Fictional universe

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A fictional universe^[1] is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative work or work of art, most commonly associated with works of fantasy and science fiction. Fictional universes appear in novels, comics, films, television shows, video games, art, and other creative works.^[2][3]

A fictional universe may be an alternative version of the real world, differing only in the particulars of the story. All fiction, in this sense, is set in a fictional universe, since at least some of its characters, events, and places are not real; the term "fictional universe", however, is usually not applied to worlds that do not contain speculative elements.

When the setting of a fictional universe is not presented as our own world but as its own distinct world, it is often instead called a fictional world or "fantasy world".^[4] In science fiction such a fictional world may be a remote alien planet or galaxy with little apparent relationship to the real world (as in Star Wars); in fantasy it may be a greatly fictionalized or invented version of Earth's distant past or future (as in The Lord of the Rings).^[2] When such a world is meant to have no connection to our own world (in effect, our world does not exist in that world's reality) or is presented as a reality that can only be accessed from our own by a portal, it is sometimes called a secondary world; such settings are common in high fantasy (as in The Chronicles of Narnia, Earthsea, and Discworld). A fictional world that is meant to exist inside the real world (as in the Land of Oz or the Neverland) may be termed a fictional realm.

When a franchise of related works has two or more alternative fictional universes that are each internally consistent but which are not fully consistent with one another (as by having distinct plotlines and characters, for example between a comic and its film adaptation), each such alternative universe may be referred to as a (fictional) continuity.