Cool looking realistic fantasy castles

[Shamash]

I need images of cool loooking but realistic fantasy castles. My search only bring me castles that are far too fanatastic.

I want more realistic loooking castle like "castle ravenloft" or the castles from "A song of ice and fire".

Do you guys have any good exemples? Thanks.

[Segev]

"Realistic" in the "medieval ideal" sense, rather than "realistically going to stand up to the forces of fantasy warfare," then?

Try google imaging for "castle" or even just "medieval castle."

"Castle Wyvern" (from Gargoyles) might work for you.

[Flickerdart]

"Cool looking" and "realistic" are in this case opposites - the most effective castles were very utilitarian affairs, because their job was to protect stuff instead of looking pretty. Most of what we associate with castles in fantasy are actually traits of palaces. The only real-life cool looking castle I can think of is Neuschwanstein Castle, which was deliberately built to look like a fantasy castle in the 19th century, long after the practical need for castles had disappeared.

Just steal some Game of Thrones castles - they're technically fantasy, but some also happen to be real world locations.

[Emperordaniel]

"Cool looking" and "realistic" are in this case opposites - the most effective castles were very utilitarian affairs, because their job was to protect stuff instead of looking pretty. Most of what we associate with castles in fantasy are actually traits of palaces. The only real-life cool looking castle I can think of is Neuschwanstein Castle, which was deliberately built to look like a fantasy castle in the 19th century, long after the practical need for castles had disappeared.

Just steal some Game of Thrones castles - they're technically fantasy, but some also happen to be real world locations.

Off the top of my head, Casterly Rock is heavily based off of the fortifications at the Rock of Gibraltar (right down to the giant Rock), and book-Eyrie gives off a sort of Neuschwanstein vibe, if Neuschwanstein was located thousands of feet higher up in the mountains than it actually is:

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[BWR]

Charles Urbach has some good stuff, especially for L5R.
Sadly he doesn't give us bigger pictures on his site and his deviantart site has only 3 small pics. Maybe you can reverse image search some of it.

[endur]

Dun Aengus in the Aran Islands is a very realistic fortress (500 BC or so).

[oball]

Mont Saint-Michel in France:

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[Ashtagon]

Take your pick...

Mdina, Malta
http://top10.com/blog/wp-content/upl..._105009635.jpg

Balmoral Castle
http://www.racethecastles.com/assets...ral_Castle.jpg

Bodiam Castle, Sussex
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...10My8-1197.jpg

Kra des Chevaliers, Syria
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...cropped%29.jpg

Neuschwanstein, Bavaria
http://www.bavaria.by/data/mediadb/c...8fff77595.jpeg

Valleta, Malta
http://www.cc-advocates.com/images/o...s%20aerial.jpg

Castle Howard, Yorkshire
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...gland1_144.jpg

Bran Castle, Romania
http://www.bran-castle.com/assets/pages/home_summer.jpg

[Aedilred]

Carcassonne:
https://ejlienonleave.files.wordpres...sonne-1311.jpg

Eltz:
http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...m/88266939.jpg

Ruined now, but Chateau Gaillard must have been quite a sight in its day:
http://www.ville-andelys.fr/wp-conte...1-1024x682.jpg

As people have mentioned, castles were of course functional fortifications and looking attractive was a bonus rather than a necessity. Where castles were no longer necessary they were often quarried or demolished (many were demolished by order of government to help stabilise a realm, since castles are useful for rebels to occupy; pretty much every castle in England was deliberately ruined in such a way). If they remained the residence of a noble family they were usually rebuilt to make them more comfortable to live in, effectively turning them into palaces. Where castles remained operational they were upgraded to more modern fortifications and no longer look as mediaeval (see the picture of Valleta above, where the castle has been superseded by a star fort). So it is rare to find castles now that are "authentic" and still in good repair. Castles that appear to be have quite often been "restored" in modern times by the well-meaning (or not) but frequently misguided.

Carcassonne, for instance, though linked above because it does look quite cool, was actually extensively rebuilt in the 1860s as a tourist attraction. At no point in its history (until now) would it ever have looked like that, not least because the pointed towers which are now almost a signature of the cité were a feature seen mostly in northern France, and the Languedoc had a completely different architectural vernacular.

[Ashtagon]

...Where castles remained operational they were upgraded to more modern fortifications and no longer look as mediaeval (see the picture of Valleta above, where the castle has been superseded by a star fort). So it is rare to find castles now that are "authentic" and still in good repair. Castles that appear to be have quite often been "restored" in modern times by the well-meaning (or not) but frequently misguided.

Actually, Valletta is one of those cases where the star fort on the end of that peninsular came first; the city and curtain wall around the city came later (followed by another wall (since demolished) farther inland). The knights of Malta had some of the most advanced castle engineering skills in Europe in their day. That grid pattern of streets was the first in Europe, pre-dating others by 70 years, and the star fort was one of the first built outside of Italy (where the design originated).

[ExLibrisMortis]

As castles go, I'm rather fond of the Moorish Castle in Sintra (near Lisbon, in Portugal).

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It's very basic, just walls around a hilltop. It's also very green - there is a tree garden in and around it, that's not original of course. Due to the clouds coming in from the Atlantic, the castle is covered in fog part of the time, and the forest is almost like rainforest - in summer, that is. When I was there, you couldn't see the hilltop at all, from the valley, which is just as well, as it turned out to be a longer walk than expected.

In this image, it looks a bit more fantasy-like, I think.

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That's a duck-house, in the garden. A perfect castle for a tribe of very small fey.

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[Wardog]

Googling "Scottish Castles" turns up quite a lot of cool-looking images, several of which might make good "fantasy" castles. (Especially the later ones that are more "aristocrat's fortified palace" than "military stronghold").

(English castles gives some quite good pics as well, but they generally don't seem quite as "fantastic", IMO).

Some of note:

Duart Castle (this is where Sean Connery lived in Entrapment)

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(It looks quite grim in that photo - probably the sort of place some warlord or robber-baron would have as his base).

Dunnottar Castle
(Ruined castle on a hard-to-access headland).

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Eilean Donan Castle
(Another "castle on an island").

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Craigievar Castle
(Just the sort of place to have a princess in the tower).

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[I3igAl]

Malbork Castle

Amber Fort

Mehrangar Fort

Moritzburg

[Escapist]

You might take a look at Wawel Castle especially it's floor plan. It even has a dragon's den!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawel_C...%282007%29.jpg