Anime and Manga
"You destroyed my homeland, took away my family, and left me with nothing!"
— Thief King Bakura, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Comic Books
"First Krypton died. Then, I was the only one to escape the destruction of Argo City..."
"My old life is over. I knew it already. I knew it the moment I stepped out of the crater on Earth. I wanted to believe it was a dream. I wanted to wake up in father's lab to see him staying up late working on his latest plan to save Krypton. I wanted to wake up to see the red Sun bringing out the auburn in my mother's hair. I wanted to wake up on the morning of my graduation to face the future alongside my closest friends. But the truth is... I'm awake now. My home is gone. And I have only one place left to go."
— Kara, Last Daughter of Krypton
Films — Live-Action
"These boys are now our soldiers! They belong to me now! If you try to get them back, your whole village will burn! If you ask the Karen Rebels for help, I will cut out your tongues! If you go against me, I will feed you your intestines! Hear me, believe me, and fear me!"
— Major Pa Tee Tint, Rambo IV
"The ashes were trampled into the Earth, and the blood became as snow. Who knows what they came for... weapons of steel, or murder? It was never known, for their leader rode to the south, while the children went north with the Vanir. No one would ever know that my lord's people had lived at all. His was a tale of sorrow."
— The Wizard, Conan the Barbarian (1982), about the destruction of Conan's village.
Literature
"The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends. It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace. They never are."
— Ser Jorah Mormont, A Game of Thrones
He began to cry, finally realizing what had happened to the people. "Why did I come here?" he said; the stark, devastated wasteland was mocking him. "This isn't home. It's Hell."
—Superman Returns novelisation
Video Games
"This little hamlet has too much boring and not enough burning... Torch everything!"
Bevil: We're under attack! West Harbor is under attack!
PC: What? Why would anyone want to attack us?
Bevil: I don't know! For food? For fun? What does it matter!
PC: What? Why would anyone want to attack us?
Bevil: I don't know! For food? For fun? What does it matter!
"Where's my cottage? ... TROGDOOOOOORRRR!!!"
— Rather Dashing, Peasant's Quest trailer
"They rebuilt Mindoir... it wasn't the same."
— Commander Shepard (colonist background), Mass Effect 3
"The last day dawns on the kingdom of Ascalon. It arrives with no fanfare, no tolling of alarms. Those who will remember will speak fondly of the warm morning breeze. People carry on with their daily lives, unaware that in a short while... everything that have ever known will come to an end."
— Narrator, the first lines of Guild Wars: Prophecies
"...And though [the boy] wished to help in his heart
he stayed hidden 'til the savages did depart.
Then he emerged to find his whole family killed
and the streets of the villages with corpses filled? Dear me, this really is the most unoriginal tosh."
he stayed hidden 'til the savages did depart.
Then he emerged to find his whole family killed
and the streets of the villages with corpses filled? Dear me, this really is the most unoriginal tosh."
— Mr. Gout reading a story suspiciously similar to the game's prologue, Fable
Web Original
No! My beloved peasant village!: The hero's home town, city, slum, or planet will usually be annihilated in a spectacular fashion before the end of the game, and often before the end of the opening scene.
Wiz: At first glance, this town appeared calm and peaceful, not worth a second look.
Boomstick: Until a sword-wielding goth guy found his alien mother hidden inside. He celebrated with fireworks.
Boomstick: Until a sword-wielding goth guy found his alien mother hidden inside. He celebrated with fireworks.
— On the Nibelheim Incident, DEATH BATTLE!
You know how in some RPG's you start off in your lovely idyllic greengrass home village where smiling neighbours bid you howdy-do, and which is virtually guaranteed to get Hiroshima-fied before the second act?
— Zero Punctuation review of NieR
Our hero resides in the quaint idyllic fishing village of Arni. Despite being a remote, harmless berg full of peaceful folk living simple lives alongside Serge, shockingly enough nothing bad ever happens to Arni. Really. It's never razed to the ground by an evil empire, its citizens are never butchered by raiding hordes of monsters, and Serge is never even exiled from the place. It just remains a chill little town.
I know, it's bananas!
I know, it's bananas!
Pat: It's been a while since I played an RPG in which a town had the word "FUCKED" written on it so big.
Liam: From the very beginning.
Liam: From the very beginning.
Western Animation
"I'm the last Czarnian. I fragged the rest of the planet for my high school science project. Gave myself an A."
— Lobo, DC Animated Universe
