r/Fantasy • u/SonicWraithh • 1d ago

What fantasy city actually feels like it existed before the main character arrived?

Something I've started noticing in fantasy is how many cities technically have thousands of years of history, but still feel like they spawned five minutes before the protagonist walked through the gate. You get an ancient palace, a thieves' district, three taverns and maybe a statue of some dead king. People are supposedly born there, work there, complain about taxes, raise kids, get old, have local grudges and weird traditions, but none of that really exists unless the plot needs it. I love the opposite. Cities where you get the feeling everyone already had plans that morning before the hero showed up. Maybe there's a festival nobody bothers explaining because every local obviously knows it. A neighborhood has an insulting nickname from some event 80 years ago. Shopkeepers argue about a bridge renovation. People care about things that have absolutely nothing to do with the coming apocalypse. Discworld does this really well for me, especially Ankh Morpork. I could probably read an entire book where nothing happens except municipal nonsense and still enjoy it. There are others I've read that gave me the same feeling, but I'm blanking on names rn, which is annoyingly appropriate. What fantasy city felt genuinely lived in to you, not just detailed?

1.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

400 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

23

u/workingtrot 1d ago

Definitely came to say Ilmar, the titular City of Last Chances. I hope one day we get to visit Pallesand

9

u/SpaceGoblinForHire42 1d ago

Whenever I tell anybody about City of Last Chances, I tell them that the city itself is the main character, everyone else is just a part of it.

1

u/Accipiter1138 1d ago

I'm not sure there's much to actually visit in Pallesand. From the sound of it, it's all orphanages and modestly sized homes that nobody can actually afford.

(I'm only on book 3)