History Main / TheWallAroundTheWorld

* The great Agatean Wall in ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'' in more to keep everyone inside, rather than other people out. According to the leaders, there is nothing but ghost and vampire filled wasteland outside it.

* The [[DarkWorld Underground]] from ''VideoGame/{{UNDERTALE}}'' is the home of the race of 'monsters'. After a war with humanity, humans [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters forced them into the Underground]] and created [[SomeKindOfForceField a magical barrier]] preventing anyone leaving (although people can still fall ''in''; for example, the {{protagonist}}, who becomes TrappedInAnotherWorld). It can be broken by [[PlotCoupon seven human souls]] or passed but left unbroken by one who possesses both a human soul and a monster soul. PlayedForDrama: an OverpopulationCrisis in the restricted space of the Underground creates social problems in the monster society. Plus, they're living entirely off whatever humans dump into the Underground. That includes what they're eating.

* ''Disney/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'': To keep her daughter from endangering herself in the sea, Ariel has an enormous wall built around the palace to separate them from it. However, by 12, Melody has learned a way through it: a loose bar on one of the gratings allows her to squeeze through.

* Flat Earthers believe Antarctica is an ice wall bordering the edge of the world.

* In the oneshot manga ''Manga/{{Island}}'', by Komi Naoshi, the town the main characters live in is surrounded by a huge wall, much like a well. When the islanders turn 14, they are shown the truth- outside their island is nothing but a vast sea. [[spoiler:The islanders believe that all the land in the world sunk and thus all other countries were drowned, making it useless to go outside the island. It turns out that only the island sank, probably because of land subsidence and earthquakes.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/{{Island}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_island.png]]]]

* The Source Wall is a ''metaphysical wall that surrounds all mortal reality'' in the Franchise/{{DCU}}, named after TheSource, Franchise/{{DCU}}'s equivalent of God or the Godhead and introduced in Creator/JackKirby's ComicBook/NewGods epic. The Source Wall separates the extant universe from the Franchise/{{DCU}} equivalent of Heaven. Only those godlike beings who can reach the border of reality itself ever encounter it, and its appearance as a wall is indicated to be metaphorical rather than literal. That said, there are powerful cosmic beings embedded in the wall.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' uses a mixture of ''A Link to the Past'' and ''The Wind Waker'' in terms of natural barriers. The north and and west portions of Hyrule are cut off by a massive gorge, the southwest has an expansive desert, and the south and east are nothing but the sea. The gorge is too wide to fully cross and too deep to go down safely, the desert kicks up an impassible sandstorm if you try to go any further, and venturing beyond the sea just greets you with an invisible wall. Trying to climb cliffs near these barriers will have the game force Link to dislodge from the wall to prevent him from climbing. What makes it stranger is the world map does show more landmass beyond the desert and chasms, but no one in game ever mentions it.

* ''Franchise/{{Grandia}}'':

* The Source Wall is a ''metaphysical wall that surrounds all mortal reality'' in the Franchise/{{DCU}}, named after TheSource, Franchise/{{DCU}}'s equivalent of God or the Godhead and introduced in JackKirby's ComicBook/NewGods epic. The Source Wall separates the extant universe from the Franchise/{{DCU}} equivalent of Heaven. Only those godlike beings who can reach the border of reality itself ever encounter it, and its appearance as a wall is indicated to be metaphorical rather than literal. That said, there are powerful cosmic beings embedded in the wall.

* Several stories in the world of ElricOfMelnibone show that its world is surrounded by a WorldOfChaos that is inhospitable to human life. One major guardian of the walls is [[BarrierMaiden the lawful good sorceress Myshella]].

* Franchise/{[Grandia}}'':

* ''ComicBook/LegendsOfTheDeadEarth'': In ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' Annual #20, New Gotham is surrounded by a dome. The City Controllers tell the populace that it is for their own protection as the air outside New Gotham is poisonous. However, this is not true. The dome was constructed for the sole purpose of keeping the people inside the city.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'', an entire continent was divided by an enormous wall about a mile high. No one ever tried to explain ''why''.
** Could have something to do with [[EldritchAbomination Gaia]] [[TakenForGranite killing]] [[FateWorseThanDeath almost]] [[RealityWarper everything]] in its path, as it's only encountered on that side of the wall until it got on an airship.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 4}}'', your first indication that Ciel is not a typical RPG hamlet is when fighter craft shatter the barrier surrounding it that was disguised as sky. The outside world is quite a bit different.

** ''Film/ANewHope'', with the easily missed shield protecting Alderaan. It's easily missed because the Death Star's superlaser is so incredibly powerful it batters through it in 1/10 seconds and then [[PlanetShatteringKaboom shatters the planet]]. It's implied one of the reasons the Death Star was built was just that: hit planets through their shields.

* ''Film/RogueOne'' has a forcefield around a planet with a single entry point in orbit. [[spoiler:[[RammingAlwaysWorks Did you know Star Destroyers make good battering rams?]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/OnePiece https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_island.png]]]]

* In the oneshot manga ''Island'', by Komi Naoshi, the town the main characters live in is surrounded by a huge wall, much like a well. When the islanders turn 14, they are shown the truth- outside their island is nothing but a vast sea. [[spoiler:The islanders believe that all the land in the world sunk and thus all other countries were drowned, making it useless to go outside the island. It turns out that only the island sank, probably because of land subsidence and earthquakes.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Grandia}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wall_1.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[-When neighbors from another ''continent'' get too noisy.-]]]

* A literal example is the spherical Walls of the World from Creator/JRRTolkien's legendarium, which are only specifically described in ''Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth'' although their existence is implied in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. The walls separate the world from the empty void of the Outer Dark, and are only pierced by a single Door of Night, created by the Valar to thrust [[BigBad Morgoth]] out until TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

All around where you grew up is a barrier. No one knows what lies [[TheOutsideWorld on the other side]]. Or if they do, they're not telling. It could be HereThereBeDragons, or your ancient enemies, or it could be that you and everyone you know is SealedGoodInACan (or [[SealedEvilInACan evil]], who knows?). Passage through will be difficult if not impossible, for what good is a barrier if anyone can walk on through?

* On ''Series/ThePrisoner'', the mysterious Village is surrounded by unclimbable mountains to the north, and the sea to the south. On several occasions, the eponymous Prisoner attempts to escape by boat, but he always ends up getting caught.