The use of enchanted forests shaded into modern fantasy with no distinct breaking point, stemming from the very earliest fantasies. • In
George MacDonald's
Phantastes, the hero finds himself in a wood as dark and tangled as Dante's,
una selva oscura that blots out sunlight and is utterly still, without any beasts or birdsong. • In
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
L. Frank Baum depicted the wild and dangerous parts of the
Land of Oz as being forested, and indeed, inhabited with animated trees with human-like traits, a common feature in children's literature. • William T. Cox in his 1910 work
Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods based the entire book off of actual forests across North America; however, the author combines these factual locations with fantastic encounters between lumberjacks and mysterious creatures. •
J.R.R. Tolkien made use of forests as representing enchantment and the ancientness of the world:
Mirkwood,
Fangorn forest, and the
Old Forest. He also made use of folklore about trees, such as the willow, believed to uproot themselves and stalk travelers, in
Old Man Willow. His
elves are strongly associated with forests, especially
Mirkwood and
Lothlórien.
Tom Bombadil has been described by Tolkien scholar
Tom Shippey as the
genius loci (literally, "a spirit of a place") of the
Old Forest, the wooded land bordering the
Shire. The
Ents act as the forest come to life. • In
Winnie the Pooh, the
Hundred Acre Wood is a beautifully scenic forest home to
Winnie the Pooh and all of his
friends. • Following J.R.R. Tolkien's work, the enchanted forest is often a magical place in modern fantasy. It continues to be a place unknown to the characters, where strange dangers lurk. • The Enchanted Forest is particularly close to folklore in
fairytale fantasy, featuring in such works as
James Thurber's
The White Deer and
The 13 Clocks. • In the
contemporary fantasy Harry Potter books, the Forbidden Forest near
Hogwarts is forbidden because of its magical nature. The home of
unicorns,
centaurs, and Acromantulas (a race of giant spiders), it continues the tradition of the forest as a place of wild things and danger. • In
Robert Holdstock's
Mythago Wood stories, Ryhope Wood is an small but ancient woodland, undisturbed since the
Last Glacial Period. Imbued with magic, it defends itself against intrusion with
disorientation, and difficult and hostile terrain. Those who win through find themselves in a much, much larger land, populated by myth-images, or mythagos, who are creatures (including animals, monsters and humans) generated from the ancient
memories and
myths within the
subconscious of nearby human
minds.These can include such characters as
King Arthur,
Robin Hood and
Herne the Hunter. Further, those who eventually return to the outside find that time passes slower inside the wood. For example, a day may pass in normal time, yet a traveller within the wood may have been there for weeks or longer. • In Suzanna Clarke's
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, the Raven King's capital city of Newcastle in Northern England was surrounded by four magical woods, with names like Petty Egypt, and St. Sirlow's Blessing. These forests were supposedly enchanted by the Raven King himself to defend his city. They could move around, and supposedly devoured approaching people intending to harm the city. Clarke brings the notion of magical places to life by contrasting this historical account within the story itself, to the actual depictions of magical woods within the story, where the trees themselves can be regarded as friend or foe, and have formed alliances with magicians. • In
My Neighbor Totoro, the forest home of the Totoros is an idyllic place where no harm will come to the heroines of the movies. • There are variations on enchanted forests in the
Spyro series. The Artisans Homeworld In
Spyro the Dragon, as well as Summer Forest and Autmn Plains in ''
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, and Sunrise Spring from Spyro: Year of the Dragon'' are all different forms of magical forests that act as homeworlds. • In contrast, in the
Touhou Project series by
Team Shanghai Alice, the Forest of Magic is an extremely dangerous place crawling with
youkai. • In
The Legend of Zelda series, the Lost Woods serves as a recurring location. It is a large
old-growth forest inhabited by fairies that misleads travelers into going in circles. To find a way through, the player must pick the correct pathway. Otherwise they'll become lost and will be sent back to the forest's entrance. In
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time an orphaned Link starts the game off in the Lost Woods in a village of Kokiri
sprites. • In
Naruto, the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, more commonly known as the Forest of Death, is a strange forest filled with hordes of flora and fauna, often gigantic, poisonous — or even more likely, both — hence its name. • In
Once Upon a Time, the Enchanted Forest, which is located in Fairy Tale Land, is the main setting during the first six seasons. It is often shown to viewers in flashbacks of those who lived there ever since the Dark Curse enacted by the
Evil Queen and her followers brought them to the Land Without Magic. There is a desert that separates the land from Agrabah, while also being separated from Arendelle, DunBroch, and the Oceanic Realm by seas and a few days ride from Camelot and the Empire. The land is also seen in the series' spin-off
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. During the seventh and final season, the New Enchanted Forest is introduced as its main setting. It is located in New Fairy Tale Land and is separated from Maldonia and New Agrabah and has its version of
Wonderland called New Wonderland. This version has elements from the 18th and 19th century mixed with small elements from the Middle Ages as well as French influences. In addition, there is a hierarchy in the kingdoms like a "federal" kingdom and "federated" kingdoms as the unnamed King seems to rule all over the New Enchanted Forest. It is because of the king and Lady Rapunzel Tremaine that there is a resistance against them. By the end of the series, both Enchanted Forests become part of the United Realms upon combining with Storybrooke, the other Fairy Tale Land locations, the Land of Oz, the Land of Untold Stories, Neverland, and the Wish Realm. • The Enchanted Forest is featured in
Ever After High. It is a location in the Fairytale World that is located next to Ever After High and the Village of Book End. The students of Ever After High hang out there often....Especially when the students need time alone. For this purpose, there's a
gazebo located deep in the forest. • In
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the Everfree Forest is depicted as an enchanted forest grove adjacent to Ponyville. The forest is largely uninhabitable, being a saturated "hotspot" of unpredictable wild magic induced genetic mutations and dangerous legendary creatures and is regarded by ponies as the most hostile region within Equestria's borders. • In
Frozen 2, the Enchanted Forest is home to spirits of fire, earth, wind and water. Elsa journeys there to find the origins of her powers and end the feud between Arendalle and the forests native people. • In
Mickey Mouse Funhouse, there is a variation of the enchanted forest called the Enchanted Rainforest. It is depicted as being sentient and consists of different jungle animals. The Enchanted Rainforest was first visited in the episode "Minnie Goes Ape" where
Minnie Mouse had to return Pinky the Gorilla (vocal effects provided by
Kaitlyn Robrock) to her parents. • In the
Pokemon franchise, most of the series focuses on the adventures of
Pokémon trainers who regularly explore or travel through vast untamed wildernesses inhabited by various different species of
Pokémon some of whom are friendly while others are decidedly not. ==See also==