The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
4tell0life4
Since: Mar, 2018
3rd Oct, 2019 02:06:07 PM
I wanna add Prince Caspian and the Telmarines to this.
We can never truly eradicate the coronavirus, but we can suppress its threat like influenza
phalanx
Since: Jun, 2012
phalanx
Since: Jun, 2012
Unsung
Since: Jun, 2016
5th Oct, 2019 02:18:54 PM
Maybe add a line about Settling the Frontier to the optional section of Standard Fantasy Setting? It does come up a lot.
It's a fantasy universe with a single continent as its primary setting. Long ago, in the age of myth, the First People ruled this continent. Then, the People From Across The Sea came, leaving their mysterious homeland in a great fleet to conquer this continent, driving the First People into isolated places, and creating their own cities and kingdoms.
Nine times out of ten, the "People From Across The Sea" are humans, and the "First People" are elves/dwarves/other magical beings, because Humanity Is Young. This trope might have its origins in a sort of American cultural memory of colonialism and Settling the Frontier, which spread to works outside of the US through the influence of American pop-culture. Also, it's a useful tool if you want a culture to suddenly "appear" out of nowhere, but want to leave their actual origins as a people mysterious or ambiguous. Sometimes the First People go completely extinct and become Precursors, and sometimes they're still around and pissed about being displaced.
Examples:
- The Elder Scrolls, where Tamriel was first inhabited by the Beastfolk, (and possibly the Elves, if you believe that "Aldmeris" is a metaphor.) and later colonized by humans from the continents of Yokuda and Atmora. (and possibly the Elves, if you believe "Aldmeris" was real.)
- A Song of Ice and Fire, where Westeros was first inhabited by the Children of the Forest and the Giants, and later colonized by (in order) the First Men, the Andals, and the Rhoynar, who are all from Essos.
- Dragon Age, where Thedas was first inhabited by the Elves and Dwarves, and later colonized by humans from the mysterious northern lands.
- In the Witcher, where the unnamed continent was first inhabited by the "Elder Races", and later colonized by humans from an alternate universe who arrived during the "Conjunction of the Spheres".