History Main / Uberwald

Invented by Frederick Marryat (for a werewolf short story The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains in The Phantom Ship; he also wrote Mr. Midshipman Easy) Creator/BramStoker and Creator/MaryShelley (though Shelley's novel explicitly takes place in Ingolstadt, Germany and Switzerland), codified by the UniversalHorror movies of the 1930s and 1940s, and carried on into the 1950s and 60s by HammerHorror. Often regarded as a bit kitsch nowadays and played for laughs, to the point of being an UndeadHorseTrope. Can also get you into [[UnfortunateImplications trouble]] now that there are a lot more Eastern European people in the English-speaking world.

* A ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' comic issue caused some offence to European fans by depicting modern Germany in this manner. It ''was'' specifically shown to be an out-of-the-way, not at all normal town, akin to a Sunnydale counterpart, but...

* The few flashbacks we get to Transylvania (and Dracula's description of the place) in ''Series/YoungDracula'' reveal it to be essentially unchanged since the time of Bram Stoker's novel.

* Mason and Alex, from ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'', go to [[UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} Transylvania]], apparently near an ancient, medieval castle, only during the night, for a more... ''[[NightmareFuel chilling effect]]''. Later, Mason transforms into a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]] there.
* ''TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries'' of the 70s' episode "The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Meet Dracula" had the plucky detectives going into Transylvania for a Halloween music festival -- cue the old spooky castle and villagers who still wear medieval peasant folk costumes who give the warnings about the vampire in the castle...
* ''TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'' episode "Transylvania, January 1918" has Indy confronting a reincarnation of Vlad the Impaler in [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Transylvania in January of 1918]].

* In ''Literature/TheBaileySchoolKids'' book ''Mrs. Jeepers' Batty Vacation'', the kids accompany their presumed ClassicalMovieVampire of a SternTeacher Mrs. Jeepers to her childhood home, which unsurprisingly turns out to be one of these.

** ''{{Eberron}}'''s Karnnath used to be like this. In some places in the current era, the trope is played straight.

* The Immortal Principalities of Ustalav in the ''{{Pathfinder}}'' setting of Golarion. This realm has Varisians (UsefulNotes/{{Roma|ni}}) as the primary human ethnic group, a [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lich]] (as in, TheUndead) serving as its ruler for the last few centuries, and features lycanthropes, mad scientists, ghosts, and evil cults.

* A version of the roleplaying game ''CallOfCthulhu'' using the Gumshoe system called ''TrailOfCthulhu'' has the scenario book ''ShadowsOverFilmland'' inspired by horror films from the 1930s. It also introduces this setting, here referred to as Backlot Gothic.

->''The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East...''\\
-- ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', Chapter 1.

* Most of the ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' games take place in an {{Uberwald}} setting. Some travel further afield (Bloodlines treks all over Europe, Aria of Sorrow takes place in modern Japan and/or the moon), but it's where the series' roots are.
* ''QuestForGloryIV'' is set in Mordavia, which like a miniature Überwald, with {{Killer Rabbit}}s.

Invented by Frederick Marryat (for a werewolf short story The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains in The Phantom Ship; he also wrote Mr. Midshipman Easy) Creator/BramStoker and Creator/MaryShelley (though Shelley's novel explicitly takes place in Ingolstadt, Germany and Switzerland), codified by the UniversalHorror movies of the 1930s and 1940s, and deepened by HammerHorror. Often regarded as a bit kitsch nowadays and played for laughs, to the point of being an UndeadHorseTrope. Can also get you into [[UnfortunateImplications trouble]] now that there are a lot more Eastern European people in the English-speaking world.

You think you're in a nice little {{Ruritania}} somewhere in Eastern Europe. Only the black forests are even blacker than you expected, and even more full of wolves. Some of which seem to be [[WolfMan walking on their hind legs]]. When you finally get to the little town you were aiming for, the [[{{Roma}} vaguely ethnic]] and primitive locals are huddling fearfully in the tavern, refusing to talk to you except to give vaguely-worded and [[VampireVords heavily-accented]] warnings. So you go up to [[HauntedCastle the castle]] in the hope of finding some civilization. Bad move.

** The reason Latveria is full of {{Roma}}, though, is that Doom, being one himself, is much more sympathetic to them than other nations in the region.

* The Immortal Principalities of Ustalav in the ''{{Pathfinder}}'' setting of Golarion. This realm has Varisians ({{Roma}}) as the primary human ethnic group, a [[OurLichesAreDifferent Lich]] (as in, TheUndead) serving as its ruler for the last few centuries, and features lycanthropes, mad scientists, ghosts, and evil cults.

** The Republican party headquarters is sort of like this.

*** One old and particularly GenreSavvy vampire even {{Lampshades}} his own lifestyle. He lives in Dontgonearthe Castle.

* Some of SolomonKane's adventures took place in the Black Forest, such as Death's Black Riders," "The Rattle of Bones" and "The Castle of the Devil."

* ''HarryPotter'''s Durmstrang seems to be located on one of these. The school's name is Germanic, the Headmaster is vaguely Slavic, the local superstar is a definite Bulgarian. And they won't tell you anything about the whereabouts, aside from the fact that it's very cold outside and spacious with mountains and forests. Compare with Beauxbatons and Hogwarts, which are simply French and British, respectively.

* Hjaalmarch in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. Features: dismal foggy swamps, a single quaint, rustic town, a large vampire lair with a scheming master vampire, an old crone with mystical fortune-telling powers as a Jarl, no roads and a general dark, mysterious atmosphere. You can also build and own an estate there; adopted children, however, do not like to live there, they find the place too scary.

-->For when the sun doth set in Carpathia...[[hottip:*:This line and the other written in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe are sing with a thich German accent]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Films]]

* In a similar vein, ''{{Severance}}'' is a not-too-serious slasher flick about a bunch of British corporate drones on a trip in Hungary who come across bloodthirsty psychopathic former soldiers.

* Malaria from ''WesternAnimation/{{Igor}}''. The country is filled with castles for mad scientists high up on tall mountains.

''Überwald'' (spelled with an umlaut or as "Ueberwald" for those lacking a German keyboard), named after the Literature/{{Discworld}} country, would be a direct German translation of ''"Transylvania"'' (a.k.a. Transsylvania in some spellings), "trans silvania" being Latin for "beyond the forest". Since medieval times, Transylvania has been home to three major population groups - Romanians, Hungarians (Székely) and Germans ("Siebenbürgen Saxons"), and thus most towns and places come with a German, Hungarian and Romanian name attached. Originally, it belonged to {{Hungary}}, up until World War I, and in the treaty of Trianon it was transferred to UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} (the Hungarian name of Transylvania is ''Erdély'', the Romanian is either the more traditional ''Ardeal'' or just ''Transilvania'').

''Überwald'' (spelled with an umlaut or as "Ueberwald" for those lacking a German keyboard), named after the Literature/{{Discworld}} country, would be a direct German translation of ''"Transylvania"'' (a.k.a. Transsylvania in some spellings), "trans silvania" being Latin for "beyond the forest". Since medieval times, Transylvania has been home to three major population groups - Romanians, Hungarians (Székely) and Germans ("Siebenbürgen Saxons"), and thus most towns and places come with a German, Hungarian and Romanian name attached. Originally, it belonged to {{Romania}}, then it was transferred to {{Hungary}}, up until World War I, and in the treaty of Trianon it was transferred to UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} again (the Hungarian name of Transylvania is ''Erdély'', the Romanian is either the more traditional ''Ardeal'' or just ''Transilvania'').