Floating Oceans

Do you know what I love in science fiction and fantasy? Landscapes that defy logic. Rock formations that seem to have no conventional shape. Floating islands.

Floating islands are a known feature of some speculative fiction worlds. Anime. High fantasy. Science fiction. There's a profound image of a beautiful land mass floating above the world, exhibiting its glory despite the powers of gravity,… almost flaunting its specialness.

A long waterfall pouring down from its edge, fed by a lake or stream that seemingly has a never-ending supply of the stuff.

It defies logic in so many ways, and I could write up an entire article on all of the ways floating islands are impossible, but… they're just so freaking cool!

They are the ultimate expression of the "Rule of Cool" in world building.

Aerials, in the sky...

As someone who embraces the wild throes of the imagination, I don't see a problem of physics; I could come up with any sort of magical, fantastical, and faux-scientific reason for them existing, just enough to … "suspend" the readers belief long enough for them to accept it.

I have done exactly that, in fact, for my fantasy novel WIP. Y'know, the one I've tossed on the shelf for a long time but nibble at every now and then? …

Seriously, it's easy!

Take an early, renaissance or pre-victorian scientific understanding, entwine it with a comprehension of magics existence or its intertwining with the worlds knowledge of things, come up with fancy nomenclature, a casual nickname (Example:"mule-ish matter"), create a fictional ideological debate of why this thing exists but with no conclusive answer, and have certain supporting characters explain all of this in the middle of an argument for the reader to see.

Done! Floating island, confirmed!

One of many ways to explain away their existence!

"Laputa" - Castles in the Sky (1986)

The Hallelujah Mountains - Avatar (2009)

Taking it further.

I'm not here to talk about whats been done; they're a known trope in speculative fiction media.

I'm here to up the ante! … I'm here to push the boundaries of awesome!

And in order to up the ante, we have to ask the hard questions! For instance, why do floating islands always need to look like shattered fragments of pristine, natural, temperate utopia? Why not put Mordor on a floating island? Why not a tropical or jungle trees with an ancient Mayanesque temple? Why not floating glacial shards, or a one with a snow-covered wonderland? Imagine those giant waterfalls from island to island completely frozen over?

Also, what's with the shape? Either they're a flat plane that basically an inverted cone like it was plucked right off the ground, or some giant egg-like bolder made of massive bluffs with broccoli on top. How come we never see rings made of stone, or a floating basin that acts like a bowl, being fed by other waterfalls. Or a hot dog! I'm just saying,… we're already committing to fantasy here.

And by the way, there's always waterfalls in these images, where did all of that water come from in the first place? Seriously.

Why does land need to be the only floating, why not trance