In science fiction a fictional world may be a remote alien planet or galaxy with little apparent relationship to the real world (as in Star Wars); in fantasy it may be a greatly fictionalized or invented version of Earth's distant past or future (as in The Lord of the Rings).[2]
Universe vs. setting
A famous example of a detailed fictional universe is
Arda (more popularly known as
Middle-earth), of
J. R. R. Tolkien's books The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. He created first its
languages and then the world itself, which he states was "primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order to provide the necessary 'history' for the Elvish tongues."[4]
A modern example of a
fictional universe is that of the Avatar film series, as
James Cameron invented an entire
ecosystem, with a team of scientists to test whether it was viable. Additionally, he commissioned a linguistics expert to invent the
Na'vi language.[5][6]
Virtually every successful fictional
TV series or
comic book develops its own "universe" to keep track of the various episodes or issues. Writers for that series must follow its
story bible.[7]
Fictional continuity
In a 1970 article in CAPA-alpha, comics historian
Don Markstein provided a definition of fictional universe meant to clarify the concept of fictional continuities. According to the criteria he imagined:[8]
If characters A and B have met, then they are in the same universe; if characters B and C have met, then,
transitively, A and C are in the same universe.
Characters cannot be connected by real people—otherwise, it could be argued that
Superman and the
Fantastic Four were in the same universe, as Superman met
John F. Kennedy, Kennedy met
Neil Armstrong, and Armstrong met the Fantastic Four.
Characters cannot be connected by characters "that do not originate with the publisher"—otherwise it could be argued that Superman and the Fantastic Four were in the same universe, as both met
Hercules.
Characters are only considered to have met if they appeared together in a story; therefore, characters who simply appeared on the same front cover are not necessarily in the same universe.
Fictional universes are sometimes shared by multiple prose authors, with each author's works in that universe being granted approximately equal canonical status. For example,
Larry Niven's fictional universe
Known Space has an approximately 135-year period in which Niven allows other authors to write stories about the
Man-Kzin Wars. Other fictional universes, like the
Ring of Fire series, actively court canonical stimulus from fans, but gate and control the changes through a formalized process and the final say of
the editor and universe creator.[9]
^Also called an "imagined universe" or a "constructed universe".
^
abSchult, Stefanie; Tolkien, J. R. R.; Pratchett, Terry; Williams, Tad (2017). Subcreation: fictional-world construction from J.R.R. Tolkien to Terry Pratchett and Tad Williams. Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald. Berlin: Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH.
ISBN978-3-8325-4419-5.
^Pavel, Thomas G. (1986). Fictional Worlds. Harvard University Press.
ISBN9780674299665.
Diana Wynne Jones: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, New York : Firebird, 2006.
ISBN0-14-240722-4, Explains and parodies the common features of a standard fantasy world