 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Opar" fictional city – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Opar | |
|---|---|
| Tarzan location | |
| First appearance | The Return of Tarzan (1913) |
| Created by | Edgar Rice Burroughs |
| Genre | Fantasyadventure |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Lost city |
| Character | La |
| Demonym | Oparian |
Opar is afictional lost city in theTarzan novels ofEdgar Rice Burroughs and later theKhokarsa novels ofPhilip José Farmer andChristopher Paul Carey, as well as various derivative works in other media.
The city first appeared in Burroughs' second Tarzan novel,The Return of Tarzan (1913).
Opar is alost colony ofAtlantis located deep in the jungles ofCentral Africa, in which incredible riches have been stockpiled down through the ages. The city's population exhibits extremesexual dimorphism caused by a combination of excessiveinbreeding,cross-breeding with apes, and selectiveculling of offspring. Consequently, female Oparians appear perfectly human, while male Oparians are apelike brutes. The ruler and high priestess of the city is QueenLa, who on her first encounter with Tarzan falls in love with him, and subsequently carries a torch for him. Tarzan, already committed toJane Porter, spurns her advances, thus endangering his own life, as the religion of Opar condones human sacrifice. Yet he returns to the lost city time and again to replenish his personal wealth from its hoarded treasure.[citation needed]
After its initial appearance in Burroughs's second Tarzan novel,The Return of Tarzan (1913),[1] Opar is revisited in the fifth,Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916);[2] the ninth,Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1923);[3] and the fourteenth,Tarzan the Invincible (1930).[4] Exiles from Opar also appear in Burroughs' 1936 juvenile story "Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, with Jad-Bal-Ja, the Golden Lion" (later published as the second part ofTarzan and the Tarzan Twins in 1963).
Philip José Farmer includes Opar in his fictional biographyTarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (1972), where Tarzan decides the hide the now abandoned city by diverting a river to bury it in sediment. Opar is also the eponymous setting of Farmer's novelsHadon of Ancient Opar (1974) andFlight to Opar (1976). He originally planned to continue the series, leaving two incomplete works. The novelThe Song of Kwasin and novellaKwasin and the Bear God were later completed byChristopher Paul Carey.[citation needed] Carey went on to write multiple Opar novellas, includingExiles of Kho (2012),Hadon, King of Opar (2015) andBlood of Ancient Opar (2016).[citation needed]
On film, Opar was seen in the early Tarzan filmsThe Adventures of Tarzan (1921), based onThe Return of Tarzan; andTarzan the Tiger (1929), based onTarzan and the Jewels of Opar; as well as the filmTarzan and the Lost City (1998). Opar also appeared, in the guise of a generic African village, inTarzan and the Lost Safari (1957), in which the Oparians were led by the male chief Chief Ogonooro (played byOrlando Martins) rather than the female queen/priestessLa.
The filmThe Legend of Tarzan (2016) mentions Opar in thepre-title opening sequence, but does not show the lost city.[5][6] An expedition to Opar led byLéon Rom is massacred by warriors led by Chief Mbonga, who offers Rom diamonds in exchange forTarzan.[5] Opar also appears inthe Disney TV adaptation, crumbling after the sceptre of La is destroyed.
The City of Opar was mentioned in passing in theLeague of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels.[citation needed]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
