A Few of my Favorite Fantasy Cliches

This is my 100th post! In celebration, I'd like to do something very cliche: write a post about my favorite fantasy cliches. (Cue applause.)

Also, please note that in my blog post, I've used male pronouns to refer to characters, since the majority of fantasy stories are still written about males. Hopefully someday the case will be different!

So, without further ado, I present:


My Favorite Cliches
To the tune of, "My Favorite Things"

Dark stormy nights and scales on dragons
Bright shining daggers and red glowing fire
Stacks of old parchment all tied up with strings--
These are a few of my favorite cliches.

Black or white horses and elvish lembas bread
Watch bells and beacons and Gollum with worms
Creatures that fly with the Nazgul on their wings--
These are a few of my favorite cliches.

Shield maidens in white dresses with swords at their sashes,
Arrows that barely scratch my nose and eyelashes
Silver white beards of wise old men who soon die--
These are a few of my favorite cliches.

When the Dark Lord rises, when the prophecy rhymes, when the hero's an orphan,
I simply remember my favorite cliches, and then I don't feel so bad (about my own writing)!

And now for a proper list of my favorite fantasy cliches.

1. Stock characters

Almost every single fantasy story contains an old man/wizard/wise person who imparts crucial information to the young hero, usually an orphan. Said young hero discovers he has magic powers or is the "chosen one," a fact that no one has told him all his life, and that the villains have only just discovered. Add in a handful of warrior maidens and a dragon or two, and you've got a regular soup of cliches. If you really need any examples of this, just look to Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.


2. Prophecies or curses

Speaking of the "chosen one," any prophecy or curse of any size or shape definitely counts as cliche. Particularly if the hero is the only person that the prophecy could refer to. And if the stakes are "the end of the world as we know it." So if you're dying to make your story as cliche as possible, please, please, insert one of these. I promise it'll increase the cliche-factor by ten. Don't believe me? Ask the dishes! (Reference to Beauty and the Beast, which by the way contains a prophetic curse.)

3. Medieval setting

Despite the constant use of Medieval costumes and weapons in fantasy stories, the hygiene and medicine of fantasy stories seem to be pretty modern. Because, really, where's the plague? Furthermore, there's always a journey that takes days or weeks to get to the destination, usually by walking or riding the same horse for days on end. Honestly, how do characters in these stories manage to get anything done when they must be dead tired from traveling all the time? Walking kills your feet, kills the horses, and can't be done constantly. I'm looking at you, Lord of the Rings.


4. Good versus Evil

So your hero is battling a "Dark Lord" or the "forces of evil" or must go through the "Dark Forest" and battle an army of ugly evil orcs? Wow, how original. But let me ask a question: why should darkness be the enemy just because it's dark? Couldn't that be construed as a bit racist? And why should the whole race of elves (or dwarves, or men) be good and beautiful while orcs (or other villainous force) are always evil and ugly? The real world has good ugly humans and bad beautiful humans. Why should fantasy be any different?


5. Unrealistic fighting

Hero learns swordplay in about a week and is suddenly a master at weapons of any kind, able to confront expert enemies who've had years of training to perfect their technique. Also, arrows never, ever run out, armor is feather-light, and shields are hardly ever necessary. Oh, and while we're on the subject, all wounds seem to be either a minor scratch or life-threatening. Don't heroes ever get paralyzed, or suffer brain damage, or have to amputate their arms?

That said, of course, these particular cliches are only cliches because they've been used very effectively in some of the greatest fantasy stories of all time, from Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast. So should you really always avoid using cliches?

Well, on the one hand, if you purposefully try to avoid all cliches ever, you're just going to give yourself a horrible headache while you try to think of original plot devices and methods of transportation. On the other hand, you do want to think very carefully before inserting a cliche into your story.

If you do use a cliche, make it humorous and obvious, as Patricia C. Wrede does in her hilarious Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Or try turning it on its head, as Gail Carson Levine did in her amazing novel Ella Enchanted. Recognize the cliches in your writing--and run with them! Use them for your own benefit. It's the best way to write!


Have you read any books or seen any movies with cliches? Any cliche-breaking stories you'd love to share? What about in your own writing--love them? Hate them? Avoid them like the plague?

Top Blog Posts of 2012

The year 2012 is almost at an end--and what a year it has been! As we think over what this year has brought us, let's also look back at some of the highlights of the blog this past year. So, without further ado, here are the top 15 blog posts of 2012! (Posts are listed in chronological order.)

The Hows and Whys of Naming God in Your Fantasy Story

The Weapons in Fantasy Series -- Swords, Bows, Armor

The Fashion in Fantasy Series -- Females, Males, Shoes

The Villain Series -- 5 Ways to Kill Your Villain, Recipe for a Dark Lord

Easter and Fantasy

The Names Series -- Names in the Bible, How to Name Your Characters

Costs and Benefits of Self-Publishing

The Colors in Fantasy Series -- Tools, Opposites

So go ahead and click those links to read any posts you missed! And if you liked other posts from the blog, be sure to comment and let me know. I look forward to an even better 2013!

Amor: When You Can't Run & You Can't Hide

To cap off this mini-series on fantasy weapons, today’s post will be on various types of armor. I’ve written about swords and bows, which are all very well if you’re fighting with them. But what about protecting yourself from those missiles of doom? Here’s where armor can come in handy. I’ll begin by going through variations of armor throughout the ages, and then discuss how to best incorporate those forms in your fantasy story.

1. Leather Armor

-- Dried animal skins were used from ancient times for clothing. The next step, then, was to dry the animals skins into leather, then strengthen them by soaking them in wax or some other hardening chemical, thus creating a protective garment.

-- This is best for poorer or more “primitive”/less developed cultures, especially ones where enemies don’t have advanced weapons. Keep in mind that the poorest people would probably just go to battle with the clothes on their back, maybe a bit of padding. Leather is probably the easiest armor to supply, but, as with everything easy, it’s not the best protection. (Note: the picture on the side is more complex than leather armor would generally be.)

2. Scale Armor

-- The next so-called “evolution” in armor technology was the introduction of scale armor. True to its name, scale armor involves attaching thousands of pieces of leather or metal together to form a scaly surface. Naturally, this form of armor offered much better protection than simple leather armor.

-- Because the scales are simply “woven” together, scale armor is relatively easy to make and can be supplied to a large number of troops on short notice. Note that this kind of armor does clank a lot, so if you’re looking for a good armor for your band of ninjas, this is not your best bet!

3. Plate Armor

-- Ah, the joy of knights in shining armor! Yes, folks, this is the honest-to-goodness armor of King Arthur fame. Plate armor is basically large pieces of metal shaped to cover a large area of the body and linked together through various straps and strings.

-- Let me stress that Plate armor is not your standard issue damsel-in-distress-wear. Because of all those large pieces of metal, it’s incredibly heavy and expensive to make and wear. Thus, use it sparingly, perhaps by strong, well-trained nobles or your own knightly battalion. (One thing I’ve always wondered: once you’ve taken hours to get the whole outfit on, what do you do if you need to use the bathroom?)

4. Chain Mail Armor

-- The final realm of armor is chain mail, which is made from thousands of metal rings that are pressed or riveted together. One of the best things about chain mail is its high maneuverability, unlike plate armor. It also provides excellent protection against all sorts of blunt, slashing, stabbing, and otherwise-maiming weapons.

-- If your culture has advanced smiths with a lot of time and metal on their hands, then this is the armor for them. Just do be aware that chain mail is by no means mass-produced—it takes a lot of resources to construct. Still, for the occasional fight-to-the-death, this little baby would sure come in handy!

Of course, if your hero/heroine is the Chosen One, gifted with superb fighting powers and the ability to stay alive almost indefinitely (or at any rate through the duration of your 200-page volume), then this whole post is irrelevant. You can get on with your story, and all armor-clad enemies beware.

I would also like to make another note that applies, not just to this post, but to also the previous posts on swords and bows. What I've mentioned above are various types of armor and gear as we know them on earth. However, we are fantasy writers. If you would rather make up your own weapons and protective coverings/armor unique to your world, go right ahead! If you don't feel quite so inspired, you could simply modify one of the earthly items into fantasy garb more appropriate for your world.


To exemplify this, let's turn to our old favorite, J.R.R. Tolkien. In the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and company travel through Moria, a (supposedly) abandoned Dwarvish mine. This mine was especially famous for mithril, a silver-like metal that was light and strong and incredibly valuable. You may recall that Frodo had a chain mail shirt of mithril that was weightless, supple, and--more important--protective. It saved him from dying at least once! 

So, to follow Tolkien's example, you could utilize something like dragon-skin for your leather armor, making it impregnable to fire. Or use the Jubjub plant to keep your scale armor from clattering. The options are only as vast as your imagination! (Thanks a bunch to B.L.S. for the suggestion to include this idea in the post.)

If this post sparked your interest, most of my information for came from this excellent article. I highly recommend checking it out for more information. God bless!