D&D General D&D Archetypes that spread out to other settings and media

Reynard said:

I am confused at your resistance to this basic, obvious thing. Why don't you show us before and after and explain why you think D&D specifically created the "sword and board" fighter.

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It's just a combination of a) I don't see anything that could be called as a definite source of inspiration predating D&D in a way that, say, Conan is an inspiration for Barbarian Hero archetype and without it I cannot really eliminate a possibility d&d may have codified the modern image of "sword & board fighter" from various preexisting sources and b) it kinda feels to me like this thread is turning into "if we can name a single example older than D&D, D&D gets no credit for influencing popculture here" with no nuance or acknowledgment of the idea of, to use tvtropes terms, trope codifiers. See also discussion about the Lich.

Not a Decepticon said:

It's just a combination of a) I don't see anything that could be called as a definite source of inspiration predating D&D in a way that, say, Conan is an inspiration for Barbarian Hero archetype and without it I cannot really eliminate a possibility d&d may have codified the modern image of "sword & board fighter" from various preexisting sources and b) it kinda feels to me like this thread is turning into "if we can name a single example older than D&D, D&D gets no credit for influencing popculture here" with no nuance or acknowledgment of the idea of, to use tvtropes terms, trope codifiers. See also discussion about the Lich.

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Thats because DnD is literally a chop suey of folklore and literary tropes, D&D didn’t create the ingredients of fantasy, it created the cooking system, labelled and measured the tropes, then handed out a cookbook, that lets the players supply the sauce and cook it to their own taste. The result is always recognisable, but never the same meal twice.

Not a Decepticon said:

It's just a combination of a) I don't see anything that could be called as a definite source of inspiration predating D&D in a way that, say, Conan is an inspiration for Barbarian Hero archetype and without it I cannot really eliminate a possibility d&d may have codified the modern image of "sword & board fighter" from various preexisting sources and b) it kinda feels to me like this thread is turning into "if we can name a single example older than D&D, D&D gets no credit for influencing popculture here" with no nuance or acknowledgment of the idea of, to use tvtropes terms, trope codifiers. See also discussion about the Lich.

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You've presented no evidence that your purported "trope codifier" has codified jack. There are far more counterexamples than examples.

Not a Decepticon said:

Conan is an inspiration for Barbarian Hero archetype

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Interesting thing about Conan is the 2H sword comes from the cover art and the movies. In the original novels his sword is sometimes described as a scimitar if it’s described at all, he sometimes wears armour, and sometimes uses a shield.

But the reason you can’t find a “definitive” source it’s its too old and too common. I think perhaps your issue is that by the 80s movies thought it was old hat and not cool enough, but if you watch any period movie or TV from the 50s or 60s, from The Court Jester to Henry V to The Vikings, you can see where this, and a lot of other D&D tropes came from.

Oh, and sword and board fighters from pre-D&D fantasy literature: Thorin Oakenshield, Eowyn, Peter Pevensie.