Fantasy tropes

works, mostly notably in sword and sorcery, evil is not

opposed by the unambiguously good but by the morally
unreliable.[4]

1.1 Hero
Main article: 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 LookingGlass, 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 reect a wishfulllment dream, or symbolically embody a profound
transformation.[9]

1.2 Dark Lord

Illustration by Arthur Rackham to Richard Wagners Die

Walkre: the magic sword, such as Nothung, is a common fantasy trope.

Main article: Dark Lord (ction)

Fantasy tropes are a specic type of literary tropes that

occur in fantasy ction. Worldbuilding, in particular, has
many common conventions, as do plot and characterization, to a lesser extent.

The forces of evil are often personied 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 personication 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 Lord Voldemort of Harry Potter.

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 eect, and to
create something fresh (a method that often generates new
clichs).[1]
Other notable Dark Lords include: the Sith Lords from
Star Wars, which include Darth Vader and Emperor
Palpatine; Darkseid from DC Comics; Dracula of the
Castlevania series; Skeletor from Masters of the Universe;
1 Good vs. evil
Morgoth from The Silmarillion; Arawn Death-Lord from
The conict of good against evil is a theme in the many The Chronicles of Prydain; Torak from The Belgariad;
popular forms of fantasy; normally, evil characters erupt Nightmare from Soulcalibur; Ganon from The Legend of
from their lands to invade and disrupt the good characters Zelda; Exdeath from Final Fantasy V, and Galbatorix
lands.[2] J. R. R. Tolkien delved into the nature of good from The Inheritance Cycle. The villain of the Demon
and evil in The Lord of the Rings, but many of those who Sword video game is also literally called Dark Lord.

followed him use the conict as a plot device, and often In the Lone Wolf gamebooks, the Dark Lords are an endo not distinguish the sides by their behavior.[3] In some tire race of powerful evil beings.[11] The protagonists of
1

5 RACES

the Overlord video game franchise are classic Dark Lords 4 Medievalism
in the vein of Sauron. The Dark Lord is usually seen as
unmarried, though there has been occasion when one has Many creatures seen in fantasy ction are drawn from the
attempted to claim a bride.
folklore of Europe, and the romances of medieval Europe. Dragons and unicorns are among the most popular
creatures. Other monsters, such as grins, giants, and
goblins also appear. Races of intelligent beings such as
2 Quest
elves, dwarves, and gnomes often draw their history from
medieval or pre-Christian roots. Characteristics of the
Main article: Quest
hero and heroine also frequently draw on these sources as
well.
Quests, an immemorial trope in literature, are common This trope is also very important in the setting of many
in fantasy. They can be anything from a quest to locate of these fantasies. Writers from the beginnings of the
the MacGuns necessary to save the world, to an internal fantasy genre, such as William Morris in The Well at the
quest of self-realization.[12]
Worlds End and Lord Dunsany in The King of Elands

Magic

Main articles: Magic in ction and Magician (fantasy)

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 gure 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-fullling prophecies are amongst the most common
forms of magic because they are an often used plot device. Often the very eort 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 signicance is clear only with hindsight. Quibbles can undermine the clearest appearing
prophecies.[15]

Daughter, set their tales in fantasy worlds clearly derived

from medieval sources; though often ltered through later
views. J. R. R. Tolkien set the type even more clearly for
high fantasy, which is normally based in such a pseudomedieval 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.

4.1 Ancient world

A less common inspiration is the ancient world. A famous example is the Hyborian Age (the ctional 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, Camp HalfBlood and The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan.

In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 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 5 Races
by others. In the Star Wars franchise, the Jedi employ
the use of the Force, an essentially magical power, that Many fantasy stories and worlds refer to their main
grants mystical abilities and heightened senses and skills sapient humanoid species as races, rather than as
to whoever wields it.
species.[19] J. R. R. Tolkien popularized the usage of
In science ction stories, psionics are used to provide the term in this context, and the use of races in the
characters with abilities that are usually seen in fantasy Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games further spread
works and, if called magic, would make the story fantasy the label.[20] Many fantasy settings use the terms race and
species interchangeably, such as the World of Warcraft
instead of science ction.[16]

3
computer game.
In role-playing games, 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, haling, and half-elf) demihumans. Later games such as Shadowrun use the term
metahuman, and dene these humanoid races as subdivisions of Homo sapiens.
Other races include orcs, which J. R. R. Tolkien popularized in Lord of The Rings. As of 2014 they appear
in many fantasy worlds, often depicted as large, green
brutish creatures with more muscle than brains
Other races include various humanoid creatures that appear like animals, such as wolves, bears, boars and other
animal species.

See also
Damsel in distress

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. 145156.
[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. 615616.
[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.

8 Sources
Anderson, Poul; Miesel, Sandra (1981). Fantasy
(1st ed.). [S.l.]: Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN
0-523-48515-8.
Clute, John (1999). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy
(1st St. Martins Grin ed.). New York: St. Martins Grin. ISBN 0-312-19869-8.
Livingstone, Ian (1982). Dicing with Dragons.
Routledge. ISBN 0-7100-9466-3.
Prickett, Stephen (1979).
Victorian Fantasy.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253-17461-9.
Tresca, Michael J. (2010). The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games. McFarland. ISBN 978-07864-6009-0.
Yolen, Jane (1992). After the King: Stories in Honor
of J.R.R. Tolkien (1st ed.). New York: T. Doherty
Associates. ISBN 0-312-85175-8.

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