One way for authors to subtly (or overtly) convey and reinforce the mood of a scene, episode, or even the genre of the work is to make the environment symbolize it. Much like a character with an Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance, a setting can be made rife with symbolism to play up the emotional theme at work.
Generally, the whole setting itself will reflect the overall mood of the show, while a special location for a given scene will display the current mood of the characters.
This can include manipulation of the following:
- Color: Color Motif, Deliberately Monochrome
- Lighting: Dark World
- Space: Claustrophobia, Agoraphobia
- Time: Decade Dissonance, Zeerust, 20 Minutes into the Future
- Cleanliness: Sinister Subway, Crapsack World, Crystal Spires and Togas, and of course Creepy Cleanliness.
- Construction Era: Zeerust, Decade Dissonance, The Future Is Noir, Ascetic Aesthetic
- Inhabitants: The kind of plants, animals and people present, or their absence.
- Weather: Empathic Environment, Weather and Environment
Note that the setting itself will not actively or supernaturally change unless the characters change it. Whether it's urban renewal to uplift or massive battle damage and craters depends on what the author wants. "Natural" changes such as the lights going dead or a fire breaking out do count towards this trope, however.
See also Poster-Gallery Bedroom, where the character's in-universe design choices for their living space reflect their personality.
Related tropes are Fisher King, Genius Loci, and basically everything in Settings.
Examples
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Art
- The Course of Empire: In The Savage State the sky is tumultuous to symbolize danger and, well, savagery; by the time of The Arcadian or Pastoral State it's calm, indicating a more stable society. Then, the sky at the height of the empire's wealth and power in Consummation is bright and cheery, but a storm is brewing during the fall depicted in Destruction. By Desolation the moon is in the sky instead, indicating that the empire is extinct.
Anime & Manga
- Pretty common for the theatrics in Death Note; a death always carries a grittier or grainier air, and some stuff glows more than it should (like open doors, police floodlights, and windows).
- Planet Gunsmoke in Trigun is a drought-stricken, Old West-ish place. Vash The Stampede is a depressive, Old West-ish guy. When he and Knives land on the planet and he cries over Rem's death, his tears are echoed by the falling debris of the SEEDS ship, and when he defeats his brother in the last episode, the nearby townsfolk who've been drilling a well finally strike water.
- The Soul Rooms in both the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga and anime reflect the psychological state of their owners.
- The first of The Garden of Sinners films has quite a few beautifully detailed buildings as the scenery... but most of them are in some form of decay and/or abandoned, reflecting the despair in the story and the crumbling of the human condition. It also represents Japan's economic crisis in the late 1990s, when the film takes place.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi likes to use this to emphasize some of the character's tragic Back Stories; series lead Negi's home village in the snow, immortal vampire Evangeline's war-torn battlefields in the 1400's, Asuna's colossal, rune covered tower at dusk in which she was the tower's Barrier Maiden. Akamatsu loves his characterization (expect Cherry Blossoms during happy scenes).
- Exaggerated in the Other World segments in Black★Rock Shooter. Let's just say that the symbolism is the environment especially if you subscribe to the Battle in the Center of the Mind theory. Some of the symbolism also spill into the real world.
- In Lupin III: Dead or Alive, the general decay that we see in establishing shots of Zufu hint to the suffering of the people under General Headhunter's rule.
- In the Puella Magi Madoka Magica, there is background symbolism in the movie we didn't see in the Anime. In the alley scene where Madoka and Kyouko are talking, you can see wind chimes of a unicorn and a mermaid
. The unicorn has its horn pointed to the mermaid, which is symbolic of Sayaka as the mermaid and Kyouko as the unicorn - think of their witch forms. That the horn is pointed to the mermaid refers to Kyouko attacking Oktavia.
Comic Books
- Gotham City from Batman, to reflect the nature of Batman and his more noir-ish adventures, is usually depicted as a dark, grimy, cramped and gothic urban nightmare of a city, usually seen at night; Metropolis from Superman is more often depicted as an almost-futuristic steel-and-glass environment, usually a bit more open and clean and is more often seen during the day to reflect Superman's more optimistic nature. Frank Miller said that Metropolis is New York in the day, while Gotham is New York at night. This is actually taken to real issues when the superheroes switch haunts every now and then — not only are they both dealing with unfamiliar territory, but Batman complains that the smooth buildings of Metropolis have no catches for his grappling hooks or hiding places, while Superman's X-ray vision is impaired by lead in Gotham's older buildings. The crooks in both cities sure are caught by surprise though.
- Every single realm of the Endless in The Sandman (1989). When Orpheus visits Death, this leads to some confusion, and when Morpheus is imprisoned outside his realm it falls into chaos.
Fan Fiction
- Background Pony's story arc is parallel to the seasonal progression from summer to winter. It opens just before the summer solstice on a note of optimism. As the seasons progress toward the winter solstice, the protagonist's prospects become more hopeless and she undergoes a downward spiral into darkness. (Both the environment and her life gradually grow colder and darker.) In the early winter, she makes a heroic sacrifice. The last chapter begins in mid-winter (when the land is covered in snow) and fast-forwards through the rest of her life.
- Princess Celestia's garden dream in Composure is so chock full of symbolism that it is harder to find a non-symbolic object than a symbolic one. Exemplified by the fact that there is not one, but three different interpretations for one fruit from one tree in one dream, all of which are different and could have drastic effects on the story's conclusion. In fact, the characters' different interpretations of what exactly the tree symbolizes is a plot point!
- Kalash93 is everywhere with this trope, having it appear in all of] his stories yet. And the symbolism gets deeper and meaningful as his work progresses.
- Last One Standing uses the day and height of the sun as metaphors for life. The final location being on a hill outside Ponyville is symbolic for the smallness of the individual and their life.
- Reflections does a similar thing in reverse. The tone of the story grows considerably more hopeful and upbeat as the sun rises. The story takes place on a lonely hilltop to symbolize the isolation and loneliness and elevation that comes with being an immortal goddess princess.
- Shell Shock Takes place in a ruined school which was once a monastery. This symbolizes the loss of innocence and fall from grace that has happened in the war. From this vantage point, fields and parts of a ruined town are visible. The weather is rainy as if to mourn the death and destruction wrought. The wether is initially overcast, but then gradually clears away as the young soldier's innocence and naivety are stripped away and gradually replaced with horrific awareness and then complicity in the crimes. The fields full of grain symbolize life and vitality in contrast to the death and emptiness of the soldiers.
- Racer and the Geek is just so chock full of symbolism that it would take paragraphs to explain all of it, especially in the more recent chapters.
- Welcome To The Brothel is another highly symbolic story about the loss of innocence. Consider the author's usage of light, darkness, and color.
- Relax is lighter in this regard than his usual fare. However, consider that the only two characters in the story are together in a room with a bed and only dim red mood lighting...
- In Crowns of the Kingdom, compare the location of each crown to the type and quality of the light when Mickey finds it.
- The titular rain and the weather in general seem to reflect Satsuki's overall mood and depression in the aftermath of her sister's death in the fanfic Raindrops. Naturally, the raindrops are also compared to falling tears at the end, at the same time, she notes how it never seems to be sunny. In the sequel, Sunshine, the sunny weather serves a juxtaposition between weather that seems cheerful and somber days, as Satsuki announces she is terminally ill and later on dies both on sunny days.
Films — Animated
- In The Incredibles 1, the Insuricare offices are soul-crushingly drab, to better convey how much Bob Parr hates that job. Contrast that with the gorgeous jungle and Raygun Gothic architecture of Syndrome's island to see how much Bob loves being a superhero. The Parr home, with its Googie architecture, falls somewhere in the middle since Bob doesn't appreciate his family until it's almost too late. And Mirage points out the link between the brilliant-but-unstable Syndrome and his chosen home:
Mr. Incredible: I've been meaning to ask you. Of all places to settle down, why...
Mirage: A volcano? My employer is attracted to power. As am I. It's a weakness we both share.
Mr. Incredible: Seems a little... unstable.
Mirage: I prefer to think of it as misunderstood.
Mr. Incredible: Aren't we all?
Mirage: Volcanic soil is among the most fertile in the world. Everything at this table was grown right here on this island. - The Land Before Time (1988): The environment changes as Littlefoot's journey for the Great Valley continues. He is born in lush primordial swamps. to convey the bustling and dangerous wilderness he was born into. The Sharptooth attacks in a gaseous and thorny swamp, showing the rising dangers around him. The ground erupts and his mother dies, leaving him in a barren wasteland as he tries to find the Great Valley and his grandparents. The terrain just before finding the Great Valley is full of deep waters, as he and his friends barely manage to defeat Sharptooth on the cusp of their goal. The Great Valley itself is lush with life and they reunite with their families in a dinosaur paradise.
Films — Live-Action
- Requiem for a Dream depicts several characters' downward spiral into drug addiction and the associated destructive effects. It progresses from summer to autumn to winter — so clearly, in fact, that there is a title card before each act that states explicitly which season is to follow.
- The Wizard of Oz (1939). See Literature.
- The Graveyard from the infamous showdown scene at the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly emphasised the finality of the paths of the three principle characters. Sergio Leone had so brilliantly set up a situation where all three men couldn't possibly leave alive.
- Not to mention it was designed to look like a Roman circus, as if the graves of the dead were watching the three men fight.
- Most of the bits of architecture in the film resemble gallows, a running theme of the film.
- Star Wars:
- Revenge of the Sith:
- The climatic duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin on a lava planet. The eruptions are about Anakin's state of mind and him bursting into flames was about his final transformation. And when he is defeated, he is cast down into the flames.
- Yoda and Palpatine's final duel takes place in the grand Senate Chamber. The battle for the fate of the galaxy takes place at its heart; and many of the senator's pods (the very symbol of democracy) are smashed in the duel.
- Tatooine in A New Hope is a barren wasteland to emphasize that Luke really has nothing to live for on this planet, relatives notwithstanding. The base where the Rebels plan their counterattack, Yavin IV, has lush foliage to show that this is a place of peace.
- The Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back comes with a heavy dose of Snow Means Death, as the Rebels narrowly effect a Tactical Withdrawal in the face of an Imperial assault on the frozen planet they have hidden out on. Cloud City, as its name implies, hovers over the clouds as a symbolic gesture that they consider themselves above the machinations of the Empire.
- The battle in the Emperor's throne room in Return of the Jedi featured severely muted colors, and twisted if angular structures. The only splashes of colors, the red Royal Guard, were pointedly sent away. The only colors in the fight are the lightsabers and Luke's face. The moon of Endor where the shield generator is destroyed is a lush forest with Imperial installations. The base, the Death Star II and the empire as a whole are defeated because they neglected to see what threat a tribe of nature loving locals can be.
- The Original Trilogy employs an environmental contrast between the Good Guy and Bad Guy areas. Imperial ships and facilities are clean to the point of sterility, with everything being neatly polished and regimented, while Rebel ships and bases tend to be grungy examples of Used Future. One exception to this is Princess Leia's ship, the Tantine IV with its clean white corridors, which only featured in the very start of the first film, and was overrun by Darth Vader's troops, symbolizing the Emperor's decision to dissolve the Imperial Senate, the last vestige of the Galactic Republic.
- The Rise of Skywalker: When Rey and Kylo have their final battle on the ruins of the second Death Star, it is in the middle of a raging storm, indicating the crashing emotions both are feeling in this battle. When Kylo contemplates his decisions the storm has settled down, he then casts away his life as Kylo Ren and becomes Ben Solo once again.
- Revenge of the Sith:
- Pet is about a woman held captive by her Stalker with a Crush in the basement of the animal shelter where he works.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. While King Théoden is under Saruman's control, his hall is dark and colorless. After he regains his right mind, the lanterns and fires in his hall are lit.
- Black Swan has a case of the protagonist interacting with the symbolism. When we first see it, Nina's bedroom is decorated like a five-year-old's: stuffed animals, satiny comforter, pink everywhere. When the strain of trying to be darker and more sensual for Tomas while remaining pure and naive for her mother starts getting to her, she stuffs the teddy bears in a bag and throws them into the incinerator. Her last line in the climactic Grew a Spine scene is "I'M MOVING OUT".
- The whole Terminator franchise. Rarely is there a setting that doesn't seem artificial and futuristic and coldly systematic or wasteland-y or fascist-y in some way in order to show how easily we could slip into the robo-endtimes or scenes that are similar to how humans will fight robots in the future. There are quite a few settings to choose from: Corporate megaliths, computer stores, cement and steel everywhere, hospitals, police stations, deserts, ghettos, construction equipment, factories, warehouses, video game arcades, robot shows, etcetera. Even Sarah's offscreen death by cancer, most likely due to environmental reasons shows what living in a toxic, artificial world can do.
- The town in Edward Scissorhands is a bright and cheerful, if slightly off '50s suburbia, and thus has lots of bright pastels. The Professor's/Edward's castle, by contrast, is dark, empty and mechanical, in black and white. Since the whole thing is (possibly) about mental illness, the emptiness of it may symbolize Edward's loneliness, as well.
- As tempers rise over the course of 12 Angry Men, the room seems to get more and more claustrophobic; that's not an effect: the actual walls were gradually moved closer in as the film goes on, making the room smaller and smaller.
- Inception: Limbo is a barren wasteland, representing Cobb's lifelessness and apathy due to his obsession with his wife's death. Level one of the Fischer job is wet and rainy, literally because the dreamer went to sleep needing to piss.
- MonsterVerse: A recurring but not universal motif due to the Titans' Fisher King effects on their surroundings, as well as Green Aesop and Climate Change Allegory shenanigans.
- Benevolent Titans like Mothra and Kong are associated with lush, verdant jungles, while Godzilla is associated with both storms and the sea- rough and overwhelmingly powerful, but necessary and important.
- The MUTOs are associated with, (somewhat contradictorily) both rainy, overcast skies and the desert: not preferable to humans, but still capable of sustaining rich ecosystems, reflecting their nature as Non Malicious Monsters.
- Ghidorah is associated with the icy wasteland of Mysterious Antarctica, and also with hurricanes, lightning, thick and choking fog and clouds, and storm surges.
- Mechagodzilla is associated with the harsh, angular, cold, and entirely artificial interior of Apex Cybernetics’s labs and HQ.
- Pacific Rim: Bad weather persists for almost all of the film, especially whenever a Kaiju is on-screen, which in turn leads to a lot of Battle in the Rain. Only once the Breach is sealed and the Kaiju are stopped for good does the weather clear to a blue sky with puffy white clouds. Pretty fitting for a Climate Change Allegory.
- Trespasser makes landfall in San Francisco through thick white fog, obscuring its approach until it's too late.
- Knifehead surfaces off the coast of Anchorage during a fierce thunderstorm. The morning after, we see the weather conditions have turned to a snowstorm.
- It's also snowing when we see Raliegh working on the Wall and during Mako's memories of the Tokyo attack.
- Almost all the scenes in Hong Kong are set during rainfall, be it a drizzle or a downpour.
- During the final flight out to the Breach, the skies are a flat, uniform grey.
- The Hunger Games: The sun sets almost instantly in the forest as the Muttations attack, and immediately rises after Cato dies, reinforcing the fact that it's the endgame. The Gamemakers control literally everything inside the Arena.
- X-Men: Apocalypse: Nina's bedroom lamp is on to reflect the joy and warmth of her interaction with her father Erik. In contrast, Jean Grey's room is bathed in darkness because she's frightened by her apocalyptic "nightmare," and her emotional ties to her surrogate father Charles are based on their mutual struggles with telepathy.
- Easy Rider: The film starts in the open landscape of the south west USA. Our hippy biker heroes get hassled by the cops, but they also meet friendly and cooperative people. Then the action moves to the Deep South, the horizon gets a lot closer, and the threat level gets a lot higher.
- Deadly Harvest uses the bleak Canadian winter with its harsh yellow and brown color palette to portray the disintegration of both society and the natural environment as a result of the Endless Winter brought on by climate change.
- Jurassic Park (1993): Whenever the threat of the dinosaurs is imminent, the film is more claustrophobic and darker. In the prologue it is at night, with wide shots when the Velociraptor is contained and closeups when it attacks the worker. The park goes are brought in during the day for a tour of the facilities, and Nedry sabotages the security in the middle of a storm, with the light coming back with a peaceful Brachiosaurus scene at dawn.
Literature
- In China Miéville's The Scar, the city of Armada is a congealed mass of ships, which is perfectly appropriate given that its inhabitants steal almost everything they need. Additionally, the vampire who rules one section lives in a freakish-looking ship that sails on moonlight.
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Kansas is described as "grey". This is reflected in the 1939 film, too.
- The Expanse novella "Auberon" takes place on the eponymous extrasolar planet, which has an obnoxious, omnipresent odour, yet draws many human colonist with its promising interactions with Earth's biosphere. And where humans amass, organized crime's sure to appear as well. The protagonist, the new governor appointed by Laconia, is initially repulsed by the stench, but eventually gets used to it which foreshadows his own corruption.
- In I'm Thinking of Ending Things, over the course of the night, the narrator notices numerous creepy, small details about the places around her (such as the lock on the inside of the basement door and one of the girls at Dairy Queen missing a fingernail). These symbolize that Jake's dream is deteriorating and become more nightmarish as he gets closer to death.
Live-Action TV
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Angel’s statue of Kwan Yin in Season 1 – like a true Bodhisattva, Angel will delay his own enlightenment to ease the suffering of others.
- A sign saying BEWARE OF DOG is shown behind Spike on several occasions.
- At the end of "The Harvest", Angel is shown next to a sign that appears to say "WATCH YOU", symbolizing his role as Mysterious Watcher. When he walks away we see the sign actually reads 'WATCH YOUR STEP' providing inadvertent foreshadowing for Angel's Face–Heel Turn in Season 2.
- When Buffy gives in to her feelings for Spike and they have sex for the first time, it happens within a broken house that gets destroyed as they do it. This meaning is two-fold, as her walls have metaphorically come down and that their Destructive Romance will not make a good home and destroy them both.
- In Smallville, the eponymous town is always in brighter, warmer colours while Metropolis is colder and has a blue tone to it.
- The TARDIS console room "desktop" in Doctor Who, starting with the movie, tends to reflect the mood of the current Doctor incarnation and/or era:
- The first major redesign is introduced with the movie, becoming a sprawling, ornate room full of candles and Victorian furniture. This fits with the dandy-like Eight Doctor who makes his debut in the same movie.
- The War Doctor's console room (seen in "The Day of the Doctor") has the white, roundel walls like the "classic" incarnations with the coral support beams and the console later used by the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, reflecting this Doctor's status as a transitional incarnation.
- The coral-based design used by the Ninth and Tenth Doctors is supposed to show that TARDISes are organically grown. It also reflects the age of the ship and the MacGyvering repairs.
- The first Eleventh Doctor console room is asymmetrical and bathed in a warm copper colour, reflecting this Doctor's whimsical personality.
- After the Eleventh Doctor is forced to say goodbye to Amy and Rory, he switches to a stark, clinical metal room lit in cold aqua tones, more apt to his newfound morose mood. The same room is later redesigned by the Twelfth Doctor who adds orange lightning, bookshelves, a blackboard and more furniture, reflecting his "teacher/scholar" characterisation.
- The Thirteenth Doctor's relatively dark "crystal" console rooms seems to be a subversion, but it appears to be an Empathic Environment as it affects a cooler blue lighting when the Doctor's in a bad mood. To note, the actual console regains several whimsical controls and implements which the Doctor often plays with.
- More properly, Firefly used this in both the design of each character's room (in Kaylee's case the engine room as well, since we saw her there more often) and the kitchen/dining room, which had wooden chairs and crafty decorations to give it a homey feel.
- Also, the Alliance ships and buildings are sterile grey and blue, to fully emphasise the difference between them and the warm and friendly Serenity and the dry, earthy planets on the Outer Rim.
- Episode eight of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power utilizes a subtle yet impactful visual motif. The shadow of a giant chain falls upon Celebrimbor as he interacts with Elrond, Galadriel, and Gil-galad. This foreshadows Celebrimbor being subtly influenced by Sauron for the rest of the episode.
- Pushing Daisies is set in a Retro World full of bright and cheery colors. The fish-eye perspective and high color saturation convey the Magical Realism of the setting.
- In the Without a Trace episode "Silent Partner", two agents leave chilly New York City and the Victim of the Week's equally frosty wife to travel to warm and sunny Los Angeles (where he was last seen), where they meet his equally warm other wife.
- The Star Trek ships.
- Star Trek: The Next Generation had a solid wood arch bending around the command seats. It was put there because Gene Roddenberry wanted the ship to have a homely, organic feel as an exploratory ship, not a war ship.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine put them on an uninviting alien space station to demonstrate the difficulty and frustrations with working with another culture. As a note, the Defiant was given a very utilitarian and minimalistic set-up to look like a Federation-style war ship.
- Star Trek: Voyager scaled-down all of the sets to show a small crew that were really out on their own.
- Star Trek: Enterprise openly exposed the bolts and screws used to hold the sets together, giving it a Zee Rust appearance and submarine feel.
Video Games
- Baby Steps (2025): The environment changes as Nate's journey continues, symbolic of his Coming of Age Story as he makes a life for himself for the first time in this new world. The side quests follow suit, giving him things to accomplish worthy objectives in the places he is liked, and shitty things to do where he hates being there.
- The first area is rocky and woodsy, showing Nate that life is harsh but there are things worth going through the hassle for.
- The second area is a poison swamp, Nate quite frankly feels Claus trophic and dislikes most of the social activity he has been forced into.
- The third area is desert, here Nate feels at his lowest, with most of the locals making him feel bad so that they can use him for cigarettes and a call from his dad making it clear he is not missed at home. All culminating with his wish becoming a wish to be dead, which is wasted anyway as no one can die here.
- The fourth area is a grassy plain, dotted everywhere by sculptures wished into existence by other climbers. Nate reappreciates his life, but also finds the overbearing and extreme lifestyle of most of the inhabitants too much to live around.
- The fifth area is a cliffside with mining equipment. Nate has resolved to make something of his life, and the world tells him that doing so will not be a simple task but worth it.
- The sixth area is the mountainside, where Nate finds the one companion who he has found common ground with. While the outside world may be harsh, he has found the one place he is cherished and respected for him.
- Dark Souls 1: As the world teeters on the edge of death, it's fitting that just about everywhere you go, there is a cliff side you have to keep an eye out for lest you fall off. This even includes the hub level Firelink Shrine, that is just about ready to fall off the cliff.
- Dark Souls 2: To show how the world is much more lively than the world of DS1, the hub area Majula is an open village bordering the ocean. The ocean is off the side of the cliff, so while the end of the world isn't on the doorstep it is still approaching. Further contrasting with DS1, Majula will slowly fill up with NPC's that mark the player's impact on the world, and unlike DS1 none leave or die. Since the main quest of the game has the player seek crowns to forge their own kingdom, populating the hub area is symbolic of building their own kingdom.
- Dark Souls 3: The First Flame that sustains the world is now burning lower than ever before, and the world now turns to the Unkindled, undead so wretched that they could not link the flame themselves. So to begin such a quest you wake up in the Cemetery of Ash, a barren waste of countless gravestones bordered by snow covered mountains.
- Devil May Cry:
- In Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, Dante's first battle with Vergil is on the top of the Temen-ni-gru tower in the moonlight and rain. It's obvious since the sun isn't rising any time soon and the rain isn't stopping either, Dante won't be winning. Their second fight is in a much grimmer and dingier area because neither is going to win. Their final battle in a river of the Underworld is completely climactic (Orchestra and Latin music is playing in the background too) as the losing twin Vergil decides to dive down from atop the "waterfall".
- In Devil May Cry 4, all of Nero's battles with Dante take place in some classy room to show how those aren't completely serious fights, and Dante isn't serious about killing Nero; more like toying him instead. By comparison, the final battle in The Savior's heart is much darker in terms of the arena's appearance, and more climactic in terms of the tone.
- In Devil May Cry 5 the battles with Urizen/Vergil have clear symbolism related to how much we know and feel about him. The first is in a blood soaked throne made of vines as he appears to the world and the protagonists as a demon king come to drink the world's blood dry for power. The second area is in a warped recreation of Dante and Vergil's childhood home, through which the demon realm continuously bleeds through as the battle progresses. A reflection of how they have been isolated and split from each other on the day Mundus' demons attacked and killed their mother. The final battle takes place on top of the Quiloth tree in the midst of the sky. While intense it shows that there aren't actually a whole lot of stakes involved beyond the participants lives, as Vergil intends to do what Dante wants with the Yamato regardless of the fights outcome. It also represents that the two are finally free to put aside their rivalry for something new, which Nero shows up to knock into them.
- Elden Ring: While there are many different side areas to discover there are five basic areas of gameplay that absolutely must be crossed that all roughly show the birth and death of the world.
- Limgrave is a verdant but harsh place where greenery is abundant. Many quests begin here and a lot of npc's can be found here.
- Liurnia is a water covered and rocky area presided over by a massive school for sorcery in the middle. Knowledge about the state of the world and for spells to learn is abundant but there are many obstacles to acquiring it that can stifle your progress. Many side quests are brought into full swing here.
- Altus Plateau is very unique for having yellows and browns as its dominant colors. Most side quests end here and your journey to the capital city of Leyndall ends.
- The Mountaintop of Giants is a snow covered zone where life is few and far between. The only side quest npc's is one who advocates for the end of the world by fire and one that professes the gods should be held accountable for their actions and his befuddled assistant.
- Leyndall, Ashen Capital is the final area that you must go through to complete the game. The center of the world is now burning and you go through the capitals ash covered remains, the only side quest npc's found are a dead man with a final gift and his rambling assistant if he followed him.
- Final Fantasy XVI: Used liberally to show how Ultima's influence and design are tearing apart the realms. Multiple times you face the elite warriors of a civilization not in their domain but invading another area. And when you do enter their domain, you face invaders from another realm.
- Norman Jayden's ARI screen in Heavy Rain changes from a peaceful, sunny meadow to a sunset to withering trees in a storm as his brain deteriorates from ARI abuse
- The Last of Us: One of the things you hear during the title intro is the Arc Words "Whenever you are lost, look for the Light.''. Thereafter in both this game and the sequel, light and darkness are used to convey meaning, safety and purpose, and whenever one chooses darkness it means that something bad going to happen. On top of that every arc of the game has the environment and time tied to it's symbolism.
- The prologue is played at night, showing how night has come for civilization and poor Sarah.
- The first season, Summer is the longest, shining an unflinching light on how brutal life is in the post apocalypse, with the military forcing everyone to abide by their laws or die, and survivors doing whatever they can to eke out a living. But it also introduces Ellie, a bright light in this dark world.
- The second season. Fall deals with metaphorical falls as Joel contemplates leaving Ellie with his brother, Ellie leaves Joel for a minute and both wondering if they can just abandon the quest all together. And more literal falls as the Firefly base the two spent all this time finding turns out to be abandoned and Joel is injured falling off a building.
- The third, Winter has the two closest to death in the entire game, with Ellie forced to confront a clan of cannibals while Joel barely gets into fighting shape after spending a while resting in a cold basement. In an unsubtle display of symbolism, Ellie fights their leader in a burning restaurant.
- The last, Spring has the two finally find the Fireflies after braving an unstable sewer system that renders Ellie unconscious. When told the cure will need to kill Ellie to work, Joel refuses their offer and fights through a hospital to save her. The game ends on a new day as the two enter Jackson for a new life.
- The Last of Us Part II: The three main areas of gameplay have clear symbolism.
- Jackson and the area around it are in the winter covered in snow, giving the clear feeling of incoming death. Not surprisingly the infected are the most plot critical here as their relentless assault on Abby, Joel and Tommy gives Abby the opening to exact her revenge on Joel.
- Seattle is a water logged city, half covered in ocean and with rainstorms every other day. The protagonists are bogged down in their problems that will not end as long as they are in this city.
- Santa Barbara is a sun drenched city. Here the protagonists sins are finally burned off in a final battle. While they leave injured they do so ready and willing to let go of all the pain that they had before.
- Mouthwashing: The areas around the ship reflect the situation the crew finds themselves in. The common room goes from having a sunlit field screen at first, to a downcast sunset screen and then Swansea smashes the screen to symbolize how the crew is breaking apart and the feelings of comradery have always been an illusion. The drab corridors show how the main character feels confined into the one job he has and isn't any good for anything else. The one time you are in an environment that isn't from the ship is when Jimmy fights Swansea in a hallucinatory graveyard.
- This is a huge part of the Silent Hill series. It is repeatedly shown that the world that people go through is a reflection of their own mental problems made manifest as the enemies and architecture around them. Those who don't have any problems the town doesn't bother, they see nothing wrong and are in no danger.
- No More Heroes (Series) has each battlefield and the city itself reflect the characters... maybe.
- The Need for Speed games are a reflection of this. Hot Pursuit 2, for example, has shiny glass-and-steel cities, lush forests and heavenly sunsets in a tropical island to match its laidback arcade racing with supercars. Underground has a shiny metropolis with glowing streetlights and Underground 2 also has a graphic filter that highlights neon, paint and street lights to highlight the Fast & Furious-style glamour of the street racing scene. Most Wanted, meanwhile, went for a glass-and-steel metropolis under the glowing daylight with a brown filter to give it a gritty city feel, while Carbon replaced the gritty brown with modern, cutting-edge blue to emphasize how much of a Serious Business is street racing in Palmont.
- This is why the first stages in the laidback, fun-loving Outrun 2006 are Miami and San Diego.
- The Dark World from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the embodiment of this trope, being a twisted mirror image of Hyrule and at the same time a reflection of Ganon's Dark heart as he wished upon the triforce.
- Resident Evil 1: You start off in a creepy mansion, then move into an underground laboratory. As soon as this happens, the creatures start getting weirder and more freakish.
- Resident Evil Village: The main areas of each of the Lords relate to how they see each other and how they are seen in the eyes of their leader, Mother Miranda.
- Lady Dimitrescu has a lavish castle overflowing with old money decorations. She is the closest to being the perfect child that Mother Miranda wanted and is treated as such.
- Lady Beneviento has a much more quaint mansion that is only two stories high in comparison and filled with dolls. She is a studious but mentally stunted child Mother Miranda keeps around for her usefulness.
- Lord Salvatore has a water logged village and damn to rule over. He is the lowest of the lords and only kept around as a stooge.
- Lord Heisenberg has an industrial complex creating biomechanical cyborgs to overthrow Mother Miranda. His power is only matched by his ambitions and his usefulness has run its course.
- In The Lost Crown, most scenes are black-and-white, with highlights of color used to set the mood of times or locations (e.g. colorful flowers near Nanny Noah's house; deep blue skies on May Day). Lots of subtler symbolism is also worked into the scenery; light passing through the train depot's ornamental fretwork creates a row of tombstone-shaped shadows, in a particularly elegant example.
- All of the dungeons in Persona 4 are reflections on how the characters see their reality like Naoto's secret base representing her childish side, Yukiko's castle reflecting how she feels like a princess waiting to be rescued from her prison, Rise's strip club representing how she feels like she's being turned into a piece of meat, Kanji's bathhouse connected with his hidden sexual desires that have gone to a huge extreme, Kubo's game dungeon representing his growing madness and disconnect from reality in favor of illusion, Adachi's twisted realm, the liquor store being run down, Nanako's childish vision of heaven, Izanami's foggy world and even the hub area representing how all of the town's interest in the murders. The shadows even count, representing various things in media.
- Depending on what actions you take in BioShock 2, the lighthouse at the end will either have a sunset (good ending), a darkening sky (not-so-good, but not-really-bad ending), to a raging hurricane (bad ending).
- In The Saboteur, Nazi-occupied areas are gloomy and Deliberately Monochrome except for small splashes of primary colours (yellow lights, red blood and swastikas, and the occasional blue French Resistance emblem), but as you liberate an area the colour saturation gradually rises until the area is full coloured and cheerful looking, indicating that its entirely free of Nazis (except those that wander in from neighboring occupied areas, most likely because they're chasing after you)
- In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the heroes are transported to another dimension from a lush green park with a golden statue of Superman lifting up a globe, set to a blue sky. When Batman and Joker appear in the Regime world, it is within a grey urban district near a silver statue of Superman standing atop the globe, all under a dusk-toned sky.
- In Unpacking, the protagonist's long term belongings appear more damaged when she's going through the rougher parts of her life, and when she starts getting better they get repaired.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Sonic the Hedgehog 1 begins in the tropical Green Hill Zone and steadily gets more industrial until it becomes a Blade Runneresque polluted wasteland, showing how Eggman's machines are destroying the ecosystem.
- Sonic Adventure 2 contrasts the gameplay and locations of the Hero and Dark missions to show each sides conflicting ideologies. Sonic's first mission is in a sunlit city as he evades pursuers, culminating in a boss fight at night. Shadow's first mission is a boss fight and than he gets a level at night were he breaks through Gun's defences.
- Shadow the Hedgehog has the first level in a city under attack, where Shadow can take a side in the fight or take the Chaos Emerald for himself. Seeing as most first levels are lush hills, it readily shows how different this game will be.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): The first levels of all three main hedgehogs is reflective of their outlooks. Sonic has a sunny beach, showing his carefree and determined mindset. Shadow goes through a snow covered fortress, an emblem of his drive to find his goals regardless of the risks. Silver's is a fire burnt city, displaying his desperate objective to find a peaceful future.
- Sonic Frontiers rolls out the first three islands in rough order of an ongoing war. The first is a homely green and peaceful island that was once home to an ancient civilization. The second is a desert, bordered by rocks, showing how the civilization barricaded themselves to fight for their lives. The third is a desolate volcano, symbolic of a desperate final stand.
- Sonic Superstars: The first zone of Golden Capital is a lush palace as you collect rings and go through the level easily, not coincidently the last zone allowed Super forms to be unlockable so all the rings are an easy boon. The second is a molten fortress where industrial machines pour flowing metals that you have to avoid, which is doubly dangerous because Fang stole the chaos emeralds taking away all your special abilities. It culminates in a Climax Boss with Fang as you face his full firepower in a lengthy battle.
Web Animation
- RWBY: The four main areas of human civilization have clear symbolism in how they relate to the teams story.
- Beacon is a lovely area bordered with lush foliage. While inviting, it also gives an air of complacency as the main focus is the animal-like Grimm that thrive in the woods. A world shaking event destroys Beacon when an attack is levelled from the unseen areas of the world.
- Haven is more rocky and bordered by ocean, showing that life is harder but nonetheless flourishes in spite of its difficulties. Here the heroes face great challenges but prevail in spite of the odds.
- Atlas is a floating city of military technology situated in the middle of a frozen wasteland hovering over the industrial town of Mantle. The elite of Atlas toil on their equipment while the common people below unendingly work for their benefit. Notably, from the view from Atlas Mantle cannot be seen at all. Team RWBY has to work to remind Atlas of the trials of Mantle while helping them complete a project to reunite the world. When Atlas decides to abandon its post, they have to keep them in place while sending a message warning the world of the threat.
- Vacuo is in a desert region. The heroes must prove the resiliency of humanity in the face of unending assault with minimal resources.
Webcomics
- Gunnerkrigg Court: The eponymous Court is massive and maze-like, with a muted color scheme and many dark corners. It fits well with the story's focus on the mysterious and the (slightly) macabre.
Western Animation
- Arcane: Subtly, every sphere-like or round object is incomplete or having a gap, so that the perfect spheres that are the completed Hextech crystals pop out all the more in this misshapen world.
- Beast Wars:There's a decent amount of this in the Maximal and Predacon bases. The Maximal base is a stable command center with a circular table in the middle that teeters over a waterfall and rugged but otherwise solid terrain is around them, showing that although the Maximals are an unorthodox crew they are good guys with a firm sense of loyalty. The Predacon base is in the middle of a lava pit that the crash split the ship open over so the Predacons literally and figuratively have to step carefully in lest they burn in their own home. There is also only one chair reserved for Megatron and the rest have to make due with hovering platforms they have to stand in, making clear the hierarchal system that unambiguously puts the leader first.
- Hazbin Hotel: Many of the characters living areas reflect their respective character designs and personalities, especially in the titular Hazbin Hotel.
- Charlie and Vaggie's has a big bed and a balcony that overlooks Pentagram City, reflecting their status as partners and their desire to help as many Sinners as possible.
- Angel Dust's is coloured in neon pink with spider webbing decorations, mirrors, and several photos of his friends. This reflects his public persona as a promiscuous porn star and spider demon that holds the few loved ones he has close to his heart.
- Alastor's room is a mix of traditional decor with skulls on the wall and green flames while the other half is a muggy swamp, reflecting his nature as a vicious sadist under the veneer of a Wicked Cultured gentleman.
- Pentious' room has a clear steampunk motif and a nest for himself and his Egg Boiz, reflecting his abilities and passion as a Mad Scientist and hidden soft side.
- Baxter has a more mechanical lab in the basement, relatively isolated from the other residents. This reflects his nature as a Mad Scientist and how he initially joined the hotel as an experiment rather than a genuine belief in redemption.
- Cherri Bomb's room is primarily pink along with posters, graffiti and disco balls, reflecting her punk outlook and style.
- Lucifer's room is the largest and most regal seen, featuring many images of ducks (reflecting his love of the animals), his wife and daughter, and a few nods to the other Seven Sins. This reflects how dearly he treasures those close to him and his true nature as a dorky Nice Guy in spite of his reputation as the King of Hell.
- Outside of the Hotel, V Tower is a large, neon lit tower that doubles as their workplace and residence and features all their respective color motifs, blue for Vox, purple for Velvette, and pinkish red for Valentino, befitting three Evil Overlords reigning in Hell. The tower is also filled with photos of themselves, combined with their logo emblazoned on the top, reflects how narcissistic the three are.
- Vox's office has multiple Ominous Multiple Screens and a prominent shark tank, reflecting his controlling nature, affinity for technology and love of sharks, matching his own predatory nature.
- Velvette's room is a brightly coloured studio, reflecting her status as The Fashionista, constantly changing attire and management of the Vees image on social media.
- Valentino's room is bright red and full of erotic tools and imagery, reflecting his Hair-Trigger Temper and disturbing enthusiasm for his 'trade'.
- Carmilla Carmine's office building looks like a modern day business with angelic steel weapons sprinkled throughout, reflecting her thriving business as an Arms Dealer.
- Rosie's domain of Cannibal Town has the appearance of a 1950's town, Rosie herself running Rosie's Emporium, which sells jewellery, clothing and meat (of the expected kind), reflecting how her own act as a friendly and helpful woman hide a much more sinister side.
- Zestial's castle is primarily black with a prominent Skeleton Motif, glowing green webs and torches, alongside dark red windows and doors, befitting his nature as a polite, sophisticated Ancient Evil Overlord.
- The Exorcist's head office belonged to Adam, has the words "ADAM DICKMASTER-FIRST MAN" on the floor, and is decked out in white, gold, and golden instruments, reflecting his love of rock music and blatant narcissism under the thin veneer of an angel. Lute's Villain Song has her wreck the place while undergoing Sanity Slippage, reflecting his most obvious successor is becoming even more Ax-Crazy than he was!
Real Life
- Fast-food restaurants use bright colors like yellow and bright green so that patrons will eat and leave quickly, while sit-down restaurants use warm colors like red and brown to make people feel comfortable.
- It might be accidental or deliberate, but this slideshow shows an eerie match between Pyongyang's drab, mass-manufactured looks and the stark, oppressive dictatorship of North Korea.
- Bill Simmons said that with few exceptions, only cold-weather cities applied for officially tortured sports teams:
"You're already bitter about getting crushed, and then you wake up and it's 9 degrees outside, the skies are gray and you have to scrape ice off your windshield as your ears slowly freeze. It's almost like a background for your mood".
- In business facilities where the architectural design makes everything look pretty much the same, written color-coded labels are used so employees can easily tell where everything is.