Iconic Keep on the Borderlands image an homage to Sleeping Beauty?

[Paul Farquhar]

Not fake - it was a palace, not a fortress. And as a palace it was serving the needs of HM Ludwig II. Until he was deposed. It was intended to be a visual statement of power, not a fortified residence.

Palaces don’t need specifically defensive features like battlements, turrets and gatehouses. It’s a palace done up to look like a Disney castle (apart from it did it first).

 

[sevenbastard]

The Erol keep picture is a classic and honestly if it is a homage great. I could easily integrated more sleeping beauty imagery into my D&D. Evil Sorceress, Dragon fights on cliffs, twisted poison mazes, all great stuff.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not fake - it was a palace, not a fortress. And as a palace it was serving the needs of HM Ludwig II. Until he was deposed. It was intended to be a visual statement of power, not a fortified residence.

That said, anyone who's visited the area can tell you that, much like the B2 Keep, no one is getting to Neuschwanstein without the residents knowing and having plenty of time to try and pick people off on the exposed approach up to the front door.

 

[Tonguez]

Palaces don’t need specifically defensive features like battlements, turrets and gatehouses. It’s a palace done up to look like a Disney castle (apart from it did it first).

personally I always thought the Disney castle looked more like Alcazar de Segovia or maybe Hohenzollern, especially with all its towers

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

personally I always thought the Disney castle looked more like Alcazar de Segovia or maybe Hohenzollern, especially with all its towers

There are different castles at every Disney park, so it's likely that Anaheim, Ontario, Paris and the Asian Disney parks have differing influences.

 

[aramis erak]

Palaces don’t need specifically defensive features like battlements, turrets and gatehouses. It’s a palace done up to look like a Disney castle (apart from it did it first).

Most palaces have turrets and gatehouses. They're there because they're always there... as the early palaces were inside fortifications. And it's always good to keep the "rabble" at beyond arms reach.

Take, for example, the current Palace of the Prince of Monaco. It has multiple square towers, but ground-accessible windows. And it's got a big exterior yard inside a crenalated wall...
Is it a fortress? Not in any particularly meaningful way. It hasn't been practical to make a fortress for the palace for centuries... since the invention of the cannon. It does, however, have some really good kill zones... like that paved yard in the foreground, looking at the main and a side entry...

Note that there's not even a good wall blocking the palace plaza...
It has trappings of a fortress, but isn't one.