These Urban Legends are on an entirely different scale. They're often small and isolated, often not very detailed, but they tell us so much about a place, a people, a history, in ways other kinds of mythology don't.
— Hello Future Me discussing this trope on his video 3 Ways Urban Legends Make Your Worldbuilding Better
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In Real Life, people spread folklore and hold superstitious beliefs. Such things vary between different groups. It thus makes sense and adds to the Worldbuilding of a fictional world for the fictional people in those worlds to have their own folklore and superstitious beliefs.
Some common fictional superstitious beliefs involve any variation of things that are supposedly good luck or bad luck. Other common folklore involves folk heroes and legendary weapons. Can also be the justification provided for Fictional Traditions.
While the story could treat these like real-world folklore and superstitious beliefs and have other people not actually believe in them, it could just as easily be played as actually having a basis in truth, even if details got lost or embellished along the way into its current form by the time it is presented in the story.
Depending on how strictly the story adheres to The Law of Conservation of Detail, the use of this trope could range from just adding a bit more character to the setting to being integral to the story. For example, a series that doesn't normally deal with cryptids could find themselves looking into fictional cryptids in the occasional Cryptid Episode.
Can be a source of Arbitrary Skepticism or indicator of Deliberate Values Dissonance. Expect the occasional person in-universe disbelieving, lamenting, or even outright lambasting the presented folklore or superstition, claiming they have Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions.
Compare Mythopoeia, Fantasy Counterpart Religion, and Fantasy Counterpart Myth for full-blown fictional religions and mythologies.
Overlaps with Urban Legends, which covers both fictional and non-fictional urban legends, and is a subset of folklore. Also overlaps with Folk Hero, which covers both fictional and non-fictional folk heroes.
Not to be confused with "fakelore", a.k.a invented tradition, a real-world practice of presenting a piece of fiction, such as a new song or story, as being tied to and part of genuine tradition when the subject in question was at best inspired by actual folklore, if not entirely the invention of the artist.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You: There is a superstition at Ohananomitsu High School that if you ask someone out using a four-leaf pink clover taken from school grounds, you're guaranteed to fall in love.
- Chained Soldier: There is a belief that the powers a woman gets from a Mato Peach is based on their personality and desires. It's not outright confirmed as true, but there appears to be some evidence for it, even if the link between personality and powers is not always clear-cut.
- Hell's Tormentor Kraken: Zeina gives Kuuma a drawing she made, telling him that it is said that a drawing made by warriors like her who put their heart and soul into it can act as a protective charm against evil.
- My Hero Academia: Early in the story, Izuku mentions that there are urban legends of a villain who's said to be able to take and give Quirks. All Might explains to Izuku that not only is said villain very real, his name is All for One, he accidentally created One for All when he gave a stockpiling Quirk to his brother who was believed to be Quirkless, and was the one who dealt the devastating injury to All Might.
- My-HiME: Midori came to Fuuka to do research into the legend of the "battle princesses" for her college thesis. Part of it includes a spot in the Crystal Dome of the school where if someone supposedly writes the name of the person they love on a ribbon and ties it to the railing, they will be successful in their relationship, as supposedly the spot was where there once stood a tree where the "battle princesses" had tied their headbands before going off to fight. It turns out the whole thing was based on the 300-year cycle of the HiME Festival, and when the events of the current Festival start causing massive property damage and chaos, Natsuki asks her contact within District One why they're not even bothering with a cover-up now, and he points out that the Festival is already in swing and by the time of the next one, in three-hundred years time, the events of this one will seem to be nothing but myth and legend to anyone hearing about them.
- One Piece: Who's-Who mentions during the Wano Arc that slaves at Mary Geoise pass down stories of a folk hero called the Sun God Nika. It turns out that that is the true name of Luffy's Devil Fruit, and Luffy is supposed to represent everything Nika was presented as.
- Pandemonium Wizard Village: According to superstition in the World of Funny Animals that the manga takes place in, the mysterious inhabitants of the titular hidden village — mix-and-match hybrids known as Variants — are sorcerers capable of supernatural feats. Among these alleged feats are the ability to command the dreaded Sky Golems terrorizing the world, and even the art of resurrecting the dead. The main character Zipher begins the story searching for the village, under the belief that he can get them to bring his beloved Anna back to life. But after arriving to the village and staying there for several days, he is eventually forced to confront the fact that the Variants were never the sorcerers of folklore; only a marginalized group of people fleeing from Fantastic Racism, who have to depend on nigh-magical devices and substances they barely even understand just to survive in the lifeless wasteland they were forced to settle in. The story ends with Zipher spreading the truth about the village to the outside world, which leads to the Variants becoming far less feared (and even accepted) by society in the sequel.
Fan Works
- Dead on Arrival (MHA): Set during the Dawn of Quirks, urban legends have spread of supposedly paranormal events in Japan after World War 3 ended. Izuku investigates these urban legends, reasoning that some of them are actually more metahumans like himself. Checking out stories of a river monster is how he finds Tsuyu, and the Hosu Vampire turns out to be Himiko.
- Pokemon: The Origin of Species: The people of Kanto believe in the Shadow Check, where apparently, tossing a glass of milk into the shadows during sunset will reveal hidden Dark-type Pokémon. Red doesn't believe in that superstition and laments the waste of milk.
- The Soulmate Timeline: Soulmates are the subject of many beliefs that seem to be unprovable scientifically but are widely believed by the general populace. Perhaps the most prominent of them is that anyone with a Soulbond is deserving of love and blessed by the gods, giving various flavorings by the Christian Pastor Sakura (who believed his meant that he was meant to reform the church, though he'd later admit in a final letter to Kyoko that this was a prideful take and instead came to the conclusion it meant that he was meant to be Kyoko's father to ensure she'd do something grand in saving lives) and the Tokime Haruka Kamada (who immediately came to see Mami and Homura as trustworthy for having one).
- A Thing of Vikings:
- In a case of Adaptation Expansion to the original superstition in How to Train Your Dragon (2010), it is a persistent belief among the Hooligans that giving their kids silly or at least unconventional names wards off danger, be it real or imagined. This story explains that this belief got its start during the time of Hiccup the First, when people noticed that he was the only infant with an unusual name and the only infant that never even contracted a plague going around at the time. The parents of another infant who was in danger of dying from the plague changed his name from Varg to Catbrains and he got healthy within the week. As a result, the tribe created the tradition of giving their newborns unusual names, with further incidents reinforcing the belief that silly names act as a protective talisman.
- The events of the story resulted in the creation of a new type of malevolent entity, the kroaziad. They are a type of ghost that originate from slain Christian crusaders. The exact reasons for them sticking around as ghosts and how to deal with them vary among the various demographic groups of the North Sea Empire.
- What You Knead (Naruto): When bread starts randomly appearing around the ANBU headquarters, the paranoid ninjas working there assume it is cursed bread left behind by a vengeful baker and that eating it is bad. However, it's all one big prank Kakashi and his friends decided to play on their fellow ANBU. One of said friends, Shisui, takes great joy in the looks of horror the other ANBU give him when he eats the bread.
Films — Animation
- An American Tail: In the opening, Papa Mousekewitz tells his family the tale of the Giant Mouse of Minsk, who was so large he scared away all the cats. This later inspires Fievel to come up with the idea to create their own Giant Mouse of Minsk in a plan to drive the gang of cats that had been terrorizing the local mice out of New York.
- How to Train Your Dragon (2010): The Hairy Hooligans believe that having hideous names frightens off gnomes and trolls, hence why the protagonist is named Hiccup. Hiccup notes that his own name isn't even the worst one.
Films — Live-Action
- The Blair Witch Project is a found footage movie about the search for the "legendary" Blair Witch, who the filmmakers made up for the film. According to the legends, the Blair Witch haunts a forest near the small town of Burkittsville, Maryland and a lot of incidents are tied to the witch.
Literature
- Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest:
- While in the Hoeschle Empire, Hajime gives the Hero's Party ranger masks. Ranger Pink (Shizuku in disguise) made such an impression she, and she alone, becomes a bedtime story parents tell their kids to make them behave.
- The people of Tortus have a superstition where it is said that if someone confesses to their crush with a fris flower on Fris Day, and they accept, they would be together forever.
- Discworld:
- The Fifth Elephant: Agi Hammerthief is a fictional entity from Dwarven folklore who is said to be responsible for various unwanted happenings, including missing hammers.
- The Wee Free Men: Done in a tongue-in-cheek manner with the Nac Mac Feegle's superstition that names have power. The toad explains that as a result, they don't tell names to outsiders in case they get written down. Like on complicated documents. Or worse, legal summons, wanted posters, bills and affadavits, or even writs of distrainment.
- Harry Potter:
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Thestrals are considered bad omens by wizards due to being visible only to those who have seen, understood and accepted the death of another. Their appearance as skeletal horses with giant leathery wings reinforces their reputation as bad omens.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The titular Deathly Hallows have a lot of legends surrounding them. Xenophilius believes them to be artifacts of Death, and he and many other people who know of the legends believe that bringing all three artifacts together allows one to be the master of Death. Dumbledore has a dissenting opinion, believing them to be the creation of three talented brothers and the legends started due to how amazing the artifacts were. Ultimately, the truth is left up in the air.
- How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Liscia tells Souma that it is considered good luck to see Mother Dragon on one of her sightseeing flights.
- Lazy Dungeon Master: A highly specific gambling superstition develops in the town of Goren. According to rumour, if one tries their luck on the slot machine after Ichika suffers a string of losses, that specific slot machine will pay out five times as often. Roppe and Gozou saw how that superstition developed in real time. It started with Keima mentioning that the slot machine would pay out slightly more often due to the odds averaging out. Gossip Evolution turned that into winning way more often. Then it turned into rumour of people actually winning more often and with bigger prizes. Roppe and Gozou however know it's all Theory Tunnel Vision at work and while there are more wins on that machine, there are also more losses and it all averages out, but gamblers trying their luck ignore the losses.
- A Storm of Swords: The story of the Rat Cook is a folk legend passed down among the people of the setting that emphasises the importance of hospitality. The gods didn't consider the Rat Cook the villain for gaining revenge by killing a king's son and serving him as a meal to the king as they considered that he had the right to pursue revenge. The gods considered him the villain for killing a guest in his home, and so cursed him to become a rat.
- The Support Mage Yearns for Party Banishment ~ The World Is in a Banishment Boom, but the Party Members Who Think Too Highly of Me Never Want to Let Me Go: There is a superstition that you can transfer mana with a kiss.
- Warrior Cats: The Clans have folk tales about three mythical Clans of big cats that they were supposedly descended from: LionClan, TigerClan, and LeopardClan. Secrets of the Clans contains some of these tales in the form of "Just So" Stories, and throughout the series, the cats occasionally make reference to them (e.g. "fighting like a LionClan warrior").
- Watership Down: El-ahrairah was the folk-hero of Lapine myth amongst the various groups of rabbits encountered in the novel, from the creation story to his frequent tricks against the many enemies of rabbits, to his encounter with the rabbit version of the Grim Reaper, whom he could not outwit (a reminder that death was inevitable, even for heroes), his stories were the entertainment and inspiration for the rabbits of the warren at the titular Watership Down.
Live-Action TV
- CSI: NY: In the episode "No Good Deed", a bird drops an eyeball in Stella's drink while she was having a meal with Mac at the beginning of the episode. At the end of the episode, Ella asks Mac if he's heard of the latest urban legend, that a bird dropped a human eyeball in a woman's drink.
- Monk: In the episode "Mr Monk and the Miracle", stories have spread that a fountain at a local monastery has miraculous healing properties. Captain Stottlemeyer is skeptical but tries it out and his back pain goes away, which prompts him to join the monastery. It turns out that the villain of the week engineered the whole thing. McCloskey murdered his former business partner and hid his body where the fountain is now built upon. When he heard the fountain was slated to be demolished and something else built, he realised the construction work would inevitably find the corpse and to prevent that, he tried to create the myth the fountain has holy power by giving people who go to his pharmacy fake medicine at first, then giving them the real medicine after they drink from the fountain. Though the myth is debunked, Stottlemeyer tells Monk that he felt drinking really helped and at the end of the episode, Monk finds himself strongly considering taking a drink himself before the fountain is demolished.
- Sonny with a Chance: In the episode "The Legend of Candy Face", Ms. Bitterman talks about the titular legend. He is said to have been a suburban father who tried to make people laugh by wearing a mask made of candy. However, the candy melted into his face, and it became a cause of mockery. Enraged, he murdered everyone who laughed at him. During the events of the episode, Sonny sleepwalks and accidentally destroys several of her friends' and acquaintances' belongings, which they attribute to Candy Face and they start making efforts to defeat Candy Face.
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody: In the episode "The Ghost in Suite 613", the titular Suite 613 of The Tipton Hotel is the subject of long-held ghost stories. According to legend, there was once a woman named Irene. She was a beautiful young woman who checked in with her husband for their honeymoon, but the husband had to leave to fight in World War 2. She waited for him to come back, but he never did. Irene would later learn her husband left her for another woman and they opened a pizza parlour in the Naples. Outraged, she threw a silver hairbrush her cheating husband previously gave her at a mirror and the resulting glass shards cut her neck, killing her, and she has been haunting that room ever since. Cody and several other characters take advantage of this ghost story to get some payback on Zach for all the pranks he made them suffer. The episode ends with The Reveal that the ghost is in fact reveal, but given how she acted much nicer than how the stories portrayed her, it's unclear how much of the legends are true.
- Wishbone: The No Name Grave has long been the subject of local ghost stories. No one knows the truth behind it until the events of the episodes "A Tail in Twain, Parts 1 & 2".
Music
- The Charlie Daniels Band recorded "The Legend of Wooley Swamp", a song about a greedy hermit that hid his money in Mason jars buried in that swamp. Three ne'er-do-wells set upon the hermit, and took thirteen jars of loot. They didn't get far before all three sank, terrified and screaming, into the soft ground. The final stanza recounts how Wooley Swamp is still haunted by their demise.
And on certain nights if the moon is right
And you're down by the dark footpath,
You can hear three young men screaming
And you can hear that old man laugh. - Yaelokre, run by Keath Ósk, tells the story of an Ensemble Cast of four young minstrels known as "The Lark", to sing of fables that are being retold and unsung, from the truth to fairy tales with a granting voice to tell the stories of Meadowlark.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes lists a number of superstitions practised by halflings, including:
- Put a frog under your cap for good luck, but don't leave it there too long or it's bad luck for a week.
- If you step on a butterfly, best not leave your house for 3 days.
- When planting turnips or radishes, bury a big stone at the head of the row as a tribute to the goddess Yondalla, and she'll ensure a good crop.
- If you see a fairy circle, tip your hat and keep it on your left while walking past it, and never step inside it.
Video Games
- Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War: Halfway through the game, the Wardog Squadron is deployed to the Razgriz Straights just north of Emmeria in the continent of Anea, to sink the Yuktobanian Submersible Aircraft Carrier, the Hrimfaxi. During the cutscene that plays before the mission, Albert Gennett mentions that it is believed that the demon Razgriz originates from those straights. The legend goes:
"When history witnesses a great change, Razgriz reveals itself. First as a Dark Demon. As a Demon, it uses its power to rain death upon the land. And then it dies. However, after a period of slumber, Razgriz returns. This time, as a great Hero."
- Final Fantasy XII: The bestiary entry for the Marlboro King shares a legend that a man that slays the beast and wears its crown would find out the crown is cursed due to themselves turning into another Marlboro King.
- Kingdom Hearts II: The Seven Wonders of Twilight Town are seven urban legends that Roxas and his friends decide to investigate for a school project. One, The Spooky Steps, where the number of steps on the stairs differ when going up compared to going down, turns out to be because the person who made that claim miscounted. Four of the others turns out to be related to Organization XIII attempting to infiltrate the town. The Lonely Girl that can be seen in the abandoned mansion is dismissed by Pence as people mistaking the curtains being blown about by winds as a girl, but Roxas knows it's actually Namine. The Ghost Train Mystery where there's a train that leads nowhere is actually a magic train that leads to Yensid's tower.
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom: Minister Lefte mentions that according to folklore, people can walk along the clouds of Hebra Mountain.
- Mass Effect 3: Javik, who was born after the Reaper invasion had already begun, which means he never saw the Citadel in person, reveals that the Protheans used to tell stories about the Citadel when they needed a mood lift, looking back at the time when they were the masters of the galaxy.
- Pokémon: There is a lot of folklore in the games, with the Pokedex sharing a lot for the actual Pokemon.
- Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire: According to superstitions, Absol are bringers of disaster, hence why they are called the Disaster Pokemon. However, the truth is that Absol predict disasters and try to warn people about them, only to be blamed for those disasters.
- Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: In the Canalave Library are various Sinnohan folktales, including one that explains why Pokémon appear to people in tall grass, mainly that they wish to assist humans. Another folktale speaks of a man who gained a sword and arrogantly cut down Pokemon before one calls him out, prompting them to face the reality of their actions. Other folktales are tied to the Legendary and Mythical Pokemon of Sinnoh.
- Pokémon X and Y: According to legend, Phantump are tree stumps possessed by the ghosts of children who died while lost in the woods.
Visual Novels
- Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club: The titular Smiling Man is an in-universe urban legend about a serial killer who wears a paper bag with a smile drawn on it, shows up near crying girls, tells them that he would put a "smile on the face" before strangling them while putting paper bags identical to his on their faces. Some versions of the story tell that Emio will spare those who smile and that instant death is guaranteed to those who see his face.
Web Animation
- Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City: Blueberry Muffin tells all sorts of fantastical folkloric tales, such as the ghost of J. Quincy Cupcake or the mystical Berry Guardians.
Webcomics
- El Goonish Shive: There is an old legend, primarily believed by Uryoum/Human Seyunolu hybrids, that there will be a day when someone will come and unite all the Seyunolu outcasts of the world. It's old, and has many translations, with the most common interpretation being that that person is a "Master of Fire". The villain Damien exists because one group got tired of waiting and decided to create the Master of Fire themselves.
- Surviving the Game as a Barbarian: One rather morbid superstition some of the citizens of Rafdonia have is that if you dip a loaf of bread in the blood of someone who was just executed for failing to pay the monthly tax for living there, and then eat it, you'll have good financial luck for the next month.
Websites
- SCP Foundation: SCP-6087 ("The Voice-Taker Cometh") involves the Scare 'Em Straight folktale of the Voice-Taker, a mute ghost who punishes kids who lie or use profanity by stealing their voices.
Web Videos
- Critical Role: In Exandria, Ruidusborn — those born during a flare of Exandria's small red moon Ruidus — are said to be destined for either great honor or great sorrow. Common people tend to think of this as a bad omen, leading to a stigma that leads some to hide their Ruidusborn status or even prevent a child being born under a flare, but scholars simply see it as an indication of importance. Campaign 3 ends up centering around Ruidus and the truth about Ruidusborn.
- ＬＯＣＡＬ５８: The videos have the color of an Urban Legend, with the twist that there's some truth to all of them. The central mythos is that there's something horrific going on with the moon, but there's also a driver whose GPS leads him into the woods to be killed by a monster, the 'accidental' airing of a PSA that potentially caused mass suicides, and the local legend of a woman seen only in profile ('she' is actually an alien, natch).
Western Animation
- Codename: Kids Next Door: Numbuh Zero is a folk hero to the Kids Next Door, said to be the founder of their seventh age after finding the equally legendary Book of KND. Most of the Kids Next Door treat him as just that, a legend. The events of Operation: Z.E.R.O. prove that not only is Numbuh Zero and his accomplishments very real, he is Numbuh One's father.
- Max Steel (2013): A local urban legend in Copper Canyon tells of the Copper Squatch, a local cryptid base on real-life urban legends of Bigfoot. Max and his friends check out the abandoned mine it is said to live at in the episode "Journey to the Center of Copper Canyon". It is revealed to be real at the end of the episode.
- In Miraculous Ladybug, there have been tales of fairy-like creatures who bestow powers going back centuries, but since kwamis can't be recorded by any digital means, most people assume they're just a myth. When Ms. Mendeleiev tries to reveal the existence of kwamis to the world on televisions, she's laughed off the show, considered even more of a fantasist than known Conspiracy Theorist Jalil Kubdel.
- Phineas and Ferb:
- Phineas and Ferb take advantage of a lake vacation to try to find Nosey the Lake Nose Monster, a parody of Nessie the Loch Ness Monster. Phineas and Ferb befriend Nosey while trying to prove its existence, and ultimately decide to keep Nosey's secret.
- When he was a child in his home country of Drusselstein, Dr. Doofenshmirtz's mother used to sing him and his brother Roger the story of Der Kinderlumper, a giant ogre-like creature who would kidnap "naughty" kids and keep them in a giant sack in the vein of Krampus, eventually inspiring him to impersonate Der Kinderlumper and scare Roger into handing over the mayorship of the Tri-State Area. However, she actually told Roger that Der Kinderlumper was a caring figure who gave presents to children more in the vein of the Tooth Fairy.
- Instead of Yetis, Phineas and Ferb's version of the Himalayan Mountains is said to be the home to Klimpaloon, The Magical Old-Timey Bathing Suit.
- Scooby-Doo: Almost all of the monsters, ghosts, witches, etc that the gang deals with are fictitious folklore, some genuine In-Universe, which the villain will exploit, others made up whole-cloth by the villains. During The Summation, count on either Freddy or Velma to spell out which it is by saying either "He used the legend..." Or "He made up the story to..."
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!:
- "Bedlam in the Big Top": The Ghost Clown was a real superstition in-universe which was exploited by Harry the Hypnotist.
- "Jeepers, It's the Creeper": The Creeper was made up whole-cloth by crooked bank-manager Mr. Carlswell, who would put in appearances as the titular "phantom" to convince people that The Creeper was robbing the bank, not him.
- The Scooby-Doo Show:
- "To Switch a Witch": Zig-zagged. The Salem Witch Trials were, of course, real. But there was no Milissa Wilcox, reportedly executed In-Universe as a witch, in the real Salem Witch Trials. Within the framework of the show, however, she was a legitimate victim of the trials, a fact which Arlene Wilcox's unnamed twin sister used to try and frame Arlene as the witch reborn to swoop in and seize the family estate. For reasons never explained in-show, the twins were raised separately, with Arlene having no knowledge of her sister's existence until the attempted frame-up.
- "The Creepy Case of Old Iron Face": Iron Face was a legend from the prison on Skull Island where the warden supposedly found the prisoner to be so mean and ugly that he had an iron mask welded to his face so he wouldn't have to look at him. Mama Mione takes advantage of the legend to help smuggle escaped convicts out of the community.
- Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?: Alton Brown invites the gang to a castle where he has them help investigate his ancestors, Dr. Frankenfooder, who supposedly created a monstrous creature. But it turns out that Alton made it up whole-cloth in an effort to attempt to "reinvent" himself.
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!:
- Slugterra:
- Legends get passed down of The Burning World. According to the legends, it is unreachable by normal means, has strange magic and untold riches, and a lantern at the heart of creation that lights it up. People in-universe hold it in the same regard as legends of Atlantis and most treat it as mere myth. Eli however, immediately realizes the Burning World is in fact the surface world he came from, and does his best to make sure no one figures out the truth. He does however share it with his closest friends, both as a huge show of faith and so they understand how important it is they help him in making sure no one from Slugterra reaches the surface.
- Kord tells the rest of the Shane Gang that there is an old cave troll legend that the same energy in slugs can be found in the various sentient races of Slugterra.
- In Z-O-M-B-I-E-S: The Re-Animated Series, the Solstice Slasher is officially just a legend made up to scare young werewolves, but since All Myths Are True in this universe, there actually is a Solstice Slasher somewhere out there, deep in the woods outside of Seabrook.
