Let's see…love triangles, medieval stasis, pretty much any universe that basically rips off Tolkien without adding anything original or creative…
Oh yeah, and the whole "rebellious princess" and "anything feminine is weak, strong women must hate girly things!" tropes. The last one is sexist as hell, and the first one is just really grating and hard to relate to. My kingdom for a fantasy noblewoman who actually feels some sort of responsibility and loyalty to her family and people.
Yah, waiting for one where the princess/noblewoman just OWNS her position of domestic housekeeping. Like, "Cross me and you'll find yourself naked and hungry, just try me boy." Like seriously, she is intimidating because of her authority over the household and her femininity. Not all strength comes from the ability to fight.
I'm wondering if anyone thinks that "the antagonist is evil for their own kind of morally right reasons, but goes about it in a bad way" thing is overused? Like my antagonist is viewed as evil because he wants control over the governments of my universe, but he wants it because he feels as if they're not doing their job correctly- one of the only things that makes him "evil" is his ruthlessness. He'll do anything in the name of what he views as "right".
Is this used way too much, or is it not as common as I think it is? (Kind of off topic, but on topic just enough for me to think it's okay to put up here.)
Hmmm… I don't think it is. Sounds neat!
Thanks! @"The Lavender Owl" I was kind of worried about that!
A really overused fantasy trope is the king has gone insane or corrupt and has become the main antagonist
@Gecko87, yeah i actually agree with you- I've seen that a lot.
Super cliche is the lead male and female end up together. In a series I'm working on the protag is female and asexual and so is her male best friend.
A way to avoid the whole "villain is evil just because" trope is to not reveal who the villain is until a while in, or to tell the story from the point of view of the villain. For instance, in my story, the main character starts out as the protagonist but then decides she wants to rule the world, so her love interest has to defeat her (then she gives up and slowly descends into madness BUT WHATEVER)
I totally agree with you. A villain without a motive is just too cardboard to me. It makes it so that the character doesn't even have a purpose in the story.
I know this will have a bit of controversy, but I want to see more LGBTQ representation, but not in the overdramatized, HE IS GAY OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS ENDING way. In a lot of stories I've read on Wattpad and published, there is a ton of misrepresentation because I know people who are gay/bi/asexual and they act like normal people, but I rarely find that in stories.
My least favorite fantasy tropes:
The One True Evil Villain who is just plain evil and wants to destroy everything.
The ~Prophecy~ that's been foretold for centuries
Worlds all based on European culture/everyone is white or has European features
No! Girls! In the group!
Long, long, long, elaborate plots that end up really simple
The kind old wizard who teaches the main character everything before dying
The Elf. You know the one.
The story centering exclusively around royalty (not necessarily terrible inherently, but a bit played out imo)
I could go on…I love fantasy.
^^ THOSE
Except my favorite anime HxH has a group of just boys… eh. Still my fave.
honestly same idk it's meant for boys so I get it. plus the girls that are introduced are really cool (CANARY!!!) so i'm okay with it
Yeah the girls are pretty dang awesome. I think that it's cool that as girls, we don't mind mostly boys being the main characters. It shows it's about PEOPLE rather than boys verses girls, you know? All the women and men were treated the same.
well kinda. most popular things are led by a predominately male cast, which means that since women are being excluded, those things are good and interesting, but still kind of weird. we aren't exactly special for liking things not geared for girls.
Yeah I see what you mean
I think that the royalty thing can be okay as long as the royalty is still a nuanced character, not just like "the King" figure or whatever. What's annoying for me is when the royalty is exclusively evil or exclusively good, not like a real character, not having prejudices, not actually having to make decisions that concern other characters, etc.
@TheLavenderOwl please for the love,,, read Sarah J. Maas. In both of her series, the protagonists are female. Really good.
I'll look into it!
I agree with the 'chosen one' thing and the other one I can just think of from the top of my head are; MC has to overthrow an evil government, MC picks up a knife and is instantly skilled, a big fight scene at the end, a love triangle, someone is somehow 'unique' (EX: I'm different, I can see with my eyes.), MC has no faults, MC is skilled in everything, MC is a human who lives among different creatures, MC being very rich and powerful, creatures not knowing how on earth technology works (Exceptionally if it's a vampire or something that would be on earth through the time we got it) and just things like that.
Oh my gosh yes, the 'Special Snowflakes'!
THERE'S SOOO MANY STRAIGHT PEOPLE! That's why 99% of my characters are at the very least vaguely bisexual.