History Main / VillainousBadlandHeroicArcadia

* ''VideoGame/BatallionWars'' plays this straight, with the various good-guy nations either coming from temperate forest areas or [[PalmTreePanic beautiful beachy archipelagos]], while the villainous Xylvanians live in a weird grey desert full of pools of toxic waste. No wonder they're trying to conquer new territory.

** The Shire is very much an idyllic pastoral countryside, while Rivendell and Lothlorien are closely intertwined with the natural setting around them -- Lothlorien itself is seamlessly integrated with the forest it's built into and out of.

** Ironically played with in regards to Mordor itself. The northwestern parts of Mordor fit the bill of a hostile, deserted wasteland, consisting chiefly of rocky barrens dominated by the looming shapes of Sauron's dark tower and the burning volcano of Mount Doom, but its southern half is covered in great swaths of incredibly fertile farmland and a large freshwater lake. Sauron uses human slaves to work farms in the area to feed his orc army.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': Spiral Mountain, the home of Banjo and Kazooie, is an idyllic rural place, while Gruntilda's Lair is a dank and grimy structure. The theme is continued in ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' with the Isle O'Hags; the good characters like the Jinjos, Bottles' family, and Jiggywiggy are found in the green forested areas near the beginning, while Gruntilda and her sisters are holed up in Cauldron Keep, an ominous high-tech fortress surrounded by a corrosive moat and directly above the polluted Grunty Industries (which provides power for the Keep) and Quagmire.

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* WebAnimation/DingoDoodles: Subverted with the Kingdom of Kylandria in the ''Fool's Gold'' series, which under the reign of [[InfantTerrible Bouclaire]] became a [[PsychoPink pink glittery]] [[CrapsaccharineWorld nightmare]].

* WebVideo/DingoDoodles: Subverted with the Kingdom of Kylandria in the ''Fool's Gold'' series, which under the reign of [[InfantTerrible Bouclaire]] became a [[PsychoPink pink glittery]] [[CrapsaccharineWorld nightmare]].

--> '''Scanlan:''' Uh, no offense, Percy, but your town's kind of creepy as sh¡t.
Read more at: https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=1202&t=51012

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': Spiral Mountain, the home of Banjo and Kazooie, is an idyllic rural place, while Gruntilda's Lair is a dank and grimy structure. The theme is continued in ''Banjo-Tooie'' with the Isle O'Hags; the good characters like the Jinjos, Bottles' family, and Jiggywiggy are found in the green forested areas near the beginning, while Gruntilda and her sisters are holed up in Cauldron Keep, an ominous high-tech fortress surrounded by a corrosive moat and directly above the polluted Grunty Industries (which provides power for the Keep) and Quagmire.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': The BigBad Ganondorf hails from the harsh Gerudo Desert, while Link spent his whole life in the idyllic -- albeit somewhat muted -- Kokiri Forest. Sure enough, when Ganondorf takes over Hyrule, it turns into a wasteland of death where skeletons, ghosts, and monsters stalk the streets of ruined villages. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'': Ganondorf admits that his initial reason for wanting to conquer Hyrule was that the land was green and fertile with winds that brought life while in the desert the wind brought nothing but death.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': Zant is spreading the same twilight he lived in his entire life throughout Hyrule. {{Downplayed|Trope}} in that the climate and environment aren't really affected by the change, and the Twilight Realm where he hails from is nowhere close to as dystopian as the one would think.

** Ironically played with in regards to Mordor itself. The northwestern parts of Mordor fit the bill of a hostile, deserted wasteland, consisting chiefly of rocky barrens dominated by the looming shapes of Sauron's dark tower and the burning volcano of Mount Doom, but its southern half is covered in great swaths of incredibly fertile farmland and a large freshwater lake. Sauron needs to feed all those orcs ''somehow''.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'': Professor Robotnik invariably turns the lands he rules into cold, urbanized, hopelessly {{polluted wasteland}}s made up of factories and overrun by MechaMooks. Any given game's final world, generally taking place in the heart of Robotnik's domain, will be [[EternalEngine a robot factory owned and operated by the doctor himself]]. In a few cases, such as [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Oil Ocean Zone]], these factories also affect the environments around them.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'', Scar's old followers were exiled into another empty patch of wasteland outside the Pride Lands. This seems to be mostly empty, dusty desert, the only feature of note being a titanic termite mound where the exiled lions live. Much like the hyenas, the lions' motive is to get out of the wasteland where they were sent and take back control of the Pride Lands.

* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': The Horde makes its headquarters in a hivelike mass of smog-shrouded industrial sprawl that would give Greenpeace members fits, situated inside a massive crater in the center of a desert wasteland, the whole of it under a perpetually yellow sky and collectively referred to as the Fright Zone. A far cry from the idyllic, peaceful fairytale woodlands, villages, and castles where the heroic factions live.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wizards}}'' mentions in the prologue that thousands of years AfterTheEnd by way of nuclear war, the uncivilized areas of the Earth regained their greenery, whereupon elves and faeries reappeared. It is here that TheHero Avatar and TheChick Elinore reside. The irradiated wastelands are home to misshapen mutants who are the descendants of humanity, many of whom dwell in the WretchedHive called Scorch. There, TheVillain Blackwolf launches his EvilPlan to overrun the world.

* ''[[ComicBook/NewGods The New Gods]]'' centers around two locations: one, New Genesis, is a beautiful paradise world led by the wise and benevolent Highfather; the other is Apokolips, a grim, dystopian planet led by the tyrannical Darkseid.

* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite 2'': Each faction's territory [[FisherKing changes]] in response to their KarmaMeter. Evil territories become volcanic wastelands with cities of [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver grimy black-and-red stone]] beneath a dim, reddish sun. Good territories are brightly lit, teem with wildflowers and butterflies, and have verdant {{Shining Cit|y}}ies with many fountains.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Freaktown}}'' is an inversion; Ben Bones and his friends live in the eponymous Freaktown, a messy hodge-podge of a city, and the tyrannical Princess Boo-Boo and her minions hail from the cutesy SugarBowl of Sweetlandia.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': Subverted. On the surface, we have the peaceful, prosperous Kingdom of Hoshido on the one hand, and a DeathWorld of roaming robbers, wastelands and warmongers that is the Kingdom of Nohr on the other. However, [[AntiVillain the majority of Nohrian soldiers and commanders]] [[NobleDemon aren't exactly malevolent towards Hoshido]] even though they started the war. Meanwhile, while Hoshido is generally displayed as more sympathetic, some Hoshidan chacaters [[FantasticRacism express wariness or outright hostility towards their Nohrian opponents]]. Finally, on the [[GoldenEnding Revelations]] route, both teams eventually join forces to take on [[GreaterScopeVillain the actual mastermind]] behind the war.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', Zofia, where TheHero Alm hails from, is blessed by the goddess Mila to have lush, fertile vegetation and a comfortable climate. Meanwhile, her brother Duma is the patron god of the militaristic Rigel, which is cold and barren to force its inhabitants to grow strong or die. Rigel invades Zofia at the outset of the story, prompting Alm and his friends to join a rebellion to push back the Rigelian forces.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'', the northern Manster/Munster district is depicted as fertile farmlands, whilst Thracia is shown as a mountainous and barren region with infertile land.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. Ylisse is a pleasant, GhibliHills region and the home of the heroes, surrounded on one side by Regna Ferox, inspired by Mongolia and with a climate about as pleasant, and on the other by Plegia, whose most notable locations deserts and swamps and is ruled by a ReligionOfEvil with no redeeming qualities. However, the Feroxi prove to be astute diplomats as well as {{proud warrior race guy}}s, and quickly become allies.
** Subverted in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]''. On the surface, we have the peaceful, prosperous Kingdom of Hoshido on the one hand, and a DeathWorld of roaming robbers, wastelands and warmongers that is the Kingdom of Nohr on the other. However, [[AntiVillain the majority of Nohrian soldiers and commanders]] [[NobleDemon aren't exactly malevolent towards Hoshido]] even though they started the war. Meanwhile, while Hoshido is generally displayed as more sympathetic, some Hoshidan chacaters [[FantasticRacism express wariness or outright hostility towards their Nohrian opponents]]. Finally, on the [[GoldenEnding Revelations]] route, both teams eventually join forces to take on [[GreaterScopeVillain the actual mastermind]] behind the war.

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* ''LightNovel/IAmTheEvilLordOfAnIntergalacticEmpire'': JustifiedTrope, for both sides. The protagonist, Liam, has to spend literal decades investing, lowering taxes, and purging corruption to build up his territory from the decrepit state his parents left it in. In contrast, TheMafia Berkeley Family drain [[PoweredByAForsakenChild the life from]] their worlds to produce [[{{Panacea}} Elixir]], as well as raising taxes and levies to compete with Liam's military forces in a SpaceColdWar.

* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'', [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Earth is the capital]] of TheFederation and is a mix of lush wilderness and techno-utopian cities. Qo'noS, by contrast, is the homeworld of the [[TheEmpire Klingon Empire]] and seems to be perpetually covered by dark clouds.

* The film adaption of Mio My Son has lush and beautiful The Land Far Away contrasting with darker, more barren The Land Outside.

* In Mio My Son by Astrid Lindgren the main character is brought to the lush and beautiful The Land Far Away ruled by his father the fair king but then ventures into the darker, more barren The Land Outside ruled by the tyrannical knight Cato.