List of fictional towns and villages

This is a list of 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.

Contents

Comics

Main article: List of fictional towns in comics
Name Debut Creator(s) Publisher Notes
Gotham City Batman #4 (Winter 1940) 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."[1]
Metropolis Action Comics #16 (Sept 1939) DC Comics 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.
Smallville Superboy #2 (May 1949) DC Comics A fictional town in the American midwest (often placed 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 (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.

Film

Main article: List of fictional towns in film
City/Town Film Name Distributor(s) Notes
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[2] town on the planet Tatooine. In Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Alec Guinness) describes Mos Eisley 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.

Television

Main article: List of fictional towns in television
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.[3] Despite the town's population of 3,560,[3] 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.[3]

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.
Mayberry Andy Griffith Show CBS 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.
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.[4]

Animated

Main article: List of fictional towns in animation
Town Name Origin Network Notes
Bedrock The Flinstones ABC Bedrock is the fictional prehistoric city, which is home to the characters of the animated television series, The Flintstones (1960).[5]
South Park 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.[6] 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.[7]
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.[8] The geography of the town and its surroundings are flexible, changing to address whatever an episode’s plot calls for.[9] 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.

Literature

Main article: List of fictional towns in literature
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 Phillip 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).
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.[10] 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.

Video Games

Main article: List of fictional towns in video games
Name Debut Notes
Kakariko Village Zelda 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 and Twilight Princess. Kakariko is often portrayed as a prosperous small town.
GTA GTA San Andreas Like its counterpart of Los Angeles, 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 Beach), Venice Beach (Verona Beach), Hollywood (Vinewood) and its Hollywood Sign (Vinewood Sign).

Los Santos will also be part of the setting for Grand Theft Auto V.
Pallet Town Pokémon 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.

Mythology

Main article: List of mythological places
Town Name Origin Notes
Atlantis Timaeus & Critias The legendary (and almost archetypal) lost continent that was supposed to have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean; there are many differing opinions on what and where Atlantis was.
Avalon Historia Regum Britanniae & Arthurian Legend Legendary Island of Apples, believed by some to be the final resting place of King Arthur
El Dorado Various Legends Rumored city of gold in South America.

Other

Main article: List of Forgotten Realms cities
Town Name Origin Notes
Waterdeep Dungeons & Dragons fictional city-state that forms part of a popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms.[11] 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.

See also

Cities, towns
Countries, counties, states
Planets, worlds, universes

References

  1. ^ Anton Furst, Derek Meddings, Visualizing Gotham: The Production Design of Batman, 2005, Warner Home Video.
  2. ^ StarWars.com Databank: Mos Eisley
  3. ^ a b c Barron, James, 1996-04-14, Whodunit? That Under-40 Crowd, New York Times.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "The Flintstones' 50th anniversary: 15 things you don't know". Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8034627/The-Flintstones-50th-anniversary-15-things-you-dont-know.html. Retrieved 2010-10-01. 
  6. ^ Griffiths, Eric (June 21, 2007). "Young offenders". New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2007/06/south-park-sex-studies. Retrieved May 3, 2009. 
  7. ^ Heffernan, Virginia (April 28, 2004). "Critic's Notebook; What? Morals in 'South Park'?". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50F1FFC355E0C7B8EDDAD0894DC404482&pagewanted=all. Retrieved October 24, 2010. 
  8. ^ Turner, p. 55
  9. ^ Turner, p. 30
  10. ^ "HPL: Wizards, Witches and Beings: H". http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/a-z/h.html. Retrieved 27 July 2008. 
  11. ^ Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-653-5.