Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

In the Doldrums

 In the Doldrums
type
FeatureClass
 In the Doldrums
label
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums
page
InTheDoldrums
 In the Doldrums
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })This place is barren, and it takes steps to keep it that way.
The Doldrums is a place with the distinguishing characteristic of being boring. But this isn't your standard, run-of-the-mill boring. This is advanced boring. Here is a place that defies the normal properties of space to create a barren wasteland. Its properties may include lack of purpose, loss of memory, time dilation, space dilation, lack of living things, and Involuntary Fading Disorder.
A common variant has The Doldrums is an infinite featureless plane, potentially overlapping with Blank White Void if it lacks even the most basic visual features like distinction between ground and sky. The Doldrums is often also a Place Beyond Time, the endless calm resulting from having no passage of time for events to occur in.
The trope has a particular overlap with Super-Sargasso Sea in which the emptiness is dotted with lost objects drifting in the cosmic calm, echoing the Trope Namers for both: Part of the original Sargasso Sea's infamy stems from lying in the doldrums, a region near the Earth's Equator prone to prolonged periods of windless calm. Careless navigation or bad luck could find a ship drifting with the seaweed and flotsam in the Sargasso's circling currents for weeks, as the food and water slowly ran out and the crew went mad from boredom.
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Overlaps a bit with Mordor, but the key feature is the bareness, not the evilness. Purgatory and Limbo are often depicted in this way.
Examples:
 In the Doldrums
fetched
2023-01-30T19:27:25Z
 In the Doldrums
parsed
2023-01-30T19:27:26Z
 In the Doldrums
processingComment
Dropped link to CrapsackWorld: Not an Item - FEATURE
 In the Doldrums
processingComment
Dropped link to Gorillaz: Not an Item - IGNORE
 In the Doldrums
processingComment
Dropped link to RealLife: Not an Item - FEATURE
 In the Doldrums
processingComment
Dropped link to ToiletHumor: Not an Item - FEATURE
 In the Doldrums
isPartOf
DBTropes
 In the Doldrums / int_1fcdbe32
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_1fcdbe32
comment
The Doldrums of the Kingdom of Wisdom in The Phantom Tollbooth in the animated film.
 In the Doldrums / int_1fcdbe32
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_1fcdbe32
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Phantom Tollbooth
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_1fcdbe32
 In the Doldrums / int_2ade1ae9
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_2ade1ae9
comment
Nobilis: The Dead Zone of Libya is a place where an Excrucian Strategist applied the World-Breaker's Hand especially hard, and annihilated far more than just the land and its dwellers. Not only is there no life in there, there's no meaning, no hope, and no worth left within it, to the point any man would break in half mentally if they had to spend more than a day in there. But no one's ever tried doing that, because whatever makes a land memorable, even remarkable, was burned away too.
 In the Doldrums / int_2ade1ae9
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_2ade1ae9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Nobilis (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_2ade1ae9
 In the Doldrums / int_38c57aa2
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_38c57aa2
comment
The same is basically true of Dollurh in Eberron, except while only some evil people (and the occasional adventuring party) wind up in Hades, everybody winds up in Dollurh.
 In the Doldrums / int_38c57aa2
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_38c57aa2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Eberron (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_38c57aa2
 In the Doldrums / int_3ec5b7a6
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_3ec5b7a6
comment
The interior of the labyrinth in House of Leaves. Nothing but bare, ash black walls and empty corridors, without so much as dust or microbes to violate the stillness. Anything left behind in the labyrinth is gradually obliterated, possibly by the same being responsible for the horrifying growling noise that can sometimes be heard inside.
 In the Doldrums / int_3ec5b7a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_3ec5b7a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 House of Leaves
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_3ec5b7a6
 In the Doldrums / int_3efde824
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_3efde824
comment
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer has a Pocket Dimension in the form of an eternally rainy country garden outside of time. All changes slowly undo themselves, and everyone inside slowly slides into mindless, repetitive behaviours. Cabal escapes by rigging up a water clock and bringing time back to the place.
 In the Doldrums / int_3efde824
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_3efde824
featureConfidence
1.0
 Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_3efde824
 In the Doldrums / int_43576f5
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_43576f5
comment
Supernatural: Crowley invokes it when he reshapes hell into a long, long, long queue. And when you reach the end of it? You start it again.
 In the Doldrums / int_43576f5
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_43576f5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Supernatural
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_43576f5
 In the Doldrums / int_468bebb0
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_468bebb0
comment
Some people end up in one in Discworld when they die, an apparently infinite dusky desert. The afterlife they ultimately end up in is at the "end" of the desert. Some march on resolutely, others just stay there with different results (Anghammarad, being a golem, enjoyed finally being free and simply sat down to do absolutely nothing, Vorbis, having no clue what to do, was paralyzed with fear for a century).
 In the Doldrums / int_468bebb0
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_468bebb0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Discworld
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_468bebb0
 In the Doldrums / int_46a4b34d
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_46a4b34d
comment
Similarly, the Troll Gods of The Elenium can access the world between seconds. While there are people and animals they're all frozen in place and cannot be moved and everything is quiet. It's very efficient for traveling long distances in a short time but also very unnerving.
 In the Doldrums / int_46a4b34d
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_46a4b34d
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Elenium
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_46a4b34d
 In the Doldrums / int_4a561051
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_4a561051
comment
There's an episode of the Care Bears like this, called "Drab City," where the titular bears find a town where everything is depressing and colorless, and all the people are apathetic. As they travel through the town, they begin to turn gray and depressed as well.
 In the Doldrums / int_4a561051
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_4a561051
featureConfidence
1.0
 Care Bears (1980s)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_4a561051
 In the Doldrums / int_4d9653ef
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_4d9653ef
comment
In Planescape, the properties of the Grey Wastes of Hades replace all emotions with hopelessness and gloom, and cause colors fade to Gloomy Gray.
 In the Doldrums / int_4d9653ef
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_4d9653ef
featureConfidence
1.0
 Planescape (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_4d9653ef
 In the Doldrums / int_526d4c5c
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_526d4c5c
comment
The Rakatan prison in Knights of the Old Republic is a big blank whiteness with a single prisoner being the only remarkable feature. Talking to him reveals that there were others as well who got trapped by accident and eventually ran off into the endless void.
 In the Doldrums / int_526d4c5c
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_526d4c5c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_526d4c5c
 In the Doldrums / int_53a0bd32
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_53a0bd32
comment
One episode of The Twilight Zone (1959) has a man who only wants to read be the sole survivor when everyone else on earth is killed off. He finally has all the time in the world to read! And then he breaks his glasses.
 In the Doldrums / int_53a0bd32
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_53a0bd32
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Twilight Zone (1959)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_53a0bd32
 In the Doldrums / int_5999b1ec
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_5999b1ec
comment
Xanth gives us the Neverglades. An infinite expanse of featureless marsh that traps people within it for all eternity unless you can overcome the spell in some way.
 In the Doldrums / int_5999b1ec
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_5999b1ec
featureConfidence
1.0
 Xanth
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_5999b1ec
 In the Doldrums / int_6ac55ec7
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_6ac55ec7
comment
Dungeons & Dragons:
In Planescape, the properties of the Grey Wastes of Hades replace all emotions with hopelessness and gloom, and cause colors fade to Gloomy Gray.
The same is basically true of Dollurh in Eberron, except while only some evil people (and the occasional adventuring party) wind up in Hades, everybody winds up in Dollurh.
 In the Doldrums / int_6ac55ec7
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_6ac55ec7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dungeons & Dragons (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_6ac55ec7
 In the Doldrums / int_8645d677
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_8645d677
comment
The Muddletop Moors in Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger novel The Day of the Dissonance. It's overcast all the time, food is tasteless and anyone traveling through it gets so bored and depressed that they just lie down and die. It turns out that the depression is caused by the telepathic broadcasts of the intelligent giant fungi who live there. But of course, Jon Tom provided some magical entertainment to the fungi and passed through the moors safely.
 In the Doldrums / int_8645d677
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_8645d677
featureConfidence
1.0
 Spellsinger
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_8645d677
 In the Doldrums / int_bc758ea9
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_bc758ea9
comment
In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Kon Ducki", Day 18 of the voyage sees Plucky and co in “The Dreaded Doldrums”, with Plucky beginning to fear his crew is approaching the point of utter terror. He then checks on them, and they’re watching a cartoon mouse on the ship’s TV.
 In the Doldrums / int_bc758ea9
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_bc758ea9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tiny Toon Adventures
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_bc758ea9
 In the Doldrums / int_bc848d30
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_bc848d30
comment
One episode of SpongeBob SquarePants ends with Squidward in an endless expanse of white emptiness, until he mentioned he was, at last, alone. Cue voices saying "alone" and the word itself appearing in different colors and sizes.
 In the Doldrums / int_bc848d30
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_bc848d30
featureConfidence
1.0
 SpongeBob SquarePants
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_bc848d30
 In the Doldrums / int_c03c2b44
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_c03c2b44
comment
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End: Davey Jones' Locker is a barren wasteland (for a while, anyways). Nothing but perfectly flat, white desert in every direction. It's called "The Doldrums" twice, and it is true to the original definition (It is a sailors hell, after all): no wind to sail on nor even water to sail in; Just Jack Sparrow, his ship, and a bunch of crabs.
 In the Doldrums / int_c03c2b44
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_c03c2b44
featureConfidence
1.0
 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_c03c2b44
 In the Doldrums / int_c19c6efa
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_c19c6efa
comment
All Minecraft maps have an upper and lower Void. The upper Void is simply the sky in the overworld and the End, while in the Nether it's the open space 128 meters above the bedrock ceiling. The lower Void, in all dimensions, is an infinite drop into black oblivion that kills entities (including players) that go past y-64.
 In the Doldrums / int_c19c6efa
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_c19c6efa
featureConfidence
1.0
 Minecraft (Video Game)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_c19c6efa
 In the Doldrums / int_c43df4d8
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_c43df4d8
comment
The titular setting of the Doctor Who serial "Warrior's Gate". A subversion of sorts as doing nothing is the only way to get out.
 In the Doldrums / int_c43df4d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_c43df4d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Who
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_c43df4d8
 In the Doldrums / int_cf3e7a82
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_cf3e7a82
comment
In Superman, the Phantom Zone where Superman and Supergirl keep their Kryptonian enemies imprisoned is an endless, completely empty dimension.
 In the Doldrums / int_cf3e7a82
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_cf3e7a82
featureConfidence
1.0
 Superman (Franchise)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_cf3e7a82
 In the Doldrums / int_d8a841f4
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_d8a841f4
comment
The Guardian's realm looks like this in The Longest Journey. It turns out to be a Fisher Kingdom — in the sequel, the replacement for the first game's ailing Guardian adds plant life and a proper sky.
 In the Doldrums / int_d8a841f4
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_d8a841f4
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Longest Journey (Video Game)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_d8a841f4
 In the Doldrums / int_db2eaaa1
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_db2eaaa1
comment
The Land of the Forgotten from The Book of Life is a dark, near-featureless plane.
 In the Doldrums / int_db2eaaa1
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_db2eaaa1
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Book of Life
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_db2eaaa1
 In the Doldrums / int_e6275a02
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_e6275a02
comment
Richard of Looking for Group gets locked in one called "the Infinite Plane of Suck."
 In the Doldrums / int_e6275a02
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_e6275a02
featureConfidence
1.0
 Looking for Group (Webcomic)
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_e6275a02
 In the Doldrums / int_ea4f62db
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_ea4f62db
comment
A cutaway in an early Family Guy episode showed the Griffins on holiday in Limbo. They were all just hanging in a featureless void, commenting on how it was neither good or bad.
 In the Doldrums / int_ea4f62db
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_ea4f62db
featureConfidence
1.0
 Family Guy
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_ea4f62db
 In the Doldrums / int_ec28245c
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_ec28245c
comment
The "Room of Spirit and Time" from Dragon Ball Z ("Hyperbolic Time Chamber" in the dub) is an infinite White Void Room where a year passes for every day outside. This, combined with increased gravity and wildly fluctuating temperature, can have an erosive effect on your sanity — Goku is mentioned to have tried it when he was younger, only to barely last a month.
 In the Doldrums / int_ec28245c
featureApplicability
1.0
 In the Doldrums / int_ec28245c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dragon Ball Z
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_ec28245c
 In the Doldrums / int_ef076a36
type
In the Doldrums
 In the Doldrums / int_ef076a36
comment
Star Trek: Voyager:
On "Death Wish", the Q continuum was described this way by a Q who had become so bored with his omniscience that he wished to commit suicide. In order to back up his statement, he led the crew to a part of the continuum inhabited by a group of Q who did absolutely nothing but sit in one spot — having done ''literally everything'.
Subverted on "Night" — they're moving as per normal, they just can't see it as the void is 2,500 light years across, and the stars are obscured by theta radiation.
 In the Doldrums / int_ef076a36
featureApplicability
-0.3
 In the Doldrums / int_ef076a36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Voyager
hasFeature
In the Doldrums / int_ef076a36

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 In the Doldrums
processingCategory2
Otherworld Tropes
 In the Doldrums
processingCategory2
Settings
 Superman (Comic Book) / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 Care Bears (Franchise) / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 House of Leaves / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 Spellsinger / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 The Langoliers / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 The Phantom Tollbooth / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 The Road / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 Xanth / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 Eberron (Tabletop Game) / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 Figment (Video Game) / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game) / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums
 The Book of Life / int_5321053
type
In the Doldrums