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| 3 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 6 | %% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1607079619004011200 |
| 7 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 9 | [[quoteright:325:[[TabletopGame/YuGiOh https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Secret_Village_1549.jpg]]]] |
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| 11 | |
| 12 | ->''"Wakandans used vibranium to develop technologies more advanced than any other nation. But as Wakanda thrived, the world descended further into chaos. To keep vibranium safe, the Wakandans vowed to hide in plain sight, keeping the truth of their power from the outside world."'' |
| 13 | -->-- '''N'Jobu''', ''Film/BlackPanther2018'' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | This is a SmallSecludedWorld populated by a tribe or group who comes to the pragmatic decision that what goes on outside their borders [[BystanderSyndrome no longer is or has never been their problem]] and choose to hole themselves up in some distant or inaccessible location because of some ancient evil or out of general disgust of others. If the villagers aren't outright xenophobic, they're only as polite as they need to be once they suggest you not stay very long. Especially isolationist villages may even consider outsiders to be "Not OfThePeople". Just as often, they manage to become a fantastically rich CityOfGold, harmonious GhibliHills, or at the least a decent place to live (just [[TownWithADarkSecret mind the dark secret]]). On the flip side, the rest of the world will judge you by the few they encounter: [[TheExile those you cast out]]. You'll be judged by your garbage. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | May be justified if the setting is PostApocalyptic and hiding out allowed them to escape TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. In this case, expect much in the way of WhatIf angst and a running debate of MyGodWhatHaveIDone vs IDidWhatIHadToDo. Depending on where the story is on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism, TheProtagonist may choose to MustMakeAmends or [[BystanderSyndrome shrug]]. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | If the village is planned by the writers, there's a good chance that someone in the main cast is a member of this group (such as TheExile). There's also a chance that a [[HeelFaceTurn reformed villain]] might shack up here in the epilogue, as he'd be rejected elsewhere. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Sometimes the moral is about respecting other people's opinions and [[ActualPacifist pacifist approaches]] to violence. Other times it's AnAesop about evil happening [[SuicidalPacifism when good men do nothing]]. Expect the inhabitants of the village to turn around their opinions and slowly reintegrate themselves into the surrounding culture. In video games, this usually happens just as one of the villains [[WatchingTroyBurn burns down the village]] after its defenses go to pot. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Not to be confused with VanishingVillage, although the inhabitants thereof usually turn their town into one if they have the phlebotinum to pull it off. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | This is OlderThanRadio: it was well enough known in the 18th century that both Swift and Voltaire could satirize it (the island of the Houyhnhnms in ''Literature/GulliversTravels'' and El Dorado in ''Literature/{{Candide}}'', respectively). |
| 26 | |
| 27 | This is also TruthInTelevision. Japan, for instance, was mostly cut off from the rest of the world by government policy, as were Burma, Tibet, and the whole peninsula of Korea at different times. See NeutralNoLonger for when the people in this village can no longer stand by quietly. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | Inhabitants are not required to be [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elves]], but you can expect SpaceAmish or SpaceElves of the ProudScholarRace sort or PerfectPacifistPeople to reside here. It can be a CloseKnitCommunity. May contain a SuperweaponSurprise. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | TreeTopTown is a common subtrope. If they're highly advanced, see AdvancedAncientAcropolis. If supposedly mythical creatures live there, it's a FantasticNatureReserve. If they're ''forced'' to live there, it's a FantasticGhetto. If they're a Compare CityInABottle and OutcastRefuge. Contrast TheOutsideWorld. See also WainscotSociety. |
| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | !!Examples: |
| 34 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 35 | |
| 36 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 37 | * Chapter 86 of ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' revealed that [[spoiler: the Walls are actually the VestigialEmpire of Eldia situated on an island named Paradis, as it was the "First King's" will to completely isolate his people from the rest of the world and specially from the technologically advanced Marleyan kingdom]]. |
| 38 | * Elysia, a village with towering trees and overflowing with mana, in ''Manga/BlackClover'' is in a Strong Magic Region in the Heart Kingdom that was established by the descendants of [[spoiler:Licht and Tetia]]. After the battle against Zagred and dispelling of the Reincarnation Magic, Licht, Rhya, Fana, and Vetto chose to live there. |
| 39 | * ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheWindmasters'' has the gang traveling to the Wind Village, a secluded world in the middle of the Mongolian plains whose era seemed to be stuck in ancient Mongol times. |
| 40 | * Meteor City in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' is an inversion: Its inhabitants will accept anything given to them and anyone who chooses to live there, but they will not allow any outsiders to take anything from them (though it's okay if it's voluntary and without duress). There are a lot of exceptionally strong fighters who live in Meteor City or grew up there, as well as a lot of suicide bombers, so the rest of the world's nations respect those rules. |
| 41 | * In ''Manga/OokuTheInnerChambers'', the retreat of Tokugawa Japan from the rest of the world is given a different reasoning. A disease is [[{{Gendercide}} killing off many of the men]] and the privy council ruling in the name of the [[ElCidPloy dead shogun]] fears the outside world moving in for easy pickings. |
| 42 | * The titular village in ''Manga/PandemoniumWizardVillage'' is populated by [[{{Mutants}} variants]]. Rumors persist that the people there have incredible magic powers, including control over [[TheDreaded Sky Golems]]. [[spoiler: However, the truth is there is no magic, and they've chosen to hide themselves away due to the discrimination their kind faces.]] |
| 43 | * Ashitaka's Emishi tribe in ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', though as the last surviving pocket of an ethnic group thought to have been wiped out centuries ago, their strictly-enforced isolationism isn't without reason. |
| 44 | * ''Anime/QueensBlade'' once had a literal hidden elf village in a forest. [[spoiler: It was destroyed in ''Rebellion'', leaving Nowa, Alleyne, and Echidna the only three elves who survived the destruction.]] |
| 45 | * [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Marhawa Academy]], where ''Manga/ResidentEvilTheMarhawaDesire'' takes place, is a school campus as large as a small town and even has its own shopping mall. It's also isolationist by nature, as it's nestled deep in the woods with communication to the outside world non-existent while within the confines of the campus, and those who are within it are largely wary of outsiders. [[spoiler:The BigBad of this series exploits this [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by dismantling all of the vehicles within the academy prior to instigating the outbreak throughout the campus, with the intention of ensuring that no one within the academy would be able to get help from the B.S.A.A. in time to halt the massacre]].]] |
| 46 | * Tenchi's hometown in ''Anime/TenchiMuyoRyoOhki'' turns out to be this, as an enclave of a long-lived branch family of HumanAliens who happen to be part of the galaxy's royal family (which is one of the reasons nobody raises any noise despite the regularity Mihoshi crashes her ship into the lake). It's secluded on Earth due to upholding TheMasquerade, but also from the galactic empire at large because due to Tenchi's ChickMagnet-ness, it also happens to be the single greatest concentration of power in the ''universe''. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Art]] |
| 50 | * ''Art/BeastFables'': Merfolk live in waters far away from werebeast civilisation, and it's a serious taboo for them to even surface. [[https://www.deviantart.com/nazrigar/art/Shark-Week-Day-4-Bull-Shark-923972523 This doesn't deter mer-poachers from killing werebeasts]], though. |
| 51 | [[/folder]] |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 54 | * The kithkin, a race of halflings in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'''s ''Shadowmoor'' setting, are paranoid and xenophobic in the extreme, holing themselves up in walled castles and brandishing TorchesAndPitchforks against anyone who isn't just like them. |
| 55 | * [[AllThereInTheManual In the backstory for the Duel Terminal sets]] in ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', the Ice Barrier monsters play this role, choosing to stay back and protect said barrier rather than help fight the Worm invasion. |
| 56 | ** Pictured above is "Secret Village of the Spellcasters". |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 60 | * ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'s home village [[FridgeLogic could easily use their magic invincibility potion]] to throw the Romans out of Gaul, but seems content with using it only to keep them out of their place, or to help people who ask them directly. |
| 61 | * In Franchise/TheDCU: |
| 62 | ** Themiscyra, a.k.a. Paradise Island (Hidden Amazon Village), home of Franchise/WonderWoman. |
| 63 | ** Gorilla City, home to a race of talking gorillas [[UpliftedAnimal uplifted by aliens.]] |
| 64 | ** Nanda Parbat, the DCU's [[TheShangriLa Shangri-La.]] |
| 65 | ** Trevor Island, a South Pacific island owned entirely by Admiral Derek Trevor, who married Joan Dale (Miss America) and adopted and raised Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor as his daughter, appearing near the end of the first ''ComicBook/InfinityInc'' series. This was to be the substitute for Paradise Island from the ''Wonder Woman'' franchise in regard to Lyta's upbringing. |
| 66 | ** Daxam, home of ComicBook/{{Valor}} and most often appearing in the Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/GreenLantern comics, is a hidden elf planet. Its inhabitants are incredibly racist and xenophobic, even after their lives are saved by the Green Lantern Corps. |
| 67 | ** ''ComicBook/SuicideSquadDreamTeam'' reveals that Dreamer's family lives in a hidden refuge for aliens on Earth. Amanda Waller has discovered the location of this refuge, and is threatening to reveal it to the world unless Dreamer works for her. |
| 68 | * Sorrow's End in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' is an oasis in the middle of an inhospitable desert, established in an attempt to escape human persecution. The inhabitants aren't exactly hostile to outsiders, at least those of their own species, but they do end up having to defend it against hostile elves and later humans. [[spoiler:After thousands of years the village eventually falls. Although the invaders are defeated and most of the villagers survive, it's a [[WasItReallyWorthIt pyrrhic victory]] because the village is destroyed and the survivors have to take refuge in abandoned troll caverns beneath the desert, before eventually being found and relocated by the other elves in the flying Palace of the High Ones.]] |
| 69 | ** Blue Mountain may have been written as a darker counterpart to Sorrow's End -- what if isolation goes far too far. [[spoiler: To get it out of the way: There are exactly five known survivors. One of them, Winnowill, had been some kind of insane probably for millennia, directly caused by their isolation, since it made her healing magic superfluous and "fester". She became the BigBad of several subseries, also creating some nasty monsters on the side. One of the other survivors, Door, was her apprentice, or driven mad by her somehow, and became a tyrannical god-king, BigBad of ''Forevergreen''. Then there is her son, who in all likelihood would not have been born if she'd been sane. Imagining ''[=ElfQuest=]'' without Two-Edge engineering a war to figure out who he is is left as exercise to people who know the series.]] |
| 70 | * The ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' Dark Horse comic series ''Thunder in the Orient'' includes a stop in Chanri-Ha, an unmapped city in Tibet that the main characters assume is the real inspiration of the mythical Shangri-La. Chanri-Ha is mostly, but not entirely sealed off from foreign contact: the locals submitted in its day to UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat and UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan (though their image was twisted over time so much they were condensed into a single [[UnwantedFalseFaith figure of worship]], the conquering god Zan-khan), and by the end of the number they are attacked by a Chinese warlord. |
| 71 | * In ''ComicBook/LandsOfArran'', most of the Elven races have hidden or very hard-to-reach settlements. The Wood Elves live at the heart of the great forest of Duhann, and none has managed to reach it until the Wood Elves opened to their allies. The White Elves used to live on secret islands whose locations were only known to them. The Dark Elves all live on the fortress of Slurce, perched at the top of a mountain in the middle of a wasteland they can effortlessly watch. The only exception is the city of Elsémur, the capital of the Northen Blue Elves which is a hub of trade routes and regularly deals with neighboring kingdoms; on the other hand it is situated in the middle of the sea, and only the most powerful navies can invade it. |
| 72 | * The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has a bunch of these: |
| 73 | ** Attilan, (Hidden [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Inhuman]] Village) which had the extra fun of getting moved about to stay hidden. It began as a faux {{Atlantis}} in the {{Backstory}} which later became TheShangriLa, and then alternated between that role and being placed ''on the moon''. |
| 74 | ** The actual Atlantis, and a similar city called Lemuria in the Pacific Ocean. Both were once bodies of land, but were sunk in great cataclysms and then became (Hidden ApparentlyHumanMerfolk Villages). |
| 75 | ** ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'' sometimes has Wakanda as this, keeping itself isolated from the rest of the world to protect its supply of Vibranium. Sometimes this attitude is deconstructed, such as in ''Infinity Wars'', where in a BadFuture aliens invade Earth and enslave a lot of people, but Wakanda stays safe and isolated. Erik Killraven, one of the humans enslaved, is told by his mom about Wakanda and he grows up completely ''pissed'' at them for not doing anything, eventually deciding to travel back in time, kill Wakanda's royal family and burn the place to the ground. |
| 76 | ** The ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' eventually ran afoul of New Salem (Hidden MageSpecies Village) in Colorado due to hiring a witch as an au pair for their son Franklin. |
| 77 | ** ''The Shogun Warriors'' featured the Followers of the Light and their enemies, two groups of aliens living in hidden enclaves. Both places were destroyed at the end of that series. |
| 78 | ** ''ComicBook/TheEternals'' had Olympia (Greece), Polaria (Siberia), and Oceana (the Pacific Ocean) to live majestically in (Hidden PhysicalGod Villages) when they weren't slumming it among mortals. |
| 79 | ** Marvel's BeneathTheEarth realm is called Subterranea. Its original inhabitants were the Eternals' enemies the Deviants (who still inhabit parts of it), but most of the place is just inhabited by the various creatures (both humanoids and [[{{Kaiju}} giant monsters]] they genetically engineered over the millennia and then abandoned. The Mole Man and Tyrannus are both humans who have carved out empires down there by enslaving these creatures. Mole Man's empire's tunnels extend to a surface island called Monster Island. |
| 80 | ** Subverted with the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero Rock Man. In his original stories, he was portrayed as the king of a subterranean realm who periodically came to the surface to fight evil. The much more recent miniseries ''ComicBook/TheTwelve'' revealed that this was likely a delusion he retreated to after his hometown was destroyed by coal barons in response to his attempts to unionize. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Possibly.]] |
| 81 | ** The floating island of the Bird People, home to both Golden Age hero Red Raven and the giant two-headed [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk enemy]] Bi-Beast. |
| 82 | ** And K'un-Lun, the Marvel Universe's [[TheShangriLa Shangri-La]] (at least, the one that's unrelated to the Inhumans). It's associated mostly with ComicBook/IronFist. |
| 83 | * Albion in the pre-soft reboot ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' was a city filled with Echidnas, hidden away from the rest of the world and believed that they didn't ''need'' to help Mobius. This came back and bit them in the ass thanks to a Chaos-powered Knuckles and Dr. Finitevus. |
| 84 | ** Archie Sonic serves as a subversion if not a {{deconstruction}} of the Hidden Elf Village. No matter how well concealed your town/city/village is, if Sonic can easily find you, so can Robotnik/Eggman. Also it's not a good idea to put up an air of superiority. The Echidnas along with several other races learned that the hard and painful way. |
| 85 | * Franchise/TheSmurfs! At least in the original books and the first few seasons of the TV show. In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfsAndTheMagicFlute'', the Smurf Village could be reached by humans only through a magical method called "hypnokinesis". |
| 86 | * In the second issue of ''ComicBook/AstroWitch'', Lujurian takes Luna and Blueberry to Nahual-Li, a hidden city populated by her worshippers and hidden from the rest of the world by her powers. Unfortunately for her, while she's stuck fighting Envy outside the city, her other siblings attack the city itself, slaughtering its inhabitants. |
| 87 | [[/folder]] |
| 88 | |
| 89 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 90 | * ''Fanfic/BeyondTheWall'': The village where the story takes place is located in the middle of a forest (implied to be the Everfree Forest), surrounded by a giant stone wall that keeps anypony from getting in or out. |
| 91 | * ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': Horai Island, which the High Eunuchs don't even know exists, is fitted with a shield generator that hides it from both the naked eye and radio frequencies. [[spoiler:With the Ark airborn again, the civilian refugees are moved there in order to keep them out of harm's way while the Autobots and Black Knights take the fight to the Decepticons.]] |
| 92 | * ''Fanfic/TheDesertStorm'': The planet which Yoda's species live on is one. It's located in a hidden nebula that normally requires the Force to navigate, the people use no technology and are very isolationist, and the planet itself doesn't even have a name. |
| 93 | * ''Fanfic/DragonsDance'': The village of Ryu's Gift, which is hidden deep in the remote mountains. Their inhabitants shun most interaction with the outside world and keep secret the dragons who live among them there, out of fear of being targeted by warlords the way they were in the distant past. |
| 94 | * ''Fanfic/TheElementsOfFriendship'' has the deer village of Harthind, which has kept itself isolated from the rest of the world for centuries. When the Mane Six stumble across it during their quest, the [[TheNightThatNeverEnds extreme circumstances]] are the only reason that the village elders don't forcibly turn them away as well. |
| 95 | * ''Fanfic/{{Hyphen}}'': |
| 96 | ** Astra's home village of Ralts and Kirlia is hidden deep in the forest and protected by psychic and illusory defenses that only Dark-Type Pokémon can penetrate. Astra sets out on her journey partly because she's curious about the outside world and partly because, with the humans' rate of expansion and the psychic protections slowly fading, the village's days will be numbered unless she can secure legal protection for them. |
| 97 | ** A lesser example with the Lord of Steel, a skeleton of a titanic Aggron deep beneath Granite Cave where dwells a group of Abra and Kadabra. |
| 98 | * ''Fanfic/MesozoicEffect'': The sentient dinosaurs turn Earth into one when they realize that their thousand-plus years of pacifism have left them with no hope of defeating [[Franchise/MassEffect the invading Reapers]] in battle. They successfully pull it off for over a hundred million years, until a damaged Reaper [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs accidentally stumbles into them.]] When the [[HumanPopsicle cryonically frozen]] survivors wake up 65 million years later, they decide to take a much more aggressive approach to the problem. |
| 99 | * In ''Fanfic/TheSmurfetteVillage'' series, the new Smurf Village is hidden in the forests of Canada, while the Smurfette Village (up until it was destroyed) was hidden near the coasts of Ireland. |
| 100 | * ''Fanfic/TheSonOfTheEmperor'': Equestria uses a magical barrier to isolate itself from the rest of the world. No one on the outside knows anything about it. |
| 101 | * ''[[https://fanfiction.net/s/3737337/1/Tails-Underground Tails Underground]]'': Tails's hometown, Shadakor, is one of these, despite having the might to challenge Robotnik's empire. Why is a mystery Sonic and his siblings try to discover when they return him there. |
| 102 | [[/folder]] |
| 103 | |
| 104 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 105 | * The Secret Panda Village in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'', justified in-universe as they had to hide to avoid extermination by a powerful noble. |
| 106 | [[/folder]] |
| 107 | |
| 108 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 109 | %% * ''Film/CloudAtlas'': Meronym's civilization is strongly implied to be this, due to the fact that they've retained technology from Sonmi's time. |
| 110 | * ''Film/TheIslandAtTheTopOfTheWorld'' (1974): Set in 1907, it has a surviving Viking village in a remote Arctic island. |
| 111 | * ''Film/LastOfTheDogmen'': The Dog Soldiers have been living in the unexplored Montana wilderness for 128 years since they fled the Sand Creek Massacre, and have had no contact with the modern world beyond a few violent encounters with intruders. |
| 112 | * ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'': |
| 113 | ** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'': Asgard, which traditionally is the protector of all Nine Realms, has become very non-interventionistic under Loki's rule while he's pretending to be Odin. Thor notes that the other Realms have fallen into chaos due to the lack of help from Asgard while Asgard is "prospering", according to Loki. |
| 114 | --->'''Loki as Odin:''' Well, it is best to respect our neighbors' freedom... |
| 115 | ** ''Film/BlackPanther2018'': Wakanda is an [[AdvancedAncientAcropolis extremely technologically advanced society which]] [[HiddenInPlainSight hides in plain sight]] as a depressed third-world country. While theoretically justified, as they wanted to keep their very valuable natural resource from falling into the wrong hands, Wakanda itself is largely a deconstruction of the trope; despite said advancement, they do not share their progress with the world and don't seem to have advanced ''culturally'' for hundreds of years, still partaking in ritualistic violence to choose leaders and with no obvious participation in government by ordinary people. [[spoiler:In the end, it's subverted as T'Challa realizes the error of their ways, thanks to the villain Killmonger, and decides to open up Wakanda to the world.]] |
| 116 | ** ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' has Ta Lo, an isolationist village in AnotherDimension that also doubles as a FantasticNatureReserve for all manner of creatures from Chinese mythology. On a darker note, it's also the stopper on the SealedEvilInACan that the villain is being suckered into opening... |
| 117 | ** ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'': Talokan is an aquatic kingdom founded by 16th century Mayans who fled Spanish colonization and have remained hidden due to fear of the surface world. Deposits of vibranium on the ocean bed have allowed them to develop a technologically advanced society capable of rivaling Wakanda should war erupt. The creation of a vibranium detector, which could guide outsiders to their nation, convinces Talokan that they can only remain safe by wiping out the surface world. [[spoiler:In the end, Shuri - as de facto ruler of Wakanda and the new Black Panther - makes the decision to ally with Talokan and their leader Namor in a mutual defense pact, ensuring Talokan's continued secrecy and ending the hostilities between their two nations]]. |
| 118 | %% * ''Film/SantaBaby'': The North Pole Village. |
| 119 | * ''Film/TheSantaClause'': The North Pole. Complete with a school, mayor, and factories to make the toys, obviously. Santa tries to disguise it as a Canadian manufacturing village when he brings his in-laws, who haven't been given the "Santa Secret," yet. It just had a lot of ''short'' Canadians. |
| 120 | * ''Film/SixReasonsWhy'': To the west of The Badlands lies a Utopian community that has closed its gates to what it sees as the sin and corruption of the rest of the PostApocalyptic world. According to a pilgrim searching for it at the start of the film, there are no criminals, no whores, and no violence there. |
| 121 | * ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'': Sanctuary is an enclave in the heart of the Dark Forest, untouched by the poisonous presence of Queen Ravenna. |
| 122 | %% * ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'': The Bak'u homeworld. |
| 123 | * ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': The Gungan city meets all the requirements easily. Hidden apart from the rest of the world (underwater), main character (Jar-Jar) comes from there, and later they return to get the Gungans to fight alongside them in the final battle. |
| 124 | %% * The Village in ''Film/TheVillage2004''. |
| 125 | * ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Themyscira, or Paradise Island (Steve can't pronounce the name), is hidden by a magical fog, somewhere in the Mediterranean. When Diana tries to leave, Hippolyta tells her that she may never come back; not in the "you will be banished from here" way, but in a "you might not find your way back" way. |
| 126 | [[/folder]] |
| 127 | |
| 128 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 129 | %% * ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'': Galt's Gulch. Initially, it's just a retreat from the awful proletariat, becoming this in time. |
| 130 | * ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'': In the Climax of volume 10,[[spoiler: The Hearth is introduced as a secret sanctuary established deep in the beast glades by a benevelont Asura called Mordain of the Asclepuis clan of the phoneix asura race. He was a close friend of Kezess Indrath later their friendship is broken as Mordain rebells against Kezess because of the Djinn genocide regarding aether Knowledge. Mordain established the Hearth for his clan, Djinn survivors and Asuras who oppose Kezess Indrath and Agrona Vritra. Mordain shelters Aldir and Wren after their depart from Ephetous then Later Mordain summons Arthur Leywin to the Hearth]]. |
| 131 | * ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'': The Oompa-Loompas come from Loompaland, a DeathWorld of fearsome predators. The little people created a TreeTopTown to afford some safety, but it wasn't an ideal situation because there was virtually nothing decent for ''them'' to eat. When Willy Wonka, in need of a new workforce, discovered them and learned that more than anything else, they craved cacao beans (the basis of chocolate), he made them an offer: If they'd come and work for him, they could live in his factory -- an ElaborateUndergroundBase -- and have all the cacao beans they wanted. They jumped at the offer, and he secretly transported the entire tribe to his factory. Moving from one form of isolation to another (owing to Mr. Wonka's determination to keep spies out of the factory, the reason he sacked his original workforce), they were able to create a new system of villages and towns in the factory. |
| 132 | * ''Literature/CreatureOfHavoc'': Stittle Woad is a TreeTopTown that guards the secrets of elven magic, with powerful enchantments to hide it from people who intrude in the forest. Those enchantments didn't account for technological advances, though, so the EvilSorcerer Zharradan Marr commandeers a {{magitek}} [[CoolAirship airship]] and hunts it down from above. |
| 133 | * ''Franchise/TheDarkTower: Literature/TheWasteLands'': Eddie hopes to find this in the devastated city of Lud. Even saying, "Bring on those wise f*** in' Elves." Given that he's in a CrapsackWorld, this doesn't happen. |
| 134 | ** At the time, Eddie had just left the closest thing he was likely to find to this in the CrapsackWorld of the Dark Tower, a hidden village of elderly folks who are always hiding from bandits and disguise their town as abandoned ruins by, well, living in a ruined town and not going outside a lot. They don't offer much in the way of sagely advice or magical / technological help, but they do [[FoodPorn set a mean table.]] |
| 135 | * ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'': The titular island, which has humans living in harmony with dinosaurs. People arrive every so often as shipwreck survivors, but it's nearly impossible to ''leave'' the island. |
| 136 | * ''Dragon Wars Saga'': The elf realms of Andur'Blough, Inninness, and Tymwyvenne are both extremely secretive and magically protected (the former by a spell that prevents explorers from finding the place without being guided there, the latter by zombies and sleep-inducing pollen). |
| 137 | * ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Eldest]]'': Ellesmera, the capital city of the elves. |
| 138 | * ''Literature/GamearthTrilogy'': Has a female player sneak into the game room at night paint a Hidden Elf Village on a single tile of the hexagonal world map, then paint over it. Since the game is magic and their [=PCs=] are rapidly becoming self-aware, when the party lands on the seemingly blank space the next morning, the village is there, waiting for them. |
| 139 | * ''Literature/{{Gormenghast}}'': Might qualify, although to what extent its isolation is intentional isn't clear. |
| 140 | * ''Literature/HariLek'' by "Ganpat". Harry Lake and his pals find a remote valley populated by the Christianised descendants of one of Alexander the Great's legions, somewhere in Central Asia. This was set shortly after UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and written in 1925 -- probably the last time when such a thing would have been just about possible in real life. |
| 141 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'': The Wizarding World exists as a network of magically hidden buildings, safehouses, and miniature towns squirreled away throughout the countryside and cities of the British Isles. By internationally agreed-upon law, wizards around the world live under a code of secrecy so extreme that some are completely incapable of functioning outside their little enclaves. Of course, some don't function too well even inside their own communities. Arguably a subversion of the trope; rather than being hidden away because it's so perfect, the Wizarding World has its own societal ills including crime, prejudice, and institutional corruption. If those ills were to fully spill over into the non-magical community, the results could be disastrous. |
| 142 | * ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': The Hawkbrothers' Vales. |
| 143 | * ''Literature/TheHeroIsOverpoweredButOverlyCautious'': The Dragon Village is the home of the dragonkin/dragonewts, and can only be accessed by a teleporter in the Dragons' Den due to the village being on a distant and phantasmal continent. |
| 144 | * ''Literature/InCryptid'': Some cryptids have their own communities, though it's rare for them to be ''entirely'' cut off from the wider world. |
| 145 | ** The gorgon community of Ohio has set up a small village of trailers, able to pick up and leave in case of discovery by humans. The Fringe is a faction who have built more permanent houses, as a statement that they're not going anywhere. |
| 146 | ** Bogeymen have their own hidden communities, usually underneath human cities. |
| 147 | ** Dragons have communal "nests" in major cities, where they raise their young and hide male dragons, who can't go out in public like females (who look just like humans). |
| 148 | * ''Literature/{{Island|1962}}'': Pala is a Hidden Elf Island {{Utopia}} populated by PerfectPacifistPeople. |
| 149 | * ''Literature/IslandsEnd'' has the En-ge, an indigenous tribe that lives on one of the Andaman Islands. They used to live on a larger island with some other tribes, until an offshoot of the tribe that included Uido's grandparents moved to an uninhabited island to escape modern influence. They have been living in almost total isolation ever since. Uido eventually learns that the main branch of the En-ge died out, leaving her people the only ones left. When strangers visit the island, the En-ge debate whether to open up communication with the outside world or not. |
| 150 | * ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'': Too many to count, but the ones that stand out are: |
| 151 | ** The White Martians, who dwell in the South Pole and are believed to have been long extinct, and used a false religion to lure other Martians into their realm to enslave and devour them. There are another two White races that dwell secretly such as the Lotharians in Torquas and the Orovar in Horz. |
| 152 | ** The Black Martians who live underground and also created a religion of their own to prey on the White Martians. They technically don't count, since they regularly get out to raid outsiders for food and slaves, although most common belief about the Black Martians is incorrect -- outsiders think they are pirates from one of Mars' moons, instead of being one of the very first civilizations to develop on the planet. |
| 153 | ** The Yellow Martians live inside [[DomedHometown domed city-states]] in the extreme North of Mars and keep outsiders at bay using their technology to bring down any ships that venture too close, and due to the hostile conditions of the land, it's near impossible to reach these destinations on foot. |
| 154 | * ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': The people of Dnnac Ledo have gone to great lengths to keep the location of their village a secret. 99% of them also insist that any mana mutation problem threatening "the temps" has nothing to do with them. This changes during ''Literature/ManaMutationMenace''. [[spoiler: Inviting the Mana Mutation Summit delegates to reconvene there is so tempting that none of them can resist, and instead, they agree to drop whatever grievance they have to go there.]] |
| 155 | * ''Literature/LandOfOz'': The entire country is situated inside an impenetrable desert that kills anyone who tries to cross it. |
| 156 | * ''Literature/LastMage'': Shambala. [[spoiler: Abandoned by all the inhabitants save an impressive AI and a KnightTemplar dormant EldritchAbomination]]. |
| 157 | * ''Literature/LilithsBrood'': There is a hidden mountain village where the citizens have become so isolated from the rest of the world that [[DeconstructedTrope they all suffer horrible genetic diseases from inbreeding]]. |
| 158 | * ''Literature/LostHorizon'': One of the most famous examples of this trope, and the one that is the codifier for TheShangriLa. The secluded lamastery and surrounding valley do not allow just anyone to enter or leave, and are detached from the outside world. |
| 159 | * ''Literature/LoyalEnemies'': Ash Grove ("ash" as in the tree) is an entire Hidden Elf ''City'', although it's split into a dryad half and an elven half. Only the latter is hidden, and that's because the elves don't want dryads "infesting" their part of the city after some imagined spat. They've surrounded their city with illusions, making it look like there's nothing there from afar, and as the story is set in the middle of winter, the elves have also raised a magical snow wall for good measure. No dryads allowed. This falls flat, however, because they and the dryads share a spy agency, and the dryads, themselves a very isolationist bunch squirreled away in their half of Ash Grove, just collectively shrug their shoulders. Both halves of Ash Grove remain in a state of eternal summer, the dryards due to their clever landscaping and the elves thanks to their [[GreenThumb Staff of Fertility]]. |
| 160 | * ''Literature/LumbanicoTheCubicPlanet'': The picturesque Enchanted Valley is an enclosed region surrounded by unassailable mountains called Aristas. The Aristans have remained isolated from the wider world since the passes and tunnels vanished from memory seven centuries ago, becoming forgotten by the rest of the planet. And that is how they like it. |
| 161 | * ''Literature/TheManWhoWouldBeKing'': Kaffiristan, both the original novella and the movie adaptation. This is based on an actual region in real life (see below). |
| 162 | * ''Literature/AMemoirByLadyTrent'': The eponymous Sanctuary of Wings of the final book is a hidden valley inhabited by [[spoiler:[[DraconicHumanoid Draconeans]]]]. |
| 163 | * ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'': The [[TheFairFolk Sithi]] city of Jao é-tinukai'i is one of these. To be fair, they had plenty of justification: they were on the losing end of a catastrophic war and had been [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters hunted by humans]] for centuries thereafter. That doesn't stop their AlwaysChaoticEvil counterparts, the Norns, from taking advantage of their isolationism to wreak all kinds of havoc, up to and including [[SealedEvilInACan unleashing]] an unstoppable [[EldritchAbomination undead horror]] on the land. Furthermore, both the Sithi and Norns are exiles from a mythical land far to the west of Osten Ard known as the [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic Garden]]. |
| 164 | * Creator/MichaelMoorcock's: The various forms of Tanelorn, a city that exists as a sort of cosmic rest stop for the Eternal Champion, who nonetheless is always compelled to leave eventually. |
| 165 | * ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}}'': District 13 is a particularly non-whimsical example. After forming a non-aggression pact with the Capitol 75 years previously, they have remained physically and politically isolated from the rest of Panem (to the extent that the 12 other districts believe they were entirely wiped out). While this allowed them to retain their independence and arsenal of weaponry - as well as never being forced to participate in the Hunger Games - the result was an austere, militaristic lifestyle marked by immense struggles in early decades. |
| 166 | * ''Literature/MythagoWood'': George Huxley finds one deep within the BiggerOnTheInside Ryhope Wood: |
| 167 | -->The village is the legendary palisaded village, hidden in a valley, or across a remote mountain, where the pure folk live, the old inhabitants of the land who have never been found by the conqueror. A strong and persisting myth across many centuries, and startling to me since I lived ''within'' a mythago … the village itself, and all its inhabitants are created from the racial unconsciousness. This, so far, is the most powerful myth ''landscape'' in the wood, that I have discovered. |
| 168 | * ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'': Camp Half-Blood may count as it also possesses magic barriers aside from just hiding the demigods, but the sequel series ''Heroes of Olympus'' has Camp Jupiter and the adjoining city of New Rome. |
| 169 | * ''Literature/RecordOfLodossWar'': [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Forest of No Return]] is the home of the elves of Lodoss. To ward off any visitors, the forest changes shape and traps them inside with the intent that they die trying to escape. While most elves try to stay, several have left to see the world for themselves, namely Deedlit and Pirotess. |
| 170 | * ''Literature/RickBrant'': ''The Lost City'' feature a valley inhabited by the descendants of Genghis Khan's subjects, who have had almost no contact with the modern world since Khan's death. |
| 171 | * ''Literature/RuneSoldierLouie'': After being captured by Louie, [[BitchInSheepsClothing Celecia]] pretends to guide him and his friends back to her village, and walks them straight into a trap set by her people. Though she ''does'' speak on their behalf, while they're there, to prevent them from being executed for trespassing into their forest. |
| 172 | * ''Literature/SeireiGensoukiSpiritChronicles'': The various races of the Seirei no Tami live in a secluded forest to avoid humans. Bonus points for elves being among those races. Few humans, such as the main character Rio, are allowed to enter their civilization due to past conflicts. |
| 173 | * ''Literature/TheShadowhunterChronicles'': Idris. It's an entire country that is hidden in the maps. It is sandwiched between France, Germany, and Switzerland, but no [[{{Muggle}} mundanes]] can enter it by simply stumbling upon it, because a magical enchantment will simply transport them to the other side, while most Shadowhunters travel to it through portals anyway. According to Shadowhunter legends, the angel Raziel designated it to be a safe place for Shadowhunters a thousand years ago and since then it has had no direct contact with the mundane world, hence why it lives in perpetual MedievalStasis (no cars, no electricity, etc). |
| 174 | * ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'': [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], where it's pointed out in ''Elfstones'' that while the Elves and other Faerie creatures used to live by this standard, it aided in [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt general apocalypse]] and thus when humanity started to rebuild, they joined the newly formed races. |
| 175 | ** Becomes a [[ChekhovsArmy plot point]] in the later ''Scions of Shannara'' series, where due to the arrival of the Shadowen, the Elves have once again formed a Hidden Elf Village, and it's absolutely necessary to bring them back. |
| 176 | * ''Literature/SimeGen'': The Rathorites are a secret society/hidden community who have tools that could go a long way towards fixing the problems of the world, but won't reveal them because they could be misused. |
| 177 | * ''Literature/SoImASpiderSoWhat'': |
| 178 | ** The elves live in a single isolated village protected by a powerful magic barrier. Entry is strictly regulated and the only ones who regularly leave are on the business of their leader, Potimas, or half-elves who are exiled at adulthood. [[spoiler:Potimas is responsible for the world's current state and everyone who knows it wants him and the elves dead. The isolated village keeps them at bay while he continues his research into MA energy and the System]]. |
| 179 | ** The country of interstice was an isolated country blocked off from the other nations by mountain ranges controlled by dragons. Monsters were docile, life was easy, and skills were not needed. Gyurie created it as a safe haven where demons and humans tired of the ForeverWar could live together in peace [[spoiler:and to protect souls on the verge of collapse]]. Unfortunately it was destroyed by Wrath while Gyurie was otherwise preoccupied. |
| 180 | * ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Shinovar is the country variant. It's quite a large country, but it's completely isolated from the rest of the continent by mountains, with only a single small pass allowing outsiders in. The Shin greatly disapprove of outsiders, due to starkly different religions and cultures, and rarely allow them into the country. Even fewer Shin leave, since part of their religion makes it blasphemy to walk on bare stone, while the entire rest of the continent is nothing ''but'' bare stone. Speaking of which, Shinovar's ecology is completely different from the rest of the continent, looking normal to us while the rest of Roshar looks more like an underwater coral reef. Visitors find the land completely alien. |
| 181 | * ''Literature/TalionRevenant'': A literal example. Nolan discusses the fact that the elves have a city hidden deep in the vast woods where they live, but no human has ever seen this since fierce warrior clans patrol the outskirts to insure it's kept safe and kill any intruders (except for children). |
| 182 | * ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'': In ''Empire of Ivory'', the Tswana is best described as a Hidden Dragon Empire... that forgoes the 'Hidden' part when they "abolish" the European slave ports. |
| 183 | * ''Literature/{{Theatrica}}'': The city of the same name transpires to be perfectly hidden from the outside world, [[spoiler: as its people, the Theatricans, are xenophobes.]] |
| 184 | * ''Literature/TimeScout'': Time Terminal 86 is hidden in a warren of tunnels inside the mountains of Himalaya. |
| 185 | * ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'': |
| 186 | ** If the trope allows for very large populations, advanced technology, expeditionary armies, and grand political ambitions, there are multiple examples. Gondolin, Doriath and Nargothrond from ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' all qualify. All three experienced long periods of isolation, and both Gondolin and Nargothrond meet horrible ends at the hands of the Big Bad they were hiding from (as told in ''Literature/TheFallOfGondolin'' and ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'', respectively). Rivendell and Lothlórien from ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'', while smaller than their First Age predecessors, also fit the trope. While Doriath and Lothlórien are purposely hidden by magic, Gondolin, Rivendell, and Nargothrond are simply hidden by geography. |
| 187 | ** The Shire is a classic Hidden Elf Village, albeit one with twists. Apart from the dumpiness and furriness (and non-Elvishness) of its inhabitants, there was no actual ''policy'' behind it -- the inhabitants were just homebodies that were missed by the general collapse of civilization in the area rather than people that actually went out of their way to hide. In the latter part of its history, until the end of the Third Age, the Rangers of the North secretly kept watch on the Shire to make sure no potential invaders found it. |
| 188 | ** Valinor may also count if large populations and advanced societies are allowed. Located across the sea, Valinor kept itself isolated and defended from [[BigBad Morgoth]], whose domain was in Middle-earth. After Morgoth's defeat at the end of the First Age, Valinor welcomed back many Elvish refugees and did not fully isolate itself until centuries later; when the Númenoreans launched a full-scale invasion of Valinor to conquer it, the the Valar removed their land from the physical space of the world, and only the ships of the elves were able/permitted to travel there. |
| 189 | ** The Avari were groups of Elves who resided in the far-east of Middle-Earth, having refused the journey to Valinor with their kinsmen millennia before and chose to remain in absolute isolation in the wilderness they inhabited. Eventually some began to wander westward and join other Elven societies, while others fragmented into small tribes. By the late Third Age, only six known Avari tribes remain, all reclusive and located in wild lands east of the Misty Mountains. |
| 190 | * ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'': The Hidden Kingdom, a very beautiful, idyllic, isolated Country. Its people are Elves, Mystical Masters, or both. Tourists will be given a talk by its ruler on magic or their life goals. Food may, surprisingly, not be Stew (but invariably vegetarian). Despite it being utopian, Tourists will quickly grow bored and want to leave. Its people will be happy with that, finding them restive. They will deliver a Prophecy and then send the Tourists off with supplies. |
| 191 | * ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Has several, most notably the Sea Folk isle of Tremalking and its surrounding archipelago, the Aiel holds (though those are more of "we kill you (or let you die of thirst) if you set foot on our land without things to sell us and we come out and kill you if you do something really, really dumb like [[TooDumbToLive chopping down that wondrous tree we gave you generations ago]]"), and the land of Shara, an entire country that goes to insane lengths to prevent any traveler getting a good look inside its borders. |
| 192 | ** You could technically count the Two Rivers, too, since until the middle of the series they were so isolated they were still using thatch roof and had next to no affiliation to the country they're part of. This isn't a result of any particular effort on their part, it's just that they conveniently have very isolating geography and, since the destruction of their ancestral kingdom generations ago, are all simple farmers who haven't drawn attention to themselves. |
| 193 | ** And more than any of the above, the Steddings, though these are not exactly hidden: a normal person might easily ride past them, but any supernatural being will find them quite easily. However, for most of the evil forces in the series entering a Stedding is all but impossible, and their inhabitants have gotten accustomed to letting the world pass them by, secure in the near-absolute safety offered by their domains. |
| 194 | ** There's even a weird EvilCounterpart in [[spoiler: the town known only as "The Town," in the valley of Thakan'dar near Shayol Ghul, whose inhabitants serve the BigBad]]. |
| 195 | * In ''Literature/WorldWarZ'' at the beginning of the zombie outbreak the entire population of North Korea was forcibly evacuated underground, and nothing was ever heard from them ever again. Maybe they survived the zombie apocalypse unscathed, and continue to toil for their leaders with no knowledge of goings-on in the outside world? Maybe zombies made it into their underground bunkers and infected the entire population, and there are 23 million zombies waiting to spill out onto the surface the first time some feckless explorer opens the wrong bunker door? Nobody knows. |
| 196 | * ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'': The title kingdom was one for years, ever since King Roogna set up a magic shield that killed anything crossing between Xanth and Mundania (our world). The only people allowed through were those being exiled. This ends when "[[AntiVillain Evil Magician]]" Trent manages to get back in, and discovers to his horror that the centuries of isolation have led to magical inbreeding, which will in time lead to the extinction of humans in Xanth. When he takes over, he takes down the shield and encourages his own followers to marry locals to keep the gene pool clean. |
| 197 | [[/folder]] |
| 198 | |
| 199 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 200 | * ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' had Terazed, a planet in an out-of-the-way slipstream colonized by human and Nietzschean Commonwealth loyalists led by Dylan Hunt's former fiance. Thanks to a bit of time travel they knew that in 300 years Dylan and the Andromeda Ascendant would escape the black hole and attempt to rebuild the Commonwealth, so they prepared to reveal themselves at that time and became the restored Commonwealth's capital. |
| 201 | ** Also, Tarn-Vedra, the capital of the old Commonwealth, cut itself off from the slipstream through tesseract at the start of the Long Night. Eventually [[spoiler: the Vedrans themselves evolved into seemingly omnipresent beings and the "Seefra" system accumulated refugees from all over space, the final season largely takes place there.]] |
| 202 | *** Robert Hewitt Wolfe (original, [[ExecutiveMeddling and fired]], developer of the series) revealed after the show had concluded that if he had been allowed to pursue his original plan, Tarn-Vedra would have been dragged into the Magog conflict by force. He also responded to a question at the Ex Isle forums about whether the Vedrans had removed themselves from the connected universe out of selfishness or a desire to build up for the invasion with "They probably told themselves the latter while secretly knowing that it was the former," making them actually fit the trope a bit better on both ends. |
| 203 | * The 1981 miniseries ''Goliath Awaits'' features a British ocean liner sunk by a U-Boat in 1938 (like the Lusitania), which was partially saved and transformed into an underwater version of this by a genius inventor/Chief Engineer played by Creator/ChristopherLee. Generations have grown up, and some people don't want to return to the outer world when a crew finds them 43 years later. |
| 204 | * ''Series/{{Jeremiah}}'': |
| 205 | ** Thunder Mountain is a Cold War bunker housing the now grown-up children of the military and government officials, who spent the entire virus outbreak and subsequent chaos keeping the old world and civilization intact. After the pilot episode, they decide to secretly work to rebuild the world and cause a renaissance. |
| 206 | ** On the flip side, there is Valhalla Sector, which is [[spoiler: the government and military leaders that were responsible for the virus base where they planned to restart the American government through force.]] |
| 207 | * The Druids from ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' have these settlements in the forests around Camelot, hiding from the laws that would have them killed for their innate magical powers. |
| 208 | * The Nox, of ''Series/StargateSG1'', have turned their entire planet into one. |
| 209 | ** And over on ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', the [[spoiler: Asgard]] discovered in the Pegasus Galaxy had hidden themselves away on a toxic planet through and since the Wraith/Ancient war. |
| 210 | * ''Series/WonderWoman1975'': Paradise Island is an uncharted island within the devil's triangle. Queen Hippolyta has decided to occult Paradise Island from the world: In the pilot, she claims that no one in the last thousand years has ever found it. She also claims that any amazon who left the island may lose her immortality and become a mortal again. |
| 211 | [[/folder]] |
| 212 | |
| 213 | [[folder:Manhua]] |
| 214 | * There's one lengthy ''Manhua/OldMasterQ'' story, titled "[[http://daaaer80.blogspot.com/2013/05/blog-post_28.html The Old Village]]", where Master Q and friends, Big Potato and Mr. Chin, lose their jobs and starts a courier service of their own instead. Their first assignment had them travelling to the titular Old Village to deliver a cart of expensive medical supplies, only to find out the village is secluded behind mountains and seems to be stuck in the Ming Dynasty (despite the rest of the story taking place in the '70s). |
| 215 | [[/folder]] |
| 216 | |
| 217 | [[folder:Multiple Media]] |
| 218 | * ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' has the island of Artakha, home to a shiny, Utopian city of technological marvels where some of the Matoran Universe's most important artifacts and people were created. After the island was raided to steal the [[MaskOfPower Mask of Light]], Artakha himself demanded to be cut off from the rest of the world, wiped from maps and all who knew his island's location to be executed regardless if they were good or evil. After this, he and his people lived there in peace to practice Creation. Fading into legend over millennia, the place became known as the "Great Refuge" where good workers were sent as a reward. In reality, Artakha only allowed people in [[BecauseDestinySaysSo if it was their fate]] (which only happened a couple times under 100,000 years), and he teleported various important artifacts, weapons, vehicles and others to wherever they were needed in the universe. |
| 219 | [[/folder]] |
| 220 | |
| 221 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 222 | * Elves and -especially- dwarves in Music/{{Dragonland}}'s album ''Under The Grey Banner''. Booklet artwork shows the former living in a city built around a massive tree and the latter, even more reclusive, in the underground. |
| 223 | [[/folder]] |
| 224 | |
| 225 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 226 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'': |
| 227 | ** The Taurian Concordat, which was originally founded inside a well-hidden nebula by exiles fleeing from the cutthroat politics of the Inner Sphere. Eventually, the Concordat's expansion would lead it to encounter the expanding Inner Sphere once more, and following a three-hundred-year-long occupation by the Star League, the Concordat has grown to become highly paranoid and xenophobic, jealously guarding its borders while attempting to stay out of Inner Sphere politics. This led to them supporting [[TheFundamentalist the Word of Blake]], [[VestigialEmpire with destructive consequences]]. |
| 228 | ** The Warden Clans wished for the Clans to remain this, taking no part in Inner Sphere politics and instead building and maintaining their own society. They were opposed in this by the Crusader Clans, who wished to return to the Inner Sphere and conquer it. When the Crusader faction eventually won out this led to the Clan Invasion, with destructive consequences. |
| 229 | ** Following the Wars of Reaving and the exiling of all Clans "corrupted" by the Inner Sphere from Clan space, the surviving Home Clans double down on this. The new dominating ideology becomes that of the Bastion Clans, who intend to keep the pure ways of the Clans from being exposed to Inner Sphere corruption by refusing all contact with the Inner Sphere or anyone who's ever been there. They are opposed in this by the Aggressor Clans, [[AbsoluteXenophobe who agree that the Inner Sphere is irredeemably tainted and wants to burn it to the ground]]. |
| 230 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''': |
| 231 | ** The ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' campaign setting takes this a step further with Aerenal, a whole Hidden Elf ''Continent''. |
| 232 | ** Aerenal is small though. Argonnessen is a Hidden ''Dragon'' Continent! Although they aren't so much "hidden" as they are "we're right here, but we'll kill you if you set foot here without the correct forms, filled in in triplicate." |
| 233 | ** There's one featured in every other adventure for the TabletopGame/{{Mystara}} setting, from the Lost Valley of the Hutaakans and Traldar to the network of tunnels that the Graakhalians call home. And that's not even considering the Hollow World, which was ''created'' to be a refuge for every Hidden Elf Village the Immortals thought worth protecting. |
| 234 | ** The world of TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}} has a Hidden Elf Nation in the country of Celene, which refused to help its neighbours in the wars against the evil creatures that invaded them. Naturally, this generated a lot of ill will toward Celene. The elven race as a whole, though, is more nuanced in that they don't actually have anything against most other races and will provide help to refugees seeking food and heroes seeking aid, but are simply more comfortable living in their own communities than they are living among humans or other races. Even within Celene itself, there's a sizable number of elves who disagree with their queen's decision to stay out of the surrounding conflicts and actively work to help their human and dwarven neighbours. |
| 235 | ** In the TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms, there are a large number of Elf villages, ruins, large towns, forts, laboratories, and the like, too many to list here. However, they are almost all confined to the northwesternmost corner of the megacontinent Faerun (just like Middle-Earth), whereas Man is spread over the whole planet (again, just like Middle-Earth). There is even an Elf Refuge Continent (again, Middle-Earth inspired) called Evermeet, which is both hard for mortals to reach and a juicy target for jealous attackers (you may be sensing a pattern here). |
| 236 | ** The prestige class "Seeker of the Misty Isle" is about the idea that a legendary population of elves was lost during a war between the gods, and certain elves might make it a mission to find them. Whenever anyone finds this "Misty Isle," it would have to be something of a Hidden Elf Village. |
| 237 | ** ''TabletopGame/GrimHollow'': The Charneualt Kingdom qualifies, despite being an elf ''and'' human (and naturally, half-elf) kingdom. The entire region is separated from the rest of Etharis by natural barriers, and entry is guarded by powerful nature spirits; getting inside requires getting past them, through an ever-shifting forest called the Grove Maze. It's also the only place in Etharis where humans and elves co-exist peacefully, whereas the rest of the continent was carved up by various human warlords, displacing or wiping out the non-human inhabitants. It ''was'' a standard Hidden Elf Kingdom, but the nature spirits actually allowed passage for the few human tribes they found worthy, and they were eventually able to forge a peaceful co-existence with the current inhabitants. Compared to the DarkFantasy nature of the ''rest'' of the setting, it's practically a paradise and a haven for elven and half-elven refugess. |
| 238 | * In ''TabletopGame/MutantYearZero'', with the release of the third sourcebook ''Elysium''; it was shown that the remaining descendants of Ancient Humanity on Earth resided within huge underground Enclaves all over the world. Until the Enclave wars broke out and destroyed all but one. Elysium-I harbored the most advanced technology from before and after the world ended, whilst housing and protecting the purest stock of ten-thousand humans. |
| 239 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Numenera}}'' has the Weal of Baz, a village inhabited exclusively by sapient machines. It's heavily guarded and camouflaged with hologram emitters since the humans of the Ninth World tend to think of all automatons as property. |
| 240 | * ''TabletopGame/TheOneRing'': Some elven settlements like Rivendell are inaccessible to adventurers by default. To find Rivendell, you must have either Elrond's permission to enter or a sufficiently skilled guide who knows the elves. |
| 241 | * As RPG settings have grown in size and scope, so too have their Hidden Elf Villages. For example, both the ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' and ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'' campaign settings have Hidden Elf ''Nations'': Tir Tairngire and Tir na nOg in Shadowrun, and Ios in the IK. |
| 242 | ** As Shadowrun is set in Earth 2050+ AD, Tir Tairngire and Tir na nOg occupy Oregon and Ireland, respectively. A lot of people are very annoyed. |
| 243 | * Eldar Craftworlds and especially Exodite worlds in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. |
| 244 | ** Exodite worlds maybe, but Craftworlds can hardly be said to [[ManipulativeBastard avoid getting involved in other people's affairs]]. |
| 245 | *** Even among the Craftworld Eldar, the ones from Craftworld Dorhai have this trope as their [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. Bizarrely, they believe that all Eldar not from Dorhai are "tainted", and refuse all dealings with them. The other Eldar are puzzled by this, to say the least. |
| 246 | ** The Dark Eldar all live in one massive city complex called [[WretchedHive Commorragh]]. The Dark City resides in the Webway where only the Dark Eldar can enter, not that anyone would be interested in getting in the city lest they be subjected to [[ColdBloodedTorture horrible]], [[FateWorseThanDeath horrible torture]]. |
| 247 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' Wood Elves, of which Exodites are the futuristic expy also qualify for this trope. And being Warhammer, they are highly xenophobic and will kill you if you set foot in their forest unwelcomed. That is if the forest they live in doesn't kill you first. |
| 248 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'''s High Elves are also highly isolationist and bar non-Elves from their nation of Ulthuan (though they tolerate non-Elf visitors in the gateway city of Lothern). |
| 249 | ** And the Dark Elf lands are not open to visitors. At all. Any attempt to enter peacefully will probably result in slavery (well, you get in technically) or a barrage of massively poisoned crossbow quarrels. |
| 250 | ** The Chaos Dwarfs reside in Zharr-Naggrund a massive ziggurat city in the Mountains of Mourn. There are not many visitors there save for the Chaos warbands who trade thousands of slaves for the Chaos Dwarfs war machines. |
| 251 | * ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'': The page image is a Field Spell called Secret Village of the Spellcasters. If the village is empty, there's no magic. But as long as Spellcasters dwell in the village, only Spellcasters have access to spells. Translation: The card's controller can only activate Spell Cards if they control a Spellcaster. But if they control a Spellcaster and their opponent does not, their opponent cannot activate Spell Cards. |
| 252 | [[/folder]] |
| 253 | |
| 254 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 255 | * ''Theatre/{{Brigadoon}}'' is a classic example, enforced by magic. [[YearInsideHourOutside The town is set up so that it only appears in the outside world once every hundred years]] -- [[BlessedWithSuck while to the inhabitants, one hundred years "outside" pass with each day]]. And if anyone tries to leave the village after they've spent a night in it, the entire town will vanish. AWizardDidIt -- well, actually a priest. |
| 256 | [[/folder]] |
| 257 | |
| 258 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' contains three -- the city of the normal elves, the even more hidden city of the dark elves, and Tullia[[note]]Home to the masters of each school of {{Magick}}[[/note]], which is the most hidden. |
| 260 | * ''VideoGame/BioShock'' series: |
| 261 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' features Rapture, a secret underwater city inspired by and ([[DeconstructedTrope deconstructing]]) [[Literature/AtlasShrugged Galt's Gulch.]] It's also a permutation of the RealLife concept of Seasteading, which is this trope mixed with CityOfCanals. |
| 262 | ** Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite''. The flying city of Columbia was built as a demonstration of American ingenuity, so the designers ''wanted'' to show it off, and everyone knows about it. However, the mysterious stranger's actions seem to imply that getting there is a pain. It makes sense, since not only does the game takes place before the proliferation of airplanes and the invention of radar, but while everyone knows that Columbia exists, no one knows where it went. It's then played straight later because nobody knows about it even in TheEighties when those things ''are'' commonplace. |
| 263 | * ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'' has Intersite Town, a hidden village of [[FourthWallObserver Fourth Wall Observers]] that becomes available in the post-game, and doubles as a DevelopersRoom. Instagram also tries to become one during the main story, shutting its gates until the STORM crisis is dealt with. As one villager later points out, their precautions didn't do them any good in the end, [[spoiler:as they were briefly erased along with everything else.]] |
| 264 | * The fairy village of Mag Mell in ''VideoGame/BravelyDefaultII''. It is impossible to discuss the village without some very serious spoilers, but the fairies do not like humankind one bit, with a few exceptions ([[spoiler:Adelle pre-departure, Edna pre-corruption]]), but you will need their help at some point. [[spoiler:The village itself has a good reason to close itself off: in its depths is the Fount of Knowledge, where all the wisdom of the world is kept, and the fairies want nobody to go near it. The last person that went there became [[HumanoidAbomination the Night's Nexus]] and plagued the world ever after.]] |
| 265 | * Meusta in ''VideoGame/CapellasPromise'' isolate themselves from the rest of Ilnacia because they fear that if the Ilnacians get their hands on Meusta technology, they might reconstruct the Mother and destroy themselves. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, that nearly happened when one Meustan, Meldora, unwittingly rebuilt the Mother for the king of Ilnacia, leading to the main conflict of the game.]] |
| 266 | * Laruba Village in 65 Million BC in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' consists of humans that choose to hide from the Reptites rather than fight. It gets torched the second time you go to the time period. |
| 267 | * In ''VideoGame/CoffeeTalk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly'', there aren't many banshees in Seattle because they hide away from the rest of the world in communes, with each member fulfilling a role to maintain them. [[spoiler:Riona left her commune because she felt that she should reconnect with the outside world, and she learned to drive because she sees her truck as a "mobile fortress": to protect herself from danger.]] |
| 268 | %% * ''VideoGame/{{Crystalis}}'' has the village of Oak, which is more of a Hidden Dwarf Village. |
| 269 | * ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'' features Brownboo village where the moon people live. They're out of sight and danger which is how they prefer it. |
| 270 | * ''VideoGame/Destiny2: Lightfall'' introduces Neomuna, a bustling neon-lit metropolis hidden beneath the clouds of Neptune. The entire rest of the solar system is in an AfterTheEnd state, but the Neomuni are not only untouched but even thriving. No special technology is involved; the secret behind their concealment is simply that nobody knew that there was a city on Neptune, and even if they did, Neptune is so large nobody would be able to find it. They're only discovered because the villains have tracked down the MacGuffin the city happens to be built on top of. |
| 271 | * The ''Franchise/DragonAge'', the Dalish tribes are nomadic and frequently move their hidden elf villages around. This is due to their mistrust of the humans who in the past destroyed ''two'' of their homelands. The Tevinters enslaved them for a thousand years and caused them to lose their immortality, while the Andrastian Chantry led a Holy War against their former allies and stripped the Canticle of Shartan, the writings and tale of the Dalish general who lead Andraste's army, completely from the [[SacredScripture Chant of Light]]. |
| 272 | ** During the First Blight, as the Darkspawn swarmed the Deep Roads that connected the Dwarven Empire, the old Thaigs and Cities fell one by one, eventually forcing the Dwarves to retreat to Orzammar and seal the gates behind them, effectively cutting themselves off to weather the storm. A thousand years later, the city of Kal-Sharok was discovered to have also miraculously survived the onslaught, but the inhabitants are said to have never forgiven Orzammar for leaving them to their fate. |
| 273 | ** And then ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' features a literally hidden elf temple, guarded by ancient elves who are the last remnants of their once-great empire. These are much more xenophobic than even the Dalish, although the player can earn their trust. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': |
| 275 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', the elves live in a village hidden in the middle of the forest. The elven queen put a sleeping curse on a nearby town called Norvik because her daughter went on an InterspeciesRomance, which was forbidden. But even after realizing that her daughter left willfully, she still doesn't like humans. |
| 276 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' has Rosehill, which is home to dwarves and {{Uplifted Animal}}s as well as elves. Interestingly, the reason it's hidden and the reason it remains so peaceful are both because it's a protectorate of the BigBad, who is regarded by all of its inhabitants as [[AntiVillain a benevolent ruler, a noble protector, and a wise and charitable hero]]. |
| 277 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' also has this (with a few dwarves and [[NonMaliciousMonster friendly monsters]]), albeit without the racism. Unlike most games, it would be extremely difficult to stumble upon the village, as it requires a special item to find and is only accessible by canoe in a remote location. Also, [[InvisibleToAdults only children]] or people with Zenithian blood can see them. |
| 278 | ** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' and ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonsters II'' each contain one of these. In the two games, the most notable feature of the elven residents is their [[FantasticRacism distrust of humans]]. |
| 279 | * ''VideoGame/DragonsDogmaII'' has a hidden elf village where players can find unique items and purchase potent gear upgrades. The elves, however, are very reclusive and speak in a language different from the common tongue used by humans and beastren: in order to do any business with the elves, you'll need a pawn that can translate the elves' language for you. |
| 280 | * ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' and ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'' each has a separate Saturn Valley, the secluded homes of [[CloudCuckoolander the Mr. Saturns]]. ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' also has Tenda Village, hidden in the Deep Darkness, which is the home of [[ShrinkingViolet the shy]] Tenda tribe. |
| 281 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': The Bosmer (Wood Elves) are a ForestRanger race whose homeland is Valenwood, a region almost totally composed of [[EnchantedForest thick, dense forests and tall, sometimes migratory trees]] in which the Bosmer make their homes. As such, Bosmer villages are often connected only by narrow footpaths which make them difficult for outlanders to find. |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/EternalTwilight'' has the Enclave, a safe haven for Magi to escape persecution from humans. To this end, the Magi hid the Enclave within the desert, and then further hid the city in a pocket dimension. |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/EXTRAPOWERAttackOfDarkforce'': The hidden magic city of Ispares, where Blackberry originally called home. Also kept a VanishingVillage through the power of its residents, helping it stay hidden from the Dark Force search for magic for most of the game. |
| 284 | * This is a running theme in the ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' series, due to being set AfterTheEnd in [[CrapsackWorld a hostile wasteland]]. |
| 285 | ** The original Vault 13 in ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' was a clear-cut one, only getting in touch with the "savage" outside world when their own continued existence depended on it. |
| 286 | ** This is a running theme in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'', with Vault City, San Francisco, and the Enclave, each more secluded and hostile to outsiders than the last. |
| 287 | *** By the time of the game, Vault 13 has become a home for friendly, intelligent deathclaws, and a few humans who have settled in with them. |
| 288 | ** Vault 101 in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' also avoids any contact at all with the outside. Which [[spoiler: becomes quite a problem about halfway through the game]]. |
| 289 | ** Most of the examples are Vaults or the descendant polities of Vaults, which makes sense -- the public purpose of the Vaults was to allow people that entered them to survive the atomic apocalypse, to re-emerge when the worst was over. The Vaults that actually (in practice) did have that purpose tended to emerge into a world where the most common visitors were roving bands of bandits or monstrous beings (and where they were the only ones around to have kept a measure of high technology and a historical record). Add to that Vaults whose actual purpose required/was long-term isolation, like Vault 13 and Vault 101... |
| 290 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has Nellis Air Force Base, populated by the Boomers, a highly isolationist faction obsessed with firepower and all too willing to use it upon outsiders who get too close to them. There's also Jacobstown, a small ski resort populated by mostly peaceful Super Mutants that isn't exactly a secret (though it is fairly remote) is generally left alone by the populace, and Hidden Valley Bunker, home to a remnant of the also isolationist Brotherhood of Steel. |
| 291 | ** ''Fallout'' is full of cloistered communities, more or less isolated by distance and lack of infrastructure, and [[ProperlyParanoid naturally wary of outsiders]]. Little Lamplight is one of the most hidden, and Bigtown by contrast suffers for its openness. |
| 292 | ** Oasis in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', a nature cult in a hidden valley who worship the [[GoneHorriblyRight FEV experiment]] Harold, who has gradually transformed into a sentient tree. The whole valley is a NewEden of lush vegetation which is only a rumour in the wider wasteland. |
| 293 | ** Far Harbor from ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', its an island far from the Commonwealth. The islanders there are xenophobic to outsiders, and often have to deal with the islands aggressive wildlife. There also is a small community of Synths that hope to hide from the Institute. And then there's the Children of Atom who reside in a submarine base, and plan on spreading Atom's will, even by force by blasting people with radiation based weapons. |
| 294 | %% * ''VideoGame/FantasyLife'' has a hidden village in the Elderwood, populated mostly of NatureSpirit-type beings. |
| 295 | * ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games are fond of these. There's Tozus, the hidden gnome village in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'', the Black Mage village from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' (of which Vivi was a member, though he had never been there before), the Shumi Village in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', Thamasa in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', and the various {{Monster Town}}s in the early games are just a few examples. Most recently, we are presented with the village of the Viera in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', of which Fran is an exile of sorts. |
| 296 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' also has the nation of Esthar, which spent seventeen years as a Hidden Elf ''Country''. |
| 297 | ** Garifs of FFXII are a much more lighthearted version of this trope, though unlike Vieras: Garif laws aren't as strict, leaving the village is allowed, they have less of a distaste for outsiders (though they do show concern for how humes are violating the world), and Garif do eventually begin to consider getting involved with the outside world. The Garif are all {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s and will practically give non-Garif proud warriors full access to the village(as is the situation with the game's main characters). |
| 298 | ** The ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' example however is more justified than the others: Black Mages are basically {{Golem}}s and gain sentience somewhere along the way, the village being a hideout for them to escape the BigBad who created them. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]] Vivi is a special case and is vaguely hinted to be the prototype. |
| 299 | ** So is the whirlwind shrouded Cleyra, an off-shoot of another town. |
| 300 | ** Going back to Final Fantasy III, there's also the Dark Knight village, and Doga's Village, although they, and Tozus, aren't really of the xenophobic variety. They are actually a really good way to get powerful weapons and spells. |
| 301 | ** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV: Stormblood'' has Sui-no-Sato, a small village hidden at the bottom of the Ruby Sea that is populated solely by Raen Auri and a tiny group of Kojin who bring supplies from the outside world. |
| 302 | *** ''Shadowbringers'' has Slitherbough, home of the Night's Blessed: an insular community who worship darkness in a world where [[DarkIsNotEvil darkness is a preferable alternative to the overwhelming influence of light]]. |
| 303 | * Every ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' game has a Hidden Dragon Village where the humanoid Manakete dragons live. The exception being ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance''; it has a Hidden Branded Village. Branded are exiled from society for being half-Beorc (human) and half-Laguz (a humanoid race who can turn into animals). The Dragon Laguz have a not-so-hidden country where they don't let anyone else in. |
| 304 | ** An example that doesn't apply for dragons is the Spirit Village in the kingdom of Verdane in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', and it also hides a nasty secret -- [[spoiler:the descendants of the dark god Loptous, or more specifically, the priest Maira, the original man who held minor Loptous blood,]] all live there to protect themselves from the outside world. Deidre, Sigurd's wife, originally lived here, as did her mother. |
| 305 | ** A plot-important village is the village of {{Arcadia}} from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade Binding Blade]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Blazing Blade]]'', located in an obscure part of the Nabata Desert. It's a village where humans and dragons live in harmony, much like they did before the Scouring. |
| 306 | * In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', Vale is this, keeping themselves secret so knowledge of Psynergy doesn't get out. Shaman Village fits, too --when you arrive, the inhabitants won't even speak to you. Garoh is a hidden ''werewolf'' village, whose inhabitants (rightfully) fear the FantasticRacism of humans. [[spoiler: [[{{Atlantis}} Lemuria]]]] also fits the description nicely, to the point of banishing a citizen who'd dared help our heroes [[spoiler: [[SixthRanger and join them on their quest]] ]]. |
| 307 | ** Ayuthay initially appears to be this in ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn Dark Dawn]]'', but it's justified: they're under a siege at the time. |
| 308 | * ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' has Medvecia, the hidden island of vampires, in the Fall of the Dragon event. They've secluded themselves for a long time and forbid any outside contact. |
| 309 | * ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has one when ascended under a Mysticality sign. What, you say you're [[spoiler: Canadian]] yourself and not elfin in the slightest? Well, they are at least portrayed as studious, reclusive, living with nature, and somewhat well-adorned, quite within the common fold of elven tropes. |
| 310 | * ''VideoGame/KnightBewitched'': The Nymphs and elves have a village hidden within a deep wood, there's nothing indicating where their village is in the middle of the dense forest in the overworld map, but it's pretty much in the center of it. A drunken Nymph in Westvale will give you the information. This is actually Mari's hometown from ''VideoGame/MariAndTheBlackTower'', [[spoiler:before it was destroyed by the miasma of the Black Tower]]. |
| 311 | * ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' has the [[DoomedHometown Sewer]] [[TearJerker City]] in the suburbs of [[CrapsackWorld Pittsburgh]]. However, by the time you find it, it's already [[NightmareFuel overrun by infected]]. |
| 312 | * ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has the nation of Ixtal, one of the oldest human civilizations and home to some of [[FunctionalMagic the most advanced studies and practitioners]] [[ElementalPowers of elemental magic]] in Runeterra, but has hidden itself in [[HungryJungle its jungles]] for ages after the rest of the world ended up in cataclysm after cataclysm which they had no further interest in getting involved with. Recently, however, with the rapid ascension of [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen blood-and-aspiration-hungry future empress Qiyana]], Ixtal is slowly unveiling its presence to the world once again, laying out the groundwork for its future [[TakeOverTheWorld re-expansion]]. |
| 313 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'': |
| 314 | ** The Wingley village in the forest of Mille Seseau qualifies, complete with main character who was exiled. |
| 315 | ** There's also Ulara, a Wingly town hidden in the Death Frontier: it's far more welcoming to visitors, however, as the inhabitants are primarily composed of winglies that [[DefectorFromDecadence assisted humans during the Dragon Campaign.]] |
| 316 | * ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': |
| 317 | ** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' has New Kasuto, a town in the later part of the game that requires you to remove the right patch of trees in a forest to reveal it. A villager states they had to flee Old Kasuto, so it makes sense for them to hide their new hometown. |
| 318 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' has a literal hidden elf village, Kokiri Forest. The eponymous Kokiri are a race of perpetually childlike elves (compared to the Hylians, who are elf-like but age normally and [[HumanSubspecies are basically humans.)]] They're forbidden to leave the forest by their leader, the Great Deku Tree, since they'll apparently die if they leave the forest (though seeing as the credits show them outside the forest, this seems to be a lie for their own good), though after he dies monsters overrun the forest, forcing the Kokiri to cower in their huts. Link, the hero, hails from this village, although [[spoiler:he's actually a Hylian that was left in the forest as a baby]]. |
| 319 | ** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The Koroks have a cozy village in the Lost Woods. Since most Hylians can't see Koroks, and the woods are difficult to navigate, the village naturally doesn't have many visitors. They're more than happy to welcome Link, though. |
| 320 | * The Guild of Weavers in ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'' isolated themselves on an island community after being accused of witchcraft and chose to ignore the rest of the world. |
| 321 | %% * ''VideoGame/LufiaAndTheFortressOfDoom'' has the literal hidden elf village of Elfrea. |
| 322 | %% ** ''VideoGame/LufiaIIRiseOfTheSinistrals'' also has a literal hidden elf village, Eserikto. |
| 323 | %% ** There's another literal hidden elf village called Midy in ''VideoGame/LufiaTheLegendReturns''. |
| 324 | * ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'': The DLC course Wild Woods has a Shy Guy village in the trees located in the deepest canopy of a forest. Due to the vertical architecture of the village, a big portion of the course is accordingly positioned that was as well, but keeps all drivers attached via anti-gravity technology for a smooth race. |
| 325 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': |
| 326 | ** The game reveals that the AlwaysChaoticEvil KillerRobot geth are in fact the ''terrorist outcasts'' of a Hidden Elf '''Civilization''', thus demonstrating yet another problem with the trope; if most of you just sit in your peaceful utopia, all most will see of you are the vicious jerks who go out and raise hell. Galactic Interpretation: All Geth Are Killer Robots. |
| 327 | ** The batarians have a similar problem; their withdrawal from the Citadel (hub of interstellar diplomacy and trade) means that only the pirates still interact with the galaxy. Galactic Interpretation: All Batarians Are Pirates. Though it's also widely known around the galaxy that many of the "pirates" are really deniable assets that the Batarian Hegemony uses to attack their enemies (mostly human colonies) since the [[HeadInTheSandManagement Council]] won't take action as long as they don't do anything too overt. |
| 328 | ** The quarians, having been forced to become a civilization of nomads, simply lack the resources to maintain prisons or the numbers to afford executions, meaning they exile everyone they don't fine, though children of exiles are innocent of their parent's crimes and are freely welcomed back to the flotilla. Unfortunately this means the only members of the species most encounter (other than the occasional NaiveNewcomer on Pilgrimage) are the jerks the other quarians couldn't stand, i.e. con artists to serial killers. Galactic Interpretation: [[FantasticRacism All Quarians Are Crooks]]. |
| 329 | ** In the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' [=DLC=] ''Leviathan'' [[spoiler: the race of Leviathan that actually indirectly built the reapers hid underwater for literally billions of years to not get involved in the eternal galactic struggle.]] |
| 330 | ** Ilos, a Prothean planet where some of them hid from the Reapers. In order to make sure that the planet wasn't found, it was erased from Prothean databanks, such that Javik (a Prothean) mentions he'd only heard stories of it. |
| 331 | ** From ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', the angara have the Sages of Mithrava, who live on top of a Remnant monolith on Havarl, only ever coming down every few years to catch up with the local gossip (or if they've found someone related to one of their ancestors). After Ryder's visit to the planet, their leader starts changing his views on isolation. |
| 332 | ** Also from ''Andromeda'', it's hinted and suggested several times that the angaara are keeping some of their planets hidden from the Initiative, for their own reasons. |
| 333 | * ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'' has Pooka Village, where those who received the Pooka curse gather and try to collect all the Valentine coins. |
| 334 | * ''VideoGame/OuterWilds'': [[spoiler: Terrified of the end forseen by the Eye of the Universe, the inhabitants of The Stranger isolated themselves from the rest of the world, preferring to remain in their own virtual-reality "paradise" within their starship. Should the player choose to venture there, [[ChasedByAngryNatives they won't be happy about it.]]]] |
| 335 | * You can find settlements of elves surrounded by mountains in ''VideoGame/OneWayHeroics'', who claim they are not interested in your quest to stop the advance of the darkness, even though by the time you find them they are hours away from being destroyed by it. |
| 336 | * Brightmarsh in ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' is a secluded marshland village inhabited by vulpines. Vulpines are fox people who keep to themselves and cultivate crops to use in alchemy. It is the hometown of the champion, Pip the Rogue Alchemist, whose lack of family and thirst for adventure motivated him to explore outside of Brightmarsh. |
| 337 | * ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIII'' has the Leopardman village. The village in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'' has been one for a couple generations, ever since it got sealed off from the outside world by the swamp, although the occasional stranger, both magical and [[FridgeLogic muggle]] (such as Punny Bones), does manage to get in. |
| 338 | * A particular WhamEpisode in ''VideoGame/RabiRibi'' reveals that [[spoiler: All of Rabi Rabi Island is one, having been sealed off centuries ago to prevent interference from the outside world. Even the one character old enough to remember a time before the island was sealed has very muddled and confused memories of that time. Eventually everyone discovers the truth, and decide to renew the seal so that the entire world doesn't turn their eye on the secluded island full of monster girls and magic and swarm to investigate.]] |
| 339 | * ''VideoGame/{{Roadwarden}}'' has the [[spoiler:Tribe of the Green Mountain]], a hidden village kept secret by the residents of the northern peninsula. Its residents were driven off High Island by Hovlovan invaders, and have resided in secret ever since. |
| 340 | %% * Burkaqua Village in ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy''. |
| 341 | * ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'' has Merholm, a small village hidden beneath some ruins deep in the desert. In this case, though, [[spoiler: it's already been used once, the ''last'' time the gods broke the world. The survivors emerged to discover that humanity had been remade without them, and became the Taralian tribe... and generations later, when it looked like the war between the gods was heating up ''again'', their descendants headed back to Merholm to wait it out.]] |
| 342 | %% ** ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa2'' had the Village of the Ancients. |
| 343 | %% ** ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa3'' had Snow Town, a village of snowmen. |
| 344 | * ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has Lletya, where -- well, there aren't many points of interest here... Also Prifdinas, an inaccessible legendary city where humans are initially forbidden; only after the quest it becomes accessible. |
| 345 | ** The entire country of Tiranwyn could count as hidden since there is almost no contact with other countries. The main city is ruled by the Iorworth clan, who are the villains of the elf quest series. Lletya is the base of the rebel elves, and you report there during the elf quests frequently. |
| 346 | * ''VideoGame/ShiningForceII'' had the hidden fairy village, but it was more of a bonus area than anything. Pretty much the only notable things about it are a promotion item you can find in a chest and a bonus fight against infinitely spawning monsters (very useful for powerleveling, but it can be beaten by blocking the spawn points). There is also a second hidden elf village near the end of the game that lets you talk to TheBlacksmith who can craft the best items in the game for each class, finally creating a use for all the Mithril you have collected. |
| 347 | * ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': |
| 348 | ** The Silver Moon settlement, birthplace of main character Fina, appears to fit this trope. It removed itself from the world during the ancient war and thus survived the devastating cataclysm that affected all the other ancient civilizations. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when the DarkSecret of their immortal Elders is revealed: ''they'' caused the ancient cataclysm ''intentionally'', after leaving the surface of the planet, in order to wipe out the enemies they left behind (i.e. everyone else on the planet). They aren't so much a hidden village as they are a bunker of genocidal {{Knight Templar}}s, waiting to see if they should use their doomsday device again to finish off the descendants of any survivors who might threaten them]] |
| 349 | ** Two other examples would be Yafutoma, to a degree, as it is blocked off by the Dark Rift, and Glacia, the [[DoomedHometown doomed capital]] of the old Purple Civilization -- it was built under a landmass, so it survived the Rains of Destruction, but unlike other examples, all of its people have disappeared. |
| 350 | * ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'': |
| 351 | ** Xenophobic isolationist empires are essentially an interstellar empire version of this. They seldom expand very much, so as to prevent border friction with aliens, and shy away from diplomatic interaction. Beyond being almost impossible to trade with as they prefer acting as though you weren't there, this makes them generally fairly good neighbours as they're unlikely to start trouble. |
| 352 | *** Even more true with the "Inward Perfection" civic available to Pacifist/Xenophobe empires only. The flavour text suggests the nation is a hermit kingdom akin to Joseon Korea, a calm and isolationist place where the people have no time for strange visitors who don't understand their way of life. It's DifficultButAwesome because it places severe restrictions on how you conduct war and diplomacy[[note]]you cannot wage aggressive wars, so military expansion is practically impossible for you; you cannot enter commercial or defensive pacts or research agreements, nor can you join federations or make rivals and tributaries either[[/note]] but it makes your empire massively stable and gives hefty bonuses. [[BewareTheQuietOnes If you play your cards right]], you can quietly become the galactic superpower in a galaxy of conflict and hold out against the [[FinalBoss endgame Crises]] by yourself, or take the Psionic Ascension route, [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant remove the Inward Perfection restrictions by getting the Divine Sovereign event, and then easily conquer the galaxy like an unleashed]] [[{{Superboss}} Awakened Fallen Empire]]. |
| 353 | ** [[AbusivePrecursors Militant Isolationists]] [[VestigialEmpire Fallen Empire]]. Their only ethical ideal is fanatic xenophobia, which means that they are [[AbsoluteXenophobe extremely intolerant of any outsider]]. In addition, they forbid the "younger species" from colonizing any stellar systems adjacent to their borders, using this space as a [[TheNeutralZone buffer zone]] between themselves and the rest of the galaxy. |
| 354 | ** The existence of one is an important component of the "Fear of the Dark" origin in the ''First Contact'' DLC. A planet in the empire's home system was destroyed by aliens (or so it is believed) before they discovered FTL, and a segment of the population reacted by colonizing another planet and shunning the greater galactic community. In game terms, an empire with this origin starts the game sharing their home system with a pre-FTL civilization of the same species, which doesn't mind having limited interaction with their homeworld, while being definitely against it with everyone else. |
| 355 | * ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series: |
| 356 | ** ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' has a rare example of a non-elf Hidden Elf Village in an elf-bearing setting. The "Grasslanders" of Alma Kinan live in a deep forest behind an illusory veil or barrier of some sort, only emerging at the behest of their seers. They have a much more "elfin" style than the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy elves]] of the setting, who are more like Tolkien's Noldor. |
| 357 | ** The elves of Na-Nal from ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'' hide in the forest as well, and consider themselves superior to the human natives. In reality, though, they're similar: both sides are equally arrogant, and this leads to disaster. [[spoiler: Ironically, in this instance the hidden village ''works'', allowing the elves to pull a KarmaHoudini after provoking a massacre.]] |
| 358 | ** Alseid from ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' fits this trope exactly, with the elves vowing to stay separate from the "barbarous humans". Pretty much every non-human race is like this to begin with, as part of an "Accept People For Who They Are/Racism Is Bad" StockAesop. |
| 359 | ** ''Suikoden V'''s Beavers also mostly keep to themselves, not wanting to get too involved in the "humans' war". However, they haven't actually ''hidden'' their village, which has the expected results when [[spoiler: the Godwins decide to go skipping across the MoralEventHorizon and indulge in a little genocide. This naturally leads to your rebellion pulling a BigDamnHeroes and the beavers deciding to be NeutralNoLonger.]] |
| 360 | ** ''VideoGame/SuikodenTierkreis'' [[spoiler: Liu]] comes from a village like this. |
| 361 | ** This goes all the way back to the first game, where the elves aren't just isolationist, but so racist that they are disgusted when Kirkis leaves the village to seek help from the human Liberation Army on hearing of Imperial plans to destroy them. [[spoiler:Of course he's right. The village ends up torched to the ground by Kwanda's Burning Mirror.]] |
| 362 | * ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has Heimdall, where many of the main characters (including the BigBad) come from. Entering this village requires a writ of passage from the King of Tethe'alla, and even with it in hand, guards at the front of the village ban the half-elf members of your party from entering the village. For some reason, half-elves are pretty plentiful in both worlds (''much'' more so than actual elves), despite there being only one village of elves that never associates with humans. |
| 363 | ** Also found in ''Symphonia'' is Exire, the hidden ''half''-elf village. It is kept floating in the sky by the power of Maxwell, Summon Spirit of Matter. It is so well hidden that it is unaffected by the turmoil on the ground and some of its residents never saw a human before the player's party visits. Talking to the [=NPCs=] also answers the question of how there can be so many half-elves when Heimdall is so isolated: a child with two half-elf parents is essentially the same as a child with one human parent and one elf parent. The half-elf population is [[TrueBreedingHybrid self-sustaining]]. |
| 364 | ** Somehow, four thousand years later, in ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', it's even ''better'' hidden, and now has ''another'' hidden village (specifically, a Ninja village) inside of it, like an isolationist Russian doll. |
| 365 | ** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' also has Mizuho, a Hidden Ninja Village. Though in contrast to most examples, Mizuho is known for taking an interest in the outside world thanks to its intelligence network, those the village itself is still highly isolationist. [[spoiler:At least until the hero's party arrives and makes an alliance with them, thanks to party member and Mizuho citizen Sheena and ReasonableAuthorityFigure Tiga.]] |
| 366 | ** Myorzo, home of Krityans, from ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', which "hides" inside a floating jellyfish. |
| 367 | ** There's also Elysia from ''VideoGame/TalesOfZestiria'', a mountain village of seraphim where two of the main characters grew up. |
| 368 | * In ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', the Lunar Capital was founded by people who fled the Earth in ancient times to escape its "impurity" (aka life and death) and is kept hidden by a barrier. Mortal beings who manage to reach the Capital (usually by accident) are turned away to prevent them from contaminating it. |
| 369 | ** [[FantasticNatureReserve Gensokyo]] itself was created to preserve magical beings from a world that was [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve disbelieving]] [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly magic]]. |
| 370 | * In ''[[VideoGame/WildArms1 Wild ARMs]]'', the elf-like race of Elws transported their land to another dimension so that they won't have to experience the decay of the world resulting from the previous war. |
| 371 | * Arboria from ''VideoGame/WildStar'' was this trope on the scale of an entire planet until the Exiles stumbled upon it. Unfortunately, so did the Dominion, and now there's not much of a "Village" to speak of, either. |
| 372 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfMana'': |
| 373 | ** ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' has a village of, well not Elves, but Moogles. And you had to walk around a multiseasonal four-screen forest until you unlock it. |
| 374 | ** In ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', the Elf Village Diorre is hidden deep within the Lampflower Forest. To find it, players have to [[spoiler: search at night, when the eponymous flowers glow, and those that lead towards the village have a different color from the others.]] Naturally, the elves are isolationist and unfriendly, and even when they recognize that you're trying to save the world, [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts still charge for items and lodging.]] And to complete the trope, [[spoiler: the party member [[WhiteMagicianGirl Charlotte]] is the village's bastard princess on her mother's side.]] |
| 375 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has the Shen'dralar elves hidden away in Dire Maul. |
| 376 | ** The High Elves also have out-of-the-way holdouts in Plaguelands and Hinterlands. |
| 377 | *** Not so much in the Plaguelands anymore., as they've all been, um, transformed as of Cataclysm. |
| 378 | ** All elf societies work on this to some degree. Before the wars and to varying degrees after, the Night Elves were almost completely reclusive. The Blood Elves also seem to be interested in just keeping to themselves for the most part. |
| 379 | ** Pandaria has remained hidden from the rest of the World for thousands of years, due to a magical mist that hides it from the rest of Azeroth. It was until a clash from the Alliance and Horde fleets who stumble upon it by chance. |
| 380 | * The Earth State in the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' is extremely paranoid of AI research and is isolationist, due to them facing a [[HopelessWar hopeless]] RobotWar against their malfunctioning terraformers some 700 years ago which also [[LostColony severed their jumpgate network link]]; in the meantime, they quietly rebuilt their civilization and [[HumanityIsAdvanced their technology]]. Come ''X3: Reunion'' where Earth is (unwittingly) reunited with the X-Universe, Earth's [[EliteArmy AGI Task Force]] crushes any non-Terran ship that approaches the Earth jumpgate. They open up somewhat in ''Terran Conflict'', where foreigners can access the outer Solar System, but accessing the inner system requires lots of favors. Access to Earth and its [[RingworldPlanet Torus Aeternal]] is closely guarded; any unrecognized ships will get [[OneHitKill instagibbed]] by the Torus's defenses. |
| 381 | * The Hidden Machina Village in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles1'', consisting of survivors from the Mechonis from the original war between Bionis and Mechonis. Because the current leader of the Mechon considers them to be traitors to his cause, they keep themselves hidden away so he won't find them, but they are welcoming and friendly to anyone who does stumble upon their village. Finding them is the first indication the heroes have that there are actual ''people'' that live on the Mechonis, rather than just a bunch of {{Killer Robot}}s. |
| 382 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' has the Kingdom of Tantal, who are isolationists who rarely have any contact with outsiders, aided by the fact that their Titan spends most of its time beneath the Cloud Sea rather than on the surface. The problem is their Titan is a frigid landscape with little in the way of farmland [[spoiler:due to how the Indoline Praetorium has essentially strong-armed them into draining the Titan's ether to create Core Chips, weakening the Titan's ability to support life, in exchange for helping keep the DarkSecret about their government's founding under wraps]], and there's a chronic problem with their food supply. The heroes' arrival does prompt their government to open up the ports for trading somewhat. |
| 383 | * ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': the so-called "Lost Colony" is an Agnian Colony that got cut off from the war and from the Consuls. It was assumed destroyed and forgotten about by everyone, and its leader at the time instituted a policy of staying hidden within their cave rather than ever venturing outside, fearing what the Consuls would do if they knew about a Colony not under their control. Fears that prove well-founded when one of the Consuls does get word that the Colony exists. |
| 384 | [[/folder]] |
| 385 | |
| 386 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 387 | * In the backstory of ''VisualNovel/SevenKingdomsThePrincessProblem'', Vail Isle was this before [[MessianicArchetype Katyia]] had it officially declared neutral territory. How did an island smack-dab in the middle of seven warring kingdoms remain untouched? No one knows, but rumor claims that people with ill intent towards the Isle's inhabitants are magically prevented from finding it. Given that Vail is a natural paradise of gardens, lavish architecture, and mild weather, the rumor may well be true. Certainly, the natives' white hair and purple eyes- in a setting that otherwise completely averts fantastical colouring- make them ''look'' magical. |
| 388 | [[/folder]] |
| 389 | |
| 390 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 391 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'', Chookie leads the party to [[http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/20011115.html Chooktown]], the secret abode of small annoying creatures. Drecker sees it as a PlaceWorseThanDeath. |
| 392 | * ''Webcomic/{{Bethellium}}'': The titular city was founded by mages fleeing prosecution by the Inquisition. It is built on lands contributed by a sympathetic king, whose daughter is an elementalist, and hidden behind multiple layers of illusion and wards. Anyone cast out, as Zoana almost is, has their memories wiped. |
| 393 | * In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', drow, the underworld dwelling descendants of Dark and Light elf refugees who fled to the underground to escape a devastating war, believed all Light and Dark elf cities had been completely destroyed and the only elves that remained existed in scattered settlements or as slaves in their cities. It is eventually discovered at least one such city still exists, in near-absolute isolation from the outside world and under an extremely oppressive and corrupt regime, that kills anyone who finds their city. |
| 394 | * In the backstory of ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', the kingdom of Faq was hidden by mountain terrain and a master-class Foolamancer. This allowed its king to indulge his preference for philosophy rather than warfare. |
| 395 | %% * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': The Lost Kingdom of Skifander.%%ZCE |
| 396 | * In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' the [[DinosaursAreDragons dragons]] lived peacefully in [[GhibliHills Earth's wildernesses]] for eons, until [[HumansAreBastards humans evolved and started picking fights with them.]] Rather than start what could only become an ugly race war, the dragons left Earth entirely, settling on the planet [[PunnyName Butane.]] |
| 397 | %% * In ''Webcomic/LucidSpring'': Pacem's hometown Repa Village. |
| 398 | * In ''Webcomic/QuestOfCamelittle'', Elfdust City is a magical [[TreeTopTown Tree Top Town]] hidden within the Elven Forest. |
| 399 | * The Hidden Elf Village in ''Webcomic/RPGWorld''. This is eventually worked into the plot (if you can say ''[[http://www.rpgworldcomic.com/ RPG World]]'' has a plot); once, every N years, a competition of sorts happens between the Elves, Humans, and Monsters to decide the dominant race on the planet. Since humans won the last one, Elves are forced to stay (en masse) in their village and can't settle elsewhere; they can leave their village but are nomads if they do. Similarly, monsters are forced to stay in [[MonsterTown South City]], or lose their minds and become the wandering monsters that the RPGElements {{webcomic}} relies on. |
| 400 | * ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': This is the second most common fate of {{Precursors}} in the Milky Way (the first one being extinction, which is why some choose to become Hidden Elf Villages in the first place). The Bradicor are the first example found by the protagonists (they returned to a pre-industrial society on their own homeworld), and later the ancient Oafans (who live in a spacestation called Eina-Afa, which is the size of a small moon) and the All-Star (a DysonSphere surrounding a dwarf star contaning the digitized uploads of trillions of sentients) are added as examples. In the final arc,[[spoiler:the protagonists discover the World-Ships: {{Dyson Sphere}}s with engines whose creators fled the Milky Way for the dark spaces between galaxies. The galaxy has a giant belt of World-Ships, each containing its own Hidden Precursor Village who all refuse to contact each other and the galaxy they left behind]]. |
| 401 | * ''Webcomic/SkinDeep'': Avalons are locations, often magically HiddenInPlainSight in run-down buildings, abandoned warehouses, and other places that humans tend to simply ignore, where magical creatures have created refuges for themselves. These can range in size from a single shop where wondrous creatures can talk and socialize freely to entire secret villages hidden within human cities. The largest, [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Wonderland]], is a good-sized village and surrounding countryside hidden behind layers of magical wards and protections, to the point that it's impossible to notice or enter from the outside and can only be accessed through special magical passages. Not even the magical community actually knows where it is at this point -- the best they can figure out is that it's probably somewhere in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midlands the Midlands]]. |
| 402 | * The Seven Villages of the Racconnans in ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'' are hidden behind an artificial swamp and an enchanted fog. The reason being that they were persecuted by the other species for their magic-like lux abilities. Though that decision is starting to bite them in the ass centuries down the line because they're running out of resources, two political parties have formed to figure out whether they should expand the Mistwall or attempt trading with outsiders. |
| 403 | * In ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'', Kagi states that [[https://yokokasquest.com/comic/chapter-4-page-50/ he knows most locations in the Forest Clan]] but has never heard of the village in Betel's Forest. This is likely due to the magic of the barrier around it. |
| 404 | [[/folder]] |
| 405 | |
| 406 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 407 | * In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', the biggest elven cities Sanae, Tel'Elee, and Illunii are all hidden in forests. |
| 408 | * [[VideoGame/TheTraderOfStories The Forest Bed]] has the Forest of Dancing Trees, populated by [[PlantPerson sentient trees]] that walk, at least in their youth, and are very traditional and secluded, despite Lady Willow's trying to get them to open up a bit. |
| 409 | * ''LetsPlay/{{Mahu}}'': In "Frozen Flame", the elf village prince Arius fins is more isolated and forgotten than actually hidden. With hundreds of bandits scattered along the countryside, monsters roaming around, and magical creatures eager for blood, it is quite understandable why contact between the human and elf colonies had not happened sooner. |
| 410 | * ''Literature/TheTimTebowCFLChronicles'' inverts this with Greenland City, the technological utopia in the middle of Greenland. They hide their existence from (almost) everyone, but [[BenevolentConspiracy they secretly intervene to help the rest of the world]], by sharing their technology and offering advice to various governments on how to prepare for the coming energy crisis. |
| 411 | [[/folder]] |
| 412 | |
| 413 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 414 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 415 | ** The Air Nomads' temples zig-zag the trope. In an attempt to detach themselves from worldly concerns, the Nomads built their temples on secluded mountaintops in remote areas. That being said, the Temples weren't necessarily "hidden", but simply hard to reach unless you are or are helped there by an airbender, and the inhabitants were welcoming to those who reached them. This isn't seen so much in the series proper, since the populations of every temple were wiped out in the genocide that kicked off the Hundred Years War, but Air Nomad society was known to the world at large before Sozin's massacre. |
| 416 | ** The Foggy Swamp Tribe was a very obscure [[MakingASplash group of waterbenders]] who migrated from the South Pole centuries earlier. The humid and plant-choked environment of the swamp caused their society to develop in a completely different way from their polar cousins. Even their waterbending style was reflective of the stagnant nature of swamp water rather than the more flowing techniques of Northern and Southern styles. |
| 417 | ** The Sun Warriors are an ancient secretive tribe of [[PlayingWithFire firebenders]] largely forgotten by the Fire Nation at large, who learned bending from the primal firebenders: Dragons. |
| 418 | * ''WesternAnimation/BarbiePresentsThumbelina'': The tiny Twillerbee village is hidden in a field of flowers. |
| 419 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinotrux}}'': Most species want to stay with their own kind; none more than the tiny Reptools that all generally stay hidden in their secret ravine, refusing to leave with the dangers of the outside world like Dinotrux, Scrapadactyls, and Scraptors. |
| 420 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'': |
| 421 | ** Elfwood seems to be hidden in some sort of PocketDimension in the Enchanted Forest. Nobody ever left[[note]]except Leavo[[/note]] before Elfo got sick of [[HappinessIsMandatory the mandatory happiness]] and decided to explore the outside world. Its hiddenness may have something to do with the fact that multiple humans want to capture an elf and [[BloodMagic use their blood]] to create the ElixirOfLife. |
| 422 | ** Season 3 introduces Fairyland, hidden in the CaveBehindTheFalls. |
| 423 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': The Silvergrove is a literal Hidden Elf Village. In order to get in, you have to do a dance, [[spoiler: and when [[HitmanWithAHeart Rayla]] defects from the assassination mission, she gets "ghosted", making all others appear as TheBlank to her and [[ClassicalAntiHero Callum]] because she entered with him]]. |
| 424 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': The New Olympians and Avalon Clan, and to a lesser extent the London Clan and the whole town of Ishimura. In fact, most gargoyle clans try to pull this off, except for the Manhattan Clan. |
| 425 | * ''WesternAnimation/KulipariAnArmyOfFrogs'': The Amphibilands are the lush and vibrant home of the frogs, and are hidden from the rest of the world by a magical Veil that was cast upon them. One of the arguments for removing the veil is to avoid becoming xenophobic and withdrawn. |
| 426 | * ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'': |
| 427 | ** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': |
| 428 | *** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie1986'': The flutter ponies live in Flutter Valley, an isolated part of the setting, and shun contact with the outside world. |
| 429 | *** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE57TheGoldenHorseshoes2 The Golden Horseshoes, Part 2]]", the castle of the Green Mountain elves is placed on a remote, inaccessible peak that can only be reached by flight, and is so high up that for many the air becomes too thin to breathe before the castle itself is even reached. On getting there, their home's deliberately frightening appearance also serves to keep visitors from approaching. |
| 430 | ** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3'': The pegasus ponies live on their own secret island hidden behind a waterfall. |
| 431 | ** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E23SoundsOfSilence Sounds of Silence]]", the {{kirin}} live in a secret village hidden behind the treacherous cliffs of the Peaks of Peril, known to other societies only as vague rumors. |
| 432 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': The hovering Avian city in "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003S4E7AWingAndAPrayer A Wing and a Prayer]]" can only be found with the help of a [[{{Atlantis}} Y'Lyntian]] Crystal. |
| 433 | * ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'': In the fifth episode, Rex saves a guy who [[CharacterWitness invites him to their Hidden Engineer Village]] (humanity as a whole has developed a ScienceIsBad attitude since the [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Nanite Event]]). |
| 434 | * ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'': Gummi-Glen home of the Gummi Bears. There are other Gummi settlements like Gummadoon. |
| 435 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Homer is taken to the underground Land of the Jockeys, where they threaten to [[BrainFood eat his brain]] unless he [[ThrowingTheFight throws the big horse race]]. |
| 436 | * ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' has two, both serving as refuges for those who managed to escape the conquest of the planet by Robotnik. |
| 437 | ** Knothole Village is the primary one, and main base for the titular hero and his [[LaResistance Freedom Fighters]]. It's mainly protected by the Great Forest being impossible to navigate if you didn't know the way. It helps that the village was originally a fallback point for the Kingdom of Acorn during the Great War should Mobotropolis have fallen, which explains why the village is such a well-concealed secret. |
| 438 | ** The second is Lower Mobius, a one-off location beneath Robotropolis itself. The Freedom Fighters learn of it when they run into Grif, the village's leader, and wind up having to help them re-energize the power source that makes their lives possible and masks their presence from Robotnik. |
| 439 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': Paradron in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' and the New Crystal City of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'' are isolated, pacifist colonies of neutral Transformers who have managed to avoid being drawn into the eons-long Great War. The former one was even blown up by Rodimus Prime in order to prevent the Decepticons from having it. |
| 440 | * ''WesternAnimation/WildWestCowboysOfMooMesa'': Moo Mesa itself was created when an irradiated comet struck the late 19th-century Western plains, raising it above the clouds (and hiding its surface from human eyes) and anthropomorphizing all the cows and some other animals. |
| 441 | [[/folder]] |
| 442 | |
| 443 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 444 | * Amish, Old Order Mennonites, most orders of monks (Christian or Buddhist), and other "non-wandering" ascetic or mystic sects usually abide by the "non-subverted" version of this trope. The Amish in particular pledge to "live in this world but not of it." They do let their kids live in the outside world for a time before deciding to stay in the order. |
| 445 | * Russia has this sort of thing happen frequently, mostly due to the vast size and inhospitality of much of the country. |
| 446 | ** Some settlements of the Russian Orthodox "Old Believers" (who rejected the reforms of patriarch Nikon and were persecuted for that) as well. Many people call the Old Believers "Russian Amish". |
| 447 | ** Multiple anti-communist guerillas lived in isolated settlements and camps from which they harassed the Soviet system until the late seventies. Russian authorities say it's entirely possible there might still be groups of literal Imperialists holed up somewhere, unaware or uncaring that the Soviet Union is gone. |
| 448 | ** The various indigenous groups of Siberia largely live the way their ancestors did for centuries. Some of them may even be considered uncontacted. |
| 449 | ** A few Soviet-era settlements effectively no longer participate in Russian society, having become communist enclaves. |
| 450 | ** And many more that have yet to be investigated. There are villages on satellite images that don't show up on maps, but nobody has sent an expedition to them yet. The government doesn't take kindly to people exploring the country who aren't them. |
| 451 | * Subverted in the case of the original Buddhist kingdom in Tibet commonly identified as [[TheShangriLa Shangri-La]]. It was indeed a peaceful and enlightened place that welcomed and made peace with visiting Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s... until the kingdom was invaded and burned to the ground by a rival Buddhist Tibetan group that was angry at them for tolerating Christians. |
| 452 | * The Latter-Day Saints compounds. |
| 453 | * The policy of Isolationism is similar to this on a national scale. |
| 454 | ** North Korea's isolation qualifies it as a ''Hidden Elf Country''. Or a "Hidden ''Something'' Country"--North Korea is famously ''not'' a nice place to live, unless you're a Party member. |
| 455 | ** Isolationism in the Korean peninsula is not a new thing; medieval and early modern Korea, under the Joseon dynasty, was the original Hermit Kingdom. It lost this status when the also-formerly-isolated Japan conquered it in the 1900s. |
| 456 | ** Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate was within spitting distance of this trope. A literal GunboatDiplomacy (courtesy of the USA) was required for it to open up. |
| 457 | *** And thus the trope [[{{Ouroboros}} swallows its own tail]] as the elf village trope, so common in Japanese video games, is likely inspired loosely by history. |
| 458 | ** The United States attempted to invoke itself as this, being the New World of liberty free from the troubles of the Old World. Thus, for much of the nineteenth century, the United States officially practiced a policy of non-interventionism, which turned into full-on isolationism in the period between the two World Wars. Subverted often, however, in that America still had Banana Republics and loyal foreign countries to keep in check and was a major force on the world economy even before the Cold War. |
| 459 | ** Both Japan and Korea's internets by means of language barrier. The latter going as far as to save all its text as images, and if that's not possible, routinely block web translation sites like Google. And the rabbit hole goes deeper to a somehow more literal level. Japan's national internets containing a bundle of core websites locked out unless you have access to an active Japanese mobile phone or .edu university or fauxiversity webmail, and Korea's quite literally requiring a national ID AND a specific digit on the ID identifying you of not just Korean residence but also Korean RACE. Extending to much of the nation's private websites on account of them being published via a corporate web-hub duopoly subscribing to the authentication ideals. Geeeeeeez. |
| 460 | ** Albania during the last years of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. Enver Hoxha rejected Yugoslavia right off the bat, then the Soviets after Stalin's death, and then China after the failure of the Cultural Revolution, considering them as [[NoTrueScotsman soft Communists/Socialists]], and decided to go it alone. Emigration (and immigration to a lesser extent) was forbidden from 1968. Hoxha trained the entire country to be on alert for war, hence the hundreds of war bunkers scattered all over the country. Albania was the only European country that didn't sign the Helsinki Agreement, establishing the organization that would become the predecessor of the OSCE. By the UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag, Albania had become a sort of European North Korea (it even had its own version of the ''Juche'' ideology, except since there was no Soviet or Chinese aid, it ''literally'' was self-reliance) and had the hardest time transitioning to capitalism among the Eastern bloc. |
| 461 | * While it's started to open up somewhat in recent years, Bhutan still counts even today. Unlike other such modern-day countries, it actually maintains its status of a Kingdom! That said, it can remain a peaceful isolated nation, because the formidable [[UsefulNotes/IndiansWithIglas Indian Army]] is tasked with protecting it. |
| 462 | * The Hawaiian island Ni'ihau, also known as "The Forbidden Isle", is privately owned in its entirety and access is strictly limited. |
| 463 | * There are several tribes in the Amazon Basin who have chosen to disappear, retreating into the rain forest's deep interior rather than maintaining contact with the rest of the world. One particular example are the Awá people of Brazil, some of whom still choose to live as hunter-gatherers following their ancient traditions within the isolated cores of a handful of preserves -- preserves that are still under constant threat by illegal logging and encroachment, endangering even these isolated holdouts. |
| 464 | * The Maya city of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tayasal Tayasal]], situated on an island in Lake Peten Itza deep in the Guatemalan jungle, was known by the Spaniards since Cortés himself scouted the region in 1525, but remained unconquered and unchristianized until 1697, a whopping 170 years later. It wasn't exactly a village either: records of the time note that it had 21 functioning temples, as much as the famous archaeological site of Chichen Itza. |
| 465 | * Attempted by Manco Inca when he retreated behind the Andes and founded the city of Vilcabamba in 1539, in the aftermath of the Inca rebellion against Spanish rule. The Spanish conquered this kingdom in 1572. |
| 466 | * The Natchez were the only Mississippian culture nation that survived beyond the mid-16th century and were renowned for their bellicosity whenever Europeans showed up. They were finally defeated and dispersed by the French in 1730. |
| 467 | * Tabaristan (modern Mazandaran province, on the Iranian Caspian coast) successfully resisted the Arab conquest of the Persian empire in the 650s. It retained its independence and Zoroastrian religion for almost a century. While the natives eventually converted to Islam, the region was never under direct control of the Arab caliphates and remained firmly under Iranian control. |
| 468 | * The remote Afghan region formerly called Kaffiristan adhered to an ancient pagan religion and remained closed to outsiders until the late 19th century when it was conquered by its Muslim neighbors and renamed Nuristan. Its pre-conquest form provides the setting for Literature/TheManWhoWouldBeKing. |
| 469 | * The Sentinelese of North Sentinel Island off India have a long-standing practice of trying to kill any outsiders who come too close and remain entirely uncontacted. |
| 470 | * The Baduy people of Indonesia are traditionally averse to modern amenities and survive off of nature. In a region that has been predominately Muslim since the early modern period, they still keep the original faith of their forefathers. There are actually two tiers of Baduys: the Outer Baduys (''Baduy Luar'') regularly interact with the outside world, although they prefer to be left alone, while the Inner Baduys (''Baduy Dalam'') are completely isolated and forbidden from interacting with non-Baduys. |
| 471 | * The town of Bolinas, California, about thirty miles north of UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, [[http://articles.latimes.com/1989-11-09/news/mn-1431_1_road-signs made headlines]] when residents tore down the only sign leading to the town in an attempt to dissuade tourists, preferring the town's seclusion and laid-back lifestyle. |
| 472 | * Nesting and burrowing behavior in wildlife is nature's version of this trope: the creation and maintenance of a secure, hidden mini-habitat in which offspring can be reared, food hoarded, and rest taken without fear of predators or exposure to adverse environmental conditions. |
| 473 | [[/folder]] |
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