History Main / Uberwald

* One French-language [[SettingUpdate sci-fi version of]] ''{{Dracula}}'' has Wallachia as an independent superpower under Vlad Tepes, and it ''still'' seemed to fit the type, with wolves and ancient castles, etc.

''Überwald'' (spelled with an umlaut or as "Ueberwald" for those lacking a German keyboard), is [[TropeNamers named after]] the Literature/{{Discworld}} country; there is also an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Überwald Überwald]] region in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, located within the Odenwald region where the eponymous Frankenstein castle resides. A direct translation would be "Over the Forest", the word being a German translation of ''"Transylvania"'' (a.k.a. Transsylvania in some spellings), "trans silvania" being Latin for "beyond the forest". Since [[TheMiddleAges 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 UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}, up until UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and it had a lot of German settlers. In the treaty of Trianon it was transferred to UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} (the Hungarian name of Transylvania is ''Erdély'', coming from ''Erdő-elve'' meaning the same thing as the Latin; the Romanian is either the more traditional ''Ardeal'' or just ''Transilvania'').

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'', true to the [[Franchise/Castlevania video game series]], is set in a grim and gothic version of historical Wallachia that is inhabited by vampires and beset by demons.

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania'', true to the [[VideoGame/Castlevania video game series]], is set in a grim and gothic version of historical Wallachia that is inhabited by vampires and beset by demons.

Compare with DontGoInTheWoods, TheLostWoods, WildWilderness, and other TropesOfNature locations.

* ''Film/FrankensteinsCastleOfFreaks'' is set at some unspecified location that ticks most of the boxes for the Überwald: a MadScientist living in a castle that is prone to lightning strikes, a village full of superstitious villagers itching to form a TorchesAndPitchforks mob, a local official trying to drage the region into the modern day, and wild [[AllCavemenWereNeanderthals Neanderthals]] living in the forest (ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext).

* ''Film/FrankensteinsCastleOfFreaks'' is set at some unspecified location that ticks most of the boxes for the Uberwald: a MadScientist living in a castle that is prone to lightning strikes, a village full of superstitious villagers itching to form a TorchesAnPitchforks mob, a local official trying to drage the region into the modern day, and wild [[AllCavemenWereNeanderthals Neanderthals]] living in the forst (ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext).

* ''Film/FrankensteinsCastleOfFreaks'' is set at some unspecified location that ticks most of the boxes for the Uberwald: a MadScientist living in a castle that is prone to lightning strikes, a village full of superstitous villagers itching to form a TorchesAnPitchforks mob, a local official trying to drage the region into the modern day, and wild [[AllCavemenWereNeanderthals Neaderthals]] living in the forst (ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext).

* In ''WebCcmic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'', in the story "Punch Dracula", Dr. [=McNinja=] has to go to Transylvania to hunt Dracula. Transylvania does all the Überwald clichés for a couple of comics until [[spoiler:Dracula blasts the Doctor with a giant laser and teleports him to the Moon where he really lives.]]

''Überwald'' (spelled with an umlaut or as "Ueberwald" for those lacking a German keyboard), is [[TropeNamers named after]] the Literature/{{Discworld}} country; there is also an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Überwald Überwald]] region in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, located within the Odenwald region where the eponymous Frankenstein castle resides. A direct translation would be "Over the Forest", the word being a German translation of ''"Transylvania"'' (a.k.a. Transsylvania in some spellings), "trans silvania" being Latin for "beyond the forest". Since [[UsefulNotes/TheMiddleAges 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 UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}, up until UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and it had a lot of German settlers. In the treaty of Trianon it was transferred to UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} (the Hungarian name of Transylvania is ''Erdély'', coming from ''Erdő-elve'' meaning the same thing as the Latin; the Romanian is either the more traditional ''Ardeal'' or just ''Transilvania'').

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 Franchise/UniversalHorror movies of TheThirties and TheForties, and carried on into TheFifties and TheSixties by Film/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. Of course, there are always the WeirdWest, SouthernGothic, LovecraftCountry, and CampbellCountry as alternatives.

''Überwald'' (spelled with an umlaut or as "Ueberwald" for those lacking a German keyboard), is [[TropeNamers named after]] the Literature/{{Discworld}} country; there is also an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Überwald Überwald]] region in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, located within the Odenwald region where the eponymous Frankenstein castle resides. A direct translation would be "Over the Forest", the word being a German translation of ''"Transylvania"'' (a.k.a. Transsylvania in some spellings), "trans silvania" being Latin for "beyond the forest". Since TheMiddleAges, 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 UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}, up until UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and it had a lot of German settlers. In the treaty of Trianon it was transferred to UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} (the Hungarian name of Transylvania is ''Erdély'', coming from ''Erdő-elve'' meaning the same thing as the Latin; 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), is [[TropeNamers named after]] the Literature/{{Discworld}} country; there is also an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Überwald Überwald]] region in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, located within the Odenwald region where the eponymous Frankenstein castle resides. A direct translation would be "Over the Forest", the word being a 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 UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}, up until UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and it had a lot of German settlers. In the treaty of Trianon it was transferred to UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} (the Hungarian name of Transylvania is ''Erdély'', coming from ''Erdő-elve'' meaning the same thing as the Latin; 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), is [[TropeNamers named after]] the Literature/{{Discworld}} country; there is also an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Überwald Überwald]] region in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, located within the Odenwald region where the eponymous Frankenstein castle resides. A direct translation would be "Over the Forest", the word being a 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 UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}}, up until World War I, and it had a lot of German settlers. In the treaty of Trianon it was transferred to UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} (the Hungarian name of Transylvania is ''Erdély'', coming from ''Erdő-elve'' meaning the same thing as the Latin; the Romanian is either the more traditional ''Ardeal'' or just ''Transilvania'').

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 [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} 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.

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 Franchise/UniversalHorror movies of the 1930s and '40s, and carried on into the 1950s and '60s by Film/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. Of course, there's always the WeirdWest, SouthernGothic, LovecraftCountry, and CampbellCountry as alternatives.

** Spoofed with the robot village of Thermostadt.

* Dracula's domain in of Resurréction in ''ComicBook/RequiemChevalierVampire'' is like this and it's ruled by vampires. It helps that Resurréction is meant to be {{houston}}.

** Doctor Doom's Latveria fits this trope pretty well, especially in some of the earliest comic books. Doom's SupervillainLair is a creepy castle, although it is full of futuristic tech. Latveria was developed slightly after [[spoiler:Reed decides to invade]] although still very Überwald-ish. Everyone speaks a funny accent, there are plenty of gypsies and it seems as if most of the population are still living in thatched cottages. The place looks old-fashioned and quaint because that's the way Doom likes it, and the reason Latveria is full of UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}, is that Doom, being one himself, is much more sympathetic to them than other nations in the region.

* The titular plane in the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' expansion ''Innistrad'' is home to vampires, werewolves, demons, zombies, ghosts, geists, and all sorts of nasty things. And smack-dab in the midst of this monster mash are the huddled masses of humanity, fighting an endless war against the darkness. [[DeusExMachina Then, when Avacyn is freed from the Helvault...]]

* The Immortal Principality of Ustalav in the ''TabletopGame/{{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 a few centuries in its past, and features vampires, lycanthropes, mad scientists, ghosts, and evil cults. Except for the County of Versex, which is more in line with LovecraftCountry (so, [[CosmicHorrorStory not really an improvement]]). Not surprisingly, it serves as the setting for ''Carrion Crown'' the gothic horror Adventure Path.