History Main / DysonSphere

** Christopher Archlight (called simply V most of the time) uses a monster called "No. 9: Dyson Sphere", which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. In fact, in terms of sheer size, it's no doubt the biggest Duel Monster in the history of the franchise, being the size of a small star, and it seems to be one of the most powerful Numbers.

** Christopher Archlight (called simply V most of the time) uses a monster called Number 9: Dyson Sphere, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. In fact, in terms of sheer size, it's no doubt the biggest Duel Monster in the history of the franchise, being the size of a small star, and it seems to be one of the most powerful Numbers.
** Later in the series, while battling against Mizar of the Barian Emperors, he introduces [[MidSeasonUpgrade an evolved version]] of this creature, Number C9: Chaos Dyson Sphere, which manages to be big enough to use a giant star as its power core.

* ''ComicBook/NewMutants'', an ''Comicbook/XMen'' spin-off from Marvel Comics, featured a Dyson Sphere belonging to Cannonball's then-girlfriend, Lila Cheney. It had actually been built and abandoned by unknown aliens, but Lila (whose power is intergalactic teleportation) found it and claimed it as her base of operations. Since she can ''only'' teleport over intergalactic distances, any short-range travel requires a double teleport, with the Dyson Sphere being a convenient transit point. Thought the Dyson sphere is featured in the opening and publicity artworks as a nice, yellow-greenish background
* In ''ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman'', [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] pays aliens to build a Dyson Sphere for him as part of a alternate world destroying weapon he is preparing. Only a very small part of it is constructed before Tony is forced to fire the weapon to take out an invading alien fleet, which destroys the construction.
* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': The modern-day team visits one early on in ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2008'', when a fissure in time and space opens up there. They arrive and find that the locals aren't there. And when they ''do'' find them, [[BodyHorror they really wish they hadn't]]. Note that only the tiniest fraction of the sphere's surface was inhabited, protected from the local star by a shell, which the team had to open to [[KillItWithFire get rid of what they found]]. The trouble with that started when they wound up a good distance away from the control panel required to re-seal the shell.
* ''ComicBook/TomStrong'' supporting character Johnny Future comes from a more realistic one, known as the Crepusculum, a cloud of space colonies orbiting a dying sun.

* In ''Fanfic/UndocumentedFeatures'', the [[TheRepublic Republic of]] [[BigGood Zeta Cygni]] makes its home in a Dyson Sphere (which happens to be home to one of the most blatant [[ShiningCity Shining Cities]] in written fiction).
* ''Fanfic/TranscendentHumanity'' has one for the Sol System in order to make the best use of the sun's energy and raw materials. It's made abundantly clear that materials required for it made it necessary for humanity to take material from the sun itself, turning a G Class yellow dwarf sun into at the very least a ''K Class'' yellow (or orange) dwarf in ''building it''.
* ''Fanfic/GloriousShotgunPrincess'': This is what [[spoiler:Autochthon's [[GeniusLoci worldform jouten]]]] looks like from the outside.

* The planet Nidavellir from ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' is a Dyson sphere surrounding a neuron star whose energy is harnessed by dwarves to make magical weapons.
* The MacGuffin in ''Film/MenInBlackInternational'' turns out to be a star compressed into a handheld gun that's capable of destroying solar systems.
* No prizes for guessing what turns out to be a Dyson sphere powered by a white dwarf star in ''Film/{{Moonfall}}''.

* ''Literature/StarMaker'' by Creator/OlafStapledon contains the first known instance of this, long before Freeman Dyson came up with it and gave it a name. During the travels of the narrators, they encounter several of these that range from uninhabited spheres, spheres composed of artificial beings and artificial-but-sentient spheres that share a symbiosis with their inhabitants who are also artificial and sentient beings. It's even more complex than it sounds.
* In ''Literature/HouseOfSuns'', by Creator/AlastairReynolds, Dyson Spheres made out of perfectly reflective {{Ring World Planet}}s are used to encapsulate stars that are about to go supernova.
* ''Literature/{{Orbitsville}}'' and ''Orbitsville Departure'' by Bob Shaw featured a solid Dyson Sphere.

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Universe_Foundation The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps]]'' features a more realistic version of a Dyson Sphere called a [[http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/millennial_project.html Dyson cloud]]. [[http://tmp2.wikia.com/wiki/Solaria See here for more details.]]
** It also proposed a solar-cell sphere around the orbit of Mercury, held up by the solar-sail effect and leaving a gap around the ecliptic for the planets and the aforementioned cloud.
* ''Literature/IllegalAliens'' by Creator/PhilFoglio and NickPollotta has two such sphere mentioned:
** The inside shell of the first was covered in solar collectors, and its people lived ''inside'' the shell as well, as basically it was a big spherical shaped space station.
** The second was discovered in a previously-unknown sector of space. When opened, it was found to contain a slightly smaller sphere. Which itself had another inside, and so on. The discoverers abandoned their investigation after going several layers deep, positing that "With so many amateur lunatics around the universe, nobody wanted to meet professionals."
* In ''Literature/{{Voidskipper}}'' these are a common construction project for inhabited star systems, albeit in the originally intended "huge cloud of space habitats and power satellites" sense. When fully completed they can easily accommodate a population in the quintillions.
* ''Literature/ThePolity'': ''Polity Agent'' features the Cassius Project, humanity's first attempt to construct a Dyson Sphere. One of the subplots kicks off when an antagonist tries to sabotage its construction.
* In [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]' ''Literature/TheCulture'' novels Dyson Spheres are referenced in the ''casualty list'' of the Culture/Idiran War at the end of ''Literature/ConsiderPhlebas''.

* ''Literature/TheTimeShips'': The Time Traveler's second trip into the future sends him into a history where the Morlocks built an immense sphere around the sun, living in the near limitless -- and, importantly for them, almost entirely dark -- space within its thickness, while ancestral-type humans live within the sunlit interior.

* In ''Literature/JunctionPoint'', it's offhandedly mentioned that the tianlong are considering it for the star that their capital planet orbits.
* ''Literature/SecondGenesis'' by Donald Moffitt is mostly set on a Dyson Sphere composed of planet-orbit sized disks, used to power a massive interstellar transmitter (The rest of the story is set on another of Dyson's conceptual objects, a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_tree Dyson Tree]] that has been converted into a LivingShip).
* Creator/WilliamRForstchen's Gamester Wars universe has a Dyson Sphere setting that's still being built--the {{Precursors}}' ancient robots have been at it for millions of years and it's still only half-complete, because of its size. There's also a RingWorldPlanet and other stellar-scale objects in the same universe.
* Half of ''[[Creator/AlastairReynolds Century Rain]]'' is set in one of these, but it wasn't built for the normal reasons. The inside of the sphere is patterned with stars that match the stars in our own solar system, and by some pseudo-scientific method they shift as our own stars would, so that those inside the sphere don't know that they're not really on Earth.
* In Creator/RobertSilverberg's ''Across a Billion Years'', some archaeologists discover an artifact left behind by a billion-year-old vanished civilization that leads them to the Dyson Sphere that the civilization disappeared into.
* George Zebrowski's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrolife Macrolife]]'' mentions an alien solar system that consists of [[ThatsNoMoon Worldships]] orbiting a black hole in a Dyson cloud. [[spoiler: Later, a fleet encounters an ''[[TheMultiverse interuniversal]]'' transport ship 100 million km in diameter.]]
* ''[[http://www.xenology.info/index.htm Xenology: An Introduction to the Scientific Study of Extraterrestrial Life, Intelligence, and Civilization]]'' discusses [[http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/19.2.4.htm several types of Dyson Sphere-scale projects]] and [[http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/19.1.1.htm construction materials]], as well as "[[http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/19.2.5.htm Galactic Megastructures]]" which are even larger.
* ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'': Pryan, the world of fire, is a hollow sphere with an internal surface covered by miles-high jungles and with four small suns at its center. As the suns never set or move, it has no true night (the closest most of the world gets are storms that move over its surface at regular intervals and provide some measure of darkness) outside of areas where darkness is provided by artificial means. Most of the characters are not aware of the world's nature for a while, resulting in some difficulty and confusion when navigating it, as most of them had a more "regular" world in mind.
** It is the biggest of the four worlds by far, having far more surface area than even the pre-sundering Earth. It's also the most sparsely populated, as there has simply not been enough time in the setting's relatively brief history for the its population to grow enough to inhabit more than a tiny part of its surface. This is also why Zifnab gets an elf inventor to start shooting rockets day and night to attract Haplo’s attention when he enters the world -- it’s all but stated that without some visual cue to head for, Haplo could have spent a lifetime flying over Pryan without ever coming across civilization.
** Originally, it was designed by the Sartan to be essentially an enormous power plant for the same reasons that it's theorized high-tech civilizations would be driven to build such spheres -- its shape means that all the suns' energy is captured and channelled into its rocky crust, from where it is then directed into a number of citadels. From there, it's channeled into complex machinery that sends it off to the other worlds.
* In Housuke Nojiri's ''Usurper of the Sun'', the SufficientlyAdvancedAliens start building one around ours.
* An unfinished Dyson Sphere is found in Creator/AndreyLivadny's ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'' series. It was built three million years ago by the [[BeePeople Insects]] as a way to escape the oncoming swarm of Forerunners (mindless {{Planet Eater}}s). The idea was to hide the star from the outside, as the swarm is attracted to starlight. They manage to build most of it, but the swarm still reaches them. Strangely, the Forerunners don't consume it but merely damage it. The sphere is part of the ancient PortalNetwork. Interestingly, one novel reveals that the "sphere" is a misnomer, as the structure is, in fact, an ellipsoid and looks like an American football from the side. The wider sides are the habitable ones. Naturally, the Insects' modern-day descendants have forgotten all about their glorious past.
* Karl Schroeder's "Virga" series takes place inside a kind of mini-Dyson Sphere: a hollow shell roughly the size of Earth, filled with air and lots of tiny little artificial stars orbited by floating cities.
* ''Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse'':
** A ''Star Trek'' novel about the sphere in TNG: [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E4Relics "Relics"]] indicates that the area around this sphere is nearly devoid of other star systems, because the ancient builders of the Dyson sphere had consumed them (stars and all!) for raw materials. It also implies that the sphere's builders would go on to become [[spoiler:the Borg]].
** There's also one in ''Literature/StarTrekNewFrontier'', but called a Thul Sphere after the financier. Needless to say, it gets blown up.
** In the non-canon novel series ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'', the crew of the U.S.S. ''Titan'' uncover evidence of the existence of what may be the largest lifeform in the galaxy, a living Dyson Sphere distantly related to an alien lifeform the Enterprise encountered in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint".
** In one of the other non-canonical novels, part of the ''Literature/StarTrekMillennium'' trilogy, O'Brien is trapped in one of these for what seems like years as the FateWorseThanDeath meted to him by the Pah-Wraiths.
** The ''Literature/StarTrekDestiny'' trilogy features the Caeliar. They build a sphere around their sun to hide it from the rest of the galaxy and another smaller one around their planet which draws energy from the sun's sphere allowing them to make the Omega Particles which power their civilization. It's later shown that a civilization in one of the first galaxies ever formed, [[spoiler:in reality an offshoot faction of the Caeliar which had been sent back in time billions of years, by an accident which nearly destroyed their civilization,]] built spheres around ''every single star in that galaxy'', thereby harnessing not just the full power of a single star, but the full power of an entire galaxy. [[spoiler:They do this in order to create a ''StableTimeLoop'' and CAUSE the 'accident' which sent them back in time to begin with]]. The Enterprise E briefly visits this 'shrouded galaxy' by traveling through a subspace corridor and realize any race capable of doing such a thing is one best left alone, and very quickly gets out of there.
* In Creator/DavidBrin's ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'' universe [[{{Precursors}} retired]] species live in fractal worlds that are similar to dyson sphere built around red dwarf stars from hydrogen snow impregnated with carbon fibers. The structure also extends inward towards the star in fractal patterns to maximize "window space".
* While Pendor itself is "only" a [[RingWorldPlanet ring world]], at least one ''[[Literature/TheJournalEntries Journal Entries]]'' story is in fact set against the background of a Pendorian archaeological expedition exploring an abandoned Dyson sphere of unknown origin.
* In the ''Literature/ImperialRadch'' series, it's mentioned that the true Radch is an ancient Dyson sphere and the GalacticSuperpower that shares its name exists primarily to protect it. Radchaai citizens outside the Dyson sphere don't know any more than that.
* In ''Literature/Aeon14: The Last Bastion of Star City'', the eponymous settlement is a Dyson sphere built around a neutron star. The inhabitants have reportedly fended off a number of Orion Guard attacks by dumping matter into the star to produce a targeted X-ray burst.
* ''Literature/{{Eldraeverse}}'': The Empire of the Star has built two, which they refer to as Cirys bubbles or swarms after the [[SpaceElves eldrae]] who devised the concept. One is a "bubble" made of light-sail material used to power antimatter production facilities, the other is a "swarm" that houses the [[HiveMind Transcend's]] central processing node.
* ''Literature/ParaImperium'': The New Pallas Republic built a small sphere around Proxima Centauri in order to produce the [[PortalNetwork wormholes]] that allowed them to form a unified government with the other lost colonies.
* In ''Literature/HereticalEdge'', at one point in the backstory, the Seosten found seven Dyson Spheres and connected each sphere to one of their champions so they could draw upon their power, creating the [[CelestialParagonsAndArchangels Archangels]].

* In Gene Roddenbery's ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', the [[TheMothership Magog Worldship]] is somewhat closer to the original concept of a Dyson Sphere but even more fantastic in some ways. It consists of twenty inter-connected planets surrounding an artificial sun. If the stresses involved in connecting twenty planet-sized bodies in stable orbits around a sun isn't enough, the entire thing could ''[[ThatsNoMoon move]]''.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E4Relics "Relics"]], the ''Enterprise' encounters such a sphere, that was abandoned after the encased star became unstable, rendering the inner surface uninhabitable. The characters themselves, even with all their advanced technology and having encountered [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens far more advanced aliens]], are astonished that anybody would be capable of building such a thing.
* The fourth season of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has a species that built several Dyson rings around their local star, presumably purely as a method of generating energy. When the biosphere of their homeworld was obliterated by a barrage of meteors, they abandoned the system, leaving only the rings and a few scattered ruins as evidence of their presence.

* ''TabletopGame/AT43'''s Therians freaking ''love'' Dyson Spheres, so much in fact that they plan on putting every solar system they can find into them.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''

* One exoplanet in ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' is believed to be a Dyson sphere. Who built it, and why, and why the Pandora Gate is on the outside, and why it shoots down any attempt at orbit, and at least a hundred other things about it, are not known.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' Shard known as Heaven's Reach has [[EldritchAbomination the Primordials]] exist in this form and similarly scaled hyperconstructions. Malfeas in particular is a Dyson sphere wrapped around a green sun, with a demonic city on the inside.
* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', there is an Xyz Monster called [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Number_9:_Dyson_Sphere Number 9: Dyson Sphere]], a RealLife version of the card used by V in the anime, as well as its upgraded form, [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Number_C9:_Chaos_Dyson_Sphere Number C9: Chaos Dyson Sphere]]. Both card artworks are shown on a space background, and both are shown to have an actual sun in their cores to power them.
* The core book of ''TabletopGame/TheSplinter'' suggests that the game world is actually one of these.

* ''VideoGame/{{Seedship}}'': You can find one of these during the game, and interacting with it will allow the player to enact the Simulation ending if they accept the alien's offer to take in the ship.
* ''VideoGame/Prey2006'' takes place, for the most part, in an organic/cybernetic [[LivingShip living]] Dyson ''spaceship'', the "Sphere". It's essentially a smaller version of this trope, with a small dwarf star at its core.
* Shows up in the final level of ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}''.
* Strangely, the world of Atreia in the MMORPG ''VideoGame/{{Aion}}'' was one. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Then it broke.]]
* The Forerunners of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' built quite a few of these. Known as "Shield Worlds'', they were intended to be bunkers where the Forerunners would take shelter when the Halo Array was triggered:
** ''VideoGame/HaloWars''[='s=] final arc takes place in a micro Shield World, complete with a miniature artificial sun. [[DeadpanSnarker Serina]] reacts appropriately upon realizing they've been pulled inside a planet only to wind up on another planet.

** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' is mostly set within Requiem, the oldest known Shield World. It's similar to the ''Halo Wars'' example, but instead housing a star surrounded by an "inside-out" planet, Requiem's outer shell houses additionally layered shells, the outermost of which has an Earth-like environment on its surface.

* In ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'', [[spoiler:the Dyson Sphere covers the Sun, absorbing its energy to empower the True Void Gate]]. [[spoiler:Taranis successfully destroyed it in the end of the game at the cost of his own life, preventing the Overlords from destroying the universe further]].
* One level of ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' takes place inside of a partially finished Dyson Sphere. The builders are nowhere to be seen and the area is filled with clutter and wreckage. Like most of the game, the level is sheer SceneryPorn with vast sections of plate in the background, still so distant they're unreachable. No explanation is ever offered; even the {{Precursors}} whose technology the third game revolves around didn't have anything remotely that advanced.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[MechanicalLifeforms Legion]] states that the end desire of the mainstream geth is to build a structure somewhat analogous to a Dyson Sphere and upload each one of their individual programs into it. The geth gain proportionally in intelligence as they mass together, with more bodies or "mobile platforms" available meaning faster processing and higher thought processes. If every geth were able to simultaneously occupy one such super-structure, [[MechanicalEvolution they would become nigh-omniscient]].
** As of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', the geth have finished it... just in time for [[spoiler: the quarian Migrant Fleet to roll in with a new weapon that disables geth, who then destroy the superstructure, which houses the majority of the geth "species" and utterly shattering their ability to process and analyze data. The geth revert to survival mode, and turn to the Reapers for code upgrades to protect them from immediate destruction by the quarians.]]
** For ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, [[spoiler:Meridian]], is one of these (albeit a tiny one, noted to be roughly the size of Earth's moon). Also, it's mobile.
* You can actually ''build'' one, as of ''VideoGame/SpaceEmpires IV''... or you could build a massive war fleet for [[AwesomeButImpractical one-tenth the cost]].
* One alien race in ''Fargate'' has one of these as their home system. As these aliens possess no apparent mechanical technology but are the masters of biological manipulation, the entire double-layered Dyson Sphere is grown organically. It looks very fleshy.
* ''[[Videogame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'':
** In ''X3: Terran Conflict'', [[spoiler:a plot leads you to The Hub, an ancient space station inside a Dyson Sphere. However, the latter ''orbits'' a star, and looking outside, you can see more of them, like in Dyson's concept.]]
** In the ''Xtended'' GameMod for the previous game, ''X3: Reunion'', the Sohnen - the robotic representatives of the {{Precursors}} that built the PortalNetwork - possess a dyson sphere built around tiny star in a remote sector, which the player must dock with to interact with the friendly faction of Sohnen. Inside the sphere, the miniature star is surrounded by a massive gyroscope spinning at a rate that will crush any ship.
** The games' fluff speaks of the Ancients, who have uploaded their minds into vast computer arrays called "Presence Clouds", which are more or less dust clouds that completely surround a star, feeding off of it for their energy needs. Though not a single solid object, this does qualify as a Dyson sphere as originally imagined.
* The [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascent to Transcendence]] ending of ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' suggests a variant: "stellar encapsulation," effectively bottling the star without dismantling the planets of the system or otherwise affecting their biospheres.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Polycon}}'' [[GameMod total conversion]] for ''[[VideoGame/EscapeVelocity EV Nova]]'' contains several of these, including at least one Dyson ''cube''.
* The ending cutscene of ''VideoGame/MissionCritical'' has the protagonist travel to the future (a positive one this time), where humans and [[EnergyBeing ELFs]] live in peace. Earth is gone and has been replaced by a Dyson Sphere, with the humans living on the inner surface, while the [=ELFs=] live on the outside, as they don't need air or heat.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'''s Season 8 expansion "The Sphere" takes place inside of one as the Federation, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Republic fight [[Series/StarTrekVoyager the Voth]] for possession of Omega Particles. [[spoiler:We eventually learn that it, the original one from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', and a ''third'' that is visited in "Uneasy Allies" were all built by the Iconians, the BigBad of the first several years of the game's existence.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' takes place mostly within one called "Cocoon" run by the [[DeusEstMachina fal'Cie]]. It even has it's own miniature fal'Cie sun inside.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has Dalamud, which was treated before as the second moon of the world until the Calamity when it's revealed that it contained a royally pissed off Bahamut, sealed inside for thousands of years, who proceeded to unleash hell on earth. Had it not been for Louisoix performing a HeroicSacrifice, there would be nothing left.

* ''Videogame/AIWarFleetCommand:'' [[{{Precursors}} Zenith]] Dyson Spheres can be found around the galaxy as a minor faction, who usually just want to be left alone. They will attack anyone that bothers them by sending endless Zenith vessels, and may actually make a brief alliance with anyone that helps keep their surroundings free of pesky owners (thus, liberating without capturing is usually a good option). You ''can'' mess with them through hacking, but anything you try will get them pissy. Interestingly, knowing how [[LivingShip Zenith]] work, it's very likely the sphere is an actual, living creature, or at least was one once.
* ''VideoGame/DysonSphereProgram'' is, as the name suggests, all about constructing a Dyson Sphere. Not only is the structure itself suitably epic in scale, building it also requires strip-mining the resources of an entire cluster of up to 64 star systems including all their planets. And you have to accomplish this all on your lonesome[[note]]at least unless/until multiplayer is implemented one day[[/note]]. Also of note is that the game features a Dyson swarm as an intermediate stage between planet-bound solar panels and the rigid Dyson shell that is the final goal.
* ''VideoGame/EvolveIdle'' allows the player to research the possibility of a Dyson Sphere after getting to space. Initially they're described as impractical, if not outright impossible and the player can instead construct swarm satellites to fulfill a similar function. Later a flexible Dyson Net can be constructed around a neighboring star as a superproject. Late game the player can upgrade it into a full Dyson Sphere, which grants an achievement.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP44EPBMb8A Discussed]] in ''WebAnimation/{{Kurzgesagt}}''. They dismiss a true "sphere" as impractical, instead opting for a "Dyson swarm" of mirrors built using [[IndustrializedMercury Mercury's mineral rescources]] that transmit solar energy to Earth and the Solar System's other inhabited bodies.

* In ''Webcomic/DreamwalkJournal'' the world of Cyeatea, with its immense jungle housing a peaceful culture of sexually-insatiable anthropoid insects and spiders, is apparently a habitat within a Dyson Sphere called Velveteen. However, there is only one reference to this in a [[AllThereInTheManual related text piece]].

* The ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' Punyverse is revealed to be contained in one.

* [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4845fbe091a18 Many types]] appear in ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm''. Most impressive is probably the [[http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4847416b8b0ad suprastellar shell]], a solid Dyson Sphere (actively supported) that people live on the outside of. The one and only solid Dyson Sphere which people live on the ''inside'' of is called "the Impossible Dyson" and exists only in a virtual reality.

* Umbra, the BigBad in the 1984 animated series ''WesternAnimation/MightyOrbots'', WAS a Dyson Sphere. He was the core of the Shadow Star, a world so large it contained its own internal sun.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode, "Decision 3012", Richard Nixon wants to build a ''Dyson fence'' to keep alien immigrants out of the solar system rather than collect energy.
* The [=USS=] Protostar from ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekProdigy'' gets its name due to being powered by an artificial protostar allowing it to travel thousands of lightyears in minutes.

* The [[GainaxEnding ending]] of ''Manga/FutabaKunChange'' reveals the [[spoiler:Shimerus are HumanAliens from a ringworld made out of nano-engineered giant ivy]]. It MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext

* In the 2013 ''Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator'', the series descriptions say that 70% of humanity is now living in space "thanks to the development of the Dyson Sphere". Though the story never delves into the nature of the sphere, it has the characters living on one of many modules that are territories of Earth nations (they are from JIOR, which is essentially future Japan). Theirs is Module 77, and it appears to be big enough for just their school and a small town. They end up disconnecting their module from the sphere, and moving it to the Moon, which is neutral territory.

The TropeNamer is physicist and mathematician [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson Freeman Dyson,]] who theorized in a 1959 scientific paper that, given the ever-increasing demand for energy typical of industrial civilization, SufficientlyAdvancedAliens might need to capture ''all'' the energy radiating from a star.

** In the non-canon novel series ''Literature/StarTrekTitan'', the crew of the U.S.S. ''Titan'' uncover evidence of the existence of what may be the largest lifeform in the galaxy, a living Dyson Sphere distantly related to an alien lifeform the ''Enterprise'' encountered in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint".

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The episode "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" reveals that the TARDIS itself is a Dyson Sphere. The TARDIS is BiggerOnTheInside, and one "room" contains AN ENTIRE STAR. A massive star frozen in time at the moment it collapses into a black hole. And the TARDIS uses that as a power source. That's what the Eye of Harmony is.

While Dyson himself originally saw his concept as a ''network'' of many separate [[SpaceStation orbiting habitats and solar power-stations]] (sometimes called a "Dyson swarm" to differentiate it from the other type), most media depictions show a single continuous solid ''sphere'' completely enclosing its star. This misconception is an acute case of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Constructing such an artifact would probably bring a civilization up to at least 2.0 on the [[JustForFun/AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Kardashev scale]].

The ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'' concept was created by science fiction author Creator/LarryNiven as a mid-point between this and a true planet because, as Niven put it in his essay ''Bigger Than Worlds'' (a discussion of {{Ring World Planet}}s, Dyson Spheres, and other possible macrostructures), "I like being able to see the stars at night". Something that a Dyson Sphere prevents.

BigDumbObject or PlanetSpaceship not big enough for you? Look no further. SciFi authors have made ''solar-system-sized'' artifacts into a trope of their own. A prime example to illustrate how ScienceFictionWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale.

* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': The modern-day team visits one early on in vol 2., when a fissure in time and space opens up there. They arrive and find that the locals aren't there. And when they ''do'' find them, [[BodyHorror they really wish they hadn't]]. Note that only the tiniest fraction of the sphere's surface was inhabited, protected from the local star by a shell, which the team had to open to [[KillItWithFire get rid of what they found]]. The trouble with that started when they wound up a good distance away from the control panel required to re-seal the shell.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E4Relics "Relics"]], the ''Enterprise' encounters such a sphere, also postulated by Dyson, but distinct in that it is a complete shell instead of a spheroid cloud of solar collecting satellites[[/note]] that was abandoned after the encased star became unstable, rendering the inner surface uninhabitable. The characters themselves, even with all their advanced technology and having encountered [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens far more advanced aliens]], are astonished that anybody would be capable of building such a thing.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E4Relics "Relics"]], the ''Enterprise' encounters such a sphere[[note]]Actually misnamed by the writers, as what they encountered was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere#Dyson_shell Dyson ''Shell'']], also postulated by Dyson, but distinct in that it is a complete shell instead of a spheroid cloud of solar collecting satellites[[/note]] that was abandoned after the encased star became unstable, rendering the inner surface uninhabitable. The characters themselves, even with all their advanced technology and having encountered [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens far more advanced aliens]], are astonished that anybody would be capable of building such a thing.

While Dyson himself originally saw his concept as a ''network'' of many separate [[SpaceStation orbiting habitats and solar power-stations]], most media depictions show a single continuous solid ''sphere'' completely enclosing its star. This misconception is an acute case of SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Constructing such an artifact would probably bring a civilization up to at least 2.0 on the [[JustForFun/AbusingTheKardashevScaleForFunAndProfit Kardashev scale]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' has an inversion: instead of building the sphere around the Sun, the planet Mercury was covered in solar panels in order to supply the gargantuan energy needs of Earth.

* ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}'': The Puppeteers' Fleet of Worlds is a Kemplerer [sic] Rosette. The Ringworld itself is a "flattened" Dyson Sphere -- it is described as being like a ribbon encircling its sun, nearly a million miles wide and 300 million miles in diameter.

* [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]' ''Literature/TheCulture'' novels have Orbitals, which seem suspiciously similar to Ringworlds, although a lot smaller. The Culture does have Ringworlds (they lost three in the war with the Idirans) but they're rare and regarded as somewhat wasteful since you could build thousands of orbitals with the same material. Dyson Spheres are referenced in the ''casualty list'' of the Culture/Idiran War at the end of ''Literature/ConsiderPhlebas''.

* ''[[http://www.xenology.info/index.htm Xenology: An Introduction to the Scientific Study of Extraterrestrial Life, Intelligence, and Civilization]]'' discusses [[http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/19.2.4.htm several types of Dyson Sphere-scale projects]] and [[http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/19.1.1.htm construction materials]], as well as "[[http://www.xenology.info/Xeno/19.2.5.htm Galactic Megastructures]]" which are [[UpToEleven even larger]].

** Christopher Archlight (called simply V most of the time) uses a monster called Number 9: Dyson Sphere, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. In fact, in terms of sheer size, it's no doubt the biggest Duel Monster in the history of the franchise, being the size of a small star, and it seems to be one of the most powerful Numbers. [[spoiler: Despite this, in his duel against Kaito, Kaito manages to destroy it and win the duel.]]
** Later in the series, while battling against [[spoiler: Mizar of the Barian Emperor,]] he introduces [[MidSeasonUpgrade an evolved version]] of this creature, Number C9: Chaos Dyson Sphere, which not only boasts more power, but can absorb opposing enemies into itself and inflict damage directly to the opponent without having to attack them. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, its effect is exactly what Mizar needed to break free of the lock he and Trey/III had set, costing them the Duel and their lives.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', there is an Xyz Monster called [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Number_9:_Dyson_Sphere Number 9: Dyson Sphere]], a RealLife version of the card used by V in the anime, as well as its upgraded form, [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Number_C9:_Chaos_Dyson_Sphere Number C9: Chaos Dyson Sphere]]. (See the entry in the Anime/Manga folder above.)

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The episode "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" reveals that the TARDIS itself is a Dyson Sphere. The TARDIS is BiggerOnTheInside, and one "room" contains AN ENTIRE STAR. A massive star frozen in time at the moment it collapses into a black hole. And the TARDIS uses that as a power source. That's what the Eye of Harmony is.

* The third season of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' has a species that built several Dyson rings around their local star, presumably purely as a method of generating energy. When the biosphere of their homeworld was obliterated by a barrage of meteors, they abandoned the system, leaving only the rings and a few scattered ruins as evidence of their presence.

** Much later, the "All-Star" is discovered, which is a massive solid sphere around a star. It is mostly a computer dedicated to holding all the virtual minds of trillions of inhabitants; they could upload every single person in the galaxy without going over [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-05-28 forty-five percent capacity]] -- from a starting point of 44%.[[note]]Nothing is directly said about the population size of the previously uploaded inhabitants, but at least some of that is 'overhead', and the use of "probability manifolds"[[/note]] It's implied that all the survivors of previous galactic epochs created Dyson spheres of some flavor or another to hide from the rest of the galaxy.

* In ''Comicbook/NewAvengers'' Vol 3, [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] pays aliens to build a Dyson Sphere for him as part of a alternate world destroying weapon he is preparing. Only a very small part of it is constructed before Tony is forced to fire the weapon to take out an invading alien fleet, which destroys the construction.

* The [[https://spore.fandom.com/wiki/Fiction:Virgo_Birch_Planet]] is a variant on this which is built around a black hole instead of a star. This could potentially be very large, as in ''"an entire light-year in diameter"'' large. Though due to the close proximity to a black hole, it would also experience time dilation.

* The [[https://space-engine.fandom.com/wiki/Birch_Planet Birch Planet]] is a variant on this which is built around a black hole instead of a star. This could potentially be very large, as in ''"an entire light-year in diameter"'' large. Though due to the close proximity to a black hole, it would also experience time dilation.

BigDumbObject or PlanetSpaceship not big enough for you? Look no further. SciFi authors have made ''[[AddedAlliterativeAppeal solar-system-sized]]'' artifacts into a trope of their own. A prime example to illustrate how ScienceFictionWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale.