The Floating Continent Trope Of Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Explained

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Genre fiction often has a way of illustrating aspects of narrative and social storytelling with more obvious visual symbolism. One of the easiest ways to bring across the magical alternate world, class stratification, or the haves and have-nots is to literally put the better part of the universe miles above the rest.

There is a fairly common trope in speculative fiction stories that places a beautiful location in the sky above the less impressive locales. One of the most interesting aspects of this trope is that it's commonly used in both sci-fi and fantasy. Whether it's blessed by magic or incredibly scientifically advanced, this storytelling element delivers a great deal of detail with a single choice.

Overused Sci-Fi Tropes That Should Be Retired

The first literary example of a floating city is a strange example of a semi-fictional narrative. In the year 815, a priest named Agobard of Lyon wrote a raving treatise that bordered on an unhinged screed called «On Hail and Thunder.» In it, he details the tale of the land of Magonia, which is probably the first fictional floating city. While the domain of various deities is often located generally upward, it is typically described as another plane of existence, rather than a floating land mass. Magonia, on the other hand, was a civilization that existed miles into the sky. The area was inhabited by sailors who traveled the skies in airships, floating from cloud to cloud. The denizens of Magonia partnered with magic users who controlled the weather, using the cover of storms to steal crops from those below. This story was not, however, a fictional idea that Agobard thought up. It was reportedly a common primitive belief that Agobard was angrily railing against, seeing it as a