Welcome back to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today I'm going to be talking about my least favorite fantasy tropes in fiction/media. This is the first post with my new banner as well. These tropes aren't going to be in any particular order.
Let's get into the post!
1. Tolkien-inspired Worlds
Technically speaking, I have nothing against Tolkien, and I will confess I have never read one of his works completely through. However, Tolkien-esque worlds constantly pop up in epic fantasy novels, and I'm honestly tired of it. I'm not saying Tolkien wasn't a good author, but aren't there other fantasy authors and ideas to get inspiration from? Last I checked, Tolkien didn't have the epic fantasy monopoly.
2. The one magical item that will either save or destroy the world
Why is it always one specific magical item? And why has the villain never thought of retrieving this item until the exact moment the hero intends to? This is just another fantasy trope that will never make sense to me.
3. The Chosen One
To clarify: not all chosen ones. There are some I genuinely find entertaining. But that's usually only when the chosen one trope is subverted or used uniquely. The problem with the chosen one is it's predictable. You know who's likely not going to be hurt much or die because they're the one who's supposed to save the world. Now, I don't like when characters die. I'd rather all of my favorites live. However, I'd rather be pleasantly surprised instead of just finding out a character is 'the chosen one' and not being surprised when they live.
I haven't read a lot of books with this trope, but there have been a couple that I just don't care for. My two favorites of this trope though are Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. There was that part in Harry Potter where it seemed as if another character might've been the chosen one (if you've read the books, you know what I'm talking about), which was honestly interesting and if I hadn't seen the movies already, I might've even believed it.
Percy Jackson has so much intrigue and unknowns due to prophecies having double meanings that it doesn't ever feel like Percy ever has 100% plot armor when it comes to him being a chosen one, which is one reason why him being a chosen one doesn't bother me.
4. The damsel in distress
I hate this trope so much. I'm not saying it isn't attractive and a little romantic to imagine a fairy tale life where the girl is rescued by the guy, but it's annoying when that is the girl's entire plot. I don't mind a book where the guy rescues the girl if there's more to the girl and she doesn't seem like she can't rescue herself.
This also applies to books where the guy is the damsel instead of the girl. I don't know. For me, even gender-bending can't fix this trope, because it's just such a power imbalance, which isn't even a healthy thing in relationships, so just keep this away from me unless it's done well and has a valid reason (which it usually doesn't)/
Sometimes this can be pulled off in a unique way, but in most instances is annoying. I prefer when both characters switch off rescuing each other. A perfect example would be Percy and Annabeth from the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles by Rick Riordan. Percy has saved Annabeth's life before, but she's also saved his, and, let's face it: they'd both be dead if they didn't have each other. To me, that's way more cute and romantic than a one-sided damsel in distress situation.
5. Mentors
The most annoying thing about mentors is that, 9 times out of 10, they die. Either that or the characters think they're dead when they're not. Mentors are always predictable. They'll (conveniently) die when the protagonist needs to complete their quest independently. It ceases to surprise me anymore. I read books with mentors in them and a sign automatically appears in my head that reads: 'Okay, they're going to die. But when?'
It's not the most fun thing in the world. I don't like to be able to easily predict the books I read. It isn't fun, and it kind of ruins the reading experience for me. I like being surprised. I understand that the mentor is a classic trope, but at this point, unless I read a mentor that I can't predict, I'm sick of this trope.
6. The newbie who suddenly knows everything/The Mary Sue/The Gary Stu
I hate this. This has to be one of my least favorite tropes in the entire world. It's so annoying. These are the protagonists who learn the truth about what/who they are without knowing anything previously and are suddenly able to do everything as good as people who have been in that world for 20+ years.
A great example of this is Clary Fray from The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. How is it that she can fight/kill demons just as well as Jace, Isabelle, and Alec when they've been training as Shadowhunters since they were children. Clary is also pretty much perfect and has few flaws, which makes her very dull.
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