forum Top overused fantasy cliches?

Started February 01, 2018 by Tetra Wayne

tune

OK that sounds…weird

Spellcasters that are recluses and old men who look like a puff of wind could blow them away
Dragons that are just monsters and have no capacity for intelligence and discussion about them or anything they have experienced
Orcs that are dumb as bricks

Half-elves, half-orcs, half-dragons (seriously, how does that even work?) are shunned upon by everyone including their parents
Villains are either an ugly (male) monster, human/humanoid with scarred face, or goth hot guy who smirks too much
Ugly monsters are male, female monsters are usually humanoid and seductive
Male armour = tasteful metal plates that cover the entire body, female armour = crosses taped to the nipples and crotch. Oh and fancy boots! (This is mainly in video games)

Funny thing, my main character is a Half-Dragon, and while the sizes of his parents could MAYBE be feasible, he's super uncomfortable talking about it. Most of it's just "How do you think it works?!"

Funny thing, my main character is a Half-Dragon, and while the sizes of his parents could MAYBE be feasible, he's super uncomfortable talking about it. Most of it's just "How do you think it works?!"

I don't anyone would want to know all the details…

Hey, you asked how it would work, and I said it was possible while sparing the Rule 34 material. It's up to everyone else to come up with that!

what is rule 34?

From the few stories I've seen with half-dragon characters, the dragons are generally shapeshifters that can take human form. (It still doesn't always make sense how someone with only half dragon-shapeshifter genes can then shift back into a full-on dragon.)

@That_One_Lavender_Owl_that's_into_Sci-Fi - Rule 34 is one of the made-up 'rules' of the internet

Spoiler - click to show.

If something exists, there is porn of it on the internet.

True

Male armour = tasteful metal plates that cover the entire body, female armour = crosses taped to the nipples and crotch. Oh and fancy boots! (This is mainly in video games)

I've come across a couple of blogs that 'fix' female characters' armour (from movies and video games or just fanart) and find them quite enjoyable. :)

I mean, the Monster Hunter games don't have PERFECT armor (for both males and females), but I enjoy that they mostly look like armor and not metal bikinis. Even the actual bikinis and streetwear have much lower defense than standard armor (but the Astalos headphones look SO COOL).

Haven't been on this site for a while, and in that time I've written a LOT- mainly in my fantasy book. I use a lot of the stereotypical "fantasy" creatures/peoples, but most of them have a feature that they don't have in most depictions- do y'all like that better than the standard creatures as they are?

I think it's better when you have the stereotypical thing but add features

@child_of_fire Okie dokie!

What I did was I took some of the fantasy races, changed their names and added features

What I did was I took some of the fantasy races, changed their names and added features

I've kept their names the same, but have changed some of their features.

That's also cool
We need to see more of that

Haven't been on this site for a while, and in that time I've written a LOT- mainly in my fantasy book. I use a lot of the stereotypical "fantasy" creatures/peoples, but most of them have a feature that they don't have in most depictions- do y'all like that better than the standard creatures as they are?

I think changing some features/stereotypes works well, but definitely not all of them. Like, if an author had 'orcs' that had four legs, hooves, a mane, one horn in the middle of their forehead and a tail and were very shy and peaceful - well, they're not orcs, they're unicorns.

I like it when authors shape the fantasy creatures/peoples' culture around their features, and vice versa. So, if an author says that their elves have incredible singing voices, I want to know what part singing plays in their culture, whether it's a natural or trained ability (if trained, why do they all devote so much time to singing-training, it must be important) if there's stigma associated with elves who don't develop their voice, etc.

Haven't been on this site for a while, and in that time I've written a LOT- mainly in my fantasy book. I use a lot of the stereotypical "fantasy" creatures/peoples, but most of them have a feature that they don't have in most depictions- do y'all like that better than the standard creatures as they are?

I think changing some features/stereotypes works well, but definitely not all of them. Like, if an author had 'orcs' that had four legs, hooves, a mane, one horn in the middle of their forehead and a tail and were very shy and peaceful - well, they're not orcs, they're unicorns.

I like it when authors shape the fantasy creatures/peoples' culture around their features, and vice versa. So, if an author says that their elves have incredible singing voices, I want to know what part singing plays in their culture, whether it's a natural or trained ability (if trained, why do they all devote so much time to singing-training, it must be important) if there's stigma associated with elves who don't develop their voice, etc.

Throughout my book it's literally just ONE feature I change about the creature (if at all- some I don't change)- there are humans in my book, so it's sort of a long running joke about "what humans got wrong" (kind of).

That's really cool!

Thanks @child_of_fire

So, here's the thing. . . Fantasy is one big cliche. Like, we could go on for days about how many cliche there are in fantasy, because that's kind of the point. Get cliches and develop them really well, and BOOM! You got a good fantasy story!

So, here's the thing. . . Fantasy is one big cliche. Like, we could go on for days about how many cliche there are in fantasy, because that's kind of the point. Get cliches and develop them really well, and BOOM! You got a good fantasy story!

Very true. The only reason why the things listed here are clichés is because they work well. If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

1) the idea that an introverted person only opens up to someone they have a love interest in, or open up to said person right away, and then proceeds to fall in love with them
2) the trope where the character who makes someone nervous or blush is the only person who can do that, therefore the love interest, that's not normal!