Return To Xanadu is a comic story created by Don Rosa, first published in the Norwegian magazine Donald Duck and Co in 1991, and in the American Uncle Scrooge in 1992. The comic serves as a sequel to two works by Carl Barks; Tralla-La (1954) and The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan (1956).
Our story begins in the Money Bin, more specifically Scrooge's trophy room, where he's happily showing off his fabulous treasures to his nephews despite the fact that, as Donald repeatedly points out, the whole family was involved in finding most of the treasures. The conversation turns to one of the objects the nephews didn't originally find with him - the priceless crown of the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. While they did help Scrooge recover the crown after it was stolen by a Yeti during the events of The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan, Scrooge first obtained it from a goat-herder who had himself stumbled across the crown in a cavern somewhere in the Himalayan mountains.
Intrigued, Huey, Dewey and Louie consult the Woodchuck Guidebook to see if it contains any information on the crown, and come up with a doozy - a log written by the legendary explorer Marco Polo himself, describing not only seeing the crown during his meeting with Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai, but also that shortly afterwards, Kublai invaded Tibet in search for the mythical realm of Prestor John, taking with him the entire treasury of the Mongol Empire for safekeeping, as the land was so difficult to reach. Realizing that the crown might be the key to one of the biggest treasures in history, Scrooge quickly drags his nephews off for another adventure...
In a remote area of China, at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains, Scrooge meets with the same goat-herder who once found the crown, who directs the Ducks towards the spot where he found it - an ice cavern on the slopes of Mount Karakal. Days pass as our heroes scale the mountains, until they come across the mouth of a cave framed by a pair of chortans, ancient Tibetan trail markers, half buried in the snow. Though the cave seems to be a dead-end, Scrooge spots something frozen inside one of the walls; the remains of an ancient teak box, along with an imprint of the crown. An exhausted Donald leans against the wall for some rest, only for the ice to collapse from his weight, revealing a long passage following an underground river, and a third chortan with an inscription identifying the river as the "river Alph", a name familiar to the nephws - it was also used in the poem Kubla Khan by poet and philosopher Samuel Coleridge
, describing the mythical utopia Xanadu itself, a paradise on Earth hidden away in a distant, inaccessible valley. Even Donald is impressed by the description of this heavenly place, and yet, there is something strangely... familiar about it.
The days pass as the Ducks journey along the river, with their supplies starting to run low, until finally they arrive at an odd sight - the river ends at a massive sluice gate from which the water pours, as well as the rotten remains of a wooden bridge, and a door sealed with an iron bar on the other side. Peeking through the sluice gate, the Ducks find themselves looking at a huge, underground reservoir of water, with a waterfall constantly pouring down through an opening at the top of the cavern; the "Sunless Sea" mentioned in Coleridge's poem. Left with no other choice to get across the river, they manage to close the sluice gate, cutting off the water, and reach the door on the other side. As they begin lifting the bar across the door, the nephews notice something strange - if the treasure of Kublai Khan is on the other side, why is the iron bar on this side of the door? Rather than keep intruders out, it seems like Khan was trying to keep something, or someone, in.
Making matters worse, the door slams shut behind our heroes as soon as they step beyond it, locking them inside and leaving them with no choice but to head forward to whatever lies beyond. Things just get stranger, as even Scrooge starts having an odd sense of deja vu about the adventure, and we soon find out why when the nephews stumble across an old leather satchel with a familiar name on it - "Nerve Tonic, property of Scrooge McDuck!''
"Welcome back, Uncle Scrooge. Welcome back to Tralla-La!"
That's right, Xanadu is in fact Tralla-La, the same utopian valley Scrooge once visited during his nervous breakdown several years ago. Though worried about the reception they'll get from the natives, considering that their last visit ended in chaos, the Ducks have no choice since the underground tunnel is now locked, and reluctantly meet up with one of the passing farmers. Much to their surprise, there's no bad blood, and the inhabitants of Tralla-La happily welcome them back, having long since forgiven them for the mess they caused last time. This lasts all of five minutes, until Scrooge shows them the crown of Genghis Khan, leading to a panic as the natives see it as nothing but a symbol of the Golden Horde, their ancient oppressors, and drag the Ducks off to meet with their leader, Lah Deedah. Taking the opportunity, Scrooge demands to know why everyone claims there's no wealth in Tralla-La, even though the crown led him straight there in search for the Mongol treasure, though Donald interrupts him, being more concerned with finding a way out of the valley. Unfortunately, while he has no intention to stop them from leaving, Lah Deedah won't order any of his people to endanger themselves in the mountains, and with no guides to help them, the Ducks are effectively stranded.
However, Lah Deedah offers another solution - rather than risk their lives trying to rejoin the outside world with it's greed and misery, the Ducks are welcome to stay in Tralla-La and join their peaceful way of life. Though Scrooge is still skeptical at first, his nephews quickly assimilate themselves, and even Scrooge finds it difficult to remain his frosty and greedy self in such paradisical surroundings, which reminds him of his childhood in the countryside of Scotland.
A week passes, and the Ducks have taken to Tralla-La like they've lived there all their lives, having almost forgotten why they came there in the first place. Unfortunately, they get a stark reminder one day, as they're having tea with Lah Deedah, who tells them about their dark past when Kublai Khan set up shop in the valley and enslaved it's inhabitants. To prevent the people of Tralla-La from simply sealing up the passage to the underground tunnel while Khan and his men were away in war, the tyrant had constructed a doomsday device that would stop the whirlpool in the middle of the river, and cause the entire valley to flood - a device the Ducks only now realize was the sluice gate they shut off on their way in! As if on cue, there's a huge commotion outside, and sure enough, the whirlpool has stopped, as the river has finally filled up the underground chamber, and the river is already overflowing it's banks. With the door to the tunnel still barred, and no time to climb out of the mountains and come back the other way, Lah Deedah takes the Ducks to see Tsamjah Phee, the High Llama of Tralla-La. The ancient wiseman reveals that despite the common belief, there IS in fact metal in Tralla-La, hidden away deep beneath his palace. Scrooge excitedly assume this must be the treasure of the Khans, only to faint in shock when the metal hoard is something else entirerly - it's the billions of steel bottlecaps he himself brought to the valley during his first visit.
With this lucky windfall, as gold would be too soft to be of any use, the Ducks build a primitive forge to melt down the steel and reforge it into sawblades to get through the iron bar on the door, but the water is rising quickly, and Tralla-La only has hours left at best. It's up to Donald, who's the strongest of the group, to venture into the submerged cave and break through the door. Time passes, and just as he's down to his last blade and his last breath, Donald succeeds in getting the door open, but is still left with the task of opening the sluice gate, something that took all five Ducks to close. Though he initially fails to even budge it, Donald gets some last minute inspiration from his time in Tralla-La, and manages to open the gate using the remains of the iron bar, restarting the whirlpool and letting the River Alph flow again, before smashing the mechanism so no one can ever close it again. Unfortunately, with the river flowing again, there is no way for him to get back to Tralla-La, and resigns himself to never seeing Scrooge or his nephews again...
...right until the rest of the Ducks come floating out through the sluice gate in a reed boat, having been too close to the whirlpool when Donald restarted it. Despite the abrupt reunion, there's no time to rest, as the river quickly takes them back down along the underground passage. With the cave they originally came in through collapsed by the initial torrent, the Ducks are helpless as the boat is sucked into an airless passage, only to find themselves emerging in a public fountain in the Kashmir highlands of India (with the exception of Donald who got dragged into a second tunnel and ended up in a water through for the local yaks). Making matters worse is that Scrooge only now realizes he lost the crown at some point, a fitting end to the disastrous trip, with the Ducks deciding to keep away from Tralla-La from now on, as they only ever seem to bring trouble to the valley. An uncharacteristically melancholy Scrooge decides to take his first vacation, as he has a sudden longing for his native Scotland...
Back in Tralla-La, things have returned to normal, but a farmer finds an unpleasant surprise in his rice field - the Crown of Genghis Khan, which he brings to Lah Deedah. Mystified how the crown ever ended up in the hands of Scrooge, and enraged that it has now seemingly cost the Duck family their lives, Lah Deedah hurls it into the whirlpool just as his ancestors once did with all reminders of the Khan's reign... and the crown rejoins the rest of the Mongol treasury at the bottom of the Sunless Sea.
Tropes:
- Call-Back:
- The bottlecaps underneath the High Llama's palace is one to the events of the original Tralla-La story.
- As the natives drag the Ducks off to see Lah Deedah, Donald references the events of Return to Plain Awful, stating that they can't take Scrooge anywhere without him causing a riot.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Even the happy people of Tralla-La have one in the reign of Kublai Khan, to the point that they've erased all traces of Mongol rule, and are still terrified of him centuries later.
- Doomsday Device: The sluice gate that the Mongols built at the cave entrance to Tralla-La. If it is closed, the water flowing into the valley from the mountaintops has nowhere else to go and will flood the entire valley, drowning all of its inhabitants.
- The Dreaded: Kublai Khan - when Scrooge presents the people of Tralla-La the crown of the Great Khan, the villagers immediately freak out and despair that Scrooge has visited more misery upon them.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Scrooge was right when he said he could almost smell the Mongol treasure; he was literally right next to it at one point, as the natives of Tralla-La threw it into the whirlpool after the Mongols disappeared, leaving it all on the bottom of the underground sea.
- Kill It with Water: The threat Kublai Khan used to keep Tralla-La under his thumb. If the natives tried to rebel or keep him out, he'd have the entire valley flooded.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The entire Duck family choke on their food when they realize based upon what Lah Deedah just told them that the Doomsday Device that Kublai Khan built was the very same sluice gate they closed on their way to Tralla-La.
- The Only One: Donald ends up being the only person who can save Tralla-La, as the other options include three 10-year olds and one 80-year old, none of whom could possibly get the sluice gate open even if they did manage to saw through the iron bar sealing the door.
- Post-Mortem Comeback: The sluice gate. One day Kublai Khan left Tralla-La and never returned, but left the gate intact, prepared to let Tralla-La be doomed even beyond the grave.
- Remember the New Guy?: Tsamjah Phee appears for the first time in this story, which Lah Deedah justifies by stating that the Ducks had no reason to meet him last time.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Not only do the Ducks get a taste of life in Tralla-La, only to be forced to leave and never return, Scrooge loses the crown, and never finds out he was in spitting distance of the rest of the treasure the whole time.
- The Simple Life is Simple: Invoked - the people of Tralla-La do everything by hand, and manual labor is never easy, but because they all pitch in and help eachother, not to mention the abundant resources of the valley, it's a lot simpler than it would be otherwise.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Donald suggests that they open the sluice gate by going through the mountains to the outside world, then go back through the tunnel, but while this might have worked if the Ducks had done it immediately after arriving in Tralla-La, it's no longer an option; getting through the mountains would take days, and Tralla-La has hours left at most.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Ducks had no idea what disaster they were setting off by closing the sluice gate, and ended up forgetting all about it until Lah Deedah mentioned the doomsday device Kublai Khan left behind.
- Villainous Legacy: Kublai Khan himself - he's the cause of pretty much everything that happens in the story, even though he's been dead since 1294. The people of Tralla-La remember him as a great tyrant who enslaved their people and are glad to be rid of him. Since Kublai could not be there all the time while he had wars to fight, to prevent any uprisings while he was away he also put in a mechanism that can only be operated from the outside that would flood the entire valley and kill everyone. When the Ducks discover this, it's a race against the clock to disarm it.
- Wham Shot: The Ducks spend the whole story searching for the lost Mongol treasure, discover that Tralla La is the mythical Xanadu, but end up losing the crown of Kublai Khan that Scrooge had obtained in a previous story after narrowly saving the city from a disaster that the Ducks themselves created. The chief is then given the crown by a villager and curses the Mongol legacy before throwing it in the giant whirlpool beneath the city, which is shown to contain the entire treasure of the Golden Horde.
