The Hidden City is a recurring location in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Description[]
The Hidden City is located somewhere far beneath New York state seemingly within a vast subterranean cavity. While it is currently unknown just how deep in the Earth the Hidden City is, it is below the sewers of New York City ("Anatawa Hitorijanai"). It is a secret city, home to the Yōkai species although the vast majority of Yōkai reside within the Hidden City, some live on the surface among humans, albeit in disguise. There are multiple Hidden Cities across the globe, such as Tōkyō's Hidden City.[1]
Like some of the Yōkai, the Hidden City is mystic in nature. Examples of the Hidden City's mystic properties are that teleportation via portals is common enough where a portal-specific phenomenon is termed "portal jacking" and is well-known among Hidden City citizens, city objects levitate (e.g., pirate ships), curses can be inflicted upon one's finances ("Insane in the Mama Train"), among numerous other mystic instances that are shown.
In contrast to the industrial aesthetic of New York City in the series, the Hidden City's architecture is highly naturalistic. Organic features are prolific in its infrastructure, such as skeletons of various sizes and faces and heads, both human-like and animal-like, protruding from ceilings and walls. The buildings, especially residential buildings, of the Hidden City often have upward curving roofs.
The Hidden City is governed by the Council of Heads and it is policed by the Hidden City Police. Mystic taxes are present in the Hidden City as revealed in "Insane in the Mama Train". The Hidden City uses silver-colored ("Bad Hair Day") and gold-colored ("Raph's Ride-Along", "Battle Nexus: New York") coins and unicorns as currency. The silver-colored coins are engraved with "Mystic City", a Council of Heads councilor, and "717 AD" at the bottom. The gold-colored coins have only a Council of Heads councilor engraved on one side. The Hidden City may possibly also use purple and turquoise paper currency as seen in "Bad Hair Day".
History[]
The Hidden City became the main residence of the Yōkai once they were driven from the surface by humans and it became their secret society away from humans. However, the means in which and when the humans pushed the Yōkai below ground and their motivation to do so is currently unknown.
The Hidden City debuted in "Mystic Mayhem". Guardsmen Garm and Freki opened a portal to the Hidden City in a New York construction site after securing Mayhem and his vial of Empyrean and April O'Neil teleported with them to rescue Mayhem. The Turtles stole a mystic device from Splinter that allowed them to reopen the portal Garm and Freki and traveled through it, teleporting themselves into the Hidden City. They landed right in front of Baron Draxum's laboratory and were greeted by April and afterwards they all ventured inside. After battling Draxum and his minions, Huginn and Muninn, and saving Mayhem, April and the Turtles used the mystic device to create a portal out of the Hidden City into New York to escape the large explosion they created in the laboratory.
Locations[]
- Baron Draxum's laboratory
- Baron Draxum's original laboratory
- Battle Nexus
- Big Mama's auction house
- Big Mama's train station
- Centaur Estates
- The Crying Titan
- Docks/Pirate Bazaar
- Goyles of Fortune
- Heather's house
- Hidden City Police Station
- Hidden City Prison
- Hirsuté Resort & Spa
- Last Resort & Spa
- Luxury Simurgh
- Mermaid Lagoon
- Minotaur Maze
- Shredder's shrine
- Witch Town
There are other Yōkai-associated locations which are not located in the Hidden City, including Clem's Candy (though Clem is not a Yōkai himself), the Doom Dome, the Grand Nexus Hotel, and Run of the Mill Pizza, all of which are located in New York City. There is also a Mystic Library, whose physical location is never specified.
Known residents[]
- Council of Heads
- Baron Draxum (formerly)
- Muninn
- Huginn
- Guardsmen
- Garm
- Freki
- Big Mama
- Señor Hueso (presumably; formerly self-exiled)
- Capitán Piel
- Exploding Frankie
- Sunita
- Gentry
- Mayor Mira
- The great Morgan
- Hidden City Police
- Heather
- Mud Dogs
- Heinous Green
- Evil Emerald
- Yōkai Masseur