This is a list of fictional settlements, including fictional towns, villages and cities, organized by each city's medium. This list should include only well-referenced, notable examples of fictional towns, cities, settlements and villages that are integral to a work of fiction and substantively depicted therein. Fictional cities, towns and counties are arrows in the fiction writers' quivers – they lend an air of authenticity to the story, and since there are so many of them, readers find them to be a plausible addition that makes the story more realistic.[1]
Comics
[edit]Name | Debut | Creator(s) | Publisher | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Basin City | Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special (April 1991) | Frank Miller | Dark Horse Comics | A fictional town in the American west, almost universally called "Sin City". Founded as a mining town, the Roark family "imported" prostitutes to keep the miners happy, eventually making great profit both from the ore and "tourism". In the modern era, the town is governed by criminal organizations, most of them descendants of both the Roarks and the original prostitutes, Basin City becoming a dangerous red-light district. |
Blüdhaven | Nightwing Vol 1 #1 | Chuck Dixon, Scott McDaniel | DC Comics | A fictional American city located in New Jersey. A former whaling town, which was officially incorporated as a "Commonwealth" in 1912. The town had a generally poor socio-economic populace, owing in part to failed efforts to transform itself into a manufacturing and shipping center. In modern times, it became more dangerous than Gotham, ruled by gangs and a corrupt police department. Nightwing is the most common heroic presence. |
Coast City | Showcase #22 (October 1959) | John Broome | ||
District X | New X-Men #127 | Grant Morrison, John Paul Leon | Marvel Comics | A ghetto like neighbourhood of New York City, where most of the inhabitants are Mutants. With the rise of Manhattan's mutant population coupled with racism among normal humans, mutants formed their own community in a ghetto established in or around Alphabet City, Manhattan. Middle East Side and Mutant Town are its other names. A series of explosions incinerated much of the neighborhood, with Arcade's force fields preventing fire fighters from entering the area until the entire district had been utterly annihilated. Now District X has been destroyed completely. |
Duckburg | Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #49 (1944) | Carl Barks | Disney | Fictional city that appears in various Disney comic books and animated projects, located in the fictional state of Calisota. It is the home of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, Daisy Duck, and most of their supporting cast. Various writers have given it a long and complex history; it was originally known as "Fort Drake Borough", a fort built in the 16th century by British explorer Sir Francis Drake. By the 19th century, the fort had been handed over by its departing British occupants to Cornelius Coot, who renamed the fort "Duckburg". |
Gotham City | Batman #4 (Winter 1940) | Bob Kane, Bill Finger | DC Comics | A fictional American city that is the home of Batman, and the principal setting for all Batman comics, films, and other adaptations. Generally portrayed as a dark, crime-ridden locale, writer/artist Frank Miller has described Gotham City as New York City at night. It was originally strongly inspired by Trenton, Ontario's history, location, atmosphere, and various architectural styles, and has since incorporated elements from New York City, Detroit, Pittsburgh, London and Chicago. Anton Furst's designs of Gotham for Tim Burton's Batman (1989) have been influential on subsequent portrayals: he set out to "make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest metropolis imaginable."[2] |
Keystone City | Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) | Gardner Fox, Harry Lampert | ||
Metropolis | Action Comics #16 (Sept 1939) | A fictional American city that is the home of Superman, and along with Smallville, one of the principal settings for all Superman comics, films, and other adaptations. | ||
Riverdale | Pep Comics #22 (Dec 1941) | Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, John L. Goldwater | Archie Comic Publications, Inc. | Riverdale is a fictional city that appears in the Archie Comics. Its exact location is unknown but it is presented to be a suburban town with parks, shopping malls, and restaurants. Publisher John L. Goldwater has said that the town is based on his own hometown of Hiawatha, Kansas, while Archie artist Bob Montana has said that it is based on his hometown of Haverhill, Massachusetts. |
Smallville, Kansas | Superboy #2 (May 1949) | DC Comics | A fictional town in Kansas that is the hometown of Superman, where he landed on earth as an infant and was raised under an ordinary human identity in a small, idyllic farming community. Comics and adapted media that portray Superman's origin typically show his growing up in Smallville (such as Superman: The Movie (1978)), and the adult Superman also returns to visit. Smallville debuted in comics as the setting for Superboy (originally the identity of Superman as a youth, later made into a separate character) but was first mentioned in The Adventures of Superman radio show. The television series Smallville broadcast from 2001 to 2011. | |
Star City | Green Arrow | George Papp, Mort Weisinger | Home of the fictional vigilantes Green Arrow, Black Canary, Spartan, and Overwatch. They fight crime in this city. | |
Kamar-Taj | Strange Tales #110 (July 1963) | Stan Lee, Steve Ditko | Marvel Comics | A village hidden high in the Himalayas, where Doctor Strange learns magic from the Ancient One. |
Fawcett City | Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940) | Fawcett Comics, DC Comics |
Film
[edit]City/Town | Film Name | Distributor(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Derry, Maine | It | Warner Bros. | Derry is a fictional town created by Stephen King to serve as a nexus of horror in books such as It, Insomnia, The Tommyknockers and 11/22/63. |
Hill Valley, California | Back to the Future | Universal | Hill Valley is a fictional town in California, located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and 16 miles from Grass Valley. |
Emerald City | The Wizard of Oz | MGM | The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz based on L. Frank Baum's series of Oz books. It was first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The city is sometimes called the City of Emeralds due to its extensively green architecture. |
Zion | The Matrix | Warner Brothers | Zion is a fictional city in The Matrix films. It is the last human city on the planet Earth after a cataclysmic nuclear war between humankind and sentient Machines, which resulted in artificial lifeforms dominating the world. |
Mos Eisley | Star Wars | 20th Century Fox | Mos Eisley is a setting in the fictional Star Wars universe. It is introduced as a spaceport[3] town on the planet Tatooine which Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) describes as a "wretched hive of scum and villainy." It is the home of the Mos Eisley cantina and Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes. |
Coruscant | Coruscant is a fictional planet and city in the Star Wars universe. It has a population of about a trillion. | ||
Stepford | The Stepford Wives | Fadsin Cinema Associates (1975), Paramount Pictures (2004) | Stepford, Connecticut is the setting in the Stepford Wives films and novel The Stepford Wives. Although the focus is on the wives, the fictional location is also worthy of note. |
Toontown | Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Touchstone Pictures (1988) | Fictional town that borders Burbank, California, it is designed specifically to act as a home for Toons, and as a result, the laws of physics are subject to change within its borders, often making it hazardous for human visitors. Formerly owned by tycoon Marvin Acme, his death and apparent absence of a will triggers an ownership dispute that drives the main plot of the film. |
Haddonfield, Illinois | Halloween | Independent Horror Film | Haddonfield, Illinois is the setting of serial killer Michael Myers' childhood and mass murder spree of Halloween 1978. The town name was named after Haddonfield, New Jersey, the hometown of the film's co-writer and producer Debra Hill. The town appears in all of the films in the franchise, except for Halloween H20. |
Television
[edit]Town Name | Origin | Network | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Cabot Cove | Murder, She Wrote | CBS | Cabot Cove, Maine, is the small, fictional fishing village in which Jessica Fletcher lives in the television series Murder, She Wrote. Many episodes of Murder, She Wrote used Cabot Cove as a location because the show's producers were contractually obliged to deliver five Cabot Cove episodes a year.[4] Despite the town's population of 3,560,[4] Cabot Cove became notable as a place where a large number of murders took place. The New York Times calculated that almost 2% of Cabot Cove's residents died during the show's run. More visitors to Cabot Cove died than residents.[4]
Cabot Cove is named after the town's founder, Winfred Cabot. Perhaps setting the stage for the town's reputation for murders, Cabot was killed in a murder-suicide situation with his wife Hepzibah. It has an architectural heritage of Victorian houses. Given the village's rich history, coastal location and close proximity to eastern U.S. cities, Cabot Cove was transformed from a small, sleepy fishing village to a tourist destination for the people coming from New York City. |
Hawkins, Indiana | Stranger Things | Netflix | |
Hazzard County, Georgia | The Dukes of Hazzard | CBS | Hazzard County is a fictional county in Georgia that was the setting for the 1980s television series The Dukes of Hazzard and its 2005 film of the same name. |
Mayberry | Andy Griffith Show | Mayberry is a fictional community in North Carolina that was the setting for two American television sitcoms, The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. Mayberry was also the setting for a 1986 reunion television movie titled Return to Mayberry. It is said to be based on Andy Griffith's hometown, Mount Airy, North Carolina. | |
Pawnee, Indiana | Parks and Recreation | NBC | Pawnee is a fictional town in the U.S. television show, Parks and Rec. It is said to be based on Muncie, Indiana. (Also fake town: Eagleton) It is also claimed that it is based on Evansville. It is claimed that Eagleton is based on Carmel. |
Sunnydale, California | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | The WB | Sunnydale, California is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror movies.
Sunnydale is located on a "Hellmouth"; a portal "between this reality and the next", and convergence point of mystical energies.[5] |
Sparta, Mississippi | In the Heat of the Night | CBS, NBC | Sparta is a fictional town in Mississippi. It was filmed in Hammond, Indiana and also Covington, Georgia. |
Lanford, IL | Roseanne | ABC | Lanford is the town that the show takes place in. (based in Elgin, IL) |
Radio
[edit]Town Name | Origin | Network | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Ambridge | The Archers | BBC Radio 4 | Village in the fictional county of Borsetshire, in the English Midlands. Possibly based on the village of Cutnall Green.[6] Main setting of The Archers. Ambridge is twinned with the French settlement of Meyruelle, also fictional.[7] |
Borchester | The Archers | BBC Radio 4 | County town of the fictional county of Borsetshire, in the English Midlands. |
Felpersham | The Archers | BBC Radio 4 | Town in the fictional county of Borsetshire, in the English Midlands. |
Lake Wobegon | A Prairie Home Companion | Minnesota Public Radio | Lake Wobegon is the seat of Mist County, Minnesota, a tiny county near the geographic center of Minnesota that supposedly does not appear on maps because of the "incompetence of surveyors who mapped out the state in the 19th century". |
Llareggub | Under Milk Wood | BBC Third Programme | Llareggub is a fictional fishing village in Wales. Possibly based on the seaside town of New Quay in Ceredigion.[8] It's the setting of Under Milk Wood, a radio play commissioned by the BBC Third Programme from poet and playwright Dylan Thomas and first broadcast on 25 January 1954,[9] less than three months after the poet's death in New York.[10] |
London Below | Neverwhere | BBC Radio 4 | London Below is a fictional settlement, from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, adapted from a TV drama by the author for BBC Radio 4. London Below is a parallel world in and beneath the sewers of London Above. Its inhabitants are the homeless, but also people from other times such as Roman legionaries and mediaeval monks, as well as fictional and fantastical characters.[11] |
Meyruelle | The Archers | BBC Radio 4 | Meyruelle is a fictional settlement in France, twinned with Ambridge, the setting of BBC Radio 4's soap opera The Archers.[7] |
Wistful Vista | Fibber McGee and Molly | NBC Red Network | Wistful Vista is a fictional community that is home to the McGees and their neighbors. |
Animated
[edit]Town Name | Origin | Network | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Beach City | Steven Universe | Cartoon Network | Located in the fictional state of Delmarva, Beach City is the location of the headquarters of the Crystal Gems. Bill Dewey and Nanna Fua are both former mayors of the city. Notable locations include The Big Donut, Fish Stew Pizza, and Boardwalk Fries. | |
Bedrock | The Flintstones | ABC | Bedrock is the fictional prehistoric city, which is home to the characters of the animated television series, The Flintstones (1960).[12] | |
Gravity Falls, Oregon | Gravity Falls | Disney Channel | Gravity Falls, Oregon, is the fictional setting for the 2012 series, Gravity Falls. It is believed to be a strange town with many mysteries waiting to be uncovered. | |
New New York City, New York | Futurama | Fox | New New York is the setting of the 1999 animated comedy Futurama, built above "'Old' New York." It is also the location of the headquarters of Planet Express. | |
Quahog, Rhode Island | Family Guy | Quahog, Rhode Island is a city which is the setting for the U.S. animated television sitcom Family Guy. A popular bar in the city is The Drunken Clam.[13] | ||
South Park, Colorado | South Park | CMDY | A fictional small town of South Park, located within the real life South Park basin in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado.[14] The town is also home to an assortment of frequent characters such as students, families, elementary school staff, and other various residents, who tend to regard South Park as a bland and quiet place to live.[15] | |
Springfield | The Simpsons | FOX | Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society.[16] The geography of the town and its surroundings are flexible, changing to address whatever an episode's plot calls for.[17] Springfield's location is impossible to determine; the show is deliberately evasive on the subject, providing contradictory clues and impossible information about an actual geographic location. The town was founded by Jebediah Springfield. | |
West City | Dragon Ball | Funimation | Fictional city featured in the Dragon Ball franchise. It's a large megalopolis on Earth. Out of the 43 regions that the Earth is divided into, it is included in region 28. | |
Konohagakure | Naruto | Viz Media | Fictional village featured in the Naruto media franchise. It's a hidden village located in the Land of Fire. As the village of one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, Konohagakure has a Kage as its leader known as the Hokage, of which there have been seven in its history. | |
Musutafu | My Hero Academia | Funimation | Fictional city in the My Hero Academia franchise where Izuku Midoriya and other characters takes place. It is located somewhere near Shizuoka Prefecture. | |
Townsville | Powerpuff Girls | Cartoon Network | Although it shares the same name as the Australian city, it does not appear to have any other connection to Townsville, Queensland. | |
New Helic City | Zoids: Chaotic Century | JNN | ||
Paradigm City | The Big O | Wowow | ||
Clamburg | Making Fiends (web series) Making Fiends (TV series) | Nickelodeon | Fictional Coastal City in an unknown sea which is a dangerous city and the delicious side of Clamburg is Clams. |
Literature
[edit]Town name | Author | Origin | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Castle Rock | Stephen King | various novels | Castle Rock, Maine is part of Stephen King's fictional Maine topography and provides the setting for a number of his novels, novellas, and short stories. Built similarly to the fictional towns of Jerusalem's Lot (featured in the novel 'Salem's Lot) and Derry (featured in the novels It, Insomnia, and Dreamcatcher), Castle Rock is a typical small New England town with many dark secrets. |
Cittàgazze | Philip Pullman | The Subtle Knife | Cittàgazze (sometimes abbreviated to Ci'gazze), meaning "City of the Magpies" in Italian, is a fictional city within an unknown world (and parallel universe). |
Clochemerle | Gabriel Chevallier | Clochemerle | Clochemerle is a fictional village in France, in a 1934 satirical novel of the same name by Gabriel Chevallier, inspired by Vaux-en-Beaujolais, a commune in the Beaujolais. The novel satirises the conflict between Catholics and republicans in the Third Republic.[18] The story concerns a dispute over the construction of a vespasienne (public urinal) near the village church. The term Clochemerle has entered French as a term to describe "petty, parochial squabbling".[19] |
Hogsmeade | J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter series | Hogsmeade Village is the only settlement in Britain inhabited solely by magical beings, and is located to the northwest of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was founded by medieval wizard Hengist of Woodcroft.[20] Much of Hogsmeade's architecture reflects its medieval origin; the village is known for its leaning medieval houses. Hogsmeade primarily consists of a single thoroughfare, called High Street, on which most shops and other magical venues reside. |
Shangri-La | James Hilton | Lost Horizon | Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, and particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia. |
Brigadoon | Alan Jay Lerner | Brigadoon | Brigadoon is a fictional Scottish town and is the main subject of the Broadway musical of the same name. The town only appears in our world for one day every 100 years. |
Lake Wobegon | Garrison Keillor | A Prairie Home Companion | Lake Wobegon is a fictional lake and town in Minnesota. It is the setting for Garrison Keillor's segment "The News from Lake Wobegon" from the radio program A Prairie Home Companion as well Kellior's books Lake Wobegon Days (1985) and Leaving Home (1987). It is said to be located in the fictional Mist County in Central Minnesota presumably near St. Cloud. The town is based on the small-town life of various Minnesota lake communities, most notably Kellior's hometown of Anoka, Minnesota. |
Middlemarch | George Eliot | Middlemarch | Middlemarch is a fictional town in 19th century England circa 1832. It is the setting for George Eliot's 1872 novel. A small town in New Zealand bears the same name, possibly because the wife of a 19th-century surveyor was reading the novel at the time settlements were being catalogued. |
Amber | Roger Zelazny | The Chronicles of Amber | Amber is the true world of which our world, and many (perhaps infinitely many) others, are shadows; and also the name of the citadel that is its capital. |
Lankhmar | Fritz Leiber | Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser | Lankhmar is a populous, labyrinthine city rife with corruption. It serves as the home of Leiber's two anti-heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. It also forms a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. |
Ankh-Morpork | Terry Pratchett | Discworld | Pratchett describes Ankh-Morpork as on the far side of corrupt and polluted, and as subject to outbreaks of comedic violence and brouhaha on a fairly regular basis. Ankh-Morpork is also the mercantile capital of the Discworld. As the series proceeds, Ankh-Morpork is more and more portrayed as multi-cultural (which in this case means multi-species, with increasingly prominent populations of creatures such as dwarves, trolls, vampires, gnomes, bogeymen, zombies and werewolves) and struggling with modern real-world challenges. Even when it is under attack from a dragon, the vegetable carts still have to come in. In The Art of Discworld, Pratchett explains that the city is similar to Tallinn and central Prague, but adds that it has elements of 18th-century London, 19th-century Seattle and modern New York City. |
Alicante | Cassandra Clare | The Mortal Instruments | This city is the home to all shadow hunters in The Mortal Instrument series. However, not all shadow hunters live in Alicante. They have to live across the world to protect humanity from demons, but Alicante is always in their hearts. (Not the city in Spain) |
Ulthar | H. P. Lovecraft | Various short stories | Ulthar is both a fictional town and a fictional deity. The town of Ulthar is part of H. P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, appearing in such stories as "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath" (1926), "The Cats of Ulthar" (1920) and "The Other Gods" (1933). |
Peterswood | Enid Blyton | Five Find-Outers | Peterswood is a city that appears in the story "Five find outers" as the main setting in the fifteen mystery stories. |
Kirrin Island | Enid Blyton | The Famous Five (novel series) | Kirrin Island is an island belonging George (one of the Famous Five characters, who was given the island by her parents). The island is frequented by the five adventurers. |
Jonathanland | Mason Ewing | Various stories | Jonathanland is the fictional city created by Mason Ewing, where several storylines unfold, including those of Baby Madison, Eli Tilmann and the pin-up Shelly Gold. It's located in California, not far from Los Angeles. |
Rocky Beach | Robert Arthur Jr. (original writer). | Three Investigators | Rocky Beach is where the three investigators live. |
TKKG City | Rolf Kalmuczak behind a pseudonym "Stefan wolf" | TKKG | TKKG city is a metropolitan city. The city where TKKG lives. the setting for most of the stories. |
Malgudi | R. K. Narayan | Swami and Friends | A town in Ramanathapuram in South India in the novels and short stories of R. K. Narayan. All but one of his fifteen novels and most of his short stories take place here. The name is a portmanteau of two Bangalore localities, Malleshwaram and Basavanagudi. |
Video games
[edit]Name | Debut | Notes |
---|---|---|
Alexandria | Final Fantasy IX | |
Arcadia Bay, Oregon | Life Is Strange | Arcadia Bay is a small, fictional city at the coast of Oregon and the main setting of the videogames Life Is Strange and Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. |
Blackwater, West Elizabeth | Red Dead Redemption | Blackwater is a small port town based on Blackwater, Missouri, and is the setting of the Blackwater Massacre in Red Dead Redemption 2. It's featured in Red Dead Redemption, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Red Dead Online. |
Bright Falls, Washington | Alan Wake | Bright Falls is a fictional mountain town located in the U.S. state of Washington and is the setting of Alan Wake. |
Capital City, USA | State of Emergency | Setting for State of Emergency and State of Emergency 2. |
Carcer City, USA | Manhunt | Setting for Manhunt. |
Catharsis, Arizona | Postal III | Catharsis is a desert town. |
City 17 | Half-Life 2 | City 17 is the setting of the games Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two. The city is located in Eastern Europe and is shown to be controlled by the interdimensional totalitarian regime known as The Combine. |
Columbia | BioShock Infinite | Columbia is a floating city which was the part of the United States, and introduced to the world during the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. Following an "international incident" where the city bombarded Peking during the Boxer Rebellion in response to American hostages being taken by the Boxers, the city seceded from the United States and became a theocratic/white nationalist dictatorship. |
Cottonmouth, USA | Manhunt 2 | Setting for Manhunt 2. Presumably located in the Gulf Coast. |
Diamond City, Boston | Fallout 4 | A post-apocalyptic settlement based in the ruins of Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. |
Dowon | Inzoi | Fictional South Korean city. |
Dunwall | Dishonored | Dunwall, the capital of Gristol and the Empire of the Isles, is an industrial whaling city situated on the Wrenhaven River. In the game it is shown to be ravaged by plague and controlled by an oppressive and technologically advanced government. |
Edensin, Arizona | Postal 4: No Regerts | Edensin is a desert town, located near to the Mexican border. |
Empire Bay, USA | Mafia II | Empire Bay is a city on the East Coast of the United States that serves as the setting for Mafia II. The city is based on New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Detroit. |
Empire City | Infamous | A fictional city presumably located in the Northeastern United States, heavily inspired by New York. During the events of Infamous it was ravaged by an event known as "the blast" and isolated from the continental United States. |
Fortune City, Nevada | Dead Rising 2 | Fortune City, Nevada is a Las Vegas-themed adult amusement and entertainment resort, complete with casinos and hotels, which serves as the main setting in Dead Rising 2. |
Greenvale, Washington | Deadly Premonition | Greenvale is a town in Whasington which is based on Twin Peaks. |
Grestin | Papers, Please | Grestin is a city that was divided into two after a 6-year war between fictional countries of Kolechia and Arstotzka. In 1982, a border checkpoint opened in the center of the city, and it is the only pass to Arstotzka. It resembles post-war Berlin, which was divided by the Berlin Wall until 1990. |
Hinamizawa, Japan | Higurashi When They Cry | A rural village in Japan based on the village of Shirakawa, Gifu, a World Heritage Site;[21][22] it has a population of approximately 2,000. Hinamizawa appears to be a normal, peaceful, rural village; however, the tranquility abruptly ends after the annual Watanagashi Festival, a celebration to commemorate and give thanks to the local god, Oyashiro. Every year for the past four years, one person has been murdered, and another has gone missing on the evening of the Watanagashi Festival. The video game series and its related anime and manga present various scenarios from crazed locals to actual supernatural occurrences. |
Hyrule Castle Town | The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | Castle Town is the city in front of Hyrule Castle in various games. There are many side-quests and mini-games offered that give you rewards like rupees (currency) and pieces of heart, the treasure required to extend your health bar. |
Kakariko Village | The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past | Kakariko Village (カカリコ村, Kakariko-mura) is a fictional village of The Legend of Zelda series that appears in A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Four Swords Adventures, Twilight Princess, A Link Between Worlds, and Breath of the Wild. Kakariko is often portrayed as a prosperous small town. |
Karnaca | Dishonored 2 | Karnaca, also known as "The Jewel of the South at the Edge of the World", is the capital city of Serkonos, located in the eastern portion of the nation and at the southernmost tip of the Empire. It serves as the main setting of Dishonored 2, and is heavily inspired by the architecture and culture of Mediterranean Europe. |
Lavender Town | Pokémon Red and Blue | Lavender Town (シオンタウン, Shion Taun, Shion Town) is a fictional village in the Kanto region of the Pokémon series. Stylized as a haunted location, Lavender Town is home to a large, indoor Japanese-style graveyard in a building called the Pokémon Tower. The town appears in Pokémon Red and Blue, Yellow, Gold and Silver, Crystal, FireRed and LeafGreen, HeartGold and SoulSilver, and Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. |
Liberty City, USA | Grand Theft Auto | Liberty City is a copy of New York City. It is shown in GTA I, GTA III, Liberty City Stories, Advance, Chinatown Wars and GTA IV. In all games, it is shown in the 1990s and 2000s. It is located in the Liberty state, and it is implied to be in proximity with Carcer City (appears in Manhunt and in some dialogues in another games of Grand Theft Auto). In GTA III and Liberty City Stories, the city is shown to only be loosely based on New York, while in GTA IV, the references to New York City are more explicit, featuring parodies of Times Square, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty. |
Little Hope, Massachusetts | The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope | Little Hope is a town in Massachusetts and the main setting of The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope. |
Little Lamplight | Fallout 3 | A fictional post-apocalyptic settlement based in a network of caves in the Washington DC metropolitan area. The settlement is run entirely by children who exile their own once they hit puberty. In-game entries reveal the town was formed by schoolchildren on a field trip in 2077 when nuclear war occurred. |
Lost Heaven | Mafia (video game) | A fictional city located in the Midwestern United States in the 1930s. The city is heavily based on Chicago during the Prohibition Era. |
Los Santos, San Andreas | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online | Like its counterpart of Los Angeles, California, USA, and Surabaya, East Java, Los Santos comprises several diverse areas. The urban area of Los Santos holds a population comparable to Los Angeles. Los Santos features several interpretations of many of Los Angeles' districts, landmarks, and neighborhoods, including Compton (Ganton), Willowbrook (Willowfield), Watts (Jefferson), Inglewood (Idlewood), East Los Angeles (East Los Santos), MacArthur Park (Glen Park), Downtown Los Angeles (Downtown Los Santos), Beverly Hills (Rodeo), Mulholland Drive (Mulholland), Santa Monica (Santa Maria), Venice Beach (Verona Beach), Hollywood (Vinewood) and its Hollywood Sign (Vinewood Sign). Los Santos is also part of the setting for Grand Theft Auto V. The new rendition of the city is now much more detailed, larger, and looks more alive than ever before. The city can be divided into four big sections: North, East, West and South Los Santos, in which beneath the sections, the streets are divided into districts. There are two incorporated cities in Los Santos: Davis, Del Perro. Los Santos has an estimated population of 4,000,000 and is the largest city in the State of San Andreas. |
Ludendorff, North Yankton | Grand Theft Auto V | A fictional town located in the fictional Midwestern state of North Yankton, based on North Dakota. The town's name alludes to Bismarck, the state capital of North Dakota, named after the German military leader and statesman Otto Von Bismarck. |
Midgar | Final Fantasy VII | A fictional arcology controlled by the Shinra Corporation. It is shown to be divided between an artificial "upper layer" (an elevated platform covering the city) and an impoverished "lower layer". |
New Bordeaux, Louisiana | Mafia III | New Bordeaux is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States that serves as the setting for Mafia III. The city is based on New Orleans as it existed in 1968. |
New Donk City, Metro Kingdom | Super Mario Odyssey | Counterpart of New York City, this is the largest city in Metro Kingdom and is run by Pauline, current mayor of New Donk City and former love interest of Mario. |
New Marais | Infamous 2 | New Marais is a city presumably located in the Southern United States, based heavily off of post-Katrina New Orleans. It is shown to be partly controlled by a paramilitary group known only as "The Militia" and by a South African private security company called Vermaak 88. |
New Reno | Fallout 2 | A fictional settlement based in the post-apocalyptic ruins of Reno, Nevada. |
New Vegas | Fallout: New Vegas | A fictional settlement based in the post-apocalyptic ruins of Las Vegas. The city is shown to be controlled partly by the reclusive businessman Mr. House, as well as by various gangs and outside factions such as the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion. |
Night City | Cyberpunk 2077 | A fictional city-state bordering a partitioned California that was founded in 1992, amidst widespread civil and social unrest that nearly brought the United States to the brink of total collapse. By 2077 it is shown to be run almost entirely by corporations, and suffers from high rates of crime and environmental degradation. |
Pacific City | Crackdown | |
Pallet Town | Pokémon Red and Blue | Pallet Town (マサラタウン, Masara Town) is a fictional town located in western region of Kanto in the Pokémon universe. It based on Machida, Tokyo, Satoshi Tajiri's hometown although its map location correlates better with some place in Shizuoka Prefecture. The town only has two entrances, north via Route 1 to Viridian City and Route 21 south accessible through water only. |
Paradise, Arizona | Postal 2 | Paradise is a desert town in Postal 2. The population of the town is 4312. |
Possum Springs | Night in the Woods | A fictional dying coal-mining town in the Rust Belt region of the United States. The town used to have an underground rail system, but it is defunct and flooded in the game. The locals celebrate Halloween with their own festival, the Harfest. Its mines were a site of a massacre, a mining accident and hosted a cult centered around the entity known as the Black Goat. |
Raccoon City | Resident Evil 2 | Raccoon City is a town located in Arklay County in an unnamed state in Midwest United States. Originally the location of the headquarters and research facilities of the corrupt Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, it is the setting of many games in the Resident Evil franchise. |
Rapture | BioShock (series) | Rapture is a city in the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean somewhere between Greenland and Iceland. |
Raven Brooks, Missouri | Hello Neighbor | Raven Brooks is a small American town in which the Hello Neighbor Franchise takes place. |
Ravenholm | Half-Life 2 | Ravenholm is a town in Eastern Europe in the game Half-Life 2. |
Rhodes, Lemoyne | Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online | Rhodes, based on Dahlonega, GA is a town in the Scarlett Meadows region of the fictional state of Lemoyne in the Red Dead universe. The town was founded in the early 19th century by Brigadier General Sherman M. Rhodes, until 1899 the town was under the heavy influence of both the Braithwaite and Gray families until 1899. During 1899 an infamous gang of outlaws became responsible for the destruction of the Braithwaite family, the Gray family managed to survive but they were severely weakened and by 1907 their remaining influence over Rhodes had disappeared. |
Rivet City | Fallout 3 | A post-apocalyptic settlement based on a former aircraft carrier docked on the irradiated Potomac River. |
Rockay City, USA | Crime Boss: Rockay City | Rockay City itself is set in a Florida reminiscent of Miami Vice. |
Rockwell, USA | Destroy All Humans! | Rockwell is the second area in Destroy All Humans!. It is a small, rural mid-western town. |
Rapture | BioShock | Rapture is a fictional Art Deco underwater city based on Objectivism founded by the wealthy entrepreneur Andrew Ryan in the late 1940s to escape the perceived constraints of the post-WW2 world. It eventually collapses due to civil unrest and mass genetic splicing in 1959. |
Saint Denis, Lemoyne | Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online | Saint Denis, based on New Orleans is a port city located in the Bayou Nwa region of the fictional state of Lemoyne, Saint Denis is also the state capital of the mentioned state in the Red Dead universe. The state of Lemoyne itself is based on Louisiana. |
Santa Destroy, California | No More Heroes (video game) | The fictional city and home of protagonist Travis Touchdown. The town was inspired by seedy small towns in the United States. |
Santo Ileso, USA | Saints Row | Santo Ileso is a fictional city and the setting of Saints Row reboot. The city is based on Las Vegas and Phoenix. |
San Joshua Del Mosquiera, Mexico | Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas | This small Mexican city, located on the US-Mexico border, functions as the headquarters of a terrorist cell led by Irena Morales, one of the main villains of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas. |
Sapienza | Hitman | An Italian town of which many of the scenarios for the 2016 video game are situated. |
Seaside Town | Kingdom of Loathing | Seaside Town is the capital of the eponymous Kingdom of Loathing. |
Shady Sands | Fallout | The fictional capital of the New California Republic, a post-nuclear war successor state that claims to adhere to the democratic values of the old-world United States. |
Shepherd's Glen, Maine | Silent Hill: Homecoming | Shepherd's Glen is a cursed town first featured in, and the main setting of, Silent Hill: Homecoming. Built along the shores of Toluca Lake within Toluca County, it is neighbored by the sleepy burg of Silent Hill, Maine. |
Silent Hill. Maine | Silent Hill | Silent Hill is a fictional resort town in Maine, United States. It is the eponymous setting of all games in the Silent Hill franchise. |
Silver Rock City | Need for Speed Payback | Silver Rock City is a fictional city in the United States of America. It is heavily inspired by the city of Las Vegas. |
South Town | Fatal Fury | South Town is a fictional location in SNK's Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting and The King of Fighters series of video games. It's a coastal city located in the United States and is home of Terry Bogard and the nemesis Geese Howard. The city hosted The King of Fighters Tournaments before the NESTS saga blow up. |
Starlight Shores | The Sims 3: Showtime | Starlight Shores is described as The Sims version of Los Angeles, California including the fact that the city was founded by monks (Los Angeles was founded by the Franciscan order in 1771). |
Steelport, USA | Saints Row: The Third | Steelport is the main setting of Saints Row: The Third, and Saints Row IV as Virtual Steelport. It is heavily based on various Northeastern Rust Belt cities in the US. |
Stilwater, Michigan | Saints Row | Stilwater is a city located in Stilwater County, Michigan, the main setting of Saints Row, Saints Row 2, Saints Row Undercover, and Saints Row: Total Control. The city is modeled after Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Baltimore. |
Temple Gate, Arizona | Outlast 2 | Temple Gate is a remote settlement in the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona, and the primary setting of Outlast 2. |
Teufort, New Mexico | Team Fortress 2 | Teufort is located in the Badlands, a fictional geographic region in New Mexico, and the primary setting of Team Fortress 2. |
Vault City | Fallout 2 | |
Tilted Towers | Fortnite: Battle Royale | Tilted Towers used to be the largest city in the game, until it was destroyed in a volcanic eruption in May 2019. Was replaced by a neo-futuristic city named Neo Tilted in Season 9, which in turn was replaced by the Old West-esque Tilted Town, and then by Gotham City in September. Was revealed on January 18, 2022 when it was revealed after the snow and ice melted away, but will be rebuilt to a restaurant-themed location after the battle between the Seven and the IO. |
Vekta City | Killzone | |
Valentine, New Hanover | Red Dead Redemption 2 | Valentine is a hard-working livestock town located in the Heartlands of fictional U.S State New Hanover in the game Red Dead Redemption 2. |
Ventura Bay, California | Need for Speed (2015) | Located in Southern California, it is inspired by the most populous city in California, Los Angeles and is where all the racing in the game takes place. |
Verdansk, Kastovia | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019 video game)Call of Duty: Warzone | Verdansk was a city in the fictional country of Kastovia, an Eastern European country that was invaded by Al Qatala, the in game terrorist group. It is the main setting for Call of Duty: Warzone. In April 2021, Activision destroyed the city in a special event called "The destruction of Verdansk", which commemorated the end of the Modern Warfare Seasons. The city was reborn in the style of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War for the Cold War seasons of Warzone. The city was finally removed from public play when Call of Duty: Vanguard released. Caldera replaced Verdansk. |
Vice City, USA | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, | Vice City, as depicted in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, is set in 1986. A reference to 1980s Miami, Vice City is specifically indicated to be located within the state of Florida, while Vice City was suggested to exist alongside Miami in Grand Theft Auto III. Vice City was also featured in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Storiesand will be featured in the game Grand Theft Auto VI. Unlike in previous installments, Vice City in GTA VI is set in the fictional, Florida-inspired state of Leonida, and will be set in the modern day, and is implied to replace both the actual city of Miami and the actual state of Florida in the game. |
Villedor | Dying Light 2 | Villedor is a city in an unknown European country, it is the setting for Dying Light 2. |
Wellington Wells | We Happy Few | |
Willamette, Colorado | Dead Rising Dead Rising 4 | Willamette, Colorado is the main setting of Dead Rising and Dead Rising 4, with the mall as its more specific location during the events of the first game. |
Whittleton Creek, Vermont | Hitman 2 | Whittleton Creek is a fictional suburb in the United States of America, located in the state of Vermont. It is the home of several white collar professionals, such as University staff, government employees, and a former KGB spy. |
Yaughton, England | Everybody's Gone to the Rapture | Yaughton is a village in Shropshire. |
Yharnam | Bloodborne |
Mythology
[edit]Other
[edit]Town Name | Origin | Notes |
---|---|---|
Azure City | The Order of the Stick | Fictional capital of a country of the same name, the setting for a large portion of the Webcomic The Order of the Stick. |
Brigadoon | Brigadoon | Brigadoon is a village in the Scottish Highlands, the setting of the musical of the same name. |
Chako Paul City[23] | Chinese press agencies | A fictional town located in northern Sweden. |
Cliffport | The Order of the Stick | |
Klugheim | Phantasialand | Fictional medieval town surrounded by basalt mountains that serves as a thematic area of the German theme park Phantasialand. |
Nightvale | Welcome to Nightvale | |
Sigil | Planescape | Fictional city located inside a ring hovering above the Spire, and the most popular locale in the setting. Nicknamed the City of Doors and The Cage, it contains portals to potentially every plane, dimension, and world in the Multiverse, and is inhabited by every race of Primes and Planars imaginable. Ruled by the enigmatic Lady of Pain. |
Silver City | Phantasialand | Fictional American frontier town that served as a thematic area of the German theme park Phantasialand from 1974 to 2014 at the location of the modern-day thematic area Klugheim. It offered a saloon with shows and a dark ride, as well as shops and refreshments. |
Waterdeep | Dungeons & Dragons | fictional city-state that forms part of a popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms.[24] It is a port city that is located along the western coast of the Faerûn sub-continent. Known as the City of Splendors, Waterdeep is one of the largest and busiest cities—and one of the most important political powers—on the continent. The population is primarily human, although other races dwell therein. |
Ypsilon | Pikkó herceg és Jutka Perzsi | A city, the capital of the fictional country of Gömböc in the first hungarian opera. |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]This article incorporates text available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
- ^ Wolf, Mark J.P. (March 14, 2014). Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 9781136220807.
Fictional counties, cities, and towns, however, are easier to accept, because there are so many real ones, that quite likely no audience member will know them all (though the invention may seem contrived if one happens to live right there...
- ^ Anton Furst, Derek Meddings, Visualizing Gotham: The Production Design of Batman, 2005, Warner Home Video.
- ^ StarWars.com Databank: Mos Eisley
- ^ a b c Barron, James, 1996-04-14, Whodunit? That Under-40 Crowd, New York Times.
- ^ Welcome to the Hellmouth (1.01) introduces the Hellmouth, which is referred to numerous times throughout the series. The entrance to the Hellmouth is seen under the school in The Zeppo, Doomed, Conversations with Dead People, and throughout the second half of season seven.
- ^ Wynne-Jones, Jonathan; Howie, Michael (17 April 2011). "Have they found the real Ambridge?". www.telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Newspapers. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ a b "Lynda Snell - from village outsider to Ambridge treasure". www.bbc.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^ Cleverdon, D. (1969) The Growth of Milk Wood, p4 Dent.
- ^ "Under Milk Wood, BBC Third Programme". www.bbc.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 January 1954. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^ "The death of Dylan Thomas". www.bbc.co.uk. British Broadcasting Corporation. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^ "Back to the Real London or Mapping the City of the Past in Gaiman's Neverwhere, Fafnir - Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research, Volume 4, Issue 1, pages 20–30". journal.finfar.org. The Finnish Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Research. 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
- ^ Blake, Heidi (30 September 2010). "The Flintstones' 50th anniversary: 15 things you don't know". Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- ^ "Top 10 Anime City [Best List]". Blog.honeyfeed.fm. 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
- ^ Griffiths, Eric (June 21, 2007). "Young offenders". New Statesman. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
- ^ Heffernan, Virginia (April 28, 2004). "Critic's Notebook; What? Morals in 'South Park'?". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
- ^ Turner, p. 55
- ^ Turner, p. 30
- ^ Passmore, Kevin (1997). From Liberalism to Fascism: The Right in a French Province, 1928-1939. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-521-89426-3.
- ^ Mould, Michael (2011). The Routledge Dictionary of cultural references in modern French. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-415-59792-0.
- ^ "HPL: Wizards, Witches and Beings: H". Retrieved 27 July 2008.
- ^ "Hinamizawa is based on Shirakawa, Gifu" (in Japanese). 07th Expansion. Retrieved 2006-07-12.
- ^ "More references to Shirakawa, Gifu" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 14, 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-16.
- ^ Landes, David. "Chinese media tempted by fantasy of women-only Swedish town" The Local 5 Oct 09 Archived October 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine [dead link]
- ^ Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-653-5.