Fantasy tropes

Illustration by Arthur Rackham to Richard Wagner's Die Walküre: the magic sword, such as Nothung, is a common fantasy trope.

Fantasy tropes are a specific type of literary tropes that occur in fantasy fiction. Worldbuilding, in particular, has many common conventions, as do plot and characterization, to a lesser extent.

Many works of fantasy operate using these tropes, while others use them in a revisionist manner, making the tropes over for various reasons such as for comic effect, and to create something fresh (a method that often generates new clichés).[1]

Good vs. evil

The conflict of good against evil is a theme in the many popular forms of fantasy; normally, evil characters erupt from their lands to invade and disrupt the good characters' lands.[2] J. R. R. Tolkien delved into the nature of good and evil in The Lord of the Rings, but many of those who followed him use the conflict as a plot device, and often do not distinguish the sides by their behavior.[3] In some works, mostly notably in sword and sorcery, evil is not opposed by the unambiguously good but by the morally unreliable.[4]

Hero

Heroic characters are a mainstay of fantasy, particularly high fantasy and sword and sorcery. Such characters are capable of more than ordinary behavior, physically, morally, or both.[5] Sometimes they might have to grow into the role ordained for them.[6] This may take the form of maturation,[7] which is often through Coming of Age.

Many protagonists are, unknown to themselves, of royal blood. Even in so fanciful a tale as Through the Looking-Glass, Alice is made a queen in the end; this can serve as a symbolic recognition of the inner worth of the hero.[8] Commonly, these tales revolve around the maltreated hero coming into his or her own. This can reflect a wish-fulfillment dream, or symbolically embody a profound transformation.[9]

Dark Lord

The forces of evil are often personified in a "Dark Lord". Besides possessing vast magical abilities, a Dark Lord often controls great armies and can be portrayed as possessing devil-like qualities.[10] A Dark Lord is usually depicted as the ultimate personification of evil, as with Sauron of The Lord of the Rings; Conan the Barbarian's archenemy, Thulsa Doom; the Dark One (Shai'tan) of The Wheel of Time; and the Sith Lords from Star Wars, which include Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.

Other notable Dark Lords include:Lord Voldemort of Harry Potter; Darkseid from DC Comics; Thanos from Marvel Comics; Mundus from the Devil May Cry video game series; Dracula of the Castlevania series; Skeletor from Masters of the Universe; Morgoth from The Silmarillion; Arawn Death-Lord from The Chronicles of Prydain; Torak from The Belgariad; Nightmare from Soulcalibur; Ganon from The Legend of Zelda; Exdeath from Final Fantasy V, and Galbatorix from The Inheritance Cycle. The villain of the Demon Sword video game is also literally called Dark Lord.

In the Lone Wolf gamebooks, the Dark Lords are an entire race of powerful evil beings.[11] The protagonists of the Overlord video game franchise are classic Dark Lords in the vein of Sauron. The Dark Lord is usually seen as unmarried, though there has been occasion when one has attempted to claim a bride.

Quest

Quests, an immemorial trope in literature, are common in fantasy. They can be anything from a quest to locate the MacGuffins necessary to save the world, to an internal quest of self-realization.[12]

Magic

In fantasy, magic often has an overwhelming presence, although its precise nature is delineated in the book in which it appears. It can appear in a fantasy world (as in Lord of the Rings or Shannara), or in a fantasy land that is part of reality but insulated from the mundane lands (as in Xanth), or as a hidden element in real life (as in The Dresden Files).[13]

A common trope is that the ability to work magic is innate and rare. As a consequence the person who uses it, usually called a magician, wizard, sorcerer, warlock, mage, or magus, is a common figure in fantasy.[14] Another feature is the magic item, which can endow characters with magical abilities that are not innate, or enhance the abilities of the innately powerful. Among the most common are magic swords and magic rings.

Self-fulfilling prophecies are amongst the most common forms of magic because they are an often used plot device. Often the very effort undertaken to avert them brings them about, thus driving the story. It is very rare for a prophecy in a fantasy to be simply false, although usually their significance is clear only with hindsight. Quibbles can undermine the clearest appearing prophecies.[15]

In The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien minimized use of the word magic; beings who use such abilities tend to be confused when they are described this way by others. In the Star Wars franchise, the Jedi employ the use of the Force, an essentially magical power, that grants mystical abilities and heightened senses and skills to whoever wields it.

In science fiction stories, psionics are used to provide characters with abilities that are usually seen in fantasy works and, if called magic, would make the story fantasy instead of science fiction.[16]

Medievalism

Many creatures seen in fantasy fiction are drawn from the folklore of Europe, and the romances of medieval Europe. Dragons and unicorns are among the most popular creatures. Other monsters, such as griffins, giants, and goblins also appear. Races of intelligent beings such as elves, dwarves, and gnomes often draw their history from medieval or pre-Christian roots. Characteristics of the hero and heroine also frequently draw on these sources as well.

This trope is also very important in the setting of many of these fantasies. Writers from the beginnings of the fantasy genre, such as William Morris in The Well at the World's End and Lord Dunsany in The King of Elfland's Daughter, set their tales in fantasy worlds clearly derived from medieval sources; though often filtered through later views. J. R. R. Tolkien set the type even more clearly for high fantasy, which is normally based in such a "pseudo-medieval" setting. Other fantasy writers have emulated him, and role-playing and computer games have also taken up this tradition.

The full width and breadth of the medieval era is seldom drawn upon. Governments, for instance, tend to be feudalistic evil empires or oligarchies, and are usually corrupt, despite the greater variety of the actual Middle Ages.[17] Settings also tend to be medieval in economy, with many fantasy worlds disproportionately pastoral.[18]

These settings are typical of epic fantasy and, to a lesser extent, of sword and sorcery — which contains more urban settings — than of fantasy in general; the preponderance of epic fantasy in the genre has made them fantasy commonplaces. They are less typical of contemporary fantasy, especially urban fantasy.

Ancient world

A less common inspiration is the ancient world. A famous example is the Hyborian Age (the fictional world of Conan the Barbarian), which features analogues of Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Roman Empire, among others. Three notable recent series with such settings are: Bartimaeus by Jonathan Stroud, Percy Jackson & the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan.

Races

Many fantasy stories and worlds refer to their main sapient humanoid species as races, rather than as species.[19] J. R. R. Tolkien popularized the usage of the term in this context, and the use of races in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games further spread the label.[20] Many fantasy settings use the terms race and species interchangeably, such as the World of Warcraft computer game.

In role-playing games, character race typically refers to any species usable as a player character. Older editions of Dungeons & Dragons called the primary non-human player races (dwarf, elf, gnome, halfling, and half-elf, Half-orc) "demi-humans." Later games such as Shadowrun use the term "metahuman," and define these humanoid races as subdivisions of "Homo sapiens."

Orcs were popularized by J. R. R. Tolkien in "Lord of The Rings." As of 2014 they appear in many fantasy worlds, often depicted as large, strong, green, brutish creatures with little intelligence.

Anthropomorphic animals (humanoid creatures that appear like animals, such as wolves, bears, boars and other animal species) are also common.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 810.
  2. ↑ "Top 10 Epic / High fantasy books". Fantasybookreview.co.uk. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 422.
  4. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 323.
  5. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 464.
  6. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 136.
  7. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 972.
  8. ↑ Prickett 1979, pp. 145–156.
  9. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 466.
  10. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 250.
  11. ↑ "The Darklords of Helgedad". The World of Magnamund Webring. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
  12. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 796.
  13. ↑ Clute 1999, pp. 615–616.
  14. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 616.
  15. ↑ Clute 1999, p. 789.
  16. ↑ Anderson & Miesel 1981, p. 270.
  17. ↑ Hardinge, Frances. "Article: Quality in Epic Fantasy, by Alec Austin". Strangehorizons.com. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  18. ↑ Yolen 1992, p. VIII.
  19. ↑ Tresca 2010, p. 30.
  20. ↑ Livingstone 1982, p. 74.

Sources

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