The Kingdom of Dreamland, also known as the Dreamland Empire, is a magical realm on Earth that serves as the primary setting of the series. For the majority of the series, it is ruled by members of the House of Grunkwitz, mainly King Zøg, but as of the series finale, it is ruled by Queen Mop Girl Miri and King Elfo Elfowitz.
It was home to Bean, her "personal demon" Luci[1] and her exiled half-elf companion, Elfo.
The capital of the kingdom is also named Dreamland. It is here that Dreamland Castle is located. There also seem to be smaller lands in the kingdom, such as the duchy of Twinkletown and the lordship of Lingonberry.
Dreamland hides a large source of natural magic, which is the result of holy water from Heaven and infernal steam from Hell coming together beneath the capital. For the majority of the series, this magic is sought after by various people, including Queen Dagmar, King Rulo and Alva Gunderson.
History[]
Pre-Human Rule[]
Long before the humans ruled Dreamland, the kingdom was actually the current location of the flourishing Elven Kingdom that was inhabited by not just Elves, but also Trøgs and Mermaids.
At some point, humans arrived in the Kingdom and tried to conquer it, but had to battle the Elves first. One day, the humans organized their first attempt to take over Dreamland and this attempt resulted in a battle in a small cove. While the Elves and Mermaids at first held off the human army, an unseen magic users used black lightning to kill all the Elves and Mermaids, giving the Human army a victory. Thus, the Elves were forced to leave Dreamland and establish a new settlement in the forest called Elfwood, while the Trøgs stayed behind and took residence in the caves below the newly built Dreamland Castle, and another group known as Sea Trøgs lived in the ocean inside one of the crumbling ruins of old elven castles.
House of Grunkwitz[]
With the Elves gone, the House of Grunkwitz became the ruling family of Dreamland.
According to Zøg, this story was passed down the Øg line. However, among both Humans and Elves, the history of Dreamland was largely forgotten. By the time the first season starts, most Elves consider Elfwood to be their only home, while in Dreamland people have largely forgotten Elves used to live there.
Sometime after Dreamland became a human kingdom, a hidden cult known as the Seekers plotted to control Dreamland from the shadows and manipulate every king or queen the comes next.
Reign of Zøg[]
Originally, Yøg was next in line to the throne of Dreamland and was approved by the current King Xøg while Zøg was considered a lesser prince as a kid and eventually became the "Warrior Prince". One day, Yøg was poisoned by the Seekers and died with Zøg becoming king in his place. The king later met Princess Dagmar and married her soon after later having a daughter named Princess Tiabeanie or "Bean". Unbeknown to the king, Dagmar only married him and had Bean as part of her plan to unlock the magic of Dreamland for herself, and never cared about her family. One day, she planned to kill Zøg with a petrification potion and take over Dreamland since she was affiliated with Maru, but due to a playful Bean swapping the cups around Dagmar ended up drinking the poison herself and was petrified.
Zøg, not knowning about Dagmar's intentions, spend he next 15 years trying to find the Elixir of Life to restore her. In this time, he married Queen Oona purely to establish a diplomatic relationship with Dankmire. Together, they had another child: Prince Derek.
Dreamland at its height.
Present Day[]
When the series begins, Princess Tiabeanie or "Bean", is destined to be married to Prince Guysbert of Bentwood, discovers a demon from Hell named Luci whilst looking through her gifts. Unbeknownst to Bean, Luci was sent by two dark mages hoping to turn Bean to the darkness.
He is a fun-loving troublemaker who sympathizes with Bean's predicament: she is miserable as her marriage would be joyless and serves only her father, King Zøg's ambitions to make Dreamland more powerful.
Meanwhile, Elfo, an elf, is disillusioned with his overly happy life and decides to leave the realm of Elfwood in search of misery. Elfo arrives just in time to witness Bean's failed marriage to Guysbert, who manages to impale himself on the The Throne of Dreamland. Bean, Elfo and Luci escape while Prince Merkimer - next in line to marry Bean - chases after her with the Knights of the Zøg Table.
The trio get directions by a fairy to see the Wishmaster, but he turns out to be the Washmaster instead. With Knights surrounding them, Bean takes Elfo and Luci and jump from a high cliff but are rescued by Merkimer who takes them back to Dreamland. Elfo is taken in by Sorcerio who wants to use his blood to aid Zøg's pursuit of the Elixir of Life. Bean discovers her father and Sorcerio's plan to drain Elfo of his blood so they use pig's blood to fool them.
Bean plans a bachelor party, and the entire crew sets sail for Mermaid Island in the hopes that Merkimer will be killed by the Mermaids. He is instead taken in by Walruses who save them from what are mistakenly thought to be murderous Borcs which turn out to be the allied Bozaks. Bean loses hope of ridding herself of Merkimer, until he discovers the elf blood - which is mostly pig's blood.
Elfo convinces Merkimer to drink it and it transforms him into a pig. Now fed up, Zøg renounces the marriage and finally agrees with his daughter. This upsets the king of Bentwood and he and Zøg settle things in a King fight with Bean, Elfo and Luci happily watching.
Reign of Sven
With the king sick and away, Bean throws a wild party while Odval and Sorcerio gather their secret society for a ritual, leaving the kingdom unattended. But the night takes a surprising turn when a ruthless army of bandits and marauders the Land Vikings gatecrash the party and regional manager Sven learns of the Elixir of Life, Sven declares himself king of Dreamland and has his men kill (almost) all of the party guests and capture Bean, Elfo, and Luci. while being misled into believing they will gain immortality.
Bean, Elfo, and Luci defeated Sven and the Vikings by sending them falling down a trapdoor into the ocean, killing them in the process. Zøg returned shortly afterwards and resumed his rule over the kingdom but discovered the bodies and yell out Bean's name.
Return of Queen Dagmar[]
After the Eternity Pendant was found in Cremorrah, but Elfo's blood turned out to be insufficient to make the pendant work as Elfo was only half-Elf, Zøg ordered his knights to find Elfwood and bring a real Elf. The invasion was thwarted, but Elfo was killed in the process. Upon returning to the castle, Bean, who had managed to get a bit of Elf blood, activated the pendant, but since she could only use it once, she choose to revive her mom instead of Elfo.
Initially, the kingdom celebrated Dagmar's return. However, King Zøg began to grow unhappy and revealed more about himself to Luci who uses the crystal ball that Tess returned to witness events from the past. Luci shows Zøg what really happened in the tower the night Dagmar was turned to stone.
Meanwhile Queen Oona flees after making a deal of some kind with Odval while Zøg keeps Derek safe in a tower, and residents of the kingdom mysteriously begin turning to stone. Dagmar (who is working for Empire of Maru) takes Bean to a secret library while Luci reveals to Zøg that Dagmar tried to poison him all those years ago.
With her true nature discovered, Dagmar used the same petrification poison again on a large scale to turn everyone in the kingdom to stone except Zøg. She then captured Luci and escaped with Bean to Maru.
Dreamland restored & return of the Elves[]
When Bean, after learning her mother's true nature, returned from Maru to Dreamland with the revived Elfo and Luci, she was followed there by Oona, who had become first mate to the pirate Leavo. When Leavo discovered that hidden under Dreamland was the thing King Rulo had tasked him with finding, he agreed to help Zøg convince the elves of Elfwood to move into Dreamland and donate their blood so all the people could be restored to life with the Eternity Pendant. The Elves settled in Elf Alley and integrated into Dreamland's society, while Rulo and Leavo secretly kept searching for whatever Leavo had found.
Oona and Zøg agreed to divorce, with Oona becoming a pirate. She remained on good terms with the King however.
Reign of King Derek[]
After King Zøg was accidentally shot by bean in "The Electric Princess", Zøg's health deteriorated, and he was no longer physically well enough to rule Dreamland. This meant that Oona and Zøg's son, Derek, became the King. Odval and the Arch-Druidess seized this opprotunity to make Derek their puppet king, and through him began to enforce a totalitarian rule to turn Dreamland into a Theocracy. They also attempted to dispose of Bean and Zøg by having the former accused of witchcraft and burned at the stakes, and the latter burried alive.
Encouraged by Prince Merkimer, Derek unsuccessfully tried to break free from Odval's influence and attempted to establish a 'socialist utopia' without giving specifics. After Bean and Zøg both returned alive, Derek stepped down as king to let Zøg rule again.
Zøg's madness and Reign of Queen Bean[]
Unfortuantely, his time spend burried alive had done a number on Zøg's mind, and he slowly succumbed into madness. Eventually, it got bad enough that he could no longer rule. Derek however had by that point left Dreamland to join his mother's Crew and could thus not become king again. When on top of this a mysterious green smoke believed to be from an enemy army approached Dreamland, Bean was made queen while Zøg was send to the Twinkletown Insane Asylum.
Bean prepared her subjects for the war. The green smoke ultimately turned out to be harmless, as it was just Big Jo and Porky, Dreamland soon came under attack for real by an army of Ogres, who wanted Elfo. When Dreamland was clearly going to lose the fight, Elfo surrendered himself so the Ogres would leave. Bean meanwhile was abducted by her mother and brought to Hell, where Dagmar wanted to force her to marry Satan. Through trickery, Bean got out of the marriage and made Dagmar marry Satan instead.
Reign of Becky and Cloyd[]
Following Bean's decent to hell, Emperor Cloyd and Becky the Enchantress managed to take over Dreamland, capturing all the citizens in the dungeons and turning many of them into goons in order to find the magic of dreamland. Sorcerio is still under there employ by posing to be a master magician. After Bean and Zøg (who had been cured of his madness) returned to Dreamland and exposed Cloyd and Becky's actions to the citizens, the two were driven out of Dreamland by the citizens and Jerry.
Reign of Bean and Zøg[]
Since Zøg was cured but Bean was already crowned queen, father and daughter agreed to rule Dreamland together from this point.
During their mutual reign, the Elves finally found out the truth that Dreamland once belonged to them; the thing that Leavo and Rulo had been searching for. It was also revealed that Elves and Trøgs are in fact the same species.
From the shadows, Queen Dagmar kept trying to manipulate Bean, now assisted by Freckles. Thanks to Freckles, Zøg, Odval, Derek and Zøg's son Jasper all ended up prisoners in Steamland. Dagmar's manipulations meanwhile resulted in Beans' evil side splitting from her as Bad Bean. While Bean killed Bad Bean, she herself was seemingly killed by Dagmar when Dagmar threw her into the ocean. Bean was saved however by Mora.
Reign of Dagmar and Satan[]
With Bean and Zøg gone, Dagmar and Satan took over Dreamland and established another totalitarian regime. Dagmar managed to revive Bad Bean. While Bean and Mora went to Steamland to rescue their friends and family, Elfo, Luci and Miri organized a rebellion against Dagmar. Miri, who was revealed to be half-elf, managed to unite all the various races and species living in the Kingdom. On the day that Dagmar planned to finally unleash Dreamland's magic, the rebels, as well as Bean and her family, attacked, resulting in another huge battle on the same beach where long ago the Humans defeated the Elves. Bad Bean was killed for good, but the magic was unleashed and began to spread through all of Dreamland. Effects included dead people being brought back to life, and plants magically flourishing everywhere.
When Dagmar killed Luci, Satan abandoned her and went back to Hell. In one final showdown in the Crystal Cavern, Bean finally defeated Dagmar, ending her reign.
Reign of Miri and Elfo[]
With Dagmar gone, Bean stepped down as Queen to start a new life with Mora, while Zøg stepped down as King to start a new life with Ursula. Bean ackknowledged the Elves as the original inhabitants of Dreamland, and named Rulo to be the new king, but Rulo, who had been critically injured and wished to die in Elfwood, passed the crown on to Miri, with Elfo (whom she had fallen in love with as this point) as her consort.
The series thus ends with Miri and Elfo ruling. And with the magic released, Dreamland now had the same magic protection that Elfwood had; the ability to vanish completely.
Governance[]
Dreamland is an absolute monarchy ruled by a king or queen. For the mayority of the series, his is King Zøg. This king is however supported by a Royal Council, made up of hands-to-the-king and royal advisors to the King; such as Merkimer. Merkimer's predecessor, Odval who was appointed as regent when the King Zog fell ill but neglected his duties in favor of cavorting with his secret society, resulting in Dreamland briefly being took over by the Land Vikings, led by Sven, who proclaimed himself the king of Dreamland.
List of rulers of Dreamland[]
Original elven kingdom (pre-human rule)[]
- Unknown elvish monarchs
House of Grunkwitz[]
- King Agøgg - Dreamland's first king
- King Bøg the Paranoid
- King Crøg the Conspicuous
- King Døgg
- King Gøgg
- King Høgg
- King Kløg
- King Løgg
- King Møgg
- King Nøg
- King Øgg
- King Prøgg
- King Quabøgg
- King Røgg
- King Sløgg
- King Trøg(g)
- King Xøg
- King Yøg
- King Zøg
- Odval (as regent during Zøg's absence)
Land Vikings occupation[]
- King Sven (usurper)
House of Grunkwitz (restored)[]
- Odval (as regent during Zøg's absence, restored)
- King Zøg (returned)
Bozaks occupation[]
- Unknown Bozak leader
House of Grunkwitz (restored, second time)[]
- King Zøg (restored)
- King Derek (reigning king after Zøg's injury), with Odval as regent
- King Zøg (restored, second time)
- Queen Tiabeanie (reigning queen after Zøg's mental breakdown and Derek's departure)
House of Maru (occupation)[]
- Emperor Cloyd and Rebecca the Enchantress (usurpers, co-rulers after Tiabeanie's kidnapping)
House of Grunkwitz (restored, third time)[]
- King Zøg and Queen Tiabeanie (restored as co-rulers, fifth and second rule respectively)
House of Maru (occupation, restored)[]
- Queen Dagmar (usurper after Tiabeanie's and Zøg's disappearance)
House of Grunkwitz (restored, fourth time)[]
- King Zøg and Queen Tiabeanie (restored as co-rulers, sixth and third rule respectively, abdicated)
New human/elven kingdom[]
- King Rulo (for less than a minute, abdicated)
- Queen Mop Girl Miri
Rulers of the client state of Elwood-In-Exile[]
- King Rulo (formely, Elfwood united with Dreamland)
Nobility[]
Dreamland is a feudal society, and uses several noble titles. The highest title is the king or reigning queen of Dreamland, who is also the undisputed ruler of the country. The current reigning queen Miri. Her predecessor were king Zøg and reigning queen Bean, and before them other members of the house of Grunkwitz, starting with king Agøgg. The king gains his title upon a coronation. The wife or husband of a king or reigning queen always gains the title of queen or king consort of Dreamland upon marriage. Elfo Elfowitz is the current king consort of Dreamland. Former queens consorts who are still alive are Dagmar and Oona. The deceased Bee-Baw was the queen consort of King Xøg. The legitimate children of a king or reigning queen always gain the title of prince or princess upon birth. The heir to the throne is then the crown prince. It seems that there are currently no princes or princesses of Dreamland, as Miri and Elfo don(t have any children yet. However, it is possible that members of the former ruling house of Grunkwitz retained their royal status, so Zøg, Derek and Bean might potentially all still be considered a prince/princess of Dreamland.
Apart from the royal family, there are also several other noble titles in use. The highest of them is presumably duke, with the only known bearer being the duke of Twinkletown. The last known title in Dreamland is that of a lord or lady, which is currently used by lady Lingonberry, widow of the late lord Lingonberry. It was indicated that they have children, so their oldest son might also be a lord.
The lowest title is that of a knight, which can presumably be granted to someone by the king. Current knights of Dreamland (and members of the order of the Knights of the Zøg table) include sir Pendergast, sir Turbish, sir Mertz and sir Bolt. Some of the deceased knights include sir Edgar the Fearless, sir Stryker and sir Mortimer the Expendable.
Population[]
The vast majority of Dreamland's citizens are humans, though an enclave and client state of Elves does exist as well as a quite literal underground society of diminutive, magical, elfin creatures, known as Trogs under the Castle. Other inhabitants include Fairies and the magical animals in the Enchanted Forest.
Law Enforcement and Military[]
The Knights of the Zøg Table act as the warriors of dreamland as well as the personal enforcers of King Zog's will. The kingdong also has a small army.
There also exists some form of gendarme within Dreamland as seen with the donkey mounted policemen.
Magic[]
Sorcerio, the court scientist-mage, provides Zog, Derek and presumably Bean with advice on both the sciences of occultism as well as that of natural philosophy, in addition to performing research in a small library and laboratory set aside for his exclusive use. Aside from Sorcerio, Bean and Dagmar both have innate magical powers due to the Maruvians' pact with Hell. Mention is also made of a Wizarding school/community college that both Sorcerio and Bentwood's Grindl attended.
Also, it is alleged by both King Lorenzo of Bentwood and the corporatist owner of Steamland Alva Gunderson that Dreamland possesses "secret magical resources"; while the populace and leadership are unaware of such things and disbelieve their existence, Dreamland being in actuality the former kingdom of the elves combined with the ambiguous liquids made by the residents of Trogtown may lend weight to these seemingly fallacious claims.
The true magic of Dreamland however is locked away in the Crystal Cavern until it was released by Queen Dagmar.
Diplomatic relations[]
Current allies of Dreamland
Former allies of Dreamland:
- Maru (they were actually never real allies)
- Elfwood-in-Exile (client state, later united with Dreamland)
- Dankmire
- Bentwood (an alliance was supposed to be secured through marriage, but it never happened)
- Steamland (Alva Gunderson proposed an alliance through marriage, but it failed)
- Bozaks
Environment[]
Dreamland is a feudal society, with a Royal Family and a Royal Court composed of Sorcerio the Wizard of Wonder and (proto)-Scientist, Sorcerio's assistant Miri the "mop girl", The Jester, Stan the Executioner, Bunty the Chambermaid and Odval the Chamberlain, or Royal Advisor/"hand" as well as the leader of the Knights of the Zog Table, Sir Pendergast. The majority of people are paupers, who eke out a very basic living. Even children are put to work - if they can cry, they can work. There is little or no sanitation and streets are littered with food waste and raw sewage. As in medieval Europe (especially England) this leads to an ongoing plague, during which a plague patrol gathers the corpses daily.
Location[]
The village and castle are nestled and situated on a cliff that overlooks the Dreamland Sea. The beach below the cliff as mentioned by Derek is clothing optional. The outskirts of Dreamland, where the poorest villages and farms are located, are built on open land, bordering the enchanted forest and the canals that lead to the kingdom of Dankmire .
Economy[]
Dreamland is on the verge of bankruptcy at the start of the series motivating Zog to marry Bean to Bentwood's heir, Prince Guysbert then Merkimer, in order to secure Bentwood's economic might. As previously stated, the majority of people are paupers, who eke out a very basic living; but even the Nobility and Royal Family are suffering from poverty as Dreamland's Castle couldn't even afford to be built of actual stone. The situation was worsened when the Bozaks took advantage of the Fall of Dreamland to raid it of what few riches it had left. Zog rescued a kidnapped Merkimer and killed the Bozaks but failed to recover Dreamland's treasures. The arrival of the Elves and their income from candy sales provided a much-needed boost after taxation, but Zog, being an incompetent ruler more inclined toward pursuit of a personal interest rather than looking after a government, decides to capriciously give it back purely on a whim, sending Dreamland back to bankruptcy.
Religion[]
A rudimentary religion - a parody of Christianity in its early stages - is practiced in the church by a priestess. Said priestess is soon revealed as a charlatan, being a spy from Steamland, thus it is ambiguous how rudimentary the religion actually is.
Science[]
Professionalized science is somewhat rudimentarily established, with chemistry and more prominently alchemy being practiced by Sorcerio. Poisons and potions are all widely in use, particularly to cure plague, as purchased from the Dreamland apothecary. Bean brought medical knowledge and a handgun back from Steamland, but such theoretical knowledge and practical technology has yet to be implemented.
Trivia[]
- Dreamland is based off of Medieval Europe. Possibly during the settlement in North America.
- Dreamland Falls implies the Kingdom was where New York and New New York stood/stands in Futurama as Bender, Fry, and Farnsworth visit the castle while using the forwards time machine in “The Late Philip J. Fry” season 6 episode. Because the time machine only goes forward, the trio reach the end of time and start over where they pass this era (twice). This is seen in “Dreamland Falls” season 1 finale.
- We know Disenchantment was based in the past as Matt Groening’s “Disenchantment: Part 1 (Teaser)” states: “You’ve see the future in Futurama. You’ve see the present In Springfield. So, what’s the obvious third move? The past of course. Welcome to Dreamland!”
- Wash Day is the only time in Dreamland that everyone with the exception of the elves practice nudism as all the garments are being washed.
- The official unit for measuring distances is Zøgdongs.
- The Kingdom has over 6000 inhabitants, as stated by Bean in "The Very Thing".
- Technically, King Zøg is still King of Dreamland, since he and Bean co-ruled, and Bean stepped down to give her crowm to Rulo, but Z never stepped down officialy himself. He just moved to the woods.
- The country has a newspaper: Dreamland Dispatch.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Disenchantment Premiere culturedvultures.com