This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Mynnia: Just checking if I should edit: * Avram Davidson's Scythia-Pannonia-Tranbalkania, detailed in The Enquiries of Dr. Eszterhazy, is a wonderful example of this.
Because... Pannonia is the western region of Hungary, the Skythians were a people living there, and everything is close to the Balkan area. Es(z)terhazy is one of the big Hungarian-Austrian dynasties. I'm not sure this belongs to the Ruritania article at all and should be deleted. I don't know the book, so...help
Paul A: Avram Davidson's Scythia-Pannonia-Tranbalkania, though the name is constructed from more-or-less real components, is definitely a Ruritania.
Doug S. Machina: Anyone know the name of the Ruritania used for foreign Missions:Impossible?
Keenath: I don't know that Durmstrang is really "in Ruritania", so to speak; it seems to me that it's very much intended to be German. Even the name of the institute is Germanic — "Sturm und drang", "storm and stress", is a phrase used to describe the german music and literature of the late 1700s; perhaps the best known example being Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries". Spoonerizing the phrase, obviously, is the origin of "Durmstrang". Any slavic elements in the film can probably be laid at the feet of Hollywooders who don't know the difference between Germany and Russia.
Karkarov does sound Bulgarian, but not all the characters at Hogworts are British; witness the Patil sisters, who are clearly of Indian descent. Having a headmaster from a nearby european country would probably not be shocking.
Ununnilium: It's vague enough, even in the books, that it fits here, IMHO.
Karkarov isn't really a Bulgarian name, but a more of a Russian one. This Bulgarian troper has only met one or two people named Igor, and none called Karkarov, but Igor is a very common Russian name.
Ununnilium: We really need an index page for these three.
Prfnoff: Removed the Chess example (placed it in Yodel Land), because Merano exists in Real Life. (It actually has a chess opening named after it: Semi-Slav Defense, Meran Variation.)
TheLaaarch: maybe this is catty personal opinion rather than important discussion material, but if I ever make a comic or a film or something, I'm completely going to subvert this. Along with Commie Land. And evil, slimy, eyepatched nationalist cowboys are going to be involved.
Farseer Lolotea: In a book that I read recently, there was a ship called the Ruritania (presumably a Zenda Shout-Out, as it wasn't a particularly new book.) Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember which of the several novels I re-read recently it was.
