What are the 'Floating Islands'?

[pipermaru]

Heather Gibson said in some interview that she was inspired by some Chinese myths involving palaces and mirages and jade, didn't she?

edit: From here.

Originally Posted by Heather Gibson

The inspiration behind the Floating Islands came from a programme I had seen on the Documentary Channel about Chinese myths. In a region in China an optical illusion of floating islands is created by particular weather patterns. The Chinese believed that these mirages were real islands in the sky belonging to the Emperors of the afterlife.

The documentary she is talking about was probably talking about the fata morgana, an optical phenomenon where rays of light are bent due to thermal inversion and certain objects like islands, boats, castles are reflected from far away and appear to be floating. The Flying Dutchman myth is considered a fata morgana, for example.

I didn't know these mirages happened in China as well. Thought they were frequent in deserts, sea and polar regions.

[Dustie]

While fata morgana makes sense as well, she might have been referring to either the pillar rock formations (like those in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, also known as an inspiration of the floating islands in Avatar) and/or plain mirages created by fog, which can also occur over rivers, like this one here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgdreRGYCT0

[peeves]

I didn't know there was a mirage over the xinan river in china. Nice find.

[jajay119]

Has anyone ever gained access to the structure left over from Temple of Xi'an behind Lara at the beginning of the level? I'm just intregued as to what's there. Probably nothing.

[Enya Brennan]

Originally Posted by jajay119

Has anyone ever gained access to the structure left over from Temple of Xi'an behind Lara at the beginning of the level? I'm just intregued as to what's there. Probably nothing.

I have been thinking about that recently, but didn't bother to try it. I wonder if it can be done without cheating.

[sackboy123]

Originally Posted by jajay119

Has anyone ever gained access to the structure left over from Temple of Xi'an behind Lara at the beginning of the level? I'm just intregued as to what's there. Probably nothing.

Chi has modded Lara up there before but nothing is there

[nuzero]

Originally Posted by pipermaru

Heather Gibson said in some interview that she was inspired by some Chinese myths involving palaces and mirages and jade, didn't she?

edit: From here.



The documentary she is talking about was probably talking about the fata morgana, an optical phenomenon where rays of light are bent due to thermal inversion and certain objects like islands, boats, castles are reflected from far away and appear to be floating. The Flying Dutchman myth is considered a fata morgana, for example.

I didn't know these mirages happened in China as well. Thought they were frequent in deserts, sea and polar regions.

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing...

As for the floating islands, I'd hazard a guess at them being some supernatural phenomena occurring within the temple. Maybe a gateway to another dimension? Goofy answer; it's a metaphor for the labyrinth of Lara's mind and the conquering of her inner-demon, in the shape of a massive Chinese dragon

[peeves]

The floating islands sounds like a different time world.

[Hotsam]

Originally Posted by nuzero

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing...

As for the floating islands, I'd hazard a guess at them being some supernatural phenomena occurring within the temple. Maybe a gateway to another dimension? Goofy answer; it's a metaphor for the labyrinth of Lara's mind and the conquering of her inner-demon, in the shape of a massive Chinese dragon

Lara simply took drugs and got high. Might explain why no one ever found the dragon's corpse and many other things.

Got the answer from azraelkhan's Talkthrough

[Flame_Knights]

Originally Posted by pipermaru

Heather Gibson said in some interview that she was inspired by some Chinese myths involving palaces and mirages and jade, didn't she?

edit: From here.



The documentary she is talking about was probably talking about the fata morgana, an optical phenomenon where rays of light are bent due to thermal inversion and certain objects like islands, boats, castles are reflected from far away and appear to be floating. The Flying Dutchman myth is considered a fata morgana, for example.

I didn't know these mirages happened in China as well. Thought they were frequent in deserts, sea and polar regions.

Sorry, I may have joined this forum too late.
Floating island should inspired by the concept of "海旁蜃氣象樓台" in Chinese myths and legends.
This concept can be directly translated as "Shen's exhale builds buildings on the sea"(蜃/Shen is a sea monster in chinese mythology, shaped like a giant oyster.)
This concept later evolved into the modern Chinese word"海市蜃樓/海市蜃楼", Japanese word"蜃気楼(しんきろう)", Korean word"신기루(蜃氣樓)" These words now have the same meaning as the "imrage" in English.
Of course, the meaning it expresses is more complicated than the literal meaning. It is associated with immortals(Xian), immortality, fairyland, illusions, and buildings of gold and silver. Around this concept, there are many interesting historical events and written records.
If you guys want to know more, I'll take the time to write something about it.
I'm not a native English speaker, this is a bit difficult for me.