Floating island (fiction)
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A floating island in fiction (sometimes called a flying island), is a fictitious landmass that either floats in a body of water (like Vadanis in The Guardian Cycle of novels) or flies above the surface of the earth (or in some cases through the depths of space), defying gravity. These islands are usually free-floating and can be directed by the whim of their inhabitants, although some may be permanently anchored. They are usually propelled and/or held aloft by one or more of the following means:
- Helium, hydrogen or some other lighter than air gas.
- A lodestone or magnet, such as with Laputa, from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
- Magic of some kind.
- Advanced science/technology — anti-gravity, propellers/balloons, or some other form of non-paranormal levitation, as in Hayao Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky.
The first floating encountered in literature is the home of the four winds, Aeolia, as recounted in Homer's The Odyssey. However, it is unclear whether this island floated in the water or in the air.
The second book in C. S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy, Perelandra features floating islands on the surface of Venus, which play a prominent role in the storyline.
A more contemporary example of a floating island is Scotia Moria, from the novel The Floating Island by Frank Careless. This may or may not be the same island referred to as Seastar Island in the film Doctor Dolittle.
The book, "The Life of Pi" contains a floating island. At one point during Pi's time on the boat, he encounters a floating island inhabited by a kind of meerkat that feeds on fish stunned by the acidic and poisonous nature of the plants the island is made out of.
A well-known floating island in popular culture is Mount Flatten in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, which hovered above Earth's surface due to its rich deposits of the gravity-defying mineral Upsidaisium. Another is the Angel Island of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In Final Fantasy VI there is an entire floating continent, that ends up falling and creating an impact event. In many other fantasy settings flying islands or floating cities kept aloft by magic are prominent, such as the airborne cities of ancient High Netheril in the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons setting, or the City of Anemos in the Golden Sun series.
Roger Dean is also planning a movie entitled Floating Islands. The movie is said to be based on the story of his album art for the band Yes and will feature several of their songs.
Other references can be found in the science fiction TV series Star Trek (original; 1966) episode "The Cloud Minders", in Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back's Cloud City, in Chrono Trigger as the Kingdom of Zeal, in Lunar: Silver Star Story and Lunar: Eternal Blue as the cities of Vane and Neo-Vane, and even in Beast Wars: Transformers, there are several floating islands in the first season. In the anime series Cowboy Bebop, the planet Venus had been terraformed using enormous floating plants that also functioned as habitable floating islands in the sky. Also, in the video game Skies of Arcadia, the entire world is a series of islands in the sky, with the ground being a sea of fog and mud. The game Baten Kaitos has a similar set-up as well. The game Stratosphere: Conquest of the Skies is based around combat between mobile floating islands.
According to the video commentary to the Gorillaz music video for Feel Good Inc., which features one of the band members on a windmill-powered floating island, a floating island is commonly used in Japanese anime as a metaphor for childish idealism and naiveté.
