One Hundred Fantasy Clichés T...

By Timegear33

164K 8.6K 3.4K

From the same writer that pointed out some of the worst tropes in popular culture in A Hundred Clichés That N... More

Fantasy; The Flawed Yet Fun Genre In Fiction
#1: Being Human is a Bad Thing
#2: Zombies Completely Wipe Out Humanity
#3: A Princess Must Always Be The Damsel In Distress
#4: The Evil Wizard
#5: Vampires Going Out During The Day
#6: De-Wolfied Werewolves
#7: The Clueless Parents
#8: The Brave, Always Successful Knight
#9 The Evil Queen
#10: All The Characters Are Eye Candy (Hot)
#11: Mermaids Are Pure Creatures
#12: A Lack of Creature Diversity
#13: The Main Character Must Die
#14: Romance Everywhere
#15: The Brooder Always Dies
#16: Animals Are Reserved Only for Kid's Books
#17: The Wicked Witch
#18: Unoriginal Twins
#19: A Lack of Family Dynamics
#20: The Lonely Guardian
#21: Endless Ammo
#22: Immunity to the Virus
#23: Too Much Action
#24: Humor is a Bad Thing
#25: Never Do Fan Fiction
#26: Always Create a Prologue
#27: Give The Main Character a Love Interest
#28: Turn the Main Character Into a Villain
#29: Secondary Characters Are Not Important
#31: The Fake-Out Death
#32: The Over-Powered Character
#33: The Surprise Villain
#34: Tonal Shifting
#35: Milking Out the Story
#36: Killing Off a Character
#37: Too Much Information Too Fast
#38: The Power of Friendship
#39: Plot Formulas
#40: Copycat Work
#41: Depressing Endings
#42: The Last Man Standing
#43: The Bland Main Character
#44: Wizard Stories
#45: Fast Weaponery Mastery
#46: Children are Annoying Secondary Characters
#47: A Small Cast
#48: The Hero is Always in the Right
#49: Humanity are Monsters
#50: Your Idea Will Never Catch On
#51: Status Quo
#52: Edgy Characters
#53: The Heroic Sacrifice
#54: The Runaway Princess
#55: Mistranslated Words
#56: Forbidden Love
#57: The Creator's Pet
#58: The Chosen One
#59: The Ex Machina
#60: The Forced Apology
#61: Long As Heck Character Descriptions
#62: The Animal Sidekick
#63: The Always Pure Princess
#64: Time Travel
#65: Multiple Universes
#66: The Mutant Minority
#67: The Body Swap
#68: Shoving Morals Down the Audience's Throat
#69: The Emotionless Loner
#70: Innocent Fairies
#71: The Warriors Effect
#72: All Supernatural Creatures Are Immortal
#73: The Name of the Monster is Frankenstein
#74: The Typical Werewolf Pack
#75: Edgy Scarred Characters
#76: Mistaken Identity
#77: Plot Holes
#78: Violence is Necessary
#79: The Skyler Perspective
#80: The Gary Sue and Mary Sue
#81: Historial Inaccuracies
#82: Love Triangles
#83: The Genocide Route
#84: The Mindless Zombie
#85: Actions Do Not Have Consequences
#86: The Tragic Backstory
#87: Be Afraid of Risks
#88: The Betrayal
#89: The Villain is Entirely Wrong
#90: The Reformed Villain
#91: Blood is Everything
#92: Not Finishing What You Have Started
#93: The Goody Two-Shoes Character
#94: Unbreakable Weapons
#95: The Villainous Protagionist
#96: The Hero Versus Villain Dynamic
#97: A Limited Target Audience
#98: Every Story Idea Has Been Done
#99: The Dark Half
#100: The Imagination Quota
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#30: The Secret Sibling

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By Timegear33

  The fantasy genre in general is known for one excellent trait in particular; its great ability to up the stakes of the story by revealing a game changing twist of some kind.  Whether it be one of the main cast members turning out to be the villain, a character finding out they were adopted, or a betrayal by one of the characters, eight times out of ten the twists will end up shocking you in some way.  Take for example Eren secretly being a man-made Titan in the Attack on Titan manga.  Even though his "death scene" was not very convincing, the reveal of Eren suddenly transforming into the creature he hated shocked millions of readers.  A nice plot twist helps to make a mediocre story possibly memorable and a great story iconic.

  However, beware of cliché alley when choosing what kind of plot twist you would like to implement.  Otherwise, you will end up with a completely negative reaction from the audience.  One such cliché is the secret sibling reveal, which is common in a lot of fantasy novels.  Personally, I have accidentally used this cliché multiple times when I first started writing.  The worst example of me using this cliché was when making a story called Gold Whisker, which I made back in the fifth grade.  In it, an important character known as Thorn was the main villain's brother, made even worse by the fact they obviously looked alike from the descriptions I gave in the story.  (They were both black cats and the only difference they had in appearance was that Thorn had a scar on his left eye.)  My experience with the cliché has made me want to warn others about its usage in stories.

  Besides my own experience with the cliché, most of the time it does not add up.  First off, the siblings should have known they were related in some way.  If the story exists in the real world, birth certificates are available and can stop such an even from happening.  Second off, the parents of the main character in most cases should have at least mentioned to them about having a sibling at least once.  Finally, there are similar appearances which can pretty much give the audience a huge clue beforehand.

  If you are going to implement this overused twist at all, do it in a way so the audience will not see it coming at all.  A great example of this trope being done flawlessly is in the Vampire Diaries book series, where the different looking and different personality-filled characters of Stefan and Damon were revealed halfway through the novel to be brothers.  Before the popular TV show came around about ten years later, this was a great twist for the audience.  People became engaged in not just the romance going on, but on the brothers themselves.  When done right, this cliché can work.  Just don't overuse it or make it lame like me.

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