Eternia - Modern Eternia

Modern Eternia

The original concept of Eternia is as a world with a barbaric civilization, recovering from an ambiguous Great War, that has wiped out advanced civilizations, but has left behind advanced technology, vehicles and machinery, as well as powerful magic.

In the animated series, the concept of a Great War was abandoned, instead focusing on a stable society and its constant battle against the forces of evil, led by Skeletor. Eternia features an incredible variety of lifeforms, from monsters to sentient races, including non-humanoids, and hidden civilizations.

In both series depictions, Eternia also appears to be a comparatively small planet; as characters are often seen traversing between locations in far-flung regions of the planet, in short amounts of time. This is also supported by the fact that nearly all Eternian creatures seem capable of jumping extraordinary heights and distances, relative to their own size—as a smaller planet would also have comparatively weak gravity.

Frequently visited locations in the modern age of Eternia include Castle Grayskull, the Evergreen Forest, the Vine Jungle, the Palace of Eternia, the Mystic Mountains, and Snake Mountain. It should be noted that there seem to be very few "modern" or contemporary locations in Eternia. Many, if not most, of the cities, castles, and regions are very ancient.

In the 2002 cartoon series, the planet is seen to have two very distinctive regions—the Dark Hemisphere and the Light Hemisphere (something that was mentioned in some earlier incarnations but seldom played upon). In the episode Separation the Sorceress tells He-Man that long ago Hordak and his minions used the Triad of Discidium to create the Dark Hemisphere in an effort to give his army a place to grow and thrive. Unfortunately, the magic he unleashed was beyond his ability to control, and the spell nearly destroyed all of Eternia. In more recent times, the dark half of the planet has served as Skeletor's domain, and a place to be avoided at all costs.