Does the fog obscuring Themyscira do anything except hide the island?
In Wonder Woman (2017), the Amazonian island of Themyscira is obscured from the world by a mystical fog. After being hidden away for apparently thousands of years, this fog is penetrated first by Steve Trevor's crashing plane, then by multiple German boats.
It would seem unlikely that this could be the first intrusion into their hidden world, especially if we accept the idea that the island is located somewhere in the Aegean Sea (as opposed to a floating island). Is the fog merely physical cover or does it possess more mystical powers, acting as a shield to prevent intruders? And if the latter, why are Steve and the Germans able to suddenly happen upon and see the island?
(Two fellow filmgoers suggested that the impenetrability of the fog was damaged
when Diana accidently triggers the first energy blast from her bracelets, but I don't see anything in the film that indicates that those two things are connected.)
Best Answer
Actually, the fog doesn't seem to hide the island - there is a dome-shaped "shield" concealing the island from sight. The fog is likely a device meant to discourage boats from travelling too close to the shield. We know this because there is no other mechanism preventing passage through the shield, and as we clearly see in the scene with the German soldier, there is a defined "barrier" in place that is NOT the fog.
In that scene, the soldier sticks first his hand, then his head, through the barrier, the fog instantly disappears. This tells us that the fog itself is merely surrounding the shield. And we know it is dome-shaped because the point at which the German boats enter is further back from the beach than the point up high where Steve's plane fell through.
Without the fog, it's possible that the shield or barrier would appear as a shimmering effect on the horizon, which might actually attract attention instead of discourage it.
Note that this wasn't the case in the comics. The island itself wasn't hidden from sight, just small & remote. The only "magic spell" protecting it from invasion was that no man could set foot upon it unless invited. In fact, some ancient cultures would bring their orphaned girls to the Amazons, believing it a great honor for them to be raised by the women.
It should also be noted that the comics version of the island has gone through numerous changes over the years. At various points in its history, it's been moved around, even to space at one time. There was also a version where it floated around like a giant iceberg instead of having a fixed location on the map. The idea of it being invisible from the outside is not unique to the 2017 movie - that idea was also used in the animated film from 2009, where the island was not visible to Steve until he was over its airspace. And he was flying an F-35 with advanced radar in that one.
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Why is Diana not allowed to go back to Themyscira?
Although Wonder Woman does not linger on Hippolyta's reasons for telling Diana she couldn't return to Themyscira, the most likely answer is a combination of lore from various comics. As Hippolyta showed in scenes with her sister Antiope, she's eager to maintain Themyscira's peace and isolation.Why can the Amazons not leave the island?
10 Their Paradise Was Originally A Punishment In the Golden Age Wonder Woman comics, the Amazons are forced to live on Paradise Island because they have been banished from the World of Men. This comes as a (pretty unfair) punishment from the gods for allowing Hercules to steal the girdle and overtake them.Is Themyscira invisible?
Yes, Themyscira was invisible, but the way the scene plays out, Diana is like, "Oh, by the way, I've been toying with making things invisible, so let's do it now." It feels like a rushed addition just so they can have the invisible jet, which, once realized, is then never important again because Wonder Woman basically ...How did Amazonians reproduce?
To reproduce and keep the Amazon race alive, the Themyscirans raid ships on the high seas and copulate with men. At the end of the mating, they take their lives and throw their corpses into the sea rather than marry them. Triumphant, the Amazons return to Paradise Island, and wait.Themyscira - The Beach Battle | Wonder Woman [4k, HDR]
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Answer 2
My personal interpretation is that the Amazons weren't meant to live on Themyscira in secret forever. As part of their back story, they were created by Zeus in order to fight Ares' corruption of humanity. However, that plan failed and the Amazons were enslaved. Zeus then hid the Amazons, and also with them his final plan to defeat Ares.
When Diana became strong enough, the bracers she wore sent out a signal to the veil, weakening it to allow outsiders to accidentally find the island. With the planet in the middle of a war, it's no wonder that the island was found rather quickly and was thrown into the Great War. This outside interference was enough to drive Diana to seek out Ares and end his reign over humanity once and for as, exactly as Zeus had planned.
I also think that they aren't strictly tied to one location on the planet. This would make it a lot easier to avoid detection if the island "moved" around.
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Images: Mikhail Nilov, Diana Smykova, ArtHouse Studio, tom Lok