you come out to ''before'' there was magic (this is why the party member from that time, Ayla, can never learn it). {{Ps|ychicPowers}}ionics, on the other hand, exist... and are used by the Reptite dinosaur-people. The only reason humanity survives to reach the age of magic as opposed to the more advanced Reptite civilization? Sheer luck -- Lavos took out the Reptite capitol when it hit Earth and the Ice Age killed the rest. This is a ([[KudzuPlot very confusing]]) plot point in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'': The premise of the franchise is that the power of Alchemy was sealed away in the distant past. Among the select few who know about the seal, conflict arises between those who want to remove the seal and those who want to maintain it. The second game explains that because Alchemy was sealed, not only was the majority of magic also sealed, but the lot of ancient technology and the methods to create things from it also went away. The sealing of Alchemy causes the world to regress to the point where there's only small towns and villages across the world and everyone doesn't understand the purpose the ancient structures like the elemental lighthouses or the elemetal rocks/mountains. On top of this, the sealing of Alchemy changed the world to become a FlatWorld and is slowly crumbling away. ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' [[TheMagicComesBack brings Alchemy back]] and reveals some ancient ruins and technology that were buried underground.

* ''Webcomic/CodenameHunter'' ''starts'' there. Then all hell breaks loose.

* In ''Webcomic/ImpureBlood'', there used to be Ancients, [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter005/ib025.html but even Roan's mother was only a half-blood]]. [[http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter005/ib026.html There used to be monsters that the Ancients fought, too.]]

-->"[[Music/PuffTheMagicDragon A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys. Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys...]]"
* As humanity's knowledge of the natural world increases, many of the phenomena once thought to result from magic or supernatural forces are given scientific explanations. This sometimes gives the impression (especially when reading old books from, say, the Middle Ages, which are often full of miracles and unexplained phenomena) that the world has become a more mundane place than it was back then.

* Planet Venus. (Or Mars, perhaps less so.) Public image, nourished by SF, before a probe got through, was a [[VenusIsWet hot jungle full of life]]. At least the "[[DeathWorld hot]]" part was right.
* Discussed in Creator/RichardDawkins' ''Unweaving The Rainbow''. He [[AuthorTract heavily argues against]] the common notion that science slays the dragons and kills the magic.

** Some users on Tumblr have theorized this is why a lot of older users from the X and Y generations have so much nostalgia for TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium--though with computer and internet technology than "magic". Many Gen-X'ers and Millenials. Between 1990 and 2010, computers and worldwide networking made absolutely '''''massive''''' strides forward, with the idea of a personal computer going from a large, expensive, and heavy beige box with a simple screen and noisy keyboard and requiring a lengthy dialup that was physically connected to the wall, to something that could be held in the palm of your hand, carried in your pocket, and could access the world wide web from practically ''anywhere''. In a span of 20 years, the world suddenly became a lot more accessible--and a lot smaller in the process.

[[quoteright:350:[[Wiki/SCPFoundation https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_570.jpg]]]]

Compare with DeathOfTheOldGods and {{Gotterdammerung}}, where it's the gods that have left or died (respectively). See also TheTimeOfMyths. If the story is ''about'' the magic going away it's, well, TheMagicGoesAway. See also EndOfAnAge. Not to be confused with HereThereBeDragons; there never were any real dragons in that trope.

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/{{Dragonslayer}}'' is all about the transition from a magical world to this. Galen, a sorcerer's apprentice, isn't happy about magic fading from the world. Some of the villagers, though, are quite happy they won't have to be worrying about random dragon attacks anymore. In the end [[spoiler:all the magic disappears... or has it?]]

* The Djinn in ''Film/{{Wishmaster}}'' discusses how the magic and spells of the past are now forgotten, and there is nothing left to stop him with.