Basic Trope: An isolated group which insists that anything that happens outside their borders is not their problem.
- Straight: The village of Aden is well-hidden, and its residents are loath to get involved in the "outside world's" troubles, so they keep to themselves.
- Exaggerated: Aden is an entire civilization and network of concealed cities, and the vast majority of its residents believe that any threats outside their well-protected walls are somebody else's problem.
- Downplayed: Aden is off the beaten path, but Adenians regularly go to the city for market.
- Justified:
- Aden is filled with refugees from other towns and villages that were destroyed by The Empire, so most of its residents aren't exactly eager to go out and risk their lives fighting an enemy they've already lost against once.
- Aden is the home of a species that has been discriminated against and driven into exile just to survive, so they naturally have No Sympathy for whatever mess the "dominant races" have gotten themselves into.
- Inverted:
- The Empire is the only civilization that lives out in the open; all the other surviving free towns and villages are concealed and hiding from the empire's forces.
- Aden is a village of meddlers and Tricksters that won't stop interfering with the rest of the world.
- Subverted:
- While Aden is well-hidden, when The Hero and his companions stumble across it, the residents are welcoming, friendly and open.
- Aden believes themselves to be perfectly hidden and the Empire initially has trouble finding them, but only because their resources are spent elsewhere. When they decided that yes, they are in fact Aden's problem, they find it with little difficulty.
- Double Subverted:
- Though the people of Aden welcome the newcomers at first; when the hero tries rallying them to fight the empire they immediately turn cold and curt, revealing their isolationist philosophy.
- The town the empire finds is fake because their agents were compromised and misdirected.
- Parodied: Aden's entrance is hidden behind a single tree... standing out in an open field... with no other cover around save for Aden's own walls. It's also visible from the Empire's capital. Despite this, its citizens insist that the empire is somebody else's problem and that they're not going to get involved no matter what.
- Zig Zagged: The people of Aden don't actually have anything against other cultures, it's just that they prefer to keep to themselves. The Adenites will help the heroes if they come seeking aid and provide shelter to refugees, but otherwise aren't interested in an alliance and prefer to fight the villains on their own.
- Averted: While hidden, Aden is also the hub of a major resistance network.
- Enforced:
- Aden was created so that some of the series' heroes can be exiles born there who didn't agree with their homeland's isolationist attitude. Its existence also serves up the Aesop about evil thriving when good people choose not to act.
- The work "featuring" Aden and its "eat your own medicine" conclusion is a propaganda by a fascist government who seeks to conscript its otherwise peaceful citizens.
- Lampshaded: "This is not our war. Besides, what do we care if The Empire wipes out you lot if it can't find us?"
- Invoked: Somebody from Aden goes on a great quest to find a way to defy the Doomed Hometown trope. They find a spell that will cloud invaders' minds and keep them away, but getting involved in the outside world weakens or even ends the spell.
- Exploited: The Empire has a standing policy regarding villages like Aden: as long as they turn over any "reactionaries" who happen to show up in town, they can remain neutral without fear of Imperial forces ever bothering them.
- Defied:
- The Empire invests in scrying spells that locate every village in the area.
- The inhabitants of Aden willingly provide aid to the heroes, even supplying them with weapons and warriors, because they realize that while the Empire may not know where they are now, it will find out eventually.
- Discussed: "Well guys, looks like another village of nice, smiling, polite people, eager to get us out of their hair so they can stick their heads back in the sand."
- Conversed: "You'd think these secluded villages would wise up to the fact that they're living in the warpath of an extremely expansionist empire."
- Deconstructed:
- By putting sufficient resources into the effort (time, labor, and if applicable, Functional Magic etc.) The Empire succeeds in finding Aden despite its own efforts to hide. The formerly hidden village now must swallow its pride and join the fight against The Empire or defend its borders by itself.
- Since the only inhabitants of Aden who ever leave the town are criminals and exiles, the world outside assumes that Aden is a town full of crooks, even if most of them are upstanding citizens.
- Reconstructed:
- Aden recognizes that it might be discovered at some point, so it has several villages to which it can relocate. When it finds out that the empire knows where they are, they moved to a new and better-hidden location as quickly as they can. They leave behind a Master of Illusion to make the Empire think they wiped Aden off the map, and give several citizens who were tired of hiding a mission to pretend to be refugees.
- Aden sends out spokesmen or ambassadors to Walk the Earth and promote the village. They can't tell anyone where it is, of course, but it's a great place!
- Played For Laughs: Aden hideously murders anyone attempting to enter their territory and their entire military budget goes into stopping anyone from entering Aden. Despite this, there are entire districts made up of foreigners.
- Played For Drama: The hero and his companions stumble across Aden while escaping the empire's forces. Aden is in a great position and their forces could help turn the tide of the war; unfortunately, their leader is a Jerkass who insists that whatever happens outside isn't their problem. Meanwhile, thanks to the party locating it, the empire now knows Aden's location and plots its assault...
Good luck finding the Hidden Elf Village page again.
