History Main / SeaOfSand

This popular image, it should be noted, is in large part ArtisticLicenseGeography. While true sand seas do exist, chiefly in African and Arabian deserts, hot deserts[[note]]"desert" technically refers to any barren environment with little precipitation, including polar ice caps[[/note]] are more likely to be rocky and hilly, with rock formations and loose gravel; even in true sandy deserts, extensive badlands and rock formations are fairly common.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The Gerudo Desert is essentially a giant sandpit filling the southwest corner of the map, with a few rocky formations or weathered ruins poking out here and there. The sand is a not insignificant obstacle to travel, as Link will be slowed down by sinking into the loose sand unless he wears special sand boots, putting him at a distinct disadvantage to the [[LizardMen Lizalfos]] and [[SandWorm Moldugas]] that swim through the sand like water. Other than that, the only inhabited areas in the desert are Gerudo Town and Kara Kara Bazaar, built over the only two oases in the desert. Notably, while players can normally instantly orient themselves by using the Sheikah slate's map function, large sections of the desert are periodically obscured by large sandstorms that cut off service for the slate while lowering visibility to nil, making getting lost a very real danger.

[[quoteright:256:[[VideoGame/StarFoxCommand https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/star_fox_titania.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:256:At least this one has a pretty moon.]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Malleus's dungeon is buried under a great sandy desert.
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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Soul}}'' has The Zone, a place covered in dark, sandy substances where all people go into when they're hyperfocusing on a particular action. Moonwind and his crew even ride along the sand like waves.

Compare ShiftingSandLand for the video game version and ThirstyDesert when basic survival is the main concern rather than keeping your bearings. This is often occurs on a desert-based SingleBiomePlanet. May also contain a DesertSkull. See also AllDesertsHaveCacti for the only noteworthy features you'll find here.

* Makers of scale model kits depicting the North African battles of WWII tend to fall victim to this trope. Veterans of the African war will tell you that North Africa was an extraordinarily varied landscape ranging from the European-style cultivated fields and farms of the coast right down to the Great Sand Sea of the true Sahara. In practice, however, the war was fought over terrain characterized by arid scrub strewn with dust, rock, pebbles and gravel. Manufacturers of models of the men and terrain invariably depict sand dunes and the Great Sand Sea; this model of the Afrika Korps' most numerous battle tank depicts it cresting a sand-dune with the obligatory sun-bleached animal skull to add visual interest. Box-art and illustrations also revolve around an excess of sand and sand-dunes.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/{{Vikings}}'' this how Halfdan explains what a desert is to Lagertha after he and Björn travel through it.
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* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' Has a bunch, and basically [[AllDesertsHaveCacti all of them have Cactuars]]:
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' has Bikanel Island, home of the Al Bhed. The player starts their journey through here at an oasis.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has the Altepa Desert. Its only oasis is Rabao.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' takes this trope quite literally with the Ogir-Yensa and Nam-Yensa Sandseas. Wide stretches of the Sandseas has sand with the consistency of water. The only way for the players to cross is on the scaffolds surrounding oil rigs. Natives to the area cross riding fish/dolphin-like creatures.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has two: Southern Thanalan (the rest of the Thanalan region actually has a diverse desert landscape) and Ahm Araeng.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyCrystalChronicles1'' has the Lynari Desert, which also has segments with flatter, hard-packed sand as well.

* In ''Literature/TheFistOfGod'' by Creator/FrederickForsyth, the British forces in the Gulf refer to large parts of Saudi Arabia as "MMFD". It takes the Americans a while to figure out that it stands for "Miles and Miles of Fucking Desert".

* In ''Literature/TheFistOfGod'', by Creator/FrederickForsyth, the British forces in the Gulf refer to large parts of Saudi Arabia as "MMFD". It takes the Americans a while to figure out that it stands for "Miles and Miles of Fucking Desert".

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' takes this trope quite literally with the Ogir-Yensa and Nam-Yensa Sandseas. Wide stretches of the Sandseas has sand with the consistency of water. The only way for the players to cross is on the scaffolds surrounding oil rigs. Natives to the area cross riding fish/dolphin-like creatures.

** Averted with the game's designated desert region of Oblivia, which despite being referred to in-game as "Sandy-Butt Desert" by Tatsu, actually has very little sand and is mostly rocky badlands.

* [[Recap/TintinLandOfBlackGold Tintin: Land of Black Gold]] occurs largely in one of these deserts.

* The North African desert in ''ComicStrip/{{Crock}}'' is vast and monotonous - albeit with [[AllDesertsHaveCacti unexpected cacti]] - most apparent in those strips featuring the Lost Patrol.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The Gerudo Desert is essentially a giant sandpit filling the southwest corner of the map, with a few rocky formations or weathered ruins poking out here and there. The sand is a not insignificant obstacle to travel, as Link will be slowed down by sinking into the loose sand unless he wears special sand boots, putting him at a distinct disadvantage to the [[LizardMen Lizalfos]] and [[SandWorm Moldugas]] that swim through the sand like water. Other than that, the only inhabited areas in the desert are Gerudo Town and Kara Kara Bazaar, built over the only two oases in the desert.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' has multiple examples:

** The trope is played more straight by the continent of Sylvalum. It is covered in a layer of fine, ghostly-white sand, and even has a number of regions explicitly named "sandseas" because of how sprawling and sandy they are. However, Sylvalum is actually a continental sized forest and the sand is implied at times to actually be pollen. Thus, though it fits the bill of being a sand sea, it is much more alien and surreal than other examples of this trope.

** The trope played more straight by the continent of Sylvalum. It is covered in a layer of fine, ghostly-white sand, and even has a number of regions explicitly named "sandseas" because of how sprawling and sandy they are. However, Sylvalum is actually a continental sized forest and the sand is implied at times to actually be pollen. Thus, though it fits the bill of being a sand sea, it is a much more alien and surreal use of this trope than usual.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Girard hides his Gate in the middle of a huge desert, so that the difficulty of navigating to its location will add to [[MasterOfIllusion the other tricks he used to protect it]].

* ''Franchise/PaperMario'' has multiple examples:

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''A Fall of Moondust'', by Creator/ArthurCClarke, a ship cruises the Sea of Thirst on the Moon, sinking into it and requiring rescue. This was written before the Moon probes and landings that revealed that moondust was solid, rather than a quicksand-like mass.
* In Creator/FrederickForsyth's novel ''The Fist of God'', the British forces in the Gulf refer to large parts of Saudi Arabia as 'MMFD'. It takes the Americans a while to figure out that it stands for 'Miles and Miles of Fucking Desert'.

* In [[Creator/ArthurCClarke Arthur C. Clarke's]] ''A Fall of Moondust'', a ship cruises the Sea of Thirst on the Moon, sinking into it and requiring rescue. This was written before the Moon probes and landings that revealed that moondust was solid, rather than a quicksand-like mass.

* ''Paper Mario'' has multiple examples:
** [[VideoGame/PaperMario The first game]] has Dry Dry Desert, which is seven screens wide and seven screens deep, the largest such area in the game. Except for Dry Dry Outpost at the end and a nearby oasis, it's also mostly featureless and devoid of any landmarks. Goombario complains about the vastness and emptiness of the whole place if you have him follow you and you talk to him.
** ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'' has Shifting Sandpaper Desert, which is so large that, right before he sets foot there, Mario is given a special car adapted for the region as a means of faster traveling. Averted in part because it ''does'' have landmarks in the form of ruins and towers, but they all look pretty similar to each other. The game is fond of hiding things in Shifting Sandpaper Desert and asking you to locate them based on subtle unique features in the landscape you may have missed among the monotony.

* ''VideoGame/SlimeRancher'': The Glass Desert is an example and it acts similar to the Slime Sea in which you will be knocked out for the remainder of the day if you fall in.

* Played straight for much of ''VideoGame/HomeworldDesertsOfKharak'' where the only things that are not sand are rocky outcroppings, Gaalsien settlements and [[spoiler: the [[DerelictGraveyard remains]] of the [[SaharanShipwreck starships]] that got [[TeleFrag pulled out of hyperspace]] due to interference from the Khar Toba]].
** The game also takes the "Sea" bit of the trope quite literally. Military forces operating on Kharak are referred to in naval terms such as "fleets" operating from massive, "carriers" on threads.

* ''VideoGame/SlimeRancher'': The Glass Desert is an example.