History Main / UpTheRealRabbitHole

* In ''{{Erfworld}}'', Parson [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0018.html initially believes]] that it's all a hallucination, and later he notes [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0086.html the various odd parallels]] between Erfworld and Earth as supporting evidence. His reluctance to accept Erfworld on its own terms might have something to do with his being stuck in an apparently [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0084.html hopeless situation]]. Later, the viewpoint is inverted by Wanda's statement, "You didn't wish for this world, Parson Gotti. It wished for you."

* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': At one point, protagonist Jake Sully says "Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream." Sully spends half his time BrainUploading to an alien body an "avatar" which is just as physically real as his human body, and this alien body exists on the same moon ("out there" is the Pandoran jungles, "in here" a human military base). Therefore, neither "world" is actually less real than the other. The avatar experience does involve the human body entering a stasis, so in that sense, it's a "dream" but the same case could be made the other way around, because the avatar body sleeps when the human one is awake.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'', the world of the game turns out to be real enough, since the monsters turn out to be motivated by ''a desire to not be destroyed.'' Link decides to KillEmAll anyway.

-->--'''Teal'c''', ''Series/StargateSG1'', "Point of View"

* In ''[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist]]: [[TheMovie Conqueror of Shamballa]]'', Edward feels this way about [[spoiler:being trapped in our world. In fact, the Alphonse of our world calls him out on this and makes him realize that both worlds are real]], subverting the trope.

* A standard trope to appear in the ''{{Planescape}}'' DungeonsAndDragons setting, among other things. It's practically expected of any clueless prime who wander into Sigil to assume that their home plane is the most central and most important place in all of the Multiverse, and that everyone should know of it and follow their rules and customs. (Conversely, some Sigilians claim the same thing about Sigil - proving that you don't have to be a Prime to be Clueless.)

** Taken further in ''Through the Looking Glass'', at one point Alice is pointed to the Red King who is sleeping. She is told that maybe this is the ''Red King's'' dream and she is part of his consciousness. When she returns to the real world, she picks up the Red King chess-piece and asks Dinah if it was really true that she had entered the Red King's dreams. The paradox [[MindScrew is that the Looking-Glass world is based on Chess Motifs and features a patterned landscape and characters like the White Knight]], so Alice really did enter the Red King's dreams.

And even if the main characters treat everyone in the other world as people, there's still the stupefying habit of ''referring'' to their homeworld as "the real world". This seems like it would be incredibly rude, yet [[MoralDissonance nobody ever calls them on it]]. Even more bizarre is when the natives themselves start doing it. Of course, the question of what to call either universe would be tricky, since the distinction had no reason to come up before the two worlds began interacting. A common solution is the PlanetEngland naming convention, though that's still protagionist-oriented because it's arbitrarily based on the country ''they'' first visited (and it ought to sound to most natives like, well, "Planet England" or "The Johannesburg Universe" might sound to us). It also won't work if the "other" world is an AlternateUniverse with all the same countries. Thus, confusion is left to a minimum as long as the other world's natives "correctly" recognize our universe as the primary one.

* The plot of ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' follows the [[DesignatedHero protagonist's]] attempts to [[DefeatMeansFriendship convince]] his friends to help him destroy the magical kingdom of Ivalice, which has replaced their ordinary modern-day hometown, also called Ivalice. He takes for granted that the old Ivalice is the "real" one (though all evidence indicates that it ceased to exist as soon as the new one appeared) and doesn't think twice about mowing down anyone who gets in the way of bringing it back. Lampshaded by a character who tries to convince Marche that this world is just as real as his own, a point which is [[ForgottenAesop promptly ignored]].

* Inverted in the comic book adaptation of Neil Gaiman's ''{{Neverwhere}}'' with this exchange between the Marquis de Carabas and Richard Mayhew while trying to explain London Below.

** Shockingly, there might actually be a good reason for this, as [[spoiler: as Magicus Mundus is actually a giant pocket dimension (on Mars), and it's implied that Fate's old boss may have created it, along with it's inhabitants, meaning that it might not be exactly as "real" as people think it is.]]

* ''MagicKnightRayearth'' has the Magic Knights having a curious discussion about this. They concluded that MagicalLand Cephiro was "real enough" and the clincher was that if they died there, they would "[[YourMindMakesItReal die in the real world too]]".

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In American military slang, the "real world" is used to refer to the Continental U.S. Might have something to do with all the mayhem and fighting they deal with on a regular basis not existing back home.
* In gamer lingo, RL [[CaptainObvious refers to Real Life]], and is used when something outside the game is mentioned or requires attention ("BRB RL"). So far so good. However, some gamers have taken on to use the term to describe different portions of their actual lives, as if one part of their lives is more real than others.
** This can get especially odd if they refer as "real world" to the non-work, non-school time of their lives, which is often spent playing the aforementioned games.
* In general, many people use "real world" to refer to life as a full working adult (as opposed to being in school).
* On many Internet forums, people refer to "Real Life" as any part of their lives that does NOT involve the Internet, as in, "smokesmadbluntz420 is the only forum member I've met IRL". Others invert this trope by referring to the non-Internet disparagingly as "meatspace."
[[/folder]]

And even if the main characters treat everyone in the other world as people, there's still the stupefying habit of ''referring'' to their homeworld as "the real world". This seems like it would be incredibly rude, yet [[MoralDissonance nobody ever calls them on it]]. Even more bizarre is when the natives themselves start doing it. Of course, the question of what to call either universe would be tricky, since the distinction had no reason to come up before the two worlds began interacting. A common solution is the PlanetEngland naming convention, though that's still protagionist-oriented because it's arbitrarily based on the country ''they'' first visited (and it ought to sound to most natives like, well, "Planet England" or "The Johannesburg Universe" might sound to us). It also won't work if the "other" world is an AlternateUniverse with all the same countries. Thus, confusion is left to a minimum as long as the other world's natives [[SarcasmMode correctly recognize our universe as the primary one]].

** Also, Archchancellor Ridcully, while heading out to battle elves (with [[MillionToOneChance million-to-one odds]]), is told that, because of the whole multiverse thing, for every one Ridcully that survives the fight, 999,999 other Ridcully's will die. He responds, "Yes, but I'm not bothered about those other buggers. They can look after themselves."

** In the case of Digimon, though, it does make somewhat sense to call the Digital World that - [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the world is, in fact, digital]]. However, the "real" world would be more accurately described as the Material World, or the Protein Based World, as that is a more accurate description of what it is. Both worlds are "real", but one is digital and one is material. Considering in every show, manga, and in fact every continuity but DigimonSavers, the main cast are kids, it is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] that they would simplify it as "real".

A type of CreatorProvincialism, one step above EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse. Compare ExpendableALternateUniverse, ExpendableClone, WelcomeToTheRealWorld, TheTimeTravellersDilemma, ThisIsReality. Contrast DownTheRabbitHole.

** ''CaptainNTheGameMaster'' had this same phenomenon.

** In the ''Discworld/ScienceOfDiscworld'' books, the wizards consider the Disc is the real world and "Roundworld" is an oddity that sits on a shelf in Rincewind's office. They respect that the inhabitants of Roundworld might see this differently, though.

* In a not-dissimilar way, in ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'', nobody from 1973 ever appeared to take Sam Tyler seriously if he mentioned being back in time, or anything relating to his pre-car-crash existence. In ''Series/AshesToAshes'', Alex Drake is quite sure that the whole experience of being in 1981 is a hallucination, and repeatedly says so out loud, but, again, nobody bats an eyelid or suspects that she's deranged.

* In the Series/DoctorWho episode ''The Power of Three'', Amy Pond referred to her life on Earth as "real life," as opposed to her life gallivanting about time and space with the Doctor.

But even if the MagicalLand is a ''place'' in and of itself, so many of the classical ones have been used as metaphors for something (for instance, [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Oz]] or [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Wonderland]]) that there is the faintest impression that this one just may be as well (especially if it's a PlanetOfHats or otherwise thematically represents a subset of the diversity of "our" universe – is a Candy World with a Licorice King really as "legitimate" as the world in which licorice was invented?). As such, the "rules" on behavior are different in different worlds. Sure, you might have been fireballing the warlord's goons in that other world right and left, but using those powers on, say, a mugger in "the real world" [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman would be wrong]]. Of course, this is sometimes [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to the fact that it would break the {{Masquerade}}, but that doesn't cover a ''moral'' double standard.

* Alan Moore (who also created "Earth-616") takes a playful swipe at this trope in ''TopTen'':

* ''{{Enchanted}}'': After one attempt to locate it, as far as Robert is concerned, Andalasia (a very real if MagicalLand) is "fantasy", and ThisIsReality. Nobody ever corrects him or acts as if this makes anything but perfect sense.

* The ''FactionParadox'' book ''Dead Romance'' has an extreme version of this - the main character's world is just a small bottle universe sold to the {{Time Lord}}s. Upon escaping to the universe "above" (outside the bottle), she begins to realise, that may be yet another bottle universe. So she starts a quest to find the uppermost universe - the true Universe.
* In ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie]] - one of the major influences on this trope - it turned out that Oz was AllJustADream of Dorothy's. In [[Literature/LandOfOz the original books]], on the other hand, not only is Oz real, but Dorothy moves there to become an immortal princess, and eventually goes back to bring her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry because living in the Dust Bowl ''sucked''.
* Works both ways in ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Despite Narnia only being a country in another world, the characters refer to the [[PlanetEngland entire other world as "Narnia"]] (which actually causes Jill some confusion on her first trip, as Eustace told her he'd been to "Narnia" -- the world, not the country). Earth is "that other place" -- fair, since both "Narnia" and Earth are just two of many, many worlds... none of which are, ultimately, "real." When the characters finally [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence reach Aslan's Country]], they discover that ''it'' is the only real world; everything else, including the physical world that we know, is just a cheap imitation.
* In the first ''ChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'', Thomas persistently denies that The Land is real (giving him the title of "The Unbeliever", which somehow helps him defeat the BigBad. [[spoiler:Who is his EnemyWithout. God of The Land is a part of him too, so it's possible he's ''right'' -- nevermind that the second series sucks someone else in too.]]

* The characters in ''{{Everworld}}'' refer to Earth as "the real world," although the series at least [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it when [[VillainProtagonist Senna]] mocks them about it. For their part, the inhabitants of Everworld refer to this world as "the old world" (lowercased), since Everworld is a colony dimension created by the gods who originally lived in our world.

* Both averted and somewhat inverted in the ''YoungWizards'' series by DianeDuane. While none of inhabitants of all the different universes are treated as more or less morally important than any of the others, some universes are more metaphysically potent than others, and our universe just isn't that important when ranked metaphysically.
* Averted in the ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'' novels. In later books, Kyon [[spoiler: ends up in a timeline without time travellers, aliens or espers. He considers how selfish it is to want to change things back, that the people in the new timeline have just as much right to exist. He does it anyways, but often "wakes up late at night, with their faces in his mind."]]

* There's a moment in ''[[DocSidhe Sidhe Devil]]'' when the main viewpoint character, Zeb, apologizes to Doc for having taken the attitude that the fair world was "Less real than where I come from." He's changed his view after failing to completely prevent a terrorist attack; a little girl died of her injuries as he was carrying her to a doctor. Now ItsPersonal.
* In ''BraveStory'' there is the "real world" and the world of Vision. Everyone in Vision easily, and nonchalantly, accepts the seemingly unprovable fact that Vision is created from people's thoughts in the real world, and that their unique Vision, out of infinite others, is the creation of one individual (Wataru). Actually really confusing, since all of Vision was originally created by a Goddess, and it's suggested that the real world was created by the same, and that the two worlds are "like two sides of the same coin." So it's kind of like a semi-maybe-un-subversion?

* In a not-dissimilar way, in ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'', nobody from 1973 ever appeared to take Sam Tyler seriously if he mentioned being back in time, or anything relating to his pre-car-crash existence. In ''AshesToAshes'', Alex Drake is quite sure that the whole experience of being in 1981 is a hallucination, and repeatedly says so out loud, but, again, nobody bats an eyelid or suspects that she's deranged.
* In ''{{Sliders}},'' Earth Prime refers to the original Sliders' homeworld. Inhabitants of the other dimensions don't generally use this name, though.
* In the DoctorWho episode ''The Power of Three'', Amy Pond referred to her life on Earth as "real life," as opposed to her life gallivanting about time and space with the Doctor.

A type of CreatorProvincialism, one step above EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse. Compare ExpendableClone, AllTheMyriadWays, WelcomeToTheRealWorld, TheTimeTravellersDilemma, ThisIsReality. Contrast DownTheRabbitHole.

* Averted in Larry Niven's "AllTheMyriadWays", set in a world where travellers to parallel universes report worlds where the Cuba War was "a damp squib" (called the Cuban Missile Crisis) and return with different technology such as the stapler.

In fiction, especially the TrappedInAnotherWorld department, ''many'' characters have the curious habit of talking about their world (almost always PresentDay Earth) as "the real world". This is justified when the world they're trapped in is a construct, such as a computer simulation or AllJustADream. It gets far murkier when it's filled with sentient inhabitants.

* ''JojosBizarreAdventure'' Part 7, the villain's stand has the power to visit parallel worlds and bring people from said parallel worlds to his world. He constantly refers to his initial world (the world where the plot takes place) as the ''root world'', he doesn't have any problems with killing people from the other worlds and [[spoiler: every time he's killed he has one of his alternate selves take his place, abducting him from his original world and overriding his memories with the villain's (apparently, his alternate selves don't have any problem with this)]]. He has a reason to think like that, since [[spoiler:the [[MacGuffin Holy Corpse]] only exists in the so called ''root world'']]

* Subverted in ''FushigiYuugi''; when BigBad Nakago [[WelcomeToTheRealWorld escapes the book-reality most of the series has taken place in]] and starts trying to conquer the real world, the heroes protest that he cannot do this because he is just a character from a book. Nakago refutes that this only makes it more amusing for him to rule this "world of the gods".

* Played with in the ''DarkTower'' books, where it is first implied that ''our'' world is not, in fact, the "real" one. In the ''real'' world, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-op_City Co-op City]] is in Brooklyn, the [[spoiler:Path of the Beam is visible in the sky]], and there's a [[spoiler:magical rose in an abandoned lot somewhere in Manhattan]], among other things. In fact, that's only only partially true - that world is directly stated to be more important than ours, but the ''real'' world is All World. Maybe. It's kinda confusing. [[spoiler: Keystone Earth does have the distinction of having unidirectional time, unlike All-World.]]